9
WAR
Friends?Hell, I glared outside at the deluge, my body hard with need. I understood her fears, but I wasn’t like those dickheads she—
Your past rep doesn’t help with her distrust.
Fuck. I scrubbed my face.
A cell beeped, cracking through my frustration. Not mine. I glanced around and found Charli’s iPhone on the floor. It must have fallen when she scrambled off the counter for the oven.
I picked up her cell, and the truncated message on the screen flashed briefly. Something about the sale of a property in New York. Frowning, I headed for the stairs and sprinted up to my bedroom.
She turned from slipping off her sneakers and eyed me warily as if I would pounce. Hell, I fucking wanted to, but I reeled it in and handed her the phone. Yeah, she was so intent on running from me, she didn’t even know she’d dropped the device.
“You’re buying a place in New York?” I asked. “I didn’t snoop. The message flashed on your screen.”
“What?” She blinked, brow scrunching. “No, I’m not. It’s my grandmother’s home. I put it on the market. It’s where I was after the wedding…” she broke off, her gaze dropping to the display.
“You changed your mind about selling,” I said slowly, my gut caught in a vice, knowing there was nothing I could do if she upped and left. Hell, we weren’t even a couple. “You’re leaving?”
“I wanted to…” Her head lifted, her gorgeous brown eyes dark. “Living with my mother is impossible at times. It’s why I wanted to put distance between us, but then…”
Everything inside me stilled, hope stirring.
“But then what, Charli?” I pressed gently. I could let it go, but I needed her to say the words.
She gnawed her lower lip and fiddled with her phone, scratching at the white paint on her cover. “I am here, with you, aren’t I?”
“That’s not an answer.”
Her eyebrows lowered, and she glowered at me from beneath her inky lashes. “I agreed to do this fake girlfriend thing for you, so I won’t break my word.”
Hell, this girl, she refused to give an inch. She might not say what I needed to hear, yet deep down, I knew she felt the same way I did. But she was running scared. No matter, she’ll figure out the truth soon enough. I was here to stay.
As I headed for my dressing room, I heard the soft click of the bathroom door. About to grab my wet t-shirt and pull it off, I stopped and glanced at the white palm print on my front.
I shook my head in wry amusement.
Only she could do that. Exasperate me one minute and then make me smile the next.
She’d taken a snapshot after leaving her mark on me. Would she post it? Hell, yeah, she would. Just to torment me.
Ten minutes later, wearing dry clothes once more, I headed downstairs and dropped my wet things in the laundry room.
Not sure how long Charli would be, I made my way to the island counter, to the semi-completed side with doors, and grabbed the plates and silverware stored there. I didn’t have much currently in the way of table linen and napkins or even a dining table. Hell, when I was here, I ate in front of the TV. I had no idea my life would turn around when I bought the place a couple of months ago, or that I’d have a girl I like a damn lot here, either.
I set the old wooden table for lunch, then stopped near the window, sliding my hands into my jeans pockets, staring absently at the pelting rain. Puddles formed on the patio. The wild, white flowers growing at the patio edge sagged beneath the deluge, taking me back to another time. Another life…
I love the flowers, Eli. Thank you, love. I am blessed to have you—
Christ, I shut my eyes, caught in pain so dark and heavy, it felt as if I would never breathe again. Inhaling harshly, I rubbed my tight chest, remembering her warm smile whenever she saw me.
“I’m so sorry,” I whispered. Locking out the haunting memories, my gaze went back to the patio again.
Charli liked flowers, too.
I found scissors in the kitchen drawer and walked out onto the patio. With the rain blowing toward the house, I quickly clipped a bunch of them before I got drenched again, and I brought the flowers inside. I had no idea what they were, but they looked pretty enough. Just as well I hadn’t started working on the yard first, or all these blooms would have been trashed.
