25. Charlotte
— ? —
Charlotte
Last night felt like a dream. The gala, the confrontation with Reynolds, Sutton stepping between us and saying those words with a cold fury that made everyone in earshot go still. Touch her again and I will end you. He had meant it. Every person in that room had known he meant it.
After, he had driven me home without asking where I wanted to go. Helped me out of the car. Walked me to the door. And when I asked him to stay, he had followed me inside and crawled into bed beside me and just held me.
He hadn’t touched me. Hadn’t tried anything. Just wrapped his arms around me and let me press my face into his chest and breathe until the shaking stopped. I had fallen asleep like that, tangled up in him, feeling safer than I had felt in years.
Now he was still asleep in my grandmother’s bed and I was making coffee and trying to figure out how my life had become this.
My phone buzzed on the counter. Kiera’s name on the screen.
I picked it up expecting some kind of morning gossip, a recap of who had worn what to the gala, maybe a complaint about her hangover.
Instead there was a link. And a message.
Kiera: Did you know about this? Because I didn’t know about this. Call me immediately.
I tapped the link and watched The Crow’s Nest load on my screen.
Posy Wetherell’s byline. Today’s date. And a headline that made my stomach drop.
CEO of Lynch Group Confirms Reconciliation with Ex-Wife Charlotte Waltham: “She’s the love of my life. I married her once and I intend to spend the rest of it earning her back. I’m done letting anyone get the story wrong.”
I scrolled down to see the full quote, the context, the fact that he had apparently called Posy directly and given her an on-the-record statement about us.
“Sutton.” I walked back to the bedroom and found him still under the covers, one arm thrown over his face, looking peaceful and unbothered and completely unaware that I was about to kill him. “Sutton, wake up.”
He made a noise that wasn’t quite a word.
“Did you actually give Posy Wetherell a quote? Are you insane?”
That got his attention. He lifted his arm and squinted at me, then at the phone I was holding up, then back at me.
“Good morning to you too,” he said.
“Don’t good morning me. You called the woman who tried to destroy my reputation and gave her an exclusive quote about our relationship. What were you thinking?”
“I was thinking that I didn’t like the way she wrote about you the first time.” He sat up and the sheets pooled around his waist. “She made it sound like you were something a guest did on his lunch break. Like you were disposable.”
“So you called her.”
He reached for me but I stepped back, still holding the phone like a weapon. “People should know you’re loved, Charlotte. On the record. By name. I’m done letting anyone get the story wrong about you. About us.”
“You could have asked me,” I said. “You could have told me before you did it.”
“You would have said no.”
“That’s not the point.”
“That’s exactly the point.” He threw off the covers and stood up, crossing the room to where I was standing in the doorway. “You would have told me not to, and I would have done it anyway, and then you’d be angry that I didn’t listen. This way you’re only angry that I did it.”
“That logic makes no sense.”
“It makes perfect sense.” He took the phone from my hand and set it on the dresser.
“You’re upset because I went to the woman who hurt you and made her print the truth instead.
You’re upset because I claimed you in public without asking permission.
You’re upset because I love you and I refuse to be quiet about it. ”
“I’m upset because you keep making decisions without me.”
“This was the last one.” He put his hands on my waist and pulled me against him. “I needed the world to know. I needed it on the record. I needed everyone who read that first column to read this one and understand that you’re not a scandal. You’re mine.”
“Yours.”
“Mine.” He kissed me. “Come back to bed.”
“The coffee’s getting cold.”
“I don’t care about the coffee.” He walked me backward until my knees hit the mattress. “I care about you. I care about the fact that you’re standing here looking at me like you’re trying to decide whether to kill me or kiss me.”
“I haven’t decided yet.”
“Let me help you figure it out.” He pushed me gently down onto the bed and climbed over me, settling his weight between my thighs. His mouth found my neck, my jaw, the spot behind my ear that made me shiver.
“I love you,” I said.
He froze above me.
“I couldn’t say it before.” I put my hands on his face and made him look at me. “That night after the auction, when you said it and I lay there in the dark and didn’t say it back. I wanted to. The words were right there. But I couldn’t make myself believe they were safe to say.”
His chest rose and fell against mine. His eyes were dark and wide and fixed on my face like I was the only thing in the world.
“I can say it now,” I said. “I love you.”
“Say it again.” His voice cracked on the words.
“Don’t push your luck.”
“I need to hear it one more time.” He pressed his forehead to mine. “Please. Just once more.”
“I love you.” I kissed him softly. “I love you. Are you happy?”
“Getting there,” he said, and then his mouth was on mine and his hands were pulling at my shirt.
He sat back on his heels and stripped it over my head in one motion. I lay beneath him in nothing but my underwear, watching his eyes move down my body, watching his jaw tighten with want.
“Your turn,” I said.
He pulled his shirt off and I reached for the waistband of his boxers, shoving them down his hips. He kicked them off and I wrapped my hand around him, feeling him hard and hot against my palm. He groaned and his head dropped forward, his breath coming fast.
“I want to ride you,” I said. “I want to be on top.”
He didn’t argue. He rolled onto his back and pulled me over him, his hands gripping my hips as I straddled his waist. I reached down and guided him to my entrance, feeling the thick head press against me, and then I sank down onto him.
When I finally seated myself fully, I had to pause, overwhelmed by the depth of him at this angle, by the way he filled me so completely I could feel him in my throat.
I braced my hands on his chest and lifted up, then dropped back down, and the sound he made was worth every second I’d spent wanting this.
The stretch was perfect. Full and tight and exactly what I needed.
I lifted up and dropped back down, harder this time, taking him all the way to the hilt. His back arched off the bed and he groaned, a low desperate sound that sent heat pooling in my belly.
“Look at you,” he said, his eyes fixed on where our bodies joined. “Taking all of me like this. You’re so beautiful when you ride me.”
I picked up the pace, my thighs burning as I bounced on him, chasing the pressure building low in my core. His hand slid between us and found my clit, rubbing tight circles that made my rhythm falter.
“Don’t stop,” I gasped. “Right there. Don’t stop.”
He kept his fingers moving while I rode him harder, faster, the sound of skin against skin filling the room. The pleasure climbed higher with every stroke, every roll of my hips, every press of his fingers against that swollen bundle of nerves.
I shattered around him with a cry, my walls clenching in waves, my whole body shaking as the orgasm crashed through me. He thrust up into me twice more and then he was coming too, spilling inside me with a groan that vibrated through both of us.
I collapsed onto his chest, both of us breathing hard, still joined, still trembling.
“I love you,” I said into his shoulder, just to feel the words be true.
His arms wrapped around me and held on tight.
“I love you too,” he said. “I’m never letting you go.”