Chapter 11
Chapter Eleven
CHARLOTTE
Just like our one and only kiss, this one started out full of heat and passion. If his lips on mine and his tongue invading my mouth didn’t feel so damn incredible, how hard we went at each other might have felt like a punishment.
But it was just too perfect.
He tasted like mint and man. The best thing I’d ever tasted in my life. His beard abraded my skin in the most delicious way, and I found myself pressing up on my toes, my fingers curling in his overlong hair so I could get him even closer.
His strong arms wrapped around my waist like steel bands, the unforgiving grip impossible for me to escape, not that I had any intention of doing that.
My breasts swelled, my nipples pebbling, and I pressed harder against him, rubbing across his chest like a cat, searching for some kind of relief from the fire building in my body.
On my needy whimper, his arms moved, one going up and yanking out the elastic I had holding my hair up so he could fist his fingers in the long strands, while the other traveled down, his large palm grabbing my ass and squeezing almost to the point of pain.
I moaned, long and low into his mouth at the roughness of his touch. I loved that he didn’t treat me like I was made of glass. I was tough; I could take a razor-fine pinch of pain. In fact, I craved it when a man knew how to do it right. And Dalton was doing it oh so right.
I was on the brink of asking for more, begging that he take me in every way, when he did the last thing I wanted him to do. Breaking the kiss, he pressed his forehead against mine while sucking in ragged breaths, like he’d just run an entire marathon at a full sprint.
My chest heaved as I tried to fill my lungs with air, but I couldn’t bring myself to loosen the vise-like grip I had on him.
His arms squeezed me, almost hard enough to deflate my lungs as he struggled to get hold of himself.
When he finally did, he lifted his head but didn’t let me go.
I forced myself to untangle my fingers from his hair and dragged my palms down to rest on his chest, incapable of not touching him as we both came down from an indescribable high.
“Why’d you stop?” I asked in a ragged, husky voice I barely recognized as my own.
His quicksilver gaze lit up as he lifted his hand and dragged his thumb across my swollen bottom lip. His voice was as thick and sweet as melted honey as he said, “Because we need to talk.”
With a sigh, I dropped my forehead to his chest while my shoulders slumped.
“Don’t do that.” His fingers pressed beneath my chin, forcing my face back up so he could see my eyes. “Don’t shut down now.”
“I’m not,” I whispered in a barely-there voice as heat crept across my skin, painting it a vivid pink.
Twice in one day, I’d let my emotions get the best of me and given away much more of myself than I meant to.
Twice today, the words had poured out of me, revealing things I’d wanted to keep hidden.
But there was no putting them back in the box now that they were out.
Even if I could, I was pretty sure Dalton wouldn’t let that happen.
“I’m just . . .”
“Just what?” he pushed when I trailed off.
I took a big, fortifying inhale before admitting.
“I’m embarrassed. I didn’t plan on saying any of that, but it just came out.
” I gave my head a shake and looked down at the material of his shirt, picking at the cotton.
I couldn’t help but appreciate its softness and how it stretched across the defined plains of his impressive chest and stomach.
“Hey,” he called, gently drawing my attention back to his face, and when I looked up, the tenderness in his expression melted me.
“Don’t ever be embarrassed around me,” he said in a firm, unrelenting voice.
“Not ever. There isn’t anything you could do or say that would change how I feel about you, because I know the truth, even if you can’t see it yourself. ”
Standing in the arms of a man I’d started falling for months and months ago and still hadn’t hit the ground, I felt safer than I could remember feeling in my whole life. And that was terrifying.
“What truth is that?” I couldn’t help but ask.
“That you’re the strongest, bravest, most incredible woman I’ve ever met.”
I wanted to be able to let those words wash over me. I wanted to believe them. I just couldn’t.
“Dalton,” I began to argue. When I tried to step away, his arms tightened, refusing to allow any space between us.
“You aren’t dirty,” he insisted with so much passion I stopped struggling. “Not a goddamn thing about you is anything but good and pure and clean, baby. You got knocked down, you stood the fuck back up, dusted yourself off, and kept on goin’.”
“But—”
He silenced me by placing two fingers over my lips.
Something sparked in his gaze just then that held me enraptured.
I couldn’t have looked away if I wanted to as his features hardened to stone.
“You nearly died trying to stop a piece of shit from hurting other people. As far as I’m concerned, that one act itself is enough to wipe the slate clean.
You aren’t dirty, Charlotte, but even if you were, that would have washed away every bad decision you ever made.
I’ve known a lot of people in my life. My job requires that I know how to read people, and I’m really fuckin’ good at it.
And you are one of the best people I’ve ever known. ”
Those words got through. They penetrated the wall of negativity I’d kept myself isolated in for so long, but I still had one concern.
“I’m not perfect, Dalton,” I said quietly. “As much as I love hearing everything you just said, I’m worried that because of how we met, the extreme circumstances of what I was doing, that maybe you see me through a filter that paints a prettier picture than what’s real.”
He stared down at me in complete silence long enough to make me squirm with discomfort. Then, as I was about to ask him what he was thinking, he threw his head back and burst into laughter as he squeezed me tightly to him.
I tipped my head farther back to get a better look as hilarity washed over him.
His smiles were a thing of beauty, his chuckles made my heart flutter, However, this laugh was unlike anything I’d ever seen.
I hadn’t thought it possible for him to get any more gorgeous than he already was.
Then he laughed, and the world stopped spinning so I could take it all in.
Only I wasn’t sure what he found so damn funny.
His eyes were still dancing with humor when he finally got a hold of himself and looked back down at me. “What’s so funny?”
“The fact you thought you had to convince me you weren’t perfect,” he said, a chuckle still shaking his chest. “Believe me, Thumbelina, I’m well aware of the fact you aren’t perfect.”
My eyes narrowed into slits when he started cracking up again. “All right,” I said snootily. “You don’t have to laugh so damn hard about it.”
“You did everything you could to make my life miserable when I was put in charge of keepin’ you safe.
You were loud, you picked fights constantly, you’re hardheaded, you had shit taste in music, you’re messy, and you were constantly eatin’ my yogurt, even though I put my name on it before stashing it in the fridge.
Christ, baby. You pretended to have menstrual cramps just so you could sneak out on me when I was tryin’ to protect you.
Straight up, you were a pain in my ass, so trust me when I say you don’t have to warn me. ”
I squirmed in his arms until he was forced to let me go, and took a step back, planting my hands on my hips while shooting fire from my eyes. “First off, I do not have shit taste in music.”
“Babe, every one of your playlists is like bein’ trapped at the goddamn Lilith Fair with no escape.”
“Second,” I continued, ignoring his dig, “I’m not messy. I know exactly where everything is.”
His brows climbed high on his forehead as he looked around my apartment to the piles of clothes and shoes strewn about.
“I got really tired after finishing my laundry,” I defended snappily. “But I’ll have you know, they’re all clean, and like I said, I know exactly what is in each and every pile.”
He grinned arrogantly, and I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do more, kiss it or smack it off his sexy, stupid face. “Whatever you say, sweetheart.”
“And last, that yogurt was in my fridge. That means, labeled or not, it was fair game.”
He crossed his arms over his chest and cocked his chin up. “Do you even like yogurt?”
The answer to that was a firm no. I really didn’t.
I thought all yogurt tasted like absolute crap.
But Dalton liked it, and back then, after he’d invaded my privacy and was fighting me every step of the way when it came to taking down Cormack and his operation, I might have been feeling a tad bit petty.
I kept my expression snide, but my gaze darted off to the side as I mumbled, “I like yogurt just fine.”
He chuckled again, making warmth pool in the center of my chest as well as in the apex of my thighs. “Liar.”
“Fine,” I snapped, looking back at him and mimicking his stance with my arms folded over my chest. “I hate it, okay? Happy now? But you’re a pain in the ass too, you know. You’re bossy and controlling and way too macho, and—and—you leave the toilet seat up after you pee! Like every time.”
Back when he’d been in the role of my babysitter, arguments like this would blow up into much bigger fights.
Both of us were stubborn as hell, and we had a knack for pushing each other’s buttons to the point I’d started to suspect it wasn’t because we hated each other, but because we both seemed to get off on it, like it was our own twisted version of foreplay.
He hit me with a full-blown smile just then, and I got the eerie feeling he knew exactly what I was thinking and that my suspicions were right. “At least we know now that shit’ll never get stale or boring between us.”
Before I could say another word or think up some kind of argument about why this couldn’t work, he reached out and grabbed my arm, pulling me back into his embrace, and I couldn’t stop myself from turning all gooey inside. Being in his arms like this just felt . . . right.
He placed his palm on the side of my neck and dragged his thumb along my jawline and bottom lip, making me shiver with need.
When he spoke again, his voice was soft and gentle, his eyes glinted with sincerity.
“You’ve had more bad in your life than anyone deserves, baby.
I know you don’t think happiness is in the cards for you, but I’m gonna do everything in my power to prove you wrong.
We can take this at your speed, Charlotte.
Just give me a chance to show you what it’s like to be with a man who knows how lucky he is to call you his. ”
He lowered his head, the fierce longing heated that dark gray eyes, making the breath whoosh from my lungs. “Give me a chance to make you happy.”
I’d spent so long wanting exactly what he’d just promised but denying myself and fighting him at every turn. As I looked up at him just then, my desire to have everything he was offering, to have him, became impossible to ignore.
“Okay,” I said on an exhale.
His head descended the rest of the way. His lips brushed against mine in a feather-light caress, but it was enough to light that fire in me all over again.
I wanted him to take the kiss deeper, and judging by the groan that rumbled up his throat, that was exactly what he’d intended to do.
However, before things could get hot and heavy, there was another knock on my door.
We both froze, only moving our heads to look toward the door.
There was another knock, this one followed by Ms. Weatherby’s raspy smoker’s voice. “Charlotte? Charlotte, you there?”
Dalton’s focus returned to me, one of his brows rising in question.
I sighed and gave my head a shake before whispering. “Well-meaning but incredibly nosey neighbor.”
“Are you okay?” Ms. Weatherby continued to call through the door. “I saw a man go in a while ago. He was pretty darn big. Then I heard raised voices. Say the word and I’ll call the cops.”