Page 85 of The Charm of You

A strong boy who climbed out of the window for me, for apparently, no good reason.

All because a bottle of Merlot ratted us out.

chapter

twenty-six

AUSTIN

“She totally knew.” Caroline’s voice fills my quiet room from my phone’s speaker.

I freeze with a cup in my hand, the cabinet to the left of my sink still open.

“My mom stared at me over the rim of her wineglass like she was trying to peer into my brain.”

“What did she say?” I ask with a wince as I finally close the cabinet and fill my cup with much-needed water.

I climbed out of her window almost an hour ago, and I’ve been pacing a hole in my carpet ever since. I got her to the brink of a climax, but I didn’t have the pleasure of seeing it through. It’s like pausing mid-sneeze.

Every muscle in my body screams for me to race back over there and finish what we started.

“She didn’t say anything,” Caroline says on a soft exhale. “She didn’t speak for fourteen minutes, and when she did, it was to tell me she’s going to the store for more coffee since we’re out. I offered to go, but she insisted. According to her Health app, she didn’t clock enough steps today. There are mall walkers, and then there are grocery store walkers like my mom.”

I gulp half a cup of water and grunt.

“I’m sorry I made you climb out the window. In hindsight, I was being ridiculous.”

“Didn’t want to be the one to say it, but…” I tease.

Her giggle crackles through the speaker. “It’s just that I have not been home since I was a teenager, and being here now sometimes makes me feel like I’m right back there, with rules and restrictions from my mom, one of which was to never be alone with boys in my room.”

The mention of other boys in her room singes my nerve endings, and my eye twitches. “You’re completely alone now?”

“Yes. Why do you… ask?”

Did her breathing just grow heavier?

I set the cup on the counter and stalk into my bedroom, where darkness welcomes me. I sink onto the edge of the bed, already in a change of clothes. That’s the only task I managed to accomplish when I arrived home, and what a task it was.

It was so hard to think straight that I put my damn boxers on backward.

Since I left Caroline’s, I’ve been distracted by the same mental picture of her on her bed, unsatisfied. Such a travesty should be illegal.

Even though I’m in the privacy of my own apartment, I lower my voice when I say, “We need to finish what we started. Right now.”

There’s a pause before her voice sounds again. “How do you mean?”

“Touch yourself, Princess. Let me hear you while you come.”

A whimper filters into my room through the speaker as I set my phone aside and reach into my own pants, my dick rock solid and pulsing. It’s begging for release.

“I don’t know…” she says.

I palm the head of my cock and hiss as the memory of her touching me resurfaces. “Be a little bad with me,” I urge as I swipe the drop of pre-cum with my thumb, picturing the way her mouth fell open last night when she held me in her hand.

Her eyes had widened, and the sense of pride fucking knocked the wind out of me.

“I think I’ve been plenty bad with you this week.”

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