Play It Again, Charlie by R. Cooper Read Free Book Online Page B

should start grading— that he'd left in the backseat of his car.
    The realization made him stop with his key chain in his hand, his arms around the bag of groceries that was only getting heavier the longer he stood there. All this walking might have been considered his exercise for the day, but it wasn't going to do anything to loosen up locked muscles and joints.
    It had been over a week since his last workout. Tomorrow he'd use the school's facilities and come home so exhausted that he'd fall asleep almost immediately and not have to worry about what anyone else might be up to.
    Tonight he'd go get those exams, possibly have a beer, and hope that it relaxed him enough finally get some rest.
    “Hel-lo, gorgeous.”
    The whispered greeting at his back made him twist around with his hand at his side before he felt the grocery bag slipping and moved quickly to hold it in place.
    Will was grinning, but his attention went from Charlie's hands to his face and then, strangely, to his hair, while Charlie couldn't do much more than steady the bag and notice that Will had changed his hairstyle. The front part swept to the side; the back softly fanned out.
    “You really, um, were a cop once,” Will observed with pleasure before Charlie could get out a single word about not sneaking up on people. He avoided the question in the green eyes and glanced around instead, certain he had seen no sign of Will anywhere in the courtyard when he'd walked in.
    The crushed flowers were in his line of sight, however, a mess that only made him tense up even more and try to focus on anything other than the events of the night before. Not that it was at all difficult to bring his eyes to the man in front of him.
    Will was in a T-shirt with some sort of bedazzled skull on it, the fit tight enough to show off just how much he worked out. Charlie felt his gaze skipping up past that leather cuff around his wrist, over the exposed golden skin of his arms, the black cotton, to the way Will's throat moved when he swallowed.
    He brought his eyes up a moment too late and stood there for a moment, trying to think of something to say that wasn't about how beautiful Will was. The kid had to know already, and pointing it out in the clumsy way that Charlie was sure he would say it would only draw attention to just how beautiful Charlie wasn't.
    It had been made clear over the years that he was too much trouble to demand much effort from anyone else, even at his best. He was a pushing-forty community college professor with an obvious limp and a family that took up most of his attention. His hair was too long and had too much gray in it, and the only new clothes he owned were the ties his sisters bought him every Christmas.
    “Your friend get home?” He went with ignoring the last two statements out of the kid's tempting mouth and turned his back on him while he separated his door key from the rest of his key chain.
    “Of course. Here, let me help.”
    Charlie turned back when Will pressed closer and did not flush when he realized he was hugging his groceries to his chest. He fixed Will with a glare when the action put that stupid grin back on the kid's face.
    “I can't imagine what kind of help you could offer that isn't chemical in nature,” he said, because in his hours of staring at his ceiling last night he'd also realized that Will had known exactly what had been in those plastic baggies.
    Will lifted his chin to look Charlie in the eye, his brows coming together for a frown before he flicked his gaze away. He rolled his shoulders in a shrug as he looked back, his hands out in a similarly helpless gesture, as though he had no choice in the matter.
    For half a second Will's expression was sharp, and then he was smiling again.
    “I could hold your bag while you get your key,” he offered, sighing in a way that had to be exaggeration. Will stared at Charlie and spoke with perfect seriousness. “That is, if you trust me not to steal your eggs and sell them