“I’m not full of myself, I’m just honest,” he said.
I rolled my eyes, searching for my trailer.
“So what is it, Charlie? What’s Alina hiding? I know it has something to do with Rachel.”
I stiffened, then immediately tried to hide it.
“Well well well, so I guessed right…” he purred.
“No, I’m just surprised you’d think that,” I said quickly.
“Please. It was so obvious the way she was reacting at dinner when we brought up Rachel. You’d have to be a complete simpleton to miss it.”
I was begging the universe to show me my trailer so I could escape this situation. He was way too observant; I felt like his eyes were scanning me like a microscope.
“Well, I don’t need you to tell me anything anyway,” he said, leaning back to his full height with his chest puffed out. “She’ll be here tomorrow, and I’ll get it out of her.”
“Why, are you two friends or something?” I asked.
“You could say that,” he said evasively.
I knew he wanted me to pry, to ask him about details about the way he said that, so I resisted.
He frowned.
“Good, I hope she tells you everything you want to know,” I said, exhausted.
Finally, I spotted my trailer, the tire tracks fresh in the wet sand.
“This is me,” I said, walking towards it. “Goodnight.”
I took a few steps away from him and towards my trailer, then felt his fingers close on my wrist.
“Charlie,” he breathed.
The way he said my name was like he was enchanting it; like anything he said after that was something I would have to do.
I did my best to resist whatever spell he was trying to put over me.
“Let go,” I said, tugging my wrist out of his grip.
“Charlie, wait,” he said.
There was something else hidden in his voice now; something on the edge of desperate.
I turned to look at him, only to see him watching me earnestly in the moonlight. All I wanted to do was to go to my new trailer and let my head hit the pillow.
But the way he was looking at me was begging me for something.
“…what?” I asked.
He closed his eyes and looked down at the sand. “Never mind.”
I was tired of this. I was tired of him wielding his power over me, and jerking me around, and all of these games he was playing.
So I took two steps closer to him in the sand.
“No, you’re going to tell me. Quit with the bullshit,” I said, the words coming out of my mouth aggressively.
He looked surprised. The expression looked foreign on his face.
I didn’t recognize my voice as I laid into him. But after the events of the night, I felt stronger. Less tolerant of putting up with this I-know-something-you-don’t nonsense.
“It’s just that…” he said, finally shedding a layer of his cocky shell.
“If you’ve got nothing to say, then let me go to bed,” I demanded, feeling stronger with every word leaving my mouth.
“Can I come?” he asked.
I stared at him, unable to believe what just came out of his mouth.
“What?” I hissed. It took a moment for me to register what he just said. “Is this a joke?”
“No joke,” he said, his eyes boring into me with clarity. Then he pulled me in close. “I’ve been unable to get you out of my mind since we kissed earlier.”
I was pressed up against his hard chest and looked up into his eyes. It seemed like he was telling the truth, but I still had my doubts.
“What do you want?” I asked.
Those blue eyes bored into me, but there was this gentleness about them now. Something that I’d never seen there before.
“I want you, Charlie.”
For a second I almost believe him. Almost.
“You’re a good actor,” I said, pushing away from him. “But I know you don’t really want me. You want what you can’t have— which is what I know.”
“Stop pushing me away, Charlie. Stop pushing everyone away,” he said as he pulled me back in.
I relaxed in his arms, conflicted. A part of me wanted to believe him; wanted to give in to his magnetic pull. It was like everything about him was enchanted; designed to ensnare someone like me and making me his slave.
I found myself thinking, It can’t be that bad, he could be telling the truth.
And just like that, I began to forget the reason why I was resisting so much.
“We’ve already kissed,” I said into his hard chest.
“It was unforgettable,” he said.
Alarm bells were going off in my mind, but my libido muffled them under a blanket of desire.
“You’re so full of shit,” I chuckled.
He pulled away slightly and looked into my eyes. “Are you going to stand there and tell me that you didn’t feel something real when we kissed?”
I returned his gaze and something intangible passed between us. The heat in my body was concentrating in my pants, making my cock hard. I could feel his hardness pressing against my thigh.
“Can’t you feel how much I want you?” he asked in his silkiest voice.
Everything in my brain was screaming at me to give in, to succumb to him. I could only hold onto one small scrap of rationality.
“We shouldn’t…” I said, breathing in his scent. “We’re coworkers now.”
He tensed ever so slightly. I could tell he didn’t like that.
“What would be the harm in it? I know you’re just as curious as I am. Come on, spend the night with me…”
And just like that, it was like that small thread of reasoning and rationality that kept me tethered to my better judgment was snipped away.
I leaned forward and pressed my face to his. Again, I felt that spark spiral in my body and catch. Everything in my erupted into the flames of desire.
Our mouths were melding together, locked in a dance of human want. His tongue dipped into my mouth and pressed against my own. He pushed me against the side of my trailer, our bodies tangled together.
All of my thoughts took a backseat as the monster of lust, a
