C&A Novella (Marked Heart #2.5)

A glow of curtain muted sunlight fell across the bed as Charlotte watched Auggie lying on his back next to her asleep. He was all the things she really wanted and never bothered to look for in a man. He was also the most stubborn jackass she had ever met, but somehow that made her love him even more. She leaned closer, walking her fingers around the new tattoo his cousin Kieran had marked him with the day before, that sat on the left side of his chest.

Auggie's words from the previous night flickered in her mind.

'It's not the prettiest wrapping but what's underneath belongs to you.'

His heart belonged to her and as a permanent declaration he had marked it with a black peacock feather and keeping with a long standing Caffrey family tradition, there was a Celtic heart where the eye of the feather would be. Then he knelt and proposed.

'Charlotte Persephone Roberts, you are worth more than I will ever have to offer but if you marry me, I swear I'll do everything possible to be worthy of you.'

A happy sigh escaped her as she thought about their now matching peacock feather tattoos. Hers was across her shoulder blade in white ink. Up until the moment she saw his fresh ink last night, the Celtic cross that covered his back, which he got when his brother William passed away, had always been her favorite of his tattoos.

Charlotte's fingers continued their steady path, circling his tattoo, when she noticed him waking up.

"Lookin' to start the day off right, Lotte?" He questioned in a low tone.

The corner of her mouth curled into a smile as she leaned over him before running her fingers through his beard while her lips brushed against the side of his neck.

Waiting for her waffles to pop out of the toaster, Charlotte stood in Auggie's kitchen. She felt his hands slide around her hips as he stood behind her. Placing light kisses down the side of her neck, he tugged her closer.

"No, sir." She blurted with a laugh, turning to face him as she pulled away.

Scowling at her, Auggie griped, "No?" As if she had just told him she changed her mind about being engaged.

Giving him a little reminder, Charlotte held up her left hand and wiggled the back of her princess cut peacock blue diamond engagement ring up and down with her thumb, saying, "We need to go see Emerson and Amila."

"They knew I was gonna propose." He argued pulling her against him.

Distracted when Auggie pressed his lips to hers, Charlotte jumped slightly breaking their kiss when she heard the toaster pop.

"Breakfast is ready." She quickly alerted, reminding herself this time, all that was needed to accomplish for the day.

Auggie groaned as she pulled away from him to fix their plates.

As they sat at his table eating breakfast, Charlotte rested one of her legs across Auggie's lap while the other was folded on her chair. He kept his hand on her shin, grazing his thumb against her skin. Along with toaster waffles, it was part of their breakfast routine when she stayed the night.

Finishing her last bite of waffles, she glanced over to see Auggie swirling a piece of his waffles around in the syrup on his plate with his fork.

"We need to go to my apartment so I can change before we go to the house."

With a short nod, Auggie set his fork down suggesting, "While we're there, you can look through Penny's recipe book and find something to cook me for dinner."

Instantly narrowing her eyes at him, she questioned, "Excuse me?"

Looking up from his plate at her, Auggie replied, "We're getting married."

"And?" Charlotte uttered with a nasty expression on her face.

"I wanna wife that cooks."

Pulling her leg from his lap, she hopped up from her chair, gave the bottom of her shirt a little tug and snapped, "Is that so?"

Turning in his chair, he scowled up at her questioning, "You expect me to eat frozen waffles for the rest of my life?"

"You could have scrambled eggs." She retorted.

"I don't like them. And how is it the one thing you cook is the only thing I don't eat?"

"How do you know? You've never had mine." She griped back at him.

"Are they eggs?" Auggie asked.

Without answering, Charlotte glared at him.

"Are they scrambled?"

Irritated, she rolled her eyes.

With a sarcastic tone, Auggie shared, "Unless they magically turn into somethin' else when you cook 'em, I'm not gonna like 'em."

"Well then you have two options, Augustus. Either you learn to like them or you learn to cook."

Watching Charlotte shoot him a 'so there' look before she walked off, he growled under his breath at her.

It wasn't that Auggie was helpless in the kitchen, he knew how to cook a few things but that wasn't the point. She was just being stubborn. It seemed as though the only reason she was refusing to learn was because he wanted her to.

Getting up from the table, he walked out of his kitchen before stepping into the hallway and turning the corner into his room.

A mischievous smile crossed her face as she stepped toward him, asking, "How about a compromise?"

"You mean a bribe?" He questioned, already knowing how her compromises worked.

Giving him an over exaggerated eye roll, Charlotte replied, "I propose that we compromise by you learning to cook and I will take care of dessert."

"If you're gonna make dessert, why can't you cook dinner too?"

With an aggravated expression she spouted, "You're ridiculous."

"Damn it, woman, you..." he started to gripe, trailing off as her hands slid up his chest and around to the back of his neck.

Charlotte looked into his eyes.

Her spark of mischief was back as she shared, "You and I are talking about two completely different kinds of desserts." Auggie's scowl was quickly replaced by a smile as she clarified, "And you can have mine before and after dinner if you like."

Nodding, he agreed to her compromise.

The second Auggie and Charlotte stepped foot into her apartment, his sister Penny practically tackled them. Blurting out her congratulations as she held onto the both of them, it took a good ten minutes before they were able to get through the door.

With an excited smile Penny finally let go and took a step back, but only for a second.

"We're going to be sisters!" She cheered at Charlotte lunging at her for another hug.

As Charlotte hugged Penny back, saying, "I know, there's so much to do. You'll be my maid of honor, right?" Auggie took the opportunity to step away and escape being the next victim of Penny's over enthusiastic behavior.

"Damn, you'd think y'all were getting married." He grumbled, watching them continue to chatter their excitement while letting go and then hugging each other again and again.

It wasn't that he was jealous of his sister but there were still some hard feelings surrounding Charlotte's decision to get an apartment with Penny instead of staying with him. It wasn't that he didn't trust Charlotte either, he knew she would never give another man the time of day. It was knowing how close he came to losing her, due to his own suborn ass pride, that caused him to have an irrational need to have her close at all times.

When Penny and Charlotte were finally finished with their almost sister hug-fest, Penny quickly whipped around to face Auggie.

"Let's see it!"

Taking a step back, Auggie teased, "The rings on her finger not mine."

Placing her hand on her hip, Penny laughed, "No stupid, your mark. I wanna see it."

"Nope."

"That's not fair!" Penny blurted before saying, "It's not every day that I get to..."

Seeing a curious expression spread across Charlotte's face, Auggie quickly cut his sister off.

Scowling at her, he griped, "I said no."

Penny narrowed her eyes at him before turning back to Charlotte with a smile.

"Oh-kay." Charlotte uttered, giving them both a strange look and sharing, "I'm going to go get changed."

Both Auggie and Penny watched as Charlotte walked out of the living room.

The moment Auggie heard Charlotte's door close, his sister turned and glared at him.

In a hushed tone, Penny fussed, "I cannot believe you."

"Drop it, Pen." He snapped back at her walking into the kitchen.

Following close behind, she continued to fuss; "Why wouldn't you just tell her? It's not like she thinks mom likes her or anything."

Reaching on top of the refrigerator and grabbing Penny's book of family recipes, Auggie shared, "She made a point last night to ask if mom gave us her blessing."

"So you lied?"

"No." He griped before explaining, "I told her mom is the family drawer and I have her mark on my chest."

"So you lied."

"No, what I said was true. I have Charlotte's mark and mom is the drawer for our family."

Pursing her lips at him, Penny questioned, "And what are you gonna do when she finds out your truths are unrelated?"

"Unless you're gonna tell her that mom refused and you drew it out for me, she won't."

With a heavy sigh, she replied, "Fine."

After a nod of appreciation to Penny, Auggie set her recipe book on the counter and opened it up.

Flipping through the pages, he could feel his sister staring at him.

"What?"

"I'm not going to tell her but I really think you should."

With a low growl of irritation, Auggie decided to turn the tables on her.

"When were you gonna tell me you're working at Kieran's shop?"

There was a long pause before she asked, "Who said that I was?"

"Word gets around."

"Are you mad?" Penny questioned in a cautious tone.

"Nah, Kieran said his floors have never been cleaner." He teased, wondering if she would fess up and admit that she was apprenticing for him.

Glancing off to the side, Penny changed the subject.

"What are you doing with my recipe book, anyways?"

Flipping the page, Auggie replied, "Looking for something to cook for dinner."

Penny appeared confused at first then quickly burst into laughter.

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