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Watching Collin and his friends interact off the field was something to behold. It seemed I hadn’t kept my affection for him at bay, and Harley was all too happy to call me out on it. In fact, she’d decided to meld our names together and referred to us as teamCharllin,to which I had told her to please not say again… with great fondness, of course. Harley laughed and promised she wouldn’t.
This morning I was at brunch with the girls—on Cami’s request since she was stuck at work and missed the fun. She also wanted to check out a restaurant that would be hosting one of her company events. Since I had no idea where anything was, and I still didn’t own a car, Collin had insisted on dropping me off.
Into the early morning hours, I lay in bed, thinking about our date and the fact that the most stunningly handsome man was down the hall. Falling asleep seemed to be getting increasingly more difficult. While awake, I dreamed of strolling down the hallway, going into his room, and seducing him. But instead I rolled over, closed my eyes, and tried to imagine what it would be like to make love to him. When I was a teenager, my dreams were to kiss him or, quite frankly, even to have him pay attention to me. Now he was paying attention, and I felt utterly clueless.
“Earth to Charlie.” Harley’s sweet voice broke me out of my Collin-induced haze.
“What? Sorry, my mind drifted.”
“We can tell,” Cami added with a wink. “How did the date end last night? I’m not one to kiss and tell, but it must be odd to go home with the guy afterward. Don’t get me wrong, we’ve probably all been there at one point or another, but you two have a lot going on.” She looked at Harley. “Girl code. Don’t spill anything I say to my brother.”
Harley ran her fingers across her lips in a zipping motion. “Believe me, he wouldn’t want to know.”
Sophie took a sip of her mimosa. “I’d like to interject for a moment. Collin has become one of my closest friends, and even though we may disagree at times, please don’t say anything negative about him. I like you, Charlie, but—”
“I understand,” I said, cutting her off. “I really don’t have anything bad to say about Collin. He’s been my unicorn guy for over a decade. The only negative thing I could say is that he’s being a gentleman.”
The girls all exchanged glances, then started laughing. “Wait a minute. Are you telling us that even though you two live in the same house, see each other every day, look at each other with fire in your eyes, that nothing sexual is going on?” Harley’s disbelieving tone depressed me even more. When I nodded, she added, “Wow.”
I fiddled with my fork, running my fingers over the tines. “That’s exactly what I’m saying.”
“Wow,” Cami echoed Harley.
“Can we not talk about me? Tell me how you met Lucas?” I prodded Harley, trying to change the subject.
“Oh, it was a disaster.” Her cheeks flamed red. “Right, Soph?”
“Yes, a bright-orange one.” They started to laugh, and I stared at the pair, wondering what that meant. “I met Lucas by accident on my birthday.” She glanced at Cami, who gave her a tight grin. “Before I went out, I decided to try and dye my hair blonde. It was a failure.”
“It turned orange. And when I say orange, I mean find-the-color-in-a-crayon-box orange.”
“Right,” Harley said, laughing at Sophie’s description. “Anyway, I have enough hats in my arsenal, so I put one on and went to the Tavern, where I’d be meeting Sophie, who was going to join me there after work.
“Was Lucas at the bar? Did he see you across a crowded room?” I suddenly imagined the scenario. “That would be so romantic.”
“Yes, it would have been, but when I walked up to the bar, my night took an odd turn.”
“That’s where I come in,” Cami interrupted. “I was there with my now ex-fiancé, Trevor.”
“Who was also my ex-boyfriend. Seeing them caught me off guard, so I felt a bit stifled, I hurried out of the bar, and as I pushed the door to get out, Lucas had been pulling on it to get in. Long story long, I collided with him. Then stood with my nose buried in his shirt, smelling him for an odd amount of time.”
We all laughed. “Smelling him? Tell me more.” My curiosity, mixed with the levity in their eyes, had me wanting the entire scoop.
Harley blushed. “Well, it was as though I’d run into a wall rather than a man. My hand gripped the fabric of his shirt, and I don’t know if it was a culmination of everything or just because he smelled so damn good that I brought my nose to his chest and inhaled. And to add insult to injury, when I initially hit him, my purse flew into the air. Some of my contents flew out of it, including my tampon, which landed at his feet.”
I gasped. “It didn’t!”
“Oh, it did.” Once again we all shared a laugh. “I hate to ask, but what happened to Trevor?”
“Ugh,” Cami scoffed, and the laughter ceased. “He’s gone. Turns out he had two-timed Harley with me, and then hitting on her while engaged to me. It was a mess. But everything worked out for the best. Harley is happily engaged to my brother, I’m rid of the loser, and we’re all the closer because of it.”
“I’m so glad,” I said, exhaling. “I will say that the way you met Lucas is one for the books. I never would have imagined that scenario.”
“Believe me”—Harley chuckled—“me neither. I turned him down a couple of times. He came into my store with Collin, and that’s when Lucas started to wear me down.”
I must have had a look on my face, because Sophie smiled at me. For good measure I brought my fingers to my cheeks and dabbed my skin, wondering if something was on it. “What?”
“You’ve got it so bad. How can we help?”
