Maverick (The Family Simon 3)

Charlie grabbed the bowls from his tray and set them on the table, while he deposited a basket of warm bread and butter. Davis slid into a seat beside Connor, not bothering to look up when he spoke.

“So Ava is sitting clear on the other side of the room with Seth.”

Charlie glanced at Rick but he just shrugged and stepped around Danielle, who was staring at him strangely.

“Are you sure we haven’t met?” she asked Rick, taking a good long look.

“I’m sure,” he replied. “I’ve never been to Fisherman’s Landing before or Springs Falls either.”

“I guess you just have one of those faces,” Danielle said, a thoughtful expression on her face. “Where are you from?”

“Danielle, we need to eat before the food gets cold.” Charlie sat down and hoped her old friend would take the hint.

“California,” he replied.

Huh. That was new information. For a moment Charlie stared down into her bowl of chili. She realized that she knew next to nothing about this man. They’d spent most of the previous evening talking, but they hadn’t talked about anything that mattered. Not really. She knew his name. Rick Simon. She knew he had a brother. She knew that he was an amazing lover, with gentle hands and a mouth that was to die for.

She knew that he was a musician—that he wrote and sang.

And that was it.

She supposed it was more than he knew about her.

“California! Wow. Why in hell are you out here when you could be in the warm sunshine?”

“I guess we always want what we don’t have,” he replied, glancing at Charlie. She raised her eyebrows and grabbed a hunk of bread.

“I guess so,” Danielle replied.

A moment of awkward silence fell and Danielle stepped back. “Oh my goodness. Sit down. You must be starving.” She waved to Charlie. “So nice seeing you again and Jason Davis, wow, nice to see you too. Remember me?”

Davis stopped chewing his food and glanced up. He nodded and pointed to his full mouth. Danielle laughed and moved away. “I’ll stop bothering you guys and let you eat your dinner. Are you staying for the dance?”

Charlie didn’t have a chance to answer, because Rick did as he slid into the spot across from her. “I think we’re heading back sooner than later. The little guy’s had a full day of sun and fresh air.”

“Oh of course. Okay, I’m glad I ran into you all.”

She walked away and Charlie breathed a sigh of relief.

“Who the hell was that?” Davis asked, when he had a chance to swallow his food.

Charlie laughed. “She’s a few years older than me so you would have went to high school with her. She used to run the pep rally’s remember?”

“Nope.”

“You’re hopeless.”

They settled in to eat their dinner and with Davis preoccupied and Connor still people watching, the conversation was light. And that was fine. Between the scorching hot looks from Rick, she was having a hard time concentrating.

She wanted him. She wanted him in her bed tonight.

And as much as she wanted that, she couldn’t help but feel afraid. Because try as she might, Charlie couldn’t shake the feeling that things were about to get very complicated.

There’d been a day when she would have been all over a challenge like Rick Simon, complicated or not. But she wasn’t the same girl she used to be and complicated had a way of biting a girl in the ass. Challenge or not, was she ready for that?

She glanced up from her half eaten bowl of chili and her breath caught at the back of her throat. Rick was looking at her, his dark eyes smoldering, his generous mouth curved into a wicked grin.

Why did complicated have to be so damn hot?