Page 54 of The Pucking Fake Marriage

Her cheeks flame red. To her credit, she ignores my jab. “I just wanted things to go well, and?—”

“Sorry I ruined the cute get-together, then.” Now,I’m behaving like a child, and as much as I hate myself for it, I can’t help it. Kali pissed me off enough for me to leave the house and drive back to Philly the next day. Meanwhile,Charlie stayed. In the worst of my imaginations, she got back together with Kali and spent the weekend reconnecting with him.

“I just wanted things to go well,” Charlie repeats doggedly. “But Kali went too far with that little sociopathic comment. I only hung around the house long enough to tell him what a jackass he was. But when I came out into the driveway, you were gone. I ordered a cab and came back to the city. I thought you might need time to think, so I spent the last two nights at my old apartment with Haley.”

My anger deflates out of me like a balloon.

Damn this woman.

Damn the effect she has on me. But I can’t deny I like her version of what happened better than what I’ve been imagining.

“I’m sorry,” she says, looking up at me. “All of this is a little bit too much, I know. I’m sorry you still have to hear Kali talk to you like that. I’m sorry?—”

“That you’ve kept me in the dark all this time?”

Charlie blinks up at me, evidently confused. “What do you mean?”

I let out a sound that is half-grunt, half-growl. Charlie sticking up for me—allegedly—does not change everything else that happened during that awful dinner. Or the last ten years. In a few seconds, I feel my anger seeping back in, furious and more unrestrained than it was a moment ago.

“What the hell did your mother mean by that ‘nice guys finish last’ comment?”

I can tell that she’s going to pretend ignorance even before she utters a word. As sure as rain, she croaks, “What?”

That word breaks the reins of my anger and propels it toward piping hot rage.

Wrapping my fingers around her tiny wrist, I yank her to me. A sound of surprise spills from her lips as she collides against my chest. Her second bag slides over her shoulder, and I’m already pulling at her before it even hits the ground. Away from the door, from my couch and the TV, over to the other side of the living room where the true selling point of my apartment lies—the floor-to-ceiling windows that spread Philadelphia at our feet.

“No,” Charlie mutters. Her dark eyes are wide with fear.

Now this is one of the upsides to screwing someone you’ve been friends with for years. She knows exactly what I’m about to do.

But she’s responding to this situation differently than I expected. I intensify my grip on her wrist, my rage still boiling within me. “What the hell does that mean?” If this woman is going to keep playing the unsure game, I’m going to lose it.

She directs her eyes to the front of my pants. I follow her gaze, mildly surprised to note that my dick has created a huge outline against the fabric. Hell, Charlie evokes so many emotions in me—passion, rage, lust, fury—and apparently, I’ve lost track on how to keep them apart.

But there’s no need to worry about it this very minute, while she’s driving me up the wall.

“I’ve had it up to here with you, Chapman.” My deathly calm voice manages to not betray the depths of my anger. “First you have me promise I’m never going to touch you in our sham of a marriage, and then you’re practically begging me to lick you dry in your own kitchen. And now, I come to learn—from your mother, no less—that you’ve wanted me for far longer than I ever dared imagine.”

Panic rises in Charlie’s eyes, but I pay it no mind. I’vethought about that inane sentence more times than I’d like to admit, and IknowI’m right. Ariel said something about how Charlie had tochoosethe other guy. I’d assumed that Charlie fell in love with Kali so completely she’d never considered anyone else.

But I was wrong. Somewhere within those four years, shechose.

And she’s kept me in the dark ever since.

There’s no use pretending that doesn’t vex me. That, andthe fact that Charlie is set on not admitting how she truly feels about me.

“I don’t know for certain what my mom meant with that,” she starts, but I cut her off.

“I’m positive that you do. And while you’d like to keep lying to me, I’d rather save us some time and cut to the chase. This little game was fun at first, but no more. I’m not going to let you keep pretending that you don’t want me. Since obviously, you do.”

For the first time, her eyes flash with irritation. “So what? You’re going to force me into admitting I like you?”

A smirk forms on my face as I close the gap between us. “Force?” I swipe one of my fingers across the front of her dress, catching her nipple in the process. Charlie closes her eyes, a small sound of pleasure spilling from her lips. “I don’t need to force you, baby. You’re going to be full of words by the time I’m done with you.”

Charlie drags in a harsh, shallow breath. Her eyes are wary, but I can see clearly what I saw back in the house.

She wants me. Bad.

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