He closed his lids briefly before calling out, “Yeah?” His voice was higher pitched than normal, causing me to snort quietly and earning me a smack on my chest.
“Ooh, you’re up.” I snorted a little louder when Carter threw a look of disbelief at the door. “Do you have time for breakfast before work? You’re in bed a little later than usual.”
He groaned. “Err, just toast, Mom, thanks. Give me five.”
There was a moment of silence before his mom spoke again. “But didn’t Tanner come back?”
I chuckled. “Morning,” I greeted loudly.
“Morning, Tanner. So you’ll need more than five minutes, I assume.”
I cast an amused glance at Carter who’d turned a brilliant shade of red. “No, no…,” he half muttered, half stumbled.
“Nonsense,” she continued. “I remember what your dad was like at your age. He had quite the stamina and appetite. There was this one ti—”
Carter shot out of bed at the same time he yelled “No!” He grabbed a towel off the linen basket and was wrapping it around himself as he opened the door just a crack. “Mom, seriously, toast is good. I’m going to be late otherwise.”
He stood at the door, his muscles tense, one hand gripping the towel, the other on the door. Amusement danced in my gut, and I was so tempted to rile him up and make the situation so much more awkward. His reaction if I were to sidle up to the side of him, out of the view of the door, and start playing with his sexy-as-fuck ass was difficult to resist. I shifted on the bed, in half a mind to do just that, but my movement caused Carter to swing his head around to face me. He squinted immediately, sending me a silent order to stop exactly where I was.
I threw him a big-ass grin as laughter caught in my throat. I edged closer to the bed, knowing full well when I stood, I’d be on show for his eyes only, sticking out for his… admittedly, for my own amusement.
As I swung my legs over the side of the bed, his eyes widened, jaw tensing. “Thanks, Mom. Ten minutes.” He quickly closed the door, leaving behind his mom’s trailing laughter.
It took longer than ten minutes before a frazzled Carter was pulling on his pants and grabbing a slice of cold toast as he raced out the door. I laughed, watching him leave, feeling so relieved that I’d had time to put an extra-large grin on his face this morning.
After our ridiculous nonargument of yesterday, as Carter had dubbed it, the sex had been pretty fucking epic. I was more than happy if every stupid half-assed disagreement ended up with us sorting everything out so quickly and shooting our loads.
Yeah, it was how every day should end and start as far as I was concerned. Well, except for the bullshit.
“So”—Marcy sidled up next to me—“you sorted everything out last night then?”
I nodded and shared a cautious smile with her. While she was super easygoing and seemed supportive of our relationship, interacting with any parent had alarm bells ringing. It wasn’t something I was exactly used to. “Yeah.”
“Good job.” She patted my arm tenderly. “You’re good for him.” My brows lifted in surprise. “He’s so calm and doesn’t like to unsettle the waters. He’s always been the same. Don’t get me wrong. He has a backbone and knows how to stand up for himself.” I nodded at that, not imagining he would have been given much option to be any other way with a mom like Marcy. “But he would also prefer to fly under the radar and make the best of the situation.”
“Is that a bad thing?” I asked as I closed the front door and we both headed to the kitchen. It was actually something I admired about Carter. He gave people the benefit of the doubt and tried hard to see the good in every situation and person. I just worried some idiots would mistake that for him being a pushover.
Marcy went straight to the coffeepot, poured a mug, and handed it to me. “No, it’s not. Carter’s changed in so many ways since high school. I’m not sure if he’s told you how difficult high school was.” He had, and I hated knowing he was treated like dirt. “At the time we didn’t know the extent of how bad it was, and his dad and I still feel so awful about it all. Christ, I was so angry when I discovered some A-holes had actually told everyone he was gay. It was his personal business, not a secret, as his dad and I pretty much knew by the time he was ten, but still, the idiots who used it as a way to attack him—” She broke off, her face letting me know she wasn’t kidding; she was one seriously pissed-off woman.
“Anyway,” she continued, “we didn’t find out until just before he graduated. We discovered he was so worried about disappointing us because he put up with their bullcrap that he thought it best to just carry on.” She shook her head. “After that, when he went to college, his confidence grew. He really came into himself. Had friends, was popular, obviously excelled at his studies. We saw him fight for himself, his dreams. He told us one time about another student at college who was having some difficulty with some bigoted idiots. I’ve never been so proud of him as I was once I discovered Carter intervened and stuck up for this guy. I don’t even think he was his friend at the time. Anyway.” She paused and took a sip of her coffee before shaking her head and continuing, “I suppose my point is it’s the reason why his dad and I were so surprised with him letting this idiot at work, his new stupid boss, take liberties. It’s just not the Carter we’ve known since he’s been a man.”
My gut unsettled at her words, and I knew she was right. While I’d only known Carter for a few months and we hadn’t been together for all that long, his confidence was one thing that drew me to him. I had to agree with Marcy: Carter allowing the fuckwit from work to behave the way he had reeked of wrongness.
Chapter Eighteen
CARTER
My nightmare week continued.It seemed therefore appropriate that it ended with me trying to not blatantly stare at my watch urging the seconds to hurry up.
Despite Tanner and me sorting things out, and the bone-melting sex as a result—the only positive to my week—I was eager for the week to be truly over.
Not wanting to be out and definitely not wanting to relax too much, despite Lauren’s attempts to get me to drink, I sipped on my Coke. Lauren was in the middle of telling me how the guy she’d been hooking up with had some kinky requests.
“For real, he pulled out this triple X—”
I raised my brows, not quite sure if I was horrified or amused.
Lauren laughed. “Exactly! My reaction was pretty much the same.”
