Charlie All Night Read online

  “Allie? Allie, love?”

  She buried her face against his chest and tried to stop gasping, but the waves still lapped gently inside her, like little aftershocks.

  “Allie?”

  She clung to him, trying to find her voice, any coherent thought. “Oh, God, Charlie.”

  He held her tighter. “I thought you’d gone mute on me. You didn’t say anything for so long.”

  Allie took a long shuddering breath and then another until sanity returned. The heat and the release settled into her bones like a narcotic. She stretched against him, all her muscles aching, her skin sliding warm against his. “Oh.” She drew another deep breath. “I may never talk again.”

  Charlie brushed her hair back from her face. “Can you sleep now?”

  “Only if you don’t touch me,” she said, and he laughed and pulled her close, and she curled into him, and then they both fell asleep.

  * * *

  Allie woke up when the sunlight flooded the room. She’d rolled away from Charlie in the night, but his hand was still on her waist, and she liked the weight and heat of it there. She lay very still and savored how good her body still felt, and only gradually did she become aware of Joe in the kitchen, banging pans.

  As flings went, this one had been a beauty. No guilt, no fear, no emotion at all, really, except pleasure. Bless Charlie.

  And now she was going to make him a star. Life had done a one-hundred-and-eighty-degree turn on her overnight. She couldn’t wait to get started again.

  She stirred a little and felt Charlie’s hand tighten on her waist in his sleep, and she moved her head on the pillow to look at him. His blond-brown hair was tousled and his eyelashes were like smudges on his cheeks, and he looked like a fallen angel.

  It really was too bad they weren’t doing TV.

  She eased a little closer, and his arm gathered her to him until his cheek brushed against her hair.

  “Morning,” he said without opening his eyes. “How do you feel?”

  Allie grinned against his chest. “Very smug, now that I know what all the shouting was about.”

  Charlie laughed softly. “You should know. You were the one doing the shouting.”

  Allie jerked her head back. “What?”

  He smiled at her and kissed her forehead. “You scream when you come.”

  “I do not.”

  “The hell you don’t.” He gathered her back to him and sighed happily. “But it takes a lot of the guesswork out of making love to you, so I’m not complaining.”

  Allie thought about pushing him away and decided against it. “Very funny.”

  There was another crash from the kitchen.

  Allie smiled again. “Joe’s making breakfast. Aren’t you hungry?”

  “Yes.” He kissed the top of her head. “But I’ve got to check out Tuttle in the daylight. So I’ll just take a rain check, if that’s okay with you.”

  “And miss Joe’s waffles?”

  “Hell, no. I’m eating waffles.” Charlie rolled up on one arm and looked down at her. “I’m taking a rain check on you. Until tonight.” He slid his hand under the sheet and cupped her breast, caressing her. “Same time, same place, same screams?”

  He was gorgeous in the sunlight, and he had golden hands. She felt dizzy under them right now. But he was also her career. Mixing sex and business would be bad. Look what had happened with Mark.

  “I thought we were a one-night stand.” Her hand closed over his to stop his caress, but somehow she ended up pressing his hand against her, instead.

  “We are.” Charlie climbed over her to get out of bed, pulling the sheet down to kiss her breast on his way. “One night at a time.”

  She pulled the sheet back up and squinted myopically to watch him put on his sweatpants, admiring the muscles in his legs and his rear while she told herself she should stop now, that sleeping with Charlie was not a good idea, that he was leaving in November. Her brain told her to tell him she didn’t want another night.

  Her mouth flatly refused to say anything that stupid.

  Something in her face must have tipped him off to her quandary because he stopped tying the string on his pants and grew serious. “You can always say no,” he told her.

  To you? The thought was so ludicrous, she laughed. “I’ll try to remember that,” she told him, and her spirits rose again. Enough of this chitchat. She had a career to resuscitate, and Charlie was a one-man rescue squad. She threw off the top quilt and got out of bed, fighting to keep the sheet wrapped around her, but it slipped as she yanked it free from the mattress.

  Charlie approved. “The hell with the waffles.” He reached for her, but she danced out of the way, blushing and covering herself with her hand and the corner of the sheet.

  “Go eat.” She flapped her free hand at him. “You need fuel for that body. You must be running on empty now.”

  “We get off at 2:00 a.m.” He grinned while she grabbed her robe and tried to put it on without dropping the sheet. “We can be home by two-thirty. You don’t want my side of the bed empty, do you?”

  She tied her robe closed and stuck her chin out, taking control. “You don’t have a side, and I’ll be asleep by two thirty-five.”

  “Then you’ll be awake by two thirty-six.” Charlie grabbed the belt on her robe as she sidled past and caught her to him. He kissed her thoroughly, and then, while she was still reeling, he let her go and walked out of the room, whistling.

  Hurry up, two thirty-six, she thought, and then she sat down on the edge of the bed again to get her thoughts back to her career, where they belonged.

  * * *

  “Pecans, right?” Charlie said to Joe who was pouring batter onto the griddle.

  “Pecans.” Joe closed the iron and turned to Charlie, his arms folded. “So, how did you sleep?”

  Charlie sat down and tried to look innocent. “Am I going to get a lecture? Because she made the first move, I swear.”

  Joe rolled his eyes. “I know. She had a plan.”

  “Getting over Mark.” Charlie nodded and poured some orange juice. “What a loser that guy is.”

  Joe leaned against the stove. “She has a tendency to pick losers. She has what might be described as a real genius for it.”

  Charlie winced. “Don’t beat around the bush. Say what you mean.”

  “The only thing that’s saved her is that her exes were lousy lovers. When they went, she wasn’t missing much.”

  “I kind of got that impression last night.”

  “That’s not all you got.” Joe opened the iron and pried the waffles out onto a plate. “You don’t exactly make love quietly.” He put the plate in front of Charlie.

  “That’s Allie.” Charlie was lavish with the syrup. “She’s a screamer. Surprised the hell out of me.”

  “Allie’s not the only one. “You’ve got a nice deep moan yourself.”

  “Me?” Charlie stopped, surprised.

  “The walls are thin here.”‘ Joe said charitably.

  “I’m sorry we kept you up.” Charlie took a bite of waffle. “You make a mean waffle. Do I get seconds?”

  “Of the waffles, yes. Of Allie…” Joe shrugged. “That’s my question. Was last night just an extremely vocal one-night stand or will you be back?”

  Charlie stopped chewing. “Well, I was planning on coming back. We can go to a motel if we bother you. That’s only fair.”

  “The noise isn’t what bothers me.” Joe sat down and started onhis own waffles. “What I’m worried about is Allie. Areyou going to hurt her? Because if you are, I’m against it.”

  Charlie stopped chewing, shocked. “I don’t hurt people.”

  “What if Allie’s in love with you?”

  “She’s not.”

  “She will be if you hang around.” Joe pointed at him with a waffle-filled fork. “You’re smart, you’re funny, and you obviously know how to make her happy in bed.”

  Charlie thought about the job he’d come to do, and about how fa