Her jaw dropped, nearly whacking her chest, and then she burst out laughing, lightening my mood further. Her smile made my day brighter.
“I love your laughter,” I said softly. “Hell, I love everything about you, especially your need to best me, even knowing you can’t win.”
She didn’t say anything for a second, then her typical eye roll followed. Still holding my shirt, she pulled me down closer and kissed me. “Well, Mr. Hotshot Hockey Player, I like you, too.”
Like. Right.
Small steps, Warrick,I reminded myself because honesty right now would only make her run. While Charli might care, she was determined to lock out any deeper emotions.
She reached for her cell that had fallen to the floorboard, and then she opened it.
“By the way,” she said oh, so casually. “Just so you know,thishit ten thousand likes inunderan hour for my photo of hashtaghotplayer,hashtag19,hashtagcheetahs, taking his t-shirt off after his run.” She flipped her cell to me, revealing the Instagram pic she’d taken of me earlier.
Amusement lit through me at her playing it cool when her dancing eyes gave away her elation.
“Did it now?” I said, my tone soft, so soft.
She stilled. Eyes narrowed. “Ohhh, no!” She shook her head. “There’s no loophole. The bet was placed and accepted, I won—”
I hauled her close, wrapped my hands in her hair, and kissed her hard. How could I not? Everything about her delighted me. I removed a ten-dollar bill from my wallet and handed it over.
She blinked several times as if to clear her head, then she took her win and carefully tucked it inside the casing of her cell cover that still sported white paint, making a big show of it.
As she smoothed the cover on again, she looked up. “You want to come with me?”
Hell, I never expected that considering how wary Charli was when it came to her mother. “Do you want me to?”
“If you can handle seeing my mother again without wanting to gag…then, yes.”
I knew she worried about this encounter. “Since I’ll have you there to protect me,” I teased, “sure.” And it brought the smile I loved to her lips.
She grasped my hand, and I locked the truck as we crossed the road.
Inside the lavish foyer of the mansion of doom, I waited as Charli shut the front door.
The place screamed wealth with its expensive finishes and furniture. Hell, I’d been to both Max’s home, his family’s sprawling villa in Carmel, and Jack’s Seacliff mansion, and was used to seeing this kind of luxury, but this…this opulence, it didn’t suit the warmhearted, funny girl Charli was.
The foyer sported a high ceiling and a meter-long chandelier dripping crystals. A masterfully crafted wrought iron balustrade edged the second-floor landing and snaked down the side stairs spilling onto the ground level.
Charli led me across the gray and white marbled floor to a sitting room decked in cream and gold-trimmed, sixteenth-century style furniture. “I won’t be long.”
“Or, I could come and help you.”
“Oh, no.” She laughed. “There’s a bed there, and I don’t trust you near one.”
“Blue, I don’t need a bed for what I like doing to you.” I let my gaze slide slowly down her body, stopping at the juncture of her thighs. “If only you had on a skirt.” I cupped her neck and dragged her close. She expected a kiss. I sucked her lobe, whispered, “What I’m doing to your earlobe, I would have done to your sweet little clit, right here, right now. But I’ll wait until we’re home.”
She inhaled a sharp breath, her pupils dilating, eclipsing the light brown irises.
Smiling, I turned her to the door. “Go. Get your clothes.”
I gave her a gentle nudge when she didn’t move. She stumbled a few steps, stopped, straightened her spine, then she threw me a scowl over her shoulder before hurrying out.
Yeah, I couldn’t wait until herlikefor me became something more.
Too edgy in this place, I wandered to the side window overlooking a manicured garden to wait.
Voices reached me a while later. Indistinct at first, growing louder.
