Chapter 13
Kean wasn’t lying when he told Charli he hadn’t planned for this to happen. But when she’d shown up on his porch, all sexy and vulnerable, she’d lit a fuse in his chest that burned slowly until it exploded into fireworks when they kissed.
He couldn’t get enough of her. Although he hadn’t stopped thinking about her from that very first kiss at Adam and Ellie’s wedding, he’d sort of come to terms with the fact that there wouldn’t be a replay of that night. Come on, even a blind person could see that, for some reason he didn’t understand, she couldn’t stand him. But with her soft body flush with his, her legs wrapped around his waist, and her arms hooked around his neck, it was hard for him to remember she was the woman who’d threatened to shoot him the first time they met. When she squirmed on the counter, he groaned against her mouth.
“Kean,” she said on a sigh against his lips. His name coming out of her lips sounded foreign. He wasn’t sure she’d ever called him anything other than Bob. It was hot. “Can we move it to your bedroom?”
He was panting as he pulled back to stare at her. Her skin was flushed, her lips swollen, and her hazel eyes were brimming with heat and want.
“Please.” She tightened her legs around him. “The counter isn’t very comfortable…”
He’d always considered himself a gentleman. He’d never take advantage of a vulnerable woman. But if she was all but begging, it wouldn’t mean he was taking advantage of her, right?
“Are you sure?” he asked out of politeness, even though he was hoping she wouldn’t say no, and if she did, he’d bang his head against the cabinet. She squeezed her legs more tightly around him and pulled herself closer.
“Now’s not really the time to play gentleman, Bob.” Her hands fisted the front of his sweater and pulled him toward her. “Unless you’re thinking I’m being way out of line here or you’re feeling like I’m taking advantage of you.” She looked at him from underneath those long, dark lashes, and his resolve faltered. He didn’t do one-night stands. And this looked very much like one. She felt lonely and miserable, and she was only looking for someone who’d take the pain away.
“I didn’t think I would ever say this, but your kisses are quite addictive.” Her tone was a seductive purr that made his mind slightly hazy. “And I want more…”
She gave a tug and her lips were on his again, giving him the final push he needed.
His body craved hers. He could talk himself out of it, but he no longer wanted to. His hands went under her bottom and he lifted her up. He walked toward his bedroom all the while kissing her, and squinting one eye open every two steps to make sure he didn’t trip and waste the opportunity to finally discover how soft her curves were—those curves that had all but haunted his sleep lately.
He’d never taken a woman into his bedroom before. He liked hanging out in Gold Beach or the nearby towns whenever he wanted to meet new people, and sometimes Scott went with him. So whenever he’d decided to take the next step, not that it had happened that often because, hey, he had principles, he’d gone home with the woman. Charli had been the first woman to ever sleep in his bed, and now she’d be the first one to be in his bed with him, although they wouldn’t be sleeping at all. And if someone had told him a month ago that he’d end up rolling in the sheets with her, he would have laughed so hard he’d get cramps.
“I think you can put me down now,” she said when he reached his bedroom. She unwrapped her legs but kept her arms hooked around his neck as she slid down his body. He couldn’t hold back a groan. She smiled and gave him a sultry look that all but set the room on fire.
“I didn’t take you for such a naughty girl.” His hands moved from her hips to her face, and she closed her eyes when his thumbs stroked her cheeks.
“I’m not. Usually. I haven’t been before you.”
He rolled his eyes. “So now it’s my fault. Typical.”
She chuckled, tightening her grip around him. “So, do you want to spend the night bickering or do you want to do something a bit more… interesting, Bob?”
He pretended to ponder his decision as if he were to decide the fate of the world. She narrowed her eyes. He’d come to enjoy teasing her just for the sake of it but right now, winding her up was turning out to be quite arousing too. He was sick. There could be no other explanation for his thoughts and behavior tonight. Or, actually, there was another reason and she was standing in front of him, tapping the toe of her sexy shoe as she waited for him to make his move.
“Maybe I’ll pass.” He tried to keep a serious tone even though he was laughing inside. Her eyes widened and her sexy mouth opened on a gasp. She took a step back as if he’d just slapped her—or at least she tried to, because when she moved away from him, the backs of her knees hit the side of the bed and she lost her balance. Her arms flapped like a bird taking flight and she let out a squeal as she fell onto the mattress.
“Well, if you put it like that…” he said with a lift of his shoulder, “How could I possibly refuse?”
She kicked her feet to keep him away from her, but he caught both her ankles and pulled her closer to him. “Unless you’ve changed your mind, of course.”
The heat flaring in her eyes told him she hadn’t, but he wanted to be sure she wouldn’t regret it in the morning. If she wanted an out, this was her one last chance. He didn’t know how he’d managed to keep it together this long, but with her sexy body sprawled on his bed, he wasn’t going to hold back his instincts much longer.
“Aw, shut up and kiss me already, Bob.”
He grinned as his knees hit the mattress, and she squirmed, trying to free her ankles.
“I have one request, if we’re really going ahead with this,” he said, staring straight into her eyes as he leaned closer to her face while he wrapped her legs around his waist. She studied him, then her eyes widened all of a sudden, as if she’d realized something important. He froze. She hadn’t changed her mind now, had she?
“Oh, no. Please don’t tell me you’re into the kinky stuff, because I might be vulnerable and lonely, but I’m not that desperate.” She placed her palms flat on his chest and pushed him away. “I’ve got principles, and those things are way outta my comfort zone. Sorry, but no. Just no.”
He laughed, shaking his head. “Well, I’m glad to hear that. But don’t worry, I’m not into the kinky stuff, either.”
“Phew, thank goodness.” She wiped the back of her hand across her brow, and he couldn’t help laughing at her antics. “Then what?”
He tilted his head to the side. “Can you keep these very sexy shoes on?”
She smiled and grabbed his sweater, pulling him down toward her. “I think I can do that.”
And with a breathtaking kiss she told him talking time was over.
* * *
Charli woke up wrapped around a warm, strong body. A naked body. Her eyes flew open and immediately settled on the handsome specimen sprawled on the king-sized bed, tangled in the navy blue sheets and her own body. So it hadn’t been a sexy and very realistic dream. It had really happened.
Wow.
The warmth provided by the memories quickly gave way to a full-on panic attack that hit her straight on, starting with a giant rock crushing her sternum, followed by the windpipes in her throat clogging up like too much food stuck in the garbage disposal.
What have I done?
Sure, it had been the most amazing night of her life, even before they’d ended up tumbling on his mattress, and she could now understand why some people used adjectives like mind-blowing, toe-curling and heart-stopping when referring to sex, but…
He was Ellie’s brother-in-law.
He loved his small-town life and probably wanted a stay-at-home wife and a bunch of kids. She was all wrong for him, and he was all wrong for her too. He thought she was a pain in his backside most of the time, and he was too laid back for her liking. She wanted a self-assured, career-oriented man, someone who knew what he wanted. He didn’t look as if he was too worried about his less-than-stellar business.
But the way he looked when he played the guitar, the way his calloused fingers plucked the strings—those same fingers that had set her body on fire last night—the deep timbre of his voice when he was singing that slow rock song… She hadn’t been able to resist him. No sane, hot-blooded woman would have been able to.
She should really get out of bed and go back to Ellie’s cottage before he woke up and things got awkward—which would ruin the amazing memories she planned on clinging on to.
A low groan rumbled through Kean’s chest, and reverberated through her whole body, setting it on fire.
“Hey, there. I thought I’d wake up to an empty bed,” he said, his voice low and still thick with sleep. So sexy it made her body tingle as if she’d just been tasered. With his eyes still closed, his arm snaked around her and pulled her closer to him. “Glad I was wrong.”
He nuzzled her neck and bit her lobe. It took her a moment to realize the moan that echoed in the room was coming from her. Okay, maybe she could stay just a few minutes longer.
She snuggled into him, and his hand settled on the small of her back, his fingers splaying on her butt. Tingles shot up her spine, and she shivered.
“I really should get going,” she said, even though she was sure her tone hadn’t exactly given the impression she wanted to get out of bed, and away from that warm, strong body. “I don’t want Ellie to find out I didn’t spend the night at her cottage and start asking questions.”
“What’s the hurry?” His fingers pinched her butt and she flinched. He chuckled. “Stay a while longer. We can take a shower, have breakfast together in bed…” His lips grazed the spot below her ear, making her eyes roll back and all thoughts desert her brain. When his mouth moved to her shoulder and the tip of his tongue flicked out, she shook herself from the daze.
“What we did last night can’t—” She gasped when he softly bit her skin. He chuckled against her neck. “It can’t happen again.” She pushed him away, and pulled the comforter up to her chin. He tugged on his end, making her efforts useless, and smiled wickedly. She shook her head. “This shouldn’t have happened in the first place. I never sleep with a guy I barely know—”
“Neither do I.” His lips trailed kisses all along the side of her neck, and she lost the ability to think. Again. “With a woman, of course. But technically we aren’t strangers, after all. We’re almost family, now.”
“Eww, gross!” She slapped his chest, and he laughed. “Seriously, though. This was a once-in-a-lifetime thing.”
“I’d say it was a three-times-in-a-lifetime thing, if we wanted to be precise.”
Charli couldn’t stop the grin that formed on her face, even as she rolled her eyes. Although the fact he wasn’t taking her seriously drove her insane, she enjoyed his funny side. He was a man of many facets and, after last night, she’d discovered he was a man of many talents, too. And not just for the way he played his guitar.
He pulled her close to his chest again, and she couldn’t resist. “I should never have given in to my instincts… but when I heard you play and sing that song, I… uh… I lost it. I have a thing for guitarists.” She closed her eyes as his hand moved up and down, his rough finger tracing her spine, vertebra by vertebra. She was pretty sure this was what the definition of bliss would be, if she looked it up on Wikipedia.
“I can pick up my guitar and sing you a song, if that would change your mind about staying…” His breath was warm in her ear, his voice low and rough and, oh so sexy, she squirmed in his arms. He chuckled softly at her reaction. “Or we could fix the ‘being strangers’ issue.”
His hand moved to her arm, and rubbed up and down in a soothing way that calmed her frantic heartbeat and smoothed her frazzled nerves. He pulled her to him so that she had no other choice but to rest her head on his wide, muscular chest. She shivered as memories of tracing her fingers along those ridges and planes, and the groans of pleasure he’d let out, raced through her mind. He’d laughed when her fingers had lingered to play with the dark chest hair, something she’d always found gross in men but that she thought was sexy on him. He’d said she was tickling him, and she’d kept doing it just to wind him up, until he’d captured her hands, flipped her flat on her back and pinned her in place with a kiss that had all but made her forget her name. More shivers shook her body. He reached for the duvet and pulled it up to cover their bodies, probably thinking she was shivering because of the cold. She wasn’t going to contradict him, though. She’d sound like a hypocrite if she told him she’d gladly have a repeat of last night, considering she’d just insisted this had been a mistake.
“How about you tell me everything about you, and then I do the same. I want to get to know you.” His deep voice rumbling in his chest broke the quiet and interrupted her fantasies. “That way, we won’t be strangers anymore. You know, just in case you change your mind about this being a once-in-a-lifetime thing.”
The mirth in his voice made her lips curve into a smile even as she tried to keep a straight face to maintain what little dignity she had left.
“Let’s start from the beginning. Tell me about your family. Got any siblings?”
She took a long breath, snuggled a little more into him, then let it out. His hand stilled as his breath caught and his body stiffened. Had she done this? Was she affecting him as much as his touch was affecting her?
“I have three older brothers. Enrique is six years my senior, Diego three and Rafael two.”
“Oh, so you’re the little princess!” He chuckled, and the way her body tingled in response caught her off guard. Had she ever had this kind of reaction with anyone before? She couldn’t recall ever feeling so turned on and at the same time so at ease with any other guy she’d dated. Okay, her relationships had been few and far between, and they’d always been rather fleeting, so perhaps she’d never reached this level of spill-your-guts intimacy before.
As his hand resumed its up and down movement on her arm, she realized that not even after nine months of dating Lousy Pig had she ever felt this much intimacy. They’d never really cuddled in bed and bared their souls to each other. When they did linger in bed, maybe a couple of times or so, they’d ended up talking about work, namely about some project they’d been working on. He’d never really seemed that interested in knowing her or her family—and she was ashamed to admit she’d done the same.
“Why are your brothers’ names all Latino, but yours is not?” He stilled his hand for a moment, then resumed his soothing caress. His confused tone and the frown on his face made her chuckle. She probably sounded cheesy, but he looked adorable.
“My parents agreed that every boy child in the Wingate family would have a Mexican name—my mother is Mexican, in case I haven’t told you—and every girl would have an American name.” She smiled, remembering her parents telling her brothers and her the story of how they’d picked their names. “Turned out, they really wanted at least one or two girls, but they always got boys. So they kept trying until, at last, the ultrasound showed a girl was on her way.”
He chuckled. “Good thing you arrived when you did, or they’d have a football team by now.”
She nodded. “Eventually, they decided to name me after my two grandmothers, just to make sure nobody took offense—seeing as they weren’t planning on trying for another girl. The American name, which is Charlotte by the way, is my dad’s mother’s middle name, and the Latino, Ariela, is my mom’s mother’s.”
“Charlotte Ariela Wingate.” He sounded it out slowly, as if savoring it on his tongue. She could swear her name had never sounded so hot coming out of anyone’s mouth. “Sounds awfully posh.”
She slapped his chest and he laughed. More tingles danced around her body. “For your info, Ariela means ‘lion of God’, so don’t make fun of me. It’s a very important name.”
He chuckled again, squeezing his arm around her shoulder and practically molding her body into his. “That’s quite fitting. You really are a lioness. Roaar!”
The rumble against her ear caused goosebumps to erupt all over, but she tried to ignore them as she laughed. With her chin propped on his chest, she looked up at him. His face was still crinkled into a smiling expression.
“What’s your middle name then, Bob?”
He raised a dark eyebrow. “I’m Irish and the firstborn. What do you think it could be?”
“Patrick?”
He nodded. “Of course. And I have another brother, apart from Adam.”
“Thank you, Mr. Obvious. I already knew that bit of trivia.”
He shrugged. “You were so drunk at the wedding, I thought perhaps you’d forgotten you’d met Kyle.”
“I was not!” She moved to sit up, but his arm was wrapped so tightly around her that she couldn’t move a single muscle. “Okay, so maybe I was a little drunk toward the end of the day—”
“So little that you didn’t remember sharing a mind-blowing kiss with me,” he cut in, the smirk clear in his tone even though she couldn’t see his face with her head resting on his shoulder. Just the memory of that first kiss was enough to set her body on fire again. She should really try to rein in her emotions but—oh, wow—the way his finger was now tracing circles on her back made it hard for her to concentrate on some smart comeback.
“And to finish our get-to-know-you chat, I also have four cousins who are practically like siblings, since they moved in with us when their parents died. Now, next topic.”
She chuckled. “Okay. Tell me the story behind your tattoo.”
She propped herself up with her hands on his chest and forced him to roll on his side so she could see it again. She’d noticed it before, of course, but she’d been a little, um, distracted. Now as she traced the intricate design of the Celtic cross painted on his right side, spanning three, probably four ribs, she was curious to know everything about it. Because she wanted to know everything about him. The thought made her flinch.
“No, let me guess,” she said, needing to take her mind away from that perilous train of thought. “You wanted to look badass to impress girls, hoping they’d drop their panties for you.”
His low chuckle made her body tingle. Again. Oh, come on now, Charli. Pull yourself together!
“If I said yes would that make me a lame guy?”
“Um… probably.” She giggled when he tickled her in the ribs. “Okay, okay, no. Stop it.”
He pulled her to him, and she didn’t offer any resistance. She rested her head on his chest, finding she enjoyed this position a bit too much for her peace of mind.
“I was kidding. It wasn’t to impress girls. At least not completely.” His breath hitched when she grazed his tattoo with the tip of her finger. “And yes, maybe I wanted to look badass. But it was just a challenge, really. A stupid teenage challenge I thought my brothers wouldn’t take up.”
“But they did.”
He chuckled. “Yeah, and I couldn’t step back if I wanted to maintain my reputation.”
“Perks of being the eldest.”
“Says the little princess.” She swatted him on the chest, and he laughed. “Anyway, I thought that, since we’re Irish, we should honor our roots by getting a Celtic cross tattooed upon turning twenty-one. When my mother found out, she went hysterical but by then, both Adam and I were already marked for life.”
Charli laughed. “I so would’ve loved to see that.”
“She wanted to swat us with the wooden spoon she used to threaten us with when we were little. She said I’d brainwashed Adam, and my idiotic brother didn’t contradict her. So I got blamed, even though Adam had been game from the very beginning. He’d actually convinced me it was a great idea when I first said it as a joke, like a rite of passage into manhood or something, but he obviously told Mom it had all been my doing.”
“Your brother’s pretty slick.”
“Kyle’s even worse. As the baby of the family he always got away with everything he did. Mom still doesn’t know about the tattoo on his calf.” He chuckled, squeezing her a bit more. She reveled in the warmth of his body. “He convinced her he’d never, quote, let his evil brothers pull him to the dark side. We were both there with him when he got his tattoo, a week after he turned twenty-one. And I went with Cayden when he got his, two years ago.”
“And I bet your mom doesn’t know about your cousin either, does she?”
“Nope. He’s been careful never to be seen without a shirt when she’s around.” He grinned, and Lord help her, she wanted to kiss him senseless right then and there. “Since you don’t have any tattoos, I think we should move on to the next topic.”
Charli laughed. “This feels a lot like one of those speed-dating things you see on TV.”
“Only we started from the end and moved backward. You should get to know a person first, and then end up in bed. Shame on you, Lioness.”
“Oh my God! Don’t blame me for what happened!” She tried to move away from him again, and this time he let her. She pulled the duvet with her to cover herself. The way the right corner of his lips curled made her realize she was quite ridiculous. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t already seen what was beneath that duvet anyway. She let out an annoyed huff. “You were the one carrying me into your bedroom.”
“Didn’t seem like you were against it, Lioness.”
“Stop calling me Lioness.” She glared at him, but he only laughed in response. There he went again, the annoying man who got on her every nerve with just a word or a smirk. Why had she even let him get this far into her system?
He sat up and wrapped both arms around her, pulling her flush to him. The duvet fell to her hips, and the heat coming off his body was enough that she didn’t miss the cover. Um, yeah, perhaps she knew why she’d let him get this close.
“For your info,” he said, mimicking her earlier tone. “I don’t regret a moment. And I would do it all over again without even thinking. In fact”—his lips brushed hers so lightly she wondered if she’d imagined the contact—“I plan on doing it all over again. Right now. Multiple times.”
His mischievous grin promised he would definitely make good on his promise if she let him. And boy, did her body want her to let him. But light was creeping in through the curtains and she was sure dawn was now only a short while away. She couldn’t stay any longer. This had been all wrong. It should never happen again. She should leave.
“Charli.”
Her eyes went up to meet his, and he shook his head, smiling.
“Don’t overthink it. And please don’t freak out. We don’t have to tell anyone if you don’t want to.” His hand went up to her head and he smoothed what she was sure was a bad case of bedhead. When he tucked a lock behind her ear, the contact made her shiver. His touch was… addictive wasn’t a strong enough word, but right now it would do. “We don’t have to tell Ellie you seduced her brother-in-law, if you’re not comfortable.”
“Ha. So, I seduced you, huh?” She shook her head in exasperation, letting out a groan. He could be sexy and romantic, then pull it all down like a house of cards with one single sentence.
“And I plan to let you seduce me every day, if you want to.”
This was getting out of control. Fast. Too fast. She’d barely started tolerating the man, and now he was talking about repeating last night? About more dates, or whatever last night had been? She had to focus on her life, she had to find a job, a house, a goal. She wasn’t going to stay here, especially not for a man.
“I have to go.”
He rolled his eyes. “Won’t you at least let me feed you?” He placed both hands on her shoulders and when his fingers kneaded out the kinks, she couldn’t stop a moan from escaping her lips. She shouldn’t let him resort to those low tricks to change her mind, but—
“Ooh, mmm…”
Oh, gosh. Had she just made those whimpering sounds again? Her eyes rolled back when his fingers, so rough and big, gently massaged her sore shoulders. She’d spent a lot of time hunched over her laptop or tablet lately, looking for a way to restart the life she’d paused when she left San Francisco. She hadn’t realized her back was so sore, and—
Oh. My. God. The guy was a massage guru.
“You were sayin’?”
She moaned again as he squeezed a little more, kneading out one particularly stiff knot. He chuckled.
“Will you stay for breakfast? Please?”
If his impromptu massage hadn’t already fully convinced her, his warm breath in her ear would have won her over. She nodded, too afraid to speak in case her voice came out like an unintelligible squeak.
“Good. Then, in the name of chivalry, I’ll let you hit the shower first.” His hands stopped their wondrous work and her body immediately lamented the loss. She opened her eyes and found him grinning at her. “Unless, of course, you want to help the environment and have a shower together. You know, just to save water.”
She couldn’t help laughing as she pushed him away. “Somehow, I doubt we’d save water if you were in the shower with me.”
His grin grew even broader. “Somehow, I think you’re right.”
He got out of bed and reached for his boxers on the floor, while she wrapped herself in the duvet like a caterpillar. He came out of the bathroom a moment later, the smirk still on his handsome face.
“I put clean towels on the cabinet. And you already know where everything else is, seeing as this isn’t the first time you’ve had a shower in my bathroom.” He winked, and she blushed a little at the memory of that very first night she’d slept in his bed—or actually, been out cold in his bed. It seemed like eons ago. Had it really only been a month? “I’ll go get the coffee started. Don’t be long, Lioness.”
He ducked his head as her hand missed it by a millimeter, and the sound of his low chuckle carried down the corridor as he walked out and toward the kitchen. She shook her head, wrapped the duvet more securely around her, and hopped into the bathroom, thinking a cold shower might be a good idea right about now.
* * *
As he poured coffee into the filter, Kean couldn’t stop imagining Charli in the shower—and what it would’ve been like if he’d joined her. Last night had been as mind-blowing as it had been unexpected, but he couldn’t bring himself to regret it.
After that first kiss on the wedding night, he hadn’t been able to look at her without wanting more, even though he knew his thoughts were out of line and Adam would probably have his head if he knew. He’d tried looking at other women, waiting for some kind of reaction showing he might be interested in getting to know them, but ever since that kiss he hadn’t felt an ounce of interest for anyone else. And, wow, after last night he was rather sure she’d ruined him for everyone else. If he hadn’t been able to get over an amazing kiss, he definitely wasn’t going to get over an earth-shattering night like that. No, this couldn’t be a one-time thing.
With a stupid smile on his face, he reached for the coffee pot and filled two mugs. He had never had anyone stay overnight, but in just four weeks Charli had already slept in his bed twice. Unlike the first time, though, now he knew how she took her coffee. And he felt like an idiot for feeling some weird fluttering in his chest at the thought. As if he’d never slept with a woman before. But in a way it felt as if this had been the first time, because nobody had ever made him feel this way. And as he realized the implications of his train of thought, he knew he was in knee-deep trouble.
The soft padding of bare feet on the wooden floor alerted him to Charli’s arrival. His heart rate picked up as his lips curled instinctively into a silly smile when she showed up, stilettos in one hand, her damp hair pulled up in a bun, her hourglass figure accentuated by the tight jeans and dark pink sweater that hugged all her delicious curves—those curves he’d spent hours worshiping last night.
“The shower’s all yours,” she said, with what looked like a tentative smile. The awkward morning-after, where-do-we-stand smile. He handed her one of the two mugs he held in his hands, and her smile brightened as she took it.
“Just a splash of milk. No sugar.”
She smiled. “Wow, you remember how I take my coffee!”
“I guess I’m awesome like that.” He lifted a shoulder nonchalantly and took a sip from his mug. She smiled into hers, her Bambi eyes a warm shade of caramel as they locked with his. His heart stuttered, his throat constricted, and he barely managed to swallow the coffee.
“I should probably hit the shower,” he said, placing the mug on the counter. “If you’re hungry, there are cereals, bread, and eggs. I don’t keep a wide variety, but you’re welcome to help yourself.”
Lame, dude.
Why was he acting as if he didn’t know how to talk to a woman? Come on, he’d just spent the night skin to skin with her. Surely he could come up with something smarter.
“Don’t worry, Bob. I’ll find my way to the pantry.” She smiled and, damn, all the blood left his brain to head somewhere south. Yeah, it was probably time for a cold shower.
He returned ten minutes later, his hormones tamed and his stomach now churning, to find Charli standing by the counter wolfing down a sandwich. She stopped mid-bite when he showed up, and smiled awkwardly as if she’d just been caught stealing cookies from the jar.
“Um… Sorry, I was starving so…”
“We did work up an appetite last night,” he said, moving closer to her to check what she was eating. “And I told you to help yourself, didn’t I? What are you eating?” He narrowed his eyes and frowned when he spotted the contents of her sandwich. “Are those scrambled eggs? Are you eating a sandwich with eggs?”
“It’s a scrambwich,” she said, as if it were the most normal thing in the world. When she noticed the confusion on his face, she smiled. And, double damn, he wanted to kiss her. “I invented it for when I was in a hurry but didn’t want to skip breakfast. Carbs and proteins, in a to-go version.”
He smiled. “Smart,” he said, as he moved right in front of her and snaked an arm around her waist, pulling her flush to him. “Are you saying you’re in a hurry to leave, Charlotte?”
Her eyebrows went up and she bit her bottom lip. That plump, sweet lip he’d bitten himself a couple of times. Gee, what had this woman done to him?
“I should go before Ellie finds out I didn’t sleep at her place.”
“And would it be such a bad thing if she did?” He leaned closer, pretending he was going to kiss her, just to test her reaction. When she didn’t pull back, proving his theory that she didn’t really want to leave, he moved his face and took a bite of her sandwich instead. Her breath hitched but she faked a composure he was sure she wasn’t feeling. Her wild heart rate against his lips when he kissed the side of her neck proved it.
“I… uh…”
“Yes, Charlotte?” he said, smiling against her skin. The smell of his shower gel on her skin made him feel territorial, as if he’d marked her and now everyone would know she was his.
“I have to go,” she said, her tone a little breathy. He pulled back and stared at her with a pout he hoped would change her mind. “Seriously.” She stuffed her mouth with the last chunk of her scrambwich and took a step back, caging herself in between his body and the counter. He grinned mischievously, and she raised her hands, smacking her palms on his chest. He decided pushing his luck any further wouldn’t be a smart idea, considering they hadn’t had a hint of a fight for one whole night.
“Fine, if you really can’t stay…”
One eyebrow quirked as her head tilted to the side. Man, was she hot when she did that.
“Guess that’s a no.” He took a step back, freeing her, and immediately felt the loss. How had just one night managed to make him want—scratch that—crave her this badly?
She reached for her sexy shoes discarded by one of the high stools, and stepped into them. How anyone managed to walk on those heels was beyond him, but she wouldn’t hear him complain.
“Okay, so…” she trailed off, picking up her not-at-all-inconspicuous red bag, with a zebra printed stripe, that must contain her whole life, judging from the size of it. “I guess thanking you for last night would sound weird?”
“Yep. But you just did anyway, so…” He smiled. “I guess I should say, you’re welcome.”
She rolled her eyes, even though she was smiling. She pulled the strap of her purse higher on her shoulder and took a step to the side, toward the entrance. She looked like she couldn’t wait to leave now, so he went to open the door for her.
“Um, listen… about last night…” She stared at the floor while fidgeting with the hem of her sweater.
“Yeah, I know, there won’t be a repeat.” And the thought made him grumpy. He couldn’t understand why they couldn’t spend time with each other, when it was clear they had something going on—even if only on a physical level. Yes, she would be leaving at some point, but why couldn’t they make the most of it while she was here?
“So, um… I’ll see you around.” She stepped past him onto the porch and walked down the first step. Then she froze, her shoulders lifting as she took a long breath. He frowned. A second later, he heard some muttered words in Spanish, and she spun around, walking back toward him with purposeful strides until she was standing in front of him, her heels bringing her to quite the perfect height for him. Before he could ask her if she’d forgotten something, her arms went around his neck and her lips locked with his. He placed his hands on her waist and responded to the kiss eagerly.
She pulled back sooner than he would’ve liked, and her sultry look stole his breath.
“Was that a ‘goodbye and thank you for the most amazing sex of my life’ kiss, or an ‘I’ll be back soon for more’ kind of kiss?” His hands still on her hips, he squeezed lightly, remembering how much better it had felt when there was no fabric between his fingers and her skin.
“Yeah, um… I’ll let you know.”
He laughed. “Will you send me an email or a text? Or should I expect a courier to show up on my doorstep?”
She smacked his chest again and pushed him back.
“Have a nice day, Bob.”
She spun on her sexy heels and sashayed down the steps with an extra sway of her hips, then went down the path toward the edge of his property, where the land gave way to the woods. At some point during the night, she’d worried that his parents would spot her car in their driveway and wonder what she was doing there. She’d freaked out and got out of his bed, determined to go home, so he’d suggested she park it closer to his house, to hide it from view. And since he didn’t trust her not to turn the car around and speed away, he’d pulled on his jeans and moved it for her.
She turned around just as she reached her Beetle. He raised his hand in farewell, and she finger-waved at him with a sexy smile that made him want to run to her, throw her over his shoulder and take her back into his room.
He was in trouble.