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He was so close. The warmth from his body and the scent of him were doing things to my stomach. Compelling as the story was, part of me—most of me—no longer cared about the past.
I wanted Charlie Nutter naked in the present. I wanted to run my hands along every inch of him.
“Then what?” I croaked, mostly because stripping him down in the middle of a conversation that had been fifteen years in the making seemed rude.
He pulled my hand away from his face and brought it to his mouth for a soft kiss to my knuckles before keeping hold of it. “Then… I spent ten hours and an economy-sized bottle of Dawn dishwashing soap trying to clean petroleum jelly off a competition turkey. I emerged victorious, eventually… but by that time, you’d already missed the opportunity to take him to the competition.” His mouth twisted. “So I brought him back to you.”
“You never said a word, Charlie. Not about any of this—”
“I know. I… I thought about it. I planned to. And I knew you’d be disappointed, but I figured you’d understand I was just trying to help…”
I nodded. I definitely would have.
“But from the second you saw me with Dolly, you were so angry I could barely get a word in edgewise, and I… I didn’t know how to tell you. Literally. My stomach flipped over like I was going to be sick all over your yard, and I couldn’t make my mouth form the words, and poor Alana was there looking nearly as upset as you, and I… I just ran away. I told myself I’d wait a few days until you’d calmed down. But then I found out I was leaving. And I just figured… why ruin it? Why put this thing between you and your sister when I could take the blame and pretend it was all a silly prank? It seemed like…” Charlie took a deep, shuddering breath. “Like one last thing I could do for you since you’d been a good friend to me.”
“I wouldn’t have blamed Alana!” I said. “She was a little girl, for God’s sake. She didn’t know better.”
Charlie’s gaze met mine. “Maybe. I mean, yeah, I’m sure eventually you’d have been calm and rational about it. But at fourteen? Anger and blame are par for the course at that age. I don’t think calm or rational described either of us.”
I frowned. I couldn’t argue, given how long I’d spent blaming Charlie and being angry.
“And you know, Hunter,” he went on, “you know that if folks in town knew what had happened, Alana wouldn’t have lived it down. She’d have been the turkey-lube-girl all through high school. The girl who screwed up the turkey competition. Someone would probably bring it up at her funeral.” One side of his lips twitched up, though there was no amusement in his eyes.
I squeezed my eyes shut as understanding dawned. “The way they do with you and your dad.”
Charlie shrugged. “Kinda, yeah. And maybe now I can see that people aren’t trying to be hurtful when they tease about that stuff and are even expressing support and love in a kind of ass-backward way, but… I certainly didn’t know it then. And I didn’t want that for Alana.”
I hated how right he was.
“I’ve spent all this time blaming you,” I said past a lump in my throat, “when you were just trying to help.”
He reached out again and held the side of my head. The caress of his thumb across my cheek made my stomach tighten with need. “I cared about you,” he said in a low voice. “I did then, and I do now. I didn’t want you to hurt. I didn’t want you to return to Dolly’s pen and see your dream of winning the contest come to a swift end because of something that wasn’t your fault.”
“I made you dress up like a turkey,” I choked out. “Jesus, Charlie. Why didn’t you stop me?”
“I figured it’d be easier than sanding floors.” His teeth flashed in a devastating grin. “And it wasn’t so bad, really. Everyone was really supportive, and a couple people grumbled about you taking this grudge too far. If anyone came off badly, it was you.”
“No shit.” I rolled my eyes. “I’m so fucking embarrassed.” I wasn’t sure if his hand began to pull me or if the movement was self-propelled, but I leaned in and buried my face in his neck to keep from facing him. “I’m so sorry,” I breathed.
Charlie’s fingers threaded through my hair, and his other arm wrapped around me, pulling me closer. After a few moments, his deep voice rumbled through us both.
“Make it up to me?”
Chapter Nine
CHARLTON
I could no longer deny wanting him. Hunter was everything attractive to me in a man. Hardworking, muscular and fit, dedicated to his family, kind to his neighbors, and passionate. Hell, even his anger at me over a damned turkey turned me on.
