“Maybe. That might be true. But you’ve got to admit you’re not the easiest person to get to know.”
“Why do you say that? I don’t think I’m particularly difficult. I usually answer any question someone asks me with the truth.”
She cocked her head. “I guess that’s true too. Maybe the reason it feels harder to get to know you is that you wait for people to ask you before you open up.”
“Doesn’t everyone?”
“No. Not everyone. Some people go around and spill all their thoughts to anyone who’s willing to listen.”
“Yes. They do. But other people don’t tell the truth even when someone asks them a question, and they’re the hardest to get to know.”
There was something in his tone that made Taylor stiffen her spine. “Is that directed at me?”
“Not in a bad way. But you’ve got to admit that, for all you pretend to always say what you think, you don’t let people in very far. So, of the two of us, which do you think is actually harder to get to know?”
She made a face at him as she chewed her bite of eggs. “Fine. You might have a point. I’m difficult.”
“Yes,” he said, smiling again just at the corners of his mouth. “You really are.”
“If I’m so difficult, why did you bother spending all night and the morning with me?”
“Maybe I like difficult.”
Those tingles really were getting ridiculous. They had no business running down her spine and fluttering in her chest that way.
Since the feelings were making her nervous, she changed the subject to some politic news she’d read earlier on her phone. They had a good conversation—since Charles was intelligent and well-informed—and the tingles didn’t trouble her again until they were cleaning up after they’d finished.
She was rinsing off the plates, and Charles was loading the dishwasher. And she was laughing at a story he was telling about some of his friends in Azalea, who’d evidently pretended to hate each other until they’d fallen in love.
Then without warning Charles turned her around, pushed her back against the sink, and kissed her.
It was a soft kiss. Slow and gentle. And it sent her heart and body into a tailspin almost immediately.
“What was that for?” she asked breathlessly when he drew back slightly.
He took her head between his hands and tilted it up toward him for better access. “That was because I like it when you laugh like that. For real. Not sarcastic or distanced. When you laugh like that, you need to be kissed.”
Her lips parted. Her knees and hands trembled slightly. She raised her arms so she could hold on to the back of his neck as he leaned into another kiss. This one longer. Deeper. Heart-stoppingly slow.
His tongue explored her mouth, teased the inside of her lips, played with hers until she was practically melting from the intense sensations. Her groin was throbbing, but even that wasn’t as strong as what was happening to her heart.
He tasted like coffee and vanilla. His body was so hot it burned her skin. Her knees buckled, and she might have fallen had he not been holding her securely against the sink.
Then his hands started moving all over her body, teasing one of her nipples, cupping her bottom. He was getting hard. She could feel the bulge in his underwear against her middle, and she rubbed herself against it urgently.
She had no idea how he could do this to her—turn her on so quickly after a deeply satisfying night. But soon she was shamelessly eager, clawing at his bare back.
The kiss went on and on until she was practically sobbing against his mouth. Then he finally gathered her up in his arms and carried her back into the bedroom.
They had sex again, slow and deep and lingering, with him on top and her legs wrapped high around his waist. He kept kissing her the whole time until she had to break away to cry out loudly as she came and then came again. He grunted like an animal as he worked up toward climax too, and she loved how he let himself go at the last minute, like he was giving her everything he had.
They were both panting loudly, sweating and tangled together afterward. She was still wearing her T-shirt, and his underwear was pushed down partway because they’d been too urgent to get undressed before they’d gone at it.
Taylor was smiling as she stroked his bare back. Charles pressed little kisses against her throat.
“Definitely hiding secret talents,” she said, hoarse from how loud she’d been.
His body shook with silent laughter. “Not hiding. You just never asked to see.”
“Well, I’m glad you finally showed me because I wouldn’t have missed that for the world.”
“Me either.”
CHARLES COULDN’T REMEMBER when he’d last had such a good time. Maybe he never had.
He was finally leaving Taylor’s house at nine thirty, after breakfast and more sex and a thirty-minute doze to recover. He’d put back on his clothes from the wedding. He needed a shower and clean clothes and then maybe a two-hour nap, but he had to get back to the house in Azalea before he did so, which was almost an hour away.
A car drove by as he was walking to his own car. He didn’t recognize it, but it slowed down, so he glanced into the driver’s side window to see if it was someone he knew.
It was. Gina Pascal from school. She was one of those snotty mean girls he’d never liked. She waved at him, so he waved back and then promptly forgot about her as he climbed into his car to leave.
As he pulled onto the highway, he kept replaying the events of the night before over and over again in his mind. He thought about what she’d said. What he’d said. What she’d done. What he’d done. What they’d done together.
He’d never for a moment believed casual sex could be so good or make him feel so close to someone.
He’d thought it was supposed to be distant and kind of empty, but that wasn’t how he’d felt with Taylor at all.
They’d left things on good terms but with a clear expectation that nothing else would happen between them. They’d see each other around, of course, the way they had all their lives. But they weren’t going to go to bed together again.
He wished that weren’t the case, but they’d been open and explicit about the situation, and he was a grown-up, not a heartsick teenager who couldn’t take no for an answer.
Maybe in a few months, they’d be at another wedding together, and she’d want to do it again. If that was what he could hope for, he’d take it. It was better than nothing.
He was getting close to Azalea when his phone rang. Seeing it was his sister, he hit the button to accept the call through the car speakers. “Hey, Ariana. What’s going on?”
“Are you dating Taylor now?” she demanded, sounding unexpectedly outraged.
He almost choked on his surprise. “What? What are you talking about?”
“Are you dating Taylor?”
“No, I’m not dating Taylor! What are you talking about?”
“I don’t know! I just got a call from Shelley, who wanted to know what was going on with you and Taylor and why I hadn’t told her about it. I had no idea what she was talking about, but evidently the word is going around that you and Taylor are dating.”
He was suddenly cold. His stomach churned. It took him several seconds to work through his feelings so he could answer his sister with whole words. “We aren’t dating. I have no idea...” He trailed off, suddenly realizing what had happened. “Damn it,” he muttered, cursing Gina silently for telling everyone that she’d seen him leaving Taylor’s house first thing in the morning, after having obviously slept over.