“Stop messing with me, Charlee. Who is it?” He pokes my shoulder and I finally look at him directly.
“It’s Rath.”
He studies me for a few seconds and then looks to where Rath just disappeared into his office. I can see the wheels in his head turning, the question at the tip of his tongue, and my stomach bottoms out, wondering if Linus is mad at me or not.
“How long have you been seeing each other?”
I’m tempted to tell him the real reason, but I’m also nervous about it being spread around. I love Linus and he’s a great friend, but he also runs around the gossip mill and I can’t have the truth of our engagement getting out for many reasons. So, I decide to be vague.
“Um, a bit.”
He nods and looks at his hands. “Well,” he sighs, “congratulations. That’s . . . that’s great.” Gripping his planner tightly to his chest, he rises and slips past me as I stand as well.
“Hey, is everything okay?” I ask, noticing the stark change in his demeanor.
“Yes, fine.” He gives me a half-smile. “I have to head out, as Mr. Scott is useless without me. I’ll talk to you on the phone.” With a little wave, he heads out of the conference room to the elevator.
As I watch him leave, I can’t help but wonder, is he . . . judging me?
“Why didn’t you come into my office?” Rath asks, poking his head out of his office and then coming toward me where he sits on the edge of my desk right next to me. He reaches out and lovingly caresses my face with his thumb to my cheek.
I lean into his touch, seeking comfort from the crazy flipping my stomach has been going through since Linus left.
“Wanted to get some work done,” I say, but he knows I’m lying, probably from the crease in my brow I can’t seem to eliminate.
“Okay, let me know when you’re ready to tell me the truth.” He sits there, patiently, staring at me. Guess he won’t be leaving until I let him know what’s going on.
On a sigh, I twist my chair so I’m facing him and rest my head on his knee. Instinctively his hand falls to my hair where he caresses it.
“I told Linus about our engagement. He didn’t seem too thrilled.”
“Why not?”
I shrug. “No idea. But he almost seemed upset.” I lift my head and ask, “Do you think it’s because he thinks I’m goofing off instead of doing the job he helped me find?”
Rath brings his thumb across my jaw to my lip and gently pulls on it. “No. From that stellar presentation you gave and the phenomenal product you came up with, there’s no way he could think that.”
I perk up. “Phenomenal?”
He lifts me up and brings me between his legs, his hands on my lower back as he nods. “Fucking phenomenal, Charlee. You really fucking impressed me.”
I shouldn’t be so thrilled to please him—you know, I am woman, hear me roar—but I’d be lying if I denied the butterflies taking flight in my stomach from his approval.
“That means a lot to me, Rath.”
He tips my chin up. “Well, I mean it.” He nods at the elevator and says, “Why don’t we get out of here early? Celebrate your accomplishment.”
I wince. “I have a few things to finish up. How about after lunch?”
He leans in and presses the faintest of kisses across my mouth. “You have a date.” He starts to walk away but then says, “Hey, Charlee?” I look up at him. “Don’t worry about Linus, he’ll come around. He has to process things the Linus way, and I’m sure it was a surprise to him. No need to worry. Okay?”
I smile. “Okay.” And it will be. After all, Rath has known Linus since he started working for Bram. It will be okay.
Chapter Twenty-Three
RATH
“Thank you for joining me,” Grandma says, walking in front of us as Charlee and I sit side by side at the dining room table in her apartment. The dining room light is the only light on and it shines down on us as if we’re in an interrogation room. “It has come to my attention that you two have been copulating before marriage.” She slaps a wooden spoon in her hand and then sets her questioning gaze on us by leaning over the table, pointing the spoon. “Explain yourselves.”
Charlee and I glance at each other before turning back toward Grandma. Thankfully Charlee takes the lead. “You told me to test out the sheets before I said I do. I don’t understand what that could have meant other than . . . copulating.”
“Aah.” She nods and gets back up to pace the length of the dining room table. “So, you’re smart then.” Swiftly she turns. “And how was the engine? Were the pistons . . . thrusting?”
Jesus Christ, as if we’re going to answer that—
“Faster, longer, and thicker than expected,” Charlee says, not even giving it a second thought.
“Charlee, don’t say that shit to your grandma.” I feel a blush creep up my cheeks. I mean . . . longer and thicker is always nice to hear from the girl you’re dating, but never in front of her elders.
Grandma slaps the table with the spoon and then points at me. “And my granddaughter. Was she oiled up and brand new? Or . . . from the used lot?”
Fucking . . . hell.
I run my hand over my forehead. “This is too fucking much.”
Charlee rests her hand on my shoulder. “I’ll answer that for him. Slightly used but in excellent condition.”
Despite the sex swirly.
“That’s what I like to hear. So, the coupling has been received well on both ends?”
“Yes.” And from the corner to my eye, I see Charlee point at me with her thumb. “And someone is a little more virile than anticipated. The question I really ask myself every day is when does he not have a boner?”
“Wow.” I perk my head up to look at her. “So, we’re going there with your grandma? We’re really going there?”
“This is couple’s counseling.” Grandma waves her hands. “It’s time to air it all out.”
“Fine,” I say to Charlee before facing her grandma. “Your granddaughter struts around my apartment naked without a care in the world. Last night, I found her lounging on the couch, naked, legs spread, and watching porn.”
Charlee leans forward and says, “It wasn’t porn, it was a romantic short with sex.”
“That’s porn,” I deadpan. “What am I supposed to do with that? Not get a boner?”
Grandma scratches the side of her face with the wooden spoon. “I see your penis predicament here.” And then she leans over the table and right in front of me gives Charlee a high five. “That’s my girl, did you pinch your nipple too?”
“Casually,” Charlee answers. I think back to way she was in fact, playing with her nipple.
“Classic move from our side of the family. Sorry, Rath, you had no chance.”
Clearly.
“Dog or cat,” Grandma says.
We both say dog at the same time.
“Ham or bacon.”
Bacon we agree and then smile at each other.