Saved By A Soldier (Love Conquers Life Book 1) (13 page)

“I hope he does treat you well, although just because you’re happy about dating him doesn’t mean I have to be. I said I would be there and that I will give him a chance.”

This time I sigh. “I’ll text you the info,” I say and end the call.

Patty: I just spoke to my mother about dinner.

Carter: How’d it go?

Patty: I’m sorry to say she isn’t happy about us dating. I’m nervous about how it’s going to go.

Carter: It’ll be fine, just relax.

Patty: I hope you’re right. I have to go now and get some stuff done. Talk to you soon.

Carter: Good night, sweetie.

Patty: Good night, Carter.

Chapter 14

Patty

With my laptop and overnight bag in hand, I set off for Carter’s new apartment. Today is moving day. The furniture is coming and he’s supposed to have all of his clothes and the towels his mother bought him at the house. I ran out last night and picked up laundry soap, fabric softener, dishwasher soap, and some small food items. This way I can wash all of his towels while I’m waiting for the furniture to arrive.

I pull up to his building and park in one of his reserved spots. He has two of them and there are plenty of visitor’s parking spaces as well. I put my laptop bag over my shoulder then gather the rest of the bags. They’re kind of heavy, but when I get to the door, the doorman takes some stuff from me and has someone from the staff help me bring it up. When I get up there, Carter is waiting for me inside. He takes the bags from the staff person and thanks him for helping me bring my stuff up.

“Hey, sweetie,” Carter says when we’re alone, “What’s all of this?”

“My laptop and overnight bag, and since we haven’t gone shopping there’s no food in the house. I went to get some snacks for me to have while I wait.”

“You’re planning on drinking laundry soap and fabric softener?”

“Don’t knock it until you try it,” I say jokingly. “I figured I’d wash the towels and sheets while I waited for the furniture. That way they’re clean when it’s time for us to make the bed later.”

“You are the best,” he says as he pulls me in close for a kiss. “I have to go. Thank you so much for waiting here. I’ve spoken to Derek and he said I can leave early. I’ll be home as soon as I can, then we’ll go shopping and relax tonight.”

“I think we should get things put away and cleaned up tonight then shop in the morning. We can order some Chinese food tonight.”

“That’s fine too. I’ll see you in a few hours.” He kisses me again and then he’s out the door.

I take a deep breath as I see all the bags around the house. The pans I bought him are still in the box, along with the dishes, cups and utensils. First things first, I need to go wash the towels. I put the laundry detergent and fabric softener away in the laundry room then go in search of the bag with the towels in it. Christ, his mom bought half a store worth of towels. I take the bags to the laundry area to get the first load going. By the looks of it, I’ve got at least three loads of towels to wash before I do the sheets.

Next I head into the kitchen to put the dishes that I bought him in the dishwasher. I add the utensils and as many glasses as I can fit, put the soap in, and press the start button. Once that’s done, I break down the cardboard boxes and open the pans, placing them on the counter, then break down that box as well. I realize we don’t have trash bags here. I run to the other room for one of the big shopping bags that the towels were in to use for trash. I put as much cardboard in the bag as I can fit and set it aside. Since I’ve got the laundry and dishes going, I unwrap the sheets and set them by the washer so I can use the bag for more trash as needed.

Time for a breather. I sit at the snack bar to get started on some work. I log onto my Facebook fan page to see that there are a ton of comments on this girl’s picture of us. Of course she even tells them where she saw me. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad I made her day, but she told them one of my hangouts. That’ll be great for business at The Café, but not so great for me. I like the food there and now I won’t be able to go there for a while because it’ll be swamped with local fans. I post a brief write up about how nice it was to meet her and that it makes me so happy to hear that she really enjoys my books.

Opening my email I find Joan’s with my new contract. I need to comb through that once I can print it out and really read it over. For now, I scan it for the important parts that I wanted to have listed in it. As promised, Joan added a section that says I’m to get eight months of uninterrupted time off after the final signing is done and all book signings are to be completed within three months of the release of the book. I’m still not sure why I even needed to add this to my contract, but if I find out this agent is being creepy this will be my last contract with her and I’ll have to make some decisions before I write my next book.

By the time I’m done looking at Facebook, reading my email, and skimming the contract, the washer is just about done. I stop what I’m doing to go put the first load in the dryer and get another load washing.

After that I get to work on reading what I’ve written from the last few chapters of my book. As usual, I’m finding mistakes and changing things a bit as I read through it again for a second time. I’m finally at the point where I’ll send this off to my beta readers to see what they think about the beginning of the book. I always tell them I will send it to them when the book is complete, but I never do. I’ve come to realize I like their input as I go. I’m about to click save on my file when the phone rings. It’s the doorman telling me the furniture guys are here and he’s sending them up with one of the staff.

There are four of them and they tell me that they’re going to start with the bedroom set first. While they head back down to start getting pieces, I send Carter a text.

Patty: Furniture is just arriving.

Carter: Great! I’ll be getting out of here in a little bit.

Patty: Take your time.

I start on emptying the dishwasher because I have more dishes to run through it, as well as glasses. As I’m finishing putting the clean ones away, the delivery guys come up with the first pieces of furniture. I walk them into his room and tell them where to put it as well as the other pieces.

My phone rings again.

“Hey, Bella,” I answer.

“How’s the furniture move going?” she asks, sounding out of breath.

“It’s going. The furniture guys are here now and I’ve been washing dishes and towels between working. What are you up to?” She laughs. “Visiting my friend. Can you tell doorman to let me up? I have lunch for you.”

The guys are coming back up with Carter’s bed and box spring when I walk out of the kitchen.

“What, you’re here?”

“Yeah, I came to help you and bring you lunch.”

I hang up on her and call down to tell the doorman she’s welcome up. While I wait for her, I start folding all the towels from the dryer, moving them to the appropriate bathroom. I put the ones from the wash into the dryer so I can put the sheets washing next.

Bella gets up to the apartment and when she walks in her eyes are wide, “Wow, this is a pretty nice place,” she says, looking around. She holds up a bag. “Sandwich?”

“Sure.” I open it up on the counter and take a bite while I wait for the guys to finish putting his bed together. “I wish I would’ve known you were coming, I would’ve asked you to bring me something to clean these pans with. There are no sponges or dish soap. I only brought dishwashing soap.”

“Sorry I wanted to surprise you.”

“I’ll text Carter.”

Patty: Can you pick up sponges and dish soap?

Carter: Sure, why?

Patty: Can’t clean the pans without it!

Carter: You’re supposed to be working.

Patty: I am ;-)

***

By the time Carter walks in the door, we’ve managed to wash all the towels, make the bed, do all the dishes, and put them away. We also wiped down all the furniture so it’s dust free. He looks around. “My place looks outstanding.”

I’m so happy he likes it. “Are you sure you’re okay with where I had them put everything? We didn’t really discuss it so I just kind of guessed.”

“It’s perfect, thank you so much.”

“Bella, helped,” I say as she comes around the corner.

“Hi, I’ve heard a lot about you. Congrats on your place. It’s really nice.”

“Thanks, and thanks for being here with Patty to make sure everything was set.”

She smiles. “No problem. Listen, I know you two have plans for tonight so I’m going to go. We’re on for dinner in a few weeks, so I’ll see you again soon.”

“Wait, let me at least feed you. I mean, you did all this work with Patty. We can’t just let you leave.”

He looks at me and I’m so happy because he really is a sweet guy.

“Besides, Derek is on his way over to help me figure out the TV system we picked out. We’ll order some Chinese food on me as a thank you for your help.”

Bella looks at me, I shrug. “What the heck, I’ll stay.”

A few minutes later the phone rings and it’s the doorman telling us Derek has arrived. We tell him to send him up. I ask if they have Chinese food menus they can send up with him and they tell me no problem. When Derek knocks on the door, Carter lets him in he says, “Chinese food menu delivery man and TV expert on deck.”

We all laugh and Carter introduces everyone. I notice Derek instantly checks Bella out and it makes me smile because she’s single and it’d be kind of cool for her to date Carter’s friend.

The guys get to work on the TV, DVD, and surround sound system while Bella and I order Chinese food. The guys are finishing up as the Chinese food arrives, and we all sit around eating and chatting. Derek learns about Bella being a model and she tells him that she’ll be at the next fundraising event even though she’s lost her date to a man. He has a scared look on his face until she informs him that
I
was her date.

He laughs. I’m willing to bet they’ll be exchanging phone numbers before they leave tonight.

“Thanks to both of you for helping out today,” Carter says to Derek and Bella. He turns to me. “I’ll thank you properly once they leave.”

Derek jumps up. “On that note, I think it’s time to go. It was nice to finally meet you, Patty.”

“It was nice to meet you too, Derek.”

Bella and Derek walk out together, and Carter shuts and locks the door behind them. We walk into his bedroom and when I turn to see his reaction he has another huge smile on his face.

“Thank you again.” I wrap my arms around his waist and squeeze him, placing my head on his chest. He wraps his arms around me and kisses the top of my head. “I’m sure you’re tired but I’d really like to make love to you tonight.”

I smile against his chest because I noticed he used the ‘L’ word.

“I would really like that.”

He places his finger under my chin, lifting it so I look him in the eyes. He lowers his lips and gently presses them to mine. After a moment, he pokes his tongue out, caressing my lips with it before I open to him. Our tongues meet and his hand goes to my nape and we deepen our kiss. I can already feel moisture building below and he’s only just started kissing me. He rubs up my back under my shirt, sending goosebumps spreading across my body. His lips leave mine to trail kisses to my ear. He nibbles on my earlobe, his hands roaming over my bare skin. As he kisses his way down my neck, his hands make their way up my back to my bra, unhooking it and freeing my breasts.

“I love the way you smell and taste.”

He pulls my shirt over my head. I pull his shirt off at the same time because I want to feel my bare chest pressed to his. I press my lips to his chest and slowly lick and kiss my way toward his collarbone and up his neck. He moans, picking me up and carrying me the rest of the way to the bed. I hold on to his neck while he uses one hand to pull down the sheets before he lays me down. He kicks off his shoes and khakis, slipping in bed beside me.

“I think it’s time for dessert,” he whispers in my ear. He glides his hand up my leg over my hip, to my belly, and then up to my breast. He’s watching as my body reacts to his touch and a smile spreads across his face when he sees my nipples harden even more for him.

He lowers his lips to my nipple, suckling it in while his fingers continue to play with the other one. I moan in pleasure. He kisses across my cleavage to the other breast, paying that one a bit of attention before he licks and kisses his way straight down the middle of my body to the top of my leggings. He’s biting, licking, and kissing my hips as he lowers them. I help him get them off, because I’m getting impatient wanting to feel his lips on more of me.

He tosses them to the side and goes back to kissing and rubbing my legs, but he must be getting impatient too because suddenly his lips are on me. I shudder as his tongue finds my clit and he starts to lick it.

“Oh, Carter,” I moan because I love the way his mouth feels on me. He starts sucking on it and it nearly sends me over, but he senses it so he stops and sticks his tongue deep inside me, fucking me with it. As I’m getting close he again stops. “Carter, please don’t tease me.”

“What’s wrong? Do you want to come all over my tongue?”

I groan because I love that he can talk so dirty and I just nod in response.

“Say it, sweetie, tell me what you want.”