Page 26 of Matched (LSU #5)

W hen my eyes opened to the morning sunlight filtering through the thin curtains, it took me a moment to get my bearings, and then it all came rushing back.

Last night .

We’d started out with my stupid plan to get over each other—which would never have worked—and we’d somehow ended up here.

I was on my back with my head cradled by a slightly lumpy pillow and my arm curled securely around Charlie.

He was sprawled out on his stomach with his head turned to the side and resting on my chest, his arm thrown across me.

One of his legs was bent, covering mine, and I was suddenly very aware we were both naked under the covers.

I carefully brushed his messy brown hair away from his eyes, making his lashes flutter. He remained asleep, though, and I took the chance to study him uninterrupted.

Last night, I’d told him again that he was gorgeous, but that wasn’t a good enough word to describe him.

He was beautiful, inside and out. He took my breath away, made my stomach swoop every time I was around him, occupied my thoughts day and night, and I knew that no matter how much time we spent together, it would never be enough.

This was supposed to be casual, but there was nothing casual about my feelings for Charlie Brooks.

I rubbed my hand over my face. There was no point in thinking about our inevitable end date now.

It would only depress me. Instead, I carefully rolled Charlie onto his back next to me and began pressing soft kisses all over his face.

His forehead. His brows. His closed eyelids.

His cheeks. His nose. His chin. And finally, his mouth, which curved beneath mine.

“Mmm. What a way to wake up.”

“Yeah.” I smiled against his lips. “I hope I didn’t wake you. I just wanted to kiss you.”

“Not gonna complain about that.” He stretched, yawning, and then peeled his eyelids back, blinking sleepily up at me. “Are you okay with…uh, this? All this?”

“I’m okay,” I promised. “More than okay. Like I said last night, I can’t stay away from you, and I don’t want to. Yeah, Sophie still feels something for you, and I do feel bad about that, but… It probably makes me a bad brother, but I keep hoping she’ll be completely over you soon.”

Charlie reached up, threading his fingers through my hair. “She will be. She’s great— No, I don’t feel anything for her, before you start thinking that—but what I mean is, she’s got another two years here at LSU to meet new people, and she’s never gonna be short of options.”

I gritted my teeth for two reasons. One, the thought of smarmy guys trying it on with my sister. And two, the reminder that Charlie also had two years to find someone new when I was gone. It was inevitable, and we both knew where this was headed, but it still fucking hurt.

“Don’t look so murderous.” Charlie’s hand slipped out of my hair so he could smooth his fingers across my brow. “We can keep this between us. No one needs to know. No one needs to get hurt.”

Except us .

“Yeah. And then at the end of the semester?—”

Charlie shook his head violently. “Don’t. Let’s just enjoy the rest of the time we have left. Just you and me. No one else getting involved and giving their opinions. Just us.”

He was right. With a sigh, I lowered my head to his again, kissing him softly. “I should thank Jonas for the time we do have, even if it’s short.”

“Huh?” he mumbled before wrapping his hand around my nape and kissing me again.

“Jonas. That first date between us was an accident, but he engineered the second date.”

Charlie froze beneath me, his eyes growing impossibly wide. “What?”

“Yeah. I’ve had words with him. He said I seemed happy, and I dunno, he thought there might be something between us, so he messed with the app to make it set us up again.”

There was a long silence while Charlie processed my words. “You seemed happy? Weren’t you happy before?”

The worry in his voice startled me, and I hastened to reassure him. “I was. But he said he hadn’t seen me like that. He said I seemed really happy. Like I had a crush on you or something.”

Charlie’s concern was immediately wiped away, replaced with a beaming smile. “Nate Glover has a crush on me.”

“Fuck off,” I growled, nipping at his bottom lip. That made him smile even wider.

“Guess what? I have a crush on you, too.”

“The fact that I’m in your bed and we’re both naked might have clued me in to that fact.”

“Oh, really?” He smoothed his hands down my back and then slid them tentatively onto my ass.

“Mmm. Really.” I kissed him. Speaking of being naked in bed…

My dick was a steel bar against his leg, and his was tenting the sheets, and I wanted to make the most of it.

“Now, c’mere, and we can suck each other’s dicks before I have to somehow sneak out of your house without your housemates seeing me. ”

“We’re going from our first blowjobs to sixty-nining in the space of…what…nine hours or something? We should get trophies.”

Rolling my eyes, I tapped his chest before pinching his nipple, making him gasp. Unsuccessfully biting back a smirk, I did it again. “You and your fucking trophies. This isn’t a competition.”

“Hey!” He swatted my ass. “It’s a competition if we say it is. Bet I can make you come first.”

“Doubtful.”

“Oh, it’s on, Glover.”

“Bring it, Brooks.”

We both grinned at each other, and then we proceeded to suck each other’s brains out.

“I won.”

Clamping my hand over Charlie’s mouth, I shook my head. “You did not. It wasn’t even close.”

“You did that thing with your tongue. It wasn’t fair,” he hissed as we made our best attempt at tiptoeing down two flights of creaky Victorian stairs.

I turned to smirk at him. “Seems like my pinball prince is a sore loser.”

His expression suddenly went from teasing to so soft and yearning, I stumbled. Catching myself by bracing my hand against the wall, I ran through what I’d just said.

Oh .

“My pinball prince,” I murmured, stopping on the stair next to him, cupping his smooth jaw. “Mine.”

He shivered.

“Mine.” My lips slid over his, and he sighed into my mouth, melting against me. Fuck. The way he responded to me was so addictive. I wanted more, and more, and more. “Mine,” I reiterated between kisses, wrapping my arms around him. “Mine. Mine. Mine.” Even if it was only temporary.

We lost ourselves in each other, kissing until one of us moved a foot and made the stair creak. Quickly separating, we made our way down the rest of the stairs to the hallway. I could see the front door?—

“Charlie.”

We both jumped, Charlie’s head whipping around to the left to see his housemate Ander standing in the kitchen doorway.

“Shit.” Charlie’s gaze turned pleading as he stared at Ander. “Ander. Please.”

Ander took up a casual pose, leaning against the door frame with his arms folded across his chest. “Something you want to share?”

“No,” Charlie immediately bit out, and Ander held his hands up.

“Don’t worry. My lips are sealed.” He glanced behind him. “ Our lips are sealed,” he amended, and I groaned as Elliot appeared in the doorway, both of them looking between us with undisguised curiosity.

“Ander—” Charlie began again.

“You don’t need to explain. I’ll just use my imagination to tell me why you’re trying to smuggle one of my teammates out of our house at—” He paused to glance at his phone. “—8:42 a.m.”

Charlie exhaled harshly. “Shouldn’t you be in bed sleeping off a hangover or something?”

“Me? Nope. My body is a temple.”

Elliot snorted and then gave Ander a warning look. “We won’t say anything. Whatever’s going on is none of our business.”

“But—” Ander began.

“None of our business,” Elliot repeated, grabbing his arm and dragging him back inside the kitchen. The door closed firmly behind them.

“Sorry,” Charlie whispered. “I know we agreed it would be easier not to tell anyone.”

“They won’t say anything.” Ander was a good guy, my teammate, and I highly doubted either him or Elliot would out us.

With a nod, Charlie breathed out, his shoulders slumping. “Yeah. What am I thinking? I know they wouldn’t say anything to anyone.”

“Then we’re good.” Stopping by the front door, I glanced back to make sure we were really alone, and then I cupped his cheek, rubbing my thumb across his soft skin. “I’ll see you soon, okay? Come to football practice this week if you’re not busy.”

“I’ll check my work schedules, but I’ll try to make it.” His lips met mine in a soft kiss that was way too brief. “Text me later.”

“I will.”

And I did. I made a half-hearted effort to resist, but I barely managed to last twenty minutes after leaving his house behind before I pulled up his contact details on my screen and tapped out a message.

And if we were still texting back and forth hours later…no one but the two of us needed to know.