"Stop being such a baby," she told him. "Where's my tough marine?"
Carter lay on the floor, trying to keep his chest from spasming. "He's a figment of your imagination."
"I'm taking a bath," she said, stepping over him.
"Another one?"
"You should always wash after sex. Surely they covered this in the safety briefings."
Allie shut the bathroom door on Carter and drew another bath. It felt so decadent to slip into the steaming water. Carter was a good sport, she thought. She looked around at the luxury surrounding her and let herself imagine what it would be like to have a beautiful house with a nice bathroom and a balcony. A handsome guy would be a bonus. She really just wanted the real estate, the money, and the whole lifestyle. She sighed as she let her mind drift off into another reality in which she didn't have to scrape and fight for every little thing.
10
Carter
Carter flipped through his phone while Allie bathed. It didn't look as though he was missing much at Les DesChamps. Tyler had been bitten by a cockroach attracted by the mountain of pizza boxes he had stacked up in their room. Carter grimaced. He was not looking forward to returning to the base.
He looked up as Allie came out in an old T-shirt and shorts. He tried not to let his eyes wander away from her face, but he couldn't help giving her a once-over.
To try to disguise it, he pulled off his shirt and said, "Are you done with the bathroom?"
She nodded, and he watched her as she grabbed a blanket and pillow and headed for the couch.
"What are you doing? You can sleep on the bed, you know," he said, following her.
"Nope. Goodnight, Carter," she told him and shut the door between the bedroom and the seating area.
After his shower, Carter wasn’t tired. He lay in bed and thought about Allie. She wasn't like anyone he’d ever met. The girls who were after the Holbrook fortune had never treated him the way Allie did. He appreciated her sardonic nature and her no-nonsense personality.
Restless—he had slept on the car ride up, after all—he eased out of bed. Margot was pacing around the room.
"Are you confused, girl?" he whispered to the dog. He picked her up and snuggled her to his chest.
"You’re fattening up," he told the dog as he slipped out of the suite.
He took the dog outside and saw Walter sitting alone on the low stone wall separating the upper terrace from the rest of the garden.
"Hey, Uncle Walter," he said. "It's freezing. What are you doing out here?"
His uncle put down his glass. "Just thinking."
"About what?"
Walter sighed. "Mistakes. Regrets."
"Yeah," Carter said. "I miss the kids."
"You were a good cousin to them," Walter said, reaching up and pulling his nephew to sit beside him. "You’re a good man, Carter."
Carter looked down at his feet and dug the toe of his shoe into the light snow that had fallen to the ground.
"I don’t know. My dad doesn’t seem to like me."
"He doesn't mean it," Walter said to Carter. "But for what it's worth, I like you."
"I know."
"And I suppose your fiancée does? Seemed like you two are pretty into each other, after that display." He glanced meaningfully to their bedroom window, which overlooked the back garden.
