Page 14 of Pink and Country

I swallowed hard and shrugged, my gaze locked on hers. My eyes burned from not blinking. Dahlia chewed on her lower lip.

“Carter, I want you—”

No word came out. I couldn’t tell her everything going through my mind. Instead, I bit the inside of my cheek until it bled, making sure it wasn’t all a dream. Without thinking further, I kissed her, enjoying the movements of her tongue against mine. Dahlia slid her body over mine, and I clamped her waist. When she peeled off her shirt and exposed her black cotton bra, I disconnected with reality. In the heat of the moment, lost in each other’s embrace, we never thought about using a condom. The feeling of being bare and raw inside her would remain etched in my mind forever. Dahlia and I made love. For hours. Afterward, nestled in my arms, her head against my pounding heart, I hugged her as if she could vanish any second.

“Hey, what’s up?” Tears streamed down her face and rolled along my bare chest. My hand cupped her cheek, and I tipped her head to the side until our eyes met. “Talk to me, Dah.”

“Us.” Dahlia choked on a sob. “Jeff.” She sat on the edge of the bed, upright and cross-legged, and buried her face in her hands. “Carter, we can’t be together. I’m in love with Jeff. It was a mistake. I worry about him. The war—it changed him. He’s troubled since he came back. We keep fighting. But I still love him. I always will.” I wrapped my arms around her trembling shoulders.

“Dah, I love you. This wasn’t a mistake.”

With an arm folded under my head and one around Dahlia’s shoulder, I gazed at the ceiling for the rest of the night, focused on her soft breathing. The past hours replayed in my head. Heat rose behind my eyelids, and the beating of my heart threatened to rip my chest open. Every piece of Dahlia’s heart belonged to Jeff.

A lump, hard as a rock, took roots in my throat. It grew bigger every time I tried to swallow.

My eyes blazed with unshed tears. Unable to fall asleep, I clung to the memory of Dahlia’s bare creamy skin on mine, her fingers entangled in my hair, the softness of her breasts when my hands kneaded them and my tongue tasted them.

Those memories would haunt my dreams for years.

How could I forget how the curve of her waist fit in my hands or how I made her cry when my tongue ran along her folds and dipped deep into her core?

The kisses we shared would warm up my nights for years. My lips would taste like her for months.

The next morning, I woke up alone. In my head, I could still hear Dahlia’s moans and the way she screamed my name when she came.

The lingering scent of her perfume on my bedsheets reminded me she was here. I sighed. It wasn’t a dream after all. So where did she go?

The ring of my phone disturbed my daydream. Dahlia’s name flashed on the screen.

“Hey,” I said, my voice like gravel, roughened with sleep.

“Hey, Carter.” Dahlia’s voice was barely louder than a whisper. “Jeff’s here.”

I sprang upright and blinked. Fuck. “You’re kidding, right?”

“I wish. He called earlier to let me know he was on his way. He wanted to surprise us. Please don’t say a word to him. It’ll break his heart. Please, Carter.”

I dragged a hand over my face. “I won’t.” I cleared my throat, trying to get rid of the dryness. Acid rolled in my stomach. “When is he leaving? We need to—we need to talk.”

Dahlia hesitated for a beat. “He’s not. He’s staying for the rest of the tour. Carter, I need to go. We’ll talk later.” She hung up before I could add another word. I dropped down on the mattress, cupping my heart, afraid it’d stop beating.

The days bled into weeks, and Dahlia and I never talked about that night again. As if he sensed something, Jeff stayed glued to her side for the rest of the tour.

The memory of our forbidden night together felt like fresh black ink on my skin. It branded me in the most painful way. And it’d last forever. No matter how much I’d try to bury it under newer extravagances, its trace would be etched on my skin until the day I die. For one night, I freed my heart. For one night, I gave in to love. With no restraint. Whatever happened between Dahlia and me, nothing could ever steal the memory of us. Together. One night.

Still vibrating from the ecstasy of our performance and the screams of the crowd echoing in the distance, I never imagined my night going from perfect to bad. Big fucking time. The next words that left Dahlia’s mouth ruptured my heart. And my soul.

“I’m pregnant, Carter.”

My knees buckled. My lungs struggled to catch some air. “Wait. What?” With shaky fingers, I tipped her chin up. My calloused hands framed her face. A tenseness tightened my chest, and a coat of sandpaper lined my throat.

Dahlia nodded and kept her gaze down, refusing to meet my eyes.

“It’s Jeff’s.”

Her words hit me like a train at full speed. On wobbly legs, I stepped back and ran my hands through my hair, tugging at the roots.

My throat bobbed, the words burning as I thundered them out.