Beyond the Orange Moon (Mathews Family Book 2) (11 page)

Fuck me
.
 

She froze the minute her eyes connected with his. She blinked twice, then once more, her lids falling over her widened eyes in slow motion. She pitched forward when a giggling Grace bumped into her from behind, but caught herself on a high-top table, never taking her eyes from Charlie.
 

“Lucy,” Grace said as she hugged her from behind. “Why are you stopping?” Grace followed Lucy’s eyes, and stopped when they landed on Charlie. “Oh, shit.”

Lucy slapped her arm. “Shh.”

Another woman, who looked to be in her late twenties, pushed past the two and approached the bar. She was completely unfazed by Lucy’s sudden stop. She looked over at Brandon, Charlie, Hugh, and Jonah, and smiled as she hopped up on a stool and scanned each one of them, taking them all in. “Brothers,” she eventually slurred. “My favorite.”

Hugh turned in her direction. “Drunk women,” he said with a grin, “our favorite.”

She leaned forward and grabbed Hugh’s chin. She moved his head from side to side and pursed her red lips. “I don’t think you could handle me, baby.” She looked down the line of Mathews men and climbed down from her stool. She fell into Jonah’s arms, and smiled up at him. “But you could.”

Brandon and Michael roared with laughter as Jonah pointed at the bar, a silent demand for Michael to get her a drink.
 

“She’s wasted, man. C’mon,” Michael pleaded.
 

“I have a cab,” the woman said, her eyes not leaving Jonah’s.

“She has a cab, Olerson,” Jonah said, and grinned at the girl.
 

Charlie watched Lucy straighten her back and carefully head over to him as Grace whispered in her ear with very little elegance. Lucy closed her eyes and nodded, before the two finally parted ways.
 

Lucy stopped in front of Charlie. She looked at him and bit her lower lip. “I’m not following you,” she murmured.
 

Charlie felt a bubble of amusement building in his chest. “I don’t think that.”

“Well, I just wanted to get that out of the way,” she said. “I didn’t know you would be here.”

“How could you? Sit,” he said, and watched as she slipped into the seat. “Do you want something? Water, maybe?”
 

She tossed her little silver purse on the bar and shot him a warning look. “Do I look like I need water?”
 

Charlie left the laugh he felt coming submerged where it belonged. He shook his head quickly. “Nope. Not at all.”

“Good.” She quickly lowered her chin once; it was a stern look that he may have deserved, but it was pretty gorgeous, too. “Lydia!” she yelled to the girl in Jonah’s lap. “Shots!”

Grace twirled around and took the stool next to Hugh. “Shots!” she yelled, and dropped her purse on the bar.
 

“Whatever they want,” Charlie said to Michael. “Put it on my tab.”

Michael raised a brow as he looked from Lucy to Charlie. “You got it.”

Charlie felt Brandon’s eyes on him. Hugh and Jonah were too absorbed in Grace and the woman, who he only recently discovered was named Lydia, to even notice his encounter with Lucy. Brandon smirked a little when it became clear that this wasn’t Charlie’s first time meeting Lucy. He nodded his head, a signal of his absolute approval, and looked away to give them privacy. In that moment, Charlie was thankful he had been sitting next to his older brother and not the two younger ones; they would have not been so easy on him.
 

He looked down at Lucy, who flung her shot back the minute it was put in front of her. She blanched and twisted her little nose up in disgust. “Gross,” she said, and pushed the empty glass away.
 

“Lydia’s Delights?” Charlie asked Lucy, and shifted his chin in that direction. “Same Lydia?”

Lucy pulled Charlie’s beer from his hand and took a sip. “Yep,” she confirmed, and handed it back. “She’s my cousin. And my boss, I guess.”

“She seems to like my little brother, Jonah.”

Lucy looked down the line of people on the other side of her. “Huh,” she said simply, and looked back at Charlie. “I can see why.”

“Can you?” he asked with a laugh. “I don’t know how I’m supposed to take that.”

“Oh, don’t act like you don’t know.”

“Don’t know what?” He truly was puzzled.

She scoffed and gave a dismissive wave. “You’re all so …” she paused to hiccup. “So hot.”
 

Charlie could do nothing but take a long sip from his beer. He may have heard that once or twice before, but even to this day, he didn’t know what to say back to it.

“And you,” she continued.

“Me?”

“Yes, you … ugh. You’re like a Greek God. How tall are you, anyway?”

Charlie nearly spit out his beer. “I’m six three.”

“Exactly,” she said. “Is anyone in your family ugly? Were your parents supermodels or something?”
 

He had to laugh at that. “Not that I’m aware of.”

She shot him a peculiar look, and asked, “Didn’t you say you have a sister?”

“Dylan. She’s the twin of Lydia’s Delight’s boyfriend down there.”

“Where’s she at?”
 

“Boston. And, no, she’s not ugly.” Charlie frowned. “Neither is her fiancé, Ben. Matter of fact, I hope you never see him.”

Lucy threw him a sidelong glance. “Why?”

He grinned. “He might be too—to use your word—hot. I don’t want you anywhere near him.”

Charlie had seen it too many times to count. Every single woman that even glanced Ben McKenna’s way was an instant puddle on the floor. He was the panty-dropper of the group. And, though he had hung it up a long time ago and his heart belonged to Dylan, his effect remained the same.
 

“Why do you do that?” she asked quietly.
 

“Do what?”

“Act like you don’t want anyone else to look at me?”
 

Charlie frowned. “I don’t know,” he answered as honestly as he could. “I’m sorry.”

She swayed and let out another hiccup. Not caring to discuss it any further, she yelled, “Shots!”

Grace and Lydia both hollered out girly hoots of approval as Michael got to work.
 

“Do you really think you need another one?” Charlie asked, wondering how much more alcohol her tiny body could hold.
 

Lucy lifted the glass and held it to her lips. She looked at him with hooded eyes and raised her drink, at which Grace and Lydia let out a few more high-pitched
woots!
“To Channing Tatum,” she yelled, and grinned when the girls went crazy again. She closed her eyes, and flung back the shot.

“So, where were you before this?” Charlie asked, completely amused.
 

Lucy grimaced and put the empty glass down on the bar. “Bachelorette party. It was lame. The bride hated our nipple clamps.”

Charlie’s eyes went wide at the twitch he felt below. “
What
?”
 

Lucy nodded, but then her brain seemed to catch up with her mouth and her cheeks burned a pretty pink color. She turned to gaze into his eyes. “I don’t wear nipple clamps. I don’t think that came out right.”

Charlie swallowed hard, and said, “I … uh … didn’t think you did.” But now he was picturing it, of course. It was something he’d never imagined before in his life.
 

Lucy hiccupped again, and grinned lazily. “Let’s make a deal: you erase everything I say tonight from your head forever.”

He had to laugh at that. God, she was so cute. “Deal,” he said, but had a feeling he would not keep that promise.
 

Lucy considered something for a minute as she stared at him from under her long, beautiful lashes. “I guess it doesn’t matter. You seem hell-bent on never seeing me again.”

He frowned and looked into her glazed over eyes. “That’s not true, Lucy,” he said quietly.

Charlie put his hand on the back of her stool. He felt the urge to reach his finger out and touch the olive-colored skin on her bare back, but resisted it. He had so much he wanted to explain, but he couldn’t get it out. That, he decided, was probably a good thing; drunk people don’t tend to process complicated explanations well.
 

“I guess we’re bar hopping,” Brandon said as he threw money down on the bar. He looked at Jonah, Hugh, and the girls, and shrugged. “I’m obviously the DD tonight. You coming?”

Charlie blew out a long breath. “That has trouble written all over it. And somehow I feel like it ends at my house.”

“Well, it’s not ending at Mom’s,” Hugh said with a laugh.
 

Grace stumbled over and pulled at Lucy’s hand. “On to the next bar,” she said, but Lucy pulled her hand away and shook her head.
 

Grace wasn’t having that, though, and she pulled until Lucy gave in and lowered her feet to the floor. The two walked—or, rather, stumbled—away from the group to talk in private.
 

“You coming or not?” Jonah asked Charlie. He looked down at Lydia, who was tucked against his side, and smiled.
 

Charlie eyed the conversation between Lucy and Grace. “I don’t know yet.”
 

He was waiting to see where Lucy went. God, what was wrong with him? He tried to avoid her at every turn and she just kept popping up. His eyes drifted down to her ass and he felt his chest tighten at the sight of it in those leather pants. Every curve showed through the fabric and all he wanted to do was run his hands over it, maybe even give it a little spank.
 

Dammit.
 

Lucy returned and sat back on the stool. She looked at Michael, and said, “Water, please.”
 

Charlie shook his head at Brandon and turned his attention back to Lucy. “Your friends are leaving with my brothers.”

“Aren’t you going with them?”
 

“I’m staying with you.”

She considered that for a moment as she sipped her water. “I can take a cab,” she said. “I don’t need you to watch over me.”

Charlie laughed and took the stool next to hers. “I guess I have a thing about saving you, huh?”

She shot him a peculiar look. “I guess so.”

“I don’t want you to take a cab,” he said quietly. “I can drive you home.”

“Aren’t you drunk?”

He cocked his head to the side at that. He hadn’t even finished the only beer he’d had all night. “Do I seem drunk?”

“No.”

“Are you mad at me?” She should be, he knew. He had basically sent her away and hadn’t been back in a week. He twirled his wedding ring with his thumb. At this point, who knew what Lucy thought of him?
 

Lucy bit her lower lip. “No.”
 

Charlie slid his credit card down to Michael and gave the cut-off sign. Michael’s eyes traveled from Charlie to Lucy and then he went about his business of cashing them out.

“I don’t need a ride,” she said, a nervousness in her voice. “I’m perfectly capable of getting home.”

Charlie ignored her as he signed the bill. “Are you ready?”
 

He slid off his stool and held out his hand as she stumbled from hers. She fell into his hand and laughed. “That last shot was a terrible idea.”

“I don’t think the one before that was your smartest moment, either.” He kept his hand on the small of her back and guided her to the door. “Later, Olerson,” he called.
 

“You kids be good,” Michael called back, but Charlie just ignored him.

Outside, Charlie helped Lucy into his truck and tried desperately to ignore the fact that he could see her nipples hardening beneath the thin fabric of her shirt. He closed the door when she was settled in and walked around to the driver’s side.
 

After he climbed in and shut the door, she turned her head toward him with an unreadable glint in her eyes. “Charlie to the rescue.”

“That’s me,” he said. He placed his finger on his GPS screen to tap in her address. “Where do you live?”

“Mosaic Apartments, on Gold Dust.”
 

Charlie shot her a surprised look. “I know right where that is. You really run far, don’t you?”

“I eat a lot of cupcakes.” Lucy looked at him and released a drunken snicker. “I have to run if I want to squeeze into pants like these.”

Charlie laughed and put the truck into drive. “Well, thank God for running.”

When they pulled into her apartment complex, Lucy showed him where to go, which was not without difficulty due to how drunk she was. Twice, she led him to a dead-end and he had to turn around until she finally got it right.
 

He got out and raced around to the passenger side where she was already falling out. He got there just in time to catch her on the way down.
 

She slid down his chest and laughed when he caught her. “My hero.”

“Let’s get you inside,” he said with a chuckle. “I think that last shot is hitting you.”