Page 11 of Brazen
We both sipped coffees in silence. Charlie broke the spell as he asked, “Okay, so can I answer anything else?”
I needed to get down to agreeing and making an arrangement. I needed every dime now. I sucked on my bottom lip. I would survive this, but I asked, “Does the job come with food?”
“Yes, of course.”
My hands shook, but I took the bill out of my bag and shoved it toward Charlie. “Then instead of writing me a check, which will make me feel like a whore?—"
“You’re not. You’d never.”
My gaze misted. I would not let myself cry. I sat straighter. “Let me finish.”
“Okay.”
I waited until I could see him fully without being all glassy-eyed from tears. Once I was in charge of my emotions, I said, “Write the check out for my condo association directly, and I’ll move in and try to work on fixing you.”
He read the bill. “This is why you’re taking the job?”
I nodded. At the end, I would save my condo and figure out how to live and fix the rest of my credit in time. I stared at the white papers. “My grandfather gave me the condo so I’d have security. I can’t lose the one thing that matters.”
He folded it. “Did you grow up here?”
My eyes widened. “How did you know that?”
He put the bill in his pocket and folded his hands on the table. “Property is important, but your heart is clearly involved, so it’s more than finances.”
My heart fluttered. He was a sweet guy, which made being attracted to him harder to ignore. However, we were talking, and with him, I felt normal and myself, which was nice. I took a deep breath. “Well, my grandpa was the one that raised me.”
He smiled, and my heart melted a little like I believed it might all be okay. He asked, “What happened to your parents?”
Fair question. We were now in the sharing-each-other’s-lives phase. I finished my cup. “They died when I was an infant.”
“Mine too.”
I blinked. I usually got the "I’m so sorry," which was funny because I had no feelings when I talked about my parents. It was hard to miss what I'd never known. He finished his coffee, and I sat back. “I forgot for a minute you were adopted.”
Then he tossed his empty cup in the trash in one throw. “My biological parents were killed in a plane crash.”
My heart raced. I leaned forward. I didn't remember telling him, but if he knew all this about me, then I needed to guard my heart better. “Did you read that in a background check or something?”
His eyebrows went higher. “What?”
I crossed my arms. There was no way this was a coincidence. “That’s how mine died.”
“I didn’t know that.” He took out his phone and scrolled. “Let me show you the obituary of mine so you trust me.”
He then slid the latest version of iPhone in my hands, and I read the file. I shook as I read the flight number. Our parents had been together in the end. I met his gaze, but I wasn't ready to share. “Then you were adopted?”
“I had no one. Maman was on a board to help reunite families, and when she heard about me, she took me.”
Grandpa and Grandma already had me because they were babysitting for the week. Grandma died a year later from missing my mother and refusing cancer treatments. Deciding to trust him, I slipped him his phone back. “It was the same flight.”
His eyes widened, and for a moment, neither of us spoke. Then he brushed against me for a second. “So we have more in common than we thought.”
The past and thinking about it only caused more problems in the future. I closed my purse. “I’m in shock still.” Then I held out my hand to shake his. “Charlie, you have yourself a six-month fiancée.”
He jumped out his chair then slid into the seat next to me, staring into my eyes. “So we have a deal?”
“Yes, yes we do.”
