Page 36 of Seeking Happily Ever After

She pulled away from him.

“I didn’t say stop.” He grinned.

“Oh, I wasn’t about to stop.” Char reached for his belt buckle and his eyes widened in surprise.

What did he think was going to happen?

She slipped the leather through the buckle and yanked it free before tugging his zipper down.

Nick’s hand stilled hers and held it in place. “Char?”

She looked up at him with heavily lidded eyes. “You said you weren’t used to waiting and—”

“That’s not what I…shit.” He shook his head sharply. “No. That’s not what I…I didn’t mean that you…that we…dammit.”

“Oh.” She’d clearly read the situation wrong. Maybe part of keeping things relaxed and without any expectations was keeping things PG. Mortified, she tried to turn away, but he held her fast.

“No, Charlotte.” He cupped her cheek with his hand. “That’s not what I was trying to say. Not at all. I want this. I wantyou.”

She forced herself to look at him. “Then what is it?”

He squeezed his eyes shut and when he opened them again, she could see he was struggling with something internally.

“Nick? No expectations, remember?” The words tasted sour on her tongue. She hated it because no matter how many times she said that, or reminded herself that what they weren’t real, it sure felt real. Just like what she was about to do felt very, very real. Still, she knew he hadn’t promised her more, and he’d definitely not promised herreal.So she swallowed down the sourness and said, “Don’t overthink it. This doesn’t have to be anything more than what it is.”

And whatwasit?

Way too many thoughts slammed through Nick’s consciousness all at once.

It was ridiculous, because it hadn’t even been a full year ago when he’d regularly hooked up with women for meaningless sex. He’d never thought about what itcouldmean. Or what itmightmean. It was sex. That was it. No strings. No expectations.

Just like this.

But it wasn’t anything like this. Not even close.

Because Charlotte was…

Don’t overthink it, she’d said. Dammit. Didn’t she know that that’s exactly what he did? He overthought. All. The. Time. It was exactly why he’d become so successful in everything he’d done.

Almost.

Her touch on his skin was like fire. More than anything, Nick wanted to tangle his fingers through her hair, pull her tight to him, and kiss away any more thought until they were both naked and sweaty and—

And why not?

Why shouldn’t they take things to the next level? They’d already talked about expectations and where his priorities were. Even if it was getting harder and harder to keep it all straight, because when Char kissed him, the line he’d drawn in the sand blurred immediately. Which was why there were about a million reasons he shouldn’t go there with her. Not when he was so confused about what he felt.

But there was alsoone really damn good reason why he should.

Charlotte.

He’d wanted her almost from the moment he’d laid eyes on her. If circumstances had been different—fuck, he hated that saying. Circumstancesweren’tdifferent. They were right here. Right now. In the exact circumstance that they were in.

And what exactly was wrong with that?

His mind was made up before the thoughts had even fully processed.

Nick took her face in his hands and kissed her. Hard.

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