“Yesterday you said if she needed some girl time, I should send her to you.”
“Well, yeah. I meant that we can go shopping or paint our nails.”
“Take her shopping in her closet. Tell her how to paint her nails for the pageant. I was just hoping you could advise her on how to present herself. Help her make the most of what’s in her closet so she feels confident. I mean, you used to be a tomboy and look at you now.”
Her brown eyes widened and for a minute he thought something vaguely sensual passed between them, but as fast as he felt it, she looked away.
She made a noise like she was considering his.
“I guess I could. I mean, yes. I’m happy to help her as much as I can. She knows the deadline to enter is Monday, right?”
“I hope so. I’m leaving everything in her hands. She’s going to have to figure it out herself.”
For the first time all night, Charlie smiled. “She’ll figure it out for herself and with a little help from the person you secured to help her. I see what you’re doing there. You like to pretend like you’re all gruff and bad, but deep inside you’re just a softie.”
Jesse shrugged. What was he supposed to say to that?
“I’ll come over this weekend, and Mattie and I can take inventory of her clothes. We can see what she has and what she might need. I can probably lend her some things.”
“She’s spending a couple of nights with her friend Gina. How about Sunday? Are you free?”
“As of this evening, I am absolutely free. No names on my dance card.” She chuckled, but it was a humorless sound. “I’ll stop by Sunday around four.”
Are you free? Jesse regretted his unfortunate choice of words. He was glad when Mardie appeared with their drinks. Well, he was until she did that head-tilt thing Charlie said she hated.
“I couldn’t help but overhear what you were saying. Sounds like you’re better off without the bastard. You’re wine is on me. I’ll have those onion rings out for you right away. Sure you don’t want a burger?”
Charlie shook her head. “No, thanks.”
As Mardie walked away, Jesse watched Charlie’s expression morph from stunned to horrified. “Shit. Shitshitshit. Now it’s going to be all over town by tomorrow. You watch. It was bad enough when everyone was wagering over whether we were or weren’t engaged. Now it’s going to be hell. The sympathetic head tilt. Did you see it? I can’t deal with that.”
“She did buy you a glass of wine.”
“I don’t need free wine if it comes with a chaser of pity. God, I have to get out of here.”
Charlie upended each of her glasses of wine. Then she reached across the table and grabbed Jesse’s whiskey shot. She downed it in a gulp.
Jesse blinked at her. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a wine chug with a whisky chaser.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever had my fiancé marry someone else. Maybe I’ll have another round of the same.”
She was already slurring her words.
“I don’t think so. Have you ever heard of alcohol poisoning?”
He wasn’t going to stand by and watch her hurt herself.
“Come on. We’re getting out of here. I need to get some decent food in you or you’re going to hate yourself tomorrow.”
He threw some bills on the table and hustled her out of Grey’s.
Chapter 3
“How could I have been so stupid, Jesse? Tell me. How?”
Jesse turned from his kitchen stove, where he was fixing scrambled eggs for Charlie.
She was standing there with the bottle of Jack Daniel’s he’d hidden in the back of the console in the living room. She’d found it. He’d never known her to be a big drinker. Tonight was a special occasion.
“I must’ve been blind to not see this coming.” She took a swig, choking the bottle by the neck. “Am I really that blind?”
No. She was drunk. Stumbling, slurring, slanting drunk. The pair of whiskey shots and two glasses of wine she’d downed at Grey’s had exploded in her system before they’d gotten halfway to her place over the bookstore a block from the bar. He couldn’t in good conscience leave her alone. So he’d done the only thing he could. He’d brought her to his house. Now he was fixing her some food to soak up all that alcohol.
“Charlie, put the bottle down. You’ve had enough.”
She answered him by taking another swig.
He had to admit that she looked damn sexy standing there in his kitchen with her long dark hair a little messy and curling around her shoulders. Somehow between running into her at Grey’s and loading her into his truck and bringing her to his place, a button on her sensible white blouse had come undone, revealing a hint of cleavage that he’d never known her to show off at work—or any other place, for that matter. The low-cut blouse made the straight black skirt look sexier, too. It reminded him of a commercial he’d seen where something—he couldn’t remember what—made a buttoned-up woman take off her glasses and let down her hair as she was transformed into a sex goddess.
He mentally punched himself. He wasn’t going to think of Charlie as a sex goddess. Even if he always had thought of her that way, he wasn’t going to right now. Not after all she’d been through tonight.
He set down the spatula, walked over and took the bottle out of her hand and set it on the table with a thunk.
“Hey!” she protested. “Give that back. Don’t be so mean.”
The eggs were ready. So he turned his attention back to the stove, turning off the burner and moving the pan off the heat.
“Jane was right, you know,” Charlie said. “You do have one mighty fine ass.”
He threw a glance at her over his shoulder and saw that she was holding the bottle again. Good God, when it came to alcohol, he didn’t have to police his teenage sister this much. Mattie had never been a problem getting into things he’d told her were off-limits. Then again, Charlotte wasn’t his sister.
Something primal and carnal reared its head, saying, Thank God for that. Jesse shook off the thought.
“Give me that. You’re cut off.” Keeping his gaze above her neck, he took the whiskey away from her again. This time he set it on top of the refrigerator. She’d have to get past him if she wanted it, and that wasn’t going to happen.
As he popped two pieces of bread into the toaster, he forced himself to not think too hard about the fact that she and Jane had been discussing his ass.
Still, it conjured a smile. Once she was sober, he was definitely going to razz her about that. It would be his reward for being a Good Samaritan and taking care of her tonight.
As he reached to the right to grab a fork out of the silverware drawer, he felt two hands on his butt.
“What the—”
When he turned around, Charlie stumbled into him. To steady herself, she threw both arms around his waist.
“Hello there, owner of fine asses,” she slurred. “Do you know this is the first time I’ve been to your new house since you sold the ranch? Why don’t you show me your bedroom?”
She was standing so close to him he could smell her shampoo. Or maybe it was her perfume. Whatever it was smelled clean and floral and tempted him to breathe in deeper and lean in closer, but he knew better.
He could also smell the whiskey on her breath. She was in bad shape. She was drunk, and she’d just had her heart ripped out. She did not know what she was saying. He would not take advantage of her in this vulnerable condition. Even so, his personal mandates of propriety did not keep his body from responding to her.
“Your eggs are ready. Go sit down at the table, and I’ll bring them to you.”
“I don’t want eggs.” She slid her hands down his waist to cup his ass. She pulled him toward her, until their bodies were flush and she’d closed the distance between them. “I want you.”
Ah, hell. She was killing him. Everything about him that was male and alive and hungry wanted her, too.
But not like this.
“Scrambled eggs are my specialty.�
�� He sidestepped out of her embrace. “Charlie, go sit down. Now.” He sounded a lot gruffer than he’d intended. God, he sounded downright mean, but at least he’d gotten her attention.
She gave him his space. He got the butter out of the refrigerator, a plate down from the cabinet and then stood in front of the toaster with both arms braced on the counter, glowering down at it, willing it to toast faster.
The quicker he could get her fed and out of his house, the better off they’d both be.
“The ring Tom wanted to buy me wuth soo gaudy. I mean, it wuth beautiful, but it was too showy. Do you think I’m a showy person, Jess?” Her voice was hoarse and throaty.
At least they’d moved past the I don’t want eggs. I want you portion of the evening.
“I wanted the other ring. The nice ring. But you know what? I really didn’t want the nice ring, either. Can I tell you a secret, Jesse? My secret is I dent really want to marry Tom. There. I said it. Because I dent. And don’t you think I said that because he went off and married some whore he’d only known for two weeks. No, leth than two weeks. He told me that on the phone. Oh, wait, I already told you that. Well, she can have him. I don’t want him. I don’t even care. You know how I know I don’t care? I didn’t cry over him. It actually feels kinda good to be free. Well, it kinda sucks. But I’m not sad. I don’t know if I even loved him. But how do you tell someone that after six years?”
He glanced over his shoulder and saw that she was curled up in the corner of the couch. Her black skirt was hiked up dangerously high around her thighs, showing a lot of leg.
In his experience, alcohol usually worked like truth serum. Drunken words were sober thoughts. She’d been more upset yesterday before the breakup, when she’d confessed her doubts. That didn’t matter right now. His mission tonight was to make sure she didn’t do anything she’d end up regretting tomorrow.
Jesse turned back around and fixed his attention on the toaster. Was the damn thing broken? The sun could toast bread faster.
“But why dent I see it coming? How did I not see it coming? Answer me. Don’t make me come back in that kitchen and grab that fine ass of yours again. If you don’t tell me what you think, I’m going to call up Jane and tell her that I grabbed your ass. And she’ll be glad I did, because she said to consider you an option.”
Charlie threw her head back and laughed.
Consider him an option? What?
Whatever. She was drunk and rambling. But he’d play along if it made her keep her distance.
“I already told you what I think,” Jesse said.
“Tell me again.”
“I think a man should know a woman well enough to pick out the ring and surprise her,” he said as he buttered the toast.
She harrumphed. Then laughed.
“You know what I shoulda done? I shoulda let old Tommy Boy buy me that ring. That woulda made it awkward for him, woundn’t it? Look, Tom’s Wife, he bought me an engagement ring. What do you think of that?”
He set her plate on the table and walked over to where she was half-lying, half-sitting on the couch.
“I think you need to come eat the eggs I just made for you.”
“I already told you, I don’t want eggs. I want—”
“I know. We’ve already been through that, but I made them for you. You’re going to eat, and then I’m going to take you home.”
He reached out and took her hand and pulled her up. Once she was standing, she locked her arms around his neck.
“I’d like for you to take me home, Jesse. And you can stay. In my bed with me.”
Their gazes locked, and even though it went against everything he knew was good and right and proper, when her mouth landed on his, he kissed her back.
*
It started as a hint of a kiss. Lips touching lips, testing the waters to see how he’d react. The whisper-soft connection cut through the haze of the whiskey and wine, and in an instant, she sobered enough to fear that he might walk away from her.
But he didn’t. When he responded, her heart pounded and her body sighed, Ohh, yes.
She had enough of her faculties about her to hope she hadn’t said it out loud. Even if she did, it didn’t matter, because he slid his arms around her waist and pulled her close. He opened his mouth, inviting her in, turning her so that he could deepen the kiss.
Damn, he’s a good kisser.
Charlotte fisted her hands in his hair and pulled their bodies even closer. Jesse was her touchstone, her constant. He always had been. Why had she not realized it until now?
But that didn’t matter anymore. Jesse’s hands were on her back, and his mouth was on her lips, and her entire body sang. Every sense was heightened, as if his touch had awakened an animal that had been sleeping for a long, long time.
Ohh, yes. Ohh, hell yes.
She heard the ragged edge of his breathing just beneath the sound of blood rushing in her ears. She felt the heat of his hands on her back. He smelled like heaven: subtle aftershave with grassy notes and something leathery and masculine. The way he tasted nearly pushed her over the edge. The seductive mix teased her senses, made her feel hot and sexy and more than a little bit reckless.
As he tasted and teased, she melted into him and let go of the last bit of reason she possessed. It had been far too long since a man’s touch had heated her blood and made her body thrum and long to be ravished.
It may have taken some liquid courage to get her here, but her head was as clear as the cloudless, blue Marietta sky on a hot, hot summer day. She knew exactly what she wanted. She wanted him. Right here. Right now. She’d always wanted him, she realized, for as long as she’d know what it meant for a girl to want a boy…woman to want a man. And she wasn’t leaving here until she’d gotten exactly what she wanted.
Her hands pushed their way between them, finding his belt buckle. As she fumbled with it, determined that nothing would stand between them—nothing fabric or leather or metal—there would be nothing but skin on skin. Him inside of her. And the sooner, the better. But before she could finish, something else pushed its way between them: the determined yip, yip, yip of…a puppy?
Lulu. Mattie’s dog.
The barking sounded like it was coming from the garage.
Jesse had obviously heard it, too, because he pulled away. With one clean movement, he’d not only removed her hand from his fly, but also managed to rebuckle his belt.
Then he stood there for a moment, stock still. His hooded blue eyes, dark with need and hunger, locked with hers. His eyes were like a mirror reflecting everything she was feeling.
“Wow,” she murmured.
“Yeah. Wow.” He sighed and raked a hand through his hair. “I’m not going take advantage of you, Charlie. You’re vulnerable. You’re not thinking clearly.”
“This is the clearest my brain has been in years, Jesse.”
He shook his head. “Eat your eggs. I’m going to go check on Lulu, and then I’m going to give you a ride home.”
He turned and walked away from her. If she hadn’t felt vulnerable before, she did now.
Her fingers found her lips, which were swollen and throbbing from his kiss. If she closed her eyes, she could still feel his mouth moving on hers. He’d kissed her back with the same driving need she’d felt, a need that had nearly landed them in his bed. Or right here on this couch.
The thought made her dizzy. She took a step back and landed with a graceless plop on that sexy couch.
She propped her elbows on her knees and buried her face in her hands. Oh, God, what had she done?
Her head swam, but need and longing for him—for Jesse—still coursed through her as strongly as it had when she’d leaned in and kissed him.
But then he’d walked away.
Oh, God. Oh, no. She had to fix this.
She would fix this.
She couldn’t lose Jesse, too. Tom…Tom could take a flying leap, for all she cared. But Jesse… He was worth fighting for.
Her elb
ow was digging into her knee. So she moved her arm to the couch’s left armrest and supported her aching head.
Maybe if she just closed her eyes, she’d find the right words to convince Jesse that what had just happened between them was a good thing. The words that would keep him from walking away from her for good….
*
Jesse stayed outside for a long ten minutes. He had to give himself enough time to cool down. To get a hold of himself.
He’d gone out into the garage through the kitchen to feed Lulu, as he’d promised Mattie he’d do since she was spending the night with Gina. When Lulu was done with dinner, Jesse leashed her up and took her out the side garage door for a short walk. The walk was just as much for his benefit as it was for the puppy’s.
Why had he kissed Charlie?
Well, he knew why. He wanted to kiss her again and do a lot more than that. A more apt question was: Why had he let himself lose control?
He and Charlie had always connected on a deep level, but as friends. Good friends. He’d never gotten close to her like that. Not until tonight. Right. A night when she was drunk and vulnerable.
One week ago, Charlie had been looking at engagement rings with her long-term boyfriend. Now here Jesse was making a damn fool of himself and ruining any shadow of a possibility that this spark—if there even was one—might have ignited if he’d kept his libido under control.
She’d be perfectly within her right to hate him in the morning, if she didn’t already. The only choice he had was to man up and go in and apologize.
He picked up Lulu and carried her into the kitchen. Jesse’s gaze landed on the empty table and the untouched plate of eggs. For a split second, he wondered if Charlie had left. But, no, how would she have gotten home? They were a good three miles from her apartment. She was too smart to try to walk that distance alone at night.
But, then again, she probably wasn’t in her right mind. She’d kissed him, hadn’t she?
He set down the puppy and walked into the living room. That’s when he saw her there on the couch. She was lying on her side with one arm tucked under head.
God, she was beautiful. His chest tightened, and for a moment, he stood there, drinking in the sight of her.
Beauty and the Cowboy Page 4
