Page 80 of Taming You

“You can do whatever you want to me, Zoey, as long as I get to watch you come.”

“I’m close, Matt. I’m so close.”

“Come for me, baby.”

I hear her shatter through the phone, my name on her lips, and it sends me over the edge. As I gather myself, I listen to her breathing return to normal and her satisfied hum.

“I miss you,” I admit, and she chuckles.

“You saw me this morning.”

“I know. I still miss you.” I don’t know why. I should be able to go a day without seeing her and be okay, but I’m not. I wish I could drive over there right now and slide into bed with her and pull her to my chest. I want to bury my nose in her hair as I fall asleep.

Her pause has me on the cusp of freaking out that I’ve just gone and put my foot in my mouth and screwed this all up, but she eventually whispers, “I miss you, too.”

“I’ll see you in the morning, though,” I say, more as a reassurance to myself than anything.

“Bright eyed and bushy tailed.”

It’s my turn to laugh, because that’s the exact opposite of what she’ll be. “No, you won’t, but that’s okay because it’s you. I should let you get some sleep. Sleep well, Bug.”

“Sleep well, Matt.”

I keep my headphone in, waiting to hear the click of the call ending, and smile when I realize just how long it takes her to actually end the call.

I head into the washroom and clean myself up before climbing into bed, looking forward to getting to see Zoey first thing in the morning.

CHAPTER 31

Zoey

When Matt told me a few days ago he’d be moving on Wednesday, I thought it was going to be some huge undertaking. I hated moving my apartment, and I didn’t have furniture to move, but with everyone showing up to pitch in and all the vehicles available, we got everything out pretty quickly.

And of course, because it’s moving day, Jayden’s been extremely fussy. Even this morning when I met them at the rink, he wasn’t acting like his normal self. He didn’t want to be in his car seat at all while we were there and only wanted to be in the carrier on my chest. He slept quite a bit when we went to Matt’s afterwards to do some final packing before everyone came over to help.

I’m upstairs stocking Jayden’s change table when Matt’s voice comes from downstairs. “Bug!”

I stop what I’m doing immediately and rush down stairs where Matt has Jayden strapped to his chest as he paces and rubs Jayden’s back. Jayden is crying, his face red as he tries to communicate whatever he’s feeling. Matt looks beyond stressed.

“What’s up?”

Some of Matt’s panic fades when he sees me. “Have you seen his elephant? He won’t stop.”

“I put him in my purse so we didn’t lose him,” I say as I walk around him to the kitchen island. I join Matt at his side with the stuffy and dance it for Jayden. He starts reaching for it, but when I give it to him, he drops it and reaches for me. I can’t read Matt’s expression, but he starts to hand Jayden to me, and I take him. Jayden doesn’t stop crying, but he calms a little. I bounce him and coo that everything’s alright, and slowly, he starts to calm down.

Matt’s shoulders slump as he watches me and Jayden. “Thank you. Nothing was working.”

Stress and anxiety are coming off Matt in waves, and I need to try to relax him. “I guess I just have that special touch with the Carter men,” I joke.

That pulls a smile from him. “That you do.”

“I’ve got him if you want to help everyone bring in the last of the stuff.”

He nods and kisses my cheek before heading out the front door. I bend and grab the elephant before continuing to walk and soothe Jayden. He’s starting to get stuffy and has some snot collecting below his nose. I look around for a towel or maybe some tissues and, of course, don’t find any. Not sure how I’m supposed to find anything when it’s all in boxes. I decide fuck it and pull at the sleeve of my long-sleeve shirt and wipe his nose. I’ll wash it later.

Once everything is inside the house, Mrs. Carter tries to help unpack the kitchen, Matt and Josh head upstairs to set up Jayden’s crib, and Gianna is behind them to unpack as much of Jayden’s stuff as possible.

I sit on the couch that’s been just pushed against a wall to be out of the way. Jayden’s fully asleep right now, and I don’t want to disturb him if I don’t need to. Liv takes a seat beside me with Cate.

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