Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 76452 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 382(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76452 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 382(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
“Best out of three,” Spencer says, taking his seat next to mine.
“What?” I turn to look at him.
He leans in so our friends can’t hear him. “I want another kiss, Charlie. Four.” He shakes his head as if he can’t believe I’d rank him at a four.
He’s right. It was barely a kiss, and it was a solid eight, but no way will I ever tell him that. “You had your shot, big guy,” I tell him.
“Charlotte,” he growls, and I giggle.
Giggle.
Me.
Charlotte Krause does not giggle, and definitely not with this man. “Better luck next time.” I drain the rest of my drink and place the empty glass on the table. “I need the ladies’ room,” I announce and stand from the table. I don’t waste time moving through the crowd to the ladies’ room. Once inside, I lock myself in a stall and have a mini freak-out.
Spencer Pennington kissed me.
I didn’t hate it.
CHAPTER
SIX
Spencer
This week has been dragging by at a snail’s pace, and it’s only Wednesday. It might have something to do with the fact that my mind is still in Florida and on the Krause sisters. I’ve texted Audrey a few times, checking on her, and she assures me she’s good.
And Charlotte, well, I can’t stop thinking about her. Fucking four. That woman is maddening. My kiss was not a four. The sexy beauty doesn’t know it yet, but I’m going to get a redo, and when I do, I’m going to kiss the fucking breath from her lungs.
Despite her ridiculously low rating of our kiss, there was a kiss. Damn, her lips were soft, and the way she leaned into me. I reach down to my cock and adjust myself beneath my desk. She’s always done it for me, but I know all too well she’ll never give me the time of day. I know she never would have let me kiss her had she not been drinking. Now, all I need to do is figure out how to get her that relaxed again, so I can get another taste.
A knock on my office door pulls me out of my thoughts. “Come in,” I call out.
My administrative assistant, Cheryl, pops her head inside. “Linc is on line three.”
“Take a message.”
“He said if you don’t take his call, he’s coming to see you,” she tells me.
“Bastard,” I mumble under my breath. “Fine. Thank you, Cheryl.” She nods and closes the door. I glare at my phone. I’ve been avoiding my best friend all week. We got back into town late Sunday night, and I didn’t have the energy to deal with him. As the week has progressed, so has my anger. What he did to Audrey was a dick move. If he wasn’t happy, he would have known before the day of their wedding. Why play games, telling her, fuck, telling all of us that he was on the road when he wasn’t?
With a heavy sigh, I pick up the phone, hit the button for line three, and place the receiver next to my ear. “Asshole,” I greet him.
He chuckles. “I deserve that.”
“What the fuck, Linc? What happened?” I’m not hiding my irritation.
“Look, I know it was a shitty way to handle it. I’m sorry that I bailed and left you guys to handle my mess. Fuck, man, I didn’t know what else to do. It just sort of hit me that Audrey and I getting married wasn’t right, and it tore me up inside. I’m not used to feeling that way. Every day I work with people, and I can schmooze with the best of them, but this was Audrey, Spence.” He pauses, but I remain quiet, letting him collect his thoughts. “I don’t know, man. I care about her.”
“You care about her? Linc, fuck, you left her on the day you were supposed to pledge to love her forever, and you care about her?”
“I love her, but it isn’t the kind of love that she deserves. I realized that too late, out of the blue, and I panicked. I’m married to my job. That’s who I am. She deserves someone who loves her before all else.”
“Oh, so you did it for her, right? Is that what you’re saying?”
“Believe it or not, yes. That doesn’t excuse the way that I dealt with the situation, but I just… I shut down. It hit me out of nowhere, but then again, not really. It’s been something I’ve thought about a lot the last few months.”
“So you could have talked to her about this before we all drove to fucking Florida with your fiancée for your wedding that you failed to show up for. That’s bullshit, Linc.”
“I know. It sounds like a cop-out, but it’s the truth. When Audrey came home Sunday night, I was there, and I knew, just by looking into her eyes, that I’d made the right decision. She agrees. Yes, I could have gone about it better. I should have mentioned my concerns to her, and I’m confident we would have had the same outcome. She agrees, but she’s still processing everything. She’s an amazing woman, but this life, married to a man who is married to his work, isn’t what she wants.”