Page 574 of Tease Me


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“Um.” She looked around—maybe looking for a clock or just realizing that the place was empty and not technically open—and finally stepped all the way inside. She waited for the door to close, for the gray light of dawn to surround them, to buffet them, before answering him. “I was out for a jog. Thought I saw you come in when I was down at the end of the alley.”

“You’re a runner?”

“Jogger,” she corrected him. “You okay?”

He shrugged as she took a few steps closer to him. In navy running shorts and a gray tank, hair pulled up in a high ponytail, Tatum looked fresh and young. From where he stood across the room, he didn’t think she wore makeup, though he couldn’t be sure the pink in her cheeks was from exercise.

“Couldn’t sleep,” he mumbled. “Figured I’d get a head start on taping.”

“The drywall?”

“Yeah.”

“Where’d you learn to build?”

Tatum moved again, closer, close enough to touch. Charlie commanded his hands to stay still. Best to not even touch her hand or her arm, or he might send her running.

“My dad,” he answered. “We were always doing little construction jobs on the farm when we were younger.”

“You lived on a farm?” She leaned on the counter careful to keep a good twelve inches between them.

“When I was younger, yes. Dad made all of us work. No free rides.”

“Do your sisters know how to build?”

“Yes, ma’am.” He nodded. “We built a barn when we were kids. Mal and Sev were too little to do anything, so it was me and Pete and the girls.”

Tatum took a deep breath and nodded. Charlie watched her for a moment, mesmerized by the tiny throb of her pulse in her neck. With her hair up, he could see she wore square diamond earrings. Her neck was long and elegant, the same pale, creamy skin there as everywhere else. Either she didn’t have time for sunshine, or she wasn’t vain enough to care if she was still white in the middle of summer.

“Why don’t you sleep?”

Interesting that it was okay for her to lob personal questions at him. Charlie figured if he turned the tables now, she would turn around and run out.

“I dunno.” He shrugged and pushed off the counter.

“How long has it been a problem?”

“Since I was about nineteen.”

“So.” She scooted down the counter now that he had backed away a bit. “You don’t ever sleep?”

“I get a few hours a night.”

He wondered if she would suggest sleeping pills or a natural sleep aid. One woman he dated had suggested masturbation, as if he weren’t a red-blooded All-American male who had jacked off a time or two and yes, had slept well after shooting his wad.

Wasn’t something he wanted to depend on for the rest of his life—not for sleeping purposes, and he hoped to have a better sexual partner than his hand before he was old and gray.

“Have you ever waited so long for something, only to finally get it, but it just makes you feel worse?”

Charlie stared at her for a long moment. He had no idea what she was talking about, but she was talking. Damned if he wanted to say the wrong thing and fuck that up.

“Like be careful what you wish for?” Turning away from her, he snatched a paper cup to pour his coffee to go. “Want some?”

“Yeah.”

A little suspicious of the change in her attitude, Charlie took a quick look around the coffee house. It was lighter now. And any minute, his mom would come through that door and put an end to this exchange with Tatum.

“Um.” He sighed. “I guess so, yeah. I wanted a four-wheeler when I was twelve. Got it. Had to share it with my brothers. Pete used it to sneak off in the woods and meet up with his girlfriend.”

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