You Were Always Mine

50: A Month Later

Jasmine

Santa Tell Me plays faintly throughout the mall while the escalator descends me down slowly until I am hopping off of it at the last possible second. All around me, it looks like someone set off a Christmas Canon in here. Even all of the shops we have been to are blown up with decorations everywhere as though the extravagant ones throughout the mall are not enough already. I make my way to the shop where Carter should still be. He was taking forever choosing the perfect gift for his mom, which is actually very cute of him, but I am tired and so ready to go back to my house and cuddle.

We both already shopped for each other separately, but we each still had a few things on our lists for friends and family, which is the reason why we are here now. I was worried that I might ruin Christmas because of my visions and nightmares ever since my brush with death. But therapy, my family, and Carter, especially, have all been helping me to cope.

"Hello! Anything I can help you with?" The shop employee's joyful voice catches my ear.

"I'm just looking for my boyfriend. He is tall, handsome, and has a mess of red curls on his head that desperately needs to be trimmed."

She laughs at my statement and points towards the back of the shop.

"Is he the indecisive one?" She questions.

"Yep, that's mine." I laugh and thank her before making my way to the back of the shop. Carter notices my presence before I have even reached him. He turns, giving me one of his smoldering smiles. I pull my bottom lip between my teeth as I step up to him.

"You better stop looking at me like that." Carter warns teasingly.

"Stop looking at you like what?" I feign innocence.

"Like you want me to take you right here in the back of this shop." He whispers down to me, causing me to shudder.

I move in closer to him, my healed boots helping make up the distance between us. "But what if I want you to take me in the back of this shop?" I whisper near his lips.

He licks his lips while his eyes dart around us. I keep my gaze on him, able to feel just how hard he is trying to resist me right now. He leans down beside my ear. "Behave yourself." I smile at his words, tilting my head a bit and placing a few soft kisses on his jawline. He lets out an exasperated breath, grabbing hold of my waist. "Jasmine, you're making me hard!" He whisper yells in my ear. My eyes travel down between us.

"Sorry." I giggle, placing my hand over my mouth.

"No, you're not." He glares while adjusting himself.

"Yeah, you're right. I'm not sorry at all."

I reach out to touch him, and he turns away, eyes bulging as he looks around us once again. "Stop it, woman! We're not having sex in the back of this shop!"

"But we did it at the hospital." I whine reaching for him again only to have both my hands restrained by his large ones.

"That was different!" He looks at me like I have lost my mind. "I'll take care of you when we get back to your house, okay?" He raises an eyebrow at me.

"I guess." I pout, "I'm so horny though."

"I know, baby." He chuckles, "I know."

Carter carefully releases my hands, giving me a look that tells me not to even try jumping him because I will be stopped.

"I chose this for my mom since she loves reading before bed. These glasses allow her to lay down while she is reading so she will be more comfortable."