Bringing Home the Bad Boy (Second Chance #1)(10)

“Jim Rivers.” Sofie scrunched her face. “Ewww.”

Faith reached for another cheesecake. “It’s true. I’ll never have your ass.”

Sending a longing look at the tray, Sofie muttered, “I wish you could have it. I’d so give it to you.”

Charlie met Sofie a few years ago at the furniture store where Charlie worked at that time. Sofie had just founded her party-planning company, Make It an Event. Charlie had just made the vacation house her permanent residence and, needing part-time work, had snapped up the sales job.

Sofie came into the shop looking to furnish her new storefront on Endless Avenue, and Charlie visited Make It an Event to give her recommendations. She and Sofie spent as much of the afternoon yakking as they did decorating. Sofie learned Charlie took photos for fun and encouraged her to look into selling her services. And when Charlie wasn’t sure she was good enough to get paid for her photography, it was Sofie who’d hired her first.

They’d been inseparable since.

“How many calories do you think are in one of these?”

“Seriously, sweetheart, if you bemoan the fat and calories one more time, I’ll eat the entire tray,” Faith said.

Charlie lifted a cheesecake bite and let the creamy, tart morsel melt on her tongue. “Faith is right. This is worth it.”

With a quirk of her lips, Sofie reluctantly reached for one and nibbled.

Faith rolled her eyes at Charlie, making her smile. She’d met the svelte, tanned, graceful-limbed Faith Garrett at Sofie’s apartment a few years ago. The woman who could double for a runway model was so easy to like, Charlie couldn’t hate her for her metabolism and good genes.

Faith worked at Abundance Market, overseeing the beer and wine department. To Charlie, she seemed as bored by her job as by her fiancé, the regional manager. The former she knew because Faith repeatedly mentioned how boring her job was, and the latter, because whenever the topic shifted to Michael, Faith changed it to talk about wine or beer instead.

“We should have gotten a few Devil Dogs,” Faith said, picking up another mini-dessert.

“Those are so fatten—erm—delicious,” Sofie corrected with a bright smile.

“What’s a Devil Dog?” Charlie asked.

Faith’s eyebrows rose.

The last bite of Sofie’s cheesecake hovered an inch from her mouth. “Are you serious?”

“I’m not much of a sweets person.”

Faith looked at Charlie like she’d announced she was a white supremacist. “I don’t understand.”

“The Devil Dog is a chocolate-dipped cake—”

Faith cut Sofie off with a karate chop to the air. “Two layers of chocolate cake sandwiched together with cream frosting in the middle, then dipped in dark chocolate.”

Charlie pressed her lips together to keep from giggling.

“Dark chocolate,” Sofie repeated reverently.

“Well. We must get one of these Devil Dogs.”

“One for each of us,” Faith reiterated.

“Not me. I have to work off the extra seven pounds I gained over the winter.” She dipped her chin at Faith. “I don’t have your height to disguise the gain.”

No one did. Faith was hovering around five-ten, several inches over both Sofie and Charlie.

“Eat.” Charlie pushed the tray toward Sofie.

“One’s my limit.”

“Sofie,” came Faith’s scolding tone. “I’ll eat them all if you don’t help.”

“I’ll help.” Charlie popped another cheesecake into her mouth, this one dripping with a sugary cherry drizzle.

“Fine,” Sofie acquiesced, reaching for another.

“There isn’t a part of your body you should be ashamed of.” Charlie licked a drop of cherry drizzle off her thumb. “At least you don’t look like a porn star in a bikini.”

Sofie choked back a laugh.

“It’s true! I’d kill for a normal size pair of boobs instead of a pair of double-Ds sitting distractedly on my chest.”

“I’d love to have your rack, Charlotte.” This from Faith, who gestured to her own small breasts. “If I wear a strapless dress, I have to have it tailored so tight I can hardly breathe or it’ll fall to my waist.”

“Yeah but your legs are nine miles long,” Sofie pointed out. “And so are yours, Charlie. I’ve seen you in a bikini.”

“So did my new neighbor,” she admitted with a wince. When she’d strolled down to the dock, she hadn’t thought a single thing about laying out in her favorite bathing suit and relaxing… until Evan appeared on the dock.

“Ohhh, now we’re getting somewhere.” Faith smiled.

“It’s not like that.” Though, maybe it was a bit like that. Because the moment Evan showed up on the dock, Charlie had to play it extra cool to not react to his presence. Under his turquoise gaze yesterday, her tasteful, cute bathing suit felt like it was covering a hell of a lot less.

“How are they adjusting?” Sofie asked, meaning Evan and Lyon. Charlie had filled them in on him moving here, on how Lyon was like the nephew she’d never had. Which was not technically true. She did have a nephew, but her sister was distant, both geographically and emotionally, and Charlie rarely saw Theo.