“Jaime, really, it’s fine. I have a huge place, and I really enjoy the company, human and otherwise. You five can stay as long as you need to.”
“Well, either way, I still need a job. I can’t expect you to pay all my bills too,” I said as I took a peek outside to see the big three dogs running and chasing each other. Max walked slowly around the yard on his own, and I grinned. “See? I told you so,” I whispered. “Those people at the shelter didn’t know what they were talking about, little guy, trying to put you down.”
“He seems to be doing all right,” Charlie said over my shoulder.
“Yes, and he’ll only get better with time.”
“I think we could, too.”
“Charlie, I…”
“If you marry me, your bills won’t be a problem at all,” he said. “My club is quite the profitable venture.”
I nodded but didn’t say anything as I sat back down on the couch. “I’m still not saying yes.”
“Fine. If you won’t agree to be my fake bride, will you at least say yes to a job?”
My jaw dropped. Was he really offering me a job?
Chapter 16
My fingers paused on the keyboard, and I glanced at him. “A job? At your club?”
“Why not? I need someone to run the front desk, and you know the sport well enough to even work as an instructor.”
“I know fencing, not martial arts.”
“And that’s where I’ll put you. I know you won’t have any problem passing the certification test.”
“Certification test?”
“It’ll be a breeze for you,” he said, waggling his eyebrows suggestively at me, in a way that let me know it probably had to do with facing him down again.
A huge grin spread across my face; the rematch would be a good thing, and putting Charlie on his ass again would be the highlight of my day. “I guess that’s an offer I can’t refuse,” I said. “How’s the pay?”
He laughed into his coffee. “I can promise you fair. So is that a yes?”
I wanted to hold out and make him work for it, but I glanced at the bill reminder on my laptop screen and mentally calculated how much money I’d have left in my account by the end of the week. Damn. I can’t even afford a hazelnut latte, I thought with a sigh. “Yeah, I’ll take it. When do I start, Boss?”
He smiled widely, enjoying it way too much, and I inwardly cursed. Now I would forcibly be around Charlie every day, having to follow his orders, till I had enough money to move out again. Even I couldn’t take such a constant bombardment of unwanted proposals. The idea of all that money at the end of two years sounded perfect, though, and it would enable me to get my own place, donate more to dog rescues, and actually enjoy my days. Still, marrying Charlie for those reasons just seemed wrong. I really, truly cared about him, as more than a friend, and I knew my feelings would get involved at some point. I knew my heart was destined to be broken if I allowed myself to be part of his stupid plot.
If I’m going to marry him or anyone else, I told myself, it’s going to be for the right reasons. Charlie showed promise, at least in the way he’d been acting since his return, but I had to wonder. How long will it be before he gets bored with me and moves on to someone who’ll sleep with him? I wanted to maintain the no-sex rule to try to keep our friendship alive, and allowing anything physical to happen between us was just asking for disaster.
“I put out fresh towels, if you want a shower,” he said. “I’ll get the dogs in.”
“No problem, since they act like they’re yours already anyway,” I said with a chuckle.
“I can’t help it if I’m a dog person at heart,” he said with a laugh. “It’s good they like me. It will make it a whole lot easier to convince their mama that this is a good place to be, a good thing to do.”
I turned to smile at him. “So what, Charlie? You plan to manipulate my children and expect me to just follow their lead so they don’t have to leave their new daddy. Sorry, but this isn’t some stupid sitcom or chick flick. It doesn’t work that way in real life.”
“It’s not a bad plan,” he said, watching the dogs through the back door, “and if all else fails, I’m sure we can convince Hollywood to make a movie out of it.”
I laughed.
“I’m going to miss that magical laugh when you leave. I’m not sure I can handle a quiet house if you all move out.”
I was at the stairs when he spoke that truth, and my foot paused on the bottom step. He sounded so serious, and for a second, I heard loneliness creeping into his words. Charlie, lonely? Everyone knew he was with a different woman almost every night he was away. How could he be lonely? I wasn’t sure what to say, so I just hurried up the stairs to the escape of a shower.
I stared at the tub longingly, as if the porcelain held the answers I needed. Steam filled the bathroom as the hot water and bubbles rose. I was more excited than I let on about going back to work. I loved fencing and it would pay the bills, and I didn’t even have to deal with a job interview, other than the one over a cup of coffee in Charlie’s designer kitchen.
Once the tub was full enough, I stripped and sank slowly into the depths. The water soothed every tense and knotted muscle in my body as I eased in, letting out a soft sigh. Sweetly scented bubbles floated past my face, and I lazily ran my hands through them, swirling the water as I closed my eyes. The heat seeped into my pores, and I finally began to relax. My mind drifted, and before long, I was picturing life as Charlie’s wife.
I saw us together, happily married, with all our dogs running around the house and him holding me in love rather than lust. In the next second, though, as quickly as one of those bubbles burst, my mind took a turn and drifted to the kisses we’d shared so far, the massive heat that built between us with each one, until we were consumed by a raging inferno I couldn’t even try to escape.
I pictured Charlie pressed against me, all hard muscles and demanding, hungry touches. I was certain that sex with him would be more than explosive, that it would rock the very foundations of that luxury estate of his. We knew each other so well, and the tension between us had been escalating for years, demanding release like the lava in a long-overdue volcano.
As my lips parted on a sigh and my fantasies quickly hopped from PG-13 to R and perhaps somewhere in the NC-17 zone, Charlie’s hands glided over my bare skin. He held my swollen breasts, kneading the soft flesh. Then his hands moved lower and lower, till he could caress my thighs. The water shifted around me, and I nibbled my bottom lip. I was eager to see where else the fantasy would carry me, but a huge, eight-legged interruption jolted me from my passionate imaginings.
“Ah!” I shrieked, like some sort of over-caffeinated Little Miss Muffet.
“Jaime?” A loud knock sounded on the door just before it swung open.
I yelped and sank lower into the water as Oreo, then Tank and Billy rushed into the bathroom to surround the tub.
Charlie walked in behind them, and his jaw practically dropped to the bath mat when he saw me in the tub. “Um… You screamed, and I thought… Are you okay?”
“Sp-Spider,” I said, my lip trembling from arachnophobia as much as my abruptly jilted pleasure.
Like some kind of valiant knight, Charlie grabbed a nearby hand towel and snapped the thing to death in one fell swoop.
“Thanks. Sorry if I scared you,” I said sheepishly.
He laughed. “No problem, milady. If you need me to rid the kingdom of further dragons, I’m happy to be of assistance.”
I pushed Oreo’s licking tongue away from my face. The water brushed against my breasts, and I quickly wrapped an arm around myself as Charlie’s eyes grazed my naked body. The bubbles hid most of me, but I saw the hungry look in those eyes and knew he was picturing me without the soaping camouflage.
“Sorry,” he said roughly, reaching up to rub the back of his neck, one of his nervous habits that gave him even more schoolboy charm. “I, uh… I guess I’ll go now.”
“Turn around,
Charlie,” I said, keeping one arm firmly planted over my chest.
“Why? It’s nothing I haven’t seen before,” he said quietly. “Every curve and delicious hollow of your body…”
My mouth dropped open, and I glared at him. “You liar! You said you didn’t see anything when we skinny dipped!”
“So I lied. Sue me,” he stated matter-of-factly, and his eyes did another once over of the bubbles. “We’ve already established that I’m nosy, right?”
“The nosiest,” I snapped.
“Well, it’s too bad all that soap’s in the way. I’d love to see it all again, to touch it this time and see what else there is to discover about you.”
“What if the shoe was on the other foot? What if I was staring at your naked package?” I retorted.
“You’d think it was solid and promising.”
With my face burning and my thighs reflexively clenching against the sudden onslaught of desire and lust, I pointed a finger toward the bathroom door. “Out!” I said with a chuckle, trying to hide my need for him.
He held up his hands in surrender and turned, whistling to the dogs to follow. At the door, he stopped and turned back, with a mischievous glint in his eyes. “If you need me to wash your back or anything, I’m your man.”
Suddenly, even beneath the water, my whole body felt as if it was engulfed in flames. I pointed more urgently, so intently that water splashed out of the tub. “Get out!”
He chuckled knowingly and closed the door behind him.
I sank back into the tub and rested my head against the back. As hard as I tried, I couldn’t stop thinking about the man. I thought of what might’ve happened if he’d actually joined me in that steamy water. Then, more frustrated than before, I climbed out of the tub and dried myself off quickly.
“You’re just going to keep your distance,” I told my reflection sternly. “You’re going to stay ten feet away from him at all times, with no accidental touches, no kissing, no anything. Don’t even look at him.”
I nodded, but the look in my own eyes said it was going to be a whole lot easier said than done. Charlie had always been under my skin, but now he was so deeply ingrained, and I was sure there was no digging him out.
Chapter 17
A week went by, and I spent it working alongside Charlie at the fencing club, doing my best to stay clear of him. Of course he made that almost impossible. Whenever I worked behind the counter, he made sure to walk behind me to fetch one thing or another. It didn’t help that I had to take Max to work with me on the long days so I could watch him and take him out when he needed to go. Charlie offered to help with that, too, giving him yet another excuse to hang around me in a place with little room to move.
“I think I’m gonna make him our mascot,” he said one day when he brought Max back inside from his short walk.
“Yeah? Maybe you should make him a little fencing outfit,” I suggested without looking up from the scheduling book. “Give him a little sword, too, and then he can prod you in the ass when you don’t move fast enough.”
Charlie laughed, and Max sauntered back behind the counter to plop down next to my feet. He yawned, let out a loud whine, then snuggled up and fell back to sleep. “Aw, this little guy likes me too much,” Charlie said, leaning over the counter to stare at him. “I’m glad you saved him from the shelter. Horrible that they were just going to give up on him because he couldn’t walk.”
“Yeah, well, his story sort of reminded me of someone else’s,” I said quietly, thinking of the parents who gave me up because I had bum legs.
Charlie reached out and rested his hand gently on my arm. My heart fluttered, and I sucked in a breath. It was the first time he’d touched me all day, and every nerve in my body screamed for more. “You both turned out just fine,” he said quietly.
“Thanks,” I said.
“Hey, I was wondering if you have any plans for tonight,” he said.
A bit thrown off by the shakiness in his voice, I looked up and met his eyes. “Nothing I can think of. Why?”
“Well, I’m thinking of doing something, and I just didn’t know if you’d be home or not.”
“Do you need me to be gone, Charlie?” I asked. “It’s not a problem if you need a little privacy, if you’re having someone special over. I can vacate the premises and hide up in my room like your ugly stepsister.”
His eyes widened, and his hand slipped down to hold mine. “What? No, that’s not what I meant. I want you to be there. That’s kind of part of the plan.”
“What’s going on?” I asked curiously.
His eyes darted away from mine. “It’s a surprise, but you’ll see later. Oh, and I need to take off an hour early today,” he said and handed over the keys to the club. “Think you can handle closing up for me?”
I slowly reached out and took the keys with a nod. “Turning off a few lights and locking the door? Gee, Boss, I don’t know.”
“Funny, Jaime,” he said. His cell dinged, and he pulled it out to check, grinning madly as he responded to whoever had messaged him. “Plans just changed. It won’t be at the house now.”
“What won’t be at the house?”
He grinned. “You’ll see.” He then quickly tucked the phone back in his pocket and backed toward the door. “All right, I guess I’ll see you later. Oh, and I’ll take Max with me. That’ll be one less thing for you to deal with.” He walked around the counter and picked up the sleeping dog.
“Bye, little fella,” I whispered in his ear as I scratched his head. “Be good now.”
“I will,” Charlie said.
I laughed. “I doubt that.”
Charlie grinned back at me as he walked out the door.
As soon as he left, I tapped my pen on the counter and mindlessly stared at the schedule in front of me, wondering what the hell he was up to.
Suddenly, the front door opened again, breaking me out of my thoughts. I put on a smile and glanced up to see Phoebe, Marlene, and Riley hurrying toward me.
“Is it true?” Phoebe asked, with an obvious edge in the question.
“Is what true?” I said, feigning innocence. “Oh, and hello to you both too. Haven’t talked to you in a while. How’ve you been?”
“Wonderful. How about you? Where have you been lately? And your phone just rings and rings.”
“I’ve been so busy.”
“We have to get together and catch up.”
“Enough with the small talk,” Marlene said loudly, bouncing on her heels. “Are you living with Charlie or what?”
My eyes widened, and I dropped my pen. “Where the hell did you hear that?” I asked, immediately suspecting Tammy’s big mouth.
“Let’s just say I know a girl who knows a guy who knows a guy who works at the moving company,” Riley said waving off the question. “They said they moved a pretty blonde woman with four dogs into Charlie’s house a week ago. Why didn’t you tell us you finally made a move on him?”
Phoebe’s friendly gaze darkened for a split second before she nodded enthusiastically. “Yeah, what’s with all the secrets?” she said.
I frowned and leaned back in my office chair. “There’s nothing to tell. There were extenuating circumstances, and Charlie is just being a good friend, helping me out temporarily. That’s all there is to it. If you heard anything else, it’s just rumors and bullshit.”
“I think you’re the one telling us bullshit. Tammy said you lost your job and were evicted,” Marlene said, flipping her hair over her shoulder. “So what? Charlie gave you a room at his place and a job at the business he owns, just like that?”
“Why not? We were best friends growing up,” I pointed out with a shrug, then crossed my arms over my chest.
“Were being the key word,” Marlene said, grinning. “You didn’t hear from him in years, remember?”
“Yeah, I’m aware,” I said, trying to ignore the sudden sting of pain that shot through me at her words. “Anyway, can I help you with something, or did you
really just come here to give me the third degree?”
Riley shook her head. “We don’t need to do that. We can pretty much dig up anything we want. We just came to…confirm it from the horse’s mouth, so to speak.”
“Confirm what exactly?”
“That Charlie has to marry someone from this town by the end of the month, or else he’ll lose everything his dear old dad left him,” Marlene said casually. “Are you his bride-to-be, Jaime? Did he convince you to marry him so you can share that fortune? I wouldn’t hold it against you. I mean, he owes you big time, the way I see it.”
“How the hell did you two hear about that part?” I laughed, glancing around and glad to see that the lobby was empty. “No one is supposed to know!”
“You told Tammy, didn’t you?” Marlene explained.
“Yeah, but—”
“But nothing. She’s a great secret holder when she’s sober. But… You know how she gets after a bottle of wine or two.”
I glanced from one to the other, and my hands clenched the edge of the counter. “You got her drunk on purpose?”
“No one had heard from you in a while,” she said. “We were starting to worry. We wanted to make sure you’re all right, so we got together with Tammy. One merlot led to another, and she spilled the beans. Just tell me, how’d did he do it?”
My brow wrinkled in confusion. “Do what?”
“How’d he convince you to marry him, silly?”
I thought of the deal Charlie desperately wanted to keep quiet, and a horrible inkling started in my gut. Shit. This is bad, really, really bad. I rubbed my forehead, making a mental note to commit Tammy-cide later, as my mind scrambled for some way out of the mess her gossiping had made. Ultimately, I decided honesty, at least partial honesty, was the best policy, and I hoped they’d buy it.
“Look, I’m just living with him until I get back on my feet. That’s it. We’re not getting married, and I’m not interested in his money. Whatever Tammy told you was wrong.”
“Sure,” Phoebe said, not hiding the doubt from her voice. “Then why did Charlie come into my flower shop today and buy five dozen red roses?” She looked at me suspiciously and tapped her long, red nails on the counter as she awaited my reply.
Begging for Bad Boys Page 134
