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  Protecting Charlotte

  Rochelle Paige

  Contents

  Protecting Charlotte

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Epilogue

  Also by Rochelle Paige

  About the Author

  Protecting Charlotte

  Charlotte Manning never expected to see Chad Tomlinson again. He was her best friend growing up, but he moved away during middle school and she never had the chance to act on her crush. Not until he moves back to Brooklyn—a grown-up, hot cop version of the boy she once knew.

  Chad’s happy to be back in his old stomping grounds and more than interested in reconnecting with the girl he never forgot. But when someone makes it clear that they have it out for Charlotte, Chad will need to step up and use his skills—and his military connections—to protect the woman who’s always been meant to be his.

  1

  Charlotte

  “Charlie! C’mon, hurry up! If you’re not ready in five minutes, we’re leaving without you!”

  I still had two more minutes on my snooze when my mom hollered upstairs, reminding me why I was glad I’d moved out after graduating from NYU two years ago.

  “Charlotte Ann Manning! I’m not kidding.”

  “Coming!” I yelled back, scrambling out of my childhood bed.

  I was a dedicated night owl, so getting up at four o’clock in the morning was difficult for me since I didn’t usually fall asleep until around three. But the morning after Thanksgiving was special because of our family’s Black Friday tradition. My mom, aunts and I always headed over to the Atlantic Center Mall to shop our asses off. We were all serious about our deals, which meant I wouldn’t put it past them to leave me behind.

  I tossed a thick, cable-knit sweater over my shirt and raced down the stairs. I didn’t want to have to deal with a jacket, and my sweater should keep me warm enough. It was chilly outside, but at least the rain from earlier in the week had cleared up.

  I stormed down the stairs and came to an abrupt halt when I found everyone waiting for me at the front door. “See. I’m all ready to go”—I glanced down at my phone—“with two minutes to spare.”

  “You’re not going out like that,” my aunt Tina sputtered. Then she turned towards my mom and shook her head. “Please tell me she’s going to at least brush her hair and put on some mascara.”

  “And lip gloss,” my aunt Wendy piped in.

  “You heard your aunts,” my mom said, waving me back upstairs. “You’re a gorgeous girl, and you never know who you’ll meet while we’re out shopping.”

  “In all the years we’ve been Black Friday shopping, I’ve never once bumped into a cute guy who wasn’t there with his wife, girlfriend, husband or boyfriend.”

  “It’s bound to happen this year then,” Aunt Tina chirped.

  “Fine,” I groaned, stomping back up the stairs. “But if you guys leave without me, I’m going to Uber over, beat you guys to the mall, and hide all the best stuff so you can’t find it.”

  “As if,” Mom huffed.

  Yeah, my mom knew me too well. I loved Black Friday shopping with my crazy family, and if they left without me I’d just track them down because I didn’t want to miss out on the experience. So, I did exactly what they told me to do—brushing my hair and pulling it into a braid so it wouldn’t get in the way, dusting my face with a quick brush of powder, applying a quick layer of mascara to my lashes and finishing it off with some pink-tinted lip gloss. Everyone beamed at me when I went back downstairs.

  “Much better,” Aunt Wendy murmured approvingly, giving me a little nudge out the door.

  Taking the subway to the station inside the mall, it didn’t take us long to get there. We hit up the Starbucks first, for a quick infusion of caffeine. Then we headed to Target, splitting into four different directions so we could maximize the morning early bird offers we’d be able to grab since we’d opted not to come out last night.

  My mom headed to electronics, on the hunt for a new television for my dad. Aunt Tina went to the toy section, hoping to snag a bunch of toys for her new granddaughter, my cousin Shelly’s nine-month-old baby. Aunt Wendy loved to cook, so she wanted to grab a new standing mixer. And me? I ran towards the men’s clothing section. The sports apparel was going to be fifty percent off, including Brooklyn Blades jerseys. I wanted to snag two of them—one for my dad and one for me.

  I found a small one first, no problem. But when I reached out to yank the very last extra-large off the stand, a meaty hand caught hold of it at the same time. I tugged on it, trying to pull it towards my body. It did me no good because the other person did the same, and they were stronger than me.

  “Hey! That’s mi—” my cry was cut off when I got a good look at the guy I was arguing with. He was huge. Like six-and-a-half feet tall and at least two-hundred-and-fifty pounds. He was bald, with a thick, dark beard. And as if that wasn’t enough, he had a black tattoo of a spider on his neck. He was beyond intimidating, and my first instinct was to let go of the jersey.

  Except it was for my dad. He loved the Brooklyn Blades, and matching jerseys for us to wear to the game we were going to the week after Christmas was the perfect gift for him. So I forced the words past my lips. “That’s mine.”

  “I don’t think so,” he growled. “Since it’s mine.”

  “But—” I yelped as he pulled harder, making me trip over my feet and fall towards him. The jerk didn’t even pause, turning and walking away with the jersey as I hurtled downwards. Luckily, I was saved from hitting the floor by a pair of hands that wrapped around my waist and steadied me.

  “Whoa there! You okay?” a deep voice rasped in my ear.

  “I am now,” I gasped out after he settled me on my feet and I got a good look at my savior. Holy hell, I was lucky my mom and aunts had pestered me to make myself presentable because he was beyond hot. And not wearing a wedding ring. But he was in a cop uniform, which only increased the hotness factor. With his dark wavy hair, piercing green eyes and sexy grin, he didn’t need any help in that department, either. He seemed oddly familiar to me, but I couldn’t have met him before because he wasn’t the kind of guy you’d ever forget. “Thank you.”

  “That’s why I’m here. To protect and serve.”

  “In Target on Black Friday?” Because seriously, if that was the case, I was adding it to the top of our list for every Thanksgiving from now on.

  “Yeah,” he chuckled, his cheeks turning a little pink. “I have my partner, to thank for that. He got on our Captain’s bad side, and we found ourselves on first watch at the mall this morning. Not exactly our usual patrol, but it is what it is.”

  “Lucky me,” I murmured under my breath.

  “Pardon?”

  “I mean,” I stuttered, scrambling for something to say that wouldn’t make me sound super pervy. “If you weren’t here, then I might have ended up in the emerge
ncy room, unable to finish my Black Friday shopping.”

  “I guess I’ll have to stop giving my partner a hard time.”

  “Why’s that?”

  “Since I got to save a pretty girl and all.”

  “Yeah,” I sighed.

  “Although I wasn’t quick enough to save the jersey you were fighting over.” He glanced at the one in my hand and back up again. “It looks like you got one for you, but he got away with the one for your… boyfriend?”

  “My dad,” I quickly corrected. “He’s a big fan of the Brooklyn Blades.”

  “Me, too. Being able to catch their games is one of the things I was most looking forward to when I moved back to Brooklyn a few months ago.”

  He was a hot cop, who loved hockey, and was curious if I was single. Could this guy be any more perfect?

  I caught sight of my mom wandering towards us, her eyes locking with mine when she peered around the huge television box in her cart. I tried to shake my head subtly at her so she’d know to keep on going, but I ended up groaning in my head when she aimed straight for us, clearly not taking my hint.

  2

  Chad

  “Chad?” a feminine voice cried out behind me. “Chad Tomlinson? Is that you?”

  I tore my gaze away from the stunning brunette in front of me, only to find the mother of the girl next door growing up—my friend who had been the inspiration behind all my middle school wet dreams—standing in front of us.

  “Hey, Mrs. Manning.”

  “Oh my goodness. It is you! I’d heard you moved back to town, but not that you were a police officer now.” She beamed a smile at me before releasing the death grip she had on her cart to give me a big hug. Then she smiled at the woman I was flirting with and blew my world apart. “Of course my Charlie would manage to find you in a crowded mall on Black Friday. You guys always were two peas in a pod growing up.”

  Fucking A, the hot chick was Charlotte Manning. I scanned her face again and took in the combination of her long, curly dark hair, sparkling dark brown eyes, and plump lips. They were so familiar; I couldn’t believe I hadn’t realized it right away. My quick, discrete glance at her perfect tits reminded me why I hadn’t made the connection—the curves Charlie had gotten in the past eleven years were damn distracting.

  “Chad?” she whispered, her eyes opening wider, and her mouth dropping open.

  “How’ve you been Charlie-bean?”

  A light pink blush spread across her cheeks, somehow making her even prettier.

  Her mom interrupted our little moment, patting me on the shoulder. “Look at you, working hard to protect us in the wee hours of the morning after a holiday. You probably didn’t even have the chance to truly enjoy your Thanksgiving meal, having to get up so early for work.”

  “My partner’s family was kind enough to move their meal up so it was earlier in the day.”

  “Oh, dear! I hadn’t even thought about where you would have eaten with your parents down in Georgia.” She patted me on the shoulder again. “You remember where our house is, right?”

  “How could I forget?” It might have been awhile, but I’d lived next door to them for the first thirteen years of my life. Right up until the day my dad got a promotion that resulted in him relocating our family to Atlanta.

  “We’re going to have a big lunch today, once we’ve recovered from shopping. I have plenty of leftovers; you should come over,” she offered.

  “I don’t know,” I mumbled, running my hand through my hair awkwardly.

  “C’mon, Chad. Please say yes. It would be wonderful to have the chance to catch up with you.”

  It wasn’t exactly what I’d been leading towards when I was talking to Charlotte before her mom walked up, but it would more than do since the situation had changed. She wasn’t just any woman—she was Charlotte Manning, the girl against which I’d measured every other woman in my life. And they’d all fallen short to my memories of her. I’d take whatever extra time I could get.

  “As long as you’re sure, that sounds great. I’ll be off duty at Noon.”

  “Perfect!” Mrs. Manning crowed. “I’ll make sure everything’s on the table by twelve thirty.”

  “Sounds great.”

  “Come find me when you’re done, sweetie,” she told Charlotte. “I’m going to find your aunts and grab a spot in the check-out line. You know how long it can get, even with all those nice employees coming in when they should be home in bed instead.”

  She wandered away, and Charlotte laughed—the husky sound so different from her girlish laughter when we were younger.

  “Your mom’s still a nut.”

  “That she is,” she agreed. “And I love her for it.”

  “I’m glad to see some things haven’t changed in all these years.”

  Her eyes drifted up and down my body, heating with feminine appreciation. “And others have changed quite a bit.”

  “Tell me about it,” I growled, although the hard-on I was sporting just from being near her wasn’t anything new.

  “Well, lucky for us, we’ll have the chance to catch up on the last eleven years when you come over for lunch later today.”

  “Should I stop and pick something up to bring with me?”

  “Nah, my mom still makes enough to feed an army,” she laughed, taking a step closer to give me a quick peck on the cheek and going up on her toes to whisper in my ear. “Besides which, you’re bringing yourself and that’s more than enough.”

  I stared at her ass as she sauntered off, unable to tear my gaze away until Luke slapped me on the back.

  “Damn, Tomlinson,” he barked out, following it up with a low whistle. “Who the hell is she?”

  “None of your damn business, that’s who.”

  “Tell me you at least managed to get her number, man. Your dick needs more than just your hand for a date,” he razzed me.

  “At least I can keep it in my pants when it’s important,” I quipped back.

  “At least I let mine out to play every once in a while.”

  “Every once in a while?” I laughed. “Try all the damn time. Including with the Captain’s niece, you dipshit.”

  “Maybe now you’ll get off my back about that since our punishment led to you meeting a smoking hot woman.”

  “Dude,” I sighed. “You got caught with your pants down. By the Captain. While you were with his niece. That’s a fuck-up of monumental proportions, and I’m willing to bet our punishment is far from over.”

  “Hey, in my defense, I didn’t know she was his niece at the time,” he protested.

  “I’m still not sure if that makes it worse or better, though.”

  “Better,” he replied, wagging his eyebrows. “Definitely better.”

  “Fuck off.”

  “See, you’re missing the whole point. Fuck her. You’re supposed to be focused on getting up close and personal with Miss Tar-jay.”

  “Don’t talk about Charlotte like that, okay?”

  He perked up. “Charlotte, huh? So, you did get her name.”

  “I didn’t need her name. I already knew it since she was the girl next door growing up.”

  “How about her digits, then? Did you manage to get those?”

  “Nope, but I did get an invite to lunch after our shift at her parent’s house.”

  “Lunch with her family on the day after Thanksgiving? She’s smoking hot, but you better keep on the lookout for signs that she’s a stage five clinger.”

  And there it was—Luke’s daily dose of evidence that he was a complete moron when it came to women. Charlotte Manning wasn’t the stage five clinger type. She had no reason to be insecure or to stalk a man into a relationship. Any man who was lucky enough to be with her would be more than willing to drop whatever he was doing to spend more time with her.

  Hell, he had it all wrong… I was the one who was at risk of becoming overly attached, overly fast.

  3

  Charlotte

  As soon as we wal
ked in the door of my parent’s house, I raced up the stairs to my old room and tore through my bag looking for an outfit to change into. Of course, I didn’t find what I wanted since I’d packed for a casual weekend with the family.

  “Crap,” I muttered. I was going to have to run over to my apartment to grab something else, which meant I’d have less time to get ready before Chad got here for lunch. Not good, considering he was going to be here in about an hour and a half.

  “Merry early Christmas,” Aunt Tina called out in a sing-song voice from the doorway.

  I turned to find her standing there with a Macy’s bag in her hand.

  “You didn’t?” I gasped.

  “Of course I did!” She pulled a couple of kick-ass outfits out of the bag. “Your mom told me you bumped into Chad Tomlinson. I remember how googly-eyed you used to get over him when you were thirteen, and how sad you were when he moved away. She did her part inviting him over for lunch, and now I’m doing mine by making sure you knock his pants off when he gets here.”

  I doubled over laughing at her choice of phrasing.

  “Just maybe not when he’s at the table with all of us. Save the pants-free time for when the two of you are alone.”

  I only laughed harder.

  “But then maybe tell me all about it later. I’m an old Grandma now. I need to live vicariously through all you young things nowadays.” She paused for a moment, tilting her head to the side and rolling her eyes upwards. “Not including my own girls, of course. Because that would be weird.”

  “It’s already weird,” I sputtered.

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah.” She lifted an outfit up with each hand and shook it. “Do you want the pretty clothes or not?”