Our laughter fades but our eyes hold. I feel something strong and urging in my belly. God—he’s handsome.
In his satin detail, slim fit tuxedo. The faintest shadow of stubble on his chin. The playful glint in his eye. He looks hella good tonight. Tempting. Very tempting. I set a palm on my stomach to keep my nerves under control.
Charlie’s hands come down on my shoulders and he bends to look me in the eyes. Concern shines through his expression. “You okay?”
Warmth runs down my shoulders all the way to my elbows and my nipples start to tingle. “Yeah, I’m fine.” I push the words past the strangling knot in my throat.
He smells like heaven—testosterone and musk and whiskey mixing with naturally intoxicating scent of his skin. His gaze is so intense right now. I don’t even feel like myself. I’m usually snarky, smart-mouthed Nova but right now, I feel shy, vulnerable. The way he’s looking at me…I feel completely exposed. My eyes drop as I look away from him.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve always dreamed that he’d look at me this way one day, that he’d look at me like he really sees me. But now that I’m here under the weight of his gaze, it’s a little bit hard to breathe.
Thankfully, right then, my grandmother comes hobbling over, Edward’s arm hooked through hers. “Kids—me and the hubby are about to turn in."
Edward focuses his glare on Charlie. "Yes, my bride just overexerted herself on the dance floor."
Granny pinches his cheek. "Eddie, your jealousy is almost cute. Almost.” Chuckling, she brings her focus back to me. "It’s been a long day and if we stay up past 10:00, we’ll pay for it for a week.”
“Yes, the bus is here to take our friends back to the nursing home. We’ve got to get going,” Edward adds.
“Already?” I ask. “The night passed quickly. Too quickly.”
Lost in Charlie’s eyes, I hadn’t even noticed that people had started to leave. The reception hall is almost empty now. Even Nadia has disappeared and the bartender is nowhere to be found.
My grandmother laughs. “You’ve heard the old saying—time flies when there’s an open bar.”
“Well, it was an amazing evening,” I say as I lean in and hug her before moving on to Edward.
“It was lovely having the two of you,” she says, turning her hugs to Charlie. “I’ll see you next week?” she asks.
“Sure thing,” he tells her as he shakes a reluctant Edward’s hand.
“Next week?” I feel totally out of the loop.
“Charlie’s helping Edward and me install some shelves in our new place,” my grandmother tells me.
With a hiked brow, I glance off in Charlie’s direction. Wearing a crooked smirk, he nods.
“Anyway, thank you for coming.” Edward tightens his grip on his new wife’s arm. “What’d you say we go consummate this marriage, honey?”
Granny rolls her eyes and then brings her laughing gaze to us. “He’s all talk. He’s about to go fall asleep on the toilet before he even manages to take his dentures off.”
Cringing at it all, I close my eyes and nod. “Thank you for that glimpse into your domestic situation. Appreciate it.”
The newlyweds giggle to themselves as they walk away, hand in hand.
I give my attention to Charlie. Tonight, I’m seeing him in a whole new light. Yes, I’ve always been attracted to him. Lusting over him was sort of a fanciful daydream that I never had any real intention of acting on. But this is something different. Something that’s currently causing my lady bits to experience epileptic shock. Wouldn’t it be inhumane to leave the condition untreated?
I’m sure that everything I’m thinking is showing on my face. I hardly care. This night was beyond all my expectations. He was absolutely perfect. He made it almost feel real. Like I might be living inside of a fairytale with a real-life prince.
I try to rationalize what's going on. Maybe just for tonight, he doesn’t have to be Charlie—My good friend. Reese’s brother. The unapologetic playboy—Maybe just for tonight, he can be Prince Charming. And I can be Cinderella. I can let him sweep me off my feet and not care what happens when I open my eyes tomorrow.
A tiny smile plays on his lips. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
I shrug, unable to tear myself away from the magnetic pull of his stare. One corner of my mouth curls up. “I thought I knew you,” I say in a near whisper, eyes still transfixed to his. “But lately, it feels like I’m learning so much more about you.”
He gives me a meek expression. “What can I say? I’m a complicated guy.”
My shoulders hunch up and shake when I laugh. “God, I was trying to be genuine with you for just one minute and you had to go ruin it with your bullshittery.”
His features go serious. “Okay, since we’re being genuine, I'll say this—I had a really good time tonight.”
“Thank you for coming with me, Charlie,” I breathe out. “It was so much fun.”
His arrogant grin lights up his face. “Well, it was my pleasure. It was perfect...Except for one thing.” He takes a step closer and my skin tightens. His appreciative glance fans across my face and down over my body.
“What’s that?” I question, trying my darnedest to keep my voice from squeaking.
He bends close, his lips brushing the lobe of my ear. “I didn’t get to dance with the second prettiest girl in the room…”
My eyes go wide and I shove him back with a laugh. “The second prettiest girl in the room?”
His shoulder hikes up before it drops. “No one upstages the bride. That’s common knowledge.”
“I guess you’re right.” I giggle.
His jaw twitches as his lustful gaze slowly works its way down my body again. Oh my god. He's totally picturing me naked right now…
There used to be a line in the sand. It used to be clear. Charlie was off-limits and I’d never challenge that.
But tonight…
It might just be the alcohol. Or the way that he laughed with my grandmother like they were dear old friends. Or it might be the smoldering heat of his undivided attention as he stares at me. Anyway, the line isn’t so clear tonight. It’s downright blurry.
“So, are you gonna dance with me or what?” His voice is low. Soft. Intimate. It floats across my skin, causing the hairs on the back of my neck to stand up.
“I don’t dance,” I whisper back, wishing I didn’t feel so dizzy right now. It’s just the alcohol getting to my head. That’s all it is.
“That’s a shame.” His eyes take another leisurely journey down my body.
"Oh my god, Charlie…Can you please not look at me like that?" I’m nearly breathless.
His eyes hitch onto mine and a hint of a smirk touches his lips. "Why not?"
"Because…because I'm your sister's best friend."
"Oh, your relationship to my sister is the source of your identity? Wouldn't have thunk it…" His tongue moves across his lips as his gaze settles on my mouth. The seizures in my pussy intensify.
It’s all beginning to rise to the surface. All the lust I’ve felt for him and kept buried for years, it’s sitting out in the open now.
I lean back against the bar, elbows on the counter, drink dangling from my fingertips and I grin sloppily. My head tilts to the side and a tuft of my frizzy hair covers my eye. One corner of my mouth raised lazily, I check him the fuck out. I let my gaze travel slowly from his shoes all the way up to the glimmer in his eyes. He's handsome in a crude, harsh, breathtaking way that's hard to describe.
The responsible version of Nova knows that I should be pushing him away, reminding him of the line in the sand we should never cross. But my delinquent side is acting up. Curious, hungry, decidedly drunk.
I never liked Responsible Nova anyway.
We keep one another's gaze for a long, pulsating moment and I light up on the inside, my heartbeats faltering, my stomach clenching. "What are we doing?" I say in a breathy whisper. I sway a little, feeling woozy.
His fingertips
brush my skin when he reaches out to play with the pendant of the necklace around my throat. His voice is like silk against the shell of my ear. "I don't know about you but I'm working up the courage to lean in and kiss you.”
My stomach knots tighter. My tongue runs over my bottom lip. Oh, god. I wasn’t imagining it. He wants me. "Five bucks says you chicken out."
He chuckles deep in his chest. It’s an arrogant sound. The bass of it reverberates between my thighs. "Five bucks says I blow your mind."
I chuff and my voice drops dangerously low. "I dare you.”
For the sake of my ego, I’d like to believe that I’m cool, composed and collected on the outside but my insides are a pulsing, throbbing, lusting mess. I know for sure that I’ve never wanted anyone’s lips on me the way I want Charlie’s.
The energy between us scorches. An electric charge clips and sputters all around us. His massive hands fall on my waist, fingers flexing into my skin. They drag roughly up my back, rumpling the shimmery fabric of my dress. I curl into his crude touch, curving my back, pressing my breasts into him. I chew down on the inside of my mouth to keep from groaning.
He palms the back of my head, his fingers getting lost in my hair and he tilts my head as he moves closer to me. His lips are full and dewy and the feel of his breath fanning over my mouth is enough to make me lose my mind. He’s hesitating, weighing the pros and cons of doing this. He may be right to waver. Even in my drunken haze, I’m aware that doing this could change things. But all I really care about is the here and now. Nothing else matters until I’m tasting him, my tongue licking into his mouth, his teeth sinking into my lip.
Slowly, I lean forward, angling my face until our lips touch. “Chicken…”
The power of the contact is a shock to my system. I feel the fire of it coursing through my blood.
Growling, he presses his body closer, trapping me against the edge of the bar. He chuffs. “There’s no way I’m leaving my five bucks on the table.” Big, warm hands come up, cradling my cheeks as his lips close over mine. I open my mouth to groan.
That’s when his tongue slips inside. Wet, soft, hot, it strokes against mine. Fucking my mouth with his. My hands go around his waist. Each jab of his tongue is like a cattle prod, sending bolts of pleasure through my system. I’m boneless, senseless, thoughtless, surrendering completely to this moment.
He’s making it so easy to forget that we’re nothing more than friends. Right now, he’s just the tall, handsome man in the well-fitted tux. The man who’s kissing me, who’s making my knees weak, who’s making me lose my sanity.
I tilt my head to the side and his arms band around my body, holding me so close, so tight that I can feel his heart rattling his ribcage. I can feel his erection, concrete against my quivering belly. And now, he’s moving, rubbing, thrusting ever so slightly against me in a way that’s driving me mad. Adrift in the ocean of his kiss, I lose track of time and space and everything other than the feel of him against me.
He’s the one to pull away. “We should, uh…we should…” He hooks a thumb over his shoulder, pointing toward the door.
“Yeah, we should go. Yeah.”
Eyes half-lidded, he nods. “Yeah.”
“Okay.” In a mental fog of horniness, I move for the door. All I hear is my pulse roaring in my ears and the conflicting thoughts screaming in my head.
How could I kiss him like that? How could I let him shove me up against the side of the bar and run his hands all over my curves?
But when I replay the look of absolute lust and fire in his eyes…
How could I not?
“Here…” Charlie catches up to me and slides my purse into my hand.
“Oh, right. Thanks.” We freeze and stare at each other. Falling back into the same pattern of thought that had us humping all over each other to begin with.
Snap out of it.
I take a step. So does he. Somehow, we end up walking right into each other. “Sorry.”
“Um, yeah. Sorry.” He stretches a hand out gallantly, motioning for me to lead the way. “After you.”
With a curt nod, we resume the journey toward the door.
Awkward. Dazed. Horny.
Such is the current state of affairs.
The ride home is going to be interesting.
Chapter Seventeen
Charlie
I shouldn’t have taken that dare.
When she challenged me to kiss her, I should have backed down. I should have walked away. I should have let her win. That would have been the right thing to do.
Now, I’ve gone and tasted her. I got her sweetness on my tongue. I felt her softness under my fingertips.
After all that, I’m supposed to drop her off at her doorstep? Walk her to her front door with a friendly wave and a see-you-around?
Well, fuck—that’s the last thing I want to do.
I want this girl in my bed tonight. I know it’s wrong but at this point, I’m fresh out of willpower. As I pull up to the curb outside of her house, I make a final appeal to my conscience. I give myself one last pep talk on the importance of not fucking the ever-living shit out of my dear friend, Nova.
Drawing in a long breath, I turn to her. It’s nearly midnight. Just past her shoulder I can see the living room light on in her house. Her mother is sitting on the couch. Her sister is there, too, talking and laughing. There might be someone else in the room but I’m not quite sure.
Nova is in the passenger seat, knotting her hands in her lap, her eyes focused downward. I’ve never seen her so tense, so uncomfortable with me. I scold myself.
I’m a horny idiot. Look what I’ve done.
A panicked thought flutters through my mind; I don’t want to lose her. Women are in and out of my life like a revolving door. In all honesty, I usually like it that way because those who linger around on the peripheries after a few fucks bring me nothing but drama. I shiver when a certain scene from Fatal Attraction comes to mind.
But Nova’s different.
She’s been a constant in my life. She’s been a friend. A safe, drama-free place to fall. And of course I want to fuck her. What man wouldn’t? She’s gorgeous. Her body, with its wicked curves and smooth skin. Her heart-stopping eyes and vertigo-inducing smile. But she means too much for me to fuck this up just for some casual sex.
I just pray that our situation isn’t already permanently fucked.
Angling my body to face her, I release a heavy breath. "I didn't mean to confuse things between us. Nova, you mean so much to me. I don't want to lose you. Our friendship means so much to me.”
“Right,” she says quietly, a subtle hint of woe and bitterness carrying on her wine-scented breath. “You’re worried about our friendship.”
It’s not like her to get all cryptic on me. She’s the kind of person who says what she means and means what she says but I’m feeling the weight of the things she’s keeping bottled up right now. Shit, this isn’t good.
“What do you mean by that?” I try to keep my tone calm even as I’m starting to freak out inside. I shouldn’t have taken that fucking dare.
Her silence thickens the air in the car before she pushes out a hard breath. “I just…It was…” Her shoulders slump as she gives up trying to explain herself. “It’s been a long night,” she says quietly, hand going to the door. “I should get inside.”
I reach out to stop her. A frisson runs through my blood as the heat of her skin sears my fingertips. She shivers, eyes flashing to me with a look I’ve seen on far too many faces. When a woman looks at you that way—soft but heated, under her thick lashes—it can only mean one thing. She wants you.
Ah, fuck. I scrub a hand down my face. I want her, too.
But there’s something else in her stare. Something vulnerable. Almost as though she questions whether I’m attracted to her, whether I want to take her home with me tonight. She’s one of the best things in my life and the idea of losing her over hurt feelings or miscommunicated emotions is nearly t
errifying.
I’m not a fool. I know that kissing her changes things and fucking her would flip our entire relationship on its head. But I can’t let her go around thinking that I’m not attracted to her, that I don’t want her in this way.
I rub my temples with my fingertips. I am so fucked. She’s my friend and she deserves to know how I really feel. I won’t have her doubting herself just to protect my ego. I just need to deal with this like a man. I lift my head and look her straight in the face. “Can I be honest with you for a second, Nova?”
“Be my guest.” Her tone wilts with sarcasm and she sweeps an arm through the air.
My eyes fall to her lips. They’re swollen from our kiss. Her shimmery lipstick is faded, staining the corners of her decadent mouth. I relive the tender brush of the soft, warm flesh against mine and my lips tingle for her again. “I’ve wanted to kiss you for so long…”
Her eyes snap to me. Even in the near-darkness of the cab, the hypnotic emerald green raids my senses. “What?”
“I’ve wanted to do more than kiss you, actually.” Now that I’ve begun laying my cards on the table, the confession comes easily.
“Charlie…” A quivering breath travels up her chest and shakes its way out of her throat.
I ignore the buzz rolling along the surface of my skin. “But there’s a million reasons why I need to keep you at arm’s length.”
“What reasons?” She blinks, her chest rising and falling quickly.
“I’m not good at dealing with hearts. Bodies, yes. But hearts…” I close my eyes to get a hold of the confusion rampaging free in my thoughts. “And I’ve watched people hurt you, Nova. I would never forgive myself if I was just another asshole who did you wrong. You’ve been in my life forever. I wasn’t joking when I said that you’re my best friend. I don’t know how to function without you in the background, popping up at my house unannounced, bothering me like a pesky, little virus I don’t want to get rid of.”
Melodic laughter flows out of her mouth, the sound so sweet it makes my chest hurt.
The Blue Collar Bachelors Box Set: The Complete Blue Collar Bachelors Series Page 31