Chapter 12
CHAPTER TWELVE
Cody
C harlie was being weird. I mean, I was too, but still. She stayed uncharacteristically quiet on the walk into town, and I had to stop that nonsense fast, or this would end up being our one and only date. If we were doing this, I wanted the real deal, not nervous, clammed-up Charlie with something on her mind.
“What’s the best part about the resort so far?” I asked, hoping a change of subject would help the tension.
“Uh, let me think.”
We paced along, a little slower than I’d normally walk but she wore boots and I didn’t know if they were slowing her down.
She didn’t speak. I could’ve sworn I heard a clock ticking away as the seconds, no, more than a minute passed and she still hadn’t spoken. Done with this weirdness, I grabbed her hand and pulled her so we stood in a tucked away corner at the side of a building. We were about to turn onto Elk Street and I didn’t want to end up on the crowded street in front of people we knew with things between us in this state.
Her gaze searched my face for an answer to her silent question.
“We’ve gotta figure this out before we get to dinner and sit in uncomfortable silence,” I explained.
“Why do you say that?”
I gave her a look.
She huffed and slumped against the wall. “I’m just mildly freaking out, okay? I didn’t mean to, but I am.”
That melted me a little. “Nerves? Or regret?”
Please God, let it not be the latter.
“No, not regret. I just keep thinking about how this will end. I don’t know what you want. You kissed me back, but yesterday, you seemed so calm and I feel like I’ve had a southern university’s marching band practicing in my chest since we agreed to go out.”
I couldn’t contain the laugh. “That’s a really specific image.”
“Well, the southern schools are all really intense. They have their drumlines and tumblers and crazy choreography.” She gave me a sheepish smile.
Love for her welled up in me and overflowed into action. I caged her in where she stood against the brick, one hand on her hip, one resting against her head, my body about a foot from hers.
“I played it cool because I’m the one who recently admitted to having feelings for you when we were kids. But trust me when I tell you that you kissing me was the highlight of my year, and I’m very very glad to be here.”
She bit her full bottom lip in a gesture I knew meant she was pleased. That action held me hypnotized for a moment before she smiled full-out and I recovered from the crush of wanting that hit me.
I cleared my throat. “Point is, I don’t want this to be our only date. So tell me what I can do to help you relax. You’re normally not high-strung about our relationship, so I’m at a bit of a loss.”
She grinned at that truth. “Very true. Technically, you should be the one freaking if you really did like me before.”
“I know. So get with it, Charles.”
“I think you just did it, for what it’s worth.” Her hands came up to clutch the shirt at either side of my waist. She wasn’t quite touching me, but it wasn’t a place she would normally put her hands.
“What’s that? Call you out on being weird?”
One hand nudged against my ribs. “No. You looked at me like you wanted to kiss me again.”
That heady, heavy rush of feeling returned in an instant. Her eyes had this open, expectant quality to them and she was literally clinging to my shirt. Her words sent me into action, and I stepped into her, erasing all space between us. My hand on her waist pulled her close as the one I’d been resting on the wall came to cradle her jaw, and I kissed her.
Just in case there was any confusion that I currently wanted her, I gave this one my all. I wasn’t reacting to a surprise from her this time. This was my kiss to guide, and I slipped it straight into inferno territory the second her lips softened against mine in welcome. I let her know with everything I had how much I wanted to kiss her in this moment and maybe always had, though I doubted she could read that in the silent slide of the moment.
Before I got too carried away, I broke the kiss and eased back. At some point, I’d pushed close enough so she was pressed against the wall. When I stepped away, she let out a rough exhale and released me to run her hand through her hair.
“Okay. Point taken.”
I chuckled, then leaned in to press one more quick kiss to her mouth and tugged her hand to pull her back onto the sidewalk and around the corner to Elk Street. “Good. And anytime you need clarification, say the word and I’m your man.”
She gave me an all-too-pleased smile. “My man, huh?”
“Ehhhh, Charlotte and Cody out on the town! Are you guys dating now?” Chase Palmer raised a hand at me for a high five. He was a few years older than us, but I’d helped him with his self-employment taxes a while back and he was a nice guy. He knew Charlie because her sister and his sister were friends. Small towns.
“We are on a date, yes,” I said, shooting him a glare that said, “Don’t be an idiot.”
“Yes, we’re dating,” came Charlie’s answer, though she shot me a look that said my answer had confused her.
“So are you around for a bit? When are you leaving town again? Long distance ahead, or?—”
“You know what? We’re actually a minute late for our reservation, but we’ll talk to you soon,” I said, not interested in hashing out the details of what would happen when Charlie left or even knowing what her plan was right in front of Chase. He was a good enough dude, but we didn’t need to explore that obvious issue with him or anyone else. We’d have to deal with it soon enough, I suspected, and for once—for once —I was going to let myself just enjoy the moment. This was so far from my forte I hardly knew how to do it, but I was going on instinct.
Said instinct was telling me that the more pressure I put on Charlie, the more she’d feel it. And while she’d done some challenging things in life, handle pressure about her plans was never something she did very well. In the last decade, anytime I asked her how long she’d be wherever she happened to be working at the time, she’d clam up. Even if she had her next assignment or had requested something, she would always sound resistant to sharing.
I’d never figured out why, and it’d ticked me off more than once, but eventually, I’d stopped asking. It was probably part of the reason I still didn’t know her current plans, and I didn’t want to bear down on it. It’d ruin the moment and possibly the night.
“Right on, guys. Have a good one. We’ll see you around,” Chase said, shooting a salute to us as I steered us to Elk Ridge Grill’s door.
We both bid him a goodbye while moving swiftly inside. The night had gotten chilly and I for one wanted to get away from the crowd out front before anyone else decided to chat us up.
“Sorry to rush you inside. I just didn’t want to get caught up out there,” I explained as I waved to a girl who looked familiar at the stand.
“It’s fine. We’ll need to talk about that at some point, but…”
“Agree. But not tonight, yeah?”
She smiled and her shoulders dropped in relief. “Yes.”
A few minutes later, we’d been seated in the Wintergarden, a glass-walled section of the restaurant that became outdoor seating in milder weather. It was a German-style design and one more instance of the German lineage of one of the founding families of the town.
We ordered quickly, eager to be left alone, and suddenly we were. Alone. On our first date after what felt like decades in the making. I blew out a breath and forced away all the thoughts trying to crowd in and remind me that it would be the first of a numbered few. That she wouldn’t stay here long enough for this to be anything real and that I needed to proceed with caution.
I shoved all that way with a mental sweep of my hand.
For once in my life, I didn’t want to heed that all-powerful warning signal. I wanted to dive in with Charlie and just be here with her.