Charmed by Charlie

by Amanda Uhl

Next to me, Charlie studied some notes on his tablet in between working his cell phone. Why had the man taken me to meet his family? Was his goal to make my week miserable, convincing us both we wouldn’t suit? I closed my eyes.

  “I know that wasn’t fun for you, but it was necessary,” Charlie said. I opened my eyes to see him watching me, his face serious and tablet closed on his lap. The familiar smell of Dark Water enveloped me, making me long to be wrapped in his arms.

  I sighed and tightened my hand on my purse in front of me. “They don’t like me. You knew they wouldn’t, didn’t you? Must we stay there?”

  Charlie ran a hand through his blond hair and grimaced. “I’ll book us a hotel. They don’t know you. It wouldn’t matter who I brought home. Except for one instance, my mother has never believed any of the women I’ve dated have been good enough for me.”

  “Who did she like? Are you talking about…Laura?” I hesitated, not wanting to cause pain by bringing up the name of the girl who jilted him. Charlie studied me as if he were afraid to voice his next thought. I lifted my chin and stared him down. If he wanted our week to continue as planned, he would give me an answer.

  “Clarissa,” he said finally.

  “How do you know Clarissa?” I asked.

  “She’s a family member, actually, but not by blood. She’s my Uncle Pete’s stepdaughter by his second wife, my Aunt Jane. She joined our family when she was fifteen, and my parents have always imagined us a couple.”

  I found myself looking at the back of the seat in front of me. Why had I asked? Of course, his parents wanted Clarissa as a daughter-in-law. She ran a company. She was from Charlie’s world. She wanted him. Why was he fighting it? As Julie had warned me, the Solangers would never let their golden child date the likes of me. I had left the safety of the mountain and was hurtling toward the rocky bottom, where I would crash and burn, and nothing could save me.

  “Val,” Charlie said softly, gripping my chin and turning me to face him. “I know they can be intimidating. You must understand, my parents love me and have certain…expectations. But I’m thirty-three years old. It’s been a long time since they’ve ruled my life, and I won’t let them start now. Besides, if this works out between us, you’d have to meet them sooner or later.”

  “Couldn’t we have made it later? Much, much later?”

  Charlie laughed, his blue eyes crinkling at the corners. “I would have liked to. But you’ve only given me a week. And…Val…I want you to know who I am. The good, the bad, and the ugly. I know there’s a lot going on at Reynolds right now. I know you’re not sure who to trust or what to believe. For us to work, for you to trust me, I need to meet you halfway. So I’ve introduced you to my parents, something I’ve…I’ve never done before. It’s a show of trust. So you know I’m serious. I don’t want secrets between us.”

  Chapter Twenty-five

  Charlie wasn’t kidding when he said he was giving me a tour of an island—Lighthouse Island, his family’s own private island in Alexandria Bay’s “Millionaire’s Row.” If he’d wanted to impress me with his family’s staggering wealth, he’d succeeded.

  “Is this where you take all the girls you date?” I asked as we sat together in a decked-out boat, watching a fish nibble on the line Charlie had cast for me. When he’d learned I had never been fishing before, he’d insisted on showing me how it’s done.

  “Only the lucky ones,” he said, giving me a less-than-satisfactory answer. I glared at him but that only earned me a barked command.

  “Pay attention now. You’ve got a live one.”

  And so I had. Despite my best intentions to appear sophisticated, I couldn’t stop myself from squealing before reeling it in. “What is it?” I asked, eyeing the yellowish-looking creature.

  “That’s a perch. And not a bad size, too.”

  My ego swelled with pride. Charlie had removed the hook from its mouth, and it was now flopping around in a pail. “Aren’t we gonna throw it back?”

  “And waste a perfectly good dinner? Of course not. There’s nothing like fried perch.”

  I stared at him dubiously. “Who’s going to clean it?”

  He grinned. “Don’t worry. I’ll prepare it. You can be my brave assistant.” He patted me on the head. “It will be just like at Reynolds.”

  I speared him with my eyes, which made him laugh out loud. He put a hand around my shoulders and pulled me close, causing my heartbeat to flutter. “Unless you want to show me how it’s done?”

  I eyed the fish in the bucket, which had quit flapping. “No thanks, boss.”

  “Glad we got that settled. Put your line back in the water like I showed you. One perch does not a meal make.”

  I complied and by the time we docked the boat and made our way back to the grand, two-story house (which he called a cottage), we had caught four fish between us. True to his word, Charlie cleaned the fish, dipped them in milk, and had me dredge them in cornflakes before he put them in a pan to fry. While I cleaned lettuce and chopped tomatoes and cucumbers for a salad, he cut up potatoes and made home fries. The domestic scene we created was not lost on me. Was this what life would be like with Charlie? Would we make dinner together every night in a trillionaire’s cottage, while we discussed the office antics?

  We filled our plates and brought them to the brick patio, where we sat together on a large, red-cushioned bench facing the lake. Charlie’s aqua T-shirt made his blue eyes look mysterious and hugged his abs. Did he work out every day? He must, for his muscles to be so defined.

  “What are you thinking?”

  When I stared at him blankly, he added, “You’re far away.”

  I smiled, shook my head and finished the last of my perch, the flaky crust melting in my mouth. Should I tell the man I was checking out his body? I couldn’t. I searched for something safe to say, setting my empty plate down and rubbing my stomach. “The food is fantastic.”

  “I agree, but that’s not what you were thinking.” He had long since devoured his dinner and had been contemplating the lake before turning to catch me staring.

  “How would you know?”

  “Because you were looking at me and not at your food.”

  I grabbed my wineglass and took a drink in an effort to disguise the blush warming my cheeks. “I was wondering if this is how you charm all your girlfriends.”

  Charlie flashed me his dimples. “What, teach them how to fish and make them dinner?”

  I set down my glass. No sense beating around the bush. I turned to Charlie. “Do you bring all your girlfriends to the island?”

  His smile grew larger. “Not all my girlfriends.” He laughed, reaching out a hand to caress my cheek. His touch caused my belly to flop. “Just the ones I want to impress.”

  Although we were sitting on an open patio with no other human in sight, I felt suddenly claustrophobic. Charlie was no longer smiling. His blue eyes held a dangerous glint. “Please tell me it’s working?”

  My breath hitched. “Yes,” I said. It was only a small admission, but it seemed much larger, like I had given him the keys to the kingdom.

  “I was hoping you’d say that.” And, without any warning, he pulled me into his arms and crushed me against his solid chest. Before I knew it, our lips were locked in a battle for supremacy, first his on mine and then mine on his. Our tongues swept together, parted, came together again in a mad duel. I ran my hands down his hard chest and along his arms, giving in to the heady desire racing through my body. I’d like to say I was the one who regained my sanity first, but I’d be lying. Kissing Charlie was like discovering a rare gem. There were so many facets to explore, I wasn’t sure where to move next. My hands found the short hair on the back of his head, the curve of his ear, his powerful neck and eventually settled on his broad shoulders. He seemed to be having the same issue, as one hand threaded through my hair, holding me in place while the other found its way inside my shirt. I gasped and my whole body tightened and buzzed in anticipation. And then his hand released
me, and he was pulling away, and I realized the buzzing was his cell phone, which he must have had in his pocket.

  He checked the number. “Damn. I rarely get calls on the island. I told them only to call if it was an emergency. The signal’s not good here. I’m surprised they got through. I have to take this.”

  Oh my God. So much for keeping our hands to ourselves this week. I had nearly stripped the man naked. I stared at the wine in my glass while Charlie took the call. I couldn’t even blame it on the alcohol, since my glass was still half full.

  “…I told you not to call me unless…no way. Okay, okay. What happened?”

  I sat up straight on the bench and strained to hear.

  “How much time do we have? Two weeks! You’re kidding?”

  Charlie had his back to me, but I could tell by the tone of his voice and the way he was standing with his hand rubbing his neck, he was not happy.

  “No, it’s…okay. We’ll make it happen. We have to.”

  Charlie turned to catch me staring. He held up a finger to tell me it would be a moment and walked to the far end of the patio, lowering his voice so I had to work hard to hear his next words.

  “…evidence? Have you talked to…doesn’t have a case…”

  Who didn’t have a case? Who was Charlie talking about? He was hanging up and making his way back to where I sat, face grim.

  “What’s the matter?” I asked.

  “I’m sorry, Val. I…we need to get back to Cleveland right away. Reynolds is in trouble.”

  I wrinkled my brow in confusion. “What’s going on?”

  His blue eyes studied me, coolly assessing, hands on hips. “Seth is suing his father for control of the company.”

  I frowned. “Can he do that? I mean…does he have a case?”

  Charlie nodded and crossed his arms. “Yes, he can do that. Anyone can sue. As to whether or not he has a case…I’m not sure.”

  “I thought you said Larry didn’t have dementia? That he was…in love…with a member of the royal family of Monaco.” Oh God, just hearing the words come from my mouth sounded crazy. Why had I ever believed Charlie when he told me Larry was in love? What fool would believe he was dating royalty?

  Charlie put a hand up as if he could stop the flow of my thoughts. “Larry is in love. I didn’t lie to you. But Seth has produced evidence indicating his stepfather is mentally incompetent.”

  “What kind of evidence? Why would anyone believe it?”

  Charlie turned his back to look out at the lake. “I don’t have all the details yet. Larry has a legal battle on his hands. But…he’s asked us to move ahead with the product launch.”

  He turned back, and what he saw must have alerted him to my consternation. He grabbed my hands, pulling me up from the bench and into his arms. “Val, I know all this stuff with Reynolds is wacky but…I want to save Reynolds, and I need your help. We must introduce our friendly paint in two weeks or risk Abbott launching before us. The company desperately needs an influx of cash to stay afloat. And now with this lawsuit…”

  “Two weeks! That’s way too soon. We’re still waiting on supplies. We only decided on colors a few days ago. How can we possibly make the new formula in two weeks? It isn’t possible.”

  “It’s a stretch, but we’ll do it in small batches initially. Get whatever material we can and introduce it in our most important territories first. You know how this works. The company who brings the product to market first has an edge. Reynolds badly needs that edge right now.”

  “But we haven’t completed testing. We were planning to do that over the next two weeks.”

  “I know. But the required tests are complete, and we’ll have to take the risk. It’s a great product. You know it yourself. We can’t afford to wait. The lawsuit is a separate issue. I’ll find a way to get Seth to drop it…somehow.”

  Charlie’s eyes held a warning, and I found myself almost sorry for Seth.

  “Cold?” he asked, tugging me closer. I fiddled with his shirt as I contemplated the task before us. Bringing a newly formulated product to market in two weeks. That seemed impossible. If we hand-picked the stores and introduced it in our markets slowly over time, as Charlie had suggested…

  “Val,” Charlie said, tilting my chin up so my eyes met his. “You know I don’t want this to end…what’s happening here…between us.” He grinned and ogled me with his eyebrows. “We were just making progress.”

  His smile dimmed and when he looked at me, his eyes were so clear I could almost imagine I was peering into his soul. “You were wrong…what you said earlier.”

  What had I said earlier? My brain was in a cloud. Seemed like we’d done a whole lot of kissing and not much talking.

  “I’m not the player you seem to think I am. I’ve…you’re the only one I’ve ever taken here…to the island.”

  His lips dropped to mine, and he was kissing me again, but this kiss—it was soft and sensuous and exploratory, imitating nothing of our previous passionate frenzy and yet conveying so much more. His lips seemed to memorize my taste and texture. My hands wound their way around his neck, and I stood on tiptoes to get closer to the warmth he generated. I could have stayed in his arms forever. I certainly wanted to try. But he pulled away slightly, breathing hard.

  “Val, what we have is special. This chemistry…”

  As if to emphasize his point, he kissed me again, hard, until my knees were weak and it was all I could do not to hang onto his neck to keep myself from falling. When he raised his head, he was breathing as hard as me. “A week,” he said, sucking in air. “God, a week is not even close to long enough. I know what will happen. The minute you’re back at Reynolds, you’ll doubt me. I’ll be chasing you down in elevators again and the woman’s restroom.”

  He rested his forehead against mine. “Promise me, no matter what happens with the company or what lies Seth tells you, you’ll give us a chance.”

  I tried to make sense of his words, but my heart was doing a little tap dance inside my chest and my lips… God, my lips were still tingling from the feel of his, and my arms were like rubber wrapped around his neck, and all I wanted was to stay in his arms forever.

  “Say you will.”

  “I will…I say I will…what do I will?”

  And then his lips, those marvelous lips, were on mine again, and I would have promised him the moon if that’s what he’d asked for.

  Chapter Twenty-six

  “He probably wants to invite you to his wedding,” Bernie said.

  I eyed my friend. Her curly hair seemed more tangled than usual, and her skin looked better than the last time I saw her. Only slight, dark circles around her eyes gave any indication she was pining for George. At least I assumed she pined for George. Come to think of it, she hadn’t mentioned his name to me in some time. Today, she wore a hot pink headband to keep her hair out of her face and her bright fingernail polish was back—pink to match the headband.

  Charlie and I had cut our trip short, arriving back in Cleveland the previous night. I had seen him briefly this morning closeted with Larry, and we were supposed to have lunch, but at noon he’d called to tell me he’d be a while and to have lunch with Bernie. So I did.

  “I should never have agreed to meet Seth,” I said now. “With the lawsuit pending, I’m not supposed to talk to him. But he begged me to. Said he had something important to relay.”

  “I’m sure whatever he has to say is not all that important. Let’s talk about something more exciting.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Like what? My life is not all that exciting.”

  “Like did you sleep with him?” Bernie asked. “Tell me. I want all the gory details.”

  “Bernie!” I slapped her on the wrist with my napkin, which happened to be in my hand, and fought off the warm rush of blood staining my cheeks. “I don’t kiss and tell. Besides, we were only together a few days, and we visited his parents one of the days. There was hardly opportunity.”

  “Man, girl. You’re str
onger than me.”

  I twirled the straw in my ice tea and thought of Charlie as I’d last seen him, closeted with Larry. He looked seriously delicious in a gray suit and lavender dress shirt. There was nothing hotter than a man unafraid to wear purple to the office. Unless it was a man who could cook. Visions of our perch dinner danced in my head. What Bernie didn’t know, and I refused to tell her, was it wasn’t me who’d put a stop to our hot make-out session afterward. Time to change the subject. “Have you talked to George? Told him how you feel?”

  Bernie shook her head and stabbed a bite of Caesar salad with her fork. “I’ve talked to him but…” She waved her fork, the piece of lettuce waving along with it. “Not about that. I cornered him at the West Side Market. I know he gets his groceries there. I made sure to show up when I thought he might be shopping.”

  Bernie set down her fork and reached for her water glass.

  “What did he say?”

  She grimaced. “Yasmine was with him, so not much. She glared at me the whole time we were talking like I was going to infect her precious son with cooties. Talk about a romance killer.”

  “Oh, Bernie. I’m sorry. Yasmine will come around…eventually. She’s a bit…over-protective of George. But if George has feelings for you, which I think he does, and once she sees how good you are for him, I’m sure she’ll learn to like you.” I took a bite of tuna salad. “So, what did you talk about?”

  “The grand opening. He’s totally nervous he hasn’t made enough Lebanese cookies, although Yasmine insists he’s been freezing them.” She set down her fork and sighed. “I don’t know, Val. As long as George lives at home and lets his mother rule his life, it’s never going to work between us. I…uh-oh, company’s coming.”

  The two-second warning was not enough. Julie, clad in a navy blue pantsuit and high heels, stood over us, tray in hand.

  “Hi, girls. Mind if I join you?”

  I nearly choked. What did she want? I reached for my water glass, coughing. Bernie was forced to answer for us. “Grab a seat,” she said halfheartedly, gesturing to the empty chair near mine.