Page 44 of Never Kiss and Tell

“What’s the matter sweetheart? Cat got your tongue?”

My eyes shoot back to his, my cheeks burning hot.

“Hurry up and find a shirt. I want to go.”

Ten minutes later — yes, ten — and Charlie is locking up the front door of his house.

“You plan on walking all the way there?” he asks, easily catching up to me as I walk past his truck and then the one he was working on.

“Well, yeah. It’s just at the end of the road.”

He grumbles something under his breath, but follows me, nonetheless.

“Whyareyou so cranky?”

“I’m not cranky.”

I chuckle. “Yeah, you are. Did someone pee in your Cheerios one time and the feelings just stuck?”

Charlie doesn’t say anything, but an odd expression crosses his face before it’s replaced with a cold mask.

“Why are you always so annoying?”

“Touché,” I nod. “It’s probably because I am the middle child.”

For once, he laughs, a genuine chuckle.

I stare at him like he’s grown three heads. “Did you just laugh?”

“Stop.”

“I’m just saying. I didn’t know you could make that sound.”

He smacks my ass again, harsher than last time, causing me to stumble forward. His hand darts out and catches me before I can run into a family of tourists, who look at me like I’m a psychopath.

“That was highly inappropriate. They had children.”

“Then they came to the wrong city.”

Charlie seems surprised that I’m so fascinated with the rest of the Quarter. Little shops line the streets with people milling in and out of them. Most of it is geared toward tourists, but there are some really cool antique stores that I would love to go in, one day. Not with Charlie, of course. His taste in furniture isn’t something I would trust if my life depended on it.

“That place looks like the bank in Diagon Alley,” I beam,looking up at a four-story white building on a busy corner.

I can tell Charlie doesn’t know what I mean.

“Harry Potter? The biggest franchise ever?”

“I wouldn’t go that far,” he grumbles, passing by the building without a second glance.

“You know, something told me you wouldn’t be a fan.”

“I don’t have time for movies,” he shrugs.

Is this man for real? Everyone has time for movies.

“You mean to tell me you don’t invite women over to watch movies, just so you can try to slither into their pants.”

“I don’t slither and I don’t have any issues getting a woman into my bed without a movie.”

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