“What?”
“For being a shitty boyfriend… I’m sorry,” he mutters. His hands are stuffed in his pockets as he averts his gaze from my face. “I never should have cheated on you, and I should have been nicer to you, and I should have known you were unhappy.”
Oh, sweet Jesus, please don’t let Beau be saying all of this in hopes of getting me back. I do not think I can handle that level of insanity.
“Thanks…” I say with uncertainty as I wait to see where this is going.
“I just want you to be happy, Charlie. You deserve to be happy.”
A huff escapes my lips. “Even if I’m with your dad?”
He lets out a loud sigh, and I can tell he’s struggling with this, but he still manages to nod. “Yeah. Even if you’re with my dad.”
“I hope you mean that.”
“After what I saw today… I don’t know I just…see things differently now. Like it’s the real thing. He obviously deserves you more than I do.”
The radiating sadness on his face draws me forward, and I take his warm, tan cheeks in my hands. “Stop beating yourself up, Beau. You’re loved and you’re young and you’ll be fine. You’re gonna find somebody who makes you feel good, someone as happy as you wish I was with you.”
Finally, his eyes lift and find mine. When I pull him into a hug, he relaxes against my body. “Is Sophie okay?” he mumbles into my shoulder.
“Yeah, she’s fine.”
“Good. I know she probably hates me.”
“She doesn’t hate you,” I reply with a roll of my eyes.
“She just scowled at me through the window,” he says with a laugh, and I turn in time to see the curtain shutting. We both laugh for a minute before I turn toward him with a sad smile.
“Do you want to come in and watch Tangled with us?”
“Tempting…but no. I think I’m gonna head home. Besides, I just left my dad’s and I’m pretty sure he’s gonna call you or want to see you.” I don’t miss the look of disgust that flashes across his face.
“Why do you say that?”
“Because he spent the last two hours telling me how much he loves you and isn’t going to wait for my permission to date you…openly.”
I freeze. “He said that?”
“Yep.”
No more hiding. No more lying to Beau or waiting for his approval. It’s real this time.
I must show my surprise because he just claps me on the shoulder as he says, “I’m gonna go then.”
“Bye, Beau,” I stammer.
Then he’s in his car and driving away, and I’m practically running to my shower. When I get out, I almost reach for my pencil skirt and blouse, but think better of it. When I go back to Emerson’s, I want to go as me. He has to take me as Charlie, if he wants me as Charlotte.
I’m shaking in my black Doc Martens as I knock lightly on Emerson’s front door. It feels like a step backward to be here as a guest. I’ve walked through this front door almost a hundred times over the last three months, but this feels almost like metaphorically starting over, redefining whatever this is. A second chance to do this right.
It doesn’t change the fact that I’m craving his nearness like I need it to survive. When he finally pulls open the door, I take in the sight of him, standing on the other side in the same blue slacks and tight gray shirt he had on earlier, but now it’s unbuttoned at the neck, revealing a patch of chest hair I know all too well.
Just being in his presence makes everything in the world feel right. That clusterfuck of a morning is a distant memory, swept away as we stand here and bask in the sight of each other. And while there are a hundred things to say, there is also nothing left to say, no words that will make this situation make sense beyond I want you, I need you, I love you. And that’s all that matters to me.
As if he can read my mind, he does exactly what I want him to do. Reaching a strong hand out, his grip latches onto the back of my neck, pulling me toward him until there isn’t an ounce of space between us. Then his mouth is on mine, his lips devouring my lips, and his tongue finding its way to mine until we are fused.
His kiss does not take or claim or steal anything that I’m not willfully giving. He grunts low and gravelly into my mouth as his other hand finds my lower back and molds me against his tall frame. The same hand creeps lower, squeezing my ass hard and making me yelp into his mouth as he lifts me, and I wrap myself around him.