46
Carter
The bridal tea had not been Carter's finest moment. On the drive to the Holbrook estate, he had this grand vision of Allie seeing him and sobbing, saying that she had made a mistake and of course she would move back in with him.
Her look of anger and betrayal was not what he was envisioning, however, and he was confused until he remembered his drunken statement to the cameras.
Carter had wanted to explain, but he had been hungover and suffering from a splitting headache. He grimaced, remembering how he had snapped at her.
Allie refused to talk to him in the office the next week, and Carter wanted to crawl out of his skin with the tension in their row of desks.
"That's that, I guess," he said to the dogs as he paced around the penthouse.
Memorial Day was coming up, and Holbrook Enterprises was starting summer Fridays. Carter wasn't sure how he was going to spend the long weekend. He supposed he should go visit a military cemetery or something.
His phone rang, and he jumped, startled, and answered it.
"Meet us at the Hamptons, Carter. We're all going to be there for the holiday weekend," his mother said.
"Usually we go to Martha's Vineyard," he said into the phone. "That was the kids' favorite."
"Yes, but after everything, it's nice to have a change of pace, don't you think? Your father and I will be going back and forth for the summer," Nancy said. "Please come. I barely see you."
"I'll be there," Carter mumbled and hung up.
"This won't be so bad," he told himself. It would be a nice break from the city and from Allie. Jack would be happy to hear that he and Allie weren't together anymore.
It was early summer, but it was already hot. He decided to drive and loaded the dogs in their carriers into one of the sports cars his uncle kept in the tower's garage.
"This will be fun," he told the animals. "Margot, you've never even seen the ocean." Ginny had sent him a hat and a little shade tent for the dogs plus life vests for both should they want to go in the water.
"We're having a clam bake Monday," his mother told Carter after greeting him when he arrived. He let the dogs out to sniff around the house then changed into shorts and running shoes.
"I’m going for a run," he told her. "I haven't been in the Hamptons in years, I think."
"It's turned into a party scene," she said. "Don't get yourself into any trouble. I don't want any sowing of wild oats or anything like that. Look what happened to your uncle Walter."
Carter gave her a mock salute then took off at a good pace past the upscale cottages with fancy cars parked in front. As he ran past the perfectly kept gardens, he had to admit it was nice to be outside of the confines of the city.
Several miles later, sweaty and hot, he headed down a pathway to the beach, hoping to catch some of the breeze.
He tensed up when he saw a woman's figure.
"Allie?" he said, slowing down when he saw her. She looked at him, a large straw hat perched on her head and oversized sunglasses obscuring half of her face. She was wearing a bikini under a mesh cover-up. He could see her nipples outlined under the fabric, and he immediately grew hard.
"Hi, Carter," she said and chewed her bottom lip when she noticed his obvious erection.
Endorphins were pumping through his system after the run. He could tell Allie was looking at his bare chest, and Carter angled himself so that he would glisten in the sunlight and struck a pose.
Allie laughed, and Carter felt all the tension of the last week run out of him. Smiling broadly, Carter crushed her to his chest.
"You're sweaty," she mumbled.
He knew he should have a conversation with her, maybe apologize and explain what had happened, but sex would be easier, and hey, maybe they could put all of this behind them and things could just go back to how they were.
He kissed her. She tasted like mimosas, and he smiled against her mouth.
"I like your hat," he said, pulling off his sunglasses and tossing them aside.
