Charlotte

T hey spent the rest of the evening with a couple of Ink’s friends from his club. Mace and Owen seemed like nice guys and the fact that they were there to lend a hand with Ink’s home security so that she and her unborn baby would be safe really melted her heart. It had been a damn long time since anyone had helped her—except for her sister. She had almost forgotten what it felt like to have someone supporting her in any way, but that all changed in just hours after she met Ink.

They ordered a tableful of food, and she was surprised that the guys seemed to finish off most of it themselves. Honestly, she wasn’t very hungry since her midday snack that Ink had made her. She ate a little bit for dinner, knowing that she needed to keep her stomach from being empty. That was when the morning sickness seemed to creep in—when she was hungry. Charlie wasn’t sure why they called it morning sickness if she was getting sick all the time. Someone had gotten the name wrong for puking your guts out until you felt ready to die, but she was sure that once she held her daughter, it would all be worth it.

Owen, Mace, and Ink worked on the security around his house while she sat quietly, pretending to read a book. She hadn’t turned a single page, and she hoped like hell that none of the guys had noticed. Charlie was more fixated on watching Ink work because the guy was seriously hot. Maybe it was her pregnancy hormones checking in to let her know that she was still feeling batshit crazy because she hadn’t had sex in the last six months. Or maybe she hadn’t paid much attention to Ink earlier when she was too busy worrying about her ex-husband chasing her down. It was probably the combination of the two that had her sneaking peeks of Ink every time he climbed the ladder to help Owen install a security camera. She noticed each time he bent down to pick up something, giving her a glorious view of his ass, or the way that his tight, black t-shirt strained to cover his biceps.

But none of her dirty thoughts were going to help her when it came to Ink. He was a nice guy, and nice guys did nice things for women, but that didn’t mean that he wanted her the way that she wanted him. Heck, they had only just met, so why would he want anything to do with her? It was better for Charlie to remember that Ink was a nice guy, and he was doing the right thing to help her—not because he wanted her.

“You okay?” Mace asked, sitting down next to her on the sofa.

“I am,” she said, “thank you for asking. How are you?” she wanted to kick herself for asking him that. She was trying to make pleasant conversation. She wanted to tell him that she was sorry that she had ruined his evening, but she didn’t. Every time she told the guys that she was sorry, for about the twentieth time, they insisted that she stop apologizing. That was going to be tough for her since that was her go-to. Every time Zeb picked a fight with her, she’d end up apologizing and begging him for another chance. She was a fool for begging him for anything, but she was desperately holding onto the idea of being married, and not necessarily the guy she was married to.

“Good,” Mace said, “while the guys finish putting up the cameras, how about you find a picture of your ex and send it to me?”

“Why do you want a picture of Zeb?” she asked.

“So, I know who we’re looking for. Owen and I are going to take turns watching the camera and if your ex shows up here, we’ll know it,” Mace assured. Charlie hated that Ink’s friends were going to be giving up their personal time to help keep an eye on her. It didn’t feel right, and she hated to be causing all this trouble for everyone. But what choice did she have? If she wanted to keep Zeb away from her baby, she’d need all the help she could get.

“Thank you for doing all this for me,” she said. “I don’t know what I would have done if Ink hadn’t helped me. He was a lifesaver. I guess you might think that I’m a little foolish for accepting his offer when I didn’t even know him.” She felt like a fool for trusting a man that she had only just met, but there was something about him that had her believing that he’d live up to his promises. It was something in his eyes, the way that he looked at her, that put her at ease, even when it shouldn’t.

“Ink is a good guy, Charlie,” Mace assured. “I know that you only just met him, but if he’s promised to keep you safe from your ex, he will. You can hold him to his word.” She nodded and pasted on her best smile, but a part of her still worried that Zeb would be able to find her. He had showed up at Ink’s shop, asking if he had seen her, and her ex was a smart guy. He wouldn’t let her go, and his determination and ability to put the whole picture together might just end up getting Ink and his friends into trouble—all because of her.

By the time the guys left for the night, Charlie felt about ready to drop. She had fallen asleep on the sofa in the family room, and when she woke up to Ink standing over her, smiling down, she nearly did a double take. It took her a few minutes for her brain to catch up with the rest of her and when she finally remembered where she was, she allowed herself to relax and smiled back up at him.

“How long have I been asleep?” she asked.

“Almost two hours. I was going to wake you, but you looked so comfortable, and I knew that you had to be exhausted, so I just let you sleep while the guys and I finished up,” Ink said.

“Oh, God,” she muttered, “I’m so embarrassed that they saw me that way. Did I snore? Since I started my second trimester, I think that I snore. I’ve woken myself up a few times with a snort—you know the kind that you make when you’re going to snore? Please tell me that I didn’t snore.”

“Nope, you didn’t snore,” he said. She breathed out a sigh of relief as he helped her up from the sofa. “But the guys did think that the little bit of drool out of the corner of your mouth, was pretty darn cute,” Ink teased.

“No,” she moaned, holding her face in her hands. “Tell me that you’re kidding.”

“I wish that I could, for my pillow’s sake, but the proof is sitting right there on the sofa,” he said. She looked back to see the small puddle of drool that she had left behind and groaned.

“I’ll clean that up tomorrow,” she insisted. “I mean, later on this morning, when I wake up again,” she said, noting that it was after midnight.

“No, I’ll take care of it,” Ink assured.

“You will not clean up my drool,” she insisted. She turned to face him on the staircase and nearly fell off the step just above him. Ink wrapped her in his arms and damn if it didn’t feel right. Her body seemed to like it every time he hugged or touched her, and he seemed to do a lot of that today—especially when she cried. Charlie didn’t want to read too much into it, but she was starting to wonder why that was. Maybe he didn’t like it when women cried, or maybe hugging strangers was his go-to move.

“Woah,” he said, trying to steady her on the step. “You okay?” he asked.

“I’m just a little bit dizzy from just waking up I guess,” she lied. She was probably dizzy from the man who was holding her in his arms right now. He smelled good and damn if she didn’t lean into him and sniff him.

“I think you should let me help you to bed,” Ink said. Her body hummed to life, and she shivered at the idea of him taking her to bed with him.

“You mean my bed, right?” she asked. He froze and closed his eyes and for a second, she was sure that she had said something wrong. Maybe she had been too forward but for some reason, when she was in his arms, that didn’t matter to her.

“Charlie,” he whispered, “we only just met today.” Yeah, she had pushed too hard and there was no taking back the words—they were already out there.

“I know that Ink,” she said. “I’m just being silly. I get that way when I’m tired. Just ignore me.”

“What if I don’t want to ignore you?” he asked.

“I’m not sure what you’re saying,” she whispered. Her heart felt as though it might beat out of her chest and Ink didn’t seem to want to let go of her.

“What I mean is that for some reason, I feel as though I’m drawn to you, Charlie. When you ran into my shop, there was something in your eyes that made me want to help you, but getting you back to my place, I can’t explain it, but being with you like this feels familiar. Does that make sense?” he asked.

She nodded, “It does,” she admitted. “I was just trying to figure out why my heart races every time you touch me.”

“Mine does the same thing,” he said. “But I refuse to give into whatever it is that we’re feeling. Maybe it’s just the excitement of the day or the fact that you’re here in my home. I just think that we should play things slow and if we still feel this way later, we can figure everything out then.”

“I think that’s a good idea,” she lied. She didn’t want to playthings slowly. She wanted to leap and have Ink catch her. For the first time in her life, she wanted to be reckless and let the chips fall where they may.

Ink helped her up to her room, “Night, Charlie,” he breathed. She watched as he walked across the hallway to his room and wondered if she should shut her door or not. When Ink closed his door, she did the same, leaning back against it. Charlie felt like she was in high school and had just gone on her first date. “Goodnight, Ink,” she whispered. Maybe she was silly for feeling the way that she did, but for the first time in a long time, she felt excited about waking up tomorrow.