Chapter 102

We lie there, catching our breath, the energy from our bodies dissipating into the air.

“I love you too,” I whisper, kissing him once we’ve finished. I brush his damp hair off his forehead. He looks so beautiful afterward.

“Jesus, Alex. You’re too sexy for your own good, baby. I don’t last long with you,” he murmurs, kissing me and then my neck.

I wrap my arms around him, pulling our bodies closer. I smile and kiss his cheek, tasting his sweat.

“I can’t help it with you, Carter.” We touch noses, and I playfully bite his lip while he wraps his arms around my waist, pulling me closer.

Flipping me onto my back, he trails kisses down my front, taking my breasts in his mouth and hand, making them stand at attention.

“My turn,” his velvety voice makes me smile, and he positions me on all fours.

I’ve never done it like this before. The feel of his lips roaming down my back makes my butt arch even more.

Cupping my rear in his hands, he murmurs, “God, you have such a sexy ass, baby.” As he pulls my hips higher off the bed, he parts my legs for me. “Just like that,” he says, his hand tracing a path up my spine possessively.

“I’ve never done it from behind before, Knox.”

His groan sounds like he’s in pain, and he leans down to kiss my shoulder. “You’ll like it, I promise. I won’t hurt you, Alex.”

He kisses the same spot once more, then rolls another condom onto his still-hard length, discarding the used one.

Teasingly, he runs the tip of himself along my slit, then licks his hand and places it at my opening, gathering my wetness. He licks his fingers again, moaning at the taste of me.

Slowly, he inserts himself into me, and I feel him even more than when I was on top.

“Ohh!” I moan into the pillow, my hand gripping it tightly. I feel him slowly thrust deeper and deeper, his hand on my cheeks, guiding my hips to move back onto him.

“Damn, Alex, I love this view of you. Turn around and look at me, baby. I want to see your eyes.”

I turn to face him over my shoulder as he continues to thrust faster into me, his tip hitting my sweet spot over and over again.

“Does it feel good, baby doll?” He asks me breathlessly, slowing down just a fraction.

I nod, telling him it feels good—amazing, actually. Why haven’t I done it from behind before?

“Good. When you cum, it’ll feel even better,” he assures me, picking up his pace again. Oh god, I’m not going to last long in this position. And I don’t.

We spend the morning making love to each other over and over. Then we make love in the shower while cleaning ourselves. I love every second of it. We can’t keep our hands off each other.

He wants to feel me, and I want to feel every part of him. I’ve missed his touch, the way he makes me feel, the feeling of him inside me. I’ve missed the way he looks at me.

Slipping out of the shower, I grab my towel, and he leans over me to get his, kissing my lips lightly. He wraps the towel around his hips and stands there, staring at me.

Walking over to me, he rubs my arms with the towel to dry me off. I lean into his touch.

“I don’t know about you, baby doll, but I’m hungry!” He runs his hands down my body, cupping my butt once more. He can’t keep his hands off that area. I laugh at my thoughts.

“I’m hungry too,” I say, pecking his chest and letting my lips soak up the water droplets trickling down his skin. His wet hair makes him look so sexy.

We get dressed and make our way downstairs. Before entering the kitchen, he wraps both of his large arms around my shoulders, walking in sync with me from behind.

I push the door open and see our families gathered around the counter and table.

“Well, good afternoon to the happy couple!” Delilah beams over at the both of us, wrapped up in each other.

I smile at her and reach for the fruit bowl that’s sitting on the marbled counter. Taking two strawberries, I feed Knox one and eat the other.

“Hi, Mom,” he says, letting go of me to hug his mom. I lean on my elbows, watching him, continuing to eat the fruit. I see my mom across the way, smiling at me, and I feel my phone start to buzz in my back pocket.

Sam. I was supposed to call her back yesterday. Shit!

Swiping to answer the call, I get a scream in my ear, “SISSY! About time you answered your damn phone! I thought I was going to have to send smoke signals to you! Please tell me you two are together?!” She pleads down the line at me.

“No, Sam, we’re not together...” I try to tease her, earning a smirk from Knox. It’s too easy to wind up my sister.

“What?! Are you messing with me? He just confessed his love for you... ON NATIONAL TV! Alex, you better be kidding with me!!”

Her outrage makes me laugh, and she sighs out loud, “I hate you! But I’m glad you guys are together!” I can hear her sincerity over the phone.

“Oh, and Tyson says he knew it!” I roll my eyes, eating the pineapple in the bowl.

“Yes, we’re together. We’re official, actually. Tell Ty I knew he knew! What’s Hawaii like?” I ask her, steering the conversation to her and her new husband.

“Oh my god, Al! You would love it here! The water is amazing. And so are the views, if you know what I mean... what? Baby, I’m talking about you and your hot body! Don’t worry... you and other bodies...” she mumbles the last part, making me burst out laughing uncontrollably. People in the kitchen are sending me funny looks, and I sit up on the counter.

I feel the cold marble latch onto my skin, cooling down the hot and steamy fun we had upstairs.

“You’re married! You should only have eyes for your man, Sissy!” Seeing Knox make his way back around to me, he settles himself between my legs, staring at me.

With both hands on either side of me like he’s protecting me, I will always feel safe with him. I mean, he’s huge, in all aspects. But he’s like the big friendly giant with me.

“What, I can look? Just not touch... I’m kidding, babe! Kidding,” she says, and I hear her kiss Tyson, making me pull the phone away from my ear. I do not need to hear her kissing him. So gross.

“Is your man there?” She asks me, and I smile up at him. “Yes, my man is here,” I say, making him smile back. He starts to peck himself around my face, ending at my lips.

“Can I talk with him?”

I pass him the phone, saying, “She wants to talk to you.” His eyes widen and he clenches his jaw, making it look sharp.

The uneasy look on his face prompts me to stroke his chest, helping him to relax a bit.

“Another talk? I already had one with your brothers,” he groans. “Hey, Sam—” He pulls the phone away from his ear and I can faintly hear her screaming down the line at him.

Once the screaming stops, he puts the phone back to his ear and starts to laugh.

“Yup, I do love her... of course... yeah, yeah, I know. I will. Don’t worry... yep, I always will... yeah... alright, cool. I’ll see you both when you come back! Tell Ty I say he better be preseason ready when he comes back!”

Smiling at me, he leans in to kiss my head. I swing my legs, studying him and listening to his one-sided conversation. He hands me back the phone.

“Alex?” She asks me.

“Yup,” I pop my ‘P’ while kissing him. We just can’t stop ourselves.

“I’m happy for you both and I can’t wait to come home and see you both. But I’ve got to go and sun myself now. Bye, bitch! Love you! Oh, and tell Cole, Sasha, Jane, Max, Austin, Mom, and Ace they owe me money! They lost the bet!”

Her laugh is infectious. I laugh with her and squeal, “What bet?” But she hangs up before I can press her any further. I look at my screen to see it’s black. Damn her.

“Bet? What bet?” Knox asks me, and when I meet his eyes, I look over at his mother who is smiling at us.

Clapping her hands, she exclaims, “I forgot! We all made a bet if you would tell her before or after the wedding! Looks like some people need to pay up!”

She shouts the last part out for the people here. We both laugh and he throws his head back, looking heavenwards.

“Sometimes I wonder how we’re related to these people,” he says to the ceiling. I kiss his neck, making his head drop to kiss my cheek.

“I wonder that every single day,” I say, climbing down off the counter onto the tiles. I hear Boomer making a break for the back door and I realize I’ve been a bad owner this entire break down here.

He’s my dog, my buddy, and I walk out to follow him, sitting on the sofa. Knox sits beside me and I stand up to sit on his lap.

Bending my knees up to my chest and leaning sideways onto his chest, I tap my legs to allow Boomer up onto me.

“Hey, Boom. I miss you, buddy. I’m sorry Mama hasn’t been around for you much... she’s been... busy,” I say, looking at Knox who smiles awkwardly like he knows he’s to blame.

He pets Boomer on his head, making him close his eyes. He loves Knox, always has, from day one. It used to annoy me how much he loved him.

“Sorry, Boom, I promise we can share her from now on,” he says, kissing my cheek and making me look at him.

As we stare at each other, I run my hand through his hair, looking at his blue eyes dilating as they flicker from eye to eye. The smile he gives me melts my insides. I feel so content with him.

“Alright, alright, stop making googly eyes at each other, it’s fucking weird,” Kyle steps outside to greet us, followed by Andy a few moments later.

“Poor Boomer, he’s probably silently vomiting at the sight of you two!”

I send my brother a deadpan look and Andy slaps him on the chest, getting his attention.

“I think it’s cute!” She winks at me and climbs up onto my brother. He wraps his big arms around her, just like what Knox is doing to me, and we all embrace our surroundings.

It finally hits me how happy I truly am. The excitement rips through my body whenever I think of yesterday. Thinking of him announcing to everyone that he loves me.

Him telling me at the lighthouse, watching his features. It’s an image I will never want to remove from my brain.

I feel his warm hand start to stroke the outside of my leg in a comforting way. Seeing Andy draped in Kyle’s old football jersey makes me smile.

“I’ve always wanted a jersey with Thompson on the back and thirteen on it too,” I say to nobody in particular, eyeing the horizon out in front of us.

“You have Carter and thirteen on the back, that is not close enough for you?” He teases me, making me giggle.

I wrap my arm around his neck, leaning my head on his muscular shoulder. Allowing my body to relax on him. He can take my weight.

“It is, I love wearing it. But I used to want a Birthday jersey,” I say.

He sends me a quizzical look and I explain to him, “I used to pretend that when I wore this, the thirteen would be for the day I was born, and then I decided I wanted my name on the back.”

Rubbing my thumb across his jaw, his eyes are glued to the ocean displayed in front of us, contemplating my thoughts.

“Well, the whole reason why I chose that number was because of the day you were born. You’re my lucky charm, baby doll. You always have been.

I used to be eleven. Then I found out you were born on the thirteenth of July, and I changed my number to that. Since then, it stuck with me, so I would think of you as always with me when I played.”

Averting his gaze to meet mine, I sit up looking at him incredulously. Did he just say that? Did he just tell me the number on his jersey was because I was born?

“W-What? Are... Are you serious?” Staring at him, his head begins to gesture that he’s telling the truth. I continue to gaze at him in awe that he did that for me before any of this happened.

“Really?” Kyle asks with a hint of wariness in his tone. Knox turns his head to face him with a beaming smile.

“Yeah... I chose thirteen because of her. Only you could make that number lucky for me. I chose it and never regretted changing it. I wear it for you, baby doll.”

As he turned to face me once more, I felt my insides turn to mush, yet I was frozen in place. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

“That’s the most romantic thing anyone has ever done for me...” I heard a sniffle from across the room and whipped my head around, expecting to see Kyle, but it was Andy. She was crying, a smile on her face.

“That has to be the cutest thing I’ve ever witnessed. It’s like watching the fucking Titanic all over again... I can’t with the two of you.”

She waved her hand in front of her face, trying to fan away her tears, which only made us laugh. Kyle wrapped his arms around her until she stopped crying. Andy was a hopeless romantic at heart. She always had been. I admired that about her, even though I wasn’t much of a romantic myself. But with the right person, I supposed it could be romantic.

Later that day, we all headed down to the beach to soak up the last of the summer sun. It had been both the best and worst summer of my life, but in that moment, surrounded by the people I considered family and friends, I felt nothing but happiness.