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Before I could protest some more, she disappeared up the staircase connected to the kitchen.
‘Trust me, Mom loves guests,’ Kay explained while she was heating herself some milk. ‘It’s no trouble for her to have you here. The more the merrier.’
‘It’s true,’ Elijah added, coming to stand next to me. ‘The Carters love unexpected guests.’
‘You would know. You’ve been an unexpected guest in this house for the last five years.’ Opening one of the cupboards, Kay picked a mug and poured her milk into it.
Elijah winked at me. ‘And I’ve been loving every minute of it.’
Watching their easy banter with a smile on my face, I took a sip of my coffee. ‘How did you two meet?’
‘In college,’ they both replied at the same time.
‘I was dating his best friend. I kicked that guy to the curb when he cheated on me, but got his best friend out of the deal.’
Kay’s phone started ringing and she took it out of her jeans pocket. ‘Oh, I’ll be right back. I need to take this.’
As soon as she was out of the kitchen Elijah turned to me. ‘So, William’s Charlie, what do you think about the Carters?’
The curiosity got the better of me. I groaned and leaned towards him a little so no one could hear. ‘Why is everyone calling me that? Do you know?’
He mirrored my movement, but because he was almost 6 ft 3 in, he had to tip his chin down to look into my eyes. ‘I think if I remember correctly William had called you My Charlie on a phone call when he first started working at your dad’s company. I don’t know the details any more than that, but I know it stuck with them all.’
Surprised, I pulled back a little. ‘Oh.’
His right eyebrow shot up. ‘Anything going on there?’
‘Where?’
‘With William.’
I shook my head. ‘No. No. It couldn’t. I’m going to move. And even if I wasn’t, we’re colleagues so…’ I trailed off.
He nodded in understanding. ‘Too bad. Carters seem to love you.’
I gave him a distracted smile, but my mind was buzzing.
‘I’m a photographer and I have a lot of clients in California. I’d like to give you a call when I’m back over there again.’
Raising my gaze up to him, I tried to focus on what he was saying. ‘Ah, yes. Sure.’
‘Charlie.’
I spun around to William’s flat voice and came face to face with what looked like an annoyed man. The same jaw muscles I had seen jumping at dinner were jumping again, and I felt a flutter in my stomach. I barely held my hand back from touching his face.
I noticed Elijah straightening up and away from me, so gripping my coffee mug tighter I shuffled a step away from him and right into William, who hadn’t been there just a second ago. He steadied me with a hand on my back and a sudden shiver worked its way down my spine from our unexpected closeness, my back against his warm and broad chest.
‘Sorry to cut into your conversation, but if you’re done we have work to do,’ William announced, studying me closely right before giving Elijah a quick glance.
‘Yes,’ I managed to get out. ‘Yes, of course. I’ll be right there.’
I waited for him to go for a few seconds, but it didn’t look like he was about to budge. We stared at each other in a battle of silence.
Trying very hard not to grin, I turned back to Elijah. ‘I’ll see you tomorrow at the party?’
‘Yes. I’d love that,’ he replied, giving me a small nod as if to say we’ll pick up where we left off.
Returning his gesture, I turned around to leave and had to endure the electric feel of William’s hand accidentally sliding against the skin between my shirt and my pants. I walked past him – without making a fool of myself – into the living room and towards the office he had shown me ten minutes ago. When I peered back he was still giving the death glare to Elijah.
Something shifted in me and I grinned to myself.
When I made it to the desk and put my coffee mug down, William was right behind me.
‘You ready?’ he asked, as if everything were normal, and started to take out his laptop from the bag. Mine was already set up.
I gripped the edges of the table and slightly leaned back against it. ‘William.’
He ignored me. ‘Yes.’
‘Can I say something?’
‘What?’
I couldn’t help it. I grinned and waited until he met my gaze.
When he did, I smiled as widely as I could. He stopped what he was doing and studied me in silence. Then he took two steps towards me until his chest was almost brushing my shoulder.
‘What?’ he repeated, his voice low and a little rough.
I bit down on my bottom lip and then let it go. ‘I’m gonna say something, but you can’t be mad.’
