One and Only

Charlotte

Holloway’s was busy tonight. I swear, the entire damn town was packed in here and for once I was glad to be stuck in a crowd. I could sit with my girls and avoid Cade, and no one would think anything of it. Our table was in the corner, I had a glass of my favorite wine, and an entire charcuterie board was sitting in front of me. Being besties with one of the owners had definite perks, including no waiting and getting a guaranteed table.

I had said goodbye to Liam with an exchange of phone numbers and a promise that we would have lunch together and get reacquainted. I still couldn’t quite believe he was here. He had been a wonderful friend. Without him and Trent, I never would have made it through my first year of college.

“I can’t believe that hottie Liam is your old college buddy.” Gwen rolled her eyes and took a sip of her mojito. “Only you, Charlotte.”

“What do you mean, ‘only me?’” I sipped my wine and slid the charcuterie board closer. This was a going to be a night to remember, for sure. I needed sustenance.

“First of all, hello? Take a look at your brothers. All five of them are hot as hell. Everyone thinks so.” I wrinkled my nose. Objectively I could admit they were good-looking, but the word “hot” was not one I would use to describe them because, yuck.

“Especially Brody, right?” I raised my eyebrows and waited for her reaction. I knew about her and Brody. She’d had a crush on him since high school and he had essentially been waiting in the wings for her to ditch her loser ex. It had always been just a matter of availability. As for how I found out? Spencer, brother number five, had a big mouth.

“Uhhhh . . .” She blushed bright red and exchanged a glance with Savannah.

I laughed at both of them. When were people going to realize that nothing got past me? “Okay, let’s move along for now. We’ll discuss you and Brody another time. By the way, I’m cool with it.”

“Thank god! And fair enough. Okay, moving right along.” She shook her head. “Damn, Charli. Okay, Trent is literally the sexiest man I’ve ever seen in my life. You married him and the two of you did not have sex. Like, how? And Cade? Just look at him—six-foot-four, ripped to shreds, and those brown eyes?” She fanned herself and waggled her eyebrows at me

“Maybe I get along with dudes because I have so many brothers? I don’t know.” I shrugged.

She tilted her head as she considered my words. “Maybe. Now let’s talk about Liam, shall we? I’ve seen him around town, and I had no idea you knew him. Who else do you know? Are you buddies with Henry Cavill? Jason Momoa, perhaps? Spill your secrets. I want to build a hot guy harem just like yours.”

“Ew.” Savannah objected. “I approve of everyone you listed except for Cade. Yeah, he’s my cousin and a blood relation, which is an obvious reason. But aside from that, we once spent a family Disneyland weekend stuck in a hotel room together with the stomach flu while everyone else had fun. It was not pretty.”

“Gross! And aww, you missed Disneyland!” Gwen laughed and slid the board back to the middle.

“We’re gonna need more food, you guys.” I eyed the charcuterie board proprietarily. “I’m stressing out.”

“You came here to get drunk and unwind, Charli. Order some shots. Get wasted. We’re here to take care of you.”

“No way, I can’t get wasted now. Cade is here. If I’m drunk and he’s around, I’ll hit on him and that’s not fair to either one of us. Drunk Charlotte is always insatiable for sober Cade. When we were married, I used to give him pre-permission sometimes.”

“Pre-permission?” Savannah laughed. “Do I want to know?”

“Pre-permission for sex. He wouldn’t have sex with me if I was drunk. I had to, you know, tell him in advance whenever I was in the mood for drunk sex.”

Gwen sighed. “See? I knew he was a good guy. That note he left you was an anomaly—”

“No more talking about the note, remember? I’ve never spent more time thinking about four measly words. I’m done being pathetic. And, yeah, he is the best guy,” I agreed. “But seriously, that’s a low bar. No one should have sex with a drunk person unless it’s preplanned, right? Even if you’re together, it could be taking advantage. Cade is a good guy for other reasons.” Except for our recent morning-after; that was not good. Leaving me naked in bed with a terse note and my wedding ring on the kitchen counter seriously sucked, even if he had made me coffee.

“They’re all good guys,” Savannah added. “I mean, Uncle Ben is the best guy ever. After my dad died, he stepped in—father-daughter dances, camping trips, fishing, our various sports games, he was there for all of it. There is no way any son of Ben Barrett could turn out bad. It’s not possible. Oh gosh! Shh, don’t turn around,” she hissed.

Of course, I immediately turned around to see the man himself walking toward our table. “Hey, Cade.”

“Charlotte. Can we talk?” His face was unreadable.

“Sure.” My mood had turned into a strange combination of mad, sad, wistful, and horny. Basically, I was about to make no sense and confuse the shit out of both of us. Talking to him right now, when I was this unsettled, had bad idea written all over it. I swept my eyes across the table. Gwen and Savannah were nodding at me to go with him, but despite their encouraging grins, I didn’t feel much hope. I shrugged and stood up. I might as well get this over with.

“Should we go for a walk in the park across the street?” he suggested.

“And freeze our asses off in the dark?” I shrugged. “Sure, why not?” He chuckled as I took his outstretched hand.

After bundling up in our coats, we headed to the park next to my townhouse complex. It was small, but lushly planted with evergreen shrubbery and pine trees. It gave the feel of being deep in the forest. I loved spending time here, but I’d never been here at night.

We reached a stone bench and I sat, grateful it was dry. I looked up at him as he stood there, studying my face, probably trying to find something to say.

“You left early the other day and we haven’t talked. I haven’t seen you around. Are you okay?” I remarked, my tone deliberately neutral, leaving the conversation open to wherever he decided to take it.

He joined me on the bench and took my hand. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that. I wrote a note. I was feeling overwhelmed—”

“I understand. I was too. The other night was—unexpected.”

“You could say that. I didn’t plan on what ended up happening. I wanted to get to know you again before we slept together—” He paused. “That isn’t what I meant.” He leaned forward, elbows to his knees and buried his face in his palms, clearly frustrated. “I mean, I had no expectations of you. I would never expect sex from you, or anyone. Damn it, I didn’t invite you to dinner to get you into bed again. Shit, I don’t know what I’m saying—”

“Hey, I get you.” I ran a hand down his back. “It’s okay. We went from having dinner, to arguing, to having sex on my staircase. Kind of like we used to do after a fight, if I recall correctly. Minus the staircase part, which was a happy bonus.”

He let out a sad laugh and peeked up at me from the corner of his eye. “We were always good at make-up sex, weren’t we?”

“We were always good at all the sex. That was never our problem.”

“What was our problem then, Charlotte?” He sat up straight and met my eyes, the vulnerability in his expression busted my heart right open. I almost couldn’t take it.

“Youth, I think. We were too young to handle those huge feelings we shared and you know it, Cade. And, timing, obviously. Add in some opposing ambitions, and there you have it.”

“Right.” He sighed. “That stuff.”