Chapter 9
Charlie
The only good thing about this day was getting Marley’s phone number and address so I could take her out. The deal between my company and Derek Lake still hadn’t been closed, but after faking my happiness at his daughter’s party, I was sure it would only be a matter of time.
After showering and dressing, I dabbed on some cologne and headed down to where the car service was waiting for me since my driver, Mateo, didn’t work weekends.
Marley’s apartment was right around the block from mine. Taking the elevator up, I knocked on the door.
“Oh, hello.” Penelope smiled. “Come on in.”
“Hi, Penelope. Olivia.” I nodded as I saw her sitting on the couch.
As I stood there waiting for Marley, Olivia walked over.
“How did you enjoy the birthday party today?” she asked.
“It was nice if you like a bunch of little girls running around screaming at the top of their lungs. Kids aren’t my scene.”
“Right? Mine either. I still have a headache,” Olivia said.
My breath hitched when Marley entered the living room, looking as beautiful as ever.
“Hi.” I smiled, tucking my hand in my pants pocket.
“Hi. I’m ready to go.”
I placed my hand on the small of her back as we left the apartment.
“Nice car.” She smiled, climbing into the back seat.
“This isn’t my regular car. My driver has the weekends off.”
“You have a driver?” she asked.
“Yes. His name is Mateo, and he’s a great man. He’s worked for me for seven years. Have you ever eaten at Salvatore’s?”
“I have. Olivia told you it’s one of my favorite restaurants, didn’t she?”
“No.” I chuckled. “It also happens to be one of my favorites as well.”
When the driver approached the restaurant, I opened the door, climbed out, and extended my hand.
“Thank you, Charlie.” Marley’s lips gave way to a beautiful smile.
“You’re welcome.”
I opened the door to the restaurant, and when Marley stepped inside, her brows furrowed.
“This place is always packed. Why are we the only ones here?”
“Charlie.” Salvatore walked over and shook my hand. “It’s good to see you, my boy.”
“Hi, Salvatore. I’d like you to meet Marley. Marley, this is Salvatore.”
“Hello, sweetheart. Come with me.” He led us to a table.
“I still don’t understand why we’re the only people here,” she said.
“I bought out the restaurant for the night.” A smirk crossed my lips.
“Why? I didn’t even know people could do that.”
“Salvatore is a family friend. He and my father go way back. I’ve been coming here since I was a kid.”
“I will be personally serving you tonight.” Salvatore smiled. “What can I get you to drink?”
“How about a bottle of your best white wine.” I smiled.
“Excellent choice, Charlie.” He walked away.
Within moments, Salvatore returned with a bottle of white and a bread basket.
“Are you two ready to order?”
“I’ll have the chicken scaloppine with lemon and butter.” Marley smiled.
“I’ll have the same. Do you like calamari?” I asked her.
“I do.”
“We’ll start with an order of calamari, Salvatore,” I spoke, handing him the menu.
“Very good.” He nodded.
“Why, Charlie?” Marley asked, grabbing a piece of garlic bread from the basket.
“Why, what?”
“Why do you insist on making things weird?”
“Marley, I really have no idea why you keep saying that. Why is it weird that I want to take you to dinner?”
She leaned closer to the table and whispered, “Because we had sex last night.”
“And? I can’t take a woman I had a one-night stand with to dinner?”
“No. It’s called a one-night stand for a reason. We had sex, and now any interaction between us is over.”
“If you really believed that, you wouldn’t have agreed to come.”
“You forced me.” Her eyes narrowed.
I chuckled. “I didn’t force you.”
“Yes. Yes, you did.” She chewed her bread. “You wouldn’t take no for an answer and scurried away without letting me say no.”
Salvatore walked over and set the calamari in the center of the table.
“Enjoy, you two.” He smiled.
“Thank you, Salvatore. “Well, since you think I forced you to have dinner with me, tell me about Marley—” I narrowed my right eye.
“Monroe.” She picked up some calamari and put them on her plate.
“Tell me about Marley Monroe, the event planner.”
“No.”
“Excuse me?” My brow arched. “Listen, Marley. I explored every inch of your body last night, buried my cock deep inside you three times, and gave you countless orgasms. I think you owe me some information about yourself.”
“I can’t believe you just said that!”
“Why? Did it turn you on? Are your panties getting wet?”
“Stop it, Charlie.” She pointed her fork at me. “And you forget about my panties.”
“Not possible.” I slowly shook my head. “I’ve never met a woman named Marley before. What’s behind the name?”
She stared at me momentarily, popping a piece of calamari in her mouth.
“My parents are obsessed with Bob Marley. If I were a boy, I would have been named Robert and called Bob. Thank God I wasn’t. When I came out a girl, they thought Marley was good enough to stick their daughter with that name.”
“I know it’s popular for a dog’s name.” I smirked, sipping my wine.
“Same goes for Charlie, Charles. It is Charles, correct?”
“It is, but I prefer Charlie, never Charles. Anyway, your parents sound cool.”
“Why would you say that?”
“Because they named you Marley.” I smiled.
“Well, they’re far from cool. So, you can get that idea of them out of your head.”
When she talked about her parents, her tone changed from fun to serious. I suspected she had ill feelings toward them, and I wanted to know why.
“What’s wrong with your parents?” I asked.
“Nothing.” She looked down at her plate.
Salvatore walked over and set our food down in front of us.
“Enjoy.” He grinned.
“Always do, Salvatore.” I smiled. “Tell me about your parents, Marley.”
“No. Tell me about yours.”
“Fine. My parents died in a helicopter accident when I was fifteen years old. I was supposed to be on that helicopter but didn’t go because I was in a gaming tournament. I ended up living with my alcoholic aunt and sleeping on her couch in a one-bedroom eight hundred-square-foot apartment until I was seventeen and went off to college.”
“I’m sorry, Charlie.”
“Don’t be.” I finished my wine and poured another glass.
“My parents divorced when I was eleven years old. I don’t like to talk about it because it’s embarrassing.”
“People get divorced all the time. That’s nothing to be embarrassed about,” I said.
“It is when your mother was having an affair with your next-door neighbor.”
“Oh, shit. Seriously?” I asked with surprise.
“Yeah. They had been carrying on for a long time. My father found out and was furious. He filed for divorce the day after he found out. I remember the screaming matches they would have about it. He moved out, and I never forgave my mother for destroying our family.”
“I’m sorry. What happened with your mother and the neighbor?”
“They got married. But that isn’t the real kicker.”
“No?” I asked, taking a bite of my food.
“No.” She breathed out a laugh. “My father sought comfort with the ex-wife, and they also got married.”
“Wait a second. You’re telling me that your mother had an affair with the neighbor, got divorced, married the neighbor, and then your father married the ex-wife of the neighbor?” My brow arched.
“Yep.” She popped her lips.
“Damn.” I shook my head. “Holidays must be awkward.”
“Holidays are separate. Even though the four of them are all happily married to each other’s exes, they all hate each other, and my step-siblings and I are caught in the middle.”
“You have step-siblings?”
“I do. I have two stepbrothers, twins, who are twenty-four.”
“And you are—” I asked.
“Twenty-seven. So, they were eight when their parents divorced.”
“Are the three of you close?”
“Not really. Our parents had joint custody of us. So, when it was my week to stay with my dad, the twins stayed at my house with their dad. They had the right idea, though. They got into Stanford and high-tailed it across the country when they turned eighteen. They’re in medical school now. I only see them on holidays, if and when they come home. I only high-tailed it out of Long Island with Penelope and Olivia.”
“Ah, you’re from Long Island?”
“Born and raised.” She smiled.