Page 15 of Man Glitter
“Morning, Doc,” he drawled, and if I wasn’t mistaken, he flexed his abs.
“Uh…” Words were impossible.
He turned and headed to his dresser, not bothering to cover himself with the towel. Which was fine by me because his backside was a sight to behold as well, the sculpted globes of his ass practically begging to be squeezed by my hands. A tiny drop of water slid down the indent of his spine and into the slight dimple above his ass. I was suddenly thirsty. And hot. Scorching hot.
Charlie turned again, slowly stepping into a pair of underwear and tucking himself inside. A crying shame to keep that thing covered up. Like putting a robe on Michelangelo’s David. I shut my mouth and swallowed, finding my mouth desert-level dry. All my fluids had headed south.
“Like what you see, Rudolfina?” Charlie winked at me, the smug little smirk the splash of cold water to the face that I needed.
I stood tall, all five-foot-ten inches of me trying desperately to recover from seeing Charlie naked as the day he was born. He proceeded to pull on some jeans and a worn T-shirt while I watched. It was a reverse strip tease and yet every bit as exciting as the original version. He could even zip his pants without my help.
I blinked.
He could zip his pants. What the hell was I still doing living here when he clearly didn’t need my help anymore?
“Charlie,” I started, having to clear my throat when it came out a croak. “We need to talk.”
He hissed in a breath and then smiled, always the jokester. “Sounds serious, Doc. Maybe we can get some breakfast first and then chat?”
He swept out of the room and called back that he’d make me a smoothie. I shuddered. His smoothies were almost as bad as his juice cleanses. I trailed behind him, grabbing some clothes out of my bag and getting dressed in the guest bathroom I’d taken over as mine for the time being. My brain seemed to have short-circuited. All I could see were flashes of that fabulous cock. The way it leaned left. The way it grew in the scant seconds he’d stood there naked in front of me. What would it look like fully erect? I squeezed my thighs together and begged myself to stay focused.
My priority was squashing this rumor and moving the hell out. Now dressed, I splashed water on my face and tried to convince myself that moving back to my new house was what I wanted. Somehow, that idea seemed to lose its luster in just a few short days with Charlie and his ridiculous antics. Plus, Chester. I’d miss that dog and his intuitive whine.
“You’re an emergency medicine doctor, Finnie Dorado. You stay focused and do what needs to be done. Feelings are bullshit and unreliable. You know this,” I said to myself in the mirror.
A flashback to me crying in a supply closet at the hospital in San Francisco hit me like a ton of bricks. That’s what happened when I let emotions rule the day. I’d pulled myself together back then under unthinkable conditions and promised myself not to indulge in those pesky feelings ever again. Maybe it worked for others, but not for me. Never for me.
With that reminder steeling my spine, I left the bathroom, took a sip of the disgusting smoothie Charlie handed me in the kitchen, and sat down to tell him two things. I was moving out, and he needed to go into town today to squash that ridiculous rumor.
“Here’s the deal, Charlie. I’m—”
Charlie held his hand up and interrupted me.
“Before you get your panties in a twist, I didn’t know you’d be in my room. I could have sworn the door was closed before I hopped in the shower, so that little peep show is on you. I’m not uncomfortable with nudity, but I have a feeling you might be.”
My hand dropped onto the counter. Problem with nudity? Excuse me?
“Um, I don’t have a problem with nudity. I’m a doctor, for Christ’s sake. I see naked bodies all the time.”
Charlie smirked, a green juice mustache above his lip. The man had no right to smirk and look that damn hot doing it when he also looked like an overgrown idiot. “I don’t know, Doc. You appear a bit strung tight after seeing me naked. I just have that effect on women. Don’t worry about it.”
I stood up, the stool almost tipping over. “I’m not ‘strung tight.’ I just wanted to have a serious conversation with you about our living arrangements.”
Charlie padded over in bare feet to put an arm around me, those muscles I’d seen this morning pressed into my side. Oh God, he smelled good.
“You saw the goods and now you want to sleep in my bed. Am I right?”
I shoved his hard body away with my elbow, nearly spilling his hideous smoothie. “No!”
Charlie cracked up. “I’m just teasing you, Rudolfina. Why don’t you come out to my workshop and I’ll show you how to work off some of that stress that’s got your panties up your crack?”
My face flamed red. “They’re not up my crack. I’m not even wearing any!”
Charlie’s eyebrow lifted. “Oh, really?”
I threw my hands in the air. “Ugh! I’m not wearing any because I ran out of clean clothes because I’ve been living out of a duffle bag to help you out when you’re not even injured enough to need my help and now the town is gossiping about us and all because I didn’t realize you could zip your own pants already!”
Charlie froze, the silence between us stretching out after my outburst. Chester came over to my side and sat, his head butting against my hand and his cute little whine calming me down.
