Page 18

Bailey

Sometimes at night, I like to stare at the ceiling and see how long I can lay there without latching onto a single thought. Catch a thought. Release it. It’s some weird form of meditation I saw a video on years ago, but it’s one of the most calming things I’ve ever experienced.

It’s almost eleven when I finally hear Charlie come home. I’m lying in bed, trying to sleep, but I can’t. I keep thinking about going home and returning to my normal life and it makes me sick. I don’t want to think about it. I like it here, despite my grouchy neighbor. I like my kind-of job and the money I’m making that’s mine and mine, alone.

I’ve thought about moving here permanently, but where will I go? Charles might rent me this place, but I’m not sure I can handle living next to Charlie year-round.

Just as I think that, there’s a thud as the back door to his place closes.

Speak of the devil.

I think he’s leaving again, but then a shadow crosses my window. I peak through the curtains and see him step into the pool, the strong muscles of his back flexing and making my body do all sorts of weird shit.

I roll back over, closing my eyes, like it’s going to help me go to sleep. It doesn’t.

So, I get up, go to the back door, and walk out to the side of the pool. He cut the pool lights off and just left the hanging bulb lights Andi strung from the trees to the house. I like it better than the blinding blue lights of the pool. Charlie is under the water when I sit down on the edge and dip my feet in. It’s cold enough that I almost tug my feet back out of the water.

Charlie comes up, water dripping down his abs like some kind of backyard swimming pool God and runs his hands over his face, pushing his hair back on his head.

His lip quirks at the corner, but I don’t think it’s because he’s happy to see me. More like mocking me.

“Miss me, princess?”

There’s that nickname again. I roll my eyes and lean back on my hands, almost regretting the decision instantly. Charlie’s eyes travel the length of my body, over the t-shirt and then down to my shorts that don’t leave a lot to the imagination. I should be embarrassed, but instead, the momentary heat in his gaze makes me warm, even with my feet in the chilly water.

“I couldn’t sleep,” I murmur. “I was going to go swimming, but I’m not sure if I want to be in the pool with the Grim Reaper. You might try to drown me.”

It’s a lie, but it makes me feel better to banter back with him. It helps me forget about the impending doom of going home.

“Thought’s crossed my mind,” Charlie murmurs, sliding up to the side of the pool beside me. I catch sight of something dark in the water and my stomach drops.

“Charlie, what happened to your side?” It’s a bruise the size of my fist, right over his ribcage.

“It’s nothing,” he dismisses, crossing his arms on the wall.

“It’s from boxing, isn’t it?”

“I’m an MMA fighter, Bailey. Not a boxer.”

I’m surprised he called me by my actual name for once, but I’m too concerned with the bruise to care. Andi told me he has a fight in a couple weeks against someone who is notorious for hurting people.

“I’m fine, Bailey,” he says, his tone softer than I’ve heard it in a long time.

I shake my head. “Why do you let people beat you up for fun?”

“They don’t beat me up for fun,” he mocks with a dry expression. “Would you rather have me under the same roof if someone breaks in, or a man like Tom?”

When I don’t answer because I don’t want to give him the satisfaction of knowing he’s right, he nods.

“That’s what I thought.”

“So, why do you do it?”

He shrugs. “Blow off steam. Helped me quit drinking after Mom died.”

Oh. I hadn’t known that. Looking back on how badly he was struggling then, I wish I would have reached out after the funeral. He was so upset that day, as you can imagine. I’m sure he needed someone to lean on. I was too concerned with how he dismissed me and Drew’s attitude about me being alone on the terrace with him, that I didn’t think that maybe, Charlie was just deeply, deeply unwell.

“How was the party?” he asks, trying to change the subject. I let him, this time, knowing if I press him about his mom, he’ll only get angry.

But I also don’t want to talk about the bridal shower. I look up at the sky, but unfortunately, there are too many clouds to see anything.

“No stars,” I murmur.

“Bailey,” he warns, his eyes on my face, searing a hole through my skin.

“Fine,” I sigh, facing him. “It sucked.”

He chuckles, moving closer. His arm is so close to my leg, I can feel the heat coming from his skin. It’s distracting and makes goosebumps rise on my skin. “Tell me more.”

“All the women hate each other, but no one’s brave enough to say anything. Everyone’s so focused on looks and status and being snooty that I don’t think anyone had any fun. Not even your sister. She looked miserable from the moment I got there.”

“Sounds normal,” he nods.

“Oh, and ,” I snap, remembering Camille and her dismissal of Lionel. “Your aunt was incredibly rude to Lionel when she found out he was gay. She wouldn’t even shake his hand.”

“I hate to tell you this, but Camille is rude to everyone. She probably just did it behind your back.”

That makes me feel better , I think, dryly.

“I’m serious. She hates everyone.”

I shake my head, the worry starting to sink back in. “I don’t know. I think it just felt too much like California. ”

He watches me for a moment, like he’s studying me. Maybe he’s thinking about what he’s going to say for once, rather than just throwing an insult my way.

“You don’t sound too happy about that.”

I chuckle humorlessly. “I guess I was just enjoying a simpler life.”

No gowns. No balls or fancy dinners to attend. No appearances to keep up. Just me.

After a long moment, Charlie speaks up, that usual mocking tone back. “You know,” Charlie says, stepping off the wall and floating into the center. “Don’t feel too superior about Mawmaw liking you. She can’t hear very well.”

What a jerk. I splash him and he splashes me back, dousing me with cold water that runs down between my breasts and makes me shiver.

“You know, don’t feel too superior about your dick. I’m sure there are better,” I snap back before I even think about it.

Charlie’s eyebrows raise and he tilts his head dangerously.

“Charlie, don’t,” I warn, holding up my hand and he steps toward me. It’s no use. He grabs my hand and yanks me forward until I crash into the water beside him. It’s cold, not freezing, but enough of a shock that it startles me. When I come up, sputtering, Charlie is chuckling, actually laughing, for once.

“You asshole ,” I sputter, leaping onto his back and pushing him into the water. I get the feeling he let me do it, considering he’s a whole foot and a couple inches taller than me, but I’m still counting it as a win.

When he comes up, he shakes his head and wipes his eyes, before facing me with a dangerous look on his face .

“Charlie,” I caution, backing away from him as he stalks toward me. I laugh, mostly because I’m nervous, but also because this is the first time I’ve seen him really playful. Normally, he’s so serious that I forget he can have fun.

He chuckles, but it sounds like a predator cat hunting a little mouse.

“Just calm down,” I say, my back hitting the other side of the pool. I should have gone the other direction. He’s trapped me between him and the wall. The only way out is across the pool.

“Want to repeat yourself, princess?” he taunts, placing his hand on the wall behind me, effectively caging me in. He’s so close that our chests almost touch with my sudden rapid breathing. I’ve hyper aware of my nipples poking through my top in the cold water and so is Charlie, his eyes practically burning a hole through my top. I’m grateful for the lights being off, now, so he doesn’t see the heat traveling up my neck and cheeks.

I shake my head, not wanting whatever punishment is attached to taking his man card away.

“What’s the matter? Scared?”

Mildly.

“I said, don’t feel too superior about your dick because I’m sure there are better,” I say in an act of defiance. It was a trap and I knew it, but I played into it because I’m not letting him label me as a coward. And maybe I’m a little curious about this punishment.

Charlie chuckles and takes a step forward until our fronts are fully pressed together. I can feel his erection against my stomach and I can say with full confidence that it is probably superior to most. He leans forward, making my breath hitch painfully when he kisses the hollow below my ear.

I can practically feel his smile against my skin. “I can make you beg for me to touch you, princess.” As if he has to prove that point, he kisses me, again, sucking the flesh into his mouth and leaving another mark behind. I want to stop him, knowing I’ll have to buy more concealer at this rate, but I don’t because it feels too good. In fact, my head falls to the side, allowing him more access.

One hand tangles in my hair, angling my head so he can nip a line along my jaw. His other hand slides over my stomach, raising goosebumps across my skin. A shiver moves through me and I’m not sure if it’s from the chill in the water or the teeth grazing over the pulse point in my neck.

“I’m not begging you,” I say, but I can’t say I’m not considering it with the way he’s touching me, his breathing huskier than usual.

As if he’s accepted it as a challenge, Charlie’s fingers slip under my top, dancing over the smooth skin around my nipple. At the same time, he sucks on the side of my neck, hitting the perfect spot to draw a noise from me I didn’t know I could make.

“Charlie,” I sigh, not even sure what I want from him at this point. His lips, his fingers? Him inside me? I can’t decide and the feeling is maddening. I wrap my arms around his neck and my nails dig into the flesh at the top of his spine.

He groans, nipping at my skin. “Say the word, Bailey.”

“What?” I ask, lazily. Without thinking, I wrap a leg around him and the angle makes the head of his cock brush against me. Through the thin layer of my shorts, I can feel how big it is. Almost daunting. It would be so easy to end this by slipping my shorts to the side.

“Beg for it, Bailey,” he says, his voice deeper. I can feel his hands shake where they touch me, as if he’s barely holding onto control.

Then, I realize what this is. He’s not going to touch me until I ask him to. He’s giving me a choice — something I’ve not had before.

“Bailey,” he says again, waking me from my drunken haze. He presses his lips to mine, but he doesn’t kiss me. The taste of him fills my mouth, part whiskey, part tobacco, and the rest all him. I could get drunk just from kissing Charlie. “Tell me to touch you and I’ll make it go away.”

He pinches my nipple between his thumb and forefinger, sending electric shocks through my body and straight to my sex. I bite my lip, my teeth digging in painfully to keep from moving my hips against him.

He pulls my bottom lip from my teeth with his own and soothes the sting with a brush of his tongue. I can’t resist him anymore. I kiss him and he growls, low in his throat. His fingers tighten in my hair and his other hand cups my cheek, almost sweetly.

“Touch me,” I whisper against his lips, giving him what he wants. “Please.”

Instantly, Charlie’s hand slips between us and over the waist band of my shorts, before slipping inside.

I almost can’t believe I’m letting Charlie Coulter touch me for the first time in the backyard swimming pool of his house. In the center of New Orleans, while people walk the streets just on the other side of the wall. There are taller buildings surrounding us. Anyone could look out their window and see what we’re doing, but somehow, it only adds to the lust flowing through my veins.

“Fuck,” Charlie hisses when his fingers find me. He rolls my clit with his thumb, eliciting a whimper from me. “I love when you give yourself over to me.” I moan into his mouth, slipping my tongue over his.

I feel his heart beating rapidly, the heavy rise and fall of his chest against mine, and the sexy groan he makes when his fingers dip inside me. It’s like he already knows my body and how to make me come. Like he’s studied me.

He breaks away from my mouth when I slip my hand down and cup him through his shorts. He’s warm, even in the cool water and I’m tempted to ask him to take me to his bed. He lets out a shaky breath, adding another finger inside me.

I move my palm over him slowly, barely able to focus from his assault on my body.

“Quit playing with it,” he warns, his voice foreign. He sounds like he’s on the brink of control and I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen anything hotter in my life.

I swallow my nervousness and run my fingers down his abs to the waistband of his shorts.

“Can I touch you?” I ask, giving him the same curtesy, he gave me.

“Yes,” he hisses, almost like he hates that he needs my touch like I need his, right now.

Slipping my hand in his shorts, I grip him in my fingers and stroke.

Holy shit. It’s larger than I’ve felt before and I know it would feel even bigger inside me. It’s intimidating, but so tempting, especially when Charlie whispers against my ear.

“Fuck, that’s a good girl, Bailey. Stroke me,” he rasps, sucking on the lobe of my ear.

I do, moving my hand faster until I’m matching the pace of his fingers. My body is tightening, hips moving against his fingers of their own volition.

“Your cunt’s so fucking tight,” he murmurs, bringing his lips back to kiss me. “I can feel you ready to come.”

I nod, desperate to feel him.

“Charlie,” I whisper against his lips. “I want more.”

It’s the first time I’m admitting it to myself or to him and I can’t believe I’m saying it, but it’s true. I want him to take me to his bed.

“I know, baby,” he grunts, sealing his eyes shut. “We can’t.”

In this moment, I can’t even remember why we don’t like each other. It’s dangerous. Destructive.

“ Fuck, Bailey. I need you to come, princess.”

“Please don’t stop,” I whimper, clinging to him as the first waves of my orgasm flow through me.

“Just like that, baby,” he groans, moving faster over my clit. “Come for me.”

White light shoots across my vision and everything seems to stop right before pleasure so intense it almost hurts shoots through me. My thighs tremble and a moan tears from my throat, so loud, I’m sure the neighbors probably heard it.

“ Yes, Bailey. Fuck . . .” Charlie stills and a deep, rumbling growl comes from him as he shoots thick bands into my hand. It’s the hottest thing I’ve ever seen, watching this man come.

My body shakes from the aftershocks of the strongest orgasm I’ve ever had when Charlie brings his lips back to mine, kissing me like I’m precious to him.

“You’re so fucking pretty,” he grunts against my lips, making my stomach dip. I still want him and I can feel his cock still hard against me, barely softening, at all.

“I don’t care what anyone thinks anymore, Charlie,” I whisper, slipping his cock out of his shorts. He jerks in my grasp, pressing his forehead against mine. “No one needs to know but us.”

He groans, and wraps his hand around mine, moving me over him again. “Fuck, I’m going to break all my rules with you.” He grips my shorts and tugs them to the side, running the head of his cock through my folds.

Just as he aligns himself at my entrance, a throat clears from the side of the pool and reality comes crashing down around us.

Tom stands there, watching us with a strange look in his eyes. I gasp and Charlie instantly drops me, thankfully putting himself in front of me so I can right my clothes.

“What the fuck are you doing here, Tom?” Charlie snaps, clearly pissed.

“I’m sorry,” Tom murmurs, at least having the decency to look embarrassed. How long has he been standing there? Tears well in my eyes, burning down my cheeks. Tom will tell Andi and Andi will fucking hate me for trying to sleep with her brother. God, what kind of friend am I ?

Guilt consumes me and all I want to do is go inside and go to sleep.

“I didn’t mean to interrupt. Your sister sent me over for a check to the caterers.”

Charlie doesn’t turn to look at me. “Go to bed, Bailey.”

As if to add insult to injury, he’s so cold now. Nothing like the man who just told me I was pretty. Before I can make an emotional fool out of myself, I nod and move toward the stairs. I don’t say anything either, because then my voice might crack.

So, I make my way to the house, go inside, and don’t say a damn word. I take a shower and slip into my bed before allowing myself to break down and cry myself to sleep.