Rewriting the Rules (19 page)

Shower plus Charlotte equals another round of fucking bliss.

After our sex adventures in the shower, I have her sit down at the table and make her a breakfast smoothie. Handing her a smoothie, we sit on the couch in the living room and I hear her phone go off.

“Hey, Will.” I look and see the smile on her face disappear. “No, I didn’t spend the night with him. Some of the girls from the spa wanted to go out and I met them after my date. I’m having breakfast now and I’m not sure when I’ll be home because I have to head to work in a few.” I rub her bare thigh and she leans her head on my shoulder. “Yeah, everything’s fine. Okay, sounds good. I love you too.” She hangs up the phone and lets out a sigh of frustration. “What the hell are we going to tell Will?”

I kiss the top of her head. “I don’t know, sweetheart. We’ll figure it out.”

“He can’t know,” she mutters. “I don’t want to upset him, or mess up your friendship.”

“I know.”

“When we’re together we have to act like friends, and then when we’re alone things can be like this. These are the rules we have to follow for now until I feel like Will won’t kill you and be mad at me.”

I think about what she’s saying and nod my head. I hate going along with her plan. Since I now know what she feels like, inside of her, and in my arms, I can’t let her go. Imagining the feeling of her beneath me, calling out my name in pure ecstasy, and waking up with her in my arms is becoming my new favorite thing.

We stay silent for a few more minutes and soon she’s up gathering her things and standing at the front door.

“I’ll see you tonight, okay?” I nod, missing her already, wishing it was ten p.m. so we could be together. When she touches my face and softly kisses me, I place my hand on her back and we stand there as if nothing else in the world matters. “Bye, Troy.”

“Have a good day at work.” I kiss her again and watch her leave and get in the car. Needing to do something, I text Will and put on my workout clothes, put some clothes in my bag and head out. I put on my sunglasses and hop in my car to take the drive to his house.

I meet him out back when I get there and we start in on our routine. I have aggression to work out. Beating my body to the point of exhaustion is what I need. Maybe soon I can talk to Will and man up to being in love with his sister.

“So,” he starts to say. “Charlotte was out last night with her coworkers.”

“Sounds good,” I grunt and finish my set before grabbing water. “Does that bother you?”

“Not sure. I want her to have fun and give her freedom. I’m not her dad or anything, but fuck, have you seen my sister?”

Yes. In more ways than one.
“Yeah, she’s hot.” He glares at me and I put up my hands. “Man, stop with that shit. You know Charlotte is a knockout. If we weren’t best friends . . .”

“Finish that sentence and I’ll throw you into the pool and drown your ass so fast you wouldn’t have a chance to fight back.” He gets in my face and I don’t back down.

“Shut the fuck up, asshole. You know she’s beautiful and she’s an adult.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Just saying, that’s all.”

Will backs down and sits on the bench press. “I don’t know, man. Thinking about her in another relationship, and with you,” he laughs and it stings hearing him make it into a joke. “I mean, it’s Charlotte. She grew up with you. It’d be weird.”

“Would it?”

“Yeah,” his tone changes into something serious. “It would be. You’re my best friend and I expect you to realize that’s my little sister and she’s off limits. Bro code, man. You can have any woman, just none of my exes or my sister. That means Charlotte shouldn’t be on your mind.”

“Just think about it, man. If I can make her happy, what reason would you have to oppose?”

“Because I know you.”

“What’s that mean?”

“The women you went through, and each time you hurt them. You use women, Troy. Why the fuck would I want that for my sister?”

“People change, Will. I was in a long term relationship and we broke up because she cheated on me.”

“Yeah, but come on. You weren’t going to ask her to marry you or start a future with her. I know you, Troy.”

“You think you do,” I mutter.

He laughs and puts down the weights. “Yeah, some people do, but not you. Remember I’ve known you for a long time. Don’t think you can change.”

“I haven’t been like that in years,” I grit out. “I broke up with Andrea because she cheated on me. You know this. Not sure how many times I have to repeat that. Maybe I want someone to spend my life with. Sometimes this shit happens and hits you in the face. Before you know if you’re falling in love.”

“I cannot stand this girly shit. What’s it matter, though?” He walks closer to my face. “Are you trying to get with Charlotte?”

“I’m just saying she’s beautiful and I care for her.”

“Well, keep it at a distance. You’re not good enough for her.”

I don’t respond to that comment. It sits heavy with me and there’s no point trying to reason with him.

Chapter 25

Charlotte

“I know, I miss you too,” I tell Jessica. It’s been so long since we’ve seen each other and I wish there were a way for us to hang out like before.

“Seriously, this sucks. I hate the fact that you moved.”

“You can always come here.”

“I know,” she answers. “Honestly, I want to get away and relax on a beach somewhere and go out to a fancy dinner and dance the night away.”

“That sounds amazing right now.”

“We should plan a trip! Seriously!”

“I heard Will talking to his friends about a weekend trip to Atlantic City. That sounds fun. Beach, drinks, summer, sun, and we get to finally see each other. Plus, we can go over wedding stuff.”

Things didn’t work out with the venue, so Jessica and Jim had to move their wedding to December instead of a summer wedding. They’re doing a destination wedding instead of having it in Michigan. I’ve been contacting the vendors to let them know of the change, and luckily everyone’s been really nice and understanding.

“I don’t know where I want to get married. Aruba sounds incredible, but so does Hawaii.”

“It’s your wedding, babe,” I encourage her. “Talk to Jim and figure it all out.”

“Yeah, I know,” she sighs. “Okay, enough about me, so what the hell? You and Troy are together?”

I smile and think about the last few days. He’s incredibly sweet, romantic, and makes everything better. It feels like a dream when we’re together. After so many years, we finally have our moment. The only bad thing is we can’t let anyone know. After the conversation he had with Will during one of their workouts, I know he won’t be happy regardless how happy Troy makes me. It’s stupid and I should stand up to my brother. I should be able to make my own choices and be with the man I love.

But Will gave up his life for me. He could have gone pro. He could have done so much. I held him back.

Another call comes in and I look to see it’s Aubree. “Hey, girl, I have to call you back.”

“Okay, talk soon!”

“Okay, bye.” Disconnecting from Jessica’s call I switch to Aubree. “Hey, what’s up?”

“Can you come in a little early? We’re getting slammed right now.”

“Yeah, I’ll be in soon.”

“Thanks, girl.”

“No problem.”

Getting out of bed, I turn to look at myself in the mirror and then I check the time. I don’t have enough time to take a shower so I grab my dry shampoo bottle and spray my hair. Fluffing it a little and quickly changing into black leggings, a black tank and an Exhale Spa pink cardigan, I slip on my flats and run out of my room. I grab a banana and my water bottle from the counter and rush out of the house to drive to the spa.

I walk in and see the disaster at the front counter. Putting down my things in the office, I come out with a smile and take care of an irate client.

“Debra, I’m looking at the account now and it seems as though your husband’s credit card has been getting declined. Do you have another form of payment?”

“This is so embarrassing! He’s supposed to take care of both our memberships.” She whips out her phone and I give her a moment to figure out what’s going on and help Zara with a new membership signup. I look over and see Aubree and Megan dealing with the room assignments with a massage therapist. Aubree looks over and gives me a
we’re okay
look. I turn my attention back to Zara so we can finish the paperwork and then I go back to Debra.

“Everything okay?” I ask.

She sighs and takes out cash to pay for both balances. “Thanks, Debra. Now will this card be okay for next month?” She nods and I print out her receipt and wish her a great day.

Once all the clients are out, Zara and Megan collapse on the chairs and I have to stop my laughter.

“It wasn’t that bad,” I tell them.

“Yeah, right,” Zara chimes in. “First, Maya leaves early because we all know she was hungover and then Debra comes in raising hell thinking we messed up with her membership.”

“Wait,” I look at Aubree. “You didn’t tell me Maya left early.”

“I know, I’m sorry. She said she wasn’t feeling good and I let her go. We were slow when she left, then all hell broke loose.”

Megan, Zara, and Maya are the front desk consultants and handle checking clients in and out, selling memberships, and selling spa products. The team’s working really well with three consultants, a manager, and myself. We’re at max hours and I can’t hire someone else.

“Well, if Maya was sick, then it’s okay.”

“But she wasn’t,” Zara states.

“Even if she was hungover, she wasn’t ready to work. Don’t worry, we handled everything and now things are okay. Make sure the files get put away and I’ll talk to Jason about possibly hiring someone full-time.”

Megan and Zara get to work while Aubree and I go into the office so I can get some work done.

“What do you think about Maya?” I ask Aubree.

“She’s good when she wants to be. She’s strong and our top seller.”

“But?”

“She has issues with the other two ladies. The drama is ridiculous.”

“We can’t have that. We’re supposed to work as a team. I don’t know, I’ll think about it and work more with Maya to see what’s going on.”

“Sounds good. How’s everything else going?”

I click on an email to try and keep busy so I don’t smile like a fool. “Oh, everything’s fine.”

Aubree gasps. “You’re hiding something from me. Tell me!”

I fill her in on Reed and she nods, not surprised it ended, and then I bring up Troy.

“Wait! Troy Harding. Jason’s friend?” I nod. “Oh wow, he’s so hot. You’re so lucky!”

“Yeah. Well, my brother doesn’t know.”

“Wait, what?”

“Yeah, it’s stupid. He doesn’t like the idea of Troy and me, so we’re keeping it from him. Troy hates it. I mean, what else am I going to do? It’s my brother and I love him, but I love Troy too. It sucks and it’s so not fair.”

“You can’t expect to keep this from him forever. You’re going to have to eventually tell him.”

“Key word,” I point out. “Eventually. For now, Troy and I are content and happy. Things will work out.”

“Whatever you say,” Aubree smiles and we talk more about the spa and our sales.

Chapter 26

Troy

I’m sitting here across from Will and I think about wanting to tell him about Charlotte. Fuck, how the hell am I going to do this?

“So I was thinking we all take a trip to AC this weekend.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“It’ll be good to get away for a weekend. After the incident with Charlotte and the fact that we’ve been working our asses off, we need a weekend to relax. I asked Carter, but there’s no way they’ll be able to leave Avery.”

“What about Sal?”

“He made plans with Monica.”

“They’re back together?” Will nods and I let it go, not wanting to hear more.

“Oh,” I snap. “I’m sure Jessica will want to come along. They haven’t seen each other since she moved to Rochester.”

“Good point. I’ll talk to Charlotte and you get it set up.”

“Sounds good.”

Honestly, the idea of getting away for a weekend with Charlotte gets me excited. The only downfall is spending it with Will. We’re going to have to be careful and lay out some ground rules. As much as I hate sneaking around, at least it gives us what we both want.

When I get home I book the hotel and rent a cabana for us. After booking what I need to and then emailing my clients to let them know I’ll be out of town until Monday, I hear the door open and know instantly, it’s Charlotte.

Walking out of my office, I bring her in my arms and lead her to the living room. I tell her about the Atlantic City plan and she immediately gets up and calls Jessica so she can get a flight to Rochester.

“Seriously! It’s happening! Hello AC,” she yells on the phone and I leave to give her time alone with her best friend.

The drive to Atlantic City is quick and easy, and soon we’re heading to our rooms at Harrah’s Resort hotel. Tonight we’re heading to dinner and The Pool After Dark. Charlotte slept in the car most of the way with Jessica since her flight got in early this morning. Will and I took turns driving, talking business and more about Atlantic City and what we wanted to do. I looked at her from time to time and wondered what she was thinking.