Chapter Twenty-Five Charlotte
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CHARLOTTE
O ne perk of being around a three-year-old was that there was no room for any other thoughts. Hayden had forgotten to do laundry and meal prep for the week, so we teamed up after my parents’ holiday party. I volunteered to play with Gwen because a) I got no alone time with her all day because my family passed her around spoiling her rotten and b) it was a complete distraction from the wild thoughts going around my head.
My brother was gonna be a dad. Penny, a mom. My eyes prickled with emotion even thinking about them with a little baby. I loved my niece or nephew more than words, and it was just a little nugget at this point.
“Why you cryin’, Aunt Lotte?” Gwen walked up to me and hugged me. “No sad.”
“I’m happy. Sometimes people have happy tears.” I rubbed her back and smelled her hair. She always smelled like cookies and mischief.
“I don’t cry happy tears.”
“That’s okay. I do. Your hugs always help me though.”
“I love hugs.” She snuggled deeper into me and yawned.
“You tired?”
“No. No sleep.”
“Try again, princess.” Hayden walked out from the kitchen with his T-shirt sleeves rolled up, glasses on, and low-hanging gray sweats.
I blinked slowly, making sure I wasn’t fantasizing this. I’d done a lot of daydreaming that morning, mainly about Hayden and me, and this was straight out of it. My mouth actually watered. Speaking of distraction…
“Daddy, nooooo!” Gwen ran from me, giggling as Hayden chased her. He scooped her up into his arms. “No, Daddy!”
Hayden peppered her face with kisses, laughing his deep chuckle along with her. Despite his parents leaving, he seemed alright. It helped that Frankie worked out for short term while Hayden had already signed up to chat with the owner of the nanny service my friend had suggested.
It felt so good to be able to help him. Acts of service were not only how I felt loved, but also how I expressed it. My stomach filled with a horde of butterflies, fluttering in the wind as I watched Hayden interact with Gwen. I had never let myself look too much the last couple of years, so I wanted to soak up every ounce of them.
“We need to brush our teeth and go to bed. Say goodbye to Auntie Lotte!”
“Goodbye! Love!” Gwen blew me kisses before they disappeared down the hallway. Hayden and I had a system where she’d say bye to me, and I’d go hang in his room in case she snuck out. I’d done this almost every night this past week, and it felt natural, like I’d been here for months.
Usually, I’d play on my phone until Hayden returned, but a few minutes passed and the butterflies from earlier shifted to worry. It was a hot-air balloon in my gut, growing and filling with pressure. My interview was tomorrow. By some grace of God, I was able to not think about it all weekend, but now it came at me with full force. My pulse sped up, and I swallowed.
I can do this.
I practiced interviewing every free moment I had and knew my plan so well that I didn’t need to look at it. Exhaling, I scrolled social media and stumbled upon a photo of our athletic director, Chad, and two of the football coaches at a bar watching a football game.
Sundays are for the boys! was our athletic director’s description, written at eleven that morning.
Fuck. My eyes prickled again, and not from joy. They were out having drinks while I was frolicking about my parents’ house. Was that even allowed? It was like the world was taunting me, telling me the job wasn’t mine no matter what. I had just been starting to feel more confident about it too, and then this happened.
My notes were scattered all over Hayden’s bed as I focused on breathing. Just like when I played, I had to be mentally stronger than my physical reaction to nerves. Prepare. Execute. That’s all I could focus on, not Chad.
The door creaked open just as I sniffed.
“She’s finally down. That girl can chat.” Hayden stilled. “What happened?”
“It’s stupid.” I laughed, but it came out forced.
“No.” He moved toward the end of his bed and sat next to me, placing his hand on my thigh. “What’s going on?”
“Our athletic director is out for drinks with Chad. Well, this morning he was. I saw a post about it, and it got me in my feels.” I waved a hand in the air, like that had the magic ability to withdraw all these negative, not-helpful thoughts. Sadly, it did not work.
Hayden sighed. “What would help?”
“A damn distraction.” I fell onto my back, the papers falling everywhere around me and on the floor. “I’m too prepared at this point, but my mind is a racehorse right now, thinking about—Hey!”
Hayden yanked my legs toward him so I was under him. My heart leaped to my throat. His gaze swept from my hairline, over my lips and throat, to my thighs. His baggy shirt tickled my legs, and he gripped the end of it. “I like my shirt on you.”
“Oh.” The ball of emotions turned hot, sizzling even, as he stared at me with hunger. “I’m gonna steal it.”
“Take all my clothes. Fuck,” Hayden said. He almost growled as his fingers danced along my hips, teasing the waistband of my underwear. “I can’t decide what I want first. Your mouth, your pussy, your skin on me.”
I shuddered. Yes. This was what I needed. Hayden’s mouth and body. “Is there a fourth option, where you get all of them?” I ran my fingers through his hair, and he closed his eyes. He leaned into my touch, and I kneaded him more.
He kissed the inside of my wrist before placing an elbow on either side of my face. He cupped my head and stared down at me, his soft gray eyes dancing with emotion. “You know what I thought of the entire day today?”
“What’s that?” I rocked forward, feeling his evident bulge grind against me.
His eyes flashed with heat, but it dimmed as he dipped low to kiss my neck. He nipped the spot under my ear and whispered, “There’s nothing that could keep me away from you. That you’re already under my skin.”
I shuddered as his words washed over me. “Hayden.”
“You don’t have to say anything. This is me showing you how I feel. Watching you with your family today, with Christian and Penny’s announcement, all I could think about was wanting this with you.” He kissed down my chest as his hands crept up my shirt, grazing the tips of my nipples. They tightened with need as goose bumps erupted.
My stomach about dropped out from my body. From his touch, his words, him. I arched my hips as he pinched the pebbled tip. “Sit up, baby.”
He eased me up and took off my shirt, leaving me in a pair of black underwear. With one hand, he tickled my collarbone with his pointer finger. “You have this mole here, and here.” He trailed it down to my hip. “And here.” Then to my inner left thigh. “I want to connect them all with my tongue.”
“Yes.” I squirmed, my body primed with want and need. My heart thudded at the expression on his face. There were moments when I realized he had stared at me like that for years, but it was behind a mask. And now? There was no mask over his face.
He did what he said and trailed his tongue from my collarbone down to my hip, then to my thigh. My entire body trembled from the warmth of his tongue and the roughness of his five-o’clock shadow. When he slid my underwear to the side and teased my folds, I about flew off the bed. “Hayden!”
“So fucking wet.” His voice was rough.
I loved knowing I could make him lose control. “Skin. I need your skin on me,” I panted as he thrust a pair of fingers into me. I leaned toward him, and he supported my weight with ease.
“I want your first orgasm like this,” he demanded. His gray eyes were almost black. His jaw tightened as he stared at me. “Come on my hand, baby. I want to watch you come.”
“But, I want you,” I whined. Heat crept up from my core, my muscles tingling with need.
“You have me. You can have my cock after you come.” He increased the pressure and teased my clit with his thumb. “Rock against me, go at your pace.”
I did what he said and rocked against his hand. He didn’t kiss me but instead watched me with parted lips. I had never felt sexier in my entire life than I did in that moment. Hayden was transfixed on my face as I chased an orgasm.
“I’m close,” I groaned. Sweat dripped down my body.
“That’s my good girl.” He licked the corner of his lip. “You look so fucking sexy falling apart on my hand.” He released a deep, lusty groan. “Fuck, Char, you’re—”
“I’m coming! Yes!” Lights exploded behind my eyes as I clutched his shoulders, the orgasm absolutely numbing me from the strength of it. Waves of pleasure, so good I’d do anything to feel it again. Nothing mattered anymore except this feeling. It dimmed, and all the tension left my body. “Holy shit.”
“That’s one. Are you counting?”
“Should I be?”
He nodded and then slid his fingers out of me and sucked them. “Mm, yes. Next one is with my mouth.”
“But—”
“Shh, baby. Let me take care of you. I can read your body better than mine, and you need this. Do you trust me?” He lowered himself onto the ground, his lips wet and his eyes sparkling.
“Of course I trust you.”
“Then will you let me lick you?” He nudged my thighs apart. Then, using his fingers, he spread my pussy as he licked long and slow, right on the nerve.
My clit was already sensitive from the first orgasm, and I bounced off the bed. “Oh my God.”
“Lean up onto your elbows. I want your eyes on me as I devour you.” He flicked his tongue against me, his gaze staying on mine. Then he hummed.
Whoa.
I was floating at this point. The vibration of his hum along with his tongue… unreal. I did as he said, watching him pleasure me, and I had never been so turned on in my entire life. The desperate, terrifying need to keep him gripped me by the throat. “Hayden, please,” I begged.
He dug his fingers into my thighs as he stroked me slowly, changing the pace to the point my orgasm exploded out of me. “ Yes! ” I couldn’t be quiet. It was too much. My fingers and toes tingled from the onslaught of pleasure. It was better than anything I had ever experienced, and I held on to the blanket like it kept me from falling.
“I love how you come, so free and wild.” Hayden kissed my stomach and then the center of my chest. He removed his shirt and tossed it to the side. He removed his sweats and stroked his large, wet cock. “Taste yourself on me before I fuck you.”
That was the only warning I got before he kissed me. He tasted all musky and earthy, and he sucked my tongue before releasing a deep growl. “Roll over, baby. I want your ass in my hands when I enter you.”
I trembled.
“Up on your knees. Yes, spread your legs.” He scooted off the bed, and the familiar sound of the drawer opening and closing filled the room. Blood rushed to my ears, every sense on high alert from how good I felt.
His sheets were cool and smelled like fresh linen. My lips were swollen and wet from his kiss, and the taste of my pleasure still lingered in my mouth. My core throbbed. How did I still have energy? No idea.
“Wider.” Hayden kneeled behind me, kneading my ass with his hands. “Fuck, I love your glutes. And thighs.”
“This feels so good,” I murmured, resting my face in his pillow. He ran a finger from the front of my slit to the back, making me rock forward. “Hayden,” I warned.
“I’m gonna make you feel good, Char. I want your body so pleasured you can’t even feel anything but how good we are together.”
He kissed down my spine before thrusting into me. “Fuck yes, you’re ready for me.”
I moaned as he fucked me slowly. My skin tingled as he grabbed a pillow and placed it under my hips, pressing me down onto my stomach. The angle took him deeper, hitting me right where I needed. “Hayden, shit, you’re so deep.”
“You were made for me, Charlotte. Every part of you,” he whispered as he quickened his pace. The new rhythm had me mewing for release, something I didn’t think possible. “Yes, baby, your body needs to come again. I can feel you clenching around me. Do you like it like this?”
I nodded, but he nipped the base of my neck.
“I want to hear you say it.”
“Yes, like this, please,” I gasped. My voice sounded like I hadn’t drunk water in weeks. “I can’t believe I might… might…”
“Come for me.”
I exploded. His thrusts matched my pulse, and I cried at the strength of the third orgasm. This one was just as good as the others, and it tore through me, lighting me up. My vision blurred as I held on to the sheets, vaguely aware of Hayden whispering nice things to me.
“I love the way you smell, and taste, and let go.
“I love how you trust me to fall.
“Yes, I love your sounds, Char.”
I couldn’t catch my breath, and once the orgasm came down, Hayden gripped my ass hard and pounded into me.
“Perfect.” He thrust harder. “You’re perfect… fuck, Charlotte .” Hayden ground into me a few more times before falling onto his back next to me.
I peeked an eye open to find him staring at me, gray eyes wide and his smile wider. He still panted, and his chest heaved as he ran his pinky finger over mine. It was such a sweet, tender gesture that my eyes prickled again. The words were right there. I love you.
I swallowed a ball of cotton, unable to form the words out of fear. It was too soon. Yet the feeling remained as Hayden pulled me into the crook of his arms. I hugged him hard, using that as a way to communicate. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Let’s take a shower, and I’ll wash your hair for you. Then we can go to sleep.” He kissed the top of my head, and I fell even harder. Hayden was taking care of me, and that made me feel pretty damn incredible.
“Eye of the Tiger” blared from my phone as I applied a light layer of mousse to my hair. With my curls, there was no point in trying to tame them. They were kinda wild. Why did I try to fit into a mold of someone else when they were best free?
Huh. Who would’ve thought I’d have a full-on epiphany about myself while doing my hair? Not me, but hey, I’d take it. That’s what happened after my boyfriend used orgasms to get me to sleep and to relax. I woke up refreshed as heck.
“You got this. You are a badass,” I said to myself in Hayden’s bathroom mirror. “You will not fuck this up. You will not sweat through your shirt. You faced D1 pitchers and played on TV. This is a dumb interview with a man named Peter Peroni.”
Self-talk could be helpful. Wearing my fitted maroon blouse—our school color—and a pencil skirt, I looked good. Professional and good.
Chad always wore wrinkled khakis and a frat polo. Frats were fine, nothing against them. I just hated Chad and the boys’ club at school. Especially if they were already friends.
It didn’t matter. I’d own this and walk away proud. Hayden was getting Gwen ready in her room and asked me to sneak out like I had the past week, but this morning, there was a Post-it note on the front door.
WIN OR LOSE, YOU DID THE DAMN THING. YOU GOT THIS, CHAR. I KNOW IT.
—HOP
I kept that note in my bag for luck.
I drove to the building eerily calm. I parked. I grabbed my folders. I applied my favorite lip balm and walked inside just like any other day. I was fifteen minutes early because a) any earlier would be weird, and b) any later would be unacceptable.
My phone buzzed, probably good luck texts from everyone. I ignored them. This was about me now. Only I could do this.
“Good morning, Ms. Calhoun.”
“Hi, Tracy,” I said to the athletic secretary. She ran the entire school, and we all knew it. Well, her boss and Chad didn’t, but shocker. “How are you today?”
“Great. Can’t complain.” She smiled. “They are ready for you in the conference room if you want to head in there.”
“Sure will.”
I can do this. I will do this.
Keeping my head up high, I walked in and found Peter; our principal, Brett; the athletic director of the junior high next door; and one of our PE teachers, named Adam. He was also in the photo yesterday. All men, all friends. Noted.
“Morning, gentlemen.” I passed out the folders and shook all their hands. Adam smirked. “Anyone else joining the interview today?”
“Nope. I figured us four would be good enough. We have two candidates, so we don’t imagine it’ll take too long.” Peter rose, his lips pinched tight as he stared at the folder’s contents. “What are these?”
“Plans for the softball program, how I would work with boosters, how I’d partner with parents and the community. My team vision and goals on developing student athletes because, while softball is important, being a good student has more value. I played D1 softball, sir, and I have a lot of good ideas. In fact, I’d bet I have incredible ones, and I came ready to play today.”
Peter swallowed loudly, and Adam shifted in his seat.
But the junior high athletic director beamed at me. “I’m Mitch Birmingham, AD and AP at the junior high. I can’t wait to hear your ideas. This town needs a little shake-up, don’t you think, boys?”
Silence.
I sat down in my chair, all nerves gone. It was clear three of them had made up their minds before I even spoke, but instead of getting angry, I went into game mode. I was a fierce competitor, and today was no different.
“Now we’ll get started. Tell us about your experience and why you think you’d, uh, be a good fit for this program…”