I carry her over to the bed and lie down with her. I start kissing her all over her neck. I need to stop this. She isn’t ready, my family is down the hall, and I already have a major case of blue balls. “Hey, where did this crazy girl come from?”
She looks up at me and smiles. She is adorable. “I’ve never felt so cared for by anyone, Carter. I always shy away from people because I assume all they’ll do is hurt me. I’ve been so scared to let someone touch me ever since I was a kid but, with you, everything just feels right. You make me feel like it’s enough to just be who I am.”
I don’t know what to say to her. I am so glad that I affected her that way. “It is enough to be who you are. I want you to feel safe with me. I’m not going to judge you or try to change you.”
She wraps her arms around me and we just lie there for a while.
“Hey, I have one more thing to give you.”
She looks up at me. “Carter, you’ve already done so much.”
“The day isn’t over yet, baby. We’re going out tonight.”
“We are? Where?”
“It’s a surprise. Speaking of surprises, wait one minute.” This was the gift I was most anxious to give her, but I wanted to do it in private. I took the velvet box in my hand and went to sit back down on the bed. When she saw the box in my hand, I swear she almost had a heart attack. “Calm down. I’m not proposing.” I handed her the box. “Open it.”
When she did, she gasped and put her hand over her mouth. I took it from her and lifted it out of the box.
I move behind her and fasten the necklace around her neck. It was a white gold chain with a double heart pendant. “Carter, it’s beautiful.”
“The guy at the store said it’s a symbol for two people in love. They are two hearts that will forever be intertwined.”
“I love it.”
I love you. I couldn’t bring myself to say it to her, although I wanted to. I didn’t think she was ready to hear it yet, even though she said it to me last night in her sleep.
We spend the rest of the day watching movies and talking in my room. Once it gets a little later, I tell her we have reservations for dinner and she starts to get ready. When she comes out of the room, she has on the new pair of jeans, one of the shirts, and the jacket that Holly got her. She looks beautiful, and I am excited to finally be able to take her out.
Chapter Eighteen
Madison
Carter looks sexy! He has on a black button up shirt, jeans that hang just low enough on his hips, and that smirk that made me want to drag him back to his room.
“I’m ready to go,” I say, trying to contain the high level of excitement running through me.
He walks over to me and gives me a kiss on the lips. “You’re so beautiful.” I can’t help but blush. “Are you excited?”
“Yes, I haven’t been out to dinner in a really long time.” He frowned when I said that. I never really knew how bad I had it with Chris until Carter came into my life. He took my hand and we started to leave.
We pull up to the restaurant and he leads me inside. He gives the hostess his name and she smiles at him. She leads us to a booth in the back of the restaurant, gives us our menus and then leaves, but not before she slips Carter a piece of paper. What the hell is that?
He looks down at it, laughs and throws it on the floor under the booth. He looks up at me and sees that I am watching him expectantly.
“Yes, she gave me her number. As you can see, I put it where it belongs. I’d say that your number is the only one I want, but you don’t have a phone.”
I shake my head at him and then open the menu. Wow. Everything is so expensive! “Carter,” I whisper, “it is really expensive in here. Are you sure about this?”
He laughs at me. “Maddy, I work four nights a week and I make pretty good money. Order whatever you want, okay?”
“Okay. I’ve never been anywhere nearly as nice as this. Chris and I only went out to dinner once and it was to this place called Chili’s...and he had me order from the two-for-twenty menu.” I see him clench his jaw. I should really stop bringing him up. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you.”
“It’s okay. I’m not upset with you. I just hate how he treats you.” Since the booth is a semi-circle, he is able to scoot over toward me. He leans in and gives me a quick kiss. “You deserve the world, baby, and I want to help give it to you if you’ll let me.”
The waitress comes and takes our orders, and then it was just us. What was going to happen when we went back to school? I wasn’t sure I’d get the answer I wanted, but I needed to ask. “Can I ask you a question?”
“Sure.”
“What’s going to happen when we go back?” I was crossing my fingers that he wanted to be with me as much as I wanted him to.
“That’s up to you, Maddy.”
Why is it up to me? I mean, a relationship is a choice that two people are supposed to make together. I hope he is not gonna slip in some condition for us being together. “What do you mean?”
“You have all the power in this situation. I want to be with you, I want to have you by my side, and I want to wake up to you in my bed. As long as you’re willing to break it off with Chris, though. I can’t be your secret.” He stares into my eyes as he says this and his voice is soft.
I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding. I hated that I had tried to keep him a secret. He is so much more than that. I know it hurt him that I did that, and I am surprised he even went along with it at all. I never really understood why he waited for me, either. It wasn’t like he was in short supply of available girls. I saw the way they all looked at him.
He didn’t want them, though, he wanted me. “I don’t want you to be my secret, Carter. Would you be willing to give me a couple days when we get back, though?” I don’t know how he is going to take this. “Chris can be…temperamental. I just want a couple days to tell him and make him understand it’s over.”
“Maddy, I need you to tell me the truth about what’s going on with you and him.”
Did he really want to have this talk now? I’m not ready to tell him everything. I’ve been letting him in little by little, but it was going to take time. “Carter, can we have this talk later? I really don’t want to ruin the night.”
He frowns, but seems to understand. “Okay, just as long as you’ll tell me eventually.” An awkward silence forms between us. “You know, that necklace is beautiful. Someone with really good taste must have picked it out.”
I couldn’t help but giggle at that. “Someone really important gave it to me.” He leans in to give me another kiss just as the waitress is bringing our food.
Dinner is amazing and when Carter said we weren’t done yet, I didn’t know what to expect. As we were driving, he turned to me and asked, “Have you ever been dancing? Like at a club?”
I wouldn’t even begin to know how to dance. Sure, I’ve seen plenty of other girls do it, but that didn’t mean I had the slightest idea how. “No.”
“Good. I believe that’s another first, Miss Stevens.” He stops the car and we are in front of a place called Midnight. Oh my god. It was a club! I am going to make an idiot out of myself.
We walk into the club and, instantly, I feel out of place. He leans close to my ear. “Do you want a drink?”
“No, I think I’ve had enough firsts tonight.”
“You’ve never had a drink?” I shook my head. “Well, that will be a first I’ll definitely enjoy giving you.”
Just then, a slower song came on which, I was guessing, didn’t happen a lot. Most people started to leave the dance floor so only the couples were left. He grabs my hand and leads me onto the dance floor. I recognize the song as Pink’s “Just Give Me a Reason.” He puts my arms around his neck and starts swaying me back and forth. I can handle this. As I am listening to the song, I realize how much the chorus relates to me. She is talking about being broken, but being able to pick up the pieces and start again. That is exactly what I wanted to do with Carter.