by Jami Wagner
Her door opens the moment I reach the third-floor landing.
“Jett,” she says, and through the surprise in her voice, a smile touches her lips.
I swoop her into my arms and press my lips against hers.
“I could kiss you all night,” I say, pulling back before Sam or Max or even my sister walks out to see us. I wouldn’t care, but I’m not so sure how Charlie would feel if Sam saw me kissing her.
He must have known I was thinking about him because Sam comes barging through the door.
“Is the pizza here?” he asks.
“Nope, just me.”
“Oh, hey, Jett.” He looks at me then to his mom. “Is he staying?”
“Well,” Charlie begins when my sister’s door opens.
“Uncle Jett! Did you come to have pizza with us again?” Max shouts. “It’s at our place this time.”
Inside either apartment and out of sight is fine by me at this point.
I glance from my sister to Charlie. “Do either of you mind?” I ask.
“No,” Charlie says eagerly, and I love it. She blushes and looks over the railing, but I just keep staring at her. God, she’s beautiful.
“I don’t care either, but I already told Max and Sam they get to pick out the movie tonight,” Whit says.
“Oh, tonight there is a movie?” I ask.
“Yeah! Mom says, because of the rain, we could build a fort in the living room and watch whatever movie we wanted,” Max says. His eyes as wide as his smile.
“We picked Transformers,” Sam adds. “You can watch it with us if you want.”
“I just might do that,” I tell him. The boys follow Whit inside her apartment, leaving Charlie and me alone. When my sister closes the door behind them, I silently thank her. Then, I press Charlie against the building and cover her lips with mine before she has a chance to say anything.
Her hands grip my shirt at the hips until she’s bunched it up high enough to skim her hands underneath and over my skin. Her touch ignites me.
I lift her and wrap her legs around me as I fumble for the doorknob to her place and step inside, holding her in place.
“The food will be here any minute and Sam will come looking for me when it does. Unless he knows I’m not going to be there, he won’t eat without me.”
“Okay.” I reluctantly put her feet on the ground.
“That doesn’t mean I want you to stop.” She laughs and holds her hands on either side of my face as she kisses me deeper. Gripping her legs again, I return them to their position around me.
“The things I would do to you right now if there weren’t people waiting on us,” I say between breaths.
Or watching us. I should really cut out after she heads to my sister’s.
“The things I would let you do,” she says. Everything about that comment pushes my body into overdrive. I press against her harder, our tongues tangle more feverishly, and her nails dig harder into my skin.
The faint sounds of knuckles against the door pulls us back to the present.
“When can I see you again?” I ask.
“Aren’t you coming to eat?”
“I need to get going.”
Her smile fades. “Oh.”
One leg at a time drops from my hips. She doesn’t answer as she steps around me to the door. I follow behind her.
Charlie spins to face me. Her tongue slips out to lick her lips, leaving a glinting coat over them. They are a little red and plump, which might have been from me.
“I was going to say that when the boys start their movie, we could come over here, if you want. But if you need to leave …”
My heart is already racing at the idea. I hadn’t expected her to say that.
“Sam won’t miss you through the movie?” I ask. I want her to know I would never want to take their time together away from them.
“No, he seems to really like the whole sleepover thing these days.”
“He’s staying over at my sister’s?”
“Yes.”
I don’t have a chance to say anything more before the door opens.
“Mom, are you coming?” Sam asks, poking his head inside.
“Yep, coming out right now,” she says.
Against my better judgment, we cross the hall to my sister’s. I take a quick survey of what I can see outside in the process.
So far, so good.
The boys load up their plates and then the adults follow behind them.
“Holy stack of pizza,” Charlie laughs, pointing to my plate.
“I need the extra piece because I’m a growing man and pizza makes me stronger,” I bullshit her just to hear that laugh again. But also because I’m a little on edge and wasn’t exactly paying attention to the pizza stack I was making.
We take a seat at the table and Sam passes us on his way back to the pizza boxes.
“Are you hungry tonight?” Charlie asks him between bites.
He places another piece on his plate and shrugs. “An extra piece won’t hurt, Mom.”
His eyes flash to me before he heads back to the living room.
With a half-smile and tilt of her head, Charlie watches me.
“What?” I ask.
“You’ve been hanging around us too much,” she says, but the smile is a dead giveaway she isn’t upset about what she said.
“Tell me about it. Max wants to be just like Jett.” Whit says the words like she’s being forced to say them. “It drives me absolutely nuts. It’s like growing up with my brother all over again.”
“I was a great kid,” I say, my hand over my heart.
“Far from it,” Whit laughs.
“Name one time I wasn’t fun to be around,” I say to my sister and glance at Charlie, who is watching us with a silly smile.
Whit drops the pizza to her plate ready to say something. Before she has the chance, a crash in the living room makes me stand quickly, my chair bouncing off the linoleum floor.
Everyone freezes and looks at me. Max is holding up an empty box and all the movies are scattered on the floor.
“Everything okay?” Charlie asks.
I swallow, look to my plate and at the door.
I need to go.
“Yeah,” I say, and before I can excuse myself, I look into Charlie’s eyes. She smiles and I’m a sucker. I pick up my chair and take my seat again.
“Okay, the time you ripped my favorite Barbie’s head off,” Whit says, bringing me back to the conversation we were having before the boys dumped the DVDs on the carpet.
“We acted like they were in a car wreck, she couldn’t survive, and you agreed with me until we couldn’t get it back on,” I argue. That wasn’t entirely my fault.
“Okay, the time you found my bra in the laundry and brought it to me, asking if this was mine or belonged to the girl I babysat last night.”
“I legit didn’t know,” I say, remembering the event as if it were yesterday.
“I was sitting on the couch with my boyfriend,” she says.
Yes, I remember that part too.
“You could have waited till another time,” Whit adds.
Charlie’s beautiful laughter is worth listening to all the rotten things I did to my sister.
“Keep going,” I say. “What else did I do?”
“I don’t think I will live long enough to share them all.”
“Growing up with a sister, those kinds of issues were never a problem,” Charlie says. “I mean, maybe if we had Barbies and my sister and I hadn’t shared most all our clothes.”
“I didn’t know you had a sister,” I say, taking a bite of my pizza. Charlie never mentions her family much, and as someone who knows what a touchy subject it can be, I never really asked. Kind of makes me feel like a dick right now, though.
“Older or younger?” Whit asks and it’s clear by my sister’s curiosity that she and Charlie have never crossed this subject either.
“She was older, but she was killed about five years ago.”<
br />
Oh wow.
The room falls silent, but her gaze meets mine, and she smiles.
“Do you want to tell us about her? What she was like?” I ask.
“She was … safe,” she says, and I hate the way that one word sends worry through my veins. “She protected me from bad dreams, she killed all the spiders, and she took care of the boys when they teased me.”
Her smile is light but speaks so many words. She loved her sister. There is no question about it. “I always knew I could count on her for anything, even after she started hanging around a bad crowd.”
I reach across the table and place my hand on hers, rubbing my thumb across her smooth skin.
Whit cuts me a warning look. I know exactly what she’s thinking. I shake my head and take a bite of my pizza to ignore her.
“I knew I should have asked for a sister,” Whit says, rising from the table and swatting my head. “Maybe then, I’d have happy memories, too.”
Charlie smiles big, and even though my sister just hit me, I twist, and mouth “thank you” to her. She doesn’t say anything, just nods.
“Maybe,” Charlie responds, “but hearing how eventful living with Jett was is fun, too.”
“Well, next time we have a girls’ night, bring an extra bottle of wine and I’ll talk all night.”
The most generic response would probably be to argue once again that I was an angel of a brother, but all I can think about is how everyone I care about is in this room. Every single one of them has a smile on their face. More nights like these are what I want, minus the sneaking here bit. I don’t want to be off pretending to be someone I’m not. Risking my life or the lives of those I care about most. This is where I should be, where I belong.
Being undercover was all I ever wanted to do. But now, the idea I might want something different doesn’t scare me the way it should.
Charlie
Jett steps into the living room to tell the boys good night while I stay in the kitchen with Whit.
“Thanks again for letting Sam sleep over. Next time, I’ll have them at my place. Then you can have a night off,” I tell her.
“It’s not a big deal. It’s not like I have someone to go out with or who just wants me all to themselves.” Her eyes flash to where her brother is now lying on the floor between the boys.
I like that Sam likes Jett. Shoot, I thought I was going to break into a crying fit when Sam got another piece of pizza after Jett explained why he needed more. Having Jett around might not be such a bad thing.
I’d spent most of the day after our date obsessing over how often I should bring Jett around Sam. I don’t want Sam to get attached. Not like I have. I look forward to seeing Jett way more than I think I should. I know the risks of emotion, but Sam, I’m not sure he could handle it.
“You ready?” Jett asks, coming into the kitchen before I pry Whit for more information. Like, why didn’t he come around much before? What changes did he need to make?
“Yeah. Thanks again.” I hug Whit and head across the hall. Jett is right behind me, his hand on my lower back. I know I should tell him more about my life, but him not knowing is like I get to pretend some of it never happened for a little longer. I’ll tell him everything eventually, just not yet.
“Did you have a good night?” he asks.
“Yes,” I say. I want to tell him that tonight was the first night I’ve talked about Kenzie to anyone who wasn’t Sam, and how for once, I forgot how Sam and I are alone in the life we live. Because tonight showed me that we aren’t anymore. So, a simple yes is an understatement of how good my night has been.
“Did you?” I ask.
“I’m quickly learning that any night I spend with you, I’m more than just good, Charlie.”
I can feel my cheeks heat at his words and I hate how he can still make me blush like this.
I step inside and turn back when I can’t feel Jett’s hand on me anymore. He’s looking over the railing.
“Is something wrong?” I ask.
His head snaps to look at me like he’d forgotten I am here. He grins, follows me inside, and laces his hand with mine, spinning me into his arms as the door shuts behind him. The same hand that holds our fingers wraps behind my back while the other touches my cheek.
“I hope you know that if you ever want to talk to about your family, I’ll always be here to listen.”
I swallow back the tears.
“Thank you, but I’m not sure you could handle the hot mess I become when I talk about it or my life.”
“We won’t know till you try, will we?” he says. Then he presses his lips to mine.
“There’s a lot about me you don’t know,” I tell him, returning my lips to his as quickly as I can. I force my tongue into his and he groans, accepting it, turning the kiss deeper.
“Charlie, I’m going to be honest, if we keep this up, I don’t know much control I will have to stop.”
“Then don’t.” I pull back to look in to his eyes. “Don’t stop doing anything.”
“You’re sure about that?”
I nod without hesitation. I want him. I want Jett. I want everything he has to give me. I’ve never felt like I do when I’m with him.
He kisses me hard and pushes me up against the wall. I push him back; his chest rises and falls as he breathes hard, watching me lift my shirt over my head.
His tongue slips over his lips as his eyes stay focused on me. I unbutton my shorts next and drop them then turn for my room. But he doesn’t follow right away.
“Are you coming?” I ask.
“I fucking will be,” he says, rushing down the hall behind me.
Swooping me up and in his arms, he carries me the rest of the way. When we reach the room, he kicks the door closed and tosses me onto the bed.
“Now it’s my turn to give you a strip show,” he says, his eyes turning dark. “But if you keep looking at me like you are right now, things won’t last much longer.”
I just sit up and tug him by the waistband of his jeans.
“I like it fast,” I say. Holy crap. Where is this side of me coming from? It’s been years since I had sex, and now all the sudden I know exactly what I want. Or maybe this is another Jett side effect. He makes the old me break free.
He unbuttons his shirt slowly, and it aches all the way down between my legs as I wait for him to get it off. At each glimpse of his chest and abs, I find it harder to control myself from attacking him like some sex-starved animal. Which, technically, in a way I am.
With his shirt gone and his bare chest in front of me, all those emotions from that day I saw him in the all flood back, and I swear to god he can hear my heartbeat right this moment.
He slides his jeans down and his erection springs free. I’d imagine if I was able to display how I feel about him right now, it’d be damn near something like that. He should be proud.
“Fuck, Charlie, when you look at me or any part of me like that, I just—”
Rising to my knees, I cut him off.
Somewhere in his process of undressing, I mindlessly stripped myself of my bra. Our skin-to-skin contact just makes me want him even more.
Jet grips my legs and flops me onto my back, crawling over me as he opens my legs to settle between them. He kisses my lips, my chin, my neck, and continues down. I could combust at just his touch.
He reaches one breast, pulling the nipple into his mouth and sucking hard. I bend my stomach into him.
“Yes,” I say. His hands are on my hips now, gripping tighter each time my body begs to lose control as he brings me higher. When his lips reach the top of my underwear, I lift my hips so that he can slide them off, but he tears them instead.
I gasp and he chuckles.
“I didn’t want to have to stop touching you to remove them,” he says.
“I wasn’t arguing,” I tell him, pulling his lips back to mine. The crumple of a condom wrapping is barely audible above our breathing, but it’s there. Jett lifts himself slightly t
o roll it on. I swear he grew another inch, maybe two since he took his pants off.
“Last chance,” he says.
I answer him by positioning myself right where he needs me.
My breath stills when he presses into me.
“Jesus, Charlie, I knew it would feel good, but fuck,” Jett groans out, pausing when he’s as far as he can go.
“It’s better than I imagined,” I say, my lips against his cheek.
His hips move slow as he pulls out and pushes back in. I can’t control any noise that slips over my lips when he picks up his pace.
Hitching my legs higher at his sides, he groans when he fits farther.
“Yes,” I cry out.
His rhythm picks up as he grinds himself into me. I try to hold my breath, to pace myself, to not let the building sensation inside me take over just yet. I want to make this last. Two of his fingers against me give me no choice. My vision goes white; I squint my eyes together and attempt to breathe as the orgasm he gives me rips through my body. He thrusts faster and faster, and before I can bring myself back to the moment, Jett’s body spasms over mine, igniting another round of bliss.
“Holy shit,” I say.
“Yeah,” he says back. “Fuck, that was amazing.”
He falls to the side of my side, turning my chin to look at him. His lips press hard on mine.
I roll over and he scoots in behind me, holding me tight.
The light from my cell phone lights up and I reach for it.
Clint: Dipsey’s Diner at noon tomorrow. Don’t be late.
Shit.
“Everything okay?” Jett asks. “You just got really tense.”
“Everything is fine,” I say and turn to face him.
His eyes look into mine as he plays with my hair.
As long as I’m with him, everything will be fine.
Chapter Eleven
Jett
I lean forward in the booth, resting my arms on the table, and look outside. He’s ten minutes late. A smart idea would have been to call in backup, or maybe not so much backup, but at least let someone know what is going on. Not only would it be smart, but it would be the right thing to do. I just can’t bring myself to do it. Calling Captain means there is a chance someone will ruin this for me. They’ll come in, make me play by the rules, and Jimmy could slip through my hands. I can’t let that happen. I’m finding the money and locking Jimmy up. No one is going to take that from me.