AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Charlene gently pressed her lips to his, then pulled back. “Maybe things can be different now. You’re broken up with Lucy. I’m broken up with Ricky. It might be our time to really make it work.”
All of his walls began to tumble down. Lucy hadn’t texted him back, and he felt himself open to Charlene, kiss her, pull her into him. It was like pouring water on a dry desert as they deepened the kiss.
Charlene kissed him for a long time.
Suddenly, his mind caught up to his body, and he pushed her back. “No. Wait.”
Charlene held on to him, looking innocent. “What’s wrong, Matt?”
“Lucy.”
Charlene frowned. “I knew she’d come between us.”
“Charlene.” Normally, he didn’t get upset with Charlene anymore. He’d gotten the hang of it over the past two years as she’d shown off her slew of boyfriends, cheated on him, and taken him to court.
She put her hands on her hips. “Part of the reason we had to come here was because we needed space from Lucy. If you can’t see that, then I don’t know what to tell you.”
He was flabbergasted. “You think I came here so I could be away from Lucy?”
“She took yours and Tatum’s time, and I was done with it.” Playing the victim, Charlene pushed her bottom lip out and circled his neck again. “I need you, Matt. I want you back.”
“What about Ricky? I thought that was part of the reason you came to Raleigh. So you could start a life here with him.” She had said as much to Matt and Tatum before they’d decided to come.
“I told you, we broke up.” She looked sullen about it. “But I don’t think things were meant to work out with Ricky.”
That explained this little episode.
Matt wanted to bring up the countless men she’d dated over the course of the past few years. To point out that their relationship must not have been meant to work out, either. But he didn’t.
“Matt, you’ve always said Tatum needs both parents, so let’s do this, okay?”
Charlene had a point, and Matt honestly felt that was the best way to raise a child. He hadnotbeen raised that way, because his own mother had left when he was twelve, close to Tatum’s age. The loss had devastated him, and he’d never gotten over it.
If he could help it, he wouldn’t let his daughter go through that pain.
Softly, Charlene patted his face and pulled him in for another light kiss. “We could be like that oldParent Trapmovie.” She giggled lightly. “The one with Hayley Mills that you always liked to watch.”
He grinned, remembering how much she’d resisted the movie when they’d been dating.
She pouted. “C’mon, Matt. Lucy’s not here, but I am.”
He didn’t like what she was saying.
“And we have a daughter together.” She snaked an arm around his waist and pulled him closer. “A daughter we both want to do the right thing for.” She tightened her hold. She was tall, even a bit taller than Lucy, and he used to like how easily she fit against him.
No. He pushed her away a bit, shaking his head. “I’m not sure where things stand with Lucy at the moment. I can’t do this.”
Charlene gave him a crushed look, then put her arms back around him. “But you always said Tatum comes first.”
Matt scowled as he unhooked Charlene’s arms. “Don’t manipulate me with my own words, Charlene. You know darn well that I’m here because I’m trying to do the right thing for our daughter, even when you don’t show up half the time. Or you only show up because you’ve been dumped.”
She slapped him clean across the face, an angry glint in her eyes. “How dare you!”
Matt had been abused by his mother until she’d left. He’d been slapped, punched, sworn at. Charlene had done the same when they’d been married. He glared at her and sucked in a deep breath. He was not a violent man, and he prided himself on that fact, but this woman …
She pointed in his face, grabbed him by the neck, and kissed him. Not just any kind of kiss—this was a full-body kiss that had her pulling his hair and clinging to him. She pulled back. “Matt, you feel this between us. Let’s make this work, baby.”
Everything was charged between them. All of his senses were heightened. It might be lust or missing Lucy or confusion or his past abuse or just pure stupidity, but when Charlene reached for him again, he kissed her back. Passion burned between them as all the old memories surfaced. Maybe she was right. Maybe this time they could try again. Maybe he hadn’t left South Port and their friends and his work for no reason at all.
