Cheek To Cheek

Chapter 3

The moment that Charlie pulled the door to walk into the lobby of the children's theater, she almost instantly found who she was looking for. Almost as if he could feel her warm gaze on him, Chris turned and his ocean blue eyes landed on her, causing a wide white smile to break out and he crossed the room with a few easy strides of his long legs.

Chris felt his heart beat a little faster as he took her in. The way her eyes squinted, her smile shone and her cute little wave made it feel like someone was squeezing his heart. He wrapped his thick arms around her, pulling her tight against him and Chris took in her vanilla scent while her dark spiral curls tickled the side of his face. Both of them could have stayed hugging one another forever but eventually parted, although Chris stayed close to her with a warm hand resting on her shoulder as he looked around and asked, "Where's Helen?"

"She said she wasn't feeling the greatest but to tell you she's really sorry she couldn't come tonight," Charlie kind eyes arched while looking up at him.

"Aw that's too bad," He replied before looking at her from underneath his long eyelashes, "But I'm glad you're here."

Charlie momentarily ducked her head, trying to hide her blushing cheeks before telling him, "Me too."

Chris moved his hand down from her shoulder to rest on the small of her back and because the only thing covering her torso was a thin striped tank top, she could feel the warmth of his hand as he rested it there while saying, "Come over and meet my family."

He led her through the crowded lobby and brought her over to a group of people which he introduced as, "My siblings Carly, Scott and Shanna. And then Carly has three kids who all are in the show tonight, I'll point them out to you when they're on stage, but then this is my mother Lisa. Everyone this is Charlie."

Chris watched as Charlie charmed them all the same way she had charmed him. She took her time going around the circle of people, greeting them each with a warm hug and telling them how lovely it was to meet them and adding a personal thing Chris had told her about each one so she could strike up a little conversation with each person in the family.

As Chris observed, he couldn't help but be a little bit enamored with her. Often times it felt like charming people weren't totally honest but that's not how she was. Charlie was the most authentic person he'd thought he'd ever met and he just was amazed at how she was able to so effortlessly and genuinely connect with each person, making everyone feel like they had been her best friend forever.

She lastly came to Lisa who was right next to her tall handsome son, and so he got to watch every moment as Charlie hugged her tight and said, "I'm so happy to get to meet you Lisa. I've been wanting a chance to meet you and tell you how much I appreciate you coming to visit with my grandma, it just means the world to her."

"Well when Chris told me what an amazing woman she was, I wanted to meet her and I just fell in love with her," Lisa was honest. "But now Chris has told me all about you and I want to hear all about the dance classes you teach! Tell me everything!"

The pair quickly started buzzing as they both talked about their passion of dancing and continued the conversation while they walked down the aisle into the bustling theater to find their seats. The siblings trailed behind and Scott couldn't help but laugh and tease him, "Wipe the drool off your chin."

"What do you mean?" Chris asked, unzipping his bomber jacket to pull it off and toss it over his shoulder.

"You're so into her, it's not even funny," Carly snickered as they scooted down the aisle.

Chris just shrugged his broad shoulders, "I mean, Charlie's great and she's super cute but it wouldn't work between us. Our lives are so different."