I CAN EXPLAIN
Neil
Well, shit. The moment I brought up the meeting next quarter, I knew I’d fucked up. I should have kept my mouth shut. We were having a good time.
Now Charli is closing up like a clamshell over there—her face unreadable, her body pushed back from the table. She’s running scared.
I’m a damned idiot.
“Hey,” I say softly. “I know this game we’re playing is temporary. But I didn’t mean to ruin our fun.” Not yet. “This thing with my uncle is a setback. But you don’t have to feel weird if my end of this bargain doesn’t work out. Hell—you probably think I’m about due for a few setbacks in life anyway, right?”
I expect her to agree, but she just shakes her head. “I don’t think karma owes you a kick in the teeth, Neil. I swear. But we made everything complicated. And then we made it more complicated. At some point, we have to make it less complicated. We might as well start now.”
Then she stands up and plucks her coat off the back of the chair.
Oh no.
I rise too, and the waiter comes running over with my receipt. I add the tip, sign, and hand it back in mere seconds. But Charli is already on the move. I don’t catch up with her until she’s ten paces down the sidewalk outside.
“Wifey,” I call, rushing after her. “Don’t ditch me. That’s in the handbook, too.”
She slows her pace and sighs.
“Don’t panic,” I say, catching up to her. “Please? I don’t expect you to throw yourself on the sword to defeat the Dark Lord. And you and I were having fun tonight.”
She stops and turns to me. “Yes, we were. I was, anyway. But fun isn’t going to get us out of this mess. And I have no idea what will.”
I search my brain for some way to disagree, but I come up blank. I take Charli’s hand in mine and rub my thumb over her palm. We start walking again, more slowly this time.
She lets me hold her hand, at least. That’s always my way in with Charli. Her words never cut me a break, but when I touch her, she can’t resist me. And she can’t hide it.
Then I realize I do have a crumb of good news for her. “Guess what? I finally hired the right divorce attorney, by the way. And the lawyer needs to meet you before I file.”
“Why does he want that?”
“She,” I say, my mouth curving into a smile. “Why did you assume it was a man. So sexist, Charli. Wow.”
She tips her head back and laughs. “Okay, that was a setup. Cheap shot, Drake.”
“Maybe.” But I got her smiling again, and I am covered in victory. Making Charli smile is one of my favorite hobbies. Along with feeding her.
And making her moan.
“Why does she need to meet me?”
“Oh—to make sure you understand your rights. And to discuss the filing. That’s why I liked her. She was unsettled by the idea that you don’t have your own representation. She’s really invested in thinking through all the issues and making sure we get the resolution we want.”
“That’s nice,” she says. “But the resolution is pretty simple, no?”
I hesitate. Because it turns out to be a little less simple than I’d thought. And if I explain this to Charli right now, her head will probably blow off. “Just meet her for coffee, okay? She’ll tell you exactly what’s going on. You’ll like her. I hired her because she gets us.”
“Okay. Sure.”
I rub my thumb over her palm again. “Thank you. I’m trying to do right by you. I hope you know that.”
She lets out a heartbreaking sigh. “I appreciate that. Even though I know you’re still hoping the night ends with you getting your dick sucked.”
I bark out a laugh. “I don’t know whether to plead guilty or not, wifey. Because I’m pretty much always angling to get my dick sucked by you. I think about it whenever I’m not playing hockey. And I’d probably think about it then, too, if the lack of focus weren’t potentially fatal.”
“Lucky for you, I’ve discovered my inner easy chick.”
“Babe.” I stop walking, and since I’m holding her hand, Charli stops, too. “Nothing about you is easy. Not one thing. But I like it that way. My whole life, people have given me the benefit of the doubt, even when I don’t deserve it. But not Charli. She makes me earn it.”
She opens her mouth and then closes it again. “I don’t know whether to take that as a compliment or not.”
“Oh, it absolutely is.” I raise a hand to her cheek and stroke the soft skin there. “You are not like other women. Being Charli doesn’t always look easy. But you know your own mind, and you are endlessly fascinating to me.”
Her lips part, and there’s a softness to her expression that I rarely see. Her pretty face is upturned and vulnerable.
The temptation is too great. I lean in and kiss those sweet lips just once. But I make it a good one. I tilt my head and try to show her how much I care. She’s not the only one who’s caught off guard by how well we click.
Firm hands land on my chest, and when I soften the kiss, she murmurs against my mouth. “What the hell am I doing with you, Neil?”
“I have a few suggestions,” I whisper.
That’s when we hear someone pounding on the plate glass window right behind us. Both our heads swivel to see Anton Bayer slapping the glass, his girlfriend Sylvie waving at us beside him.
Yup, I’ve managed to stop walking right in front of Elixir, a dark, appealing cocktail bar and a frequent hangout of my teammates who live in this neighborhood.
“Shit!” Charli squeaks. She looks up at me, and the fire is back in her eyes. “Nice going, slick. Now we’re going to be everyone’s gossip of the week. Again!”
I know I shouldn’t, but I have to laugh. “Sorry. But you were looking up at me with those sexy eyes and I could swear you were practically begging me to kiss you.”
She growls. “Doesn’t mean it was a good idea.”
“You like this place?” I hook my thumb toward the bar. “We could have a cocktail and face the gossip like champs.”
“I’ve never been. Too pricey for me.”
“Not tonight it isn’t. You get the married-to-an-idiot discount. My treat. Come on.” I put a hand on her back. “Let Sylvie get it out of her system. This way you can control the narrative.”
“My life used to be boring,” she grumbles as I steer her into the dark, chic bar. “And I liked it that way.”
“Sure, you did.” I lean down and whisper into her ear. “And you just hate coming home from practice to find me waiting in bed wearing nothing but a boner and some fun ideas.”
Charli actually shivers as I make her remember how last Monday night went down, before my road trip. I’d made a pot of chili, but I didn’t let her eat any of it for a good hour and a half after she’d arrived home. We were too busy getting busy.
Every time with her is better than the last. And it’s kind of a miracle that we’ve kept our secret this long. These days, you can probably read the sexual satisfaction on both our faces.
But I don’t get to gloat anymore, because Sylvie grabs Charli by the hand and steals her away, leading her toward a table in back where Bess Beringer and another of Charli’s teammates are waiting.