Harry's POV

"Harry, we've been in here for way too long."

I laugh and stop kissing Carmen's neck so I can look at her. Her cheeks are flushed and her hair is a mess and her lips are darker than they normally are.

"That would be your cue to get off me," she whispers. However her arm is still around me, the other resting on my lower back. She doesn't seem to want me to go anywhere so I guess I'll just stay put.

"Here's the thing. I don't think you really want me to move."

"Even if that was true, we don't really have a choice. We came in here to get changed and it's been like..." She looks at the clock and then gasps. "Harry! It's been twenty minutes!"

"Oh, come on. They're talking to the babysitter and getting ready themselves, they probably aren't waiting."

"But if they are waiting then it's going to be really awkward." She quickly pecks my lips and then pushes against my chest. "Time to get dressed."

"You didn't even finish getting undressed," I remind her. It's cute that she thinks she can push me away. Carmen rolls her eyes and resorts to putting her hands against my face to push me off that way. "This is unnecessary."

"Harry," she whines. "Stop assaulting me."

"Assaulting you?" She lets her arms fall above her head against the pillows, which really doesn't help me at all. Being here this week has meant that she barely lets me touch her because apparently that's weird when her little brothers are in the house. "If I remember correctly, you're the one that started kissing me."

"Well...shut up." When I laugh she rolls her eyes again. "Okay, seriously. We need to get ready."

"Carmen, five minutes is not going to make a difference. Come on, I'm going crazy over here watching you run around in these little shorts all the time. It's really not fair."

For the zillionth time in the last two minutes she rolls her eyes but now she's smiling too. When there are no other words of protest I lean down to kiss her. It takes a few seconds for her to respond, but she sighs as she finally does, her fingers curling into my hair. This is fun, these times when she pretty much lets me do whatever. She doesn't relinquish control completely very often, but when she does it's definitely enjoyable.

And then it's over. Without warning I'm flipped onto my back and Carmen places one hand on my cheek, the other on my chest and sliding up to my shoulder. She uses that as an anchor to slide her body against mine and my fingertips press hard into her hips in response. And then it's really over because she rolls right off me and climbs off the bed.

"Time to get dressed," she says simply. She disappears into her giant closet and I'm left breathing heavy and ridiculously turned on.

"That was mean!" I call to her. I hear her laugh and close my eyes, taking deep breaths to try to calm myself down a little bit.

When I finally do get up to get dressed Carmen is standing in the closet in only her bra and jeans. And fuck. Just...fuck.

"Gale bought me this one yesterday," Carmen says quietly. She holds up a hanger with a black dress hanging from it. My arms wind around her from behind and she sighs. "Do you think I should wear it?"

"I love you," I whisper in her ear. She turns her head towards me and her fingers lightly trace my cheek. "You should wear it."

"What are you going to wear?"

"Probably a shirt. Maybe some pants, but that's debatable."

"That was so funny I forgot to laugh." She takes the dress and walks out towards the bathroom.

"You could at least throw me a bone!" I call after her. I grab the only button-up I brought and slide it on, a light faded blue with short sleeves. But just for fun I don't button it up yet, moving my hair back from my face to put on my hat. Carmen is in my line of sight when I sit on the edge of the bed to wait for her. She smiles at me and continues fixing her hair, which isn't straight for once. It's got that beachy, messy, far too sexy look and it's fantastic. And the dress...the dress is incredible.

My staring gets so excessive that I don't even realize when she walks towards me. The dress is simple: tight at the top with a neckline that dips a little too far for anyone to see but me. The skirt is loose and falls a few inches above her knee. It's simple, but it's beautiful.

"You have to do up at least a few buttons," she murmurs, reaching down to start doing them from the bottom up.

"You're beautiful." She smiles small but doesn't look up at me. After the fourth button she rests her hands on my shoulders, slowly sliding them either side of my face.

"Let's go." She kisses me and takes my hand and pulls me towards the door. It's our last night in California and Gale and Todd want to take us out for dinner. Carmen was sad that she couldn't spend a little extra time with Jayden, but this is why she came here in the first place.

The two of them are sitting in the living room with the boys when we walk out. Apparently they were waiting. Oops. Carmen glares at me because she's probably thinking the same thing. She's been getting along much better with Gale the last few days of the trip ever since they went out together on Tuesday night. It doesn't seem like they're tiptoeing around their problems anymore and the resentment in Carmen's eyes has lessened when she looks at her mother. There may actually be a chance at salvaging what's left of that relationship.

Of course these rich people take limos everywhere. I don't know why they think that's necessary, but they let us have champagne on the way to the restaurant and that's a fun time. Gale and Todd are actually really good people; they're not snobby like I would have expected at least one of them to be. I can't help but wonder how different things would be if Gale had taken Carmen with her when she left. We definitely would never have met then.

"Harry, hold on a second." Todd stops me and Carmen keeps hold of my hand. "Carmen, go ahead with your Mom."

Carmen looks at me and I nod my head to say it's alright. With a curious glance at Todd she lets go of me and heads towards the restaurant with Gale. After they're inside Todd steps to the side a little so we're not in anyone's way and to be honest, his silence is a little intimidating.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to threaten you," he says after a moment. I let out a nervous laugh. "Gale and I were talking...what's her situation like?"

"Carmen?" He nods. "What do you mean?"

"Financially," he says quietly. He slides his hands into his pockets and right now he feels more like a businessman than anything else. "We want to make sure she's okay."

"Shouldn't you talk to her, then?"

"Gale doesn't think she'll respond well to that. You've seen as much as anyone that their relationship is on this ice. Gale doesn't want to say the wrong thing and put their relationship back."

Makes sense. "To be honest, I don't really know her situation. She's got a bunch of her tuition covered by scholarships, if not all of it."

"What about living costs? If she's playing volleyball all the time she couldn't possibly have time for a job."

"She does have a job." I smile a little, proud of how hard she works. "She works her ass off. I don't know how she does it. But I think her father helps her a bit as well. As much as he can, anyway."

"We'd like to help her as well," he says. "So she doesn't have to do any extra work."

"As nice as that is, I don't think she'll go for it. She's...Carmen is independent. And stubborn."

"Trust me, I can imagine how stubborn she is." He laughs. "She's so much like her mother it's almost scary."

"Do the boys know Carmen is their sister?" This never really occurred to me before.

"Not yet."

"Why not?"

He shrugs. "Gale thought it would be easier for everyone to get to know each other first. She didn't want Carmen to feel too pressured when she came."

"You don't think Jay and Evan will be upset that you lied to them?"

"Evan might be, but Jayden wants to marry Carmen so I don't think he'll be too upset about it," he explains, laughing as he does. Yeah, Jayden definitely is infatuated with Carmen. I may have some competition because I think she might like him better than me. "What if we sent you the money and you found a way to-"

"Look, it's great that you want to help her but you need to talk to her about this. I'm not going to trick her into taking your money." He sighs in disappointment. I get that they want to help her and it's great, but that's not why Carmen came here. "She'll be fine, trust me."

"For what it's worth, we're both glad that she has you." He places his hand on my shoulder for a short minute and smiles at me. "I may not be much to her, but it still feels like she's my kid. We'll both worry less knowing you're around to take care of her."

"Thank you, sir." She may take care of me more than I do her. No one is more grateful than I am.

---

"I think I'm going to..." Carmen looks behind her and then back at me. "I think I'll stay up a while longer."

"Okay. You want me to stay with you?"

She shakes her head and her arms slide around my waist. "No, it's fine. I think Gale and I are going to watch a movie."

"Okay. Have fun." I place my finger under her chin to tilt her mouth up to mine. When I start to move back she hooks one hand around my neck to reattach our lips and I'm very aware that we're in the kitchen. But oh well.

"Let's stay at the apartment when we get home tomorrow," she whispers finally.

"I've never been so excited to go back to school."

She laughs and disappears into her bedroom to change out of that dress. I'm so fucking excited to get home. Carmen is finally mine and I want her all to myself for the remainder of the weekend before we go back to school. I don't think this week could have gone any better if I planned it out myself and I could not be happier than I am right now.

---

The bed moving causes me to wake up, and when I turn onto my side I see the silhouette of Carmen sliding under the covers. But she stays too far away and lays on her side so she's facing away from me. That won't do.

"I didn't mean to wake you up," she whispers when I slide up behind her. Our legs tangle together, my arm around her waist and her hair tickling my nose.

"It's late," I mutter. "You're just coming in now?"

"We were talking."

I hum in response and feel her fingers lace together with mine. Something cool rests against one of them and I lift her hand to see what it is. It's hard to see in the dark, but there's a ring resting on her right hand.

"What's this?" I ask quietly. It takes a moment for her to answer and when she does it's almost too quiet for me to hear.

"It was hers. And her grandmother's before that." She sighs and turns a little so she can look at me. "It's opal."

"It's nice."

"It's beautiful," she agrees. She seems conflicted about it but that makes sense. I'm surprised Gale was willing to do something this personal without being worried it would scare Carmen away. Carmen's hand slides out of mine and she turns onto her side so she's facing me, ring clad hand hidden under the pillow. I'm about to ask her about the week and everything that's happened when my phone vibrates on the night table.

"Who is texting you now?" she murmurs when I reach for it. When I open the message my stomach turns and I immediately delete the text so she can never see it. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah, fine." I lay back down next to her and pull her body against mine. Not all that fine, but this isn't something I can or want to or will ever tell her. Ever.

"You sure?"

"Yeah." She gives me a lazy kiss and settles in against me. This is my favourite place to be and I'm not about to do anything to ruin this. Let's just hope I haven't already done something to ruin it.

Notes

it was smooth sailing for a while there. maybe not anymore?

guys. i love four it's the best. i think 18 and fools gold are my favourites so far. but i also like stockholme syndrome and where to broken hearts go...really theyre all fantastic lets be honest.

whats your favourite??