Rescued

Chapter 16: There For It

*** Charlotte's POV ***

What a whirlwind. The ups and downs of the morning had me unsure of everything. Except one thing.

Harley.

There was no stopping the wave of desire that consumed me once I crawled on his lap and our lips met powerfully, purposefully, soulfully. No one had kissed me like that before, and no one else ever would again, I feared.

We got to work with the dogs, but as I scratched my fingers through their fur and accepted their sloppy kisses my heart hurt. I couldn't believe I was duped by Jamie. But now all his little comments made sense. I was stupid.

But we had a plan to catch him. We met up with Charlie for lunch and shared the news. I wish I could say he was surprised, but he wasn't. "I never liked the sound of the fella."

"Ugh, was I the only one who didn't see it?" I groaned.

"Dani set you up, right? She probably doesn't know that he's scum. Oh but you better make sure her boyfriend isn't in on it." Charlie noted.

Oh no. I gasped, realizing that there was a very good chance my best friend would be coming home engaged. Walking into this mess. Oh brother. "Shit."

"What's wrong?" Harley asked from next to me.

"Dani. She was likely getting engaged this weekend. And now I have to tell her the guy she set me up with is a piece of shit." I grumbled.

Harley wrapped his arm around my shouders and tugged me into him. Charlie smiled and wiggled his finger in a circle at us. "So this happened?"

I hid my face in Harley's chest sheepishly. He chuckled. "Yeah, somewhere along the way this happened."

While we finished up lunch, I received a text from Jamie asking about the dogs. It made me nervous, but according to our plan I was going to tell him that I was going to let this time go and vouch for him one last time as a sign of good faith. But what he didn't know was that we were planting a tracking device on the dogs that we would use to give the police his exact coordinates.

Jamie: Thanks for pulling some strings for me. I hate the way things ended between us. It truly was a mistake.

"Sure was." I muttered under my breath, but I tried to play nice.

Charlotte: I understand.

Jamie: Just tell me that you didn't cheat on me with that Harley guy. My ego doesn't need the blow.

I rolled my eyes. He is not even in the same ballpark as Harley as far as I'm concerned. Especially with what I know now. I am so glad that I didn't sleep with him.

Charlotte: No. I'm not a cheater, but I've known Harley for a long time. Old feelings and all that.

At least that was honest.

Jamie: Dani and Morris got engaged. I was thinking maybe we could celebrate with them when they get in and not ruin their night.

"Oh jeez." I sighed, staring at my phone.

"What is it?" Harley asked.

"Jamie bought the story about the dogs. He'll be in tomorrow for them. But now he wants to keep up appearances for the night so we don't ruin Dani and Morris's news." I explained.

"The girl is your best friend. She'll read you." Charlie pointed out.

"No, she's going to be over the moon about Morris finally proposing. And she should be. I think I'll go." I reasoned.