Strong (Kindred #1) Page 3

  “I do.” he nods.

  “And she’s lucky to have you, you may act all tough, but I know you look after her.” I tell him.

  “She’s my world, of course I look after her, and our little one when they arrive… Which could be any day now.”

  “Scared?”

  “Not in the slightest, I can’t wait to meet them, I feel like I’ve waited longer than nine months to meet them,” he looks over at where Megan is sitting chatting to Doug and scowls. “I’m going to kick that guy in the bollocks, can you see how she smiles at him?”

  “He’s gorgeous, every female smiles at him that way.”

  “Oh, fucking hell, you’ve joined the club too?” he rolls his eyes. “He isn’t that attractive, or God like. He needs to fuck off.”

  “And you need to stop the green eyes, Megan adores you, and rightly so, you’re pretty hot too you know?” I remind him.

  “Well thanks, my ego really needed to hear that.” he grins at me.

  “You’re welcome.”

  The DJ announces that the Bride and Groom are ready for their first dance and tells everyone to grab a confetti canon, some bubbles or a glow stick and gather round. Jack and Josie take to the floor and The Script begin. All the women get loved up looks in their eyes, and snuggle into their parters, I look across the circle and meet Carter’s eyes. He isn’t watching his brother at all, he’s watching me. I try to look away but those eyes have me transfixed and I can’t break the connection. His slow, sexy, all American smile spreads across his face and I finally manage to tear my eyes from him. When I look back he’s gone.

  Another slow song begins and the DJ asks everyone to join the Bride and Groom. I’m ready to go and sit down, I suddenly feel overwhelmed with everything right now and the sight of happy couples dancing together is all too much. Just as I’m about to leave, I feel a warm hand on my waist and I’m pulled back into a warm, delicious smelling body. My body knows who it is before my mind does and when he speaks close to my ear, I shiver and goosebumps cover my entire body.

  “I’m claiming my first dance.” Carter whispers to me, twirling me around so I’m facing him.

  “It’s gentlemanly to ask you know.” I tell him.

  “I already asked, you said yes.”

  He moves us into a open space to the left and pulls me tight to his body. All around us, couples are dancing completely unaware of what’s happening right to me right now. Unaware that I’m about to pass out from being so close to Carter, completely unaware that my mind and body are in turmoil; my body wants to be as close as humanly possible to him, but my mind knows it can’t happen.

  Not now.

  “Relax Carmen, I’m not going to bite.”

  “I’m fine.” I tell him.

  “You’re tense, are you that uncomfortable around me?” he pulls back and looks at me.

  “No, quite the opposite actually.” I whisper, not meeting his eyes.

  “It’s just a dance.” he assures me, sliding his hand down the length of my back and letting it come to rest just above my bottom.

  “Is it?” I look up at him and regret it.

  “You tell me.” he asks, leaning forward.

  “It has to be, Carter.” I tell him, turning my head, halting anything else.

  The song comes to an end and Sam and the Womp starts up, I look over Carter’s shoulder and see Josie is dancing and grinning like a loony, I kiss Carter on the cheek and make my way over to dance with my friend. I need to put a little distance between us right now, nothing can happen. Not now, so it’s best I make that clear.

  “Dance?”

  I look up and Carter is standing there, looking down at me with his big brown puppy dog eyes.

  “To this?”

  “Why not?”

  “Okay…”

  I take his hand and laugh as he tugs me onto the dance floor. We join the line and I seamlessly begin to dance. I didn’t really expect this to be the song Carter would want to dance to, but I suppose The Casper Slide is as good a song as any, right? I look over at him and can’t help but laugh, dancing clearly doesn’t come naturally to him but he’s making a good effort. I move over so we’re next to each other and lean over to shout in his ear.

  “Watch me! It’s really easy!”

  I take his hand and move him with me, to the left, to the right listening to the music. When DJ Casper asks everyone to clap I know what’s coming and when he asks how low can you go? I go low and then I go a little lower before making my way back up to a standing position, which isn’t really the easiest move to attempt in this dress, but I manage it. Carter isn’t moving when I get back up to my full height and his mouth is hanging open, guess he wasn’t expecting that. When KC and the Sunshine Band begins, his arms are around me and we’re moving together before I even realise we’re doing it.

  “You can dance!” I laugh as he twists me out and back to him.

  “Of course I can!” he laughs. “I just don’t do that kind of dancing.”

  “Jack can dance too, did you two have lessons together?” I tease as we dance.

  “No we did not,” he shakes his head. “Mom loves to dance though, when we were growing up, on a Friday and Saturday night, her and Dad would put music on and we’d all dance around together, she would make junk food and it was like some kind of party at the Manning’s.” he smiles and I know he’s remembering something good.

  “That sounds like a lot of fun.”

  “It was, until Jack and I got to high school and realised most parents didn’t do that kind of stuff.” he laughs.

  “It wasn’t cool…. Boys.” I sigh.

  “No, it wasn’t. And we got more interested in girls.” he grins at me.

  “Of course you did.”

  “Don’t frown at me, you might benefit from what I learned one day.”

  He spins me out and over to Megs and Josie as Single Ladies comes on and we do what girls do and dance the night away, the highlight has to be when Josie takes over the DJ’s job and makes the men dance, it’s something I know I will remember for a long time and it will always make me smile. When Jack and Josie head out onto the dance floor and a slow song comes on, Carter is suddenly by my side.

  “Dance with me?” he asks, holding his hand out.

  “I do believe you’ve had enough dances already tonight.” I shake my head.

  “One more, the party is almost over, we might not have another chance to dance together after tonight.”

  “Fine.” I laugh.

  “Am I pushing my luck?” he grins at me.

  “Yes, but it’s okay, you’re a good dancer.”

  “A compliment from a professional dancer? I’m going to tell Jack you said that.” he laughs.

  “Brothers always in competition, right?”

  “Not all the time, he’s a good brother, the best actually, I just like to wind him up.”

  “Okay, ladies and gents, the Bride and Groom are ready to leave. Let’s give them a send off to help them on their way!” The Divinyls starts up and I just look at Carter, who promptly bursts out laughing.

  “Oh my God.” I laugh.

  “He also married the most hilarious girl.” he laughs back as we watch them leave the room. “I guess that’s it?”

  “I guess so, unless you’d like to get some fresh air with me?”

  “Sure.” he smiles.

  When we step outside the cold air hits my skin and I shiver. Carter slips out of his jacket and places it on my shoulders; it’s warm and smells deliciously of him and I take great delight in being surrounded by him. We sit down on the wall and just look out onto the dark beach, it really is a beautiful place for a wedding. I think of Jack and Josie and hope they’ve had the day they dreamed of, they both deserve it.

  “Come take a walk with me?” I ask him, not wanting to say goodnight to him just yet.

  “I’m not sure walking in those heels is a good idea.” he chuckles.

  I hold onto his arm and slip my feet out of m
y shoes, it’s only then I realise how sore my feet are and the cool concrete feels incredible on my aching feet. He wraps his arm around my shoulders and we walk down the steps and onto the cold sand. We walk in silence for a while, not talking, just listening to the waves breaking on the surface of the water.

  “Tell me about yourself, Carmen.” he whispers into the darkness.

  “What do you want to know?”

  “Just… stuff. What’s your favourite food?”

  “It’s going to sound really strange, but lasagne.” I grin to myself.

  “Lasagne?”

  “Yeah, I don’t know what it is about it, maybe it’s the pasta or the béchamel sauce topping, I don’t really know. But I could eat my weight in it and garlic bread, I really could.”

  “I thought you would give the girl answer and say chocolate.” he laughs.

  “Don’t get me wrong, I could eat my weight in that too when I’m in the mood, but the way to my heart is a huge portion of lasagne and garlic bread. What’s yours?”

  “Pizza. I have to say that right? I’m from Chicago, if I said salad, my friends would never forgive me.”

  “I’ve never tried pizza from Chicago, I’ve actually never even been to Chicago, so I can’t possibly comment.”

  “It’s like slices of Heaven, I’m telling you.”

  “Maybe I’ll get to try it one day.” I smile, hoping that one day I would.

  “Come to Chicago, I’ll show you around, take you to the best pizza place there is.” he tells me, pulling me a little closer to him as we walk.

  “One day…”

  “Favourite band?”

  “I don’t think I have one, more of a Joss Stone, Beyonce, Taylor Swift kind of girl. Yours?”

  “You’ll be surprised I think,” he stops and comes to stand in front of me. “Oasis.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah, I told you, you’d be surprised.”

  “I really am.” I smile, looking at him.

  The moonlight reflected in his eyes does funny things to my stomach, those butterflies are in full flight now. He reaches for my hand and I don’t pull away, I don’t ask him to stop, because it feels right, normal even. We walk along the beach a little more before going back in the direction we came from. When we reach a small bench on the sand Carter stops.

  “Are you tired?”

  “No.”

  I’m really not, I’m enjoying being with Carter way too much to be tired and something inside of me doesn’t want this night to end.

  “It’s going to sound crazy, but how about I go get a blanket from my room and we can stay out here and chat some more?” he looks unsure, like he’s just asked something huge from me.

  “I’d really like that.” I tell him, my stomach doing a big somersault.

  “Do you need anything else?” he asks me.

  “Nope just the blanket.” I grin, sitting down.

  “I’ll be two minutes.” he tells me before turning and running back up the steps.

  I wrap my arms around myself and grin, I’m smiling for what feels like the first time in a long time, I’m not going to worry about anything else except tonight right now. Tomorrow, I’ll worry about everything else, but tonight I’m going to focus on being happy.

  There must be a blanket in here somewhere?

  Hotels always have blankets in the rooms don’t they?

  Turns out this one doesn’t.

  Shit.

  I look at the bed and decide the decorative cover thing will have to do. I tug it off the bed and head back out. It’s only when I walk past the little tray that holds everything you need to make a coffee, I have an idea.

  I fill the kettle up and empty two of the little sachets of hot chocolate into the two mugs. Using the silly little pots of milk, I mix the chocolate powder into a paste, this is the secret to the best hot chocolate every time. The kettle seems to take forever to boil and I contemplate just leaving it when it clicks off.

  Slowly, so I don’t burn myself, I pour the hot water over the chocolate paste and mix it together, perfect. As a last minute thought, I pick up the two packs of chocolate chip cookies from the tray then throw the comforter over my shoulder. Carefully, I pick up the two cups and finally head out of my room and downstairs. I don’t pass anyone on the way, which is lucky, because I’m not entirely sure I should be taking this stuff outside with me. I step back into the cold night and can just make out the top of Carmen’s head, she’s still sitting on the bench I’m pleased to see. I head down to the sand and she turns her head when she hears me approach. The smile she flashes me makes my stomach clench, she is so unbelievably gorgeous and I’m not even sure she’s aware of it.

  “You have more than a blanket.” she grins at me.

  “I thought we could have hot chocolate and cookies, keep us warm.” I tell her, handing her one of the mugs.

  She wraps her hands around it and takes a sip, her eyes practically roll into the back of her head as she swallows and the sexiest groan escapes her lips, she takes another sip then looks at me with wide, happy eyes.

  “How on earth did you make this with just hot water from a kettle?” she asks, taking another sip.

  “A little trick I learned from my Mom, it ensures you have the best hot chocolate time after time.”

  “Are you going to tell me what it is?”

  “Nope. Shuffle over, I’m getting cold out here.”

  She moves over and I sit down next to her, pulling her close to my side and wrapping the comforter around the both of us, from my pocket I pull out the two packets of cookies and hand her one, she takes it and opens it before taking a bite out of one.

  “You know,” she says, dunking her cookie into her hot chocolate. “Disregard what I said before… the way to my heart is your hot chocolate and cookies.”

  “Is it now?” I grin.

  We sit huddled together, drinking our hot chocolate and laughing about silly stuff for ages. It’s so easy being with her, it feels like I’ve known her forever. I’ve learned so much about her too; her favourite colour is red, she loves to take long walks in the winter wearing her big fluffy hat and scarf and she hates being cold. I don’t remember ever smiling so much in my life before and by the time the sun starts to come up, my cheeks and stomach hurt from laughing so much.

  “I think we better get some sleep.” she yawns, stretching her arms above her head.

  “Is there any point? It will be time to get up soon.” I tell her, not wanting to end what has been the best night of my life.

  “We should at least go and shower, if we turn up for breakfast in yesterday’s clothes, together, people are going to get the wrong idea.”

  “Would that be such a bad thing? Is the thought of them thinking we spent the night together really so bad?”

  “We did spend the night together, Carter. But not how they’ll think we did.”

  “We know that, does it matter what they think?” I ask, raising my hand to trace the frown on her face.

  “No…” she meets my eyes and leans into my hand a little, closing her eyes. “I still need to go take a shower though.” she pulls back and smiles before standing up.

  I stand too and gather up all the things from my room, we climb the stairs to the hotel in silence, making our way into the hotel and to the big staircase that leads to the bedrooms. I fish out my room key from my pants and dangle it in front of her face.

  “I’m room 206.” I tell her.

  She reaches into her bag and holds her key out.

  “207.” she grins.

  We climb the stairs together until we’re outside our rooms. Carmen stands and turns to face me and I notice she looks different to how she did last night. Gone is the carefree smile, she suddenly looks like she has the weight of the world on her shoulders and I don’t understand why.

  “Thank you for the most wonderful night, Carter.” she whispers leaning forward and placing a kiss on my cheek.

  “I can’t remember having a b
etter night in my life.” I tell her.

  I turn my head to kiss her cheek too but she turns her head and my lips make contact with the corner of her mouth instead. In the second my lips make contact with hers, I want to pull her to me and kiss her properly, I want to know how she tastes and what it would feel like to be close to her like that.

  I don’t though.

  Instead I’m the perfect gentleman.

  “I’ll always remember it, Carter.” she smiles when she pulls back.

  “Can I have your number? Maybe we can have coffee before you leave?”

  “Sure. I’d like that,” she takes her phone out of her bag and hands it to me to input my number, I hand her mine and she does the same. “I’ll see you soon then?” she asks, looking hopeful.

  “I really hope so.” I smile back.

  I stand there and watch as she unlocks her door and steps inside, when I think she’s going to close it, her head peeks around it and she smiles at me, my heart is hammering in my chest and I feel all kinds of happy and it’s all because of her.

  “Goodnight Carter, thank you for making me forget when I so desperately needed to.”

  She closes the door leaving me standing in the hallway.

  I helped her forget when she desperately needed to?

  What does she need to forget?

  I close the door and lean back against it. My heart is hammering in my chest, my hands are shaking and I feel like I might faint any minute. I take a few deep breaths and try and calm down, I can try and blame the lack of sleep all I want, but the fact is, the reaction my body seems to have to Carter Manning is one I’ve never had before. I close my eyes and think back over last night; the chatting, the hot chocolate, the laughing, the snuggling. It was everything I could ever want from a first date with an unbelievably handsome man and yet, it wasn’t a first date at all.

  I drop my heels on the floor and reach around to unzip the dress, not even bothering to hang it up, I step out of my underwear and head straight into the bathroom. I turn on the shower and while I wait for it to heat up, I look at myself in the mirror. My long hair is a little windswept, my make up from the day before is smudged yet I don’t remember ever feeling more beautiful. My eyes are alive and sparkling and as I look at myself, I realise why.