Page 45 of Take It Offline

“Can you be quiet for five seconds?” I retort, smiling against my will. “You don’t even know what it is yet.”

“You invited me over, it’s late, and you haven’t stopped staring at my mouth since I got here,” he says, wiggling his brows. “I’m in.”

Those damn dimples are going to be my downfall. I just know it.

Flushing, I force my eyes back up to his. “Are you finished, or should I come back later?”

“It won’t change my answer, but sure.” He waves a hand. “Go ahead.”

I sigh. Maybe this is a terrible idea.

“I…” Shit. Okay. “I have a problem that I can’t solve by myself.” I sincerely never imagined admitting this to him, but here we are. “It’s… personal.”

He shifts forward, lowering his foot, eyes intense. “How personal?”

“Intimately.”

Charlie takes a long, slow breath as the implication lands. “I see. And you want my help with it.”

Heat creeps up the back of my neck as I nod.

“For the last few years, I haven’t been able to come during sex.”

I dive into how it’s not a problem on my own, how it’s ruined my relationships, and how, if I could just work out why, I could get Logan back. How much time I’ve spent trying and failing.

“I don’t know what else to do.”

My mouth is suddenly dry. It’s one thing to admit it to someone I’m already involved with, naked in every way I could be. Why did I think it would be easier with clothes on?

“Hey,” Charlie says, his voice softer than I’ve ever heard before. Christ, he’s being gentle with me. I didn’t know Charlie could be gentle.

It’s only when he touches me that I realize he’s moved. He’s hovering in front of me, cupping my elbows in his palms and stroking calmly with his thumbs. It’s grounding.

“Hey,” he repeats, ducking down until our eyes meet. His are so bright. “You don’t have to tell me any of this if you don’t want to.”

“I do,” I rasp. “Want to.”

It’s easier to match his breathing now that he’s closer.

I’m not sure what fixing myself even looks like. Freedom, I guess. Or peace, maybe. Letting go. Being present. Being intimate without constantly worrying that I’m going to fuck it up. Or worse, be disappointing.

“Why me?” he asks.

Ah. The difficult part. He’ll either storm out or… I don’t know. Maybe there is no other option. If our positions were reversed and he said what I’m about to, I’d have a hard time not committing a crime.

“Okay,” I say. My heart is beating so fast I can hear it humming. “It’s going to sound bad, but I need you to listen and let me explain. Then if you want to yell at me, you can.”

His grip on my elbows tightens. He’s bracing himself. “Okay.”

Okay.

“It’s just…” I close my eyes. “I get caught up in thinking about making it good for them, so I thought it might be easier with someone I don’t care about.”

Charlie’s hands go still for an instant before he drops them altogether.

My heart clenches. This was a disastrous idea. We’re finally getting along, and I go and insult him. Great.

“Emma, look at me.”

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