by Holly Renee
I risked a quick glance at Charlie, and she was staring straight at me. She wasn’t paying one bit of attention to the conversation Staci and David were having, and I wanted to march right up to her and pull her into my arms. I wanted to take her home with me so I could continue to look at her, to kiss her, to feel her.
But that wasn’t going to happen.
It took everything in me to pull my gaze away from hers.
“I’ll catch you all later.” I patted Parker on the back, and he narrowed his eyes on me.
I looked back at Charlie one last time as I made my way out the door, but she was no longer looking at me. She was staring straight up at David.
CHAPTER 19
“DON’T YOU ‘HEY, CHARLIE’ ME.”
Charlie
Brandon had some nerve.
I understood when he decided to leave after laser tag. I felt so uncomfortable next to David, and I knew it was making him uncomfortable as well. I would give him that. But I hadn’t seen that asshole in two days.
I didn’t text or call him on Sunday because I didn’t know what to say. But I stayed glued to my phone waiting for him to call me. He didn’t. There wasn’t so much as a peep.
When Monday rolled around, the only time I saw him was when I left the bakery for the day. He was inside the shop talking to another man over what looked like a book full of tattoos. If looks could kill, mine would have dropped him dead.
This morning, Livy and Staci dropped by to bring me some breakfast. It was a nice gesture, but I was already elbow deep in cake batter and I had eaten close to half a bowl of buttercream icing for breakfast.
“Rough morning?” Staci asked before she pointed her finger to the edge of her lip indicating that I had something on my face. I had no doubt that it was icing that I had been eating with a spatula.
“You could say that.” I pushed a dirty bowl out of my way to grab the milk.
“Anything we can do to help?” Livy asked sweetly, and I felt bad for her because her question was the final nudge I needed to go over the edge.
“Sure.” I set the milk down and wiped my hands on my apron as I turned fully in their direction. “You can tell Brandon that he’s a complete and total asshole.”
“Oh shit,” Staci whispered before she jumped up on the counter and settled in for story time.
“What did he do now?” Livy crossed her arms and looked like an irritated mom.
“He… he…” I growled in frustration. “Your friend.” I pointed my finger at Livy. “He thinks he can just do whatever he wants.”
“What happened?” Livy looked like she was truly concerned about what her best friend was capable of.
“He kissed me.” I flung my arms out to my sides.
“Okay?” she said the word hesitantly.
“He kissed me while you all were playing laser tag. He kissed me when I was supposed to be on a date with David.”
Livy and Staci exchanged glances, but I didn’t really care what they thought about me at that moment.
“And I let him. I kissed the bastard back. It was the best kiss of my entire pitiful life.”
“What’s the problem then?” Staci asked before she dipped her finger in the bowl of icing I had been eating from and popping it in her mouth.
“He left,” I practically screamed at them. “He left without saying a word, and I haven’t heard from him since.” I picked up one of the dirty bowls that were littering my kitchen and tossed it into the sink.
“Have you reached out to him?” Staci jumped down off the counter.
“No,” I said just as stubbornly as I felt.
“Then both of you are in the wrong.” She shrugged her shoulders as if that was the simplest answer ever.
“How am I in the wrong? He kissed me.” I pointed to my chest.
“And you left with another man.” She stared at me, and I stared straight back at her. Staci was a straight shooter. She didn’t sugarcoat anything, but she was right.
“Crap.” I ran my fingers through my hair.
“What are you going to do now?” Livy asked as she picked up some more of my dirty dishes and gently set them down in the sink.
“I don’t know.” Just thinking about it made me feel panicked.
Staci stepped up to me and lifted my apron over my neck before she lifted a rag off the counter and wiped something off the side of my face. “You’re going to march your little ass right over there, and you’re going to talk to him.”
“What if he doesn’t want to talk to me?” I let them hear my real fear.
“Then you kick him straight in the balls for being an asshole.” She spun me toward the door then smacked me in the ass for good luck.
I followed the girls into the shop, and the loud buzzing of tattoo guns filled the room. It seemed to match the nervousness that was flowing through me. My anger was slipping away, and worry was setting in. It was easy enough for Staci to say, but I would be devastated if Brandon didn’t want to talk to me. I would be crushed.
Brandon’s loud laughter bounced through the room followed by the laugh of someone I didn’t recognize, some girl, and just like that, my anger returned. I had been over there turning my bakery into a madhouse while I obsessed over why he hadn’t so much as spoke to me, and here he was, just laughing it up.
I marched over to his station, and I heard Staci snicker behind me. I didn’t care. I didn’t care who saw or heard what I was about to say to him.
I crossed my arms as I leaned against his doorway. He was just finishing wrapping up the woman’s tattoo on his arm, and I had enough self-control to wait until he was finished before I laid into him.
As soon as he pressed the last piece of tape against her skin, his eyes met mine.
He didn’t smile. He didn’t even barely look like he noticed.
“Livy will check you out and give you a print out of the care instructions we went over in case you forget.” He helped the woman out of the chair, and I moved to the side so she could get by.
“Thank you again.” She smiled at him before she smiled kindly at me. I tried my hardest to force out the nicest smile I could manage.
But as soon as she left the room, I let that smile drop.
“Hey, Charlie,” Brandon said as he threw used ink into a trashcan.
“Don’t you ‘Hey, Charlie’ me.”
He smirked, and I hated that I loved it. I hated that it calmed me just a fraction to see his smile.
“What would you like me to say then?” He raised an eyebrow at me.
“Oh, I don’t know. How about ‘Freckles, I’m sorry that I kissed the hell out of you the other night then disappeared off the face of the earth.’”
“I thought you didn’t like it when I called you Freckles.” He chuckled, and I narrowed my eyes.
“I swear to God, Brandon.” I took a step toward him, but he moved past me to quickly shut the door. It was then that I noticed the small crowd trying to peek inside.
“I was trying to give you time to clear your head.” He picked up more things off his station that I had no idea what he used them for and threw things away.
“Time to clear my head?” I asked him with a false calmness.
“Yes.” He looked over his shoulder at me. “For you to figure out what you want.”
“I didn’t need time,” I growled at him. “I fucking kissed you, didn’t I?”
His eyes sparkled, and he turned fully toward me. “That doesn’t mean anything.”
I tried not to be offended. “It does to me.” I pointed to my chest. “I wouldn’t have kissed you if it didn’t mean something.” I could feel myself starting to lose my cool, and I prayed that I could hold it together. I was an angry crier, and I would be damned if I let him see a tear.
“But David,” he said his name as if it meant everything.
“Yes. David. Let’s talk about David. Let’s talk about how I kissed you even though I was there with him. Let’s talk about how I told David that I couldn’t
see him anymore because I was into someone else. Someone else that I hurt him for. Someone who didn’t even call me.”
He took a step toward me, and I held up my hands to get him to stop. “Don’t you dare touch me.”
“Freckles,” he whispered that dang name that he called me.
“Don’t even think about it, Brandon.” There was no conviction in my voice, and he knew it. He could see it in my eyes. In my shaking hands.
“I’m sorry.” He took another step closer to me, and I could feel my resolve breaking in half.
“You’re an asshole.”
“So you’ve told me.” He stepped so close to me that my hands pressed against his chest.
The anger inside me turned frantic. I needed to feel him. I needed to know that he needed me as badly as I needed him.
Brandon didn’t make me wait. He pushed my back against the door, the door where I knew Livy and them were probably listening through, and then he kissed me.
This kiss was far less composed than the first. Our hands were everywhere. I clung to every inch of skin I could find, and he looked to be doing the same. Our lips were desperate as they searched each other out. We were a clash of lips and teeth and tongues.
Brandon kissed my neck and pulled a moan out of me as he gently bit down. I had never wanted someone so badly in my life. I was going to go insane if I didn’t get more of him.
I was seconds away from ripping off my clothes when there was a small knock on the door at my back. “I know you two are making up in there, but Brandon, your next appointment is here.”
Brandon’s lips slid from my skin and he pressed his forehead against my neck. The only sound in the room was our ragged breaths.
He didn’t move for several moments. He just stood there breathing me in and I did the same. I didn’t want to let him go.
When he finally pulled away from me, I knew he could see it on my face, how badly I wanted him, because the same look was staring back at me.
“I have to get this client,” he said it as if it was the last thing he wanted to do, but I knew he was right. No matter how much I hated it.
“What time are you leaving work tonight?” he asked.
“About five.” I still wasn’t thinking straight.
“I’m booked up until eight.” He looked like he was considering how to get out of it. “I’ll call you as soon as I get done.”
“Yeah.” I nodded my head. “But you better actually call me this time.” I poked him in his chest.
“Scout’s honor.” He held up three fingers.
“You were a boy scout?”
“Nope.” He grinned before he leaned down and pressed another soft kiss against my lips. It was a kiss that lingered, and it may have been my favorite one yet.
CHAPTER 20
CHARMER
Brandon
By the time I left the shop, I was dying to talk to Charlie. It was almost nine o’clock when I finally climbed into my car, and I needed sleep. I had another booked day tomorrow before we left for our camping trip, and I was going to be spending over three hours working on a chest piece that I had started about six weeks ago.
But I wanted to see Charlie more. Sleep could wait. She wouldn’t.
I opened my phone and quickly pressed her name. The phone rang and rang before finally going to her voicemail.
I looked down at my phone then clicked on her name again. Same damn thing.
I started my car, and I didn’t think much about it before I realized that I was headed in the direction of her apartment.
She could have just not wanted to talk to me, but I didn’t care. I needed to see her. I was dying to touch her.
Her car was parked out front of her apartment building, and there was a soft glow of light coming from her apartment. I rapped my knuckles against her door.
When she didn’t answer the first time, I knocked again.
“Coming,” she called out, and I could hear rustling behind the door.
When the door finally opened, Charlie looked like I had just woken her up from the deepest sleep of her life. Her curls were a wild mess on her head, and there was a bit of mascara smeared under her eyes. But it was the tiny ass tank top and shorts she was wearing that really caught my attention. Her freckles that I had come to love were smattered all over her body from the top of her head to the tip of her toes, and in that moment, I wanted nothing more to trace the map of them with my tongue.
“What time is it?” She yawned and pushed her curls out of her face.
“About nine.”
She moved to the side and let me into her apartment. I took in her space as quickly as my eyes could. Her home was filled with as much color as her bakery, and I smiled at the bright blue couch that took up most of the space.
“I didn’t mean to fall asleep.”
“It’s alright.” I looked down at the pink throw blanket on her couch where she must have been sleeping. “I called, but when you didn’t answer, I thought I’d stop by. I hope that’s alright.”
“Of course.” She smiled at me, a sleepy smile, and I decided that I wanted to wake up to that smile. I had never wanted anything more in my life.
I pressed my lips against her forehead. “I’ll go. Let you get some sleep.”
“No.” She tugged on my hand as she shook her head. “Stay with me.”
Her eyes were pleading with me, and I knew that I couldn’t tell her no. So, I let her lead me into her bedroom, and I sat down on her bed that looked like it had close to a million pillows on it.
She moved around the room nervously picking things up and moving them around. I didn’t want her to be nervous with me.
“Come here.” I reached out for her, and she slowly brought her eyes to me before she dropped the sweater in her hands and made her way to me. She stood in front of me, and I gripped her hands in mine. They were shaking, and I felt that vibration all the way through me.
“You’re tired.” I tugged her closer to me. “I’m tired. Let’s get some sleep.”
Her gaze slid to the bed, but she didn’t immediately say anything.
“Just sleep.” I squeezed her hands in mine. “Just let me hold you.”
I didn’t want to rush her or what we had. Charlie wasn’t just any girl, and I sure as hell didn’t want to make her feel that way. No matter how badly I was dying to touch every inch of her.
“Okay.” She nodded her head then crawled into bed.
I stood and kicked off my shoes. She tracked my hands as they moved to my belt. I let my jeans drop to the floor and pulled the blanket back to crawl into bed beside her.
“Your shirt.” She was looking up at me with a pillow tucked between her arm and head. Her red curls surrounded her, and for a moment, all I could think about was what she would look like beneath me. I had thought about it so many damn times, but I knew that my imagination wouldn’t do it justice.
She looked up at me expectantly, but I had forgotten what she said.
“Huh?”
“Your shirt.” She motioned to my black t-shirt. “Take it off.”
I slowly pulled my t-shirt over my head, and I swear nothing in this world was sexier than watching the way she took me in. Her eyes flared as they moved over every inch of me. She took in my tattoos, my stomach, my arms, my nipple rings. Her eyes seem to linger there the longest. I was on display for her, but I didn’t care. I had never felt like I did with her eyes on me. I had never been so fucking turned on.
I crawled into her bed before she could see just how turned on I was, and I laid down directly facing her. I pushed some curls out of her face and traced the edge of her jaw with my finger.
“This feels weird, huh?” She laughed and adjusted her arms.
“How so?” I moved a tiny bit closer to her. I was surrounded by the smell of her. It filled the air, her sheets, everything.
“I don’t know.” She smiled. “This morning we were so far away from here.” She laughed but reached a hand out and gently touched the
base of my neck. “Now here you are. In my bed.”
Her eyes widened dramatically.
“It feels right to me.” I gripped her hand in mine and pressed a kiss to her fingers.
“Who knew you could be such a charmer?”
I let her hand go, but she kept it there touching my lips.
“I’m always a charmer,” I whispered and moved closer to her to press my face into her neck.
“Not true,” she scoffed. “I think you just have an inflated ego about your abilities.”
I pulled back and looked at her in utter offense.
“You don’t like my abilities?” I pressed a kiss to the edge of her lips.
“I didn’t say that.” She moved, just slightly, but she was opening for me.
“I’m pretty sure that’s exactly what you said.” I peppered kisses along her cheek and down her jawline. Her body tightened against me when I nipped her earlobe with my teeth.
“I just said that you maybe think you are better at certain things than you are.” She laughed and gripped her hands in my hair when I started to pull away. “But not kissing.” She looked up at me, and I wasn’t sure if she was even aware of the way her tongue snuck out of her mouth and wetted her lips. “Kissing is your true talent.”
I tugged her closer to me, and she let out the tiniest little squeal.
“You haven’t seen anything yet, Freckles.”
She laughed, but I quickly shut her up with my mouth. Her hands tightened in my hair when my tongue touched hers, and it only seemed to drive me further. I gripped her hip in my hand and let my fingers press into her soft skin as I tried to regain control.
But Charlie had no interest in me remaining in control. She was trying to break it in every way possible.
Her breasts were barely contained in her tiny tank top, and I was finally free to feel them with my hands, with my mouth, when she pressed them into my chest. They chafed against my nipple rings, and my hand tightened on her hip.
She took that as an invitation to move her hips closer to mine. She pressed herself against my cock that was as hard as it had ever been in my life, and almost felt like Brandon in his teenage years. Just the feel of her, her warmth, her soft skin. It was almost enough to make me come.