Total pages in book: 29
Estimated words: 27053 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 135(@200wpm)___ 108(@250wpm)___ 90(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 27053 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 135(@200wpm)___ 108(@250wpm)___ 90(@300wpm)
I was happy, willing, and open to take this first step with her. It was very clear she wanted to as well.
We ended up ordering, stayed for another half hour as we ate, and talked about “safe” topics. She didn’t ask about my relationship with her father, which I wouldn’t have divulged anyway. Everything was new with Carter. I was a little selfish in giving out any kind of information this early on.
I wanted to know everything first before I opened up to anyone else. Especially to his daughter or to my father.
Once we left the restaurant, we stood on the street corner in a strange sort of silence, neither one of us seeming to know what to say. She glanced down at her heels, smoothed her hands along her expensive outfit, and then finally looked up at me.
“All of that said, I am sorry, Mina. I am truly sorry, and I’ll try to do better. I'll work on being better, because I don't like the person I became.”
And then, shocking the hell out of me again, Amber wrapped her arms around me. As fast as it happened, she let go, gave me a smile that seemed shy, and said her goodbye before leaving.
I watched her walk down the street, knowing my mouth was slack, my eyes wide, and that I was pretty sure I was in an alternate dimension.
“What in the hell just happened?”
Chapter
Twelve
MINA
I found myself texting Carter, letting him know I wanted to see him. Truthfully, the conversation I just had with Amber rocked me a bit.
I checked to see if pigs were flying. I wondered if hell had frozen over.
The entire thing had been… surreal.
I sent Carter a text asking if I could come over. A second later, the response came through.
Carter
Come over now, baby.
I had felt the dominance in that lone word. I even felt myself shiver in anticipation.
I made my way there in a sort of daze. When I got to his apartment building, the doorman looked at me with a stoic expression before giving me a sharp nod, but didn’t let me in.
I doubted he remembered me from the night I’d come over for dinner, but if he did, I clearly hadn’t made an impression as he pretended I wasn’t even there.
I pushed the intercom for Carter’s place, then sent a text that I was here. I expected for him to just buzz me up. But after a minute or so of not hearing a response and not being let in, I started feeling antsy and onerous.
And then the door opened, surprising the doorman, who turned around and quickly hurried to grab the handle and pull it open further.
Carter stared at the doorman with a walled-off expression on his face.
“Charlie, next time you see Mina, let her in right away.” There was no question in his response, no hesitation. He was serious and imminent and sexy as ever.
“Come here, baby,” Carter said and took my hand before I reacted, pulled me into the lobby, and then we were in the private elevator and heading up to his penthouse.
I was on one side. Carter on the other. He braced his hands on the silver railing behind him. His head was slightly lowered, his focus trained on me.
“Amber called me,” I sputtered out, not sure why I was so nervous. “Apologized for what happened at my dad’s house and wanted to change things between us. She said she wanted to be better. Do better. That she wished things had been different between the two of you because she knew if she’d stayed with you, she’d be a better person.”
I snapped my lips shut, realizing I was running my mouth and barely taking a breath.
Carter still hadn’t spoken a word, and when the elevator came to a stop, the doors opening, Carter took my hand and led us out and into his place.
“Carter?” I said once we were inside his apartment, the door shut behind me, and Carter facing me. “You heard me?” Of course he had, but the fact he hadn’t spoken was making me even more on edge.
“I heard, Mina. I’m glad she’s finally growing up and taking responsibility.”
“She still has a lot of growing up and self-reflection to do, but knowing she took the right steps in making things right with you makes me happy.”
I licked my lips and nodded. “Did you talk with her about it? Make her apologize?”
He slowly shook his head. “No. But I told her how fucking disappointed I was in how she treated you. I explained how important you are to me, and the respect she shows to me needs to extend to you.”
I swallowed as he started undoing his cufflinks. He set them aside, then went for the buttons of his shirt.
He held eye contact as he said, “And you’re pretty fucking important to me, Mina. I don’t give two shits about how fast anything seems or feels. When I know it’s right… it’s fucking right. And you’re it for me.”