***Reagan***
“Thankfully,hehadn’tcalled Megan until after I’d talked to her and asked her to cover for me. He still gave me shit for worrying him. He threatened to give me a curfew.” I followed Charlie up the stairs of the school, wondering where he was taking me. “Lisa threatened to gut-punch him for being a dick and he eventually apologized for the curfew bit.”
Charlie squeezed my hand and shoved open a door that I’d never been through before. It led to a small room with a set of narrow steps that led up to another door. “He’s just worried about you. The shit with your ex really threw him for a loop.”
“Ben?” I scoffed. “If only he knew that I haven’t had time to think about Ben for a second since arriving back in Lunar.”
“Do you think that’s something you’ll do when you do get time?” Charlie paused at the second door, his eyes searching mine. “Think about your ex, I mean.”
The light in the small stairwell was dim, just an emergency light over our heads, but I could still see every bit of desire and feeling in Charlie’s eyes. “No. How could I?”
He nodded once before pushing open the door and leading me out onto the roof of the school. There was already a small blanket set out with a picnic basket and a lantern sitting on it. He let go of my hand to light the lantern and then stepped back to watch me take it in.
My heart fluttered as I did, both touched by his thoughtfulness and excited for the night with him. “Oh, Charlie.”
He stood still as I walked closer, until I was standing right in front of him. A sweet song I remembered so clearly from high school started playing and butterflies fluttered like crazy in my entire body.
“You deserve to be dated, Rea. You deserve a lot more than that.” He swallowed, looking away, and when he looked back down at me, there was so much warmth there, I wanted to drown in it. “Come on. My sister made snacks.”
I giggled, remembering his older sister. She’d always seemed like a ballbuster to me, which made her both majorly respectable and scary. “Bailey made snacks for your picnic?”
“Yeah, but only after I told her it was a picnic with you.” He saw my eyes widen and shook his head. “Bailey’s a vault. She’ll never breathe a word to anyone. Mostly because she’d rather cut out her tongue than talk to people.”
He sat on the blanket and pulled me down into his lap, his big body wrapping around mine. I sank into his embrace and sighed happily. “I heard about people going to the roof of the school back in the day, but I was never cool enough to be invited up. It was the make out spot, but no one wanted to make out with me. Not that I blame them. The braces would’ve scared anyone off.”
“You were beautiful. Even with the braces, the headgear, and the weird, slightly off-putting haircut.”
I barked out a laugh and smacked his chest, instantly interested in the solid muscle there. “One, no one was supposed to know about the headgear. I only wore it to bed. And two, you just called my haircut off-putting!”
“I did.”
“And you’re not taking it back?” When he said nothing, I grinned up at him and rolled my eyes. “Fine. It wasn’t great. You’re just making my point, though.”
“I still thought you were beautiful. Imagine my surprise when you showed up at the reunion, somehow more beautiful. I didn’t think it was possible, not after the image of you I had in my head from prom night. You floored me. It took everything I had not to react in a way that would’ve made Russ choke me.”
I wrapped my arms around his neck and played with his hair. “To my original point, you brought me somewhere special. As pitiful as it sounds, my teenage heart is soaring at the fact that Charlie Taylor brought me to the roof of the school and is holding me in his lap.”
“Oh? You say my name like it’s a big deal.”
I laughed, basically scoffing at the idea that he didn’t know he was a big deal. When he just stared back, I stopped laughing. “Wait. You’re serious?”
“I was just a stupid kid back then. And I’m just a stupid man now.” He looked away, something sad in his eyes. “Anyway, I think Bailey made her famous lemon bars.”
He tried to reach around me, but I shifted so I was straddling him, facing him full on. Capturing his face in my hands, I stared into his eyes and searched them, for what, I wasn’t sure.
“What?” He tried to look away but sighed and held still when I didn’t let his face go.
“You don’t think you were a big deal back then? And now?”
“Beyond being the rich quarterback in high school and the guy who almost went pro now?”
I stroked his cheek and shook my head, shocked at what I was hearing. “Charlie, you’re the picture of why football is dangerous and how head injuries add up over time if you truly don’t see why you’re special.”
He laughed and wrapped his arms around me, caressing my back. “I think there was a compliment in there.”
“I had the biggest crush on you in high school. I’m sure you knew that. All of you had to know I had crushes on all of you. You, though, Charlie Taylor, were the name I scribbled on my notebook the most. And not just because I thought Reagan Taylor had a really great ring to it.”
His eyebrows furrowed. “You’re serious?”
“God, yes. It’s humiliating. If you ever utter a word of this, I’ll cut your tongue out. You were so sweet. You smiled at me, even when Jenny and her friends were being cruel and everyone else, including my own brother, ignored me. You always smiled, always offered to help me if I was struggling with stuff. Not just that, Charlie. You were funny and smart. Sure, the football thing was cool, but it ranked like number seven on the list of reasons why I liked you.
“And the man I see now isn’t somehow less than that boy. You’re great.” I gestured around us at the setup and smiled. “Look what you did for me. No one else has ever done anything like this for me. Just you.”
He kissed me then and it was a kiss that shifted worlds. Deep, determined, and devastating in that I’d never had it before. His big hands grasped my face and head, holding me close and I could feel his heart hammering against mine through his thin cotton T-shirt. He made love to me with his mouth, stroking my tongue with slow, steady strokes that made my brain buzz.
I collapsed against his chest when he finally pulled back, my heart pounding out a rhythm that matched Charlie’s. “Wow.”
He reached around me and brought the basket closer. “You stay here from now on.”