Naughty

“I’ll think about it.” She hated telling him that she’d think about it. Autumn wanted to move in with him, wanted that next step.

There was no reason for her to hold back. She didn’t want to hold back. Carter was who she wanted.

She had no choice. Confronting Summer was the only option.

****

“Where is the wonderful Autumn?” Denny asked. “Not that I mind the company but for a long time, you and she have been attached at the hip.”

“She’s at her parents’ place. Hopefully talking to Summer.”

“Ouch, leaving it to the sister to spill the beans?”

“I wanted to go with her, but she wanted to do it herself. It’s her sister, and I don’t want to cause any trouble there.”

“It’s best not to get in between sisters.”

Carter took a sip of his beer, wondering what Autumn was doing. Did she need him? “I asked her to move in with me.”

Denny spat back into his bottle. “Move in? Like one apartment between the two of you?”

“Crazy right?”

“Dude, have you thought that through?”

“I love her, Denny.”

Carter stared at his friend, seeing the shock on Denny’s face. “That is a major step up from just fuck buddies.”

“Yeah, I knew the moment I got her to agree to that it wouldn’t last. I had feelings for her that have been here a long time. I always cared about her, and now, we’re both together, at the right age, and it’s just right. I want to be with her, and I don’t want to hide what I’m feeling either.”

“Does she have any idea what you’re feeling?”

“No. I don’t even know if she loves me back.”

“She loves you back.”

“You don’t know that.”

“She does. There’s no denying it. A woman who behaves the way she does, she loves you back, but her bond with Summer, being sisters and all that, it’s clouding it. She’s scared, man.”

Carter wanted to believe it, more than anything he wanted to.

“To love.”

“To love.” He clicked his bottle against Denny’s, and wondered how Autumn was getting on. He hated the thought of leaving her to handle her sister. Summer could have a temper on her, and the last thing he wanted to do was for Autumn to be all alone when she dealt with it.

****

Autumn worked on the peas in her mother’s kitchen as she listened to her sister go on and on about her latest contract with the firm. She hadn’t gotten the courage yet to come out and say anything.

“I think it’s wonderful, your accomplishments,” Mary said, smiling.

“Yeah, when are you going to settle down, and give me grandbabies?” Bill, their father, asked.

“Dad, women don’t have to just have a husband. It’s an archaic principle.”

Their father rolled his eyes. “It’s good for a woman to have a family. Your mother was the happiest when we had a family, right, Mary?”