"I have something for you," he whispered in my ear. He turned me around in his arms to face him. "You've made me the happiest man on earth, Evangeline." He dropped to his knees in front of me. "I know that we've done things a bit out of sync, but it wouldn't be us if we did it conventional." A lopsided grin spread across his face.
I looked down into his eyes that were swimming with emotion. He pulled a black velvet box out of his pocket and opened it, revealing a glistening ring nestled inside. I dropped to my knees in front of him, tears streaming from my eyes.
"Carter." The air whooshed out of my lungs. A round, pale-blue, cushion-cut stone was surrounded by dozens of pave diamonds that extended down the band. The ring was stunning and unique and took my breath away, just like Carter had.
"It's my birthstone, aquamarine. And your birthstone is diamond, so I think we're covered there." His mouth curved up at the corners. "It's us. You and me, always." He pulled the ring out of the box and held my hand gently in his own, sliding the ring on my left ring finger. "Will you wear it? For me?" Carter watched me thoughtfully.
"Oh, Carter. It's so beautiful. I love it. But I thought we were going to wait until we got back to Boston? When did you do this?" My eyes searched his.
"I picked it out the day before we were married." A grin spread across his face. "But they had to size it, so it wasn't ready until now." He rubbed the pad of his thumb around the ring on my finger softly. I watched the light sparkle off the stones.
"I love that I have you with me always." I looked up into his eyes as a few tears trailed down my cheeks. His eyes stared back at me, emotion pooling in their blue depths. I flung myself at him; my arms wrapped around his neck, and hugged him tightly to my body.
"You are the most beautiful man I have ever met." I held his cheeks in my palms and kissed his lips, slowly deepening the kiss, our tongues dancing together softly.
"I'm so glad I spilled champagne on you at that party," I whispered against his lips. A hearty chuckle escaped his throat.
"Me too." His hands wrapped around my neck, holding me to him.
"Thank you for bringing me here."
"I love it here. I love sharing the things I love with you." He stood and helped me off my knees, encircling me in his arms as we took in the view. We gazed out at the sun lighting the valley below. It was breathtaking and perfect. Just like this whole week had been with Carter. A moment of fear flashed across my brain at the thought that the bottom might fall out once we were back in Boston.
Some irrational part of me didn't want to go back, afraid that we would lose this perfect part of us if we did. I sighed deep to quell the anxiety and tried to refocus my brain on the beautiful view before me, and the beautiful man behind me.
"You're cold, we should head back down."
I nodded softly.
We hadn't yet decided when we would leave Aspen, but I was already dreading it.
He pulled me over to the gondola, my hand firmly locked in his. I stood by the window, ready to take in the view on the way back down. Carter's strong arms trapped me, his hands on the rail in front of me. The gondola started again and we descended back down the sunlit mountain. The new addition on my left hand felt foreign and heavy on my finger, but was also comforting.
Carter caught me looking at the ring. "Do you love it?" He nuzzled into my neck.
"I so love it, Carter." I leaned back into him.
Carter placed both hands on my hips and rubbed firm circles, and then dipped a finger under my warm sweater. My body shivered at his cool touch. I smiled and turned in his embrace, wrapping my arms around his neck and kissing him softly. He held me at the waist and returned my kiss before he slipped his hands back under my sweater and made his way up my ribcage to dust along my already hardened nipples. I sucked in a sharp breath and pushed my hips into his. I could feel his arousal and my nerves hummed with need.
Carter deepened the kiss and pulled the cup of my bra down, exposing my nipple to his fingers where he tickled and pinched. I moaned into his mouth and Carter ran one open palm up my thigh, pulling my leg up his hip. He slid his fingers further up my inner thigh until he reached my center through my jeans. My breathing picked up and I captured his lips with mine.
Carter moaned and pulled away from me, his eyes darting to the lodge at the base of the mountain where the gondola would be stopping. I could hear his brain ticking, trying to determine how much time we had.
"Fuck it." He grinned carelessly and then turned me around and pulled me back on the metal bench on his lap. He fumbled with the button of my jeans and quickly unzipped them, shoving the denim and my panties just beyond my bottom to expose me. He groaned and ran a finger up my slick center from behind. I moaned in pleasure and then I heard his zipper come down and he pulled me down onto him roughly, filling me in an instant. A small groan escaped my throat as I started to move on his lap feverishly. He slid his hands around my waist and up and underneath my sweater so we were as skin-to-skin as we could be in this cold mountain gondola. His hands traced a heated path up my body to my breasts where he palmed the flesh roughly.