Charlotte (Marked Heart #2) (8 page)

The same feeling that
filled her on the dance floor, coursed through her before settling in the pit of her stomach. He'd been holding out on her. Auggie's smile was the best thing she had ever seen.

Stretching out on his couch, Charlotte kicked her heels off saying, "Tell me this wasn't the best night you've ever had."

Sitting down on the coffee table in front of her, Auggie handed her a beer and said, "Not the best, but not as bad as I thought."

Propping herself up on her elbow, she gave an inviting smile as she asked, "What would make it the best?" in a whispery voice.

Suddenly his scowl was back as he griped, "A good night's sleep," before standing up and heading to his room advising, "And a word to the wise, if you don't want guys tryin' to grab your ass, consider wearing longer shorts."

Rolling onto her back with a loud huff, Cha
rlotte stared at the ceiling.

11

Breakfast

Rolling over and burying his face in his pillow, Auggie woke up the same way he fell asleep. Thinking about Charlotte.
She irritated him like no one else. No matter how hard he tried he couldn't get a handle on her. When he expressed his dislike for the way her so call boyfriend treated her, she accused him of being judgmental and read him the riot act. When he stepped in to correct some sleaze ball for disrespecting her, she was grateful. It seemed like she was all over the place. And what was with that dance? She'd appeared at ease that close to him, like it was the most natural thing in the world. Meanwhile, he could barely move. The most he could do was place his hands in a safe zone and even then, if the song hadn't ended when it did. He would have lost every ounce of control he had. He did not want her to know, but if she had any idea what she did to him, she would never have looked at him that way before he went to bed.

Groaning into his pillow as he slid his arms under it,
he wrapped the sides of the pillow around his head. Auggie knew it was going to be another cold shower morning. He couldn't let her keep coming over like this. His house took too long to air out when she left and his chair had never fully recovered from her sitting in it. She was the best thing he'd ever smelled and it lingered in his furniture and his mind. So much so, he could have sworn she was in the room with him now.

Stopping to dwell on that a moment, he lifted his head from the pillow and opened his eyes finding Charlotte standing at the side of his bed.

"Morning!"

Pulling the comforter higher as he sat up, Auggie fussed, "What is wrong with you?"

"I'm hungry."

"Get out of my room," he snapped.

Ignoring his demand, Charlotte asked, "Will you get up and make me breakfast?"

'She was out of her mind', he thought, persisting, "No, get out!"

Placing her hands on her hips, she huffed, "Please?"

"Make your own breakfast."

In her tiny black shorts from the night before and a white tank top, she threw her hands out to the side as she griped, "I only know how to make scrambled eggs and you don't have any eggs."

At that moment, Auggie
didn't know whether he wanted to pull her into the bed with him or choke her.

"Fine! I'll make you breakfast! Just get out of my damn room!"

Fluttering her eyelashes as she rolled her eyes at
him, Charlotte left his room.

~

Thinking to herself 'geez, that was rude' Charlotte made her way back to his kitchen. He was probably going to take his sweet time rolling out of bed. That would be just like him. Every time she wanted something, he insisted on doing the opposite. Like him running to his room like a little girl because she simply asked what would make his night better. She wasn't even offering him anything. It was just a question. Okay, maybe she was putting herself out there a bit and it was most likely for the best that he responded the way he did, but she was normally the one doing the turning down. Opening the freezer with a heavy sigh, Charlotte thought she might as well give up. Clearly, if he was attracted to her, he wasn't going to do anything about it and it was just as well that he didn't. Convincing herself, the crush she had developed on him had more to do with the fact that he was different from every other man she knew and less genuine fondness for him, Charlotte found a box of waffles.

After checking to make sure he had syrup, C
harlotte went to tell him never-mind. Walking into his room, she found Auggie wearing his Dickies and no shirt. Hunched over with his forehead pressed against the wall, he was practically panting.

"A...am I interrupting?" she blurted with a laugh.

Leaning all the way onto the wall, he let out a frustrated groan before holding his cupped hand out to her snapping, "It's tattoo goo."

Stepping closer, she inspected the jellied
substance in his hand.

"What are you trying to do?"

"I can't reach the middle," Auggie griped in an almost pleading tone.

Having some compassion for him since it appeared as though he was about to have a breakdown over it, she offered, "Here, let me help."

Charlotte stepped next to him and dipped her first two fingers into the goo.
Charlotte had been dying to touch the cross on his back since she first laid eyes on it.

~

Every muscle in Auggie's body tightened the second Charlotte's fingers touched the middle of his back.

"Am I hurting you?" she asked.

Realizing his response to her was obvious, he tried to think of anything other than her touching him as he shook his head.

"Could you relax then," she said with a laugh before adding, "You're making me nervous."

Grinding his back teeth together, he leaned his head down and closed his eyes.

Charlotte's tone was as soft as her fingers on his back as she shared, "I would say your cross is beautiful but I don't want you getting all offended. I've always wanted a tattoo."

Swallowing hard, he replied, "You have?"

Sliding her fingers into his hand to retrieve more goo before branching out from the middle to his shoulder blades, she shared, "I'd like to have a mark on me that I chose to have, if that makes sense."

Understanding where she was coming from, Auggie informed, "My cousin Kieran's done all mine. I kinda sprung this one on him the night Will died. He just finished the center a few days ago," before adding, "He does the family's, old school, at his house but he has a shop on fifth street."

"If I ever decide on something, I might stop in."

Without thinking it through, he said, "Anything would look good on you."

Charlotte ran her fingers down the length of his cross before she stepped away, saying, "I found some waffles in your freezer. I'll just make those."

By the time he turned around, she was out of his room.

~

Popping the waffles in a toaster
after she washed her hands, Charlotte leaned against the counter. Planning to suggest they work on the ledger right after breakfast, she needed to get out of there and limit her time with him to Sundays only, like their agreement. Thankfully he brought up William, reminding her why she was associating with him in the first place.

As she pulled the heated waffles out of the toaster, Auggie walked into the kitchen, saying, "Since you're already here, why don't we go over the books then you don't have to come back later?"

Whipping around, to see him with his shirt on, Charlotte thought 'I was supposed to say that' as she agreed, "That's fine."

Without another word, Auggie went behind her to make his waffles.

~

They ate breakfast and worke
d out the weeks totals together. When they were done, Auggie remembered her cellphone in the back pocket of his slacks that were lying on his bedroom floor.

"Hang on let me grab your phone."

Charlotte nodded at him
, waiting by the door.

Quickly bringing it to her, he handed it over, saying, "You almost left without it."

Another nod from Charlotte confirmed the awkwardness of the moment. Both were being polite and it was weird.

"So, I'll see you next Sunday then."

Reaching for the knob, he replied, "Yep."

He opened the door and started to move to let her through since she was on the opposite side, when he heard Penny complain, "Don't you ever answer your phone?"

Charlotte's eyes were wide just before he shoved her between the wall and the door
and leaned against it.

Penny made her way into hi
s house and set a few containers on his kitchen table before walking back to the living room.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

Trying to make it seem like his leaning against the open door was natural, Auggie kept his hand on the knob saying, "What's up Henny-Penny?"

Making a face at him, she fussed, "I hate when you call me that," before sharing, "Mom sent me over to bring you leftovers and to tell you it's your turn at Aunt Neica's."

"Can't you go?"

"Gross, no!"

"Fine, who's out there?"

"Nobody. Brennen left this morning and won't be back until Tuesday."

Staring at her as he waited for her to leave, Auggie asked, "Is that it?"

With a secretive expression, Penny replied, "Well...Guess what I heard?"

"Bye Pen."

Rolling her eyes at him, she stated, "I'm going to tell you anyway because Sophia doesn't want you ruining her shower."

With a slight laugh, he said, "You mean the one at the bar."

Stepping closer, she continued, "Anyways, Ren is making her invite Charlotte."

"So," he snapped, hoping she would drop it."

"Oh, you don't care?"

"What makes you think I give a damn about that girl?"

With a suspicious expression Penny replied, "Well, I think it's strange. All this time you hated her and now you get all butt hurt anytime someone mentions her."

"What? You're crazy," he blurted, trying to remember what he'd said each time her name was mentioned.

"Am I?" Penny questioned before walking towards the door saying, "Mom said you defended her being at the hospital with Will. We all know you let her into the bar and you cussed Sheryl up and down and told her she better stay away from Charlotte. And now you're just fine having her attend family gatherings with us."

It took Auggie a minute to think of something to say.

"Maybe if you got a job and did something with your life you would have better things to do than go around imagining things off of gossip you've heard."

Pursing her lips into a smile, Penny assured, "I don't think it's my imagination, Auggie. I wasn't asking if you cared about her; I was asking if you cared that she would be at Sophia's shower."

Ignoring her statement completely, Auggie said, "Tell mom I'll be by tomorrow afternoon."

Penny started to leave then stopped right outside his front door.

"What?" he griped, still holding the doorknob as he pulled it closer to him, ready to close it on his sister.

"Remember my friend Nina?"

"Sure..."

"She was at a club last night and said she could have sworn she saw you there."

"Yea, I don't think so."

"That's what I said too," Penny agreed with a hint of hidden agenda before she shared, "But she was pretty sure it was you that got in a fight over some blonde girl."

Closing the door a little more on his sister, Auggie stated, "Nope."

Raising an eyebrow at him, she glanced at his hand gripping the doorknob before asking, "So how did your knuckles get all red and swollen then?"

The only thing Auggie could think to do was to slam the door in her face and lock it.

~

Hearing Penny shout 'Rude' through Auggie's front door, Charlotte watched as he pressed his back against the door. With a serious scowl he shook his head staring at the floor.

Feeling bad about putting him in a position where he had to lie to his family, Charlotte said, "I would never have asked you to take me to Club 76 if I thought someone would see us there. That was a little too close this time. Maybe we should figure out another way to work on the books together. It's only a matter of time before someone sees me here."

Appearing to ignore what she had just said, Auggie asked, "You wanna go somewhere with me?"

"Where?"

Appearing as though he was holding back a smile, Auggie replied, "My Uncle's place."

"What's there? Is that what your sister was saying 'gross' about?"

"Trust me, when we get there you'll feel right at home," he assured before informing, "I'll grab you a shirt."

"I didn't say I would go with you."

"You owe me, remember."

Knowing that she did, Charlotte shared, "Okay, but I don't do the manual labor thing."

"You can just stand there and look pretty while I do all the work."

Narrowing her eyes at him, Charlotte couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic, making fun of her or if
he had really just called her pretty. When he cleared his throat and quickly walked to his room, Charlotte couldn't help but smile. He thought she was pretty.