Chapter 32
Chapter Thirty-Two
Charlie
Last night, she hadn’t wanted to kiss. My entire body burned for her, but it was more.
I hadn’t told her she had my heart. She’d curled into me, and her eyes had stayed closed.
So I'd closed mine and planned a big reveal in which I would drop to my knees on the beach and ask her to marry me for real—and tell her I loved her.
My body was tense all night. I worried she might not feel the same. If she had, then the blackmail wouldn’t matter because just being together proved our feelings. My brother, my family—they all accepted I talked my way around a situation rather than committing directly.
She woke, smiled at me, and headed to the bathroom. I left her alone to clean up, but as she came out, she said, “I think I should stay and figure out temporary housing as they fix up my condo.”
My heart almost stopped. She seemed so serious. I couldn’t read her. My shoulders tensed. “Our party is tomorrow. It’s better if we both show up.”
She sat on the bed beside me. “I… I know you think that’s best.”
I ached to kiss her, but I stood. “And your friends all RSVP’d yes. Just relax.”
I headed to the bathroom, cleaned myself, and quickly weighed my options. If I walked out and told her I loved her, she could run away from me fast. If I waited until tonight, when we were on a beach, I would get a better chance of showing her she was in my heart.
I finished up in the bathroom and left. I would wait until tonight.
She’d changed into a sundress with blue flowers embroidered. She turned toward me and squared her shoulders. “I won’t change my mind again. I’ll go, and we’ll fix what we did in person.”
Good. I hoped she would relax. And I hoped she loved me back. I smiled. “Then maybe you and I can go and find a way to enjoy ourselves, alone, for a night.”
She shook her head, and our phones started beeping. We both saw her friends were arriving.
“There is no time for that. Your brother’s getting married. Your parents have us scheduled in for some party that we’re going to, so it’s best if we focus on the tasks at hand and let me apologize to everyone.”
I stopped her as we headed to the living room to greet everyone Fuller had let in. “You don’t have to apologize at all.”
She cupped my face and stared at me like she wanted to see my soul. “Look, Charlie, somehow, I’m going to pay you back for everything you did for me, including this phone.”
What I had was hers. I swallowed and just whispered, “Don’t.”
She shrugged. “We’ll figure out a deal later, but let’s get going.”
I was fucking everything up, but the door opened, and her friends were there. So I headed in to say hello.