Her lips parted, and her eyes filled with glee. She turned halfway and swatted me on the arm. “Do you see this place? I want to live here. I want my entire personality to become this place. Look at the decorations! The popcorn string! That took hours! Oh, and the tinsel and glass ornaments and two fireplaces. Not one,two. Pine cones!” she shouted.
“Good afternoon,” a very tall man in a dark green tux said. His name tag readBERNARD.
“That can’t be your real name,” I said, without thinking. “My daughter is obsessed withSanta Clause, and you know, the elf’s name is Bernard.”
“Hayden, shh.” Charlotte hit me again. “Hi, Bernard. Do people call you Bernie? Nard-dawg?”
His lips curved into a smile as his gaze swept over Charlotte. A flicker of interest flashed on his face. Oh, he was into her. He stepped closer, speaking only to her. “My real name is Brendon.”
“I fucking knew it,” I muttered, but neither of them paid attention to me.
“Hi, Brendon. This is the best place I’ve ever seen in my entire life.”
“I saw your face light up. I’m so glad you like it. I’m head of decorations on top of managing the resort. It pleases me to see you so happy. Are you both here together or—”
“Oh, no. I’m here to meet my brother and his bachelor-bachelorette party.” Charlotte moved closer to Bernard-slash-Brendon-slash–the guy who really annoyed me.
“Do we check in with you or at the counter?” I interrupted. They both looked at me with frowns. I was the resident Grinch, stealing joy and ruining Christmas. Put me in a green suit.
“I can help. This way, please.” He winked at Charlotte, and she beamed up at him, her cheeks rosy. She eyed him up and down, and I clenched my fists.
If I had to watch her flirt with this dude, I’d rather eat yellow snow.
“Do you have a doctor here? She needs to see someone,” I barked out, annoyed at their flirting. Then I annoyed myself.I need a damn drink.
Bernard-Brendon tilted his head and scanned her body again, lingering on her legs. “We do have an on-site triage. Are you okay? What happened?”
She sighed, slicing me ashut uplook. “Ignore Grumpy Pants over there. He’s basically like my overprotective brother. I’m okay, just got into a little fender bender.”
Overprotective brother.
The thoughts I had about Charlotte were notbrotherlyin any way. Her comment stung like she had intended, using my own words against me from that night.
We had happened to be at the same bar on campus. I had signed my first coaching contract mere hours before and wanted a large whiskey to celebrate. The head coach, Nelson, the one who hired me, sat at the bar. We brainstormed all the pie-in-the-sky ideas we had, leaving no dream unmentioned, when I had to use the bathroom.
That’s when I saw her.
Charlotte had just turned twenty-one, me twenty-five. I didn’t know she’d be at the same bar even though I knew she went to the same university. She wore a skintight red dress that dipped low in the front and showed off every single one of her curves. Her arms waved in the air as she danced, her smile large enough for the entire place to see how happy she was. She shimmied and wiggled and stole the breath from my lungs.
She was beautiful. Inside and out, and her smoky eyes fell on me and lit up. “Hayden!” She ran to me and threw her arms around my neck, her vanilla perfume surrounding me. I held her against me, obsessed with the feel of her. I let my hand linger on her lower back and then her side.
“My birthday wish came true!”
“Oh yeah?” I tilted her head back, unable to stop my own grin at seeing her joy. I always had a little thing for my best friend’s sister. I hid it, but every time she was around, my day just improved. “What was your wish?”
“You finally see me.” She licked the corner of her lip, and the gesture sent a hot bolt of lust through me. I wanted to taste that lip, her mouth, feel her heat. She shouted, and her words were a little slurred, clearly from the drinking.
I’d never take advantage of anyone when they were drunk. That was a hard stop, and Charlotte had clearly had quite a few. Yet I couldn’t stop myself from asking, “What do you mean see you?”
She dug her nails into my shoulder and stood on her tiptoes, pressing her lips against the base of my neck. Goose bumps exploded down my skin, lighting me on fire. She nipped my earlobe, and I forgot everything that made sense. I didn’t know where we were, what year it was, who I even was as a person. I had to feel those pillow-soft lips against mine. “Charlotte,” I said.
She ran her fingers through my hair and tugged until my mouth met hers, and she gave me possibly the messiest, sexiest kiss of my life. She tasted like champagne and cherries, and when she sucked my tongue into her mouth, I groaned, holding her tighter against me.
Charlotte Calhoun. My secret crush.
She’s drunk.
She’s a student. Where I work. Where I got my dream job so young.
