26. Chapter 26
Chapter 26
Aiden
C harlotte Hall was in my bed.
Well, technically, it wasn’t my bed. It was Mum and Dad’s bed. The reminder of my parents was enough to serve as a retardant to the lust-fuelled flames that had licked up my spine at the sight of Charlotte in one of my old t-shirts. I paused my bathroom ministrations, toothpaste in one hand and toothbrush in the other, as I closed my eyes to recall the way the hem of my shirt skimmed across the skin of her milky white thighs. It was enough to send the blood rushing back to my groin. Shit.
If I didn’t know any better, I’d swear Mum had done this just to torment me. Louise sure as shit didn’t get her diabolical streak from Dad. My hands closed to fists, and I screwed my eyes shut. Think of Mum and Dad. The image of that hint of her collarbone that peeked above the neckline danced across my vision and I gritted my teeth. They’re two doors down. Think of them making Louise! The corner of my mouth pulled into a grimace. Yup. That’d do it.
I relax my hold on my toothbrush and, looking down at the mess in front of me, I swiped the bristles through the ejaculate of toothpaste that I’d accidentally coated the counter in. With a sigh, I shoved the brush into my mouth and set to cleaning the counter.
***
I returned to the room with my face schooled in a mask of neutrality, only to be brought up short at the foot of the bed.
‘What is that?’ I gestured towards the middle of the bed.
‘A modesty mountain,’ Charlotte said, her focus on her hands, which were smoothing the blankets that covered her legs.
‘A modesty mountain,’ I repeated, taking in the wall of pillows that she’d erected. I bit down on the inside of my cheek to keep from smiling as I moved to my side of the bed. Her childish little fortress reminded me of the kind of thing I used to build on the rare occasions Louise and I’d had to share a bed growing up. But Louise was part koala, and I had done everything in my power to avoid waking up with her wrapped around me like a tree. Memories of Charlotte’s long legs danced across my mind and—’Yes,’ Charlotte replied primly, pulling me out of my questions over preferred sleep positions, ‘for your protection.’
I blew out a bemused breath. She was the last thing I wanted protection from.
‘What are you doing?’ Charlotte whispered, her gaze snapping upwards as I lifted pillow after pillow and tossed them towards the chair in the corner.
‘Excavating.’
Charlotte’s gaze dropped back to her hands, and I watched her fingers twitch in her lap. Shit.
‘I’m sorry,’ I said and, pulling back the covers, I climbed into bed beside her, the mattress dipping with my weight. Come on, Cupcake, leave your fingers alone. But her gaze remained focused on her hands and, covering one hand with the other, picked at the nail polish coating her thumb. Reaching out, I covered her hands with one of mine. ‘Charlotte, I’m sorry.’ And I was sorry. I was sorry that we were stuck here in this mess because of me. I was sorry that she was so obviously uncomfortable around me that she couldn’t stop fidgeting. I was sorry I’d ever asked this of her.
‘For what? For being a jerk?’ She let out a tired sigh and leaned back against the headboard, pulling her hands out from under mine and crossing her arms in front of her chest. ‘Look Aiden, I like you.’ Something in my chest constricted painfully at her admission and she must have read the panic in my expression because she was quick to add: ‘Not like that.’ But her clarification did little to ease the tightness in my chest, the panic replaced by something that I refused to acknowledge.
‘What I mean is… I agreed to help you. To be your date… girlfriend… whatever you needed to sell this.’ She straightened, twisting to look at me. ‘But I didn’t agree to doing this on my own.’
I frowned. What was she talking about? I was right here. I’d been by her side ever since we left London. The only time I hadn’t left her side was when I was busy with the ceremony and photos, and I told her as much.
‘Are you being deliberately obtuse?’ she asked, her head quirked to one side as if she actually wasn’t sure.
‘No?’
‘You ignore me,’ she stated simply. ‘You ignore me and that makes me anxious.’ Her tone lacked any of the heat or accusation it could have carried, and that alone was enough to have guilt pooling in my stomach as I reflected on my behaviour.
‘Sometimes, I really like spending time with you. There are these moments, like tonight or back at Our Place , when I get to spend time with this handsome, attentive, funny guy and I’m left thinking “huh, this feels more like fun than a favour.”‘ She paused briefly to offer me a sad smile. ‘But then something happens, and I’m stuck with this person who shuts me out and won’t talk to me, and I’m left trying to navigate all of this —‘ she gestured to our surroundings, ‘— on my own.’
‘I’m sorry,’ I said thickly, moving my hand to rest over the blankets covering her thigh. ‘You’re right.’
‘My work is a huge part of my life,’ Charlotte continued, clearly not finished. ‘The biggest part, if I’m honest. That’s why the stupid Christmas party matters so much. Because it’s part of doing what I have to do to reach my goal.’ I wondered what that goal was and realised, not for the first time, that I still didn’t know what Charlotte did for a living. So I asked her.
‘I’m a lawyer.’ That explained the contract. ‘An associate and, hopefully, on my way to partner.’
‘Sounds stressful.’
‘It is. It’s very stressful,’ Charlotte admitted, her shoulders deflating a little. ‘Which is why my free time is so important to me. I don’t have a lot of it, so I’m really protective of it.’ I nodded. That made sense. My job wasn’t super stressful—well, not all the time, but even I valued my free time. ‘I’m not prepared to fill my free time with things that make me unhappy and stress me out.’
‘I know we’re not friends or anything,’ Charlotte continued, ‘but we are in this together and if this… back and forth, multiple personality thing you’ve got going on is all you have to offer… then I’m out. I’ll figure out something else for the Christmas party.’
Her words hung in the air, and she fixed me with the full force of her gaze, her hands lying quietly in her lap as she waited for my reply.
‘This all feels like it’s got a little out of control,’ I admit on an exhale, sinking back against the headboard.
‘What do you mean?’
‘It sounds stupid really, considering how close everyone is, but I didn’t think about having to lie to my parents.’ From the corner of my eye, I saw her chin bob in a nod.
‘We can tell them the truth if you like?’ Charlotte offered.
‘After Mum’s declaration about not being a prude?’ I chuckled, shaking my head. ‘I don’t want to embarrass her.’
‘Okay then, we won’t tell them.’ And suddenly the weight of that decision felt less heavy than it had on the doorstep. ‘But then you have to be nice to me.’
‘I am nice!’
‘Yeah, when you speak to me,’ I felt a sharp finger prod at my ribs.
‘Oi!’ I swatted away her hands, relieved to see her smiling again. ‘So, you want me to speak to you? It’s that simple?’ Charlotte shook her head, a small, indulgent smile toying the corners of her mouth.
‘I want you to let me know what’s bothering you—when it’s bothering you.’
‘Why?’
‘I don’t know if you’ve noticed,’ she laughed a self-deprecating laugh, ‘but I’m kind of an anxious person.’ My eyes darted to her hands, but they were still nestled loosely in her lap. ‘And trying to figure out what you’re thinking or what you need when you get lost in your own head? It’s exhausting.’
‘Okay,’ I said wearily.
‘Okay!’ she said, her voice a little brighter, and I imagined the smile she wore beside me. ‘We have what… an event and a half of this agreement left?’ I nodded. ‘Can we agree to being… if not friends—’ I ignored the way her offhanded rejection of a friendship I didn’t want twisted the barb already embedded in my chest, reminding myself that this was a good thing. I had enough friends. ‘Then at least friend-ly?’
I nodded again, turning to face her, and this time, when Charlotte smiled, it was aimed directly at me.