Bang! Bang! Bang! I hammered away at the solid oak like it was Charlie’s chiseled abs. Shut the hell up, Charlie Dwyer! What would you know about the Eldredge knot!? Do you even own a tie?
“Of course, Dr. Perfect is handsome and charming and everyone adores him—women sigh when he walks by. But he only has eyes for you, and one day he whisks you away to Paris and there on the top of the Eiffel Tower, he gets down on one knee and proposes with a great big shiny twenty-five carat diamond—the cleanest, the purest diamond known to man.”
Seriously, this doctor man was sounding better and better by the minute, which only made me madder. I dropped the hammer and picked up the crowbar, trying to pry a stubborn plank.
Crack! The oak split when I pulled hard enough, sending me toppling back onto my bottom. Charlie was there in two quick steps to pull me up. “You OK?”
“I’m fine, really. Go on with your story. Sounds like you’re about to get to the good part. How’s the doctor in the sack?” I was a little out of breath from the labor and from the boiling anger I felt at Charlie. Which was stupid, really. He was saying things I already knew, at least where he and I were concerned. There was no we. There could never be a we.
There was him and there was me, and there was what we’d just done, and I was starting to question my judgment on that.
“In the sack?” Charlie held on to my arm and tilted his head side to side. “He’s so-so. Good enough to keep you satisfied, but not good enough to erase from your memory that one amazing night you were handcuffed to the barre.”
“My God, Charlie. The size of your ego is truly staggering.”
He grinned. “The size of my what?”
“You heard me. Now let go. I have to finish this.”
“Leave it, let’s finish tomorrow. I told you I’d come help again.”
“Ha!” I shrugged him off. “From now on, I’m declining all offers of help from you.”
“Come on. What happened here tonight was a one-time thing. And now it’s out of our systems, right? We can be friends.”
“I’m not so sure.”
“This won’t happen again. I promise.”
“What good is your promise to me? I barely know you.” I picked up my hammer again.
“Look, Erin, I know you think I’m an asshole, and maybe I am, but I like hanging out with you. You make me laugh.”
I rolled my eyes. “Really. So I should let you hang around just to laugh at me?”
“With you, not at you. Come on, you like me. I make you laugh too.”
I shrugged. “Maybe you do. Sometimes.”
“See? That’s why I know we shouldn’t sleep together again. We’ll ruin something nice.”
Hadn’t we ruined it already? Charlie didn’t seem to think so, but would I be able to handle just hanging out casually with someone whose tongue was all up in my business? I wasn’t sure. And I didn’t exactly trust Charlie to keep his hands to himself.
And he shouldn’t trust me, either.
“You really want to be friends?” I searched his face.
“Yes. Look.” He ruffled his hair again, which I now realized was his nervous gesture. “I’ve made some really bad decisions in the past. With relationships, I mean. I screwed up with every nice girl I ever dated, and I learned some hard lessons. There’s things you don’t know about me.”
“Oooooooh.” I balled my hands into fists under my chin and shivered. “Charlie has a past.”
He didn’t smile. “Just trust me when I say that you don’t want me anyway. Not like that. I’m a terrible boyfriend.”
He was right. It just stunk that the physical connection was so intense. “At least you’re honest.”
“I try.”
“Except when you’re holding up lemonade stands with squirt guns.”
He gave me The Smile. “Except for then.”
Groaning, I tossed the hammer down again. “Ugh, I can’t resist the dimples. Fine, you can help me finish this up tonight. But no more fooling around—and not because I’ll start pining for you or anything, but because I’m not really into casual sex.”
“Except when you’re handcuffed to the barre.”
My cheeks got warm. “Except for then.”
“All right. So we agree to be friends, help each other out sometimes.”
“And no more sex.” I said it again, to be sure he understood the boundary. “This was just an anomaly. Like you said, it’s out of our systems.”
“Exactly. And we both know I’m always right.”
I slugged him in the stomach. “Get to work already. It’s after midnight and you tired me out.”
In less than half an hour, we finished the job and stood next to each other beside a huge scrap pile in the center of the room. “Do you have a dumpster coming?” Charlie asked, pulling his gloves off.
“Yes, on Friday. I wouldn’t have thought of it, but Nick did.”
“Who’s Nick? Another pretend boyfriend?” He bumped me with his hip.
“Haha. No, he’s the fiancé of my friend Coco. The one you met at my house the night of the burglary. They’re actually getting married next month.”
“Right. Dark hair. Big…” He grinned sideways at me. “Smile.”
“Come on, you can say it. Boobs. You noticed her boobs, everyone does.” Turning away under the guise of gathering up the tools, I tried to ignore the zing of jealousy that shot through me. Not even the pushiest of push-up bras would give me the kind of luscious curves Coco had up top.