Chasing After Him (2 page)

Theo

“Wish I had a fireplace,” Charlene said from behind me.

“One of my must-have’s when house hunting a few years ago.” I turned to
find her huddled under the blanket in the corner of my sectional. Redness
rimmed her heightened-by-tears blue eyes. “I never noticed how beautiful your
eyes are.”

A smile tugged on her down-turned lips, and unlike her usual strong eye
contact, she glanced away. “Thank you.”

“So what do you think of all this snow?” I lounged on the opposite end
of the couch, arms sprawled along its back.

“I love it, but I can’t stand shoveling.”

“I’ll take care of your walkway in the morning.”

“That’s all right.” She grimaced and stared at the fire. “I have to be
at work at six.”

“What?” I grinned. “I can’t get up early on a Sunday?”

Charlene turned toward me with a piercing gaze. “You usually get in
around three a.m.”

“Yeah.” My brow furrowed as I thought of Zane. It was my turn to stare
at the orange flames. “That won’t be happening again anytime soon.”

“How come?”

I sucked imaginary food from between my front teeth. “My best friend went
out and got a girl.”

“And that’s a bad thing?”

“Nah.” I shifted and stretched my legs out. “I’m happy for him, but now
I’m left with nothing to do on the weekends.”

“What? You can’t have a life without him?”

I couldn’t help my smirk. “Life is just … more
enjoyable
with my cousin around.”

She tugged the blanket up higher around her neck. “All I do is work and
study,” she said. “Count your blessings you have time to party—with or without
your cousin.”

“We didn’t party.”

“No night clubs and ladies?”

“Oh, there were ladies all right, but you don’t need to know all the
sordid details.”

“Sordid, huh?”

I wasn’t one to hide what I enjoyed doing with women, but Charlene was still
a kid, studying and trying to find her way in life. My smirk widened. “Not that
interesting. Trust me.”

She mumbled something that sounded like a sarcastic “uh huh,” as she
finally turned her focus off me.

“So, how
is
work going?” I
asked.

“It’s all right, I guess.” Her brow furrowed.

“What’s the frown for?”

A heavy sigh lifted her chest. “Both of my parents are in the medical
field, and they encouraged me to set similar goals. Top of the class and
keeping a 4.0 got me a full-paid scholarship by them—and residency at Boston
Children’s, but…” She shrugged.

“Do you want to be a pediatrician or was that your parent’s idea?”

“Mine.” Her blue-eyed gaze landed on me, steady and piercing. “I set my
own goals and nothing in hell will stop me from attaining them.”

“Shit.” I chuckled at the determined fire in her eyes. “Wish I had half
your drive.”

She snorted and tightened her hold on the blanket around her neck.
“It’s not that great, trust me. Some days I’d give anything to shut my mind
off. Relax and just …
live
like a
normal person.”

I knew a few great ways to shut a woman’s brain down—make them feel,
nothing more. For the first time, I peered at my little neighbor, wondering…

“What goals do you have for yourself?” she asked, pulling my thoughts
away from the crimson ropes in my bedroom closet.

My thumb bounced on my thigh while I contemplated my future, something
I rarely did. “I’ve always lived for today. Tomorrow has enough worries of its
own.”

She continued to peer at me as though trying to figure out my inner
workings. “That’s all fine and well, but don’t you have dreams and wishes?”

“Sure.” Her intense scrutiny had me shifting on the couch. “Marriage
someday. Kids.” I got up to check on the hot chocolate and chuckled. “You
remind me of my sister.”

“In what way?”

“She loves to ask direct questions—hard ones that make my brain want to
shut down.”

“She sounds like my kind of woman,” Charlene said rather than apologize
for prying—not that I expected or wanted her to. I’d never admit it to my
sister, but I liked how she challenged me.

I huffed a laugh. “You two would get along great.” I used a mitt to
pull the pot out of the coals and set it on another holder atop the coffee
table. “Marshmallows?” I asked while using a ladle to fill the two mugs.

“The more the merrier.”

“That’s what I always say. Watch, it’s hot.” I handed her a cup and sat
down beside her with one of my own, a pile of mini marshmallows threatening to
fall over the rim.

She touched the cup to her lips, and I stared. A perfect bow on the top
and full—how come I hadn’t noticed her lush mouth before?

Her eyelids fluttered closed, and she moaned her approval, melted
marshmallow foam coating her top lip.

Well fuck me sideways
.

I hadn’t known she had a sexy side. My cock took interest, and I turned
away, putting my wayward thoughts back in order. Charlene was … well, Charlene.
My friendly, way-too-young-for-me neighbor.

“This is the real deal.” She smacked her lips and sighed.

I air toasted her. “Got that right, kid.”

“How the hell do you know how to make real hot chocolate with cocoa and
milk?”

“I had the best grandmother in the world.”

Her eyes moistened again. “So did I.”

We sipped in silence while I fought down the urge to watch her lips
caress the mug’s rim.

“Why do you always call me kid?” she asked a few minutes later.

“Cuz I’ve got at least a dozen years on you if not more.”

Hands clasped around her steaming mug, Charlene raised the hot
chocolate and sipped again without breaking eye contact. “If I had to guess,
I’d put you at thirty-two max. That gives you only a few months bragging
rights, not years.”

My eyes widened as I settled back into the couch. “You’re shittin’ me.
There’s no way you’re in your thirties.”

“Thirty-one.”

I studied her dark hair. The pale skin around her eyes and lips. Her
slender, smooth neck and hands. “You look like you’re fresh out of high
school.”

“Good genes I hope to appreciate someday.”

“Damn right.”

A full-out smile lightened her face and erased all signs of her earlier
tears. The kid—woman—from next door was actually pretty hot. “So tell me about
growing up in Florida, you old fart,” I said.

Her laughter filled my living room.

Best damn sound I’d ever heard.

****

Three hours later, the power still hadn’t come back on, and Charlene’s
eyes drooped. Eleven o’clock on a Saturday night, and she wilted like Mom’s
tomato plants without rain. Dark smudges lay beneath eyes still shadowed by
exhaustion and what I guessed to be depression.

While I’d enjoyed getting to know more about her, the stories she told
reaffirmed my belief she worked too damn hard. When she drifted off to sleep,
still curled in the corner of my couch, I sat and watched her for a while. Her brow
furrowed as she shifted.

She needed a good night’s rest and a dozen or so days off. Not that
she’d take a single one even if given the opportunity. While I admired the shit
out of her, she was just too damn focused for her own good.

I lifted her off the couch into my arms. She weighed next to nothing
and smelled like a ripe southern peach. My cock took note with a little twitch,
but I frowned him down.

It’s Charlene, you greedy
bastard. Charlene.

She didn’t so much as crack an eyelid as I carried her up the dark stairs.
I’d opened the large grate over the fireplace earlier in the day, so my bedroom
above the living room would be warmer than her own. I laid her on my un-made
bed and pulled the comforter up to her chin.

My LED alarm clock threw off enough light I could see her brow smooth
as she snuggled against my pillow. A sigh parted her lips, and I stared again. I
wondered if she tasted as good as she smelled—all sweetness and sunshine.

With a shake of my head, I left her alone and headed outside into the
cold to cool off the sudden interest my cock had taken in my neighbor.

****

Took me a long fuckin’ time to realize the dinging annoying the hell
outta me was my cell. Still half-dead to the world, I reached over to the
coffee table and felt around, knocking over one of the empty cocoa mugs.

Charlene
.

I scrubbed a hand down my face and sat up, grimacing at the crick in my
neck from sleeping on the couch. “Morning.”

“Hey. Sorry to bother you so early.” Her breathless voice stirred my morning
wood to life.

Eyelids half-mast, I glanced at the windows. No light filtered around
the blinds. “What time is it?”

“Five-thirty-ish.”

Too fucking early. “You still upstairs?”

“No. I left a half hour ago to get ready for work, but my car won’t
start.” Panic laced her voice. “I have to be at Boston Children’s in a half hour.
I’m sorry to bother you, but—”

“No. No.” I threw off my blanket, realizing the heat had kicked back on
during the night. “Not a problem. I’ll be out in two.”

I disconnected without waiting for her reply and threw on my coat atop
the clothing I’d fallen asleep in. I probably didn’t smell too great, but
Charlene wouldn’t give a shit about anything but getting to work on time.

If I had her dedication and driven spirit, I’d have been more than a mere
regional manager in the Risso Family business.
 
I tripped over my boots in the entryway and
let out a string of curses over my stubbed toe before tugging them on.

At least I’d shoveled our entryways while she’d slept. Keys in hand, I
pulled my door shut behind me and stepped out into the fresh three inches that
had fallen while I’d slept. “Hey.”

Bright blue eyes latched on to me as I neared her floodlight lit driveway,
and I grinned.

“Are you always this happy?” she asked with a frown, her foot tapping.

“Pretty much, yeah. Come on.” I motioned her toward my Cherokee. “I’ll
drive rather than give you a jump. Save five minutes.”

Charlene grumbled something beneath her breath and hurried after me.

We settled onto the cold leather seats, and I blasted through the mound
of snow the plows had left in front of my driveway.

“Thanks for last night.”

“Not a problem.” I pulled up to a stop sign and turned left.

“You didn’t need to give me your bed. I could have slept on the couch.”

“Did you get a good night’s sleep?”

She sighed. “Like a baby.”

“I sleep like the dead regardless of where I am. My cell rang a few
times before I realized I was even alive.”

“Well, thanks all the same.”

“Welcome.” A sideways glance revealed she shared my smile. “I’ll bet
you had perfect attendance in school and never showed up late to a single
class,” I said, taking the entry ramp for southbound Route 1.

“I missed a day once in the sixth grade because I had the flu.”

I laughed, and she shot me a glare, dark bangs swishing over her arched
brows. “Broke my perfect attendance and blemished my record. It’s not funny.”

“Sure as hell is.”

“Is not.”

“Is to.”

Her gaze narrowed, she turned to glare out the windshield.

I continued to grin and started humming the Disney movie theme song my
nieces always sang at the top of their lungs.

She huffed. “
Let it Go
?
Seriously?”

“Yeah. You need to let go and live a little.”

We sat in silence for a few minutes as I sped south. I hadn’t realized
I hummed again until she all but growled at me. “Yeah, I got the hint the first
time.”

“Sorry.” But I wasn’t. Not really. Maybe I’d ask her out on a real
date. Take her to dinner and show her a good time, teach her how to have fun
and laugh. My mind wandered to the after hours and having her at my mercy, a
definite way to make her mind shut the hell up and let her fly.

No.

I cleared my throat and focused on the road. Charlene Tucker didn’t
need any male diversion in her life—especially someone as carefree as myself.
I’d only fuck up her charted course to become a pediatrician.

I sure enjoyed her company and spirit though. I cast a quick glance at
her profile—pert nose, full lips, heavy bangs covering her brows. Not only
cute, but I liked her challenging, pointed looks and questions.

Sure as hell would be fun to tame her with my ropes and make her beg to
come.