Page 43 of Wreck Me
She nodded, biting her lower lip, and looked away for a moment before looking back at him. “Give me a minute to get my things and I’ll be ready.”
“I’ll be here.”
She lifted the countertop and moved out from behind the bar, shooting him a smile as she walked by him, headed to the back. Above the smell of cleaning products from the bar and stale food from years of cooking, her perfume wafted up to him as she passed by him.
He adjusted his crotch and blew out a breath. He wasn’t sure how much longer he’d be able to hold out being near her without touching her. His hands itched to touch every inch of her body. The time for helping himself with his hand was over.
“You’re still here?” Charley came up beside him and leaned on the bar.
“Yeah, thought I’d take Megan home, save you the trip.”
“Thanks, I appreciate that.” Charley stacked her arms on the bar and laid her head on top of them. “I’m beat.”
He brushed a stray hair out of her eyes and studied her. “You okay?”
She nodded her head, the movement against her arms making her hair fall back in her eyes. She brushed it away before sighing. “I’m just…physically and emotionally exhausted. I feel like I’m in a rut.”
“Things not going well here? Or with Mom?”
Charley raised her head from the bar and turned around so she leaned her back against the bar. “Things here are fine. Marcus has started teaching me more of the business side. It’s been eye-opening, and my degree is finally coming into play a bit.” She sighed. “And Mom’s fine. She’s doing more travel, you know, so we don’t get to butt heads as much.”
“So what’s the problem? Seems like things are going well enough.”
She sighed and looked down at her feet. “Yeah, but…I guess I’m just bored. I’ve never really done anything. I mean, I’ve traveled some but not much. All I’ve ever done is work and college. I listen to all the things you and Del and Amelia have done and it sounds exciting. Megan has told me some stories of living in Nashville, and you wouldn’t believe some of the people she met on the regular. Some of the biggest names in country music. They knew her on a first-name basis.”
“Yeah, she told me. Though I didn’t realize they knew her so well.” He probably should have realized that, but he had trouble reconciling the Megan he was coming to know with the Megan hanging with the high rollers. It made him want to know more about her. Where had she been other than Nashville? What had she done? How did that shape who she was now?
And this is why he hesitated. He wanted to know way more about her than was wise.
Charley’s sigh brought his attention back to her. She looked back up at Aidan. “I guess I just want some adventures. I mean, except for Grace—who’s perfectly content to stay in town and teach those rugrats—all of y’all have done something at some point. Noah went off to college before Dad died. Del, well he’s been everywhere, you’ve been everywhere—”
“Because I was in the military, Charley.”
“But still,”—she rose on her tiptoes, her voice rising in pitch and volume—“you did something. Amelia went off to France and New York.” She sighed and stared out in front of her. “I wish I could be like Grace. Be content. But I’m not like her.”
Aidan chuckled. “No, you’re not and never have been.”
She laid her head on his shoulder. “What do I do, Aid?”
It wasn’t the first time she’d asked him that, typically with her head resting on his shoulder or his arm if he were standing since he had about a foot on her. She usually came to him first, instead of to their mother. That had been borne of them being the youngest two, and happened even more after their dad died and their mom was grieving.
Before he could answer her, Megan walked toward them, a smile on her face. “This is a sweet picture. Reminds me of Nate and me.”
Charley lifted her head and painted a smile on her face. “Yeah, I like this one.”
She tried to reach up and ruffle his hair, but he stood from the stool, and she couldn’t reach his head. “But this one?” He jerked a thumb at Charley. “She’s pesky like a gnat.”
Charley gasped in mock indignance, making him laugh. He leaned down to hug her. She wrapped her arms around him, up on her tiptoes, and he murmured in her ear. “Follow your gut, Charley. Mine’s never steered me wrong before.”
When he pulled back, she looked up at him, a smirk on her lips. “Keep that in mind when you get home.”
She winked and stepped away, before looking over at Megan. “You ready?”
“We’re walking her to the car,” Aidan supplied, when Megan looked between them.
“I’m ready.”
A few minutes later, they’d tucked Charley into her car, with Aidan promising to catch up with her later. Then it was just the two of them in the night air, walking toward the SUV he’d driven from work.
