Chapter Twenty-eight
While she wasn’t sure how her body or her heart were going to react to seeing Charlie, she really did miss her.
Harper had gotten used to sleeping next to her and missed snuggling her warm body after they’d made love.
And Andrew’s words had been rolling around and marinating in her head since they’d talked.
It also didn’t hurt that he’d become a bit of a broken record about it every few days when they talked.
As the evening started to wind down, Harper felt Charlie before she saw her.
It was as if there was an electric current in the air that only affected the two of them.
Her arms broke out in goose bumps, and she looked up to see Charlie leaning against the doorframe, a smile slowly blooming across her face as Harper made eye contact.
Harper couldn’t have stopped her answering smile even if she’d wanted to. They needed to talk. There were a lot of things that hadn’t been said since the SEC had shown up at the door. But, God, she looked amazing. And Harper had missed her. God, she’d missed her.
She wanted to go to her, but the bar was still busy, with only a couple of stools open, and they were short-staffed because Em was out with the flu. It was also almost Christmas, which always strained operations.
So as she shook a cocktail shaker over her shoulder, she asked Charlie to come over with a subtle gesture of her head.
Neither broke eye contact as Charlie approached the bar and slid onto a seat.
Harper was pretty sure that a bouquet of butterflies that they’d seen together at the Butterfly and Nature Conservatory in October—just before the SEC had shown up—had followed her home and chosen that moment to make their presence known.
“Can I get you something to drink?” She hated how awkward she sounded.
She had so many feelings and emotions that her work persona took over.
“Always business first.” Charlie rolled her eyes, but it was playful.
“Sorry, it’s great to see you. I didn’t know you were coming back today.” Harper poured the likely over-shaken drink into a glass and placed it in front of a man sitting a few seats away as she said, “Enjoy,” but immediately refocused on Charlie.
“I wasn’t entirely sure. And I wasn’t sure when I was going to get here.
It’s been a long-ass thirty hours of work and driving.
I wasn’t sure what my plan was…if I was going to drive straight through or if I was going to get a hotel room, and this morning, I thought it might be fun to surprise you.
I hope it’s a good surprise.” She smiled sheepishly, as though worried Harper was going to be mad.
“It’s a good surprise. Do you want a little dessert drink to celebrate getting home? You can also just go upstairs and snuggle with Franky if you want. I’m about to make last call, so I won’t be too much longer.”
“If you’re going to be up soon, maybe I could take a small glass of amaretto upstairs with me?
The noise in here is a little overstimulating after having been alone in my car for so many hours and at my current level of exhaustion.
” Her eyes looked so tired. Harper had a pulling need to be close to her but wanted her to be comfortable too.
And knowing she’d be upstairs, snuggling with Franky, made the idea of her leaving the bar bearable.
“Of course. I’ll be up as soon as I can.”
As soon as Charlie was through the door, Harper made last call. Everything inside her was screaming for her to ask Aiden to handle the rest, but she couldn’t do that. There were still too many people sitting at the bar.
Nearly forty minutes later, Harper ground her teeth until they hurt when two people seemed intent on dragging their martinis out until dawn. What. The. Fuck.
“Why don’t you let me close up here?”
She hadn’t noticed Aiden sidle up next to her and tried to pretend she wasn’t startled. “That’s not fair to you.”
“Your girl just got back. Go get her. I don’t have anyone waiting on me, and you gave me the morning off tomorrow, so I’m golden.” He nudged her in the ribs with his elbow. “Plus, with the way you were looking at each other…” He bounced his eyebrows. “What can I say. I’m a romantic.”
“I don’t believe you have a romantic bone in your body.”
“My bone is always romantic.” He laughed, and Harper gagged.
“Gross, Aiden.”
“Sorry, I couldn’t help myself. But watching you two together all year?
It was really cute. You were two little ice queens slowly thawing each other with little glances, sweet smiles.
I mean, I might have pointed out to a couple of men how romantic it was and how I hoped to find my forever person the way you two had. Worked like a charm every time.”
“Wait, you used us to get men to go home with you?” When he nodded, she hit him in the arm with a bar towel. “You really are a dog.”
“At your service, ma’am.” He tipped an imaginary hat. “Now get out of here.”
When she walked into her apartment, she wasn’t surprised to find Charlie asleep on her couch with Franky curled up in the bend of her knees.
She’d left her heels by the door next to a duffel bag and wool coat laid haphazardly across it and had taken off her charcoal gray suit jacket but was otherwise still in the suit she’d been in.
She was apparently sleeping deeply because she didn’t stir when Harper closed the door or took Charlie’s suit jacket from the back of the couch and hung it up.
Part of her wanted to let her sleep, but a little piece of her was afraid she would disappear before Harper woke up.
She knew it was silly. Charlie wouldn’t have come back if she was planning to run away immediately, but the silly fear took root deep in her, and she sat on the edge of the couch.
Harper ran a finger along her cheek. “Charlie,” she said softly.
Charlie’s eyes blinked open at a glacial pace, revealing those deep brown eyes, but unlike when they’d first met, they no longer seemed full of secrets. Her eyes seemed surprisingly unguarded. A smile crept across her face. “Hey, you. I thought you were a dream for a second.”
“Nope. This is real.”
Charlie pressed her hand against Harper’s, flattening it against her face. “God, I’ve missed you.” She turned into the contact and pressed a kiss against her palm.
Harper’s heart thumped wildly, nearly rattling in her chest. Her emotions warred as they’d been doing for weeks, but the truth came out. “Me too.”
“I know we need to talk, but can we do that in the morning? Can we go to bed? Just to sleep,” Charlie said as though she could hear Harper’s pulse increase impossibly faster. “I’m so tired, and I just want to be in your arms.”
“Yeah,” Harper said. In that moment, it was all she wanted too.
She helped Charlie off the couch and gave her shorts and a T-shirt to sleep in.
They brushed their teeth side by side, and despite all the talking they needed to do in the morning, everything felt better in the world when Charlie curled her thighs under Harper’s knees and snugged her head against Harper’s neck.
Charlie had been so exhausted the night before that she could only vaguely remember falling asleep curled against Harper. Waking up as the little spoon, with Harper’s arm wrapped protectively around her torso, was like waking up to find out she was in heaven.
She snuggled back into Harper, wiggling her hips, and Harper’s arm tightened.
Charlie gasped when Harper’s hand slipped under the borrowed T-shirt, and her thumb moved back and forth against Charlie’s bare stomach.
Heat immediately shot to the juncture between her thighs.
She wanted more than anything to lean into the touch and the feelings, but she was certain Harper was still asleep, and they needed to talk before she initiated anything intimate.
They hadn’t talked in weeks, other than by text, and she was terrified that if she started something now, Harper would push her away later, and she would have destroyed anything they could have had. So she slid out of Harper’s embrace and sat up.
Her heart clutched as she looked at Harper’s sleeping face and brushed hair from her forehead. An emotion that felt an awful lot like love flooded her chest.
Holy shit.
Charlie hadn’t ever been in love, but she was pretty sure that was what she was feeling. Part of her wanted to shake Harper awake and tell her, but reason won out, and she slid off the bed. They really needed to talk before she made any major declarations.
After cleaning up in Harper’s bathroom, Charlie padded into the kitchen to investigate the breakfast situation.
She wasn’t a gourmet chef, but cooking for herself was something she’d been enjoying since moving to Key West, and it was Christmas Eve, after all.
That felt like an occasion for breakfast in bed. Or something like that.
Unfortunately, the pickings were a little slim.
What had Harper been eating while she’d been away?
There was a package of crescent roll dough, half a bag of shredded cheese, an onion, one red bell pepper, and a small jar of minced garlic.
She checked the pantry and found a can of yams, a few cans of black beans, and a can of diced tomatoes.
She was at a little bit of a loss on what she could do with those ingredients, so she googled them and came up with the best option, which was a slightly modified savory, sweet potato crescent roll.
It was going to take a little longer than she’d hoped, but they sounded delicious, so she diced and sautéed the veggies, mashed the canned yams, and mixed everything together with some of the shredded cheese.
After unrolling the tin of crescent rolls, putting a little of the filling in the middle, and rolling each roll up, she placed them on a cookie sheet and smiled at her ingenuity. They looked delicious.
She was just standing straight after sliding them into the oven when she heard, “Something smells amazing out here.”