Page 68 of Adoring Delaney

I threw the covers back and sat on the edge of the bed searching for my clothes.

The knocking started again and Carter yelled, “Hang on!”

I found my clothes, nabbed them off the floor, and rushed to the bathroom. I didn’t need the grand tour to find my way, there were three doors in Carter’s apartment. The front door, one that was closed and I assumed was a closet, and one that was open with the shower in full view.

I glanced in the mirror and winced.

“Laney baby, hurry up,” Carter called.

Hurry up? I needed at least an hour to shower and make myself presentable.

I threw on last night’s clothes, sans panties, mainly because it was gross to wear the same pair of undies two days in a row, not that I had the option because they weren’t with me in the bathroom. Which meant they were somewhere on the floor.

On the floor of Carter’s apartment. I didn’t have time to process why that made me extremely giddy because Logan was getting ready to enter said apartment and I’d die a thousand deaths if he saw them.

It was that thought that had me splashing water on my face and running my fingers through my hair in extreme panic. No longer caring I looked a wreck, I opened the door and stepped out of the bathroom.

Then I wished I hadn’t.

Good God.

Carter was standing in the middle of the room, jeans on but shirtless. And next to him was a man who was as tall and well-built as him. But that was where the similarities died. Logan’s hair was sandy blond compared to Carter’s dark, his eyes were deep chocolate brown, and he looked like he had a permanent tan.

“I thought civilian life was making you weak, brother. But, damn, I get it now.” Logan smiled. “My ass wouldn’t be getting out of bed either if I had—”

“Wouldn’t finish that if I were you,” Carter cut him off and Logan’s head tipped to the side as he belted his laughter. “Laney baby, come here.”

Yeah, no. I didn’t want to move. I was stuck in place watching Logan laugh. Not because I was enthralled with the man, but because this moment was huge. It was the first time I was meeting one of Carter’s friends and it certainly wasn’t how I’d envisioned it going.

Not with wild sex hair, and yesterday’s clothes on. And I never thought I’d be doing it without panties. Which led me to look around the room.

The instant I did, all thoughts of underwear went out the window and my heart did a funny flip.

The apartment was empty. I mean, there was a couch, an ugly coffee table that looked like it was a garage sale find, a TV, and a bed. I glanced at the boring cream-colored walls and there were no pictures, no artwork, nothing. Bare. I couldn’t even find a nail where something would’ve hung. There were no dish towels in the small kitchen and belatedly I realized there had only been one white towel hanging over the towel rack in the bathroom. No shower curtain because the stall had a frosted glass door but there weren’t any bathmats, not even a toothbrush holder.

My gaze hit the crumpled sheets of the bed and I hated them. Again, stark white.

Boring.

Lonely.

Empty.

This was how Carter had lived?

I fucking despised it. It hurt my heart.

Last night I thought I’d wanted this, Carter being alone, missing me, in a bare apartment wanting to come home to Georgia to see me. Now that I was seeing it, what that truly meant, I didn’t like it. Not one bit. My selfishness slammed into my chest and I blinked away the wetness that was forming.

“What the hell, Laney?” Carter had me in his arms and I tucked my head under his chin.

“I’m so sorry,” I whispered. “God, I’m selfish.”

“What?”

“I thought I wanted this.”

His body went ramrod straight and arms spasmed. “Wanted what?”

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