Charity Case: The Complete Series

by Piper Rayne

  He doesn’t even look my way. Just clicks through the channels.

  “You heard me, right?” I ask.

  “I heard you.” He brings a forkful of Lo-Mein noodles to his lips.

  “But?”

  “But nothing.”

  “Fine. Don’t tell me.” I stab a piece of meat in the carton.

  He chuckles. “I’m not going to waste my breath. You’re not there yet.”

  “Not where?”

  His eyes are still focused in on the television, never veering to me once. “Ready to see us.”

  “Speak English, Dean.”

  He swivels in his seat and places his container down on the table. “You’ve let me in and I’m not going to scare you, but Chelsea, I won’t give up until that ring is back on your finger.”

  “Dean,” I sigh trying to ignore the flipping and flopping of my heart like it’s screaming he wants us, he wants us.

  “See.” He points to me. “This is why I wasn’t going to say anything. You’re not ready for that declaration.”

  I laugh. “Are you sure we didn’t warp back to the seventeen hundreds? Maybe you want to go ask Barb and Ted for my hand. Do you have a dowry? Or is it me who is supposed to have the dowry?”

  His lips tick up. “Relax, Chelsea.” He winks again. “I’m not going to push you into something you don’t want.”

  He’s so smug. He thinks because he landed me in bed that he’s going to convince me I want to get re-married? Who is he kidding?

  “I have to go to the bathroom.” I stand, leaving my fork in the Mongolian beef. He had to go and ruin that for me by talking about the future. I’m still processing that I’m even here right now. That I just slept with him.

  Deciding on his en suite bathroom instead of the one in the hallway, I step in and turn on the lights.

  Again with the dreary black, gray and white. Who decorated this place?

  I shut the door and head to the toilet, but a flash of color on the monochrome canvas of his bathroom walls draws my attention. In slow motion, my feet move forward and my need to use the bathroom suddenly vanishes.

  It slides off the towel rack when I clutch it in my hands. The Moroccan style towel my grandma sent us after she heard the wedding news. I thought I took them all. They weren’t the most beautiful things in the world. More colors than a kaleidoscope, but it was the only domestic wedding gift we got.

  Bringing it up to my nose, I inhale and smell Dean. Memories float through my brain of the happy times I’d pushed as far back as they could go. Placing it back down, I open the bathroom door, ready to tell Dean he’s right, I’m not there yet, but yet doesn’t mean never.

  He’s sitting on the edge of the bed watching me with a schoolboy look to him. As though, I’m the principal and he’s been sent to the office.

  “I shouldn’t—”

  “No. Don’t say anything,” I say, stepping into the opening of his legs.

  His hands run up and down my thighs, sneaking under the back tail of his button-down.

  “Let’s just let this play out, okay? I know it’s hard, but date me all over again,” I say. I place one leg on either side of his waist and straddle him with my hands around his neck. “I’m not saying no.”

  His lips touch my collarbone, his hands growing more firm on my ass.

  “Deal.” His tongue slides up my neck. “To think it was only weeks ago you said I’d never lay a hand on your body again.” A light chuckle comes out of him.

  “Watch it, Bennett.” I do nothing to refute him. He’s not lying. I move my head down and he doesn’t miss a beat, smashing his lips to mine.

  My mind says I’m playing with fire, but my body overrules it. I always liked the danger that came with Dean Bennett.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  The following Saturday, I’m watching a little girl dancing to some YouTube-gone-viral movie in my living room.

  “You must be thirsty, Jade.” I put the root beer on the table.

  She falls into my couch, catching her breath. “Thanks, Aunt Chelsea,” she sips it.

  My heart warms at her use of the word aunt, because I’m not. But I look at it as a term of endearment.

  “That’s an interesting dance.” I look at the kid on the television swinging her hips and her arms. I don’t really understand it, but whatever.

  “It took me a long time to figure out. My friend Henry still can’t get his hips right.” Jade sits on the edge of the couch sipping her drink and watching the television.

  “Your mom lets you watch this?”

  Babysitting Jade for the night was a win-win for me. First, it does Victoria and Reed a favor so they can have a guilt-free night, not leaving her with Vic’s mom again. Second, I get to see how Dean will fit into my life. I’m not a partying college kid anymore. I’m not exactly domesticated, but Jade and my niece and nephew are a part of my life now.

  “Yeah, Reed can do the floss. Mom.” She cringes.

  I stand up, pressing the button to start another video. “If Reed can do it, I can do it.”

  The video starts and some ten-year-old boy is swinging his hips so hard I swear he’s going to tear a muscle.

  I move my hips and my hands, but they’re not going where they’re supposed to.

  “No, Aunt Chelsea.” Jade giggles, falling onto the couch.

  Being the perfectionist I am, I continue trying, but the only thing I accomplish is Jade spitting out her root beer all over my coffee table. Like mother like daughter.

  A knock lands on the door as I’m scrambling back from the kitchen with a roll of paper towels.

  “Here.” I hand Jade the roll of towels and then head to the door, checking the peephole to see Dean.

  I open the door and he holds up a brown paper bag. “Sundae supplies. I got extra cherries.” He winks, and I open the door wider.

  “Great, Jade loves cherries.”

  Dean’s jaw drops slightly, but he recovers fast replacing his disappointment with a smile.

  “You’re Victoria’s daughter?” he asks, stepping into the apartment, positioning the bag in one hand and holding out the other.

  “And Pete’s. Reed’s?” She stops and thinks. “I guess I’m kind of like Reed’s daughter too. I’m moving in with him.”

  “Dean met Reed and your mom at Hannah’s party.”

  She smiles. “I love her dog Lucy.” She gets a lovesick look in her eyes. “Do you have a dog?”

  “Yeah, his name is Grover,” Dean says.

  “Do you have pictures? Why didn’t you bring him?” She perks up, moving to sit at the edge of the couch.

  “I would have had I known.” He heads to the kitchen. “I’ll put these away and then I’ll show you some pictures.”

  Jade shrugs, turning on the video again after Dean and I disappear into the kitchen.

  “Care to fill me in?” Dean unloads the groceries. Whipped cream, cherries, sprinkles, chocolate sauce, butterscotch sauce.

  I put everything away and then hold open the freezer, waiting for him to hand me the ice cream.

  “I told Vic I’d watch her tonight. They had some big fancy dinner thing for Reed.”

  Dean folds up the paper bag. “Cool.”

  “Did you forget the ice cream?” I ask, my eyes bugging out of my head. If I don’t send Jade back high on sugar what kind of faux aunt am I?

  “I didn’t buy any.”

  I shut the freezer door. “Were they out?”

  He places the paper bag on the counter, his hands landing on my hips, and he thrusts me into his arms. His nose glides over my jaw and neck. “I thought you were going to be the sundae.”

  I giggle in his arms.

  “I had plans of licking whipped cream and chocolate off your delectable body. Why do you think I bought extra cherries?” His teeth latch on to my earlobe, giving a firm tug.

  “Well, maybe you should have a sleepover tomorrow night.”

  He squeezes my ass. “Is that a sly way of telling me no slee
pover tonight?”

  “Since Jade sleeps with me, I’d have to say no.”

  “I have a question for you.” He draws back, leaning on the counter and I’m suddenly rethinking my plan. An entire night of not being able to touch him feels like torture at the moment.

  “What?” I ask.

  “Am I here as a test?”

  I wrinkle my brow.

  He raises his.

  I tilt my head.

  He tilts his in the opposite direction.

  “What?” I feign ignorance.

  “You heard me.”

  “I don’t want to say.”

  He captures me before I can escape back into the living room and his fingers torment me with tickles. “Admit it.”

  “No.” I laugh.

  He laughs. “I’m not going to stop.”

  I wiggle and slide around but he’s got me cornered and let’s be honest, I’m not trying very hard to get away. If I really wanted to, I’d knee him in the balls.

  “Fine. Maybe.”

  He stops for a second. “Maybe as in yes.”

  “Maybe.”

  He tickles me, but his hands skitter up my chest. “God, I want to strip you right now. These damn clothes are a fucking tease. I can see the outline of your body, but there’s still a barrier.”

  “Aunt Chelsea,” Jade calls out. “Someone just knocked on the door.”

  “Don’t answer.” I look at Dean. “Not a true test, I just wanted to see how you’d fit into my life now. How you’d handle it when it’s not just all about us.”

  A cocky smile plays on his lips. “Like everything else, with perfection.” He presses his lips to my cheek. “I’ll grab the door.”

  My hands grip the counter, preparing myself for a night of temptation.

  By the time I get to the living room, Dean’s shutting the door and he’s got the pizza in his hand.

  “The money was on the table.”

  He shakes his head.

  “I bet you’re a cheese girl, right Jade?” he asks.

  “How did you know?” She follows him to the small kitchen table.

  “Is that the floss?” Dean asks, placing the pizza on the table and opening the box.

  “Yeah.” Jade’s hips start moving and her arms swinging from side to side.

  Dean steps back from the table, watching her and then he juts out his hip. “Move your arms back when you swing your hips sideways.”

  Jade looks like the kid from the video and Dean looks like if you put the video in slow motion.

  I lean against the doorframe of the kitchen watching the two interact.

  Jade’s easy, I know that. She’s not going to act like a brat or give him a hard time. She’ll say her pleases and her thank yous. Still, it’s nice to see the two of them joking around.

  “Have you ever done the Cupid Shuffle?” Dean stops attempting the floss and starts singing the cupid shuffle song and doing the dance.

  Jade watches his feet, mimicking him.

  “Wait, wait. We need the music.” Dean grabs the remote from the table and searches Cupid Shuffle on YouTube. A minute later after an ad, the song begins and Dean pushes the coffee table against the couch.

  He motions for Jade to come to the dance floor. She looks at me and I nod, then she runs to join him. Dean takes her hands and the two follow the directions of moving to the right and then to the left. They go through the entire dance together, her following Dean’s steps and movements. Even the flexing of the bicep.

  “Can we do it again?” Jade asks with a big smile and sparkling eyes.

  “If Chelsea joins us.” Dean looks in my direction, clearly issuing me a challenge.

  Jade runs over to me, grabbing my hand and tugging me toward them.

  “The pizza will get cold,” I protest.

  “Excuses, excuses,” Dean says, tsking me.

  “Watch us,” Jade says, eyeing Dean to press play.

  “Sweet Jade, I’m the master.” I puff my chest out.

  “What happened to the pizza-will-get-cold girl?” Dean teases, stepping to the side to give me some space.

  “I just didn’t want to show you up.” I wink at him.

  Dean laughs, and presses play. “Then show me up, beautiful.”

  Jade’s all in and has most of the moves down. Oh, to be a kid again. She’s strutting along the floor, her hips in sequence to the rhythm and she’s even singing the lyrics. “You’re really good, Aunt Chelsea.” She shoots a fleeting look in my direction.

  Dean dances over to the pizza, grabbing a slice and eating it while he watches us.

  “A plate wouldn’t kill you,” I say over my shoulder.

  His deep chuckle grows closer and he leans over my shoulder, biting a piece of the pizza.

  “You want to see Aunt Chelsea flip out?” Dean asks Jade.

  She turns and continues her dance as she watches us.

  “You’re buying me a new rug if you drop it.” Although it’s making me slightly worried, I’m going to let this go.

  “Deal.” His arm wraps around my waist and he holds it up in front of my face. “Live on the edge and take a bite.”

  “Nuh-uh.” I shake my head.

  “Come on Aunt Chelsea.” Jade jumps up and down next to us.

  I look down at the girl and then to Dean, opening my mouth. I figure a small nibble will do, but Dean puts the entire piece in my mouth and walks away.

  I chew and they both laugh at me and my chipmunk cheeks as I try to chew it enough to swallow.

  “HOLY…” Dean screams as Beyoncé’s “Put a Ring on It” starts. “Now this is Aunt Chelsea’s song. She sang it to me one night five years ago.”

  My cheeks instantly heat. I search for the remote, finding it in Dean’s hands, wiggling it back and forth in the air.

  “She can show you how to dance to this.”

  “You danced to this?” Jade sits down on the floor and watching the woman on the screen who’s barely clothed dance around.

  “Inappropriate,” I mumble over the last bit of pizza.

  “It’s Beyoncé.” Dean makes a face like whatever.

  “Please Aunt Chelsea,” Jade begs from the floor, her hands clasped together.

  “Let’s eat first.”

  “I don’t think you should dance on a full belly.” Dean sits down in a kitchen chair, helping himself to another slice of pizza. “Not to mention this song is all about female empowerment. It sure put me in my place.” Dean smiles that smug look that somehow makes him even more attractive.

  I narrow my eyes.

  “Please Aunt Chelsea.” Jade pulls on my arm.

  The video continues playing and Jade starts following Beyoncé’s dance moves in the video.

  “One time and then we eat.” I put my finger up and Jade glances over her shoulder to Dean like we did it.

  Dean doesn’t look surprised. He knew I couldn’t say no to Jade.

  “Should I start from the beginning?” he asks like he’s not going to.

  He starts the video over again and I start moving and shaking it like I’m in college again and half corked. I’m surprised I never forgot the choreography.

  I keep my eyes on Dean the entire time, remembering him at that bar that night—him with his buddies, his ridiculous idea that we really should get hitched after I finished dancing.

  Shit, I’m the reason we married. It was meant to be a joke, me and two of the other player’s girlfriends were playing around. They didn’t go to a chapel and marry their girlfriends. Only Dean.

  The song ends and I almost collapse, leaning forward to catch my breath.

  “You’re so good, Aunt Chelsea. Can we do it again?”

  I pat her dark chestnut hair. “After we eat, okay?”

  “Okay.” She skips over to the table eating the pizza Dean already has out for her. “Don’t you love Lou’s?” she says as cheese hangs from her mouth.

  “I’m actually a Gino’s man.” Dean laughs, knowing he’s asking for a fight
.

  “My mommy loves Gino’s.”

  I go to the kitchen to grab some water before I pass out.

  “What about Reed?” Dean asks.

  Jade starts talking about Reed liking whatever Mommy likes and how her dad loves Lou’s, but only the deep dish. Who knew a conversation about pizza could keep a girl so busy?

  Dean comes up behind me while I’m shuffling things around in the fridge. He slides his arm past me into the fridge, his body pressed against my back. “Do the dance for me in private sometime?” he whispers.

  “Depends how much it’s worth to you.”

  He backs up after grabbing three waters with one hand.

  Magic fingers, I’m telling you.

  “If that little girl wasn’t here, you’d already be spread-eagle on the table with my head between your legs.”

  I push him away. “She’s right there,” I whisper.

  She’s on to Henry and her grandma’s pizza preferences now. Only in Chicago.

  “That dance confirmed for me that I wanted to marry you,” he says in a serious voice.

  “Let’s try to push that memory back.” I start to walk away, but he grabs my wrist.

  “I never want to forget our first marriage. I don’t want to erase our past no matter how dark it was.”

  He gives me that look again. The one that says we still have things to discuss.

  “Not tonight.”

  “I know not tonight, but this week okay?”

  I nod. “Okay.”

  “What about you, Aunt Chelsea?” I walk back to the table and take a seat.

  “I’m a Lou’s girl.”

  “You guys are split then?” she asks with astonishment.

  “Not on only pizza. She’s a Sox fan.” Dean thumbs in my direction.

  “Aunt Chelsea,” she whines. “I liked you the most.” She shakes her head in disappointment.

  “I bet she’ll teach you that dance now,” Dean says.

  I kick Dean under the table.

  “Yay!” Jade’s face lights up.

  “Yay!” Dean’s fists rise, and he shakes them in the air like he’s a cheerleader.

  With a chuckle, I say, “Payback will be swift.”

  His foot slides up my leg, inching my thighs apart. “You wanna make a bet?”

  I shut my thighs. “Absolutely not.”