Chapter 17
OLIVIA
Over the last couple weeks since I’d met him, I’d learned a few things about Charlie.
One was that he always took charge and another was that he liked to be in control.
He was a manly man who had his shit handled and was always trying to do the best for his family and the ranch.
One thing he definitely was not was a coward.
I knew that, but just like he’d figured out how to push my buttons, I’d learned where his were too. While I’d already told him that, I didn’t think he’d really believed me until I said those words.
“A coward?” His eyebrows inched up on his forehead. “What the hell, Liv?”
I shrugged a shoulder, toying with the hem of the huge T-shirt I’d brought to sleep in.
When I noticed his gaze flickering to the section of skin I’d exposed on my thigh, I smiled.
“Well, you see, Charlie, a coward would run away because they’re too scared.
A gentleman would give the lady what she asked for.
It’s up to you to decide which one you really are. ”
It had finally occurred to me while I’d been showering and washing off the mud after our last kiss that perhaps Charlie wasn’t like those city guys after all. Maybe he wasn’t a player. Maybe he was just trying to fight this chemistry between us.
As soon as the thought had occurred to me, I’d known I was right.
I’d already known something had gone wrong with the last woman he’d worked with in marketing, and while I wasn’t particularly interested in knowing exactly what’d happened, I suddenly had a suspicion that the fear he had of working with me extended to this.
To getting physical. To admitting that he wanted me. To surrendering to the obvious connection between us.
All of which was very well and fine, but I wouldn’t be a pawn in his little push and pull game. If he wanted to keep kissing me, he was going to give me what I wanted—and if he refused to, then he was going to have to stop kissing me altogether.
I looked into his eyes across the couple feet of space left between us.
He was clearly wrestling with the decision.
I didn’t blame him. If we did this, there would be no coming back from it.
We would be stuck working together with memories of what the other looked like naked front and center in our minds.
Happily, I’d already seen him half naked—and based on what I’d seen at the creek, I was pretty sure that having a memory of him fully naked wasn’t going to be a hardship.
His gaze finally dropped away from mine and lowered to the hem of my T-shirt. A quiet groan came out of him, but he still didn’t move. Instead, he raked his eyes all over me in a way I’d felt him doing before, but this was the first time he was openly checking me out.
Tiny goosebumps appeared on my skin in the wake of that heated gaze, and when he was finally looking into my eyes again, I knew I had him.
“Fuck it,” he muttered, which wasn’t exactly romantic, but hell, I’d take it.
He stalked toward me, wrapped those strong arms around my waist, and lifted me clean off my feet. Then he kissed me. When his lips met mine, I knew instantly that he wasn’t going to stop again.
Clearly, this was the way he kissed when he meant business and I freaking loved it. The way his lips moved against mine was suddenly urgent and hungry. His tongue devoured my mouth like he was a conquering army.
I melted into him, winding my arms around his neck and wrapping my legs around his hips.
He walked us over to my bed, climbed onto the mattress with me, and lowered me down.
As soon as my back pressed into it, he released his grip on me and reached for the T-shirt, pushed it up, and then eased back so I could lift myself a little for him to take it off.
The fabric disappeared so fast, it was like magic, and I chuckled into his mouth. “Wow. Someone’s in a real hurry all of a sudden.”
“Wouldn’t want you accusing me of being a slowpoke next.”
I kissed him again. Smiling against his lips, I stroked my fingers through his hair. “Let’s get those boots off then. A gentleman would never leave a lady naked by herself for too long and we can’t do anything about your pants until your shoes are off.”
“You’re not naked.” He traced his fingers along my sides, bunched the waistband of my panties in his fists, and let it snap against my skin as if trying to prove his point. “And the boots are staying on.”
I gasped. A fresh flood of desire raced through me, but I was also confused about what he’d just said. “They’re what?”
“They’re staying on. It’s a Texas thing.”
“I’m missing New York more and more every day,” I joked breathlessly, then nipped at his lower lip. I squirmed beneath the delicious weight of him. “They’re not staying on, Cowboy. That’s not a Texas thing. It’s a dine-and-dash kind of thing, and that’s not happening tonight.”
“Dine-and-dash?” He scoffed down laughter and took my lips in a hard, searing kiss. It made me wrap my legs around him again. “I don’t know what those boys in New York have taught you to expect, but I’m not going anywhere after, City.”
He moved his mouth away from mine to dot soft kisses along my jaw, my cheeks, and my throat, lowering his lips to my collarbone, my chest, and finally, along the insides of my breasts.
He licked a line around the lace edges of my bra and I shuddered underneath him, so incredibly into this that I could barely see straight.
“Charlie,” I whispered, tangling my hands into his hair and wondering just how sound-resistant the walls were.
As if he’d heard the thought, he glanced up at me, his chin between my boobs and twin blue flames in those gorgeous eyes. “Relax. You don’t have to keep it down. My brothers sleep like the dead, and besides, they wouldn’t hear a thing over this storm anyway.”
It was like the words pierced a veil that had gone down between us and the outside world. I suddenly became aware of heavy rainfall lashing the roof and hitting the windows. I relaxed into the mattress once more, letting myself get lost in the sea of sensation he was eliciting.
Charlie tasted every inch of me, clearly no longer in a rush. He swiped his tongue around my nipples through my bra, then finally got rid of the undergarment to suck each hardened bud into his mouth. Pleasure shot through me and I shivered, moaning his name. Wetness pooled between my legs.
He sucked at my breasts for so long that I was halfway to a spectacular orgasm when he dipped his mouth lower once more. Drawing a line with his tongue from my chest to my navel, he pressed his hands to the insides of my knees to make space for his shoulders between them.
My breath caught and my heart raced. My hands dug into the sheets. Charlie looked up again, his eyes glazed with lust. His fingers hooked into the front panel of my panties. “Final frontier, Liv. After this, there’s no going back.”
“I thought you said you didn’t go down easy,” I muttered. It really didn’t require a warning at this point. “Is it because you always try to back out, or—”
He didn’t let me finish the question. His mouth was on the most intimate part of me before I could even get the words out. Moans fell freely out of me as he licked through my core. His teeth and tongue drove me right to the edge.
I heard the heavy thud of his boots as they dropped to the floor.
Panting and feeling more desperate than I ever had, I pushed myself up on my elbows and looked down.
Charlie pulled away from me, sitting up on his knees and unbuckling his belt.
From the wild look in his eyes, he was feeling pretty much the exact same way I was.
I pushed myself up further, clawing at his shirt and finally ditching the buttons in favor of just pulling it off over his head.
Meanwhile, he’d worked his belt and the top button of his jeans free. I tugged at the zipper and pulled down his pants and underwear over his erection. My gaze dropped and my eyes widened when I got my first eyeful of him.
I’d known he was well endowed. I’d felt it from the first night when we’d kissed.
Without even thinking about it, I wrapped my fingers around his thick shaft.
His head dropped back and his eyes narrowed in a piercing glare shot at the ceiling.
At the same time, he let out a loud groan and my heart stuttered in my chest.
God, that was sexy. I need so much more of that sound.
Deciding to give it a try, I stroked him. By the third caress, he grabbed around my hips and pushed me back down on the mattress in one smooth motion. I was so surprised, I laughed and let go of his magnificent cowboy cock. I looped my arms around his neck and looked into his eyes.
“What’s that old saying about saving a horse and riding a cowboy?”
He laughed. “As long you grab a condom from my pocket so we won’t be raising our baby to be a cowboy approximately nine months from now, I won’t object to being ridden.”
“Who even puts on jeans before they go to sleep? And you have a condom in your pocket. Why?”
Humor sparkled in those blues. “Jeans are a way of life around here. As for the other question, you were right upstairs and I was horny. I figured it was better to be prepared just in case you were too.”
“Well, at least you’re honest.” I grinned. We rolled over together, with me on top now and, unfortunately, my panties still on. “Where’d your jeans go?”
“Lord knows.” He made to sit up, but I shook my head and climbed off him, my legs shaky but my determination keeping me upright in spite of the fact that I could barely feel my knees.
As I crawled over to the side of the bed, I stuck my ass in the air and rolled the panties off my hips. Then I reached for his jeans on the floor and snagged the condom. My brazen display seemed to have achieved the desired result, though.
Charlie let out a deep growl, grabbed my wrist, and hauled me back to him. He plucked the condom from between my fingers and tore the package open with his teeth while his gaze held mine. Then he rolled it on at lightning speed before claiming my mouth again.
He manhandled me back into position on top of him and worked a fist into my hair. He pressed his tip against my entrance and I squealed. Encouraged and beyond turned on, I slid down slowly and kissed him hard.
Completely unbothered by the fact that he was at the bottom, Charlie took charge immediately, one hand still in my hair and the other planted firmly on my hip. He set a punishing pace, thrusting into me and rolling his pelvis so it hit me just right on every stroke.
Halfway to heaven much too soon, I tried to slow down, but he wouldn’t let me, driving me closer and closer to the edge.
He sent me hurtling right over it when he suddenly circled a finger around my clit.
My entire body started shaking, feeling like it was coming apart at the seams. Pleasure tore through me like a wildfire.
Somewhere in the middle of my bliss, I was vaguely aware of him swelling deep inside me. He roared my name and crushed his mouth to mine. We collapsed together in the aftermath, breathing hard. We just held each other and waited for our bodies to calm down.
“I meant what I said about not going anywhere, you know,” he murmured against my ear a little while later. “I need to take care of the condom, but after that, I can stay if you want me to.”
I didn’t even think about it. “I want you to.”
“Deal.”
After pressing a soft kiss to my temple, he gently maneuvered me off him, then disappeared into the bathroom for just a moment before he came back to bed. Wordlessly switching off the lights on his way, he crawled under the covers and helped me get under them too, then wrapped his arms around me.
I snuggled shamelessly into his side, lying with my head on his chest and listening to the rain outside. As I closed my eyes, I became aware of the steady beating of his heart under my ear and I knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that I was in trouble.
We might be from completely different upbringings—and want completely different things in life—but Charlie Anderson had something I’d never experienced before. Something I hadn’t gotten nearly enough of just yet.
I finally drifted off with that thought in my mind, only waking up again the next morning when Charlie placed a soft kiss on my lips. He was already up and dressed, a soft smile on his lips. He brushed some hair behind my ear.
“I’ve got to sneak out before the others wake up,” he murmured. “I’ll see you on the ranch, okay?”
I gave him a sleepy smile and nodded, but once he was gone, I found it impossible to go back to sleep. Deciding that I would go make some coffee and then get dressed to help him with the chores, I sat up in bed and pulled my journal out of the nightstand.
Stuck into it was the restaurant napkin from my last day in New York, and as I read over the Boyfriend List, I realized that Charlie hit quite a lot of these points so far. Reaching into the drawer again, I pulled out a pen and smiled as I added one last item to it.
Must wear cowboy boots.