“You think so?”
“Yes, I think so. It was way too good not to do it again.” She paused, suddenly wondering if she’d just babbled out something embarrassing. “Don’t you think so?”
“Yes, of course I think so. I just didn’t expect you to be so relaxed about it. So you’re not having second thoughts or worried or anything?”
When her mind started working again, she might have a few worries, but she was feeling too good to process anything else at the moment. She shrugged as she carefully swung her leg over Carter’s hips so she could get off him. “Not really. It was fun. We both enjoyed it. Why not do it again?”
He nodded as he sat up and took care of the condom. “Sounds good to me.”
They spent a few minutes cleaning up and going to the bathroom. Then they got back into bed, this time under the covers. It was still almost an hour until breakfast. No reason to get up quite yet.
Carter lay on his back, staring up at the ceiling. Ruth curled up on her side so she was facing him.
“When was the last time you had sex?” she asked.
He turned his head with arched eyebrows. “When was the last time you did?”
“I haven’t had sex since my mom died,” she told him. “I haven’t really dated much. To tell you the truth, I haven’t really been in the mood. Maybe that was why I was so enthusiastic just now. So what about you?”
“It’s been a while for me too. Several months. I had a one-night stand earlier this year, but it wasn’t... It was mostly fueled by alcohol, and it wasn’t what I wanted. I wish I hadn’t done it.”
Ruth’s smile faded at the poignant note in his voice. “Was she drunk too?”
“Not as drunk as I was. It wasn’t... I tried to treat her well. I don’t think she was hurt or upset by the way it happened. But I wish I had acted differently. I was in a downward spiral. I should have done better.” He sighed and shook his head. “Sorry to be such a downer. We were having a good time.”
“That’s okay. We can still have a good time. Was this when things blew up with Lincoln and Summer?”
“Yes. I was a wreck. About them and about my dad’s death and about him leaving the company to Lincoln and about my own stupidity. I really lost it for a while. I hate even the memory of it now. How I could have acted that way. I always thought I was... stronger than that.”
“I don’t think anyone’s really strong enough to deal with so much all at the same time. No one would have gotten through it without breaking at least a little. And at least you didn’t hurt anyone.”
He met her eyes. “I hurt Lincoln and Summer.”
“Maybe a little, but not in a lasting way.” She reached out to stroke his cheek and then let her fingers trail down to his chest. “Carter, you can’t hold yourself up to impossible standards. You’ve always been a good guy, but that doesn’t mean you’re a perfect guy. You’re human just like the rest of us, and you were really hurt. It actually...” She cleared her throat. “It actually makes me feel a little better.”
“What does?” He covered her hand on his chest.
“Knowing that you kind of fell apart like the rest of us do occasionally. It makes you feel more real to me.”
“I’d rather be good than real.”
She stretched up to kiss his jaw. “You are good. You’re the best guy I know.”
His body grew very still for just a second. His eyes flew to her face. “Yeah?”
“Yeah. And I’ll be happy to have sex with you again if that’s something you want. Because for a nice guy, you’re pretty damn good in the bedroom.”
He chuckled. “Maybe nice guys have always been better in the bedroom, and you just didn’t know it because you didn’t give them a chance.”
“Maybe so.”
Carter gave a leisurely stretch, obviously returning to his satisfied good mood and then looked at the clock. “I guess I better take a shower. Mom’s excited about having us all together for another day, and she’ll be upset if we’re late for breakfast.”
“Okay. I need to start getting dressed too.”
He got out of bed but leaned back over to give her a quick kiss. “Thank you for this morning. I had the best time I can remember.”
“Me too. So thank you.”
AT NINE, BOTH RUTH and Carter were showered and dressed, so they went downstairs together to the breakfast room—which was a cute sunny room overlooking the pool and backyard that was never used for anything but breakfast.
Summer came down right at nine, and a heavy-lidded Lincoln strolled in a few minutes later. It was a quiet, pleasant meal, and the quiche, waffles, and fruit were delicious. Mrs. Wilson told them all about a new yoga class she was planning to organize, inspired by the retreat she’d recently completed.
Ruth wasn’t sure what she was supposed to do after breakfast. When Mrs. Wilson had invited her, it had sounded like just for the night, so maybe she was supposed to go home now. That would be fine with her, except she wanted to have sex with Carter again sometime soon, so she was hoping they could plan toward that end rather than leave the whole thing up in the air.
She wasn’t really an up-in-the-air person.
Carter walked with her back to her bedroom. She wasn’t sure what he wanted. He wasn’t making a move on her or anything. He just stood there like he was waiting for something. Ridiculously nervous, she went to her overnight bag and pretended to check something inside it.
“Do you need to take off?” Carter asked quietly from behind her.
“What? No. Not really. I was just...” She trailed off since she didn’t have a valid explanation for what she was doing with her bag other than “fiddling nervously.”
“Do you have plans for today?”
She turned to face him, her heart bouncing at the question. “No. Not really. I’d originally planned to catch up on some paperwork, but I don’t really feel like it.”
“Lance just texted a few minutes ago,” Carter said. He sounded casual. Light. But there was something a little stiff underlying the pose. “He wanted to know if we wanted to go out on the lake with him and Savannah. He’s got a sailboat.”
“Oh.” Ruth searched his face, trying to find evidence of whether he wanted her to accept the invitation or not. She couldn’t tell. “Did you want to do that?”
“I’d like to go. It’s always fun. But if you don’t want to, we can do something else.” He cleared his throat. “Or we don’t have to do anything if you’d rather take off.”
She gave a silly little giggle. Mostly relief. “I’d be happy to go if you think it would be fun. I like them both, and it’s kind of nice to hang out with people. I haven’t done a lot of that lately.”
There she’d done it again—said something she should have held back. Now he might think she was giving him some sort of sob story. He might think she’d get too clingy.
His lips turned up in that little smile, and his posture relaxed. “Okay. Good. I’ll tell him yes then?”
She nodded. “I’ve never been sailing before, but I’m willing to give it a go.”