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Chapter 15

Chapter 15

 

            “Alright kids, it’s that time.  It’s been eleven days since we met at Liz and Stacie’s office and now we have to get together again to finish everything.  I expect that everyone will bring every single piece of work they have done for this campaign with them and I mean everything; every rough draft, every napkin you’ve written notes on, every single scrap of anything you even had near you when you thinking about this campaign, got it?  I’ll see everyone in the conference room of my hotel at 2:00.”        

 

            Caryss let out a sigh as she flipped her phone shut and threw it on the bed.  She looked at watch and noted that she had three hours until everyone would be downstairs in the conference room, ready to finalize the Heal the Bay campaign.  She sat down the edge of the bed and reflected on the past week and a half. 

 

            Being with Nick practically 24-7—fabulous, working my butt off for this campaign every God-forsaken moment for the past three days straight—shitty; but if everyone is done like they say they are, I will have nothing but vacation time until this tremendous gala Trevor is raging about.  And it will probably take me the whole two weeks to find something to wear for the effing thing anyway! 

 

            She allowed her body to fall backwards onto the bed and she lay there for a few minutes almost in a meditation-like state, trying to calm and focus herself for the task at hand that was three hours away.  She was so deep in her own thoughts and concentration that she didn’t hear the door open or Nick walk into the room. 

 

            “Are you sleeping?” he asked as he came into the bedroom and saw her prostrate on the bed. 

 

            “No, just thinking,” she said flatly as she popped her eye lids open and propped herself up on her elbows.  “Are you ready for the meeting at 2:00?”

 

            “Yes m’am,” he responded with a smirk.  “I love it that you’re my ‘boss’ and my girlfriend.”  His comment caught her off guard, seeing as how that was the first time the “status” of their relationship had come up.  She cocked her head to the side as he sat down on the bed in front of her and lay across her outstretched legs. 

 

            “Girlfriend?”

 

            “Well, yeah, uh, I guess, um….”  He stumbled over his words trying to figure out what to say.  Should I not have said that?  Should I take it back?  I can’t take it back, she already heard me say it.  Do I want a girlfriend?  I want her, I know that.  This could work, couldn’t it?  I mean, I can balance a girlfriend and a career, and the fact that she lives 1500 miles away right?  Yes Carter, you can do it!  Does she want to be my girlfriend?  Ask her Carter, ask her!  “Is it okay that I said that?”

 

            She sat there for a moment, trying to decide if it was okay.  I liked the way it sounded, but am I ready to have a boyfriend again?  And how is it going to work when I have to leave?  I know this past week and a half has been the most wonderful experience I’ve ever had, but how much longer will it last?  God Caryss, stop being so cynical!  Take a chance! 

 

            “Yeah, I think its okay,” she said quietly before looking into his beautiful blue irises.  She knew she had to make up her mind and answer him before she did so, because those eyes would make her say anything to keep him around.  Those eyes were both her weakness and her power but she felt that as long as she had them to look into she would be okay.  “So aren’t you supposed to give me a pin to wear, or like a class ring, or a letter jacket or something?”  She grinned at him as he started laughing and then he tackled her upper body, pushing her back down onto the bed. 

 

            “You crack me up you know that?” he told her as he stroked her hair and looked into her emerald eyes.  “You and I are a lot alike, even our sense of humor is similar.  I really think we may have found something special, you and me.” 

 

            “I think you may be right,” she whispered and then lifted her head off the bed until her lips met his.  The kiss turned into another, then another, and by the time their minds had caught up with their hormones they were tangled in the fresh hotel linens that covered the king sized bed, completely unclothed, and covered in thin layer of musky, sex-induced sweat. 

 

            “Well, if it’s at all possible, I would say that was better as boyfriend/girlfriend than it was when we were just friends with benefits,” Caryss breathed as she pulled the top of the sheet up to cover her breasts. 

 

            “Don’t cover those puppies up; I like to look at them!” 

 

            “Nick!” she screeched as she swatted him playfully.  He pulled the sheet down so that her breasts were once again exposed and he brought his lips to them gently.  Caryss moaned lightly, and then inhaled sharply before pulling the covers over them again.  “You better stop, or I’ll have to attack you again and then we’ll end up being late for the meeting,” she warned, trying to keep a stern tone in her voice as she spoke. 

 

            “Okay fine,” was Nick’s reply with a pout on his face.  Caryss giggled at his expression as she propped herself up against the bed’s plush headboard. 

 

            “What do you want to do for lunch?” she asked Nick as he got out of bed and searched for his boxers that got strewn in some random direction during their heated love-making session.  She sat there watching him, amusement and infatuation filling her mind and her heart. 

 

            “I don’t know, what sounds good to you?”

 

            “Well, I’m tired of room service; I kind of want to go to The Olive Garden or Red Lobster or someplace out, you know?”  She looked down at her hands and played with her fingernails.  “Can we?”

 

            He stopped searching for his undergarments and jumped back onto the bed next to her so he was laying flat on his stomach.  “Of course we can, why do you ask like that?”

 

            “Well, I just didn’t know if you were ready for people to see us together, or if you were worried about fans recognizing you or whatever.” 

 

            “This isn’t the first time we are going out in public together you know.”

 

            “Yeah, I know, but it’s the first time since we became a couple.”  Nick chuckled a little at the way she said “couple” and then crawled up on the bed so that he was kneeling in front of her. 

 

            “What?”

 

            “What do you mean ‘what’?  Nothing.”  Damn he always knows when I’m thinking something but not saying it.  He’s good.

 

            “Don’t give me that ‘nothing’ crap; I know you’re thinking something, so spill it.”

 

            “I’m just….happy, that’s all.  I want to be able to tell everyone I see that I’m with my boyfriend and I love him and we are going to live happily ever after, and I’m not sure that taking me out in public is the best thing to do if you want this kept under wraps.  I am not going to be able to control my PDA’s, and I expect you to hold my hand and all that mushy crap, and so maybe I should be locked away in a dark room someplace so that the secret doesn’t get out!”

 

            Nick tried to keep a straight face throughout her declaration, but as she finished her last sentence he could not hold in the laughter any longer.  “PDA’s?” he asked in between his amused fits. 

 

            “Public displays of affection, hello!”  she retorted, trying to act surly because he was laughing at her.  “Jesus, it wasn’t that funny; calm down,” she continued, almost giggling herself at the sound of his laughter. 

 

            “I love you too,” was all he said as he planted a quick kiss on her lips before rolling off the bed to continue his search for his boxers.  She sat there in shock, first trying to figure out if he really just told her he loved her, and second, why he said “too”. 

 

            Did I tell him that I loved him?  Good God, what is wrong with me?  I swore off love all together after the last relationship fiasco and now I have acquired a boyfriend and we’ve expressed our love for each other all in the matter of an hour and a half…how insane is that? 

 

            She shrugged her shoulders and got out of bed to search for her missing undergarments, knowing she wouldn’t be able to rationally answer the questions she just asked herself right now anyway; mostly because love usually is something you cannot rationalize in the first place. 

 

            “Found ‘em!” they both declared at the same time, as they stood up with their own pair of underwear hanging from their fingertips. 

 

            “Should we shower?” Caryss asked, breaking the awkward underwear-induced moment they had just shared. 

 

            “I’m not in any hurry to wash away our mid-day delight,” he said with a sexy smirk as he brought his index and middle fingers up to his nose.  “Mmm, smells delicious.” 

 

            “You are so bad,” she shrieked as her face turned crimson and she grabbed a pillow off the bed and threw it at him.  He caught it and smiled at her, liking the fact that every time he said something dirty to her she blushed.  He walked over to her and grabbed her around the waist, pulling her body into his.

 

            “Is it a bad thing that I find you so deliciously yummy?”  He ran his hand down her back and clenched her butt cheek tightly.  “Hmm?”

 

            Caryss pursed her lips together to keep from smiling as she reached her hand around and clenched his butt cheek too.  “No, it’s not a bad thing at all.  It’s actually, quite enjoyable all the way around.”  She released his flesh from her grip and gave him flirty smile.  “Come on, let’s get dressed and get something to eat.  I’m starving, and we only have an hour until the meeting.”

 

            Nick freed her apple bottom from his grasp and nodded his head in agreement.  I need to eat too, that way I have the energy and strength to punch Trevor in the face when he starts to gawk at my girlfriend again. 

 

            Too bad Nick’s personal thoughts would ring true soon enough.