Page 18 of Of Course, Cutie

I shook my head. “I had a few friends in Alaska, and I have family all over the country, but I’m not close with any of them.”

Charlie nodded and slid her hand from my arm, resting it back in her lap. Disappointment settled in my chest, and I tried to ignore it. This was too strong of a reaction to have over a simple touch.

“Why aren’t you close with your family?”

I shrugged. I was the typical product of a broken home, with a father who drank too much and a mother without any self-respect. The story was so cliché that I hardly liked to admit that it was mine. “My folks split up when I was about fifteen. I have three older brothers that were already off living their lives when it happened, and we all drifted apart. None of us cared enough to put the pieces back together.”

“Do you miss them?” Charlie’s eyes searched my face.

I grinned at her. “I’m all right, cutie. Don’t you worry about me.” And I was. I was used to being on my own, and I didn’t miss my family or being married. Part of me liked being alone and keeping people at arms-length. Tess was the only one worth keeping close anyway.

I turned my attention back to Charlie’s notebook. A few lines down, I found the words she’d just written:

If you wait until you’re ready for something, you’re already too late.

I pointed to the words. “What do you mean by this?”

Charlie tilted her head and gazed into my eyes. “No one is ever ready for any of the shit life throws at them. If you feel solidly ready for something, you’ve waited too long.” She shrugged and turned her face back up to the night sky. “I guess part of the thrill of living is not being ready.”

I pulled my phone out of my pocket and sent a quick text. Charlie frowned when her phone buzzed and pulled it out to view the mind-blown emoji I’d just sent her. She threw her head back and laughed, then leaned into me. I almost slid my arm around her shoulders, but she moved away before I was ready.

Shit. She was right. If you waited until you were ready, you were too late.

But it was for the best. What was I going to do? Date my new boss’s nineteen-year-old sister? I cleared my throat and handed Charlie her notebook. “Thank you for sharing that with me.”

“You’re welcome, Burke. I live to blow your mind.”

I laughed and shook my head.

Charlie laughed, too. “I like your laugh.”

“Likewise, Charlie.”

She parted her soft pink lips and slowly took the bottom one between her teeth. Charlie leaned in a little closer and filled my senses with her minty coconut smell. Fuck. I wanted to taste those lips. I spread my legs to ease the discomfort of my stiffening cock in my jeans, but that caused my leg to press against Charlie’s. She pushed back and stared into my eyes.

I let out a slow, deep breath and stood before I lost my mind and kissed the shit out of cute little Charlie Cox. “I gotta get back to work, but I always enjoy our chats, cutie.”

“Me too.”

I needed to cool it with Charlie before I screwed up big time. She was too young and beautiful for me.

9

Charlie

On a Thursday afternoon in late-November, I pulled open the bar door and braced myself for Burke’s piercing green eyes to land on me. Even though I knew it was coming, his gaze still rattled me. No. Rattled was too gentle of a word to describe what happened when Burke looked at me. His gaze shook me to the damn core.

I hung out at the bar almost every day now. I had Burke’s schedule memorized and lived for the moment I walked through the door of ’69 and caught his eye. He always had his hair pulled back in a sexy man bun. It looked so fucking good like that, but I liked it when his hair was down, too. It wasn’t too long, and it looked perfect for tugging and hand-burying in moments of passion.

“Hey, cutie!” He called over to me with a smirk.

Fuck! Behave, body! “Hey, Burke. How’s it going?” I walked over to the bar and dropped my backpack on a stool.

“Can’t complain. Did you go to U.S. History today? You’re here later than usual.”

I laughed. “Yeah, I had a test today. I spelled out Go USA with the bubbles on the answer sheet. It was awesome.”

Burke let out his deep laugh and shook his head. “We should get some Pink Floyd playing for you.”