Chapter 44
Chapter Forty-Four
CHARLOTTE
Raindrops pattering on the metal roof draws me from sleep. When I reach down, feeling for Ollie, she nudges my hand. “Hey, girl.” I stroke her soft head and she gives a soft huff in contentment.
A crackle from the woodstove and the scent of coffee tempts me from bed. William said he’s coming back, but I can’t wait.
I slept in William’s Glory Holes T-shirt, wrapping myself in his peppery scent, so I pull on a pair of cozy joggers and my thick socks and pad into the kitchen.
William’s outside on the covered porch, a cup of coffee in his hand, the steam curling into the morning air. He’s barefoot and wearing a pair of gray sweats and a T-shirt, his dark hair disheveled from my fingers. Beyond, the steady rain blurs the surrounding trees to a soft green.
He turns, his dark blue eyes locking with mine.
A flicker of emotion plays across his face, making my chest swell and my skin tingle.
Framed by the blurred forest and falling rain, I try to capture the look of love and understanding on his face, plant it inside my heart.
There’s a yearning for it to grow roots… but where do we go from here?
Since we returned to Finn River, he’s barely left my side, even coordinating a few extra days off so we have time to sort through everything.
Everett and Zach came by last night to tell me that the DNA evidence on file with the Garnet County Sheriff’s Department would be turned over to the federal task force that is building a case against Nic Salazar.
More women have come forward since his arrest at Creekside two days ago, and the FBI found what they believe are his trophies—items he takes from his victims. I have a feeling my pendant is in his collection, but I’m not sure I want it back.
When I slide the screen open, Ollie trots down to the grass, tail wagging. William opens one arm and I step into his embrace.
A steady rain taps on the metal roof above us and the air is rich with the scent of sage, and cool against my skin, a perfect contrast to the warmth radiating into me from William’s solid body.
He sighs into my hair. “Morning, beautiful.”
The sincerity in his tone sends my heart skipping. “Morning.” I press a kiss to the chiseled edge of his jaw.
He kisses my forehead, his lips tender. I steal the mug from his hand and take a sip. It’s doctored with my hazelnut creamer. “Don’t tell me I’ve corrupted you?” I ask with a laugh.
“This way we can share it,” he replies with a playful smirk.
I hand the mug back but he leans out to place it on a table, then lifts me up and carries me to the daybed.
He kneels on the edge and tugs back the fluffy comforter before lowering me to the center, my head on the soft pillows.
The bed sways as he settles on his side next to me and pulls the covers up, creating our own little cocoon.
He caresses my hair back from my forehead and smiles.
I cup the back of his neck and draw him closer.
He kisses me, his lips so tender. I stroke down to the small of his back and tuck my fingers beneath his T-shirt, because I need to touch him.
Since he held me on the riverbank while my heart cracked open and everything spilled out, I’ve needed to touch him constantly, so I can be sure this is real.
Will sighs against my lips and combs through my hair.
His tongue darts out, catching mine, and my heartbeat ticks higher in my chest. I caress up his back, delighting in the toned planes of muscle and his warmth.
I’m overwhelmed with the desires bursting to life inside me.
For us to take our time. To speed everything up.
To explore. To savor. To make plans but also honor the past, our mistakes. So we don’t make the same ones again.
But lying in wait, beneath all of that, are the questions still unanswered between us.
I tug his T-shirt up his chest, and he helps me yank it off. We kiss again while I explore, making sure to feather my fingertips over the beautiful blackbird soaring in flight. When he catches sight of it, does it make him sad, angry? Or does it fill him with longing for what we lost?
Will strokes down my arm and to my lower back, over his T-shirt. I let myself get lost in his kisses, in his gentle touch while the desire that’s been smoldering inside me glows hotter, filling me with the most decadent yearning.
He pulls back, his gaze tense with apprehension. “When I asked you before…if there was anything I needed to know…” He swallows hard. “How was that for you, to be with me…after experiencing something so horrible?”
I release a slow breath and caress along his jaw and sink my fingers into his hair. “I meant what I said, Will. I trust you. I always have.”
He smiles, but his lips quiver. “You don’t have to tell me what happened, but…baby, I need to be able to take care of you.”
“I’m okay,” I say as the emotions sift inside me like a gentle current.
I blink back a rush of tears. “When it…happened…there was this orchid…on the counter.” I reach up to swat my cheeks.
“I remember taking a piece of myself and…placing it inside one of the blooms. So it would be safe. I pictured it growing up through the ceiling, away from everything.” I curl my fingers into his hair and draw in a slow breath.
“I think I’ve been saving that piece for you. ”
Anguish tightens his features as he catches my tears with his thumb. “As long as I get your broken parts too, baby. Because I love every single part of you. You don’t have to hide anything from me.”
I blink back more tears because isn’t this the true meaning of love? “I wanted to tell you…after,” I say as the tears spill down my cheeks. “But it was too risky. I knew what you would have done. I couldn’t lose you like that.”
“So instead you carried that burden all by yourself,” he says, his eyes glassy with emotion. He caresses my cheek. “Now it’s my turn to protect you. To love you and cherish you. All of you.”
“I love you so much.” I pull him back for another kiss, this one salty from my tears.
“I’m going to love you forever, Charlotte. Say we can start again.”
The questions I haven’t had the courage to ask yet come tumbling free before I can stop them. “What will we do if I get an offer from the Seattle Symphony?”
He leans back and strokes my forehead. “It’s time I supported your dreams, blackbird.”
“So…you’d move? What about your family? What about your career?”
He gives me an easy laugh. “We’ll figure it out.”
The knot of worry I’ve been holding so tight slips a little, losing its grip. “What about the club?”
He gives me a one-shoulder shrug. “I bought it for you, but if you don’t want it…I’ll find someone else to take it over.”
My heart is going to burst. “You bought it…for me?”
“Of course.” He rolls me on top of him and cradles the back of my thighs. “I know you have strong feelings about it, but there’s some good memories too. Maybe you’d like to make a few more of them. Maybe Morgan would want to help.”
Theo tracked Morgan down just like he promised, to Dad’s cabin on the Middle Fork.
She’s back at Jackson. We shared a short but tearful reunion where I told her about Nic’s arrest and the case being built against him.
We have more to talk about, and Theo admitted as much to me too.
It’s hard not to feel hopeful. Maybe now she can heal. We can all heal together.
I think about what Wren said to me that day at the Sweet Spot. What if your dream job was here in Finn River? Something Will said to me is quick to follow. At the end of the day, it’s only a job. It doesn’t make a life.
It’s impossible not to want to grab onto that possibility with both hands and never let go.
A single tear rolls down my cheek and lands on his collarbone. “That’s quite the gift.”
His eyes soften, and he rolls us so we’re on our sides. “There’s nothing I won’t do for you, baby.”
I kiss him, savoring the bright tenderness that’s so full inside me I’m going to crack. He kisses his way to my neck, sucking gently on my pulse point before nibbling on the edge of my ear.
“You smell like gingerbread,” he says. “Especially right here. It makes me want to gobble you up.” He plants a soft kiss behind my ear, then leans back and tugs the hem of my T-shirt, a question in his eyes.
I push off the bed and he helps me slide it off.
He drinks me in, his eyes soft with yearning. “You’re so beautiful.” He caresses the hair back from my forehead, then leans down to kiss my shoulder. “I love you here,” he says, then presses a kiss to my collarbone. “And here.”
He kisses between my breasts, rolling me to my back, then gently swirls his tongue around my nipple.
With a groan, I rock into him.
“And here.” He kisses his way to my other breast.
Sucking in a breath, I comb my fingers through his hair.
The pleasure skips beneath my skin, drawing my heartbeat lower.
William kisses down, making the bed sway, to my navel. “I love you here,” he says, using the tip of his tongue and the brush of his lips just above the waistline of my joggers. “Okay if I keep going? I have a lot more ground to cover.”
I can’t help but laugh. “Only if I get a turn.”
He hums, the deep rumble vibrating through my tummy, twisting my cravings even tighter.
With a gentle tug, he slips my pants down my hips, kissing as he goes. By the time his tongue parts me open, I’m breathless and quivering.
“I can’t wait to show you how much I love this pussy,” he says, gliding a finger inside me.
Gripping his hair and a fistful of the comforter, I try to get him closer, unable to taper my desire. “William,” I pant. It’s so decadent, intense.
“Come on my tongue, sweetheart,” he says. “I need to hear that beautiful song of yours.”
I give into the thirst spinning faster and faster inside me, letting everything go. Pleasure pure and sweet rips through me, tearing my emotions loose as I come apart, making me gasp and sob at the same time. I cry out for him, and he’s there, wrapping his arms around me and holding me tight.
“Fucking beautiful,” he says in that rich tone that unlocks more memories. Of stolen afternoons in his truck and late nights in his room. Of kisses in the rain and lake water drying on my skin beneath a summer sun.
I tug down his sweatpants. “Please, Will,” I pant. “Nothing between us.”
He caresses down my hair, concern in his indigo eyes. “You’re sure.”
“I promise I won’t break,” I say, hooking my leg around the back of his thighs to bring him closer.
He presses a kiss to my forehead, his lips trembling. “I love you.”
“Show me,” I say.
He presses a kiss to my lips that tastes like a promise. Like forever. And then he’s inside me, rocking his hips, the weight and pressure of him everything I need.
“Yes,” I pant. “It’s so perfect.”
“This is all I’ve ever wanted, sweetheart,” he says, thrusting that final inch, sending a rush of pleasure through my core. “You and me. Together. Just like this.”
“Forever,” I manage just as a sob steals my breath.
He kisses away my tears. “Forever.”