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“I don’t mind losing to a pretty girl,” Barrett says with a laugh, attempting to defuse the situation. Apparently, my brother has no sense of self-preservation.
“Why do you care so much?” Charlie asks. “You’re more than welcome to go back over there with Stacia,” she says, pointing to where I just came from. “And do more shots with your club bunny.”
Barrett finally wises up and takes a step back while Charlie and I move toward each other until we’re almost toe to toe.
“I thought we already established that I’m not going to tiptoe around you?”
“And neither am I,” Charlie responds.
Jude walks up next to me, watching the scene unfold.
“Charlie, why don’t you and Lucy go back to your room? It’s been a long couple days, and I’m sure you girls need the rest.”
“Why should she have to go back anywhere, Jude? She’s a grown-ass woman who can make her own decisions,” Lucy says after putting her cue stick on the wall.
“Listen Lucifer, tensions are high right now, and I’m just asking everyone to go back to their corners and chill the fuck out.”
“Really? Because it seems to me you’re only talking to Charlie,” Lucy replies, back straight and arms crossed.
“You know what? I think I will go back to my room,” Charlie says. “I’ve seen all I needed to.” Turning on her heel, she walks back toward the hallway leading to the bedrooms.
Well, fuck that if she thinks she gets the last word.
She’s halfway to her room when I catch up to her and take her by the elbow, spinning her to face me. I realize too late what I’ve done or how this could affect her, considering her past, but she doesn’t look scared at all when she turns toward me. No, she looks ready for a fight.
“What was that all about out there? Are you trying to make me jealous?” Being this close to her without all the noise from the party in the other room, I hear her panting breath and feel the energy radiating off her. She backs up against the wall, but it’s not fear in her eyes. It’s something entirely different. Something I’ve fantasized about too many times.
“You don’t need to manhandle me, Linc,” she says, her breath coming faster when she puts her hand on my chest. She probably means to push me away, but instead, her palm rests there, feeling my chest rise and fall with my own breaths.
“Why do you make me feel this way?” The question slips out without me meaning to voice it aloud. I’ve asked myself over and over why this girl has me wanting to be everything for her, to be the knight in shining armor I told her I wasn’t.
“I’m not doing anything. You followed me, remember?”
“I do. The question I have is why. I’ve never once before cared if a woman stomped away with a fucking bee up her ass. Why is it different with you?”
“I don’t know,” she whispers, her gaze focused on my lips.
My hand moves from her elbow and skates up her arm, then over her shoulder to cup the side of her neck. Her pulse is hammering as my thumb grazes along her jaw to her pouty pink lip. They aren’t caked with lipstick or sticky gloss but are smooth and full under my thumb. Charlie’s heavy-lidded eyes are full of fire. Not the angry fire from earlier, but the kind that could get us both into a mess of trouble if we allow it to burn. And goddamn, at this moment, I’d gladly let it.
“I don’t think I can give you what you want, what you deserve.”
“You don’t know what I want,” she rushes out, her gaze never leaving mine. “What do you think I want?”
“I think you want me to taste your lips as much as I’ve been dying to.” I lean my head closer, so close I can feel the pant of her breaths against my mouth.
A throat clears from the end of the hallway, and Charlie jumps in my hold. I drop my hand from her neck, disappointment ricocheting through me. We turn and see Lucy standing there with a knowing smile.
“Am I interrupting something?”
“Yes,” I answer at the same time Charlie tells her friend no.
Charlie slides away from me and my other hand, which was caressing the sliver of soft skin between the bottom of her shirt and the top of her sexy-as-hell shorts.
“Sorry about being kind of a bitch earlier.” Charlie’s eyes meet mine briefly, then dart to the floor. I have a feeling I know what she’s going to say next. “I think Jude’s right. It’s been a long couple of days, and I need a good night’s sleep.” Dammit, I was really hoping to be wrong.
“Please don’t say that loud enough for him to hear,” Lucy scoffs as she walks toward us. “The man is insufferable as it is.”
Though my eyes don’t leave Charlie’s, her gaze is anywhere but on me.
