Free Saving Charlie (Stories of Serendipity Book 9) by Anne Conley Page A

about you embarrassing me,” Les whispered. “And I know as soon as I walk in the door with you, nobody’s going to be looking at me.” There he was with that self-deprecating talk again.
    “Why do you do that?”
    “Do what?” His innocence was refreshing. His guileless expression showed no hint of game-playing or ulterior motives. He honestly wasn’t fishing for compliments.
    “Put yourself down like that. You’re an attractive man, Les.”
    “Thanks, but I don’t think that’s a universal opinion.”
    He’d been hurt in the past. The realization hit her like a truck, and Charlie was surprised to find herself feeling protective of him.
    “Who?”
    “Who, what?”
    “Who stomped all over you, Les?”
    He walked over to the chair in the corner where his guitar was leaning and sat down, bending over to pick up the instrument. He strummed it absently, lost in thought for a moment.
    “I’ve always been the one to hold the torch and then get friend-zoned. It’s a pattern. There wasn’t just one specific girl.” He was plucking at the strings of the guitar softly, a background score to his words. “The last one was Renae, and I had put so much time into her, waiting patiently, only to watch her fall in love with a guy I’d inadvertently introduced her to.”
    “Did you love her?” Please don’t say yes. Shocked at herself, she froze, biting her lip. Where did that thought come from? Charlie didn’t care if someone loved someone else. She didn’t care about love. Still she waited, not breathing, for his answer.
    His deep brown eyes pierced her with an unreadable expression, sending a chill down her spine. “I thought I did at the time. I always do.” She almost didn’t hear him speak over the guitar, but it wasn’t because he was playing loud. His voice was that soft. “I even proposed to her, even though she’d been turning me down for dates for years. Talk about glutton for punishment.” He bent back down to his guitar, hiding his face from her.
    “Have you ever had a girlfriend?” The way he talked, he’d never been happy with a woman, never had a relationship.
    “Sure. I’ve had girlfriends, but they never really lasted. They always either found someone else, or just didn’t have the chemistry.” His eyes bored into hers with an intensity that made her stomach flop. Did he mean the chemistry between them? There had certainly been a few times where she’d wanted to shove her inhibitions about him out the window and rip his clothes off to explore his body.
    “Friend-zoned, huh?”
    He snorted, “Yeah, I’m the King of the Friend-zone. It’s definitely my very own territory.”
    She was about to tell him something she knew she would regret. It would only give him hope, so she tempered it with a caveat. “I think you’re pretty hot, Les. I’ll help you find a girl who’s perfect for you as soon as I make a girlfriend to introduce you to.”
    He smiled ruefully. “No thanks, Charlie. I’m good. I’ve sort of resigned myself to lurking in the wings, lusting after the unattainable.”
    Resisting the urge to plant herself in his lap and run her fingers through his unruly mop of hair, she turned back to her small pile of clothes on the bed. She was running her hands over a pair of dress slacks she’d brought to wear to the auction, listening to Les strum on the guitar when her phone rang. Her blood pressure skyrocketed. Even though he hadn’t called in the last couple of days, she still knew.
    “Hi, Justin.”
    “Where are you now, Babe?”
    “I’m in a hotel room in Santa Barbara. Les is playing at a wedding tonight, and I’m his date.”
    She heard his quick inhale and could almost hear his knuckles cracking through the phone. His voice was deceptively quiet though. “You’re what?”
    She sighed, exhausted with this. “Okay, I’m not answering the phone to you anymore, Justin. I don’t know how else to tell you, this isn’t working. I don’t want to talk to you