Chasing Love by Melissa West (9)

Charlie kept going around and around in his head over what had happened at the farm, what he had said, what the others had said, and still he couldn’t make head or tails of it or why Lila had bolted without a backward glance. And now, he was torn—go see her or leave her alone to figure it out? He’d driven halfway to Annie’s only to turn back, then turn around again, and then pull over on the side of the road. Finally, he told himself to stop being an idiot and just go. If she didn’t want to see him, then he’d leave. But maybe she did . . .

“All right, man, let’s see what you got,” Charlie said to himself. Because apparently he was talking to himself now. Damn, it sucked not having friends around that he could talk all this shit out with. He had his brothers, sure, but Zac and Brady were . . . he wasn’t sure, exactly. But not the kind of brothers you could unload on. Especially with a problem like this one.

He put the truck in park and stared up at the apartment over Annie’s detached garage, a strange flutter picking up in his chest.

“God, you look nervous.”

A smile split his face as he glanced out the passenger side window and then rolled it down.

Annie stood out on the front porch with her hands on her hips. The wood of the porch was stained to match the cedar siding of the house and detached garage; glossy white trim and a red door with stonework around it completed the house’s exterior. The garage boasted two doghouse windows with window boxes full of colorful flowers below each, and as Charlie stepped out of his truck and glanced up, he caught sight of Lila through one of the apartment’s windows, her hand raised as she held back a curtain panel.

And now his stupid heart did that galloping thing in his chest again. He was in trouble.

“Now you’re staring at her. Don’t you have any game at all?” Annie started forward, and he couldn’t help grinning wide at her. With anyone else, he might put them in their place, but Annie was born without a filter. She wasn’t changing anytime soon.

“How are you doing today, Ms. Annie?”

“I think you should have brought flowers. Lila seems like a flowers kind of girl. Or maybe you could buy her a pie. Maybe from that amazing AJ&P Bakery downtown. I hear it’s good.” She winked, and Charlie laughed out loud, until he heard the apartment’s screen door rap shut, and now he was staring again. Embarrassingly so. But damn, this woman in the sunlight was a sight to be seen.

Lila took her time walking down the stairs that ran from her apartment door down the right-hand side of the garage. “Um, hey,” she said, not looking at him. In fact, she was looking at Annie. And in that way that said she wanted her landlord to rescue her from Charlie. He needed to fix whatever had happened back at the farm, and fast, before he lost the best friend he had in town. Because, attraction or not, Lila was his friend, and he was hers, and right now, he got the feeling she needed a solid friend’s ear. No judgment, no offerings of opinions that she didn’t really want to hear. Just an honest ear.

“Well, see, I heard that Captain Jack’s was having a special on surf and turf tonight, and since you asked me out earlier, I thought—”

Her head whipped toward him. “What? Are you crazy? I didn’t ask you out. You asked me out.”

He had to bite back a grin. He tilted his head, enjoying himself. “Now, that’s not the version of the story I remember. There was you standing a few inches away from me, because you couldn’t keep away. And then I said I liked steak. And then you all but begged me to go out with you tonight.”

“Wow, a pretty girl like you begging?” Annie said, playing along. “I would expect better from a military family like yours.” She tsked, and Charlie thought Lila was going to stomp her foot or scream.

“It was a little pathetic, Annie, if I do say so myself. But look at her.” Charlie lifted his hand in her direction, those beautiful blue eyes glaring at him, her lips pressed together in an annoyed pout. He wanted to laugh, if not for fear that she’d forget that the moment of distraction would lift and she’d remember why she had been upset earlier.

“Well, aren’t you a gentleman to come all the way out here to pick her up, when she was the one to ask you out. I guess you better head on if it’s surf-and-turf night. Place gets crowded.”

Lila blanched. “I didn’t even know you were coming. I was cleaning. I’m a mess. Literally.” She motioned down to her cut off jean shorts and tank top, hair in a messy something on top of her head, not a stitch of makeup on her face. God, she was beautiful.

“Darlin’, if this is a mess, my heart might not survive being around you when you’re trying.”

A small smile played at her lips. “You have to say that because you’re my brother’s best friend.”

“No,” Charlie said, eyes locking with hers. “I shouldn’t say that because I’m your brother’s best friend.”

Her head lifted and though they were already looking at one another, something had changed, like maybe somewhere in her heart she’d thought about him the way he kept thinking about her.

“So you want me to go out just like this, then?”

“Your choice, but yeah.” He paused. “As long as you’re wearing a bra. Otherwise, you might need to go back inside. I’d hate to give the fellas at Captain Jack’s a heart attack.”

A laugh burst from Lila’s lips. “Wait a second. Wait. Are you telling me that you can’t tell if a woman’s wearing a bra or not? Seriously?”

Charlie’s eyes heated, all those hidden desires inside him stirring up images in his head. Images that would give Lucas every right to deck him.

“I’m saying I can’t tell if you are from here. We’re standing pretty far apart. But if you’d like me to come closer, I’d be happy to inspect you further. Give you a more definitive answer.”

Now her cheeks were flushed, and he’d officially gone too far. He needed to turn off his flirtation around her, but he couldn’t seem to keep his mouth closed. Or his lower half in check, which seemed to cause his mouth to spew shit he shouldn’t think, let alone say out loud.

“Y’all need to leave before it gets any hotter out here,” Annie said, fanning herself. She started toward her door, then glanced over her shoulder. “And for the record, I am not wearing a bra.” She winked, and then disappeared inside, leaving Charlie and Lila laughing after her.

“You ready?” he asked with a glint in his eyes.

“As I’ll ever be. I’m sure there won’t be anyone there I know anyway.”

“Right. Nobody important.”

* * *

So that hope of hitting up Captain Jack’s without a crowd? Yeah, not happening.

Charlie parked by the road, the gravel parking lot to the restaurant so full people had spilled over to the street. Music blared out from inside, and he was tempted to suggest they go somewhere else, but this was Crestler’s Key. Most places shut down at six, and as far as a steak and a decent beer, there was no better place than Jack’s.

“This all right? Looks a little crowded, and we never did finalize that bra talk.”

She flashed him a grin. “And what exactly were you wanting to know about my bra?”

Suddenly his throat dried up. When was he going to learn that Lila played the game better than him?

“Right, no more bra talk.” He pushed out of the truck. “And I need a beer, stat.” Lila laughed and he smiled over at her. “You keep me on my toes, you know that?”

“You do me, too,” she said, her tone light.

This was going to be fun, just two old friends catching up . . . and not checking each other out. Because that would be wrong, way wrong. He peered over at her, gaze travelling down her, before he cleared his throat and ordered his eyes to focus on the path ahead. And there went the no-checking-out thing.

The night was peaceful, clear and perfect, the lake behind Captain Jack’s calm, though Charlie wasn’t sure if they would be able to grab a table out back, not with what appeared to be half of Kentucky there to hear the band and eat.

He held open the door and the cacophony when they walked up was nothing compared to inside. Music blasted out from the band that Brantley, the owner, had set up against the left-hand wall of windows, all the tables that were normally there removed to make room for the small stage.

On instinct, Charlie placed his hand on Lila’s back and leaned into her ear so she could hear him over the crowd and the band. “Want to try for outside?”

“Sure, whatever is fine.”

But immediately a squeal came from their right, and Audrey rushed up, followed by Sophie, and it didn’t take much for Charlie to find their table. Zac and Brady were there and a few of the other guys he should consider friends and, for all intents and purposes he guessed they were. Or at least typical small-town friendships, where they all knew everything about each other.

“Hey, brother, get on over here.” Brady stood up and waved for him to come to their table. “We were just wondering where you were. Should have guessed.” He switched his attention to Lila, and Charlie knew what he was thinking without his brother having to say it—if Charlie wasn’t going there, then he sure as hell would. Yeah, over my damn body.

“We were actually planning to eat outsi—”

But Audrey had already taken Lila’s hand and was dragging her to the table.

“I’m sorry,” she called, and Charlie shrugged, because what was he supposed to say? This wasn’t a date. This was dinner among friends, and they were eating with friends now. No big deal. So why did Charlie feel so disappointed?

He shook his head as he approached Brady. “Boy, I hope you arranged a D.D. Band’s just started and already you’re trashed.”

Brady reached out to grasp Charlie’s shoulder but missed, his hand dropping beside him instead. “Nah, man. I’m fine.” Each word slurred.

Charlie glanced over at Zac as though it was all his fault. “Seriously? You know he’s a sloppy drunk.”

Zac shrugged. “I’ll get him home.”

“Hey Lila,” Brady called, leaning over the table and knocking over a beer in the process. Thankfully, this wasn’t Charlie’s first rodeo with his brother getting drunk, so he caught the bottle just before it hit the table and spilled everywhere.

“Yes, Brady,” Lila said, clearly amused that the youngest Littleton was this gone.

“Did you know our Charlie here is famous?”

She eyed him curiously. “Famous? How so?”

“See for yourself.”

He pulled out his cell phone, and Charlie tried to swipe it, but Lila grabbed it first. Charlie knew without having to look what he’d find on the screen.

“I don’t get it.” She stared up at Brady and then Charlie. “You’re on Instagram?”

“Nah, ahhh, not just on there. He’s like their king, worshipping followers and all.”

Charlie huffed loudly. “Shut up and sit down before you fall.”

But drunks tended to conjure together, and soon Kit, one of their high school friends, piped up. “No, it’s true. Dude has like half a million followers on there. They like his pecs or something. Hell, I don’t know.”

Now Lila’s face was drawn, her focus on Brady’s phone, and Charlie wished he could read her mind. “Southern Dive, so that’s why your shop’s called that? You . . . wow.” She was scrolling through pictures, and Charlie wanted to tell her to stop, beg her to stop, but how could he get out of this now?

“It’s not a big deal,” he said, eyes on the band.

“And wow, he’s right, you have so many followers. Do you have advertisers, too?”

“Ahh, yeahhh. He’s a genius, didn’t you know? They send him crap all the time, have offered to fly him out to test products. Like I told you, the boy’s famous,” Brady said, each word barely recognizable now, and Charlie contemplated decking him one good time to save them both from this drunken debacle.

But now Lila was staring at him like she was seeing him for the first time. “I never even considered that you were into social media. I mean, it makes sense for a business owner, sure, but this came first?”

“No. It was—”

“And he designs stuff, too. Look at his shit. I just told you to look at his shit.” Brady broke into laughter, and Charlie glared over at his other brother, half begging, half threatening for him to come to the rescue here.

“Dude. Seriously?” Charlie asked.

“Hey,” Zac said with a grin, “you are famous. Not a lie there. You should see all the people who come in the shop to meet him. Some even ask for his autograph.”

“Good God. Can we talk about something else?”

“Aw, Charlie’s embarrassed, guys,” Sophie said, chiming in. “Leave him alone. He can’t help it that thousands of women follow him.”

At that, Lila stared up at him. “They’re all women? Huh.”

“No, not all women.”

Brady laughed. “Just most of them. There for the pec pictures, see.”

“You going to shut him up or am I?” Charlie asked Zac, who finally relented.

“Fine, fine. Brady, let’s go get everybody a round.”

Everyone seemed to separate at once, a few of them going to get a closer view of the band, a few to the bathroom, until it was just the two of them alone again.

“I had no idea this was your thing,” Lila said, still cycling through photos.

Charlie couldn’t decide if she was saying that in a good way or a bad, but there was something more in her tone. A question she refused to ask. “It isn’t my thing. Well, the designs, yeah. But not the followers, the attention. That kind of thing has never been me.”

“So, then. . . you post pictures of yourself?” She glanced sideways at him, her entire demeanor changing from confident woman to innocent girl.

He scoffed. “Lord no. Back in the day, when I first started it, when I was in the Keys and pushing my diving business, then sure. There were lots of pics of me diving, returning from dives, etc. Now my followers want fishing stories, stuff going on at the farm, new products at the shops. And then the designs.” He ran his thumb over his lips and looked away.

“They’re good.”

Their eyes locked. “You really think so?”

“Really good. I think you could sell them, create an entire line, and people would scoop them up.”

He didn’t know why, but her approval was everything, and with that excitement on her face, for the first time, the idea seemed plausible. “I don’t know. I have the following, I think, and then stable business at Southern Dive to launch okay. But it’ll take time that I don’t really have, and then who knows if it’s successful.”

“Are you kidding? Everything you touch is a success. Remember when you decided to build the tree house on the farm? Everybody said you couldn’t do it by yourself, a little ten year old, but every day you went out there, and every day you nailed up boards.”

He stared at her. “You saw me working?”

“I went out there every day to watch you.” She fumbled with a napkin in front of her, and Charlie reached out, covering her hand with his. Her eyes lifted.

“Nobody else has ever believed in me the way you believe in me.”

“Maybe nobody else sees you the way I see you.”

The moment held, the band playing a cover of “I’ll Be,” and Charlie couldn’t help thinking there couldn’t be a more perfect song for them, because hell if he wasn’t her greatest fan, and the more time he spent with her, the more it seemed that maybe, just maybe, she was his greatest fan, too.

“Lila . . .”

He wanted to say something, tell her how he felt, all the thoughts rumbling around in his mind. That he was glad she was back, that he finally felt like he could breathe again, that he didn’t want her to leave, that he would be her friend, her lover, whatever she wanted, but he wanted to be there for her, whatever that might mean. But before he could say any of those things, the rest of their group returned to the table.

“You lovers hold up okay without us?” Brady said.

“Yep, perfect.” Lila took her drink from Audrey and drank half of it before setting it on the table and turning to face the band, her attention on anything but him.

All right, so maybe it was a good thing he hadn’t said what he was thinking.

“Hey, Earth to Charlie.”

He startled to find Zac snapping in front of his face. “Damn, man.”

“What?” Charlie asked, aggravated.

“Just didn’t realize . . .”

“Again, what?”

“That you were that gone. You need to tell him.”

“Who?” Charlie asked, his frustration growing. He hated when his brother spoke in code, trying to convey something that really only he could understand. Well, he and Sophie, apparently.

“Lucas.”

Oh. Maybe he wasn’t speaking in code after all.

“It’s nothing.”

Zac took a long pull of his beer, then glanced over at Lila smiling at something Audrey was saying, and then back at Charlie, and Charlie knew without having to ask what his brother would find on his face. And it scared the shit out of him.

“I’ve got it under control.”

“The hell you do.”

When Charlie glanced back over at Lila, he found her watching him, and suddenly he realized how reckless he was behaving. He needed to talk to Lucas; even if he never acted on his feelings, he owed it to his friend to talk it out. The dude might scream at him or, worse, deck him, but at least Charlie would know he was doing the right thing.

Audrey said something else to Lila, and she returned her attention to her friend.

“I’ll talk to him,” Charlie said, leaning back in his chair and wishing with all his heart he could turn off these feelings he was having, or at least could hide them better.

“Sooner rather than later,” Zac said.

The waitress brought around their meals, and for a while they all lost themselves in good food and good music and good friends. Finally, Audrey said she was going to get another drink and asked if Lila wanted another.

“Actually, I have to be at work early tomorrow. Mind if we head on home?” she said to Charlie, and he nodded.

“You’re the driver of this thing, sweetheart. We move when you say go.” He threw down some cash for the tab and then said good-bye to his brothers.

They were outside, the music more muted now as they walked through the parking lot.

“Did you mean that?”

His brow furrowed as he peered over at her. She was nervous. He could see it all over her face. “Hey, you can talk to me. You know that, right?”

She nodded, but her mouth was still firmly closed.

“Hey.” He took her hand and turned her to face him. They were in the shadows now, the street lights too far away to see the expression on her face.

“I just, if I wanted . . .”

And suddenly he felt a knot rising in his throat. No, not this. Not now. He needed to talk to Lucas, figure out if he even stood a chance here, and it had nothing to do with whether Lila would even give him a shot. He couldn’t betray his friend, wouldn’t do that.

A small laugh filled the silence, and she released his hand to run her own over her face and then cupped her chin and peeked at him. “Never mind. I don’t know what I was going to say.”

But that wasn’t the truth, and both of them knew it. She no doubt knew what she wanted to say, and he wanted her to say it. He craved it so completely that it was physically painful to remain still, inches away from her, when what he wanted to do was see if her plump lips tasted as good as they looked. Then he thought of Lucas again, fighting out there somewhere, and instead of pressing her for more, he tucked his head and motioned to the car. “We’re just up there.”

Why couldn’t this be easier? Why couldn’t they just see if this was something, and then if it was something, if it was real, they could tell Lucas together. But life didn’t veer down the easy path, at least not for Charlie. He opened her car door, as much because he wanted to remain close to her as to be chivalrous, and then told himself on the walk over to the driver’s side to put away his feelings, to do a better job, be a better man. Because right now, his thoughts were anything but good.

But then he slipped inside and found Lila laughing hysterically, and he thought maybe he’d misinterpreted the whole thing. “Um, do I look that ridiculous?”

“No, it’s this. Us. God, we’re acting like scared teenagers. I can’t stand it.”

“Lila—”

She faced him abruptly and placed a hand on his arm. “I know. Trust me, I know. But can’t we just hang out a little, be friends?”

He released a breath, but it didn’t bring any relief to the stone pressing on his heart. He needed her to say this, because he wasn’t 100 percent sure he could resist her on his own, and yet... “Yeah, of course we’re friends.”

“Good. Because sometimes I think you’re the only person I can talk to, and I don’t want to lose that over Lucas. I mean, he said for you to look out for me, right? So we can hang out a little, do the friend thing. That’s not bad, right?”

“Not at all.”

“Great, then. What are you doing this weekend?”

For whatever reason, this new agreement made him feel a little better. Though he knew they couldn’t act on their feelings, this conversation confirmed that he wasn’t the only one suffering here.

“Camping in the mountains. Doing the hiking thing.”

“You can’t hike alone. Don’t you know people get lost doing that?”

He shot her a dubious look.

“All right, so maybe that wouldn’t happen with you. But still, you could be attacked by a bear or a mountain lion or something else mountain-y and no one would know. Which is why I should probably go with you.” She chewed her thumbnail and glanced out her window before peeking back at him. “Safety and all.”

He couldn’t keep the smile from his face. “Now who’s asking who on a date?”

“Not a date. A friend protecting another friend.”

“So you think your hundred-fifteen pound body is going to protect me—six two, hundred ninety pounds of pure, cut muscle?”

She rolled her eyes. “Listen, I hate to break it to you, but I haven’t been one-fifteen since I was in high school. Maybe not even then. I try not to do the scale thing—or, as I like to call them, killer of a woman’s self-esteem—but I’m well over one-fifteen, that’s for sure.”

“Right, one-twenty then. Whatever. Still. I’ve got this.”

Her face dropped. “So you’re saying you don’t want me to go?”

He started up the truck. “Oh, you’re going. Just letting you know it ain’t because I need your protection. It’s because you’re cute as hell and I like looking at you.”

Shit, did he just say that?

He started to fix it, when she said, “You’re not so bad yourself, sailor.”

And then despite every good intention, he spent the ride back to Annie’s excited for things he had no right to feel excitement over. But for two days, it would be just him and her, and right or wrong, he couldn’t wait.