Chapter 18
Over the years I’d imagined what it would be like to seduce Charlotte Monroe many times. It was always a clash of teeth and hands and being buried alive under an avalanche of passion. I imagined that we’d fuck the same way we did everything else, with intensity and hatred, each of us trying to best the other.
The reality was beyond anything I could have ever dreamed. Charlie wasn’t fighting or grabbing me the way I’d assumed she would. No, she melted into my embrace.
Melted.
One minute her eyes were hot with defiance and then with one little kiss she liquefied like butter in a hot pan.
Her hands slid through my hair gently, her nails scraping over my scalp in a way that made me shudder. Whatever magical switch I’d flipped had taken her from mad as a wet hen to licking my neck like a kitten. She jumped into my arms and my hands landed on her ass instinctively to catch her. There was no way in hell I was putting her down to walk so I just headed for the stairs with her tongue on my neck and my hands filled with her abundant curves.
Maybe a different man could pause and think about the consequences when the woman he’d lusted after for years was in his arms, but I wasn’t that guy.
As we passed through the living room Charlie took one of my earlobes between her teeth and bit down gently.
“Oh fuck?—”
Distracted, I stubbed my toe on a side table as we passed through the living room and cursed as we listed to the side, the wall the only thing that saved us from going down. Her soft, husky laughter in my ear made me forget the pain as her mouth continued its exploration down my neck. I stumbled again near the stairs when her tongue darted over my collarbone.
“You’d better not drop me,” she whispered before her hands snaked between us to yank at the tail end of my shirt.
“Never. Just let me get up the stairs before you bite anything else.”
“Can’t handle it?” she teased.
“Not even slightly.”
She must have enjoyed my admission of weakness because her hand paused before coming back up to wrap behind my neck. I took the reprieve and darted up the stairs. The amount of racket my boots made on the staircase would have inspired a comment any other time but apparently even Charlie didn’t care about noise right now.
As soon as we fell through the door into her room all bets were off, and suddenly she seemed to have a million hands, each running over a different part of my body.
“Why do you have these abs?” she moaned as her hands snuck under my shirt, her nails scraping over my skin.
I hissed at the sharp sensation. Her eyes narrowed at the sound before she did it again. Deliberately.
“Watch the claws, brat.”
“Don’t tell me what to do.” Her eyes glittered as she leaned forward and bit my lip.
“I think I know exactly how to shut you up.”
Moving closer to the bed, I tossed her none too gently on top of the covers. Her hair flopped all around her face and she scowled at me. I laughed before climbing on the bed with her. She watched as I climbed over her, her legs instinctively coming up to wrap around my hips. I took my time, enjoying the tease as we connected and my weight pressed her into the bed. The sensation of her under me was one I didn’t want to forget, especially since it was unlikely I’d ever feel this again, once she came to her senses and remembered that she hated me.
For a brief moment, time suspended as I stared into her eyes. Color was high on her cheeks, a rosy hue that made her golden-brown skin glow. Then again Charlie always looked luminous to me, like she carried some extra light inside that no one else had. But seeing her all lit up with excitement and anticipation for me made the moment surreal, like I’d temporarily stepped into one of the many fantasies I’d had over the years.
But this was no fantasy. Charlie was here, warm, and right beneath me, looking into my eyes like I was all she wanted.
Until she opened her mouth, that is.
“You are so much hotter when you aren’t talking.” Charlie’s hands ran over my shoulders and down my back only stopping to squeeze my ass.
The movement made me rock my hips and she whimpered slightly at the movement. She rolled her hips and the way she moved let me know exactly how hot things were about to get. She moved like a woman who knew what she wanted. And right now what she wanted was me.
“Never thought I’d see the day I had Charlie Monroe begging for it.”
Her hands tightened on my ass. “That’s assuming it’ll be any good.”
“Oh you know it’ll be good,” I muttered against her neck as I licked my way down her neck, taking in her peaches scent.
Why did she have to smell so good? What magical pheromones was she putting out that all I could imagine lately was filling that smart mouth with my cock?
Charlie slid her hands into my hair pulling me back up for another scorching kiss.
“Talking this much means you don’t know how else to use your big mouth. I’ll probably be begging you to stop soon.”
“The fuck you will.”
I reached down to unzip her jeans and she lifted her hips to make it easier. As she inched her jeans down her legs, my mind blanked when I got a flash of black panties and plush thighs. The next thing to go was her shirt, revealing a black cotton bra.
“Take this off,” she whispered before tugging at my shirt.
Her hands stayed with me as I yanked it over my head, running over the skin revealed. The flush on her cheeks increased and her eyes went glassy as she stared at my bare chest.
I started to unbutton my jeans then paused. “Are you sure?”
“Nothing makes sense lately. Up is down and right is left. But the only thing that hasn’t changed is the fact that I want you. I’m tired of pretending I don’t.”
Her hands rested on top of mine. Then with slow deliberation she unbuttoned my jeans and tugged the zipper down, the metallic sound almost as loud as my heartbeat in the quiet room.
My breath whooshed out all at once when she reached into my underwear and gripped my cock in her hot little hand. I was aware that she was waiting for me to respond and that this was the time to have the mature conversations about expectations and birth control. But then she slid her fist down my length, squeezing hard just the way I loved it and conversation was no longer possible.
“Thank god,” I finally choked out before pushing my jeans and underwear the rest of the way down.
Briefly I was annoyed with myself for rushing because the movement caused Charlie to release her grip. Luckily she used the time to unhook her bra and tug her black panties down her legs. She threw them on the floor beside the bed. Under any other circumstances it would have made me laugh or I would have at least teased her about being so impatient. However, I was just grateful that she felt the same urgency I did, something inside pushing me to hurry before she came to her senses and realized she could do so much better than me.
There was a brief hiccup when I realized she didn’t have any protection in her room. I ran naked to get the box of condoms in mine, followed by the husky sound of her laughter. When I got back she was laying on her side, her head propped up on one arm.
She whistled softly. “What a view.”
The way I blushed took me by surprise. Of all the things she’d ever said it was ridiculous that this would embarrass me. But maybe it was because I’d never been butterball ass naked when she was teasing me before.
After rolling the condom on, I climbed back on the bed. The sound she made as I settled between her legs would be forever imprinted in my mind. Her little sigh made my blood burn and I took a deep breath trying to regain some control. But as I entered her slowly, I realized that was an illusion.
There was no way to have control when my cock felt like it had just entered heaven.
Charlie shuddered beneath me, her hand clenching around my forearm. I paused giving her a moment to adjust and taking one for myself. I opened my eyes and was stunned to find her watching me.
“Don’t you dare stop now. I’ll kill you if you do.”
Then she smiled so tenderly like we shared a secret, one that only we would ever know. Her affection was intoxicating, the full force of it made me dizzy.
Was this why I loved arguing with her so much? Because her anger was the closest I could get to having her undivided attention?
“Rix? You can move. I’m okay now.”
Her smile was meant to be reassuring but it only made the dizziness worse. She might be okay but I wasn’t. Her hand rubbed my chest. Slowly. Comfortingly. My eyes closed against the pull of wanting to bury myself in her and never come out. I knew then that I’d made a mistake.
After knowing her like this how would I ever let her go?
Suddenly I was overcome with the urge to have her, all of her, while I could. My thrust took us both by surprise and her hand on my chest flexed, her nails dragging over my skin. I gritted my teeth at the bite of pain.
“Sorry. That was–”
Her hand touched my lips, stopping whatever I was about to say. She simply nodded and tightened her muscles around me.
“Yes. Just like that,” she whispered.
Soon we were moving together like a wave, her hips rising to meet my every thrust. Her legs curled around my waist and the new angle made her cry out. The shock of pleasure that arced down my spine threatened to take me under so I frantically tried to recall the most unsexy things I could think of, gym socks, the roster of my favorite baseball team and in a moment of final desperation started counting in Spanish.
* * *
I listened intently. Charlie’s breathing was slow and even. She must be asleep. I moved slowly, pulling my arm from beneath her head. She stirred and looked over her shoulder at me.
“Sorry,” I whispered. “I was trying not to wake you.”
“Where are you going?” Her eyes dropped to somewhere in the middle of my chest.
“To get snacks. Um … I’m hungry.”
That seemed to mollify her so I climbed out of bed. My jeans were on the floor but I didn’t feel like putting them back on so I just walked downstairs naked. Before I attempted to make any food, I walked over to the freezer and stuck my head inside. It didn’t help as much as I thought it would but at least I didn’t feel like my face was on fire anymore.
Why was this so hard?
Talking to Charlie shouldn’t make me feel like my tongue was three sizes too big for my mouth. But suddenly I was second guessing everything and as nervous as a virgin in Vegas. It was just Charlie. She’d seen me naked before I had anything anybody wanted to see.
I was starving but there was no time to make anything complicated so I slapped some turkey on the nasty whole wheat bread she liked so we could have sandwiches. There was a half a bag of chips left so I took that before folding a dishtowel over my arm so she didn’t have to yell at me for getting her bed dirty. At the last minute I went back to the pantry and grabbed the bag of Skittles on the top shelf.
When I came back, she was sitting up in bed with the sheet yanked all the way up to cover her chest. I arranged my bounty on the dishtowel. Charlie raised her eyebrows.
“Not bad.” Then she noticed the bag of candy and her face softened. “Careful, Rix. If you keep being so nice, I might actually think you like me.”
I took a big bite of the sandwich and made an effort not to grimace at the taste of the whole wheat bread. She noticed anyway and laughed.
“You’ll get used to it. It’s better for you.”
I grabbed some chips and stuffed them in my mouth. Anything could taste decent if you covered it with nacho cheese flavor. As we ate, we settled into a comfortable kind of silence. Charlie seemed completely content to scarf her sandwich down before diving directly into the bag of candy. Things were so easy that it was scary. Things were never this easy.
“I always liked you,” I mumbled.
Charlie looked up in surprise. “What?”
My face flamed. Now why the hell had I just blurted that out? Well, it was out there now. I could either pretend it hadn’t happened or just go with it. As much as I hated to admit it, I didn’t like this idea she had that I had been deliberately trying to fuck things up for her over the years. I liked to tease her, yes. But that didn’t mean I’d ever wanted her to actually be hurt.
“I always liked you. Even when I was playing pranks on you,” I finally admitted.
She didn’t look at me but her hand drifted closer to where mine rested on top of the covers. “You couldn’t have convinced me of that.”
Her fingers trailed over the back of my knuckles. Just that simple touch made my skin feel electrified. Unfortunately, my dick noticed too and immediately lifted. She smirked.
I snatched the covers from her and slid beneath. She sighed and rested her head on my chest. Her fingers trailed from my neck down to my belly button before coming back up. Over and over.
“I didn’t want you to know,” I admitted finally.
Her hand was still rubbing circles on my chest. I picked it up and kissed the back of it. Her answering smile made my heart turn over. Beneath her tough exterior she was so fucking sweet.
Whatever this was, it was unexpected but in some ways inevitable.
“I bet you never thought you’d be lying here with me when you came back. A country boy.”
She moved back slightly and frowned. “What’s wrong with country boys?”
“I’m not exactly your type. Your last guy probably wore a suit every day.”
“He did. And had a stick up his ass the rest of the time.”
I didn’t respond. The thought of her with some Wall Street douche made my chest tight.
“Rix, I don’t think a guy is better because he wears a suit to work. I think a guy is better when he fixes the doorknob or when he helps a neighbor with his fence. Or when he remembers that I love Skittles.”
“I knew it was the Skittles,” I whispered before leaning down to capture her mouth in a kiss.
All I wanted was to sink into her and forget all the reasons this thing between us would never work. With my eyes closed it was easier to pretend this was real and not just two people scratching an itch they couldn’t reach for far too long. But Charlie stopped me with a hand to my chest, her dark eyes roaming over my face. She always had seen far too much.
“Hendrix Evers, you are annoying, irritating, gorgeous, and sexy. You are everything that drives me crazy but I have never thought you weren’t good enough for me. I just thought you were a pain in the ass.”
My lips quirked. “Sexy, huh?”
“Figures that’s the only part you heard. I also said annoying.”
“But sexy.”
She sighed and settled her head back on my chest. “Very sexy.”