Kissing Charlie

by Elsa Winckler

“Lindsay, don’t...” Charlie tried to stop her sister, but Tod was always ready to tell everyone about Charlie’s ‘miracle hands,’ and he immediately launched into an explanation of how he’d hurt his back.

  “And then someone told me to try Charlie here. I have to confess”—he winked—“I was very skeptical, but I was in so much pain, I was willing to try just about anything.” Before he could continue, though, someone called him away and with a mock salute, he left.

  Eleanor opened her mouth, but Logan stopped her with his hand. “Mom, enough. Can we please talk about something else?”

  Some of their other friends also arrived, chairs were moved, and Charlie ended up squashed in between the corner of the room and Logan’s chair. She was now even closer to him than before, and couldn’t get away from his leg pressed against hers. Help.

  A frantic waving of a hand drew her attention to the bar. Lilly was there with some of her friends, and when she caught Charlie’s eye, she pointed toward Logan, pressed her hand on her heart, and wiggled her eyebrows.

  Charlie frowned at her, but Lilly kept grinning. Charlie swallowed a groan. She was never going to hear the end of this.

  Charlie was driving him crazy. Under the table, his leg was happily resting against hers. She’d tried several times to move her chair, but there really wasn’t any place to move to. This close, the scent of roses emanating from her was difficult to ignore.

  Nearly everyone in the little bar knew Charlie. All through the evening, several people had stopped by their table, and each time, she’d get up and talk and listen. She was a toucher—she would either hug the person she was talking to or put a hand on an arm, and everyone who had been in her sphere would leave with a lighter step.

  He made an effort to look around him, anything to keep himself from drooling over the softness of her skin.

  Everyone was having a good time. His mom and sister were obviously happy. He was so glad for Brooke. The untimely death of her husband two years before had been such a shock to all of them. Fortunately, his mom lived literally next door and was able to help Brooke with Connor, who at the time, had only been four years old.

  Next to him, Charlie laughed and his gaze returned to her as if on autopilot. Head thrown back, another pair of mini-chandeliers dangling on her ears, the bangles jingling cheerily on her slender arms, she took his breath away.

  She’d changed into something even more ethereal that night. Underneath a see-through, shiny top, was another figure-fitting top, so it wasn’t as if the outer layer was too revealing, but he still had trouble looking her in the eye. His gaze kept straying to where the glittering top dipped ever so slightly down to reveal the outline of a pair of beautiful breasts.

  Damn it to hell, he was aching for her and she was having the time of her life, smiling and joking and seemingly oblivious to him. Well, he’d have to do something about that.

  She was wearing another layered skirt, but different to the one she’d worn that morning; this one ended above her knee, leaving a pair of gorgeous legs bare.

  Someone on his other side of the table asked him about his work in Seattle and ever so casually he let his other hand drop on Charlie’s leg. Under his fingers, muscles tensed and because he was sitting so close to her, he caught the hitch in her throat.

  One of her hands grabbed his and tried to remove it from her leg, but he caught her fingers in his and held on tightly.

  “What are you doing?” she whispered.

  He turned his head. “What time tomorrow?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, you’re the one who insists on seeing me again over the weekend. So, what time? Ten?”

  She stopped trying to loosen her hand and nodded. “What, changed your mind?”

  Her eyes really were the most extraordinary hue of blue. A man could easily drown in those depths.

  Her tongue slipped out and she licked her lower lip.

  “Damn, you’re killing me,” he groaned before he dropped her hand and grabbed his beer with both hands.

  Charlie exhaled slowly. Oh, my word, she wouldn’t be surprised if she’d burst into flames. She had no idea why this man had the ability to turn her insides to mush, but she was a quivering mess and the night was still young. Listening to her instincts—that was what she should be doing, but where were they when she needed them?

  And where was Lindsay? She had to get out of there before she did something completely stupid, like ending up on Logan’s lap.

  Her sister wasn’t at the table, and frantically, she searched through the throng of people in the pub. Finally, she saw Lindsay heading back toward their table, but something was wrong. Even in the dim light of the pub, she could see her sister was pale.

  “I have to get to my sister,” Charlie said, and tried to move her chair.

  Logan looked at her. “What’s wrong?”

  “I have to get to Lindsay,” she repeated urgently.

  Logan got up quickly and moved out of her way. Lindsay was in Charlie’s arms before she took another step.

  “What happened?”

  “He...he’s found me, Charlie. He knows where I am!” she repeated over and over.

  With her arms around her sister, Charlie quickly walked them out of the bar. They’d strolled over to meet there earlier—it was such a lovely evening—but now she rather wished they’d taken the car.

  “I can take you home,” Logan said, behind her. “My car is parked right here.” He motioned toward a black sports car.

  Charlie didn’t even think to protest. How was it possible that Lindsay’s ex-boyfriend had discovered their whereabouts? They’d been so careful. Not even their closest friends back in South Africa knew where they were going.

  She helped Lindsay into the back of the car and slid in next to her. Logan nodded as if he understood her reluctance to leave her sister, even for a minute.

  “It’s not far—down the street and then the second one to your right,” she said, holding tightly on to Lindsay, who was shaking like a leaf.

  Charlie took Lindsay’s hand. “Sweetie, what happened?”

  Lindsay opened her phone. “Look at the last email,” she hiccupped.

  You didn’t really think I’d just let you go? I’m coming for you.

  As Charlie read the words, fury at this man, who’d nearly destroyed her sister two years ago with his verbal abuse, threatened to choke her. She had to take a deep breath. “It’s an email, not a message. At least he doesn’t have your phone number. We’ll get you another email address immediately. He’s not getting close to you ever again, I promise you.”

  Lindsay continued to shiver. Charlie wanted to scream out her frustration. How did this happen?

  Logan didn’t talk until they stopped in front of the small cottage she’d inherited from their mother’s sister, Aunt Charlene.

  Before she could touch the door, Logan was opening it. She thought he’d leave as soon as he’d dropped them, but he held out his hand. “Key? I’ll open the front door.”

  She handed him her bag while helping Lindsay out of the car.

  “How did he find us, Charlie?” Lindsay sniffled. “How? Nobody back in South Africa knows where we are. Just Gavin.”

  Logan had opened the front door and was waiting for them, her bag still in his hands.

  Charlie hugged Lindsay tightly as they walked into the house. “I don’t know, but you’re going to get into bed and you’re not to worry about this, okay? I’ll phone Gavin...”

  “Please phone him now?” Lindsay pleaded, and sat down on the couch.

  Logan still had her bag and he silently handed it to her. “Thanks, Logan, we’ll be okay now,” she said, while taking out her phone, and she dialed Gavin’s number.

  “I have nowhere I need to be right now. Let me help. I’ll make tea,” he said. “Kitchen?”

  Before she could refuse, Gavin answered on the other side of the line. She sat down next to Lindsay on the couch. “Gavin—”

  “What happen
ed?” he interrupted.

  “It’s Mark. He’s contacted Lindsay.”

  “How?”

  “By email.”

  Gavin swore out loud. “What the hell?”

  “I have no idea how...”

  Gavin inhaled sharply. “My email account was hacked a few days ago. The possibility that Mark Taylor could be involved didn’t even cross my mind. It’s been two years! But damn it, it must have been his doing. He’s got enough money to pay someone to do something like this; he’s too damn stupid to do it himself. I can’t believe he’ll go to such lengths, though. But that was the only way he could’ve found out what her new email address is.”

  “It makes sense,” Charlie said. “We don’t send emails to friends back in South Africa because we’ve been worried about hacking—we message or phone. Neither of us even have a website at the moment, even though we know how important it is nowadays.”

  “How’s Lindsay?” Gavin wanted to know.

  “You can imagine.”

  “I’ll book a flight... How the hell do I even get to you guys?

  “It’s a twenty-six-hour flight,” Charlie replied. “Cape Town to Newark and then you fly to Bozeman. From there you take the I-90 west. It’s about half an hour’s drive to Livingston and then another twenty minutes to Alisson.”

  “Okay, let me see what I can do. I’ll let you know when I’ll be arriving. I’ve been thinking about visiting anyway.”

  There was so much she wanted to ask her brother, but she didn’t want to upset Lindsay any further. “Okay, let me know—we can come and pick you up.”

  “Don’t bother, I’ll just get a car.”

  They talked for a few more minutes before they ended the call.

  “What did he say?” Lindsay asked, still shivering.

  “His email account was hacked,” Charlie said as Logan came back with a tray in his hands. “Gavin now thinks it was probably Mark.”

  “So, he can find me?” Lindsay whispered, her hands gripping her upper arms.

  Charlie grabbed her sister’s hands. “Mark Taylor will have to go through me to get to you, and trust me, I’ve been ready for him for the last two years. Now I want you to take a deep breath...” She waited for Lindsay to inhale. “And exhale. Look at me.” She took her sister’s face in her hands. “You are beautiful and strong and independent.” It was a refrain she’d been telling Lindsay over and over again over the last two years.

  “You have your own successful shop and you’ve managed to do that all on your own. He doesn’t have power over you anymore, remember? Focus on your breathing—that is the only important thing right now.”

  She kept her hands on either side of Lindsay’s face and breathed in and out with her until she could finally see Lindsay’s shoulders relaxing. “There we go,” she crooned. “You can do this; you’ve been doing this for the last two years, remember?”

  “Have some tea,” Logan said. “My mom swears by the magic of a cup of tea.”

  “And so do we.” Charlie smiled. She wasn’t sure why he was still around, but at the moment, another presence in the house was really comforting.

  Logan handed Lindsay a cup. “You okay?”

  Lindsay nodded. “I will be.” With her cup in her hand, she got up and looked at Logan. “Thanks for bringing us home, I really appreciate it. I’m going to bed, Charlie.”

  “I’ll be up shortly,” she replied.

  Lindsay nodded and left the room.

  “Drink your tea,” Logan said, pushing a cup into her hands. “You’re shaking.”

  “I’m just so mad,” she muttered, taking a sip. “This isn’t ‘just’ tea, is it?” she gasped.

  “You both needed something a little stronger.” He sat down on the couch beside her. “Is there something I can do?”

  She shook her head. “Lindsay and I moved here from South Africa two years ago. Lindsay’s last boyfriend was verbally abusive and... I won’t bore you with the details. Fortunately, at the time, I’d just inherited this house and the building where I have my practice and Lindsay her shop from our aunt Charlene, my mom’s sister. I was still considering my options when Lindsay arrived on my doorstep out of the blue after I hadn’t seen her for more than a year.”

  She closed her eyes and shook her head. The sight of her deathly pale sister on her porch, holding on to her bag for dear life, wasn’t a sight she would ever forget.

  “Anyway, it was an easy decision to move here. Our mom was American and we were actually born here before our parents moved to South Africa, so we have US passports. It made the whole thing much easier.”

  “Your parents—are they still in South Africa?”

  “No, they...there was a terrible car accident a few years before—we lost them then. So besides Gavin, there was no one keeping us in South Africa.”

  “Is this the first time this Mark has contacted her since you moved here?”

  She nodded. “Yes. Although, I honestly didn’t think he’d still be looking for her; we closed all our social media accounts when we moved. I’ve since opened one for my services and Lindsay has one for her shop, but we still don’t have personal ones. It’s been a difficult road for her since then—he just about destroyed her self-esteem—but she’s been so brave, so damn determined to get her life back, and just when she was finally relaxing, the bastard contacts her.”

  “So how did he get hold of her details now? You mentioned hacked emails?”

  “Yes, Gavin thinks he hacked his emails.” She put down her cup and stood up. “Wow, sorry, I didn’t mean to go on and on like that. You should go back to the bar. Thanks for bringing us home.”

  “Of course. I’m so sorry about your sister. What about you? Are you okay?”

  She quickly moved to the front door and opened it. “I will be. Once Gavin gets here, everything will be fine. Look, you don’t have to keep to our appointment tomorrow if you’d rather not—”

  “I’ll see you at tomorrow at ten,” he interrupted. “Please let me know if there is anything I can do.”

  “Thank you. I appreciate it.”

  He took a step forward, but as she was closing the door, he turned around and slipped a hand underneath her hair, cupping her face. “I hate seeing you distressed...” he whispered before his lips touched hers briefly. Warm, urgent lips met hers for about a millisecond but when he lifted his head, she had to grab the door so that she didn’t fling herself in his arms.

  “Good night,” she managed.

  “Sweet dreams.” He smiled before he turned around and walked toward his car.

  Her knees buckling, Charlie gripped the door as she watched him leave. Sweet dreams? There’d be nothing sweet about any of her dreams.

  Chapter 4

  Saturday morning Logan was up early and he went for a walk. His back was still a problem and he didn’t feel ready to go for his usual run. It was another beautiful summer’s day. He breathed in the fresh, early morning air, his gaze on beautiful mountains surrounding the town. He loved growing up here.

  Although his dad had been a property developer, he also had a ranch nearby. And Logan lived for the weekends when he and his dad would go to the ranch. He loved the open spaces, the horses, the beautiful, old ranch house. All of that had changed when his dad died, though.

  His mom had sold the ranch and their lives changed forever. Way back then, he was furious about her decision, but he later understood it hadn’t been possible for her to keep a ranch going while supporting two children and pursuing her own career.

  Lately, he been thinking about the ranch. He’d also discovered the same ranch was on the market at the moment. This bit of information shouldn’t interest him, but it did. And it was ridiculous. His life was in Seattle. Owning a ranch near Alisson made no sense.

  As he neared his mother’s house, he turned his body from side to side. It was probably his imagination, but his back felt slightly better. Slightly.

  It was only after he’d left Charlie’s house last night on
his way to pick up his mom and sister that he’d acknowledged to himself the only reason he’d joined his mother and sister last night was because he’d hoped to see Charlie again.

  Thoughts and dreams of her had kept him up most of the night, and left him restless and out of sorts.

  What the hell was wrong with him? Apart from the fact that she was so not the type of woman he normally dated, she lived here and he was in Seattle.

  He still remembered the way she burst out laughing when he’d suggested she was in on his mother’s scheme to get them together. Getting married wasn’t something she was interested in, she’d said. So what did that mean?

  That question had been bothering him since the day before. She didn’t want to get married, or she didn’t date? And why was he thinking about it? Thinking about her?

  And who the hell was Gavin?

  When he opened the kitchen door, his mother was making coffee.

  “Morning, Mom, you’re up early,” he said, kissing her on her cheek.

  She leaned against him for a moment. “I’m so happy you’re here.” Her eyes searched his face. “Have you heard anything from Charlie this morning?”

  He’d dodged his mom and Lindsay’s questions the night before; he didn’t feel comfortable discussing what Charlie had told him. It’s possible his mother knew about her past, but he’d rather not say anything. “I’m sure they will tell you in time. You’ll be glad to know I have another appointment with Charlie this morning,” he added, changing the topic.

  “Promise me you’ll keep an open mind, please?” his mom implored. “It’s a very different technique to what you’re probably used to, but it works. I couldn’t move my head properly from side to side without pain, but now, for the first time in years, I can go to sleep without having to take a pill.”

  “I’m going, Mom, although I still don’t see how it can help me. A good massage makes sense. But how the feather-like movements she performs on my back can cure me, I have no idea.”

  “Just you wait. But she’s lovely, isn’t she? And no, I’m not playing matchmaker; you are way too staid for her.”

  He frowned. “She’s gorgeous, yes, I’ve noticed. But I don’t know why you’d call me staid,” he grumbled, and sat down at the table. Something smelled wonderful.