Luna 🌙

Tomorrow wear a dress, no panties," Carter whispers in my ear as we walk into the office.

He's ridiculous. I'm not walking around work all day without panties. When I don't say anything he loops his pinky through mine.

"Just the dress, then I can push the panties to the side."

"Carter!" I groan walking to his desk and taking my spot.

I hear his low chuckle as he follows me. I greet Derek and Emily as I pop a piece of gum into my mouth. Just as Carter is about to make a comment Captain calls him.

Carter stands up and places a light kiss on my lips. "Come with me."

He didn't ask for me.

"Come with me mama," Carter says lifting off his desk and setting me on my feet.

He smirks knowing I'm gonna give in. I lead the way up the stairs to Captain's office with Carter following behind me. When I step in I find blurry images on the screen. They've never gotten a clear image of Masbourian.

"Luna —"

"I want her in on this, Captain, I think she deserves that right."

"I was going to say I'm glad you're joining us." Turning to the screen Captain points at one of the latest images. "We have intel of Masbourian setting up operations in Brazil. We don't know why yet. Maybe it's so he can be on this side of the Atlantic, who knows. But we do know that he is officially our top priority. We received intel that Masbourian is wanting to retire. Which means he can successfully fall off the grid afterward."

I look at Carter to find his jaw set and his eyes tight. I know he's been after Masbourian for years and if he is able to successfully fall off the grid he will get away with all of it.

"I'll follow up on the Brazil lead," I interject, taking Carter's hand and shifting his attention to me. "I'm going to head to my office now."

Nodding, he cups my face and places a kiss on my lips. "I love you."

"I love you too."

Walking out, I take a deep breath and then head to my office downstairs. Now I figure out where to start.

🌙

It's been a month of chasing down Masbourian. We've had to fall back because of other cases, but when we get a break we look into any leads we have on him. Today Carter went to follow up on one of the leads with Derek. I've been staring at my computer screen for thirty minutes trying to find something or anything that will guide me. I don't care if it takes me down a rabbit hole. Maybe it will lead me to the wonderland where Masbourian resides.

After another 15 minutes of nothing, I decided to take a break and go grab something to eat. Before heading out I check up on Emily and ask her if she wants to go with me. Of course, she says yes. Together we head to the restaurant down the street. I order a salad, finding that I can't stomach anything else and Emily did the same because she didn't want to feel fat for eating a burger while I ate a salad. I laughed and told her I didn't care, but she still ordered it.

While We're eating Emily gets a call from Derek. I count in ur eating, listening in to her side of the conversation as she talks.

"Hey...Yeah...What?... Ok, we will be right there!"

Emily looks at me.

"Is everything okay, Em?" I ask taking a sip of my water.

She nods then flags down the waiter. "Please bring the bill immediately."

"Emily? You're scaring me."

She bites her lip. "I'll tell you when the bill comes."

"Tell me now," I insist.

My heart begins to race as she looks at me. She doesn't have to really tell me, I can read it. Something happened to Carter.

"Emily..."

The waiter comes back with the bill and Emily quickly passes him two twenties then pulls me up from my seat. I follow as she guides me to the passenger side of the car.

"Emily what happened to Carter!" I ask as she pulls off.

"Carter was shot."

The world disappears as she continues to talk about how the lead did give them something into Masbourian but it turned out to be a setup.

I can hear and feel the blood rushing through my body. My heart pounds in my chest, yet my breathing remains steady. I don't know how much time passes before we finally make it to our location, but the second we pull up I hop out of the car.

I run in to find Derek pacing back and forth. There are tears in his eyes as he looks at me. He pulls me into his arms and holds me tightly. I pull back to look at him. He shakes his head.

"It's bad Luna..."

Everything begins to move in a sped-up slow motion that I can't grasp onto. I feel Derek guide me to a seat. My mind does this for hours as Carter is in surgery. Then the doctor comes out.

"We were able to remove the bullets. And repair the bleeds. Mr. Bentley is still unconscious but he should come to soon. You can wait, but only two at a time for right now."

Emily touches my arm. "You go, sweetie. We will wait here."

I nod and let the doctor lead the way. When I step into the room my heart collapses.

He's breathing, I tell myself. He's alive. I can be thankful for that.

Walking up to the bed I take his hand and place a light kiss on his fingers.

"I really can't stand you sometimes, Carter. We've been home for a month and you've gone and got yourself shot. You scared the shit out of me," I cry. "You're still scaring me. I've never loved anyone the way I love you. Sometimes I feel like it's too much to bear. Then I remember who I'm in love with. The strong handsome man that I'm going to marry. The father of my child. I meant to tell you...We're pregnant. You're gonna be a daddy. What do you expect when we have raw sex at least three times a day?"

Taking a seat from the side I pull it up to his bed and rest my head on our joined hands.

"I expect a ring sometime soon Mr. this time I want a real one. Not pretend."

An hour later I feel a hand brush my head back as I rest against Carter.

"Hey, goofy goober."

Smiling I open my eyes to find him looking at me. "I want to be mad at that one but I can't."

He laughs then clutches his side in pain. "Give me a kiss baby."

I place a gentle kiss on his lips. "I love you."

"Mhmm."

"Say it back," I scold.

"I love you so much, Sweet thing."

Sighing, I lean in and give him another kiss. "I'm going to get you home and make sure you are safe and comfortable," I whisper in his ear. "Then I'm going to make sure you're satisfied..." I lick up his ear before pulling the lobe between my teeth.

He pulls back with wide eyes. "You're so naughty! I just woke up from surgery!"

I laugh and shake my head at him.

He smirks and looks me up and down. "But I will definitely let you ride me for as long as I'm on bed rest."

"Hmmm."

"You better tie me up," he teases.

Rolling my eyes, I sit down next to him. Yeah this man is definitely going to be the person I spend the rest of my life with."