“Right.” I sighed, relief flooding through me. That made more sense than my own inner fears. A part of me felt shitty for thinking such a selfish thought, but I’d have to deal with that on my own. “After the wedding, we can tell them.”
“Deal.” Charlotte grinned and wiggled her eyebrows at me. “Does that mean I get to touch you now?”
I laughed again. I’d laughed more with her the last day and a half than I had in months. It felt good. “We need to meet them.”
“Hayden.” She rolled her eyes. “I don’t enjoy you being the mature one today. It’s annoying, to be honest with you. Fine. Let’s be mature. Get out of my room then.”
She laughed while she said the words, but her comment from earlier had stayed with me, about hurting her three years ago and taking some time to heal that wound. “Hey, you know I’d rather stay in here with you, right? I don’t… I’ve fantasized about you for years, and it’s gonna kill me to go act normal for a few hours.”
“Oh, I understand your reasons.” Her tone was laced with sarcasm that made me pause.
“Sounds like you might be mad about it?” I asked, watching her slide on jeans and toss my hoodie onto the bed. She put on her bra way too fast and faced me with hands on her hips.
“Nope. Not mad in the slightest.”
“There feels like abutin there somewhere.”
She smirked, her entire face full of mischief. “I’m just gonna have fun tormenting you tonight since you’re hell-bent on not getting naked with me.”
“If you flirt with Garrett or that fucking elf…”
She snorted. “Ha, not that kind of torment. We might be a secret for a few weeks, but when I’m with someone, I am withthem. Just you. I’ll find other ways, Porter. Now, do you have an ugly sweater?”
I wanted to dive into her comment more, but she seemed playful, so I let it go. I shook my head. “Must’ve missed that memo from Penny.”
“Unacceptable and Grinch-like of you.” She pulled out a booger-green sweater with things taped to it.
“What is that?”
She cackled. “I printed a ton of horrible pictures of Christian before he grew into his looks. My mom obviously helped with this.” She put it on and modeled for me. “Here, we have the time he shoved Lincoln Logs up his nose and got them stuck. This one is him covered in dirt when he made us all treat him like a dog for a week.”
“This is brilliant.” I laughed, admiring all the photos of my best friend. “I’m jealous I didn’t think of it. I only have a boring red sweater that I actually think is nice.”
“Hm, that won’t do. Let me think.” She faced the mirror and braided her hair along her forehead. It went to the side, and then she tied it back into a pony. As a single dad to a daughter, I wanted to learn how to do that, while I also admired how pretty it made her look.
She caught my gaze in the mirror and snapped her fingers. “Oh, I have it. I have the best idea. We’re gonna call it the Suite Spectacle!”
“I’m not tracking, but I admire your enthusiasm.”
“First off, go put a shirt on. It’s not fair for you to be shirtless around me when I can’t touch you. Second, get a sweater you’re alright destroying.”
“You can touch me—”
“Shh. Go.” She pointed at the wall between our rooms.
“Yes, ma’am.”
There was a skip in my step as I went into my room to grab a sweater. I put on a navy-blue one on the off chance I stained another shirt. With living with a toddler, I’d always spill on my white shirts. Chuckling to myself, I left my glasses on the side of my bed and replaced the hoodie with the blue sweater.
My phone buzzed with a text from the same number that had called and left no voicemails.Can we please talk Hayden?
At some point, I’d need to figure out who the hell this was, but not today. Not when I had this time with Charlotte.
Even in the short time of staying at the ski resort, not being around Charlotte had me antsy. It was like we were in our own little bubble here, and the illusion would fade when we were apart. It was insecurity, I knew, but I was already halfway addicted to her. Could I handle not seeing her for days, or weeks, at a time? Or only talking to her on the phone?
It’d be better than the last three years.
That was true. But Charlotte was a forever type of girl. When I pictured us being together, she always ended up as my wife, which was crazy. I needed to slow my roll and not scare her away, because if she didn’t want that, then fuck.Stop.
