Happily Never After

Chapter 20

As I open the bedroom door, my eyes fall to the lonely figure that's standing looking out the window. I close the door over and slowly move towards him.

Nothing had changed since the last time I was in the bedroom. The only thing was, the bed was neatly made and everything looked tidier and in its rightful place.

"Carter," I breathe and come to a stop halfway into the room.

He turns slightly to look back at me before returning to look out the window.

"Let me guess, my mother sent you up here." He scoffs. "Typical woman. She can't even come up and check on me herself. Always sends someone else up to do her job."

"Actually, she sent me up here because it'll, technically, become my job when I marry you."

"Sarah..."

"A part of me also wanted to come and see if you were okay. Not because your mum told me to go after you but because I wanted too."

I watch his shoulders go up slightly and come back down before I start walking towards him again.

"You need to break your walls down like you did with her," I start, getting closer to him with every step I take. "You need to trust me."

"I do trust you," he expresses.

I walk round to stand in front him and look at his face. His eyes are now closed and his breathing is coming out slowly. I place my right hand on his left arm and squeeze it slightly, causing him to open his eyes and look at me.

"But?" I draw out, almost begging him to go on.

"But I can't," he sighs.

"That's not an answer. It's just an excuse."

"It's the best answer I can give you right now."

"Stop playing games, Carter, and just tell me the right answer."

He raises his left hand to my face, breaking the hold I had on him, and caresses my cheek ever so slightly.

"I like it when you become feisty. It's a good look for you," he smirks. I tilt my head to the side, unimpressed by his comment. "But I can't let myself become hurt again. Once was enough."

"And you think I won't get hurt?" I stumble back from his touch. "Life is about taking chances, Carter. Sometimes we get hurt but we pick ourselves up from it and get on with our lives."

"I can't take that chance. It took me months, almost years, to get back to my normal self after Kathy left."

"I'm not like her. I'm not after you for your money or your name."

"I know you're not," he sighs.

"Then let me in, Carter. Break your walls down and let me in before they become so high that no one can get through."

He eyes me like I've just hit him but I know he's taking my words in and trying to process them. If we're to be married for the sake of him keeping his company, he'll have to tell me everything about him. The good and the bad. Just like I will have to tell him everything about me.

"You won't like what I tell you," he explains.

"And you won't like what I tell you about me but we have to know everything about each other. If we don't, we can be caught out by someone who asks."

"Where has your feisty side come from all of a sudden, Sarah?" Carter asks, trying to change the subject.

"It comes out when I have prick standing in front of me," I answer loudly.

"Is that-" He starts but stops suddenly, the look on his face changing.

The cockiness he had on his face, faded away and left him with a puzzled, yet concentrating, look. He steps closer to me, breaking the distance I put between us. His eyes narrow as he looks out the window behind me before his head slightly tilts to the side. What hell is wrong with him?

I watch Carter more closely now, his eyes focusing more on something that was happening outside in his back garden. His face gives nothing away other than trying to figure something out. He shuffles to the side slightly and grips the material of his curtains and pulls it closed just a fraction.

"What ar-" I start, turning to look out the window.

He grabs my arms and makes me look at him before I get the chance to actually look out the window.

I look up at him in shock and confusion. "Carter..."

His fingers flex over my arms before he whispers, "Don't look round."

"What are you talking about?" Irritation appearing in my voice.

"Sarah...trust me."

"Carter, you're starting to scare me. What's-"

His grip on my arms tighten and his gaze falls down to meet mine. "Don't take what I'm about to do, the wrong way."

Uncertainly consumes me before he takes it away with a single kiss. My hands grip his wrists before he lets my arms go and holds me to his body by my waist. My hands fall away from his wrists and move to link together round his neck.

He forcefully pulls me against his body, causing me to moan with the force. He breaks the kiss and moves his lips to my neck. My hands unclasp from their hold around his neck and clutch onto the collar of the shirt he's wearing that became more available to me with his head bent. I tilt my head back slightly and moan into his touch.

"Sarah," Carter whispers between kisses on my neck. "I need you...to give yourself...to me...we're being watched."

"Be more specific," I moan, now digging my nails into his neck.

His hands move from my waist, to my back as I arch my body into his. "Someone's trespassing on the property."

My eyes shoot open and carter turns me in his arms so I'm now facing the window. I place my hands on the cold glass of the window and bow my head slightly so I can look out the window.

Sure enough, in the far away corner of the garden, hidden behind a row of dark green bushes, there was someone standing head-to-toe in back. They didn't move or seem fazed by what they were seeing. I think they were trying to see if what we were doing, was real or just a game.

To show them how real it was, Carter's hands moved from where they lay on my stomach, to the hem of the jumper and vest top I wore. Gripping both in one hand, he began to pull it up so his free hand could rest on my bare skin.

I lean back against him and tilt my head back which gave him his queue to start kissing my neck again.

"What if they don't leave?" I half moan.

Carter expertly bites my neck and soothes it with a kiss. "We move to the bed and hope for the best."

I grip his hand that's firmly placed on my stomach and turn away from the window. I smirk up at Carter who lets go of my jumper and top before pulling him over to the bed to continue what was started in front of our spectator.