“I’m coming.” He heard her shout through the door. In the next second the door was opened, and she was standing with her hair bound up on top of her head, with nothing but a towel wrapped around her. “Carter.”
“Do you answer the door to all strangers in a towel?” he asked.
“Erm, no. I thought you were my sister. She was here a little while ago, and we got into an argument.”
He tilted his head to the side, watching her. “Is that why I got my answer?”
“No. It’s not. You got that answer because I finally realized that I didn’t do anything for myself. I did it all for everyone else. The baking was the only thing that was mine. Nothing else.”
“Why?”
She hesitated, and released the door, letting him inside. He flicked the lock into place as he entered her apartment. The space was entirely hers. The walls were a light cream, and the floors were wood with a couple of carpets along the bottom. Pictures of her family were everywhere. He liked it.
“Why what?”
“Why did you do everything else that everyone else wanted you to do?”
She stood, staring at him, and he saw her flushed and slightly damp body. That one look was all it took for him to get hard.
“I don’t know. Because I felt like I was such a failure that doing what they asked was the only thing I could do?” She shrugged, holding onto the towel as if it was a lifeline.
“Is this because of your dyslexia?”
“Don’t bring it up. Don’t make it sound like it’s not a big deal.”
“It’s not a big deal.”
She released a sigh. “You don’t know what it’s like to be compared.”
“Compared to Summer?”
“Yes. I bet you even compare the two of us.”
“Baby, you don’t have a clue what you’re talking about because right now, I’m not comparing you. In fact, I’ve never compared the two of you.”
“Really?”
“What exactly am I supposed to compare the two of you with?”
“I don’t know. You slept with the two of us.”
“That’s not how I work. I’ve slept with a lot of women, Autumn.”
“Great, that’s just great.”
“No, it’s not, not really. None of them have made me come after them.”
“Come after them?”
“Do you think I go to the workplace of the women I fuck? No. That’s not something I do. I’m not the kind of guy to go around chasing after women. I’ve never had to.”
“What are you trying to say?”
“This between us is something that I can’t even begin to describe, okay. I don’t want it to end.”
She licked her lips and nodded. “I don’t want it to end either.”
He stepped toward her. “And I don’t compare you with anyone else I’ve been with, because the truth is, they don’t compare.” He grabbed the knot of her towel and tugged it open. “Now, how about you make it up to me.” He took hold of her hip and pulled her close. He noticed the bruises from his fingers, and he liked it. The marks on her skin were from him, and seeing them, only brought out his need to claim her even more.