40
I WILL SURVIVE
Carter
OLIVIA’S LATE, BUT THAT’S NOTHING new. I don’t mind, except I’m terried her niece and nephew will show up for this sleepover before she gets home. I think I can handle Alannah on my own for a bit, but Jem? He, like… requires a responsible adult. I’m a man of many talents, it’s true, but responsible rarely makes that list.
I put the nishing touches on the movie fort and check my phone again. No response from Olivia, and the kids are being dropped o in an hour.
Have I mentioned I’ve never babysat before?
I dial Olivia’s number, hand on my hip, foot tapping until I inevitably get her voicemail.
She should’ve been here an hour ago, and I can’t get ahold of her. I try to convince myself it’s my controlling streak, but the last time I couldn’t get ahold of someone, he was lying dead on the side of the road. Grief does all kinds of fucked-up shit to you, like pushing you past the point of panic when your loved ones are unreachable.
I call two more times in quick succession, and Olivia answers on the last ring, breathless. “Hello?”
The pain in my chest collapses, but my words come out harsher than I mean them to. “Where are you? Why weren’t you answering?”
“I… I’m sorry, Carter.”
The surprise in her tone, the wave of hurt at mine, tells me to take a deep breath and try again. “Are you okay?”
“I’m ne.” She sighs, grunts, and I think I hear… kicking? Punching?
“Stupid… fucking… snow… fucking Canadian winter… piece of crap… car!”
I swallow my laugh. It’s the second day of March. That normally means the arrival of spring, but this winter from hell means we had a snowstorm yesterday.
Olivia drives an old Toyota Corolla, and her snow tires are eight years old.
“Where are you, Ol?” It’s easier to beat around the bush sometimes than to come right out and ask her what you really want to know, which, right now, is whether she’s gotten herself stuck in the snow.
“Down the road from the school,” Olivia grumbles.
“Uh-huh. And why’s that? School nished at two thirty. It’s four.”
“I’m stuck,” she mumbles.
“You’re what?”
“Stuck.”
“Say it again, princess. Can’t quite hear you over the roar of the replace.” If I push her buttons right, we can have a quick round of steamy, angry sex with Olivia pushed up against the wall before the kids get here.
Olivia’s still swearing at me as I settle into my truck and start backing out of the garage.
“Are you coming to get me?” she asks quietly as my phone connects to my speakers.
“Uh-huh. Which I could’ve done an hour ago if you’d called me when you rst got yourself stuck.”
“I didn’t—it wasn’t—you—ugh!” She hus. “I’ll be waiting on the side of the road, halfway in the ditch.”
That’s pretty much exactly where I nd her. There’s only a foot, maybe, but it’s that heavy, wet snow, the kind that doesn’t want to move, which means the way she’s trying to kick it away from her tires is futile. Her body sags when she sees me, and when she does this dramatic half sprawl over the hood of her car, I love her more than I ever thought possible.
“Well, well, well. Who could have ever predicted little ol’ Red wouldn’t make it in all this snow?”
“I have snow tires!”
“Hate to break it to you, sweetheart, but when your snow tires have no tread left on them, they’re not gonna do their job.”
She hus but doesn’t reply, choosing to pin her arms across her chest and frown. Her toque slips down her forehead, and she couldn’t look more bothered about shifting it out of her eyes to keep scowling at me, my erce girl.
“You can’t drive this piece of sh—” I halt, catching the slow rise of her dark brows, waiting for me to nish that word I started. “Ssshhhiny red metal. It’s not built for Canadian winters.”
Olivia throws both arms in the air. The oppy puppy ear mittens make the gesture more cute than scary. “Well, excuse me for not having seven cars to
choose from!”
“Five,” I murmur.
“What?”
“I only have ve cars.”
Mocha eyes do an exasperated roll. “That’s still four more than the average human. But, oh wait, I forgot—Carter Beckett is anything but average!” Her arms are in the air again, and my teeth press into my bottom lip to keep my smile from turning into a full-blown, shit-eating grin.
“Snarky girls get put on time-out.”
All that frustration evaporates, replaced with laughter. Shuing slowly through the snow, Olivia reaches me and wraps her arms around my middle, chin on my chest as she smiles up at me. “I’m sorry. All ve of your cars are pretty, and I love that you’re anything but ordinary.”
“Mmm.” I rock her side to side, hands on her ass. “Would you say I’m superhuman? Your very own superman, perhaps?”
Gripping the collar of my coat, she hauls me down to her, lips brushing mine.
“Keep talking, big man. See where that gets you.”
“I know exactly where it’ll get me—between your luscious thighs.” I kiss her nose. “I’m sorry I was upset on the phone earlier, Ollie. I was worried something happened to you, and I let it get the best of me.” My thumb brushes over the crease in her forehead, hoping to smooth it right o. When that doesn’t work, I
kiss the spot and try for humor. “Guess I’m not as perfect as you always say I am.”
Olivia takes my face in her hands. “You’re perfectly awed, and I’m going to love you through all your faults, because you love me through mine.”
“I fucking love you.” I clap a hand to her ass and give her a gentle shove toward the truck. “All right. Follow behind me. I’m parking this thing in my garage ’til the snow is gone.”
“But I—I can’t… I’ve never driven a truck.”
“She’s real gentle. Promise.”
Olivia looks up at the daunting task before her: climbing up. “I don’t think I can… Carter, I don’t think I can reach. I have little legs.”
“Powerful little legs.” I scoot behind her, crossing my arms as I gesture to the seat with the ick of my head. “Come on. Let’s see you work for it.”
It’s amusing. Highly amusing. I start reaching for my phone in my pocket, because I know a few people who would get a kick out of this.
“Don’t even think about it,” she growls without looking at me. Damn teachers with their eyes everywhere.
With a grunt, Olivia throws herself at the seat, feet dangling o the ground and ass in the air as she clutches the center console and starts dragging herself up.
Chuckling, I put her out of her misery, boosting her the rest of the way.
Grabbing the shovel out of the truck bed, I make my way back to her car, digging her tires out. She’s gotten herself stuck pretty damn good, and it takes me a few minutes of rocking the car back and forth before it wants to move.
I hit Olivia with two thumbs up, then climb into her car. It’s way too small for me and my knees hit the steering wheel.
It takes me all of one minute to realize she’s one of those people who are anxious about driving in the snow, so I drive three miles under the speed limit the entire way back to my place just to placate her.
She follows me into the garage and hops down from the front seat with an oomph. “That wasn’t so bad.”
“New snow tires next winter.” I slip the truck keys on her ring. “Or an entirely new car.” Birthday present? Maybe. I’ll have to work her up to a gift that size.
“What are you doing?”
“Adding the truck keys to your key ring?” I arch a brow and hang them up, opening the door to the house. Olivia doesn’t budge.
“I can see that. But why?”
“So you can get around safely in the snow.” I gesture toward the doorway again.
“Carter, I can’t drive your truck every day.”
“Sure you can. I have ve cars, remember? Don’t need this one right now.” I
tap her nose. “But you do.”
“But-but—”
“I do love your butt-butt.”
Back go the arms across her chest. “Carter.”
“Olivia. We’re arguing over something pointless. Your car is giving you trouble and I’d worry less about you if I knew your tires weren’t spinning while I’m thousands of miles away. Please, just use it. At least until the snow is gone.”
Taking her hand, I haul her back to the truck. “And, look!” I press a button on the inside of the door and a side step appears.
Olivia’s jaw drops. “There was a step this whole time? And you made me climb in?”
“It was fun to watch. Plus, I got to touch your butt.”
Her little st pummels into my shoulder. “You’re a jerk.”
“A perfectly awed, superhuman jerk.”
Her nose scrunches as she tries—and fails—not to grin. “I love you.”
I wind my arm around her waist and kiss her cheek. “I love you too, pumpkin.”
Olivia heads upstairs to get changed, and I start on the Oreo brownies I promised Alannah. My mom invented this recipe for my twelfth birthday. The bottom layer is cookie dough, and I accidentally eat a few spoonfuls while I
smoosh it into the pan. Oops.
“Carter!”
I smile to myself. I’m 100 percent sure what Olivia’s hollering about up there, so I know a little attery will go a long way. “Yes, my darling?”
“Get up here!”
I head up the stairs, trying to contain myself, and when I enter the bedroom, Olivia’s waiting, sts on her hips, foot tapping.
She gestures at the large canvas hanging above the replace. “What is that?”
I examine the print, sucking my lower lip into my mouth, gaze following the lines of Olivia’s bare shoulders, the droplets of water that cling to her back in the glow of the re she sits in front of, though I had the picture printed in black and
white. “Art.”
“Art?”
“Yeah. Art.”
Her hands y around her head. She’s so expressive when she talks. “It’s not art! It’s a picture of me reading! Naked!”
“Correct.” I tap her nose for at least the third time in the last half hour, ’cause it’s just so cute. “Art. And besides, all you can see is your back.”
My gaze coasts down her body, heating on the way. She’s in only a T-shirt and panties, so I do what any man would do: push her up against the wall, my hand on her throat.
“I like having you on my wall. I’d print every damn picture of you and cover every inch of this house with your body if it was acceptable, but it’s not, and you might rip o my balls, and I like them right where they are.”
“Between your legs?” She gasps as I dip my ngers into her panties, admiring how wet she is.
“Yes, but preferably slapping against your ass.”
“Carter.” Another gasp, this one with a hint of disbelief. The disbelief at my words will wane with time.
“You’re always wet for me when you’re pretending to be angry.”
“I’m… not… pretending,” she chokes out, nails biting into my shoulders as I
sink two ngers inside her.
“Is that right?”
Hazel eyes stare up at me as she pants, grinding against my palm. That pink tongue wets her bottom lip before she gives me a curt nod, so I smile and pull my ngers from her sopping warmth.
Her jaw drops. “Carter. No. What are you—”
The doorbell rings and I suck my ngers into my mouth, licking her o me before I clap a hand to her ass. “Come on. The kids are here.”
Once I’m washed up and Olivia is fully clothed—and more pissed than ever —I throw open the front door.
“Carter!” Alannah ings her bag to the oor and wraps herself around me.
I barely see Jem before Jeremy is shoving him into my arms.
“Would you quit shoving our son o like you can’t wait to get rid of him?”
Kristin scolds.
“He wanted to see his uncle Carter.” He smirks as he says the name, but the joke’s on him; I secretly like it.
Olivia takes Jem, kissing every inch of his face and making me smile.
“Carter.” Alannah winks, holding up a bag lled with all the xings for her pancakes. “I got the stu.”
“Right on, dude. You didn’t have to bring it all, though.”
“Pt. It’s no big deal, dude.”
I sweep my arms up the stairs. “To your room, milady?”
She dashes ahead of me, opping onto the bed in the room I’ve directed her to. “Whoa! This thing is huge! Oh my God! I have my own bathroom!”
She rushes from room to room, and when she reaches for my bedroom door, Olivia throws herself in front of it with a nervous giggle.
“Um, maybe not this one.”
Jeremy’s eyes narrow before he brushes past her and into the room. “Whoa.”
His hands dust over the stone replace before he sticks his head in the bathroom, jaw dropping. Crossing the room, he throws open the balcony doors.
“Goddamn replace on the goddamn balcony.”
“Two dollars for the swear jar, Daddy!” Alannah curls her ngers into her palm. “Pay up, buddy!”
He swats her hand away and makes his way back inside, eyes full of wonder.
They stop on the picture of Olivia, and she whips open my underwear drawer, busying herself with ung my… underwear.
“Ollie,” Kristin murmurs. “Is this you? It’s stunning.”
“What? Oh. That. Um… no.”
Jeremy’s eyes screw shut and he gags. “Gross.”
Olivia punches him in the arm, tells him to shut up, and storms from the room.
I grin, tucking my hands in my pockets. “Charming, ain’t she?”
“WHAT MOVIE NEXT? CAN I stay up past my bedtime?”
Next movie? We’ve already watched two. This girl is a ball of fucking re.
I op my head over my shoulder, pouting at Olivia. “I’m so tired.”
She runs her ngers through Jem’s uy hair as he drools on her shirt. “I warned you.”
“You’re tired?” Alannah asks. She’s got chocolate smeared in the corner of her mouth. Saving it for later is what she said when Olivia pointed it out. “You wanna take a dance break? Get our energy back up? Come on, big boy, you’re supposed to be t and healthy.”
I thought I was, until kids. Christ, kids are exhausting. Cute, fun, exhausting.
Clearing a space for an impromptu dance party, I turn on Just Dance and consider that I might actually be too tired to have sex with my girlfriend later tonight. The thought makes me frown, and Olivia’s lips nd the corner of my mouth.
“She’ll be out within twenty minutes of the next movie. Promise.”
I spin Alannah around the living room while Olivia twists and dips a giggling Jem, before taking him upstairs to bed.
When Alannah collapses on the oor, I throw her the remote. “Pick the next movie. I’m gonna go check on Auntie Ollie and Jem.”
Upstairs, I lean against the door frame, watching as Olivia sings softly to Jem, hips swaying in the moonlight as she holds him, looking out the windows at all the stars. With a soft sigh, she kisses his forehead and lays him down in the
playpen.
“I love you, Jemmy,” she whispers.
I catch her around the waist, and her breath snags in her throat, nails biting into my biceps.
“Carter,” she breathes into the dark. “I didn’t see you.”
“But I saw you. And I love you, so fucking much.”
I hold her close for a minute, reveling the peace having her in my arms brings me, my own slice of heaven.
Downstairs, we nd Alannah lounging in the middle of the fort, munching on pizza.
“I picked Inside Out. The girl plays hockey! There’s never any movies about girls playing hockey.” She rests her head on my shoulder with a happy sigh when I lie down beside her, and laces her ngers through Olivia’s.
And Olivia’s right, as she often is. Alannah’s out cold fteen minutes into the movie. We give her another fteen, to be sure, before I haul her into my arms and upstairs.
“Carter?” Her bleary eyes utter slowly when I tuck her in. “This was the best ever slumber party.” She hugs me close. “I love you, dude.”
My chest tightens. “I love you, too, little dude.”
She waves at Olivia across the room. “Night, Auntie Ollie. I love you.”
“Love you, too, erce girl.”
My shoulders sag with relief when the door clicks closed behind me. “I did it.
I survived my rst sleepover.”
“Oh, you sweet, naïve fool. It’s not over ’til they’re gone.” She slings her arms around my neck. “You’re not too tired to fuck your girlfriend, are you?”
“Well, I—” My words die a gurgle as her palm closes over my cock, and he rockets to attention. I toss Olivia over my shoulder, dashing down the hall.
“The sword of thunder is never too tired.”
