Chapter Eleven #2
“He asked me to go check on the house. They’re going to stay in Charleston for a few extra days and make a vacation of it.”
“Oh, that’s a good idea actually.” Charlie smiles softly, his eyes twinkling in a way that makes the tips of my fingers tingle with the urge to brush them across his sharp cheekbone. “Should we check to see if anyone else needs help after we check their place?”
“You have a heart of gold.”
Charlie chuckles. “Like you weren’t planning to do the same thing.”
“Yes, but I’m from here.”
Charlie just stares at me for a long moment before saying, “Maybe I want to be from here too.”
Well, all right. We finish our coffee and get dressed for the day.
It’s nice to watch Charlie get dressed—the way his body moves, the way he’s not inhibited at all in my presence.
As if he’s secure in his body and in the fact I find him attractive.
I find myself moving similarly, the heat in Charlie’s gaze telling me everything I need to know.
I have the type of body that River once dubbed soft muscle hunk, aka the type of body that can lift a car but cuddle you without feeling like you’re cuddling a statue.
Whatever that means. I don’t shy away from Charlie’s gaze, enjoying the way his eyes flit over my pecs, soft stomach, and thighs to catalog my tattoos.
His eyes catch on my Ninja Turtles tattoo and get stuck there, a small smirk lifting up one side of his mouth.
“You’re right, it’s fun,” Charlie agrees before crossing the room to kiss me.
I tangle my fingers in his hair, tugging him closer so I can savor the minty coffee taste of him.
I like how Charlie doesn’t really fight me for dominance when we kiss; instead, he lets me lead and happily follows.
When I lick into his mouth, his tongue tangles with mine for a second before he lets out an indecent moan.
If we don’t stop kissing now, we’ll never leave the house again.
But Charlie wants to go slow, and I want to respect that, no matter how much I want to fuck him into oblivion.
It doesn’t matter much to me if Charlie wants to go slow for himself or if he’s doing it for me, either way it’s what we’re doing.
I pull away from him panting, our eyes catching as we both return to the world in pieces after another earth-shattering kiss. Charlie’s eyes are magical, where they don’t seem quite real. Dark green, like seaweed tossed up on the shore.
“Let’s get outta here,” I beg, hoping he’ll get the hint that if we stay, he’ll never leave the bed again.
Charlie presses one last soft kiss to my mouth before pulling out of my grip.
Cupcake watches us with what I only assume is dog side-eye, but she lets out a happy yip when Charlie invites her outside to tag along on this post-hurricane adventure with us.
Charlie opens the passenger door of his truck for me, only closing it once I’m settled in.
I watch with what I assume are hearts in my eyes as Charlie picks Cupcake up and settles her into the back seat.
But I notice the wince on his face when he tosses himself into the driver’s seat, despite how very hard he obviously tried to hide it.
“Knee?”
Charlie nods, lip caught between his teeth.
He fumbles around with the stereo for a second, happy when a satellite radio station covering football comes on.
The road has some debris in it, but it’s not as bad as it could’ve been.
Checking my phone confirms the storm downgraded to a two just before hitting land.
The eye hit about a hundred miles north, so we only got hit with the left side of the storm, which is always weaker. We got lucky the dirty side avoided us.
Charlie’s big truck handles the debris with ease. He parks in front of my parents’ house and starts to get out, but I wave him off. “It looks like they have power. See, the outside light is on.”
Charlie hums in agreement and doesn’t follow me inside.
I do a quick check in all the rooms, noting no damage inside, and no leaks, which is always Pop’s biggest worry since we’re by the shore.
The quarter inside the freezer hasn’t moved at all, so they never lost power like we did.
Outside looks about the same here as it did at Charlie’s house.
I stand still for a moment, taking in the wild waves at the beach, the bright blue of the sky. Home, my heart whispers.
When I get back to the truck, Charlie’s eyes basically smile at the sight of me. My traitorous heart smiles back, but at least he can’t see that.
“Wanna head into town?” Charlie asks when he has to make the decision to go right or left out of the driveway.
“Let’s go into town. I texted River and he said his parents’ house is fine, so he’s at the coffee shop. His apartment is above the shop, so he still has power. Doesn’t seem too bad from the photos he sent.”
“Maybe we got really lucky.”
“Maybe we did,” I agree, but I’m not talking about the hurricane.
Charlie doesn’t seem to notice, just navigates the car toward downtown.
I spend far longer than I’d like to admit watching his forearms as he drives.
I’ve always been a sucker for great forearms, prominent veins, just the right amount of hair dusting over them, and strong enough to no doubt pick me up, if it wasn’t for his knee.
A few signals are flashing yellow on the way into town and the marsh on either side of the truck is high, but otherwise the town seems to have fared pretty well.
Definitely not as bad as the hurricane we experienced as a kid where the island was shut down for almost a month.
We had to make up time in high school all the way into June due to how long we’d been out.
Charlie parks the car in the lot just before downtown starts, but before he can jump out, I rest my hand on his arm. He turns to me with a clear question in his gaze.
“I want to go out on a real date.”
The corner of Charlie’s mouth curls up in what I’m learning is his pleased smirk. “Yeah?”
I nod softly. “Yeah. I wanna get dressed up nice, maybe go to a restaurant, eat and talk, then give you a good-night kiss and go home.”
“Oh,” Charlie says sadly, a frown marring his features. “Won’t you stay the night?”
“Well, I don’t put out on the first date, Charlie.”
Charlie laughs, open and free. I can’t help but smile because his laugh is so infectious. “How about a date and then you sleep over, but just for kissing and cuddles?”
“Perchance.”
“Perchance,” Charlie says with a pleased snort. We hop out of the car, and Charlie helps Cupcake climb out.
“Did she come to you with that name?” I ask as we make our way downtown.
Charlie lovingly pats the top of Cupcake’s head.
“Yeah, a teammate gave her to me. His family adopted her as a puppy, and their kid ended up being deathly allergic. He mentioned rehoming her and I couldn’t let her go somewhere that might end up not working out again.
So I took her. That was a little over ten years ago. ”
“Wait. What teammate?”
“Barton,” Charlie answers without any preamble.
“Oh! Defense.”
Charlie sends a puzzled look my way. “Yes. I didn’t realize you kept up with football.”
“Eh,” I say with a shrug. “I played fantasy football sometimes and would stay up to date on all the trades.”
Charlie hums but stays quiet. When we get to River’s coffee shop, the place is half packed. River makes help me eyes, so I squeeze Charlie’s arm, then join River behind the counter.
“Half the town has power, the other half doesn’t.
The shop never lost power, so everyone wants fresh food and coffee ’cause they can’t make it at home,” River explains with harried frustration in his voice.
His black curls are pushed back with a bandana, and he sounds exhausted.
“Can you help me with the food? I’ll make the drinks. ”
“Sure, bestie.”
River grins, and that’s when I notice the bruise on his neck, just below his collar. That’s not a bruise. That’s a hickey! What the hell? The little shit inside me demands to say something right now, but I can read a room better than anyone, especially after all my years with Anthony.
“I like the hair, Tucker!” Mr. Fields says as I hand him his muffin. I wince at his yell, but he’s eighty-two and I gotta give him a pass.
“Thank you!”
He pats his gray hairs thoughtfully. “Can you help me do that to my hair? The grandkids would get a huge kick out of it.”
“Sure! Maybe light blue?”
Mr. Fields grins and steps away with a pep in his step.
The crowd disperses as we hand out food and drinks.
My gaze catches on Charlie in the corner, Cupcake by his feet.
He’s scrolling through his phone, and every now and then he smiles at a townsperson, giving them a smile that’ll surely make their day.
River lets out a tired breath once the store is empty.
He grabs a half-drank iced coffee from below the counter and dips down to a squat, exhaustion bleeding through every movement he makes.
I wash my hands at the sink, just to ensure I don’t accidentally gluten myself after handling all the baked goods.
River winces as if he didn’t consider it, but I wave him off because it’s not a big deal at all.
“River saves the day again,” I sing as I dry my hands.
River mock laughs a little haha, then lifts a hand to wave in what I’m sure he assumes is Charlie’s direction. “Thank you, Charles!”
“No big!” Charlie calls out.
I have to actively fight the lovesick grin from exploding across my face. River sends a knowing look my way, but I keep my face as neutral as possible. Annoyed by my lack of giving up information, River rolls his eyes and takes a big gulp of his coffee.
“The pink is fading,” River notes without an edge of judgment.
“I’m thinking of doing lime green next.”