15. CHARLOTTE
15
CHARLOTTE
I shouldn’t have kissed him, but when he slid his arm around my waist, electricity shivered down my spine and when he said my name like that, so raw and filled with need… I just couldn’t resist.
Damn it, I couldn’t resist Alex Blackwood, no matter what I did.
I hadn’t come to his office for sex. I’d told myself I wouldn’t let him touch me again—being with him was wrong in so many ways. But now that our lips pressed against each other and he touched me like I was the only woman on Earth, I didn’t care about right and wrong. I didn’t care about the consequences or who could catch us. All that mattered was the fire between us and the passion we could unleash when we came together.
“Charlotte,” he breathed, his hand sliding down my back and gripping my ass through my jeans. “You shouldn’t have come.”
“I know,” I murmured against his lips.
He slid his tongue into my mouth, one hand behind my neck, and I felt his other hand move to the front of my pants, tugging at the buttons.
I pulled away, trying to talk some sense into myself. “We’re going to get caught.”
“We’re all alone,” he muttered, kissing down the side of my neck.
“But what if they do?”
“Then they’ll see me making you moan my name.” His voice was low and deep, his fingers still working the button.
“We both know that’s not a good thing.”
He sighed and lifted his head. His eyes were a deep blue, the color of the ocean when they were usually so light and void of any emotion. But there was a lot of emotion in them now. Lust. The kind of need that echoed my own. But there was something else, too. Something that tugged at my insides. Alex was raw and vulnerable, and I couldn’t figure out why.
“If you want to go, you should go,” he said in a gravelly voice.
I hesitated. I didn’t want to go, and that was the problem. I wanted him just as much as he wanted me.
I turned around and walked to the office door. His eyes burned into my back, and I could almost feel the shift in tension, his disappointment. When I looked over my shoulder, his eyes weren’t just filled with disappointment.
His face was riddled with hurt.
I didn’t understand him. One moment, he was hard as nails, cold and calculated, and he wore a suit of armor, which was impossible to get through. And the next, he was so vulnerable, and he looked like he was about to break.
I reached for the door and turned the lock and turned back to Alex. His eyes locked on mine, and for a second, we stood frozen, taking in what I’d just done. I’d given him permission.
Alex took a few long strides, crossing the office, and then he pushed his body against me. He cupped my neck, his fingers tangling in my hair as he kissed me—hard.
His tongue slid into my mouth, and I sighed as he pushed me against the door. His body was muscular, and when he leaned against me, he dwarfed me, his shoulders wide. He was easily a head taller than I was, and he hunched over to kiss me, tilting my head up.
He grinded his erection against my crotch, and heat erupted at my core.
Alex worked his way down my neck, one hand sliding onto my shoulder, and he pushed the ruffled neckline of my top down my shoulder along with my bra strap. He planted a line of fiery kisses on my bare skin, and I gasped.
His lips curled into a smile against my skin, and he pushed my bra down further, exposing my nipple. His thumb teased it, and I moaned, arching my back, pushing my hips against his.
I fumbled with his belt, my hands trembling with anticipation. I undid his pants; his fingers gripped the hem of my shirt and pulled it up and over my head when I lifted my arms.
I stood just in my bra, one strap hanging on my arm. Alex reached behind me and unclasped it, tossing it to the side.
He stared at my breasts. My nipples tightened in the cold air of the room, and Alex dipped his head, sucking one into his mouth. I moaned and pushed my fingers into his hair, and he groaned.
“You make me crazy,” he murmured, lifting his head.
“Then we’re even,” I said breathlessly.
He lowered his mouth onto my nipple again, and I gasped and moaned as he worshipped my breasts, first one and then the other. He sucked me hard before he scraped his teeth over it and sucked on me again. The attention sent sparks of pure pleasure through my body, settling between my legs, making me wetter and wetter.
I was throbbing for him. The pressure built between my legs until I couldn’t stand it anymore.
I pushed him back, pushed his blazer off his shoulders. With trembling fingers, I undid the buttons of his shirt, exposing his chiseled chest, the inky designs covering his throat and spilling over his collarbones. He shrugged out of it, tossed it away, and I ran my hands down his muscular chest, loving how smooth his skin was and the way the muscles felt underneath.
I kissed him again and unbuttoned his pants. I reached into his boxers and wrapped my fingers around his shaft. Alex hissed through gritted teeth and groaned.
I pumped my hand up and down a few times, but I was restricted by his clothes.
I sank to my knees and pulled down his pants to his ankles, followed by his boxers. His cock was thick and hard, and the tip glistened with precum. I hadn’t meant to do something down here other than make quick work of his pants, but his cock was right in front of me, hard and delicious and irresistible…
I flicked my tongue over the head of his cock.
“Fuck,” Alex moaned, his voice deep and low. He ran his fingers through my hair, encouraging me.
I didn’t need a lot of encouragement.
I licked the shaft and then sucked the head into my mouth. I ran my tongue along the bottom of his shaft and bobbed my head, taking him deeper and deeper.
Alex moaned, his hand on the back of my head, and his hips moved. He thrust his hips gently, careful not to take things too far.
But I didn’t mind.
I sucked his cock until it was slick, and then I pumped his shaft with one hand while I sucked on his head, and Alex groaned and panted.
“Charlotte,” he whispered. “God, I’m going to finish right here, right now, if you don’t stop.”
I rolled my eyes up at him and slid him out of my mouth.
“I don’t want you to finish like this.”
“Neither do I,” he said in a low growl.
He grabbed my arm and pulled me up. Then, he kissed me.
He spun me around, kicked off his pants and his shoes so that he was naked, and walked me to his desk while he kissed me. He pushed the shit on the desk aside. Some of it fell to the ground with a clatter.
“You’re making a mess,” I muttered.
“I’ve always wanted to do that.”
I giggled into his mouth.
He pulled down my pants without ceremony, taking my panties along with them, and I got rid of them. We were both naked now.
Alex lifted me onto the desk, and I scooted forward. He spread my legs and positioned himself between them, and he grabbed my hips and pulled me closer to him. His cock teased at my opening, and he leaned forward, kissing me. I wanted him inside me so badly.
He paused and reached for his pants, finding a condom in his wallet. He rolled it onto his cock, handling the foil packet and the rubber with ease, before he returned to his former position, his cock against my entrance, teasing, promising.
“What is this, Alex?” I asked in a breathy voice, looking into his eyes. “What are we doing?”
“Don’t,” he whispered. “Let’s not complicate this.”
He pushed into me. I cried out, throwing my head back, and he buried himself inside me. I wrapped my legs around him, and Alex groaned, pulling out slowly and sliding back in. He set a rhythm, moving slowly at first.
He sped up, and I leaned back, grabbed the edge of the desk to keep myself from falling over. Alex moved faster and harder, pounding into me, and I moaned, unable to contain my pleasure.
“That’s it,” Alex murmured. “Moan for me.”
I tried to swallow my moans, not wanting to make too much of a noise. The door was locked, and we were safe in here. The windows looked out over the harbor and the ocean but we were too high up for anyone to see what we were doing. I still didn’t want them to hear us, and Alex had a way of making me scream.
His hips slammed into me, and his hands dug into mine. The pain was delicious, and the way he pounded into me, the way his cock stretched me open and slammed against my G-spot, the way the pressure built and built in my belly was overwhelming.
“Yes,” I cried, my voice cracking.
Alex slid his hands up my sides and cupped my breasts, tweaking my nipples, and he kissed me—hard.
“Oh, God,” I moaned, breaking away from the kiss.
I arched my back, the pressure building, the heat exploding, and the wave that crashed over me was intense and all-consuming. I cried out and bucked my hips, trying to ride the wave, and Alex kept his pace, slamming into me and dragging the orgasm out.
He pulled back, slipping out of me, and I trembled in the aftermath of my orgasm.
Alex put his hand on my hips and pulled me off the table. I stood on wobbly legs.
He kissed me before he moved his mouth to my neck. He kissed his way up to my ear and sucked my earlobe between his lips. I shivered, my skin on fire.
“Turn around,” he said, his breath hot on my ear, sending goosebumps over my shoulders and arms.
I did as he asked, turning my back to him. He ran his hand over my ass. He cupped it and squeezed; I moaned. He slid his hand down my leg, over my thigh. He moved his hand back, and his fingers brushed against my pussy. While he touched me, fingered me, he moved my hair out of the way and pressed his lips to my shoulder, moving toward the curve of my neck.
“You’re wet,” he whispered.
“For you,” I breathed.
I could feel him smile against the back of my neck.
“Good.”
He slid his fingers through the folds of my pussy and circled my clit. I gasped, and he did it again and again, slowly, until I was trembling and the pleasure started to build in me again.
I pushed my ass out, rubbing it against his cock, and Alex growled.
He moved his hips forward, rubbing his cock against my pussy.
He found my opening and pushed in, and we both moaned. He slid all the way in and stopped. His body was still.
“Please, move,” I begged.
He laughed, a soft rumble in his chest. He moved his hips, pulling out slowly and pushing back in, and then he did it again and again.
“Faster,” I breathed.
“I’ll give you everything,” Alex whispered, “but first, let me enjoy this.”
“Enjoy it fast,” I said, “so that you can fuck me harder.”
Alex moaned.
“God, Charlotte. You have no idea what you’re doing to me.”
He was the one who was doing things to me. But I couldn’t say it because it wasn’t just physical. Nothing about Alex was just physical. Since the moment we’d met, something about him had tugged at more than just the lust at my core.
He’d somehow managed to tug at my heart.
Before I could think more, making it more complicated, he reached around and touched my clit, circling and flicking it with his fingers.
He drove into me slowly, his cock moving in and out while his fingers moved over my clit.
My legs trembled. My thighs quivered. The orgasm came over me, and I cried out, the sound muffled as I tried not to make too much of a noise.
Alex moaned, and he picked up his pace. He pounded into me harder and harder, and I braced myself on the desk. Pure pleasure rolled over me in waves. He drew out my orgasm, making it last and last until my legs trembled so hard I thought I was going to collapse.
Alex was still pumping into me, and the pressure built inside me again, even after the intense orgasm; his movements were becoming more frantic. He growled, grabbed my hips, and held me against him, slamming into me hard and fast, and he cried out.
The sound of his pleasure sent me over the edge, and I cried out again, a strangled moan. An orgasm exploded inside me.
Alex gritted his teeth, grunted, hands on my hips as he hammered into me. His strokes shortened, and he picked up his pace yet again, and I knew he was close.
I clenched my walls around him, and he cried out, his cock throbbing. He buried himself inside me, his cock pulsing, his hips still jerking as he emptied himself into the condom.
We were both breathing hard, and neither of us spoke. We were both trying to recover.
Alex pulled out, and I straightened, my legs like jelly.
I turned to look at him. His gaze slid over my face. His lips were parted, jaw slack, satiated, and he looked at me like he was trying to commit this moment to memory.
He lifted his hand and brushed my hair out of my face, stroking his fingers through it, before he took my chin gently between his thumb and forefinger and kissed me. The kiss was sensual, careful, nothing like what I’d expected from him in the aftermath of wild, forbidden sex in his office.
“I should go,” I whispered. I hated breaking the spell, but reality was starting to set in and a little voice screamed at the back of my mind.
Where could we possibly go from here?
He was still Alexander Blackwood, CEO of a mega yacht company I was trying to rally against and Gabe’s best friend. And I was still Charlotte Reynolds, leader of an activist campaign, and Gabe’s little sister.
“I wish you didn’t,” he said. “If you leave here…” He didn’t finish his sentence, but he didn’t have to. If I left here, none of this would have been real.
I pulled away from him and looked for my clothes strewn across his office floor.
“You should come to see me next week,” Alex said, finding his boxers and pulling them on.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea. We can’t do this again, Alex.”
“I didn’t mean for sex.” I couldn’t decipher his tone. “I mean, so you can see how we do things and maybe even give me some pointers.”
I frowned. “Why?”
“Because maybe I’m not doing everything the way I should. And maybe… I want to…” His words faded again.
“You want to?” Hope flickered in my chest. Maybe he wanted to see me again?
Alex cleared his throat. “I just want to do the right thing.”
The little flicker of hope died out again.
“I’ll have my brother come with us so we can look at designs, too.”
Right. We weren’t going to be alone. And why would we? We weren’t together. We weren’t supposed to be. This was how it was meant to go down—me learning about the company and the Blackwood brothers willing to yield.
This was a win, right?
When I was dressed, we made a date and time, and I left the office. My body hummed in the aftermath of our sex, and I wished I could go home with him, cuddle, do something other than discuss business.
But this was the right thing to do. If I could get Alex to change his ways, maybe other companies would follow. The whole point of the campaign was to raise awareness, and it was working.
Was he doing it because I’d slept with him? The thought came with a pang.
No, that wasn’t what this was. I shook off the thought, but the lines were starting to blur. He was the enemy. But if he was trying to make amends, trying to do something different, did that put us on the same side?
And if it did, did that mean we could be together?
It wasn’t right of me to go there. I was getting too involved, too distracted. I wasn’t focusing on the right things. I wasn’t here for personal gain—that would make me just like them. I was here to make a difference, and if Alex Blackwood wanted to work with me to bring about a change, that was a good thing.
Like I said, a win.
Somehow, though, it didn’t feel like it.
My heart ached, and it felt a hell of a lot more like a loss.