Forever My Soldier (Love Conquers Life Book 3) (10 page)

I bite my lip. “Twice, huh?”

“Oh yeah. Next time they’ll be up by my ears,” he says as he zips the back of my dress for me. He quickly dresses and knots his tie. Fifteen minutes later, we go into the living room and the phone starts ringing. Darryl is on the other end, and he lets us know our limo is here. Carter slips his earplugs in his pocket as I slip on my coat and we’re off.

As usual the limo driver is standing outside the car, waiting for us. As we approach, he opens the door so we can slip in. I take a deep breath and start to think about what exactly I’m going to say to the media when we arrive. Maybe they’ve forgotten about Ben, and I won’t have to say anything. I take another deep breath because I know full well that isn’t going to happen.

“What’s wrong, baby? Are you nervous?”

“Yeah, I’m trying to figure out how to approach the subject of the new book.” I feel a smile spread across my face, and that’s when it dawns on me.

“You’re good now, aren’t you?” Carter says as he lifts my chin.

“I am,” I say, excited to get this over with.

“Good. Remember, I’ll be by your side the entire time.”

A few minutes later, we pull up to the fashion show and the driver lets us know we’re third in line to be let out at the red carpet.

“Here we go,” I say to Carter as he puts his earplugs in. He really likes these earplugs because they dull the noise, but he can still hear me. Our car comes to a stop, and we hear the driver climb out. Once the door opens, Carter slides out and then takes my hand to help me.

As soon as I’m out of the car, the cameras start flashing and the questions are flying at me. I put my hand up to silence them, and as soon as I have their attention, I say, “How about we talk about something people really want to know about, like the release of my next book.” I see some smiles spreading across their faces. “You’re the first to hear that the book is complete and in the hands of my publisher. Although I cannot give you an exact release date, I can tell you it will be
the
book to read this Valentine’s Day.” The media is going crazy with questions, trying to find out more about the book. “If you’ll excuse me, as you all know Bella Campbell is participating in this fashion show and I’d rather not be late.”

I let them take a few more pictures of Carter and I posing, and then we walk into the building to find our seats. My mother and Richard are already inside and seated as well as Derek and my father.

I give my father a warm hug. “Hi, Daddy.”

“You look gorgeous,” he says as he returns the hug.

We take our seats as the lights dim, indicating that the show is about to begin. An announcer comes out to discuss the evening and the designers that are here as well as the models that are going to appear. A few minutes later, the music starts and the first model walks out on the stage. She’s wearing some really ugly evening apparel that neither Bella nor I would be caught dead in, but she’s beautiful and wears it with pride. Next out is Bella wearing her first evening gown. It’s a gorgeous floor length gown with beautiful sparkles throughout. The bust line is very low cut and sexy, but she wears it well. She’s stunning. People are clapping and whistling as she walks the runway. I’m so proud of her. This has been her dream, and despite the lack of support from her parents, she’s chased it and made it happen.

We watch as a few more people take the stage and then Bella appears for a second time wearing a casual summer dress. It’s fun, flirty, and it’s perfect for her. As she gets to the end of the runway, we hear, “You’re beautiful, Bella!”

We all look at Derek, and he shrugs his shoulders. The last few girls make their way down the runway as more clapping takes place. Then the music dies down a bit, and they announce that one last outfit will be shown and that it will be worn by Bella. She takes the stage one last time as they talk about the outfit and the designer who made it. She approaches the end of the runway and a single rose is tossed on stage. Bella playfully picks it up, and as she makes her way off stage again, the same voice shouts, “I love you, Bella!”

I look at Derek, who’s now getting pissed because she clearly has an admirer that I’m not sure Bella knew about. As soon as she’s off stage, the lights come back up and the audience starts talking about the night. It’s quite loud, so we decide to make our way into the other room where hot appetizers are being served with wine, cheese, crackers, and fruit. As soon as we have a glass of wine in hand, the guys make their way to the bar for a scotch on the rocks. I make a note that Carter is drinking, which I’m fine with, but I’ll watch to see how much he drinks.

As they’re returning, Derek pulls his phone from his inner pocket.

“Here, watch this.” He hands his drink to Carter. “That was Bella. She wants me to meet her at the stage.” He wanders off to find his girl.

When they get back a few minutes later, she’s visibly shaking.

“Bella, what’s wrong?” I ask, concerned.

“That creep from the audience freaked me out. He had a note attached to the rose he threw, and when I got backstage it said something about loving me and holding out hope that I’ll one day be his.”

Derek wraps his arm around her. “It’s okay, babe. I promise I won’t allow him anywhere near you.” Derek and Carter are both in military mode as they scan the crowd for anyone suspicious.

“You looked beautiful up there,” My mom says, trying to change the subject. Hopefully, that’ll save the evening. We all continue to chat as we pick at appetizers being passed around.

A waiter approaches us and says, “Excuse me, are you Bella?”

“Yes,” she says, a little skeptical.

“A gentleman asked me to deliver this to you.” He goes to hand her a glass.

“I’m all set, thank you. I don’t want it.”

“It’s been paid for, ma’am.”

“I understand that, but you see, this man right here is my boyfriend and unless he bought it, I don’t want it. Please tell him to leave me alone.”

“My apologies,” he says as he walks away with the glass. We try to watch to see where he disappears to, but we lose him in the crowd.

“I should have followed him,” Derek says, frustrated that he didn’t think to do it sooner.

“This isn’t the time or the place. Please remember this is my job.”

“Bella, where is the flower he gave you?” Richard asks.

She makes a face, realizing her mistake. “I’m sorry, Richard. I wasn’t thinking. We threw it out.”

“Babe, I told you I would take care of you. I know you love what you do, but I need to keep you safe. Please remember that,” Derek says.

“You do a great job of taking care of me, but I can’t and won’t stop working. I love my job as a model.”

Derek nods. “And you looked gorgeous up there onstage. We need to be careful of creeps like this.”

She kisses his cheek and assures him that she’ll be careful.

Richard pipes in again. “If he sends you anything more, I want to know.”

“Okay,” she says as Derek continues to hold her close.

That’s when we all decide to call it a night despite the fact it’s still early. Bella can’t stop scanning the room, which means she’s really not enjoying herself, and to be honest, my man promised me a fun night at home and I am anxious to get started. Richard pulls out his phone and tells our limo driver to bring the limos around. We all make our way out the door, saying good night to one another as they pull up one at a time.

Chapter 9

Carter

Today’s Sunday, and Patty and I have plans to pick out our first Christmas tree. I’m in the kitchen whipping us up some quick pancakes while she takes a shower so we can hit the store. Before we can pick a tree, we need lights and some ornaments. She had a few things she brought over from her place, but since she lived alone, she really didn’t do too much decorating.

She walks out of the room as I finish the pancakes, and she looks cute as hell. She’s wearing a pair of skinny jeans with some boots and a cute red sweater. Her hair is pulled back into a low ponytail, and she has on a little bit of make-up.

“Smells yummy,” she says as she makes her way over to get a cup of coffee.

I set a plate with two pancakes and two sausages in front of her seat as she sits with her coffee. I walk up behind her, kiss her behind the ear, and whisper, “You smell quite yummy too.”

She pulls away and says, “Oh no you don’t. You had your way with me last night. Today we need to focus on getting this house decorated for when our families come over.”

“Thinking about you bent over in those heels, mmm.” I moan as I sit with my plate. “Oh, and having those legs up in the air as your sexy shoes sparkled.”

“Carter, you’re making it hard to focus on eating.”

“I’ll stop if you promise me we can do it again.”

“I promise,” she says, full of laughter. “Now eat your breakfast. We have a lot to do today and a busy week.”

We both continue eating in silence so we can get to the store. Once Patty’s done, she puts her plate in the dishwasher and goes to brush her teeth. I walk in as she’s finishing, tell her that I’ll be ready in two minutes, and I begin brushing my teeth. She removes her phone from the charger and says she got a text from Bella apologizing for last night.

“Look,” she says. She shows me the text message and then she responds.

Bella: Sorry I freaked last night. Thanks for coming to the show.

Patty: Don’t worry about it. I understand and you’re welcome. Love you!

“Crap, the second one is from Joan.”

“Let me see,” I tell her after I spit my toothpaste into the sink.

Joan: I can’t believe you went to Elizabeth about me calling you and of course not to help me get my job back but to complain that I’m stalking you. You really suck. You’re a stuck up piece of shit and I hope your next book flops.

“What do you want to do about it?” I ask her, a bit concerned. She’s really starting to get angry.

“Ignore it.” She strolls off into the living room. She’s finishing zipping up her coat when I reach her.

“Well, I was going to ask if you’re ready, but clearly you are.” I put on my jacket and gloves and we leave to get our decorations. When we get outside, it’s snowing lightly. It makes for a perfect tree picking day.

When we get to the store, it’s rather busy, so I get a cart and we quickly go in search of lights, ornaments, and any other decorations. I’m hoping it doesn’t take too long. We both agree on color lights vs. white, which is good. White is pretty but a bit boring. We choose a box of Christmas balls that look really nice, so we put those in the cart. I am glancing over more ornaments when I find an
‘Our First Christmas’
ornament. I pull it off the shelf to show Patty.

I pull her toward me and plant a soft, sweet kiss on her luscious lips. “The first of many,” I say, looking into her eyes. I place the ornament into the cart and then pull down a wreath for our front door along with a hook to hang it. Once we’re satisfied with the decorations we’ve chosen, we walk to the cashier to make our purchase.

As we make our way to the front of the store, I spot rope. “We need this to tie down the tree.”

“Good thinking,” she says as we unload the cart.

Once we’ve loaded the decorations into the car, we move onto the tree shopping. We find this huge lot that has lots of trees. There are trees of all sizes. I tell the guy we want about a six-foot tree. He points us in the right direction and tells us he’ll bundle it all up for us once we’ve chosen it. We walk down the aisle, looking for the perfect tree, and at first I’m disappointed. Many of them are skinny or have big holes in them and that won’t do for our first Christmas. I’m about to give up when I spot it.

“Patty, look,” I say as I point to a tree at the end of the next aisle.

We walk over to get a closer look. “It’s perfect,” she says.

She takes out her phone and snaps a selfie of us in front of the tree. I go get the guy while Patty waits by our tree to make sure no one tries to take it. The guy appears with some chicken wire that he wraps around the tree and neatly ties it. The guy helps me carry the tree over to the Jeep and then hoist it up on top. He and I quickly tie it down so Patty and I can get home safely. Patty is glowing with excitement, and I can’t wait to be home with her so we can decorate the tree.

“Want to have some hot cocoa while we decorate?” she asks with a huge smile.

“Sure. I’ll see if I can find some Christmas music on of the music channels too.”

Her smile widens. “That would be great! I love Christmas music.”

We pull up to the house, and Patty jumps out of the car to help me get the tree off. I untie the rope and we start to pull it down, but it’s too heavy and Patty can’t lift it. Darryl comes running down from the steps to give us a hand.

“Aww, thank you, Darryl,” Patty says to him.

“It’s no problem.”

“I’m sure unloading Christmas trees is not in your job description,” she adds as we get it down from the roof of the Jeep.

He laughs. “No, but I’m happy to help. You are two of the nicest tenants we have, and I don’t mind helping anyone who’s as kind to me as you two are.”

She blushes at his kind words, and I think to myself,
I treat people the way I’d want to be treated
and it dawns on me, we don’t know anyone in our building. I have no idea why people would not be nice to Darryl. He’s a great guy.

Once we’ve got the tree in the lobby, I run back outside to move the car while Darryl helps Patty hold the tree upright. As I’m walking back into the building, the manager comes over with a cart and the two guys put the tree on it so all we have to do is hold it up and wheel it into our apartment.

We both say thanks once again as we make our way upstairs with our bags, which I remembered to bring back in with me. When we get upstairs, Patty opens the tree stand and places it in the corner, where we’d planned on putting the tree. I lift the tree off the cart and place it into the base of the stand. Patty tightens the screws as much as she can, and then I get down on the floor to make sure they’re in fact tight enough so the tree won’t fall over. I snip the twine that’s holding the chicken wire in place and our tree opens beautifully in our living room. It fits perfectly in the corner and will look really nice once it’s decorated. Patty claps her hands as she runs off to the kitchen to make the hot cocoa.

A few minutes later Christmas music is playing and our hot cocoa is sitting on the coffee table with some snacks for us to pick at. It’s already lunch time, but we have a lot to do and don’t want to stop. We get busy opening lights and ornaments.

I start wrapping the lights around the tree, while Patty hangs our wreath. When I get to the end of the first string Patty has the second string ready to go. She snaps a few pictures of me putting the lights up while she stands by, watching me. I finish getting all the lights on the tree, and she plugs them in. The tree lights up beautifully, but now that the lights are lit I've found some bare spots, so I get busy adjusting the strings of lights. I swear she’s as picky about the tree as I am, and it makes me chuckle.

“What are you laughing about?” she says, trying to look offended.

“You’re about as picky as I am,” I say, nudging her arm as we stand back to admire our handy work.

Before we know it, the ornaments are on the tree, spread out nice and even with our special
‘Our First Christmas’
ornament right in the front for everyone to see. We snap another selfie of us in front of the tree with our special ornament hanging between us, and she posts it to her personal Facebook page to share with our family and friends.

Once we’ve cleaned our mess, we both collapse on the couch in front of the tree and look at how beautiful it is. She leans into my side, and I kiss the top of her head. “I love you, Patricia Ann.”

She looks up at me. “You never call me by my name.”

I laugh. “I know, but I wanted to try it out.”

I lower my lips to hers and kiss her softly, but she climbs onto my lap and deepens the kiss. She’s grinding on my lap, and it causes my cock to harden in my pants. I moan into her mouth as I stroke the skin under her shirt. I make my way up to her bra, unclipping it and rubbing my hands over her back. I pull myself forward and press my chest to hers as I break our kiss and lick my way down her neck. She inhales quickly as I continue licking my way down to the top of her sweater. Pulling away, I slip it over her head and throw it to the floor. I instantly place my hand on her breasts, kneading her nipple as I suckle the other. She moans as she again grinds her greedy pussy against my cock. I pick her up and place her gently on the floor in front of the Christmas tree.

After unbuttoning her pants, I lift her gorgeous ass off the floor and peel her pants down. I slip them off her long legs. I’m slowly running my fingers up the inside of her legs, but when I get to her apex, I veer off, instead running my fingers over her hips. She moans in frustration as I slowly continue up her sides. Leaning down on one elbow, I take one of her breasts in my hand and the other in my mouth to suckle her nipple. I lick my way up her cleavage, then up her neck to her ear. I gently nibble on her earlobe and whisper, “Are you ready to feel how much I love you?”

She nods as my lips crash down on hers in a very heated kiss. I pour all I have into it. She rubs her hands all over my body as our tongues mingle. She finds her way to my pants and unbuttons my jeans, peeling them over my ass. She takes my cock in her warm hand and squeezes it. I nearly explode just from her touch. That’s when I break our kiss.

I stand to remove my pants, ensuring she gets a little show as I do. I know she’s enjoying it because she’s biting her lips and her beautiful brown eyes are scanning every inch of my body. I drop to my knees and plant my face between her legs.

“I think it’s time for a snack.” I lick her delicious pussy. “Mmm, you taste divine.” I start to assault her hardened clit. She grinds her hips into my face, and I love it. She’s lost all control and is about to explode, so I bury my tongue deep inside her as I glide my thumb over her clit. She screams out my name as I lap up her release.

Wasting no time, I climb up her body and kiss her hard so she can taste herself. I pull away. “See how good you taste. I can’t get enough of you,” I say, slipping my rock hard cock deep inside her warm, tight pussy. She feels so good I have to pause to gain control. I need to get one more from her. Once I have the control I need, I start giving it to her the way she likes, hard and fast. It doesn’t take long for me to build her back up. I’m giving it to her as deep as I can.

“Carter, I’m going to lose it.”

“Milk it, baby. Give me what I want.” Her legs tighten around my waist as another orgasm tears through her body. “Fuck, Patty.” I moan as her muscles tighten around me, causing me to lose it and empty all that I have inside her.

I lower my body so I’m lying on top of her, hopefully keeping her warm. “You know you mean the world to me, right?” I tell her as I brush a stray hair off of her face.

She giggles. “That’s good, because you mean the world to me too.”

I slip myself out of her to get the blanket. I’m not ready to get up yet, but I don’t want us getting cold either. Covering us up, I lie down beside her, tracing circles on her beautiful, flawless skin. In that moment I realize I really do want to spend the rest of my life with her, and I hope she’s on the same page.