Page 48 of The Pucking Fake Marriage

Ariel downs another glass of wine, smirking. “Oh well.Call it motherly intuition. Ken always looked extra furious when Kali was around Charlie.”

“Mom,”Charlie hisses again.

This would have been the kind of Thanksgiving conversation that evoked laughter and fond memories with another group of families. But this… I meet Ariel’s eyes, and the revelation dawns on me. Charlie’s mother isn’t just trying to joke around for the fun of it. I stood up to her because of Charlie, and she’s trying to make me pay for it.

Two can play at that game.

I grin back at her, my glass raised. “I did have a crush. A really big one. Good of you to remember.”

Charlie stiffens beside me, and my father lets out a cackle of uncomfortable laughter. Ariel suddenly looks uncertain, like she didn’t expect me to throw myself under the bus so willingly.

“Kali and Charlie made the perfect couple.” That comes from my mother now. Always eager to mention her dear Kali.

“Yes,” Ariel agrees, taking another sip of wine. “I sort of wonder what it would’ve been like if Kali and Charlie got married. We would’ve been in-laws, for one.”

The first comment in a while Ariel hasn’t directed toward me, and yet it’s the one that burns a sizzling hole in my belly. Imagining my brother doing the things to her thatIdid, that I still plan to do, is too much to bear. Particularly when I’m in the same house where I watched them be together for almost half a decade.

“Well, we’renotmarried.” Charlie’s voice cuts like a whip. It’s her first real contribution to the conversation. “That was a high school relationship, and it ended ten years ago.”

My mother looks thrownoff, but Ariel flashes a knowing smile at her daughter. “I know, I know. Still, it’s fun to imagine, isn’t it?”

“Not really.” Charlie’s voice is even sharper now.

The sizzling in my belly grows louder. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think she is still somewhat upset for losing Kali.

But damn it, Idoknow better. No way in hell she wants me this much and is still torn up over him.

“Oh, come off it, Charlotte.” Ariel waves her hand, dismissing her daughter. “Let your old parents have fun.”

Charlie says nothing. She merely resumes eating, and the conversation at the table gradually slips back into neighborhood issues.

I glance at Charlie. Something about how she’s sitting has caused her tits to be thrust out even further, half hanging out of her neckline. A desperate need seizes me, one that propels me into wanting to touch her, wanting to know for sure that Kali isn’t an unspoken ghost in her mind.

Turning back to my plate, I let myself revel in the irony for a second. I’d gone from putting Charlie behind me for a decade to worrying about Kali appearing in her life again. A visit to the past is all it took to bring that part of me back.

Without thinking, I let my fingers rest on her lap. Charlie reacts instantly, her body jerking forward on the chair. She meets my gaze, her eyes frantic and wide.

I ignore it. Frustration about this whole situation is piling up in me and has finally reached a breaking point. And damn it, I’m a saint for making myself hold back.

I drive my fingers upward, underneath her ridiculously tight dress, heading for her center. My fingers brush across the warm insides of her thighs, skating past them until I reach her core.

Charlie takes another deep breath, but she doesn’t moveto stop me. I let myself feel her underwear. A fuckinglacy, skimpy excuse for panties. A feeling of victory resounds deep in my skull as I look up at her. When she meets my gaze this time, the words in her eyes are clear.

She wore that for me.Hell, she probably wore the whole outfit with the hope she’d drive me mad enough to take her as soon as we had a chance.

That knowledge feels almost as good as an orgasm.

As our parents’ conversation flows above our heads, I curl a finger around the lace and push it to the side. Her entire body trembles as I rub my thumb over her clit. Her thighs squeeze my palm in between them, locking me in.

Another flush of victory threatens to overwhelm me.

Kali who?

I look sideways at her face. Her cheeks are reddened, there’s a slight sheen of sweat on her forehead, and her teeth are gritted, but there’s a sparkle of excitement dancing in her eyes.

Now,thatlook is one I haven’t seen in a while. She looks like the excited, mischievous girl I once knew. A girl who dared to test the boundaries and rebel.

Almost makes me forget the sheer recklessness of fingering her under the table in front of our families.

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