2. CHARLOTTE
2
CHARLOTTE
A lex was everything I would never have looked for in a man, and at the same time, he was perfect .
He didn’t like talking about himself, which was the first thing I’d found endearing. He wore a suit like he dominated boardrooms rather than working in a factory, and his haughty attitude had made me think he would be full of himself when he’d walked into that party… until Candice—one of my brother’s friend’s sisters—had trapped Alex and he’d looked positively terrified.
I’d just had to save him.
And now, I was in his car, and he was whisking me away to his home, and a little voice at the back of my mind screamed at me that this was a bad idea.
I shut it down. Nothing about Alex was a bad idea.
I didn’t really know him. I knew almost nothing about what he did, only that he liked overly expensive cars and still thought it was too much. He was aware of his shortcomings, which was the second endearing thing.
Not only that, he listened .
How many men in my life had listened? My father sure as shit never did—not to my mom while she was around, and not to me after she’d gone. My dad had believed women had to shut up and do their chores, and I’d found that a lot of men had the same attitude.
But not Alex. When I talked, he hung on every word like everything I said mattered.
If his face—chiseled and handsome with high cheekbones and steely-blue eyes, with that bold neck tattoo covering every inch of his throat —wasn’t enough to make me sit up and beg for him, then the way he looked at me like I was the only woman in the world was.
I wasn’t generally drawn to guys who were this attractive. I mean, hot was hot, sure, but usually the hot ones thought they were that hot, and that just made them unattractive to me.
But Alex didn’t seem to think he was an Adonis, and that sealed the deal when he asked if we could get out of there.
We drove into an underground parking area beneath a tall high-rise in a classy area of Newport, and Alex got out.
I joined him, and he snaked his arm around my waist, and his hand branded my skin where it rested on my hip through my jeans.
He led me to the elevators and pressed the penthouse button.
Whatever he did for a living in that factory, he got him enough cash to afford the top suite of this high-rise.
In the elevator, Alex dipped his head and nuzzled my neck. It sent goosebumps over my shoulders and arms, and I gasped.
His beard tickled my skin, and I giggled, but my giggle turned into a moan as he nibbled on the delicate skin on my neck, working his way up until he sucked my earlobe into his mouth.
Holy. Shit.
My body was on fire. Heat washed over me and pooled between my legs. I was so hot for him.
The doors pinged and slid open into a private foyer, and Alex unlocked the front door to the only apartment up here. This was all his.
We went inside, and Alex closed the door behind me. I glanced around. The apartment was sleek and modern, with state-of-the-art everything .
“Can I get you something to drink?” Alex asked.
“No,” I breathed, and I kissed him. I was thirsty, but for him.
Alex kissed me back, wrapping his arms around my body. He pressed up against me, and I could feel his hard length.
Oh, wow.
He was huge.
His tongue slid into my mouth, tasting, exploring, and I moaned. His hands slid over my body. He cupped my ass with one hand, and the other went to my neck. His hands were large and more than capable, and slowly, he made his way down my chest until his hand rested on my breast.
His fingertips caressed the delicate skin where my shirt’s neckline dipped low, and I shivered at the feel of his skin on mine.
I pushed his blazer over his shoulders and undid the buttons on his shirt—the top one was already undone, but I wanted all of him.
As I exposed his perfectly chiseled chest, my fingers skimmed over his sculpted abs, trailing up his smooth skin to where his ink began. His entire throat was covered in dark tattoos, bold lines and intricate patterns wrapping around his neck like a collar of sin.
God, he was delicious . Where did men like him come from?
He slid his hands to the hem of my shirt, and slowly, he worked it up my body, exposing my skin inch by inch. I lifted my arms so he could pull it over my head, and I stood before him wearing only the lacy bra I’d put on.
“You’re so fucking beautiful,” he said, glancing down.
He slid his hands onto my breasts and massaged them, and his steely-blue eyes locked on mine. They were a darker blue now, the color of the ocean, and I was ready to drown in him.
Alex dipped his head to my neck again, and I melted into a puddle.
He was an expert with his mouth and his hands. I leaned my head back, closing my eyes as he trailed kisses down my neck and collarbone, his fingers trailing goosebumps as he did.
He nuzzled the top of my breast and then dipped lower, his mouth finding the top of the fabric, kissing my skin there, teasing me.
My nipples were hard and strained against my bra. He peeled the cup down and took one nipple in his mouth, still cupping my other breast. He rolled his tongue over my taut nipple, and a soft moan escaped my lips.
He was a master with his tongue, and my legs trembled.
Alex looked up at me, his eyes filled with hunger. He undid the clasp of my bra, and it fell to the floor.
I was naked from the waist up, standing in front of him, and he looked at me like he was starving.
My whole body was alive. His hand slid down over my hip and along my thigh. He cupped my sex, and I gasped. My pussy ached for his touch.
“Fuck, you’re so hot,” he growled, his eyes dark.
“Mm…” I moaned and ground my hips into his hand.
He undid the button on my jeans and peeled them down. My panties matched my bra. I kicked off my jeans when they ended up around my ankles, getting rid of my shoes along with them.
“Holy fuck,” Alex breathed.
I blushed. “This can’t be the first time you’ve seen a girl naked.”
“It’s the first time I’m seeing you naked.” His voice was deep, gravelly. “You have no idea how fucking perfect you are.”
Those were all just words—I knew what men could be like—but God, those were the right words, and in this moment, I wanted nothing more than for him to make me feel like a goddess.
He was doing a damn fine job at that.
Alex shrugged out of his shirt before he kissed me again. His naked chest against my bare breasts made me tremble, and he pulled me against him, his mouth hungrily devouring mine. I lost myself in him.
He moved his kisses down to my neck again, then further down, licking and kissing the curve of my breasts. His tongue rolled over my nipple, sending a shiver down my spine before he cupped my ass and picked me up.
I yelped and wrapped my legs around his waist.
Alex carried me through his penthouse apartment to his bedroom.
He dropped me onto the bed and crawled onto the mattress with me. He planted a kiss on my lips before he moved his way down my neck, leaving a trail of fire in his wake.
He moved onto my chest, his—bare—scraped against my breasts, and I gasped. He worshipped my body, and it was fantastic.
He sucked one nipple into his mouth and then the other.
His hand slid between my legs, and he cupped my sex. I moaned when his strong fingers pressed against my clit through the lace, and when he traced circles, the sensation was amazing.
“Fuck,” I gasped. “Alex.”
Alex kept sucking on my nipple, flicking it with his tongue, and the dual sensation of his mouth and his fingers on my pussy was incredible. He knew exactly how to play me like a piano, and soon, he had me groaning and moaning, grinding my hips against his fingers, desperate for release.
He moved his way down my body, kissing, licking, tasting. He scraped his teeth against my ribs, traced a circle around my belly button with his tongue, and kissed a line along my hip bone.
He reached the apex of my thighs, hooked his fingers into the top of my panties and slowly, sensually, pulled them down.
I was completely naked before him, and Alex stared, his eyes taking in all of me.
He spread my thighs with his hands and dove between them, closing his mouth over my pussy.
I moaned and writhed on the bed as his tongue slid through my folds and over my clit, licking and sucking, sending jolts of pure pleasure through my body.
Alex slid his hands under my ass, lifting me and angling me, and he devoured me.
I grabbed onto his hair and moaned, rocking my hips against his mouth in the rhythm of his licking. He held me steady, and his tongue lapped, circling and pressing and tasting.
He knew exactly how to push all my buttons and send me hurtling toward an orgasm.
I was getting closer and closer, a furnace growing at my core. Alex growled against my clit, and the vibrations that trembled through my body pushed me over the edge.
“Alex!”
My thighs quivered, my muscles tensed, and a wave of pleasure crashed over me. I gasped and moaned, arching my back, riding out the waves of ecstasy.
Alex held me, his arms wrapped around my thighs, his mouth still on my pussy as I rode out the storm before he lowered me to the mattress. When the throbbing and trembling stopped, he planted a final kiss on my pussy, and glanced up at me.
My body tingled, and I had to relearn how to breathe after that.
I wanted more.
Alex stood. His belt buckle clanked, and his pants and underwear dropped to the floor. I pushed up on my elbows to get a better look.
He really was perfect. His torso was an inverted triangle, tapering into powerful hips with a V-line that would make any girl giddy, and a thick line of black hair ran all the way down, pointing me right where I needed to go.
His cock was rock hard, long, thick, and ready.
“You’re chiseled as fuck,” I said before I could think about my words, and then I blushed, feeling stupid that I’d said it.
“Thanks,” Alex said with a grin.
He reached for his pants and found something in his pocket before he crawled onto the bed with me.
The mattress dipped under his weight, and when he positioned himself between my legs, his body pinning me down, I shivered. Need erupted at my core—I wanted him to fuck me. I wanted him to make me his in every way he possibly could… and then I wanted him to do it another time.
Alex kissed me. His tongue danced against mine, his lips soft but demanding, and I got lost. The weight of his body, the heat of his skin, wrapped me up in the moment, and Alex was all I could think about.
How was it possible that someone could be this perfect?
This didn’t happen to me. Men like Alex didn’t exist. There had to be something I was missing, some fatal flaw.
I stopped myself from overthinking. I didn’t want to ruin the moment. Right now, Alex was all I cared about—all I craved. I would think logically again when all this was over.
Alex’s kiss was sensual, and he grinded himself slowly against me. His cock was thick and hard against my stomach, the tip slick with need.
“I need you,” I whispered against his lips. “Please.”
He chuckled and tore open the foil in his hand. I only realized now it was a condom.
He tilted his body to the side while he rolled the condom on, and it gave me a chance to study his perfect body again. He was hot from every angle.
Wrapped up, Alex rolled onto me again, pinning me down, and I shivered when he curled his back, positioning himself at my entrance.
I moaned as he slid into me, my body stretching to accommodate his size. Inside me, buried to the hilt, he paused.
Our eyes locked, and my body trembled around him. He filled me up so much .
As if he knew he was a challenge to work around, he moved slowly. He balanced himself on his arms on either side of my head so that his shoulders were perfectly defined, a fan of muscles spreading down his biceps, and he slowly retreated before he slid back into me.
I cried out when he did.
Alex did the same, slowly pulling back and bucking his hips into me again. He picked up the pace, fucking me faster and faster.
“Oh, God,” I moaned, throwing my head back and clawing at the sheets.
“Fuck, you feel amazing,” Alex growled, and he closed his eyes, a look of sheer bliss on his face.
His rhythm grew faster, deeper, and his cock slammed into me, hitting me in just the right spot, and the pressure started building.
My toes curled, and I clawed at the sheets as Alex fucked me—faster and faster. He growled, dipped his head into my neck and nipped the skin while he pounded into me, and the slight burst of pain only heightened the sensation.
I cried out, writhing and moaning, and when Alex lifted himself, grabbing my legs and hoisting them up over his shoulders, the new position made him feel even deeper.
It didn’t take long.
I was still sensitive after the first round, and his new position made him hit all the right spots. The pressure inside me built up and up until I couldn’t contain it anymore.
I cried out as another orgasm ripped through me. It was intense and powerful, and I cried out again, moaning his name.
Alex’s jaw was clenched, his expression one of intense concentration. His muscles were flexed, and when I came, I contracted around him.
He gritted his teeth and slowed his rhythm right down, drawing out my orgasm, letting the intensity slowly taper off until, in the aftermath of my climax, I gasped for air. My body was spent.
“You’re something else, you know that?” Alex said, his voice hoarse.
He leaned forward, sliding my legs off his shoulders, and I wrapped my thighs around his waist.
He planted a hand on the mattress, and the other arm curled around my body, cupping my neck. He stared into my eyes.
“Is that a good thing?”
“You have no idea,” he murmured.
He kissed me again, and then he rolled us over. I yelped, but he had me—his thick arms held me in place, and suddenly, I was on top. He looked up at me with a smirk before his gaze trailed down my body to my breasts.
He cupped them and lifted his head. I leaned down enough that he could suck a nipple into his mouth, and I moaned.
Alex let go of me, and I sat back, driving his cock into me as deep as he would go.
He groaned, gripping my hips, and I rocked myself back and forth, sliding him in and out of me.
The view of Alex beneath me, the feeling of him inside me, the knowledge of how good he made me feel—it was overwhelming. And then there was the fact that he was gorgeous and rich and everything a girl could ever want.
I rocked my hips faster and faster, and Alex gritted his teeth. His face was riddled with concentration, brows knitted together with pleasure, and I rode him harder and harder.
“Fuck,” he growled, and his grip on my hips tightened. My clit rubbed against his pubic bone as I rode him, and I leaned forward, bracing myself on his rock-hard chest.
I was getting closer and closer to another orgasm, and my legs started to tremble.
Alex bucked his hips in a quick motion, driving himself into me from beneath, and I cried out.
My cries and moans and his grunts created the symphony of our sex.
Alex groaned, gripped my hips and slammed me down on his cock, bucking a couple of times.
It was enough to send me over the edge. I threw my head back and cried out, a white-hot orgasm exploding through me.
I trembled on top of him, but he wasn’t done yet.
He continued fucking me, thrusting his cock into me, and the orgasm that just rocked through me intensified.
I thought it couldn’t get any more intense; Alex slid a hand between my legs, and his thumb brushed my clit.
It was more than I could take; my vision blurred, my body trembled. The world dissolved, and all I could focus on was the sensation of him inside me. I could feel every inch of him, and I couldn’t think straight. My mind was mush.
When the waves of pleasure finally subsided, I collapsed onto Alex’s chest. He bucked his hips, and he was right there with me.
His cock spasmed inside me, and a guttural moan ripped from his throat.
He wrapped his arms around me, pulling me tight against his body, and for a moment, we were locked in the combined pleasure of our orgasms. Coming together was so intimate, so personal.
Finally, the pleasure subsided, and my body relaxed. I lay on Alex’s chest, listening to his heart hammering against my cheek. My fingers drifted towards the ink covering his throat, tracing the bold lines, feeling the way his pulse thrummed beneath my touch.
He stroked his hand over my back and kissed the top of my head, his cock still inside me.
“Fuck,” he whispered.
I nodded. I had no idea it could be like this. Sex was usually a case of going through the motions. But this, this was something else.
I slid off him, and Alex sat up. He got up from the bed and walked across the large room to an en suite bathroom. I lay back on the silky pillows, trying to catch my breath.
Alex returned, opened the sheets and got into bed. I did the same, joining him under the covers.
Staying over was a bad idea—I didn’t know him, and I didn’t know what would happen in the morning.
But all I knew was that this had been perfect in so many ways I’d never had, and when that happened… I didn’t want to ask too many questions.
I fell asleep with his arm around my shoulders and my head on his chest, and it felt like it had always meant to be this way.
I blinked my eyes open the next morning. Alex was sprawled on his stomach, the sheets only over a portion of him. I studied his perfect body, his powerful back and his delicious, partially covered tight ass.
I grinned when I thought about what happened last night.
Alex moved, lifting his head so that he faced me.
“Morning,” he said, squinting at the glare that fell through the open curtains. We hadn’t closed them last night. We hadn’t thought about anything but each other. “How did you sleep?”
“Great,” I said with a grin. “I hear exercise before bed makes you sleep like a baby.”
Alex laughed. “So it does.”
I found my phone—it had somehow ended up on the floor—and checked the myriad of messages that had come through during the night.
“Shit,” I said. “Gabe is pissed I left his party.”
Alex rolled over and sat up, frowning. “Gabe?”
“Yeah, my brother wanted me to party the night away with him since I’m in town now for good—”
“Charlie?” Alex asked, his eyes wide.
I frowned. “Yeah…” Only my brother ever called me that.
“You’re… you’re fucking Charlie? Oh… shit.”
I shook my head. “Charlotte. My friends call me Lottie but Gabe has called me Charlie since we were kids and it stuck.”
“You’re Gabe’s sister.”
I blinked at him. “Why is this a thing?”
“I’m Alexander Blackwood.”
I stared at him, the words finally making sense. The car, the clothes, the penthouse… how could I have missed it?
“ You’re the Blackwood my brother keeps talking about? You’re… his best friend.”
“This was a mistake,” Alex said. “If he finds out—”
“Why didn’t you tell me who you were?” I tucked the sheets against my chest. “You didn’t say you were the Blackwood.”
“I didn’t want you to know.”
The illusion was starting to crumble. There it was, the fatal flaw. Alex wasn’t as perfect as I’d thought he was.
“You didn’t tell me who you were so you could fuck me,” I said.
“What? No. Well, yes.” He groaned. “But not like that. I mean, you were so great. And I was scared that if you knew who I was—”
“My brother’s best friend—”
“You wouldn’t want to—”
“Get in your bed?”
“Get to know me,” Alex corrected.
“You’re damn right about that.” I got out of bed, dragging the sheets with me. “I would have stayed clear. I’ve read all about you and your brothers in the paper. You do whatever it takes to stay on top.”
“I recall you liking me on top.”
I scowled. “I can’t believe this.”
I walked out of the room in search of my clothes in the living room, which was a lot more spectacular in the daytime, but now I knew where his money came from—manufacturing yachts that pretty much ruined the ocean life with the waste they produced—it wasn’t nearly as attractive.
Hell, money had never been attractive. It had been my dad’s only driving force, too. I knew all about how dangerous money could be.
I got dressed, putting on the items of clothing as I found them.
Alex came out wearing boxers, and despite knowing who he was and that he’d lied to me about it, he was still a treat to look at.
I forced myself to look away.
“I can’t believe you did this,” I said.
“Me? It takes two to tango, sweetheart.”
“You should have been open from the start.”
“You didn’t ask!”
I wanted to counter, I did ask , but I couldn’t say anything.
“I’m sorry,” he finally said.
I shook my head. Was he sorry about the best sex I’d ever had? Or the chemistry? Or the feeling that we’d done this before, somehow, in a different life?
Maybe that had all been an act, too, a way to hide who—and what—he really was. God, I wished I could go back and not help him with Candice. Then I wouldn’t have had the best night, and the best sex ever, and such a rude awakening.
“I have to go.”
“I can have a car drop you off—”
“No, thank you,” I said tightly. “Let’s just leave it here, okay?”
I opened the door and walked out before he could say anything else, shutting it firmly behind me.
I hammered on the elevator button, hoping it would come before Alex opened the door to say something else, but he didn’t.
I covered my face with my hands.
What had just happened?