Chapter 4
Blythe
I fell asleep thirty minutes into the movie Charlie put on despite my best attempt at staying awake. After the insanity of the last few weeks, a nap and a quiet afternoon were precisely what the doctor ordered.
When I finally stirred, Charlie’s space heater level of body heat was radiating off him. When I opened my eyes, he was sprawled out in the corner of the couch with his head rolled back, mouth agape. I was disoriented, confused, and had no idea what day it was.
“Babe,” I lightly shook his arm.
“Mm?”
“I think we should get up.”
Charlie opened one eye, “What day is it?”
I reached for my phone, but I did not have an answer for him. “Still Friday. It’s almost seven.”
That made him open his eyes, “We were asleep for that long?”
I shrugged, “Apparently.” I crawled over to where he was on the other side of the couch and snuggled into his broad chest.
Charlie traced random shapes on my bare leg mindlessly while still waking up. “I’m happy I didn’t have anything planned for us this afternoon.”
“I’m just surprised you could keep it a secret.” I poked his chest.
He looked down at me, “Me freakin’ too. Do you know how hard it is to keep things from you?”
I couldn’t help but laugh. I struggled when it came to keeping secrets from him. Last year, I got him this cool fishing pole he wanted for Christmas and barely made it in the door before I spilled the beans. “I’m no better.”
“Remember—” Charlie started.
“Christmas last year.” We said in unison and laughed.
“What was your plan for this evening?” I prodded, hoping to get some details.
“I was thinking we would just have a relaxing night in. I planned to cook a nice dinner together and watch TV.” He paused to take in my reaction. “If that sounds good? We could also order something in.”
I shook my head, “We’ve eaten out so much lately; a home-cooked dinner sounds delicious. Cooking together also sounds romantic.”
A shit-eating grin spread across his face, “As we discussed earlier, I can be romantic if I want to.”
I playfully rolled my eyes before stretching.
“I swear, you’re part cat.”
I cocked my head in his direction. “What?”
He motioned to my being, “The way you stretch, you look like a cat.”
“I have so many responses for that, but none are ladylike.” My teeth dug into my bottom lip. I grabbed his hand and tried to pull his large frame off the couch to head to the kitchen, but he didn’t budge, and I slid to the floor.
“Gotta be stronger than that, love.”
“You’re a giant, and I’m average size! This is an unfair advantage.” I tried pulling him up again but stumbled forward into his lap.
“Oh, this works too.”
I capitulated and pressed a sweet kiss to his lips before adjusting my position on his lap.
This elicited a groan from Charlie. “You’re the biggest tease.”
I tossed him a devilish grin, “Do we have everything we need for dinner?”
“I was thinkin’ we could hunt through the refrigerator and find things that sounded good. We also have lots of wine.”
“Sounds like the perfect evening to me.”
We put on some music and scoured the refrigerator. We found everything we needed for an incredible dinner. While Charlie chopped up the vegetables, I was in charge of keeping our wine glasses full—not to brag, but I was doing a great job. Maybe it was the three glasses of wine and quiet house, but Charlie and I were fully relaxed.
“So what do we have planned tomorrow?” I asked, slightly slurred. I was hopeful that, in his buzzed state, he would give me something to work with.
Water still running in the sink, he walked over to me and placed his hands on the counter on either side of my petite frame. “You’re not going to get any details out of me that easily, ma’am. You’ll have to try again after the next bottle of wine.” He placed a burning kiss on the nape of my neck. He knew that got me hot and bothered.
“All I know is that I need a nice dress.”
“Cool, so you have all the details you need.”
“But…” I tried to press.
Charlie’s hands reached down and squeezed my butt. “You do have a nice butt.”
I playfully rolled my eyes, “Will you give me any other details tomorrow?”
He tapped his chin dramatically, “Maybe.” With that, he walked back to the sink. “If I manage the rest of the sides, can you bread the chicken?”
Charlie was an excellent cook, but he never got the concept of “wet hand, dry hand” while breading things, so that’s now my area of expertise. I grabbed the chicken package from the refrigerator and started to bread them.
“Nice breasts!” My wonderful boyfriend said emphatically from his spot by the stove.
I spun on my heel to face him, a genuine look of shock on my face.
“What?” He motioned towards the chicken I was breading, “I was talking about the chicken breasts…obviously.”
“Of course you were.” I turned back to my breading station when I had a thought. “Hey, Charlie,” I lifted his oversized T-shirt I was wearing and flashed him. Something I could never have done if Wren had been home.
“Oh my.” He made grabby hands.
Maybe it was the wine or the ability to be goofy without a kid around, but I was letting go of any inhibitions I had.
“Turn the stove off,” I demanded.