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The sound of water running wakes me up and when I open my eyes, I come face to face to Carter standing naked in my bathroom doorway. The smirk on his face makes me feel hot as he walks over to me and crawls onto the bed, hovering over me as I blink up at him.

"Good morning, Honeycrisp. Meet me in the shower."

Staring like an idiot, I watch his thick, round ass walk off into the bathroom. Definitely does not need to tell me twice. Quickly, I hop out of bed and walk into the bathroom where Carter stands underneath the spray with the curtain open. I definitely prefer our glass showers at home.

He crooks his finger and I come to him, like a fish caught on his hook. Stepping under the spray, I close the curtain and attack his lips, his hands falling to my waist and around my back to grip my ass. His erection presses against my thigh, half mast and rising with every second.

"Someone is horny," I point out, dropping my hand to his erect member and receiving a moan from his lips.

"Can you blame me?"

I smile and give him a kiss on the cheek before turning my back to him and washing up in the shower. Once we are all cleaned up, I climb out before Carter can make a move on me. He follows suit, cutting off the water and climbing out then wrapping a towel around himself.

Quickly, I finish up in the bathroom, brushing my teeth, and washing my face before drying off and heading back into the bedroom to put on clothes. I slip on the t-shirt dress that Carter packed then shove the rest of my things into the bag before heading downstairs for a quick bite before breakfast.

Carter's low groan is unmissable as I walk out the door and his shuffling becomes louder, indicating he's getting dressed faster. I barely make it to the kitchen when he rushes up behind me and throws me over his shoulder.

"Carter," I squeal when he squeezes my side.

"Shh, you're gonna wake up your family."

I smile at him once he's set me down onto the counter. When he looks into my eyes, my heart begins to race. I really do love this man. The way he looks at me tells me that he feels the same way.

I don't know why I didn't just come outright and tell my family. I didn't even think about how he would feel about us hiding it. I don't want to hide it. Definitely not after the way Carter stood up for me. Grabbing his shirt, I pull him into me and place a kiss to his lips.

"We can tell my family about us."

His hand comes up to the back of his neck in his guilty fashion. "I accidentally told them about us. I'm sorry."

Smiling, I wrap my legs around his waist and cup his face between my fingers. "No, I'm sorry. We should've told them the minute we got here and I don't care what they think. I love you. You're mine, Carter, and it's going to be tough getting rid of me."

"Good thing I don't want to get rid of you." His lips fall onto mine and I take everything I can get from him.

Good thing...

My tongue slips into his mouth causing a groan to leave his lips as he squeezes my waist in his hands. Pushing into his touch, I run my hands over his arms and to the front of his chest, tugging at his shirt and biting his bottom lip between my teeth.

"You don't understand what you do to me, Luna," he groans against my lips.

"I think I do," I moan when his lips come into contact with my jaw.

He chuckles and drags his tongue along my pulse. I release a breath as he nips my collarbone, his hands moving up my shirt and to my breast.

"Carter," I whisper into his ear.

"Say my name, Baby."

"Carter," I repeat shoving at his chest. "We are at my families house. I may not like some of them, but I'm not disrespectful."

His head tilts to the side in question and his fingers move to the waistband of my underwear. "So stop?"

I narrow my eyes at him, only causing a grin to rise on his face. "Say the words, baby, and your wish is my command." He knows I really do not want to say those words and he's taking advantage of it, his fingers slipping into my panties, brushing against my sensitive nub that's already aching for him.

"Carter please," I sigh against his cheek as he leans in and pulls my ear between his teeth.

He finally listens, pulling away from me and taking a small step back. Then I hear my sister say good morning and realize he wasn't actually listening to me. My brother-in-law follows close behind her and when our eyes connect he looks at me with unwanted sympathy.

He smiles and pulls his hand out of my panties and wraps his arms around me as my sister and brother-in-law come around the counter.

"You're annoying."

He smirks and bites my earlobe pulling it in between his teeth.

"You like it," he mumbles.

I smile and stay silent.

"How long have you guys been up?" I ask my sister as I push Carter off.

"We just woke up," Adrian says without making eye contact.

I nod and hop down off the counter.

"Is it true you're leaving tonight?" Jasmine asks.

"Yeah, something came up." I shrug. "Did you return the tickets?" I ask Carter.

"Not yet." He looks between my eyes, searching. "We could stay, baby. The thing in New York isn't that important."

I glare at him and gently push him back hopping off the counter. We agreed we would leave, why is he changing up on me? I move away trying my best to avoid his contact as I brood.

Carter sighs and walks up behind me dragging his fingers over my hips and leaning down to press a kiss behind my ear. "We can leave," he whispers lowly. "Or we could stay, you heal some old wounds and we make this trip worthwhile. But if you want your stepfather to think he had the last word—"

I spin fast glaring at him. "I hate you sometimes."

He laughs and places a soft kiss on my lips. "I want what's best for you. And I think that means killing some old demons and confronting past transgression."

A part of me wants to deny what he's saying, but I know he's right and that annoys me because he knows he's right too. "One more day, fiesty."

We stare at each other, neither one of us saying a word except for the silent conversation and battle in our eyes. He wants me to stay and face my demons and I want to call him out on his hypocrisy because he never wants to talk about or face his demons. My past transgressions? What about his?

"Good morning!" My mother greets me coming downstairs followed by more family members.

I give Carter one last glance before taking a step back. Now is not the time to turn on the one guy on my side.

He reaches for my cheek and I resist the urge to move away out of anger. I need him to touch me, I need his comfort. "I love you," he whispers. "I want what's best for you. And I know I'm a hypocrite, but we will deal with that later."

At least he acknowledged it.

With a deep sigh, I push up on my toes and press a gentle kiss to his lips before resting my head on his chest.

"Luna!" My mom exclaims scaring the shit out of me. "You're with Carter!" I turn to find a bright smile on my mother's face as she approaches us and pulls us both into a hug. "I knew it would happen!"

She sighs and looks between us with tears in her eyes. "You guys remind me of me and Chris. But I know you guys will last."

Tears come to my eyes as I look at my mother. The approval, the longing, the sorrow. I pull my mother into another hug for once in our life both of us mourning the loss of my father together. Great way to start the morning, I know.

When my Mom pulls away she wipes her tears and gives me a genuine smile. "I'm happy for you guys. So we must celebrate with a big breakfast. The rest of the family will come later this evening for dinner."

I nod and move back towards Carter, gravitating towards him like a magnet and seeking his warmth and comfort. He kisses me again and each time my love for him grows. I know for a fact that when he finally takes my virginity I will burst.

We talk with my family laughing and joking the way I've always loved. You may ask why I continuously come home every year for the holidays when there is so much pain here. But on the contrary. The only pain here is my stepfather. I've received nothing but love from the rest of my family, the only thing that upsets me is that they remained bystanders to the bullying I received. Nevertheless, I still love them and I love being with them.

I move around the kitchen helping prepare breakfast with Carter helping me. Then the room gets quieter. I look up to see my stepdad enter like the villain from stage left. And all the characters notice the change in the air.

"Good morning family!" He greets.

I tense and I feel Carter do the same behind me. His hands fall to my waist pulling me closer. Raymond did try to attack me no less than 6 hours ago.

"Good morning Carter. Luna."

"Go drive off a bridge," I growl turning back to the bowl I was mixing.

"Luna!" My mom scolds. "That is no way to talk to Ray."

My fingers flex and I look up to find a stupid smirk on his face. "I'm sorry Raymond. Go drive off a bridge, please."

The smirk is wiped from his face and I return it with one of my own.

"Luna!"

Carter squeezes my waist in a silent way to tell me to stop. I turn to him, he lifts a brow in challenge. Instead of taking on his challenge I roll my eyes and turn back to the task at hand.

"Thank you," he whispers in my ear.

Yeah, yeah.

The moment clears slightly but it doesn't really change. There's still an elephant in the room hanging over us with a thin rope and threatening to fall with every passing second. With every moment of built-up tension and unwarranted looks from my stepfather, I'm tempted to cut the rope myself and let all hell loose.

When breakfast is prepared we take our seats at the table. "How are you feeling?" Carter asks.

"Fine," I reply forking my eggs and sliding them into my mouth.

He watches me cautiously and I know he's not convinced but it doesn't matter if he is or not. I'm fine. I'm not good, I'm not bad, I'm fine. All he does is nod and squeeze my thigh before digging into his food.

"So sad to hear you're leaving early," the serpent opens his mouth.

I stare him dead in the eye and take a bite of my bacon before ignoring his comment and shifting my attention back to my plate. Carter speaks up for me informing my family's concerned faces that we will be staying the full weekend. Yet he managed to say it in a way that was a lot nicer than what would've come out of my mouth.

When breakfast is over, Carter and I go over to clean up so my aunts can work on cooking for this evening. As I scrub the glasses I can feel his eyes on me. It's annoying.

"Staring is impolite," I grumble.

He scoffs. "Are you gonna have an attitude with me until we leave?"

I shake my head. I'm trying not to believe me, but he also won't let me fully speak my mind in front of my family so he's going to catch the slack. He doesn't deserve it, I know. But I'm a ticking time bomb right now. Then again he did bring me all the way here to be with my family and I really should be more appreciative of him.

Knocking his shoulder I put the dish I'm cleaning down and turn to him. "I'm sorry. I love you. Now kiss me."

He smiles and places a kiss to my lips. "I love you too. One more day."

I nod and turn back to the dishes.