Page 81 of What are the Chances

Sighing, Charlotte adjusts herself on the bed. I sit back as she brings herself up, pulling her back away from the headboard.

“I won’t be the reason you’re unhappy, Mason.”

“Char, I don’t think that’s possible.”

“Okay then, I won’t be the reason you leave California.” She shakes her head again, her eyes lined with tears threatening to spill.

Leaning forward, I bring my face closer to Charlotte’s.

“You weren’t the reason.”

Her chest stills, a single tear spills over and slides down her cheek.

“What do you mean, weren’t?”

“Well,” I say, tossing my head side to side in thought. “You weren’t the only reason I moved back home.” I offer her a small smile as I reach my hand up and swipe the one tear away. “Just one.” Her skin is hot, her cheeks blushed a pale pink.

“What?” Her question falls on a breath, a breath that’s heavy and hot. One that leaves her body in one rush. That one breath, the one that leaves her chest hollow, fills me. I breathe her in. She’s the air I’ve been waiting to take in. Like a small pocket of air, ready to bring me back to life whenever I needed it. And now was one of those moments.

I’m full with Charlotte’s breath of life. I can tell that was the reason she’s been fighting so hard since the moment we stepped into this room. She was grasping at straws, finding any excuse to not make us happen because she thought I was too far away to make any possibility of us being together a reality. She was willing to put her own love for me aside for the sake of making sure I was happy.

“You live here?” She’s still staring at me, unsure whether to believe me.

“Yeah.” I hitch my thumb over my shoulder as if I’m pointing in the direction of my place. “I found a flat on the edge of town, and I have a new job with a firm not too far from here. I moved back a few weeks ago.”

“Really?” The corner of her mouth curls, still in shock.

Reaching my hand up, I tuck the loose strands of her hair behind her ear.

“Listen, Char. The moment I met you was the weirdest moment of my life. I mean, what were the chances the seat I stole at the airport gate belonged to the woman who was also best friends with my brother? Not only that, but what were the chances that same woman was the one who managed to make me fall in love with her in a matter of days?”

I inch forward, bringing my face as close to Charlotte’s as possible. She smells like flowers again. For a second, I think she smells like my mother’s garden, but then I remember the twenty baskets lining her front door. She smells like home to me.

“You frustrate me, Charlotte Kelley.” I wrap my hand around the back of her neck, feeling her warmth. “You ask too many questions and analyze everything. You stumble into strange bars in foreign countries and have your wallet stolen by a drunk.” A chuckle erupts from my throat, thinking back to the day we met. “You think people randomly carry around severed heads in metal boxes, attempting to pass them as carry-on luggage.”

Charlotte laughs. Her head tilts back and she closes her eyes. My whole body ignites, realizing this is the first time I’ve heard her genuinely laugh since I’ve seen her again. I haven’t heard her laugh this way or her face light up this bright since before.

I let her laugh until her tears disappear. Her laughs fades, but her smile stays as her eyes fall back to mine.

“Seemed like a reasonable explanation why you would be carrying something like that on an airplane.”

“Oh, yeah?”

She giggles, then slowly lifts her hand, her fingertips grazing the light stubble lining my jaw. My gut twists feeling her this way.

“Yeah, it did.” Her voice trails off as her eyes roam over my face before landing on my lips.

I smile, sliding my tongue across my lips, remembering the way she tastes. She bites her bottom lip, pinching it beneath her top teeth.

“Charlotte?” Her name fills the only space remaining between us, and I realize we’ve slowly been inching toward each other.

“Yes?”

“Would it—” The words catch in my throat. I’m unable to concentrate on anything else but her mouth. I close my mouth and clear the lump still sitting there. “Would it be okay if I kissed you now?”

“Please,” she quickly says. “And you better not stop this time.”

I don’t hesitate, feeling her words travelling straight through me, dividing between my heart and my stomach. I pull her forward with my hand, the one still wrapped around the back of her neck.

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