I handed him my credit card. “No, I insist. I’m here on business anyway, so my company pays for it.”
He glanced at the card before handing it back. “My treat. I enjoyed the company, Hudson.”
“I don’t want to get you in trouble with your boss,” I tried again.
He laughed. “No worries, mate. I’ve got him wrapped around my little finger.”
I stood up, a bit unsteady on my feet. “I can see why,” I mumbled under my breath. There was something seriously weird about the guy that must affect everyone around him. Like voodoo magic or witchy spells. That was it. It wasn’t just me. He was mesmerizing to everyone.
I smiled up at him. “Good night, Charlie. Thank you for the coddle.”
In an effort to get out of there before saying more stupid shit, I spun around and ran right into a thick wooden beam holding up part of the room.
What happened next was a bit of a jumble. A few people gasped, someone cursed, and I was fairly certain I apologized more than a reasonable amount.
“I’m sorry. I’m fine. I just need to get to my room,” I said. “I might need some help finding it. The lady said it was up the stairs and down the hall and down another hall and up another set of stairs and I can’t remember where my room is, so I might need some help finding it.”
Soft laughter and strong arms. I remembered those. The smell of beer mixed with honeysuckle and fresh air. I wanted more of that smell. It was warm and inviting… different.
“You smell good,” I told the strong arms.
“Not me, him,” said a gruffer voice I didn’t recognize. “I smell like pork sausage and arse.”
More laughter, only this time it was the familiar good laughter I knew was Charlie’s.
“Was that your sausage I ate?” I asked as politely as I could. I opened my eyes to see who was helping me up the stairs, but all I could see was a large burly form in a wrinkled black chef’s coat. “It was delicious. I’m glad I tried something new. The old ladies were right.”
More easy chuckling.
“Well, I made the coddle. Dunno about any old ladies. Now up to bed with you.”
There was the sound of a door being opened, and then I was on a bed in my small room at the inn above the pub. The soft quilt smelled like fresh laundry detergent, and the dim light from the bedside table lamp made Charlie’s freckles fade.
“That’s a shame,” I murmured, closing my eyes. “I like your freckles.”
I felt my shoes and socks being removed. Charlie’s voice was gentle as he spoke. “For a Texas boy, you sure do have a low tolerance for beer.”
“I took some medicine. Think maybe that’s what happened,” I said, remembering the antianxiety meds I’d taken on the plane. “Sorry. So sorry.”
A cool hand smoothed over my forehead, and I leaned into the touch.
“No need to be sorry, gorgeous,” he whispered. I could feel the cool slide of his silky hair falling against my cheek. “I’m the one who’s sorry. I would have really liked to have taken you to bed tonight the proper way.”
My heart pounded in my chest, and my lungs felt tight. I opened my eyes to see Charlie’s face inches from mine. His lips were dark, shiny, pink, and full, and his eyes were the same vibrant green I’d been lost in all night. I was pretty sure this was all a dream.
“You’re really beautiful,” I told him, reaching out to tuck the fallen hair behind his ear. “My brothers would love you.”
His eyes widened in surprise. “Your brothers?”
I nodded, which made my head spin. “But they can’t have you.”
Charlie’s smile was slow and sexy as hell. “Why not, Hudson? Why can’t they have me?”
“Because you’re… you’re mine,” I admitted, closing my eyes to fully appreciate the dream. I brushed my thumb over my chest and felt my heart hammering along as if it had never been this excited before.
The feel of soft lips on my cheek, the gentle hands removing my belt, the careful tucking of a blanket over me… all of those things made me fall even harder into the dream. The rational part of my brain puzzled through which of my single brothers would make the best partner for Charlie while the complete lunatic side of my brain kept chanting mine mine mine all night long.
When I awoke the following morning and remembered all of it in a single flash of mortification, I chalked it all up to mixing prescriptions with alcohol. Yeah, that was it. That was the reason my dick filled out when I remembered Charlie’s long hair and freckled nose. The medicine and alcohol thing.
Thank god I’d only interacted with the bartender and possibly the chef. Seeing as how I was there representing the firm I worked for, it would’ve been a disaster if I’d made that drunken scene in front of the manager, or god forbid, the family who’d owned the brewery for generations.