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I shot a glance at the woman who shared my bed last night. A woman I had complicated feelings for, with whom I wouldn’t mind sharing my bed again—but a woman I couldn’t trust completely. Not with everything that had mattered to me since I was eleven years old, soot-stained, and terrified.
“Rex, don’t be weird. I stayed in my own hotel room,” she said, playing the whole thing off, and Rex backed off. I guess she really did want to keep things under wraps. Despite all the doubts I’d fought this morning, all the lies of omission that stayed firmly locked behind my lips, that stung.
Maybe she had doubts too.
We got back to our apartment with just enough time to shower, dress, and get to Mayor Greene’s office in time for our update meeting.
As I watched Charlie begin to climb the stairs, desperation began to scrabble inside me, and I realized within seconds what I was feeling: loss.
I’d only just realized what she could be to me—what she already was to me—and I knew that it would all be over before long. I had to tell her about Sinclair, about The Bach Company, about the reason I was here in the first place. But front and center in my mind was a need for her. Just to feel her skin beneath my palms, to know that she was real, that we were real.
I wasn’t ready to let her go yet. Not after everything.
Taking the steps two at a time, I followed her to her door.
She threw me a look over her shoulder, eyes dark as she took in my face. When she spoke, her voice was husky. “Where do you think you’re going, Anderson?”
“Need you,” I rasped. I grabbed her by the waist, crushing her lips to mine. “You didn’t think I’d let you shower alone, did you?”
A look of temptation colored her eyes, and she ran her hand along my chest. I loved the way she touched me, like she had a right to. Like she owned me. In my desperation, my need to reassure myself that what had happened between us had happened between us, I drank in her touches like I needed them to live. Her gaze dipped to my lips. Climbed back up to my eyes. “We have to be at the mayor’s office in an hour.”
I leaned in, teasing her neck with my mouth. She smelled like heaven. “I can be quick.”
“You sure about that?”
“Well, there’s a first time for everything.” I reached for her face, skating my thumb along her jaw. She was fine-boned and beautiful, and she was mine. For right now, until I figured out how I could solve this, she was in my arms, and she was mine.
Inside, it was a race to see who could strip the other down the fastest as we made our way to the cramped shower stall in her bathroom. Everything about her, from her panting breaths to her pert, pink-tipped nipples sent lightning searing through my veins. I hardly noticed the frigid water.
“Spread your legs, Charlie,” I commanded, pinning her against the shower wall with her arms above her head.
Her intense gaze captivated me. Trapped me. Consumed me. If only I could spend forever touching, teasing, licking, and stroking her in that shower, life would be perfect. But she wasn’t going anywhere. Not for a hundred and eighty days at least, so there would be more time later. I could figure out how to keep her, keep The Bach Company, give my family what they deserved. I could solve this. I had time.
I grabbed her ass, and her legs coiled around me as I drove inside. Steam finally filled the shower, and it was like we were living in our own pleasure haze. She panted, clutching onto me, nails digging into my skin. I watched the flush take over her skin, rapt. She came hard and fast, crying out in ecstasy. That sound. That beautiful sound was all my body needed to explode.
Twenty minutes later, showered, changed, and refreshed, I stared at myself in the mirror with a clear head and a sense of purpose. I would fix this. There was a solution. I just needed to find it. I adjusted my tie. We had business to attend to.
Charlie’s cheeks were still flushed when we arrived at the mayor’s office with two minutes to spare. We strode into an empty hallway, and her tight skirt teased me with every sway of her hips. So I reached for her ass like a magnet to steel. I needed to be close to her. It gnawed inside me like a starving beast, some animal desperate for touch, for her.
“Sebastian. We’re incognito,” she whispered, and I removed my hand just before we reached the mayor’s office.
“Charlie. Sebastian. Nice to see you both. Come on in,” Mayor Greene greeted us. “So what do you have for me?”
Charlie stepped up, eager to give her report. “We’ve got a great update for you. The restoration is going smoothly and it’s looking fantastic. Everything’s on target to finish on time. And we’ve been able to restore the old lobby flooring that had been hiding beneath the carpet for decades. Thanks to Sebastian.”
The smile she gave me firmed my resolve. I wouldn’t give her up, and I wouldn’t give up my mother’s stolen legacy. I could find a way to do both. I had to.
“It’s really beautiful flooring,” I added.
She pressed her lips together, curtailing a smile. “It is. I also just confirmed the sponsor, and the marquee will be perfectly lit before next Saturday.”
Mayor Greene slapped a celebratory hand on his desk. “Good work, you two. The town council and I are very interested to hear your proposals at the gala.”
Charlie shot me a bright smile. “We have an update on that too.”
“Oh?”
“Yes, Charlie came up with a brilliant compromise. She figured out a way to maintain the Monticello’s façade and lobby, while expanding the rest of the building into a boutique hotel. Guests will have the modern comforts of any other five-star hotel with a slice of New Elwood’s quaint history. She came up with the idea for an exhibit of its history so the hotel will be a tourist attraction in itself. I believe it has the potential to be a real draw. It’s a landmark building, after all. It just makes sense to keep the best of it around,” I said, not tearing my eyes away from Charlie.
