Chasing Charlie Read Online Free PDF

irony. She was on all these anxiety meds, and I think it mixed with the booze and one day she just snapped. Left my dad this pathetic Dear John letter on his pillow and never came back.” 
    “It must have been hard growing up in a houseful of men.”
    “Sometimes.” Her smile tipped up at what I assumed were the memories running through her head. “I think it brought us all closer together, made us even more tight-knit than we already were. It was tough going through high school without her: going on my first date, having my first kiss. But it all went to hell anyway, so I’m almost glad she wasn’t here for that. I had all I needed in Daddy and Vince.” She seemed to pull herself from her thoughts and replace the chip that normally sat on her shoulder. 
    “Sounds like you’ve got a great family.”
    “The best. The kitchen looks pretty good. We can probably close up and head home now.” She stood, breaking me from our trance. 
    I followed suit and tossed my rag in the bucket before washing my hands next to her in the sink.
    She looked up at me, as if seeing me again for the first time. “Thank you for being so nice to me. I don’t think anyone has ever been so nice to me without wanting something in return.”
    “Well, I wouldn’t take it that far.” I stepped toward her, tipping up her chin and forcing her gaze to mine. “I do want something from you, but I won’t take what you aren’t willing to give.”
    Her eye held mine for long beats before tears filled her eyes again. “Thank you.”
    “No thanks necessary, love.” I traced a thumb across the delicate bow of her rosy lips before forcing myself to pull away. 
    Christ, I wanted her more than anything I’d ever wanted in my life. It felt like fate that I’d stayed in Cambridge this summer, fate that I’d walked into her dad’s bar looking for a job, fate that she’d even chanced a second glance at me at all. 
    I’d broken down her defenses on that very first night and seen a glimpse of the tender, gorgeous woman buried beneath her hard outer shell, and it intoxicated me. 
    Charlie was going to be my complete undoing, and I finally had the sense that she felt this thing 
     
    pulsing between us too. Now I only had to stay the course.

FOUR
    Charlie
    Liam was driving me insane with his flirty glances and ever-so-soft brushes against my body. Persistent must have been his damn middle name. Vince had even popped in with his new girlfriend, Vanessa, and caught one such glance. I’d withered away from Liam’s touch, embarrassed to have drawn my brother’s attention. 
    Vince pulled me aside before leaving. 
    “You okay, little sis? I’ll kick his ass back to England in a second.”
    “He’s from Ireland, Vince.”
    “Whatever. You need anything, just call, okay? Got that?” He patted my shoulder just as dad had done last night.
    These boys and their white knight complexes. I’d never find a boyfriend at this rate, but then again, wasn’t that why I stayed? Why I hung around my family and accepted the safety they had to give? I’d learned my lesson and needed their protection and support to get me through, so I would be a plain asshole to push them away now. Sure, it’d been a few years since I’d sworn off men, but my father and brother had never stopped looking out for me. 
     
    After a night spent tossing and turning, I rolled over in bed, hand over my eyes to block the early morning light. I had the day off, the first day in a few that I wouldn’t see Liam. Truth be told, I was happy for my heart to have a break from all the pounding, my stomach to have a break from the butterflies, and my thighs from all the incessant shifting. 
    Like it or not, Liam was gorgeous, over six feet and broad, with muscles that rippled. Add to that his faint Irish accent, and I was done for. A complete fucking mess with him on my mind when a man should be the very last thing I was thinking about. 
    I sighed, thinking I should leave my