Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
CHARLIE
AM I DOING IT WRONG?
H oly shit.
Brooks is kissing me.
Me. Charlie .
I’m stunned.
Brooks’s lips are warm and sweet, and when his hands cup my cheeks, it shocks me into moving.
“Wait.” I push him away. “Wait, stop.”
“Am I doing it wrong?” There’s a small smile playing at the corner of Brooks’s mouth now. So very different from the anger and jealousy I saw there earlier.
“You’re…doing it.”
“Shit. I’m fucking things up again.” Brooks spins on his heel. “Fuck. I keep doing things to fuck up my life and I don’t know how to stop.”
Brooks and I have been spiraling this week. I know it. He knows it. It has me fighting a smile because he came to the bar tonight because I was avoiding him .
I didn’t know how to be around him after he heard that confession. And now, I just spewed word vomit all over him of everything that I’ve been feeling this week.
“I should just go,” Brooks tells me.
Except I don’t want him to. I grab him and lay one on him.
I swallow his shock as he gasps. It takes him a minute to respond, but when his tongue slides against my lips, I react.
Brooks is kissing me back. We’re kissing.
Again.
It’s even better than the first one as his tongue tangles with mine.
Oh God.
I never wanted to imagine what it would be like to kiss Brooks. It wouldn’t have done me or my fantasies any good.
But this? It’s better than anything I ever could have hoped to imagine.
When Brooks’s warm hands drift lower, pulling me into his chest, I whimper.
It’s perfect. Everything from his taste to his warm touch to how his pine scent floods my senses. It’s overwhelming in the best way.
I don’t know how long we stand outside kissing. I could stand here for the rest of my life and it wouldn’t be long enough.
Until Brooks breaks the kiss. I follow his lips, not wanting to let go yet.
“Charlie,” he breathes. Brooks drops his forehead to mine.
I press my lips to his and take another kiss. And another. Before I have to peel myself off him so we don’t get arrested for indecent exposure.
“Brooks.”
The two of us are standing here, breathing in each other’s air. I don’t want to say anything. I don’t want to break the spell that’s fallen over the two of us .
“You know, when I came to the bar tonight, this wasn’t exactly what I had in mind.”
“Oh yeah? What did you have in mind?” I ask him.
“I just wanted to talk to you. Kissing definitely wasn’t on the agenda.”
I smirk at him. “Do you want it to be on the agenda?”
Brooks nods against me. “Yes. But I’d prefer it if we maybe didn’t do it in the middle of the street.”
“I wish I didn’t have to go back to work.”
“You’re not going to go back to dancing with that guy, are you?”
“Why? Were you jealous?”
“I didn’t like him touching you,” Brooks growls.
I can’t hide the smile that spreads across my face. I feel it down to my toes. “You were jealous.”
Brooks tries to step out of my hold, but I don’t let him get far. “Don’t let it go to your head, Charlie.”
“I won’t be dancing with him. But I do need to get back to the bar.”
“When will you be home?” Brooks asks.
“Not until late.”
I have never hated the fact that I work late more than I do right this very second. I want to steal Brooks away, hide at my house, and spend all night kissing him.
Learning what he likes and doesn’t like. Memorizing the feel of his lips beneath mine.
I want it all.
“I’ll see you at home then?”
Brooks takes a few steps back, and the cool air fills the space between us.
“Try to stay awake.”
The smell of cinnamon wakes me. Grabbing a sweater, I hop out of bed and follow the sweet scent. The sight that greets me is one I want to remember.
Brooks, standing at my stove, whistling a Christmas tune, and flipping pancakes with Comet at his feet. A tight T-shirt clings to his back.
I’ve seen Brooks cooking before. This certainly isn’t the first time. But something about it feels different. It’s quite the sight.
By the time I got home last night, it was almost two. A few regulars were having too good of a time for me to kick them out. Brooks was passed out in his room, and I didn’t want to wake him.
“Are you going to stand there and watch me all morning, or do you want some breakfast?”
“Pancakes?” I ask, sitting down on the barstool at the counter, rubbing a hand through my messy hair.
Brooks gives me a warm smile. “Your favorite.”
“I could get used to waking up like this.”
“To me making you pancakes?”
“To you.”
Brooks winks at me before setting down a plate of pancakes in front of me with a steaming mug of coffee.
Black. Just how I like it.
I fight another smile realizing just how much we know about each other. It’s the simplest of things, but it has me reaching for the syrup to drown my pancakes so I can stuff my face.
No need to let Brooks see the ridiculous smile there.
I groan. I forgot how good Brooks’s pancakes taste. It’s been years since I’ve had them.
“Good?” Brooks peeks over his shoulder at me.
“The fucking best.”
I shovel another big bite in my mouth.
“You got home late. ”
“Sorry.” I cut off another bite and take a much smaller piece now. “Some regulars decided to live it up last night.”
“Don’t be sorry.” Brooks comes around the counter with his own plate. Comet is at his feet, no doubt hoping to get a few scraps. “ I’m sorry I couldn’t stay awake.”
“It’s okay.” I spin on the stool to face him as he takes a seat next to me. “How are you feeling?”
“Feeling? About what?”
The smile on his face tells me he knows exactly what I’m talking about. Grabbing his hand so he can’t spin away from me, I pull him between my knees. “About last night.”
“What happened last night?”
Brooks rests his elbows on the counter and locks eyes with me. It does funny things to my insides. Things that I’m hoping he doesn’t regret this morning.
“Do I need to remind you?”
Brooks’s smile grows bigger as he moves closer to me and licks his lips. “I would not mind a refresher.”
Grasping his neck, I slant my lips over his in the sweetest of kisses. He tastes like coffee and cinnamon, a taste I could get drunk on.
Brooks’s tongue darts out to lick my bottom lip and I suck him into my mouth. My mind is swirling over how good it feels to kiss him.
I dig my fingers into the soft strands of hair at the nape of his neck. Licking. Sucking. Drinking my fill of the person I never thought I would get to have.
Until he breaks the kiss.
“Oh yeah. That. I like that.”
“Yeah?”
I drop my forehead to his, letting my fingers comb through his hair.
“So much so, that I want to keep doing it.”
“You do?” I don’t want to hope for too much. I don’t know if my heart could take the letdown because Brooks really isn’t in the place to be starting something.
“Yeah. I mean, you might have to go slow with me.”
“As slow as you need.”
Brooks laughs. “I mean, not that slow. I’d like to keep doing the kissing.”
“The kissing?” I press my lips to the corner of his mouth. “ Only the kissing?”
Resting his hands on my thighs, Brooks squeezes them. “I could be down for more.”
“Well.” I spear a piece of pancake and bite it off my fork. “I guess I better eat my breakfast to get my energy for more .”
“It is the most important meal of the day,” Brooks confirms.
Especially if it leads to more.