it’s you, my girl, who had so much more to lose if we couldn’t afford to protect and keep you from him. We thought the cove was our solution.”
“We were wrong,” Mom said clearly. “And we knew it before all of this happened. Our job wasn’t only to protect you, but to see you happy. This is your life, Belle, and you deserve to run into your soulmate outside an ice cream parlor. Spend your years building a life, a friendship, and a family.” She stroked my cheek, wiping away the wetness. “Get married or don’t get married. Go to Parsons or London. The choice is yours. Please, forgive us for trying to take it away from you.”
“You don’t have to apologize, Mom.” I squeezed their hands tight. “Everything you do is because you love me.”
THE TELEVISION PLAYED on low, showing an episode of Psych I’d seen a million times before, but I let it play anyway. I could use a laugh. Didn’t matter where it came from.
This was my last night in the hospital. The doctor swore my parents could take me home the next day, and they left to prepare to do just that.
A creak echoed in the room. “Belle? You up?”
I raised my head. “Carter? What’s wrong?” I asked as he padded to me, holding his hospital gown closed. “Is everything okay?”
“It will be.” Carter leaned over me and brushed his lips down my forehead, nose, and finally, on my mouth. I melted into the kiss.
“You’re right,” I whispered. “Everything is okay now.”
“Can I ask you something?”
“Of course.”
“After the summer,” he said. “Can we have it now?”
A smile stretched across my lips. “You can have winter, spring, fall, and all the summers to come, Carter Knight. I love you.”
“I love you too, barnacle.”
I laughed. “That will not be our pet name.”
“Can I ask you something else? How are you feeling?”
“A bit sore, but I’ll be okay. The doctor says a few weeks and I’ll be on my feet.”
He nodded as he stepped back. The mattress shook as he pressed on it. “And the bed... is it sturdy?”
My mouth fell open. “Oh my gosh. You’re trying to get some in a hospital?” I cried.
He held up a condom. “Guilty as charged.”
“Carter!”
His grin could only be described as wolfish. “This is the part where I’m supposed to feel ashamed, but really, I feel like the stubborn idiot everyone calls me. We had so many perfect nights on the beach, and I turned you down because I didn’t want them to end.”
He rubbed his bandaged shoulder. “Well, they almost did. A few inches lower and I would have died without ever being with you. I’m not making that mistake again. I’m taking this stupid gown off, climbing in that bed, and having my way with you. Do you have objections?”
I giggled, thinking of the night I said much the same. “I do not have objections.”
“Good.” The gown was off in a flash and the gorgeous, naked king of the sea stood in all his glory, unmarred by injuries. On the contrary, he looked like a warrior fresh from battle.
I pulled him down, caressed his mouth with my tongue and then plunged inside. “You’re my warrior,” I murmured as we broke apart. “My knight.”
“What should I be careful of?” He climbed on my bed—hands and legs on either side of me.
“Making me come so hard I crack a rib.”
He hissed. “Damn. This is going to be rough for you, then.”
Carter swallowed my laugh. Lips connected, he pushed my gown up to my chin and made short work of my underwear.
Kisses dotted a path between my breasts, gentle as they passed over my stomach.
Excitement thrummed beneath my skin. I’d been waiting for this for so long. Carter forgiving me. Loving me. Making me his.
Both of us banged up in a hospital didn’t enter the picture I had, but our love story had been a wild roller coaster. This was almost fitting.
I sucked in a sharp breath as he tasted me. “I’m going slow.” His husky drawl tightened my lower belly. “Taking my time. Any objections to that?”
“There will be no objections for the rest of the night,” I said quickly. “That is blanket permission to have your way with me.”
He chuckled, and was still chuckling as he entered my folds, sending sweet vibrations through my body.
I fisted the sheets, head falling back as he kept to his word. Licking, tasting, and rolling his tongue through every inch of me. I’d never been