Chapter 32
Chapter Thirty-Two
WILLIAM (NOW)
Fucking addicting.
Her little growls of frustration. The needy quiver of her hips. Her taste.
Hope is like a pair of doves inside my chest, chasing the sun. How do I keep them soaring?
As soon as I’m behind the wheel, I grab Charlotte’s bare knee so I can tug her closer.
Her eyes flash and she traps her bottom lip in her teeth.
So I pluck it free with the flat of my thumb, then kiss her.
She sucks in a quiet breath as I lick the seam of her mouth.
The kiss turns heated, my hunger spiraling up my spine, ready to devour her.
It takes effort to pull away. I kiss her forehead and she gives a soft laugh, like she’s entertaining the same thoughts.
I rest my hand on her knee between shifting gears.
Every moment I’m not touching her sends a warning prickle over my skin because it feels absolutely plausible that at any moment, I’ll reach back to find her gone.
Just like last time. One minute we were planning our futures together, and the next, she disappeared, obliterating my heart .
At the stop sign, I’m checking both ways when Charlotte gasps. “Another one!”
I look right, but I’ve missed it again.
“Is there a meteor shower going on?” I ask.
She gives me an adorable smirk. “You’re the environmental scientist.”
I laugh, and the tension in my shoulders rolls back. “Yeah, like trees and shit. Not stars.”
“I missed seeing the stars,” she says in a soft voice.
I risk a glance at her profile, drinking in her cute nose and long dark lashes. It’s too dark to see her freckles, but I got my fill during dinner. It was so good to see her happy today, hear her sweet laughter. Those twin doves inside my chest feather their wings over my heart.
I press my lips to her temple, savoring her soft sigh.
“One of my favorite things about fall.” I put the truck in gear and accelerate.
“It must be…different…to not have football,” she says. “You must miss it so much.”
A familiar longing twists behind my breastbone. “Sure, I do.”
“I’m sorry,” she says, wincing. “Bringing up bad memories.”
“It’s okay.” I brush my thumb over her kneecap, reassured by the warmth of her skin. “I have other things to look forward to now. Being in these mountains. Time with my family.”
“They’re a pretty incredible bunch.” She covers my hand with hers, the softness and warmth of her palm radiating into mine.
“The best.” Of course I miss football. But I meant what I told her. It doesn’t make a life.
Crossing over Miner Creek kicks my anticipation into overdrive. I wasn’t expecting to touch her tonight. But now that we’ve stepped over that line, I’m making good on my promise. Fuck the consequences.
“What’s going on with you and Theo?” she asks as I turn onto Morning Star .
Unease churns in my gut. “I think he’s looking out for you.”
She draws a sharp breath. “But I was the one…”
“Shh, baby.” I clasp her hand and bring it to my lips. “It’s just you and me. Nobody else gets a say.” Not this time , I don’t add because that feels like upping the stakes, and she doesn’t need that.
I glance at her, but she’s staring straight ahead. I wish I knew what she was thinking.
When I pull into the driveway, I’m too impatient to put the truck away.
So I park in front of the detached garage then hop out and release Ollie from the back.
Charlotte doesn’t wait for me, but I swallow the anxiety that she’s going to walk in the house and keep going, alone, with a gulp of cool night air.
She pulls Morgan’s guitar from behind the seat, and I help with the door. Then I take her hand because I need to keep her close, and we follow Ollie through the gate and into the house.
It's warm inside, the scents familiar, but layered with an essence that is distinctly Charlotte’s. My yearning to make her a permanent part of my life becomes a raging beast inside me.
I slip the guitar from her grip and set it down, then step in close and take her face in my hands. The soft desperation in her eyes is the only signal I need before I lower my lips to hers.
She slides her hands to my waist. Even through the fabric of my T-shirt, her touch is electric.
I tease her lips apart with flicks of my tongue.
She lets me inside, and her grip on my waist tightens.
Our breaths quicken, her soft breasts grazing my chest with each inhale.
I caress down the curve of her neck and brush her nipple with the pad of my thumb.
She makes the slightest whimper and kisses me with a sensual swirl of her tongue. In one motion I lift her into my arms.
Her clogs clatter to the floor and her eyes flash with surprise but she hooks her legs around my waist, forcing her skirt to ride up.
Even through the layers of cotton separating us, her wet heat pressed to my navel shunts the last of my blood supply to my cock.
With a shaky inhale, I kiss her again to memorize this moment, then toe off my shoes and carry her down the hallway.
Inside my dark room, I kick the door shut with my heel and shuffle to the side of my bed, then reach over to flick on the bedside table lamp.
The warm glow softens the shadows and highlights the gold flecks in her pretty eyes.
With one knee on the mattress, I set her down.
But she rocks to her knees and reaches for my shirt.
I help her tug it over my head, then toss it to the floor.
Her eyes tense as she caresses up my bare chest, her soft touch lighting up my skin.
She blinks at the tattoo over my heart, then glances up, a question in her eyes. “Is this…?”
“A blackbird?” I swallow hard as she caresses the intricate wings, spread wide in flight, but the emotions I’ve locked away are growing too big to hide anymore.
“Yeah. If I couldn’t have you, I at least needed a reminder…
” I swallow down the prickly knot of emotion thickening in my throat “…of you.”
She presses her fingers to her lips as a tear trickles down her cheek. “I wanted you to forget me,” she whispers, her eyes tense with so much hurt.
I caress her face. “I could never forget you. Not in this life. Or the next.”
She presses a kiss to my heart, her lips trembling. “I’m sorry.”
“We’re here now.” I cradle her face so I can kiss her. She’s still trembling when our lips touch.
“I don’t deserve you,” she says.
The shock of her words electrifies my emotions. “That’s the last time you ever think something like that.” I lock eyes with her. “You deserve everything good this world has to offer. All the love. All the joy. All the kindness. Understand?”
“But I’ve made so many mistakes.” She sucks in a breath, her eyes brimming with more tears. “I’ve hurt the people I love.”
I want so badly to demand the explanation I’ve been longing for all these years, but the devastation in her eyes is like a giant warning sign. “That doesn’t make you any less worthy, Charlotte.”
She closes her eyes and kisses me. “I’m sorry I hurt you. ”
I kiss her back, caressing down her shoulders. “We’re here now, baby. That’s all that matters.”
She caresses the bird inked across my heart. “She’s beautiful.”
“Almost as beautiful as you.” I kiss her again as she strokes across my chest, unable to stop myself.
She nips at my bottom lip, like a tease.
I groan into her mouth and caress up her bare thighs, then over the denim to the button in the center.
I tug it loose and slide the zipper down.
With one slow caress, I reach in and slide the skirt over her narrow hips and let it drop to the bed.
It pools around her knees, like she’s too turned on to worry about kicking it aside.
She rubs down my erection, turning my craving into something painful, and urgent.
I force myself to slow down, focusing on the warmth of her skin beneath my fingers, the dip and rise of her body’s curves.
Everything about her is familiar, yet there are subtle differences I’m longing to categorize.
To mark as mine. I trace the hem of her sweater to her low back, then dip beneath her panties and caress all the way down to the backs of her thighs. Fuck, her skin is still so soft.
She slips the tail of my belt through the buckle and unclasps it, the jangle of metal in my ears another warning bell to slow down and do this right because what if this is my only shot at fixing what’s been broken? But I’ve been waiting for this moment for so long, how can I not devour her?
I stop her as she’s popping the button of my jeans. “Sweetheart,” I say, my breaths too fast in my chest. I take her hands. “I want…I need…we’ve been apart, and I…” Shit, this isn’t supposed to be difficult. It’s Consent 101 and in the past, at least, a permanent part of my playbook.
Her lustful gaze lifts to mine, and she blinks.
Fuck. I’m out of practice. Or maybe I’m scared of her answer. “Did Crosby…hurt you?”
She opens her mouth, her expression a mix of surprise and something I can’t name, but she looks away, and it’s gone. Was it anger? Regret? “No,” she replies, shaking her head.
Gently, I lift her chin so our eyes meet again. “Is there anything I need to know?”
Emotion plays across her face, and she blinks once, twice, her long lashes dark against her pink cheeks. “I trust you, Will.” Her eyes shine with yearning, but there’s something sad there too. It’s like watching a game of tug of war. “I always have.”
I kiss her softly. “I will never hurt you, Charlotte.”
She caresses my sides, her touch warm and sensual. The callouses on her finger pads add friction that might as well be a key fitting perfectly into a locked drawer. Hers. The one that holds all my memories of us. The same one I keep safely tucked away, for rainy days and lonely nights.
I let her finish unzipping my jeans, then I step out of them and lift her by the backs of her thighs. Her skirt joins the other clothes on the floor as I set her down in the middle of the bed.