Valerie P.O.V.

"Fuck babe." Carter blinked back utter surprise as he entered the room. "You're trying to kill me here." He groaned lowly, running his eyes down my body.

Yes. Just the reaction I wanted.

I sat perched on his bed in the lingerie, elongating my body in a pair of heels. I licked my lips as I uncrossed my legs to stand up before him. His chest heaved deeply, eyes locking onto me. I swayed my hips as I took two steps forward, placing a hand on his chest.

"Hi." I whispered flirtatiously.

"Val..." he said eyes clouding over with lust. "You look crazy beautiful," he murmured, running his fingertips down my side, tracing over the slopes of my body.

I revelled in the touch as I curled myself up to him. "Do you like it?" I murmured huskily under his ear placing a kiss on the curve of his neck.

"Mm I'd like to peel it off you that's for sure." He nibbled the tip of my ear lobe, sliding his hands down from my waist to squeeze my ass.

I chuckled lightly as he continued to trail a line of kisses down my neck. I closed my eyes and let the feeling consume me. He stepped forward, causing me to retract my steps. The back of my knees hit the bed as he fell on top of me.

Carter lifted his head and met my gaze softly.

"Thankyou for my surprise, princess. No one has done something like that for me before, I can't wait to read them all."

"I'm so happy that you like it." I rubbed my thumb over his jaw tenderly.

❗️

He rolled over on his side before slowly caressing the sheer lace material, tracing his fingertips over the curve of my breast. I held my breath as I watched his hand dip down the plunge.

"You're so damn beautiful."

"I'm all yours." I rolled over on top of him.

I lowered my lips to his, slipping my tongue into his mouth as I kissed him sensually. He groaned in pleasure, gripping onto my hips. I began to grind against him, rubbing myself to his hardening member. I peppered kisses along his jaw and neck before stripping off his t-shirt. A bolt of white hot pleasure shot through me as he tilted his hips upwards. His hands explored my body frantically, not sure where exactly to put them.

He quickly flipped us over as he made his way down my body, kissing the exposed flesh wherever he could. The temperature between us was quickly rising and reaching the ultimate boiling point. I helped him remove the straps of the teddy off my arms, before he slid it down to my waist, letting my breasts spill out. He swirled his tongue over the erect nipple as I threw my head back.

"Oh, that feels so good." I moaned softly. "What are you going to do to me, baby?"

"First, I'm going to fuck you so good, Valerie, because you look so damn good right now." He growled against my skin as he continued to palm my ample chest. "Then I'm going to make love to you over and over baby girl."

At the sounds of those words, the moisture building in between my legs began to drip, dampening the small bit of lace covering my sex. He cupped the mound and stroked his fingers across the fabric, spreading a soft tingle throughout the area. He sucked my lower lip in between his teeth as we continued to fiercely kiss each other.

He pulled the lingerie all the way down off my body before sliding his tongue down to my wet, aching core.

"Mmm," I murmured as the sensation spread through my body. I curled my fingers into his wavy strands, locking onto his head of hair firmly, as his mouth worked wonders downstairs. He slid a digit into me, and another curling it upwards as his tongue traced circles against my clit. A few more twists and turns of his tongue and mouth and I was gone.

"Oh! I'm coming!" I whimpered as my lower body shook. With a satisfied grin Carter rose up and stripped himself of the remainder of his clothes.

Every time I see it, I'm breathless. I swallowed as I licked my lips and crawled over towards him. I darted my tongue out, tasting the tip of his engorged cock. I swirled my tongue around a few times eliciting a low guttural moan from him.

He grabbed me by the waist and lifted me to a sitting position, releasing my mouth from his member with a wet pop. He moved back to sit on the edge of the bed with his feet planted firmly on the ground. He gripped his manhood at the base, before he lowered me onto him.

"Oh," we both cried out as our intimate parts joint together. He stretched my walls, filling me full to the brim.

We pressed our lips together as our chests slid against one another.

"Hold on baby," he panted with a gruff voice as he began to slam his hips upwards into me.

"Mm fuck yes," he groaned. I grabbed onto his shoulders for support as he bounced me on top of him.

I began to move my hips opposite to him, slamming my body down as he pushed upwards.

"Ahh," I cried as the forces of our body colliding created a burning hot friction.

Carter stood up, wrapping his arms around my legs as he continued to manoeuvre in and out of me. It was rough, raw and passionate. He pushed me against the wall as he continued to thrust, faster and harder with each stroke. I could feel myself about to explode.

"Val- oh fuck," he moaned as his cock began to pulse, releasing a stream of cum.

"Yes Carter," I moaned loudly, as we both reached the end of our exciting escapade.

I collapsed into his arms, holding onto his upper body tightly. He gently lifted me off the wall, and carried me to the bed to lay down. He wrapped the sheets around my body carefully before holding me closer to his chest.

"I love you." Carter whispered, kissing me sweetly on the lips, before pulling out.

"I love you too." I said softly. I laid my head in the crook of his neck and closed my eyes in bliss.

Small streaks of sunlight filtered into the room through the gaps in the blinds. I rolled over onto my back, stretching my arms above my head before sitting up.

"Wow," Carter's raspy morning voice spoke, as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes. "You got up before me," he chuckled softly.

"Yeah, I guess I did." I smiled to myself. "Your launch is today..." I leaned over the bedside table to see the time on my phone, "...in two hours!"

"Mhmm..." Carter pulled me around the hips and hauled me over his lap so I could straddle him. "So we have time to do this..." he kissed me on the lips before grasping a handful of my ass, kneading it in his palms.

"Again?" I murmured amusedly. "Last night-"

"Was fucking amazing," he chuckled with a devilish grin.

"You're insatiable," I laughed as I let him take me to paradise once more.

After a shower, Carter made us a smoothie for breakfast before quickly posting a few Instagram stories and Snapchat's to promote his upcoming launch.

"Hey Valerie! Can you come here please?" Carter called as he held his phone up in his outstretched arm. I got up from my spot on the couch before making my way to his side. "Be in this vid with me?" he asked sweetly planting a kiss on my cheek.

"Okay," I chuckled. "What do I do?"

"Just be your beautiful self and follow my lead." He pressed a few buttons on his phone screen to start.

"Hey what's up everyone! Just letting you know we are now 15 minutes away from launching the Bryson merch line! Remember, with every purchase you will be donating to a charity in need. We've got tees, hoodies and cases available," he moved the camera more over to me. Instinctively, I did a quick twirl in one of his merch t-shirts, showing it off. "You can get your very own at hmm, what's that site again Val?" He asked me with a smirk, tapping his chin playfully.

"Bryson.com" I winked at the camera.

"Bryson.com" he nodded with a grin, before we both burst into laughter. Carter ended the video and posted it, before starting another one.

"Swipe up!" He said wiggling his index finger in and up and down motion. I copied the action as I smiled at the camera.

He twiddled with it for a second adding captions and links before posting.

"Thanks for that," he said as he tucked his phone into his pocket.

"Any time." I smiled.

~

Carter was sold out. The line was a big success and the fulfilment centre was crazy busy handling orders, as the warehouse increased production.

The last week of summer finally came to a bittersweet end as I prepared myself to start my final semester of college. I was so close.

My life had changed so drastically, I made the decision to quit Bean Crushers. With everything going on, it became difficult to keep up with working there. It was a great job and I would miss it, but it was time to move on. I wanted to fully focus and input more time into exploring my passions, building a larger online presence in fashion and develop my design and clothing work. I was just going to live off my savings I earned from a few styling gigs and promos I was offered, until I graduated college. I only had about three months left so it would be sufficient.

I had dreams I wanted to make a reality. I could learn all about business from textbooks and a school, but I actually had to go out there and start giving it a go.

Instead of taking a loan out from the bank, I actually turned to my family. I invested some money into developing my clothing brand. I realised I shouldn't keep shunning away from my family's blessings, and I should be more grateful for what I have and use it in a positive way. Not everyone was as lucky as I was, and I felt guilt for being judgemental about it instead of appreciating it.

I finally realised that I wasn't east coast Valerie, full of only materialistic things and a false sense of validation, or West Coast Valerie, lonely, quiet, insecure of herself and afraid of the world...

I was just Valerie. A girl who loved the magic of transforming ordinary materials into something spectacular. A girl who found herself amidst the craziness of this world.

Those things didn't define me, and couldn't control me.

I defined myself.

I'm just me.

Me, with a whole lot of wonderful extended connections.

When you think about it, connections are all we have in this world. Friends, Family, Intimacy, Business, Social Media. To feel like we're someone worth knowing, to feel like we're a part of something bigger, to further our personal and professional growth. And I think that's what humans crave most in this world. A connection that makes us believe we are not alone, that we are not simply lost souls roaming this earth, that we have something worth living for.