bloody disappointed. “I’m sorry for intruding. I’ll go—”
“No, that’s okay. I was about to leave anyway,” Ben says and winks at Charly. “It was nice to meet you.”
“Likewise,” I reply, never breaking eye contact with Charly. The bell dings as he leaves, and we are suddenly left in silence. “I should have called.”
“No! I mean, yes.” She shakes her head and walks behind the counter. “I mean, no. This is fine. You’re fine.” Finally she stops, leans her hands on the counter, and shakes her head. “You surprised the bejesus out of me.”
“I wanted to surprise you.”
“Well, you did.” She sighs and stares at me with those whiskey colored eyes. “Why are you here?”
“To see you,” I reply.
“You flew all the way to New Orleans just to see me?”
“Why does that sound unreasonable?” I can’t stand it anymore. I reach over and drag my fingertip down her temple to her chin. “Your skin is even softer than I remember, and I didn’t think that was possible. Are you with Ben?”
“I’m sorry, what?”
“You heard me.”
“Ben’s a friend of the family.” She bites her lip as I let my finger glide down her throat and to her collarbone.
I cock a brow.
“Seriously, if Ben is in love with any of us, it’s Savannah. He’s loved her since we were kids. He just needed some advice.”
“I see.”
“Were you jealous?”
“I didn’t like it,” I reply honestly. “I know I don’t have a claim on you, and I have no right to be jealous, but seeing another man’s hands on you didn’t feel good.”
“I don’t think you’d be here if you didn’t give a fuck,” she replies, reminding me of what I said to her in Montana.
“And I give a fuck.”
She sighs and watches me for a moment. “Did you come to town for a weekend of sex?”
And just like that, she’s pissed me off.
“No, Charlotte. I didn’t come to town to get off. If that were my goal, I could do that just about anywhere. That’s not my style.”
“Okay.”
She cocks a brow and braces her hand on her hip, and I’ve never been so fucking attracted to anyone in my life. Strong women are incredibly sexy.
“I’m here because I missed you, and I wanted to see you.”
“I’m surprised you didn’t call.”
“I’ll be honest. For a while I was just stubborn, and convinced myself that you didn’t want to see me again.”
“I’m not sure I do.”
I still. Her eyes are happy, and her body language is open. Am I misreading this?
“But then I realized that I missed you and I wanted to come find you, even if it was just to take you to dinner to see how you are.”
“You came for dinner?”
“You’re making this quite difficult.”
Her lips twitch and I feel just a bit better.
“I really wanted that phone call, not that I would have admitted it.”
“I’ll add you to my phone right away.”
She bites her lip for a moment, and then suddenly runs around the counter and launches herself into my arms, holding on with all her might.
“I’m happy to see you.”
“I’m glad. You scared me there for a moment. I thought you were going to kick me out on my arse.”
“I just—” She leans back far enough to look me in the eye. “I’m still learning.”
“It seems we both are, darling.”
“How long are you in town for?”
“A week,” I say and return her wide smile. “I’m thinking of bringing this fall’s retreat to New Orleans, so I thought I’d look at possibilities and spend some time with you, if you’ll give me some. My agent is going to book a couple of radio shows while I’m in the area, and I can do my other radio show from here.”
“You’re bringing your business to New Orleans.”
“Just for the week, so I can see you. I can’t take the week off completely, Charly. I’m sorry.”
“No, don’t be sorry.” She shakes her head and hugs me again. “Are you exhausted from the flight? Hungry?”
“Both.” I grin as she pulls away and finds her cell phone. “What are you doing?”
“Calling in some help. I’m taking the rest of the day off. I’ll help you get settled.”
“Are you certain?”
She simply winks at me and listens as the phone rings against her ear. “Hello, Linda? It’s Charly. I could use some help at the shop today. Would you be willing to come in and stay until closing?” She nods and adjusts a display as Linda talks. “Perfect. No, that’s just fine, sugar, thank you. I’ll see you in an