“Well this is a helluva way to get your interview.” It was hard work to keep his tone light and a smile on his face.
Wide red rimmed eyes peered up at him.
“I suppose you’ll want the pity vote now, well you can forget about that, you still need to keep your end of the deal. A whole holiday, you can’t even get out of it by setting fire to my tent.”
One heavy teardrop slid down her cheek.
“Aw honey,” he said.
He stepped towards her and wrapped his arms tight around her. Laura buried her face in his old t-shirt and sobbed. Her whole body shuddered with them. Charlie rubbed her back and muttered soothing things. He wasn’t even sure what he was saying. At last Laura pulled away, wiped her nose on the bottom of his t-shirt, and then looked up at him.
“This is all your fault, moron,” she told him, then hiccupped.
Charlie grinned wide with relief before wrapping his arms around her again. Things were going to be okay.
Chapter Nine
“You look cute,” Charlie told her.
Laura gave him a look that she hoped would kill. She’d told the moron to bring her some clothes and instead of raiding her tent, he’d gone shopping. Unfortunately she was going to wear his idea of appropriate clothing out of the hospital. She looked down at herself and grimaced.
“I always said you should come with a warning.” Charlie was clearly amused.
Above the pink hot pants he thought were shorts, she wore a t-shirt with the slogan Lizzie Borden Lives. On the back it said - Watch your back.
She growled in Charlie’s direction. He grinned as he pointed to his t-shirt it said, I married an axe murderer.
“See. Matching set.”
“Oh how the simple minded are easily amused,” she told him.
Unfortunately there was nothing she could do about it. It was wear these stupid clothes or leave the hospital naked. She pursed her lips before pulling her hair back into a tight ponytail. She winced from the pain in her hands, and told herself to get over it. It was her own stupid fault and the burns weren’t that bad. She would be fine in a few days.
“Here, let me.” Charlie took the hairbrush and the hair band from her hands.
She sat on the chair to let him work.
“I’m not sure this is such a great idea,” she said. “I remember what you did to Maddie’s Barbies.”
He chuckled.
“Ah, the military haircut. Works well on both sexes.”
In a surprisingly short time he had her hair in a ponytail. She studied her reflection. It wouldn’t win any awards, but her hair wouldn’t drive her crazy all day either.
She forced a smile for the mirror, took a deep breath, closed her eyes and silently reminded herself that everything would be fine.
“Okay, let’s get out of here.”
Laura was more than ready. She knew she had spent the night in the hospital because Charlie had thrown his weight around. Her injuries were minor at best. She scanned the pastel coloured room. There were no belongings to gather, paperwork had been signed, bandages changed. There was nothing left to do except leave. She looked at Charlie. Well, one more thing. She took a deep breath.
“I need to explain about last night.”
Instantly his face took on the look all men got when a woman suggested they talk – panic, fear and a huge dose of ‘oh no’. He held up his hands to ward her off.
“It’s fine, we all go mental now and then.”
That was the problem. She took a step towards him.
“I don’t,” she said.
She actually saw him gulp as he tried to calculate how far he was from the door.
“Seriously, it’s fine. So you set fire to my tent. It happens all the time.”
Laura wasn’t going to be swayed by his charm.
“I don’t lose control. Think about it. You’ve known me most of my life. How often have I done anything spur of the moment? Anything that you would consider normal and the rest of the world would consider irrational?”
She could actually see the wheels turn behind his eyes and knew the moment he came to the same conclusion she had reached.
“Not often,” he said tightly.
She took another step towards him.
“You only came up with a handful of things didn’t you?”
He looked away as he plopped onto the bed beside her chair.
“And they all involved you. Didn’t they?”
She placed a hand on his denim clad knee.
“Charlie, we have to face facts. You are a bad influence on me.”
His eyes snapped up to hers.
“I thought for years that you just irritated me,” she said, “but it’s more than that. You bring out the worst in me.”
“Now wait a minute.”
He sat up straight. Laura held up a hand to stop his words.
“It’s fine, you can’t help it. We’re like oil and water. No, more like electricity and water. We get together and things go bang.”
“We only went bang once, if you don’t count the times in the tent when we nearly went bang.”
She rolled her eyes.
“I’m talking about my mental state.” There was no easy way to say this. “Look, when this trip is over I think it’s best if we keep away from each other. Arguing over the years took energy, but at least I managed to stay myself. Becoming friendly, like this, it makes me insane. I’m not explaining it very well.”
“You think I make you lose control?” Charlie didn’t look too sure.
“Exactly. You bring out the worst in me. All the elements of my personality that I get from my parents bubble to the surface. It’s not really me; it’s their influence on me. When you’re not around I can be myself.”
She hoped he understood.
“So,” he said slowly. “You’re a better person when I’m not around and you don’t want to be friends because I make you act like your parents?”
Laura sighed with relief. She gave him a ‘well-done-idiot’ smile.
“That’s exactly it.” She patted his hand. “I’m glad you understand.”
Charlie pushed himself up from the bed and headed for the door.
“I understand all right,” he said slowly. “Apparently I’m the only man alive who can make you lose control.”
He grinned widely.
“Now, see that sounds like a challenge to me. Right now I’m wondering how out of control I can make you.”
Laura swallowed hard.
“Come on, short stuff, let’s get out of here.”
Laura followed him into the hallway, wondering where their conversation had taken a wrong turn, because she was pretty sure he was on a different page from her. Again.
Charlie wasn’t taking any chances. So far Laura had ridden into a canal and set fire to his tent. He needed to man-up, take control, or he wouldn’t make it through the rest of his holiday alive. There was only one thing for it.
“A tandem?” Laura folded her arms over Lizzie Borden’s face and stared at him open mouthed.
“I traded our bikes.”
He was actually kind of proud of his ingenuity. This way she wouldn’t cycle so slowly that old people passed them. She couldn’t fall in the canal, not with him doing the steering. And he could keep a close eye on her, just in case she decided that his influence made her itch to do something rash again. Honestly! He made a choking sound at the thought of it.
“Are you okay?” she said suspiciously.
“Super.”
“I don’t want to share a bike with you. I seriously don’t want you staring at my bum that closely for the rest of the trip.”
“You,” he left the ‘stupid’ unsaid, “will be in back.”
“Oh.”
She stared at the bike again. He’d already strapped their luggage onto the back of it, which was considerably lighter since he’d lost most of his during her arson attack.
She crossed her arms over her chest and turned to face
him.
“I really don’t think I can face camping anymore, Charlie,” she said.
He almost laughed. Like he was ever going to take her camping again. He’d never sleep. He’d spend his whole night worrying that his tent was going to go whoosh around him. And yes, he’d mainly brought her along so that he would have something else to think about at night, but he sure as hell didn’t mean that.
“We’re staying in hotels.”
She grinned.
“You’re paying.”
Her face fell, her shoulders slumped and then she suddenly brightened.
“I have an expense account,” she said proudly.
“Now why didn’t you mention that earlier?”
He checked the dressings on her hands, feeling queasy at the sight of her red broken flesh, which didn’t make any sense. He’d dressed millions of burn wounds over the years. Images of Laura coming to her senses and fighting the blaze popped into his mind. She must have been terrified.
Her huge green eyes watched his every move and he had a sudden urge to kiss her. Before he could stop himself he did exactly that. She tasted of vanilla and smelled faintly of smoke. An interesting combination.
“What was that for?” she said.
“Just testing that control threshold of yours. Trying to gauge what the minimum contact would be to set you off. Obviously it will take more than a kiss.”
She made some sort of disgusted grunting noise, which made him laugh. If she thought he was going to take anything she said seriously, then she had lost her mind after all.
“Ready?” He steadied the bike.
Laura mumbled something behind him and he took that as a yes. A second later they were away.
“I like this bike,” Laura said behind him.
He grinned and bit back telling her that he obviously was the smarter of the two of them.
“And I like this view,” she said with a sigh.
Charlie looked over at the old stone windmill with the water behind it. It was picturesque.
“Yeah, it’s pretty spectacular,” he said as he powered on.
He thought he heard her giggle.
Now why the heck hadn’t Laura thought of a tandem bike? It was fantastic. She perched her feet on the bar thing in front of her and watched as the pedals miraculously went round and round all by themselves. Wonderful. Add to that, she had a view to die for – Charlie’s bite-able backside and powerhouse thighs. Oh and that strong back leading up to those broad, broad shoulders. Delicious.
She let out a deep contented sigh as she turned her face towards the sun. She’d done the right thing telling him that they couldn’t spend any time together after the trip, she was sure of it. There was no way on earth she could live out a repeat of her parent’s lives and if cutting Charlie out of hers meant it wouldn’t happen, then it was worth the effort. Although, it wasn’t as easy as she thought it would be. One kiss and all she could think about was getting her hands on him. She bit her bottom lip as she watched the muscles in his thighs flex. The sight turned her brain to mush. Pathetic.
He had turned out to be quite good company and all things considered, even with the arson and the river stunt, it was one of the best holidays she had ever had. And it was getting better every minute. Now she didn’t have to exert herself and tonight she would get to sleep in a proper bed. Hoorah!
His grey t-shirt became damp with sweat, which made it hug his back all the more. The sight was doing something to her brain. Suddenly her idea to cut all ties didn’t seem like such a good one after all. Still, they had four days left in Holland, would it matter if she lost her mind a little while they were there?
He pulled a water bottle from the holder in front of him, sat up straight and glugged at it. Her mouth went dry. Her fingers actually tingled at the thought of touching him. Laura tried to think straight. She couldn’t. Before she could stop them words formed in her mind and popped right out of her mouth.
“Charlie,” she said. “If you still want to have sex with me, that would be okay.”
The bike swerved into the opposite lane causing a kid to brake hard. He shouted something in Dutch that sounded rude. There was silence.
“Charlie,” she poked him in the back and was momentarily distracted by how solid he felt. “Are you listening? Do you still want to sleep with me?”
The bike screeched to a halt. Charlie twisted in his seat to look at her.
“Are you losing your mind again?” he said. “Is this what you were talking about earlier? The way you go nuts in my presence?”
“No, I just thought that since we have four days left we could have sex. If you want to, that is.”
With a heavy sigh, he climbed from the bike, but kept a grip on it so that she could stay seated. He rubbed a hand over his face, stared at her as though she’d just landed on the planet then shook his head slightly.
“So, let me see if I understand you fully,” he said. “You don’t want me in your life because you lose control, but you don’t mind losing control a little before we go back home.”
“Exactly.”
He looked up at the sky for what seemed to be the longest time.
“Well?” She prodded him with the toe of her trainer.
“Just once, I would like to be the one who initiates sex between us. Just once I’d like it to happen normally and not in the same way people schedule a work meeting. There is nothing sexy or romantic about being propositioned out of the blue. I know you think there is, but there isn’t.”
“You want me to be more romantic?”
He growled deeply. In one step he was in front of her, his hand cradled the back of her head. He mumbled something under his breath and then his lips were on hers. This wasn’t the friendly peck from earlier; this was a full blown exploration that took her breath away. Laura’s head exploded. She grabbed onto the front of his t-shirt and wrapped her fingers in tight. His lips pounded hers, over and over until she relaxed into him and her mouth fell open. Oh, his tongue was so sweet; he lazily traced it around her mouth, making her think of all the things that tongue could do to her. He nipped her bottom lip with his teeth, ran his tongue over the spot he’d bitten then stepped away from her. Laura had to actually think about letting go of him; her fingers weren’t willing to do it on their own.
Charlie climbed back onto the bike.
“Wait,” she grabbed his t-shirt and pulled him back towards her. “You never answered the question.”
“Seriously? Why don’t you think about it while we ride?”
With that he pushed the bike back onto the cycle path and powered away. Laura put her fingers to her swollen lips. She hadn’t wanted the kiss to stop, instead she’d wanted to swivel in her seat and wrap her legs around him. Oh. What an idiot. She smiled slowly at his broad back.
Although they laughed and joked all the way into the hotel room, Laura was strangely nervous. This was what she wanted, she was sure, but it felt huge. She spied on Charlie out of the corner of her eye as he put the bags beside the dresser. Her stomach lurched.
“I’m going to have a shower,” she told him.
He smiled at her.
“I’ll order food. It’s been a long time since lunch.”
Did he know she was nervous? It didn’t matter, she ran for the bathroom. Once inside she held on tight to the sink while she looked herself in the eye. It’s only Charlie, she told herself. You’ve done this before. Heck, you would have done it on this trip if things had gone as planned. Get a grip. She took two deep breaths and headed for the shower.
Once she was finished, she wrapped a towel around herself and stepped into the room. She stopped dead. The curtains were drawn; there were candles on most of the surfaces and food set up on the tiny table. Chinese take away and a bottle of wine. Charlie switched off the TV to smile at her.
“This is,” she stumbled over her words, “this is pretty.”
“Thought I’d educate you in the art of romance,” he told her.
“I better get dressed then.”
“Oh no, you have more than enough clothes on.”
He grabbed her hand and led her to the table. Laura kept a tight grip on the towel and wished she was dressed.
“You’re going to like this food, I had some already.” When he saw her face he shrugged. “What? You were in there a long time. Anyway, it’s more Indonesian than Chinese. Tasty.”
Laura smiled at him as he put some on her plate. It could have been hay for all she cared, her appetite had left her the minute she stepped into the room.
“Wine?”
He poured her some and she had a tiny sip. They sat facing each other in awkward silence before Charlie sighed, shook his head and pulled his chair towards her.
“What’s up, short stuff, don’t you want to be seduced?”
She was seriously beginning to wonder if he could read her mind.
“You’re making me nervous. I don’t like being nervous. I like to know where I stand.”
“Control,” he mumbled. “Fine,” he said louder, “what do you want to do?”
“Why don’t we just have sex and eat later?”
His look was full of pity tinged with amusement.
“I have never met a girl like you, sweet cakes, you’re one of a kind.”
Laura wasn’t sure if that was a compliment or not so she kept to the main subject.
“I’m all ready,” she told him. “I bought condoms.”
He groaned.
“Green?”
“No,” she scoffed. “Seriously, what woman wants to look at a green penis?”
“Well that’s a relief.”
“Yep, they’re purple and ribbed for my pleasure.”
Charlie threw back his head and roared with laughter. Laura wasn’t sure what to do. At last he wiped his eyes.
“Come here,” he said and pulled at her towel.
Laura held it tight as she let him pull her to stand between his knees.
“What am I going to do with you?” he said as he rested his forehead on her chest.
Second Chances Boxed Set: 7 Sweet & Sexy Romances in 1 Book Page 59