“I’m fine,” she says, placing her hands on my shoulders and gently pushing me away as she sits up.
I go easily, despite wanting to say fuck it and climbing back onto the bed with her—orinthe bed with her, if she’d let me. ButI’m certain that wouldn’t be the case. She’d probably remove my balls then shove them down my throat.
“I’ll lock up,” I tell her, not moving toward the door yet.
“Fine.” She crosses her arms over her chest and lifts her chin.
“Good night, Charli. Sleep well.”
I walk away, shoving my hands in my pockets to keep from reaching out as I go. I pause at the entryway to the kitchen, and when I hear the door close to her bathroom, I move to the fridge and grab a bottle of water. Not for myself though. I return to her bedroom, listening as the water runs just on the opposite side of the door. I picture her stepping beneath the shower spray, soaking her naked body with hot water, and the result of those images makes my pants a little tight once more.
Placing the bottle of water down on the nightstand, I spin around to exit before she catches me in her room. A flash of red is noticed out of the corner of my eye, and when I pause, I realize what it is. Smiling, I scoop up the destroyed panties and shove them in my pocket.
Whistling, I head for the front door and exit her condo, making sure the door is locked behind me.
It’s a little chilly in a T-shirt as I walk the three blocks over to my house, but I barely notice. Not with the red lace practically burning a hole in my pants.
You couldn’t pry the smile off my face with a putty knife.
“What’s up with you? You look like shit.”
I narrow my eyes at my best friend, who laughs at the small rise he got out of me. “Just didn’t sleep all that well,” I reply, my mind drumming up the image of Charli on her knees in her red lace lingerie and causing me to squirm.
“Too much to drink?” he asks, returning his attention to the brake pad he’s changing on his truck.
“Something like that,” I mutter, spinning from side to side on the stool I’m sitting on.
“Everything go okay with Charli last night?” he asks, and I almost choke on air. When I don’t answer right away, he glances over his shoulder and adds, “Talked to Collin when he was driving to work. Said there was an issue with the lock at the bar, so he had to hurry back to check it out.”
I nod. “Yeah. I walked home.”
I leave out everything that happened between the drop off and me walking.
“Charli give you a hard time?”
Hard is the key word there. It was me giving the hard time.
“Nope.”
He raises his eyebrows, as if he doesn’t believe me.
“What happened with the lock at the bar?” I ask, steering the conversation away from Charli.
“It’s old and needs replacing. He was able to get it closed, but there’s something wrong with the mechanism inside. Cade went to North Ridge to get a new lock from the big box store and had it installed before she opened at noon.”
“Well, that’s good. Glad it was an easy fix, and she didn’t need a whole new door or something.”
“Yeah, she didn’t want to do that. The door is part of the nostalgia of that building, and when she bought the place, she tried to keep as much of the history in place as possible,” he says, even though I already knew that.
It was one of Collin’s big hang-ups when it came to an outsider buying the bar a year ago. He thought whoever bought it would completely update the place, much like they did at the other bar in town when the younger generation moved in. But Lizzie didn’t do that, and even though she made some solid,positive updates, the place looks as timeless and comfortable as it possibly can. She changed the name, painted the walls and refinished the floors, but she kept all the old beer signs, the bar itself, and the vibe that made the place feel like home.
“If you were talking to Collin on his way to work, you were up awfully early,” I say.
He flashes a cheeky grin. “I was on my way home myself.”
“Hmm, so I take it the night with Laura went well?”
He shrugs. “Yeah. She’s cool.”
