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I sighed and glanced at my watch. There wasn’t enough time to go back to the apartment and then get to the airport on time, so I just headed in that direction and parked in the pickup area. Once there, I texted her, figuring I’d lead with light humor and see how that worked out.
Me: This is Houston. Your carriage awaits, madam.
Charity: Does the carriage come with manual labor, or has he run away again?
So much for that tactic.
Me: Manual labor is present and accounted for. I’m in a dark blue button-down. Silver SUV.
Charity: No need for the description, thx. I remember what an idiot looks like.
Yeah, I definitely needed to prepare for a lecture.
I stepped out of the car and, once I spied Charity coming through the sliding doors, met her halfway across the street.
“And there he is,” she smirked. “See, spotted you while I was still inside.”
I tipped my ball cap at her, refusing to match her firepower. “Good to see you again, Charity. You look great.”
“Wish I could say the same for you.” She eyed me up and down critically.
I figured there wasn’t gonna be any hugging or handshakes, so I just offered her a tight smile and reached for her suitcase.
The drive back to the apartment was as stiff, awkward, and punctuated with snark as I’d expected it to be. For one, I hadn’t seen Charity in years, and two, well, she was understandably protective of Cullen. He’d warned me she’d probably come at me hard. It wasn’t undeserved, though.
At the apartment, I gave her a brief tour, then led her to the guest room and sat her suitcase at the end of the guest bed. “The sheets on the bed are clean, and I’ll grab you some fresh towels in a minute.”
She was back to eyeing me critically again. “Is Cullen sleeping with you in your room, then?”
“If he wants.” I folded my arms over my chest and beckoned her. “Go ahead and give it to me. I know you’ve got something to say.”
She pressed her lips together, then exhaled a long sigh. “Cullen loved you, that’s all. He would’ve gone to the ends of the Earth for you. But you wouldn’t do the same. That’s what I have to say about that.”
A fist squeezed around my heart at the gutting simplicity of her statement. Somehow, it was more effective than if she’d railed on me for twenty minutes. I sighed. “You’re right. I screwed it up, and I have regrets, but that’s between me and him at this point. I hope you can respect that. Neither of us is out to hurt the other one, and I know he means the world to you, same as Garrett does to me.”
She smoothed a hand over the bed and glanced out the window before her gaze returned to me. “I know. He told me as much. I just hope you two idiots know what you’re doing.”
“We don’t.” I wasn’t gonna lie about that either.
“Yeah, I thought as much.” She sawed at her lower lip and shook her head. “I don’t hate you, Houston. Just remember that if there’s a fallout when you bail, it’s going to hurt Cullen, not you. He’s the one people jump to accuse when things go wrong. He’s the one who has been traded three times. He’s the one with something to prove. If all of this—” She waved a hand vaguely. “—affects his career…” She trailed off, but her pointed look finished the sentence for her, and my heart thumped a hollow extra beat in my chest at the implication. Before I could respond, and I wasn’t even sure what I would’ve said to reassure her anyway, she heaved her suitcase onto the bed and began unzipping it. “Now, get me those towels so I can take a shower and crash.”
I followed suit after checking my messages and replying to Cullen that I’d picked up Charity. They’d finally gotten another plane and were on their way. I tried to wait up, but gradually, my eyelids grew heavy, and I drifted off.
I woke hours or minutes later, I wasn’t sure, disoriented, my skin hot, heart beating wild, and pleasure suffusing me like a warm bath. A muffled groan came from under the covers as I reached a hand down and tangled my fingers through the soft strands of Cullen’s hair.
“Fuck,” I whispered, pumping my hips as he wrapped a hand around the base of my cock and sucked harder. “Aren’t I supposed to be the one giving you the welcome-home beej?”
He kissed his way up my chest, his hard cock aligning with mine. “Yeah, but it seemed a little rude to just shove my cock in your mouth, though tempting the way you were mouth breathing.”
I chuckled and drew his lips to mine in a kiss as he started moving against me. “I wasn’t mouth breathing.”
