Chapter 24
brANDON
While continuing my personal training schedule with Ewan, I jog around Griffith Park.
It also provides mental clarity by being away from the gym and breathing in the fresh air.
In time, I mastered how to distract myself from the pain of running long distances, especially in Chicago’s bitterly cold conditions.
Here in LA, my mind is free to wander to a time when I merely existed.
My life consisted of only playing basketball.
I hit the road for endless nights, and apart from talking basketball with my teammates, I didn’t venture out.
The empty hollow in my heart was the only sign I was still alive.
My days were on repeat. Train, play, train, play.
I taught my brain not to think of anything else.
I did what I could to survive the fallout of losing my best friend, a family who cared for me when I was so far from home, and her.
When I met Ewan, he helped me strengthen my physical fitness even more and worked on positive mental health.
He knew something had broken me but didn’t ask what. Only helped me rebuild myself.
I will not go back to that life.
“You have a spring in your step,” Ewan pants out.
“Yeah?” I puff out as we climb the steep hill.
“Maybe it’s the air here.”
“That could be it.” I push harder, and he falls a few steps behind me. Lottie isn’t the only person I made a promise to. I have to be stronger and faster if I’m going to make a difference to the team.
My watch vibrates with a message from Coach Matthews.
You made the all-star team!
I slow my pace to a walk as I check other messages. “Fuck me.”
“Now what?” he groans out.
I smile at him. “It appears I made the all-star team. Byron, Leroy, and I are the only Sharks players to make it.”
“That’s going to hurt Simpson.”
With my hands on my hips, I suck in air to normalize my breathing. “Yeah. And a few others.” I walk in a circle as I consider my teammates. “It’s outta my hands, but I’m going to make them not regret their decision.”
“Then you better keep running,” he says and takes off in front of me. Before following, I check my messages again. Charlotte would have been notified, but there is nothing from her. Even friends send a congratulations text.
Finishing the run, we drive back to my apartment, where the valet brings Ewan’s car around, and he leaves to head home. I greet the concierge and then slow down as I walk through the foyer.
Christ, it’s like I’m seeing Charlotte everywhere, imagining people are her. Only this girl looks awfully like… I stop, watching as she pushes up from the chair and smiles.
Her sexy heels click on the marble as she walks toward me. “Congratulations, BJ.” She looks me up and down. “I’d hug you, but—”
I bear hug her, and she screams. I lift her into my arms and swing her around. She came to see me, and it means a fuck load more than making the team.
“Eww, you’re disgusting. Put me down before I smell like your sweat.” I kiss her cheek and land her feet carefully on the marble. “They wouldn’t allow me to go up to your room since I’m not on your list.”
“I don’t have a list.”
“Just as fucking well.”
God, I love pissed-off Charlotte. “We’ll fix it right now.” I take her hand to lead her to reception. “Johnno, please add Ms. Charlotte Hendricks to the special list who can enter my apartment at any time.”
“Sir, we—”
I cut him off. “She’ll need her own key.”
“Really?” she questions as I lead her toward the elevator. “Will you be here that long? I thought you’d have your own house by now.”
“Jobe is still searching.” I stab at the button, wishing the elevator would arrive before Charlotte is called away on some business matter.
“Where?”
Seventeen…
… sixteen…
… fifteen…
It stalls. “C’mon,” I moan and hit the up button several times. “Sorry, what?”
“Where are you looking?”
“Remember the house that Penny renovated for Franklin?”
“Yes. Leroy lives there.”
“Yeah, he raves about the beach so I’m thinking Malibu. There is a house for sale only eight houses away from his.”
“Are you serious?” Her eyes round. “I know what you’re thinking, but Leroy and his family are private people.”
“I’m not thinking anything other than having a teammate close by as a training buddy and having my own private beach.” Her face falls. “And I’ll get to use my surfboard again.”
The elevator doors open, and we step inside. As soon as the door closes, I lean in and kiss her on the lips without any part of my body touching hers. “Thank you for the congratulations,” I murmur against her mouth.
“You’re welcome.” Her hands cup my cheeks, and she kisses me back until the elevator dings at level twenty-five.
Someone tell my cock that kiss meant nothing.
I lead Charlotte to my private residence, opening the door for her to walk through first. She heads straight to the floor-to-ceiling glass overlooking the city.
“I need nature,” I tell her. “I thrive when I’m not surrounded by concrete.”
She turns as I pull off my T-shirt and pour myself some water, feeling her eyes on me. “Can I get you anything?”
“No, I can’t stay.” Her eyes roam down my body, and fuck, I feel it everywhere.
“Okay. Let me shower quickly, and I’ll walk you back downstairs. Help yourself to anything in the fridge if you change your mind.”
I leave both my bedroom and the bathroom doors wide open—an invitation without crossing the line.
Taking my time, I lather the body wash, hoping she’ll appear, only to hurry to finish in case she leaves.
I step out of the shower into a cloud of steam, then wrap a towel around my waist, rushing into my bedroom.
I slow to a stop when the vision of Charlotte sitting on the edge of my bed with her legs crossed comes into view.
“Hi.” She smiles, then her eyes lower to where the towel is tied, higher to my chest, stopping at the ink on my chest and remaining there. Then her eyes meet mine. “I thought about joining you, but returning to the office with wet hair would look suspicious.”
“Maybe my friend was working out and needed to shower.” I take a tentative step closer, followed by another, giving her time to change her mind. Her eyes round a little when the towel moves with my dick growing.
I take her hand and pull her to her feet, watching her for any sign she wants me to stop. When her breath catches, I take that as my green light and begin to slide her suit jacket off her shoulders. “You look flushed. It could be the heating.”
Her eyes remain glued to mine while I unbutton her shirt.
Fuck this. She is not saying no, and I’ve ached too long for this woman to go slow.
I yank her shirt apart, popping buttons.
Her breath hitches when my mouth goes straight to her shoulders, licking and kissing her soft skin while removing her bra.
Charlotte’s hands make light work of removing her suit pants.
“Good choice,” I murmur. “I was about to rip them from you.”
“It’s why I’m helping you,” she pants out. “It’s my favorite suit, and it was made especially by Brioni.” She grabs my face and pulls my lips to hers. “God, I want you so bad.”
After tossing all her clothes aside, I throw the towel across the room and move her to the center of the bed. “I need to look at you.”
I want to savor every second despite my heart racing with a primal need to fuck.
I take in every inch of her body because I have missed all of her, including those cute pink toenails, her long, smooth legs, and her shapely hips.
My eyes track higher to her ripped stomach, her full breasts with pointy nipples waiting to be sucked.
A new tattoo.
222
I can’t look away from her left breast, and an understanding passes between us.
Her hand goes to my dick, but I arch away. “Don’t. Not yet,” I groan out. “He knows it’s you, and I’m struggling to stop myself from coming just by looking at you.”
Settling between her thighs, I kiss her right nipple, then her left, tracing the outline of the numbers.
She lifts a hand and traces her name on my chest. “When did you get this?” she whispers.
“A while back, when I decided you were the only person to own my heart.” Tears well in her pretty blue eyes. “Hey, hey.” I kiss her tears away. “It’s a good thing.”
“We aren’t there yet. I want to be, but it’s going to take a while.”
“I know, princess. You take as long as you need. I’m not going anywhere.” I kiss her tenderly, tasting salty tears on her lips. “I guess this isn’t a reference to my jersey number?” I grin at her.
She smiles, closes her eyes, and slowly opens them again.
“No. It was supposed to be my angel number, to trust the process of everything working out as it should. New opportunities are on the horizon and to remain positive. I thought it was leading me away from you, offering new hope, when it was telling me it was you all along.” She smiles through tears and kisses me long and hard.
“And you, babe. It is about trusting your intuition. You’re a smart woman, so don’t doubt yourself. It’s your birthdate, and you are lucky…” I grin, “… to have me.”
She slaps my ass. “Right now, you’re pushing your luck.” She stops to look at her watch. “I need to… oh.”
My hand is on her stomach, keeping her down, and my mouth is over her pussy. God, she tastes every bit as good as I remember. She slams her hand down on the bed, and her hips buck as I lick and suck, darting my tongue in and out of her pussy.
No one loves this woman more fiercely than I do.
“No, dammit. Stop!” she yells, and her tone scares me. For a moment, I fear I’ve taken this too far. “This is not love, BJ. We need to fuck. We both need it, so fuck me like you never have before.”