Read Play It Again, Charlie for Free Online Page B

his sake.
    “Wouldn't you like to know?” she offered, pretending not to see how Charlie tried to speed up, then giggling, a noise that every one of her students would have been surprised to hear. Charlie snorted and ignored her narrowed eyes. “I could tell you how good, but I'd have to charge you by the minute.”
    He wrinkled his nose and shook off any and all images that conjured up before he spoke again.
    “Why do straight women imagine that I want to hear about their sex lives?” He let out an exaggerated sigh and glanced at the sky, and Jeanine went still, even blinking once or twice.
    “Did you just make a joke ?” She put a hand to her chest as though she was shocked. He squinted at her, then decided to ignore her teasing.
    “Wasn't this your first date?” he wondered in the same voice he'd used on one of his sister's prom dates, and it was Jeanine's turn to roll her eyes.
    “Old-fashioned.” She stopped walking once they were just outside the building. Charlie stopped too and put on a patient face that made Jeanine cross her arms again. She had that suspicious look that Ann had perfected. Charlie half expected some remark about what his sex life was supposed to be like, and from anyone else, he might have gotten it. Jeanine was smarter than that, and he cleared his throat even before she finished. “What are you hoping for, Charlie, a happily ever after?”
    There was little to say that didn't sound maudlin. Fortunately, so far in their friendship, Jeanine had mostly let him stay silent. It was one more thing about her that helped him hold his tongue during her pushier moments— that and years of practice.
    Since he'd officially left the force, before he'd left, if he were being honest, he had let most of his fellow officers and friends drift away, because he'd understood that they had nothing to talk about with him anymore now that his work had changed. Their relationships had been almost entirely professional, and exchanging cards and pictures of their families at Christmas was a far less awkward way of staying in contact than stilted conversations about the weather and everything but his hip or his home life.
    “And he's the right person?” Charlie met her gaze for a single moment. He'd been with her through several guys now, and maybe that was why she didn't get angry when his tone approached snippy. She just changed her tone to match and leered at him.
    “He sure felt like it.” Like Charlie wanted to imagine her naked.
    “I'm leaving.” He turned, but her hand on his arm stopped him.
    “Going home?” She took off her glasses and let them hang from her neck. The phone on her belt buzzed, but she ignored it. “You look tired,” she observed, though to have bought the cappuccinos, she had already seen that in him. Charlie firmed his lips but didn't answer.
    His silence only made Jeanine frown harder, until he debated abandoning this friendship and becoming a hermit. He was more than halfway there already, which was... depressing.
    “New love I should know about?” Jeanine switched to a grin when the surprise question made Charlie's mouth fall open, just for a moment. Then her phone buzzed again.
    “Don't you have somewhere to be?” Charlie shut his mouth and shifted position.
    “Fine,” she agreed coolly. “But don't blame me when those cappuccinos you've been trying to drown yourself in keep you up all night.”
    “It won't be the c— ” Charlie heard himself admitting and shut up. He wasn't talking to anybody else, he was talking to Jeanine, who was practically one of his sisters, even if they'd never met each other. They all seemed to have the same desire to drive him crazy, his sisters with demands, Jeanine with worry. He didn't need to be taken care of.
    Jeanine was staring at him, and he coughed, then directed her attention away. “How many have you had today?”
    “ This is a natural high, Charlie.” Jeanine raised her eyebrows but pointed at herself with a grin that he