Two and a Half Years Later
Wes
If you ask him outright, he’ll deny it to his grave, but Wesley Quinn is a romantic.
Hopelessly, undoubtedly. Despite his denial, he suspects Charlie knows this, and he loves watching her figure things out, how he can see her thought process play across her beautiful face.
The crinkling of her brow, the slight wrinkle of her nose, the twist of her lips when an answer comes to her a moment before a quick retort leaves her clever mouth.
But he’s certain she’s not expecting what he has planned this weekend.
The mid-September sun warms the Chicago sidewalk, glinting off the buildings. A perpetual breeze drifts through his hair, and he loosens his tie after a long day of teaching. So satisfying in a way he never thought possible.
His phone buzzes, and he pulls it out before stepping through the familiar revolving glass doors.
Emmy
Everything all set for tomorrow?
Wes
Yup. She has no idea
“Mr. Quinn!” John, the middle-aged security guard, greets him with a good-natured smile. “How you doing, my man?”
“Excellent, John. How’re the kids?” Leaning against the desk, he briefly sets down the white box he carried all the way across town.
“Sophie’s talking about trying out for basketball this year, and Will can’t get enough of the book you gave him.”
“What can I say?” Wes grins. “Percy Jackson is the best series for a kid obsessed with Greek gods.”
John fist-bumps him before nodding toward the elevator. “Head on up. It’s almost closing time.”
“You know I’m going to have to bribe her to leave.” He points at the box.
John laughs, waving him off.
Wes takes the stairs instead, climbing two at a time until he reaches the third floor and enters the office.
Waving to Matilda, the receptionist, he follows the familiar path down the hallway and past the open-concept work area where most of the staff does its brainstorming and program planning.
Only a few people linger, including some he recognizes from the parties and work functions he attends as Charlie’s arm candy—a moniker she hates but he loves because it makes her blush.
Hearing a muffled voice behind the closed door, he knocks softly before pushing it open.
“I mean, you know my stance on this.” Charlie lifts her big brown eyes the moment he enters the room.
She smiles, waving without pausing her conversation with the person she’s speaking to on the video call.
“They can complain and throw accusations around all they want, but there’s nothing in the curriculum that proves I’m ‘peddling smut’. ”
Wes snorts, and she shoots him an amused look.
Her office window overlooks a small park.
A bookshelf lines the wall, overflowing with binders labeled with the names of different podcasts and video series as well as books on women’s health, sexual health, transgender health, wellness, and education.
There are two overstuffed navy armchairs for guests in front of her simple oak desk, where her planner and a coffee mug of pens sit next to the photo of him and Emilia dressed as Woody and Buzz Lightyear that he stole from his dad’s office.
Rounding her desk, he lowers himself so he’s in view of the camera, wraps his arms around her shoulders, and presses his mouth to her neck.
“Hold on, Charlotte.” On the screen, Theo raises a hand. “Something’s wrong with your connection. Some ugly blob just appeared behind you.”
Wes grins, resting his chin on Charlie’s shoulder. “Nice to see you, too, Theo.”
“Clearly I’m not paying John enough if he’s allowing riffraff like you into the building.”
Wes laughs. “Riffraff? Okay, Grandpa.”
Charlie covers his mouth with her hand. “Anyway, I’ll take another look at the material over the weekend, but I’m not budging on this. You know that, Theo.”
Theo nods, smiling fondly. “I do. That’s why you’re the best.”
Charlie preens.
“Goodbye, Theo,” Wes says. Before he can respond, Wes ends the video call.
Charlie spins in her chair, sending him his favorite glare. “What if I’d been meeting with someone important?”
He kisses her mouth. She attempts to maintain her pique, but the corner of her lips twitches.
He rests his palms on the arms of her chair. “Can I tell Theo you implied that he’s unimportant?”
She scoffs, spinning back to her laptop, where she clicks open a file. “Very funny.”
Leaning once more on her shoulders, he grazes his lips over her pulse, sucking gently until she inhales.
He grins, satisfaction billowing through him at how he can still affect her this way.
He loves her reactions to his slightest touch.
He’s half hard thinking about how wet she’ll be later, imagining how he’ll make her come before sliding inside her, drawing out her orgasm for as long as possible.
He sets the white box next to her laptop. “I texted Theo asking for your schedule today.”
She hovers her fingers over her keyboard, and he begins massaging out the tension he knows lives in her muscles from the hours she spends hosting video meetings, commanding conference rooms, leading the charge for sex education in America.
His strong, beautiful warrior.
“That’s a gross invasion of privacy,” she murmurs, leaning back in her chair.
He tugs playfully on a curl, kissing her cheek. “Not when it’s your birthday.”
She sighs. He knows all her sighs by now, and this one is content, relaxed.
“Thank you.”
She lifts the lid of the box, and he doesn’t need to see her face to know that she’s smiling, pleased to find a perfect slice of carrot cake next to the half dozen macarons he chose just for her.
He dips a finger into the buttercream frosting.
She shrieks, swatting him away. “That’s mine! Get your grubby fingers away!”
“I bought it.” He pops his finger in his mouth, tasting the familiar sweetness. “I get the first bite.”
Rising to her feet, she gives him her best scowl, which is fucking adorable. “I thought the birthday girl got the first taste.”
He tugs her forward by the belt loops on her gray high-waisted pleated pants and captures her lips. She relents, melting against him, and he traces his tongue over her bottom lip until she lets him inside.
“There.” He grins against her mouth. “Delicious, right?”
She rolls her eyes, lightly shoving him away while a beautiful flush paints her cheeks.
When she faces her laptop again, he shuts it.
She spins, indignation on her face. “I’m not done.”
He smiles. “Yes, you are. It’s five p.m. on a Friday. On your birthday. Anything that’s not finished can wait until Monday.”
While her endless drive is inspiring, he still has to keep her from overworking herself. If it were up to her, she’d live at her office until every school in America had comprehensive sex ed.
She sighs. “Fine.” She points a finger at his face. “But only because you brought me cake.”
He doesn’t mention the dinner reservation he made weeks ago.
While she maneuvers around her office, tidying up before she leaves for the weekend, shoving two binders in her messenger bag that he knows she’s going to open as soon as they arrive home, he admires the way her pants curve over her ass, the way her ivory blouse stretches enticingly over her breasts.
He can’t wait to unwrap her later. He plans to do it slowly.
She pulls her stunning mane of curls into a messy bun, a clear sign that the work day is over, and faces him.
“Ready?”
He slings her bag over his shoulder and retrieves the box of treats from her desk. Tipping up her chin, he kisses her briefly. He feels irritation ripple across her body when he pulls away before she can have more.
She’ll have more tonight.
“Waiting on you, Rogers.”
Waving goodbye to John, they exit the building and step onto the sunny Chicago sidewalk.
“Wanna walk today?” she suggests. Their Lincoln Park apartment isn’t far, and he agrees.
He hands her a macaron from the box. “What was the meeting with Theo about?”
She takes a bite. “Oh, you know. My favorite thorn in my side, Moms for Liberty, is protesting the sex education program we’re starting at Wilson Middle School next month.
They said our curriculum is porn in disguise.
” She rolls her eyes. “Not sure what porn they’re watching, but it must be informative. ”
He laughs, and they pause at a crosswalk.
“They want a highly edited version to present to the school, but the school principal and the superintendent of the district are on our side because they know we’re completely regulated and that our lessons are appropriate for seventh and eighth graders.”
“What would a highly edited version look like?” he asks.
The crosswalk signal changes, and she casts him a knowing smile. “Abstinence only, of course.”
Since its inception almost three years ago, Sex Positive Productions has exploded across multiple forms of media, thanks in large part to the beautiful woman next to him.
Starting with three podcasts focused on different topics in the sexual health sector, it’s expanded to ten podcasts whose episodes frequently top the weekly charts and a YouTube channel where popular hosts and noteworthy guests—actors, comedians, sex educators—explore a wide range of topics about sexual health, reproductive justice, gender equality, and dating and relationships.
The company’s social media presence boasts followers in the millions across all major platforms.
While the main office is in New York City, it became clear after less than a year of producing content that they needed to find a second office.
Charlie’s pilot program had successfully expanded to more than fifty middle and high schools across Maryland and West Virginia, and she suggested that they turn their focus to the Midwest.
“They love preaching about abstinence and shutting down necessary HIV and STI testing clinics,” Charlie pointed out dryly.
Six months later, they found a location for an office in Chicago, and Charlie volunteered to lead it while also continuing her Executive Program Director duties.
Wes was all too willing to follow, so deliriously proud of her.