Chapter 18
“ H ey,” Charlie says, licking a little chocolate off his thumb. “I was just about to text you. Did you come back for brownies? I swear I only had one small bite—maybe two.”
I laugh. “No, I didn’t come back for brownies, Charlie. I came back for you.”
I grab him by the shirt collar and plant my lips on his. Within seconds, his hands are on my waist, pressing me into his hard body, where I belong.
He pulls me into his apartment and slams the door shut behind us. I lean against it, and he takes his kisses up my neck as I work to unbutton his shirt. “You’re still in the driver’s seat,” he whispers in my ear.
I strip him down to his undershirt and slide my fingertips under the hem and over every ripple of his abs. “I need this to come off, too,” I direct him.
“Yes, ma’am.” He pulls off the white tee, and that chest I’ve been dreaming about all day practically gleams with the golden glow of his skin. I move my hands over his perfect pecs, across his broad shoulders, and down his muscular arms.
“If you still want to wait to have sex, that’s okay,” I tell him. “We can just make out. But I’m ready to go all the way, when you are.”
Charlie laces his fingers with mine. “What made you change your mind?”
“Besides your beach body?” I joke.
He chuckles.
“I’ve been waiting my whole life to feel this way about someone,” I tell him.
He exhales deeply. “Me too.”
I sigh with relief. But before we take this to the bedroom, I want to make sure Charlie and I are on the same page. As desperate as I am for us to fully explore our physical attraction to each other—without silly rules, like “no tongue”—I also don’t want him to feel rushed.
“Are you still afraid of jumping into this too fast?” I ask.
Charlie scrapes a hand over his jaw. “Feels like it’s been a lifetime since I said that.”
I giggle. “I’m pretty sure it was yesterday.”
He heaves out a breath. “Well, then I guess I changed my mind, too. You opened your whole heart to me tonight when you told me about your past. You showed me who you are, and…I love what I saw,” he tells me with an unwavering gaze.
I blink back a tear.
He looks down at me and half-smiles. “I’m not going to say no to you, Jenna. I don’t think I have it in me. So, if you want me, I’m yours.”
This is really happening. The man of my dreams wants me.
Charlie Sutton is mine.
“I want you more than anything,” I say before I kiss him.
Just after our lips meet, thunder roars in the distance. It’s not Charlie’s phone this time, but a late summer storm. The rain starts pelting down, tapping against the windows as we kiss.
While his fingers are traveling up the nape of my neck and into my hair, my hands go to his belt, which I yank off without tearing my mouth from his.
He grips my waist and lifts me effortlessly to wrap my legs around him. Then shirtless Charlie carries me to his bed, where I’ve longed to be since the moment I met him.
“Do you have to work tomorrow morning?” he asks when I’m on my back and he’s hovering over me.
I shake my head no, biting back a smile.
“Good,” he says. “Because I want to take my time with you.”
Another crack of thunder booms, closer this time, dialing up the adrenaline that’s already coursing through my veins as I anticipate what Charlie Sutton wants to do with the hours that lie ahead of us.
With past lovers, I was typically the one to take control. I’d be the one on top, choreographing our every move. But with Charlie, I feel so at ease that my body softens in a way I’ve never experienced before. I’m completely surrendering myself to him. Because I trust him.
“You can take the lead,” I say.
He starts by peeling off my little beige dress. Then he agonizes me by gently sucking the skin on my neck while slowly grinding into me. Even through the layers of his pants and my underwear, it’s immediately obvious to me how big he is.
I arch into him, longing for more, responding to every thrust of his hips with a soft moan. By the time he slides down my undies, I’m sure they’re soaked through.
With one hand, he unhooks my bra with expert ease.
I can’t help but wonder how much experience he’s had, because his confidence in the bedroom is sky-high.
It’s a side of him I haven’t seen before.
Where he’s typically sweet and mild-mannered, when it comes to sex, Charlie Sutton likes to take charge.
I don’t mind it a single bit.
He pauses to look at me now that I’m completely undressed.
After several seconds, he sighs and shakes his head.
“You are…a work of art. All of these beautiful lines, and curves.” He takes a finger and traces down my collarbone, over my breast, and in a circle around my nipple.
Then he sweeps along the arc of my waist, and stops just before he gets to my rose tattoo.
“Can I kiss you here?” he asks.
I nod, and he shifts down the bed and meets my inked skin with the softest kiss.
In that moment, the last small piece of my broken heart mends. And I’m whole again.
“I’m so sorry for the pain you suffered,” he says when his gaze meets mine.
“You helped me heal, Charlie,” I whisper through the pattering of the summer storm.
I reach out my arms, and he slides into my embrace. I help him out of his pants and boxers, and then we’re skin to skin, warm against each other as the rain keeps pouring.
Charlie’s hand moves up my thigh and between my legs.
I’ve never been this wet in my entire life, and I wonder if it’s even normal.
But the groan that comes from his throat when his thumb glides over me in circles, tells me he likes it.
A lot. With his thumb still busy, he slips a finger inside me while he takes my nipple in his mouth.
After a few minutes, the pleasure is so intense, I already feel the first wave of an impending orgasm, which is insane—it usually takes me forever to come.
Before I do, Charlie moves his hands to part my knees, and kisses his way from my breasts, to my navel, and further down, where his tongue takes over for his fingers. And where the touch of his hand was gentle and soft, now he licks me hungrily, working absolute magic on me with his mouth.
I can’t take it. It’s too good. He’s too good. “I’m gonna come,” I tell him as my legs are already shaking, and the muscles deep inside me shudder in successive waves of ecstasy. His tongue doesn’t stop until my body stills.
“Oh my god,” I sigh out afterward, trying to catch my breath. “I’ve never come that fast in my life.”
Charlie looks very pleased with himself—as he should be. I giggle as he shifts to lie down next to me. “Don’t worry, there’s more where that came from,” he says.
I raise an eyebrow at him. “You mean…more orgasms?”
He nods.
“After that ?” I shake my head. “Um, I don’t know if I can. I’ve never had multiple orgasms before. ”
Charlie tilts his head. “You’ve also never come that quickly. So, I guess there’s a first time for everything.”
The seductive glint in his eyes sends a new rush of blood between my legs.
“I suppose it doesn’t hurt to try,” I say with a coy smile.
Charlie reaches into his nightstand for a condom, and puts it on. Then he shifts back on top of me.
As we kiss, he presses into me just a little—and it’s still a lot. I sigh, yearning for more, arching my back to bring him deeper inside me.
“Not yet,” he teases.
I reach for him, wrapping my hand around his impressive length, and he groans as I stroke him.
“Two can play at this game,” I quip back, which Charlie responds to with a sexy grin.
I have to beg him for another inch. The incredible orgasm I just had is already a distant memory, and I’m chasing the next high.
I can feel him throbbing inside me. “Give me more, Charlie. I know you want to.”
He lets out a breathy laugh. “Think you can handle all of me, Jenna?”
When I nod, he pushes in all the way, hitting the deepest part of me. I’ve never felt anything like it before. Every time he thrusts into me, it sends a ripple of pleasure right through my core.
“I’m going to give you the best orgasm of your life,” he whispers in my ear, and I have absolutely no doubt he’ll deliver.
But this time, as my ecstasy builds, I have the added turn-on of seeing the bliss in his eyes, hearing his moans and sighs, and feeling how rock-hard he is inside me.
“You feel like heaven,” he says, which makes me deliriously happy.
We last longer than I expect to, considering how amazing the sex is.
While the storm hits its crescendo, then starts to die down, we keep kissing, and touching, and pleasuring each other, experimenting with different positions.
Every time I’m on the brink of unraveling, Charlie slows down, then builds back up again, over and over until the need for relief is so dire, we hit a point of no return.
When I start to shake again, he lets go of all restraint, and our climaxes become one.
And he’s right. It’s the best orgasm of my life.
Afterward, Charlie goes into the kitchen to get us water and comes back with my plate of brownies, which we eat together, naked in bed.
“These are leaps and bounds better than Sutton’s,” he says after his second one.
I giggle. “Best you ever had, right?”
Charlie chuckles before his smoldering gaze lands on me. “You’re the best I ever had, Jenna Andersen.”
And then he starts kissing me again.
When we finally go to sleep, it’s nearly dawn.
As I fade into a dream, the last image in my head is of one of the sketches in my journal.
I’m curled up in bed with my eyes closed, a smile on my face.
And my rosy-cheeked lover’s arms are wrapped tightly around my waist—exactly the way Charlie is holding me.