The strength of the thought, of thefeeling, moved through her, and all she could do was turn just enough to truly face Sutton, surge up, and kiss her.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Sutton returned Charlotte’s kiss,hungrily.
She matched her beat for beat, her hands feeling greedy with the need as she tugged Charlotte up against her. Reaching down, she slid her hands over Charlotte’s sweatshirt-covered waist, down over her hips, itching already to touch the warm, soft skin underneath.
It washersweatshirt, she vaguely registered, even as she knew it burned the fire inside of her even hotter. Charlotte was in her clothing, looking as sexy as she always did—devastatingly so—but also Christmassy and cute and she looked like… Sutton’s.
Charlotte groaned in the back of her throat, a sound so guttural that it resonated through Sutton’s entire body, as Sutton’s hands slid under her shirt and splayed over Charlotte’s waist.
She flexed her hands there, digging in just the right amount, the amount she knew Charlotte liked, and was rewarded with a keening sound.
Charlotte seemed to know exactly what Sutton wanted—then again, when they were like this, when didn’t she?—as she pushed herself up from where she’d been nestled against Sutton on the couch and straddled her, all without breaking their kiss.
Charlotte’s hands landed on her shoulders, finding her balance as she rocked her hips against Sutton.
It was heady. So powerful. Thiswant, which came from the pulse-poundingneedshe always seemed to have inside of her for Charlotte. It was never-ending, Sutton had learned over the last few weeks.
But she could feel it tonight, in this kiss, in this moment. That want was not only undeniably present, lacing through her veins, but it was magnified.
She felt it in every movement, every action. She felt it as she mapped out Charlotte’s back, then up her sides, thumbing over her nipples. She felt it in the way Charlotte arched her back against her. She felt it as Charlotte panted into her mouth, the way she slid her full lips over Sutton’s like, even in the moments where she needed to take a breath, she wanted to share the very air they were breathing.
It was that needy, hungry feeling that she had whenever she kissed Charlotte, whenever she touched her, but it was somethingmore. Something stronger. Somehow, it was all stronger, which seemed unfathomable to Sutton, because she’d already been insatiable when it came to Charlotte Thompson.
Charlotte’s hands dug into her shoulders then, and Sutton couldfeelher reluctance as she pushed herself back, truly breaking their kiss.
She still stayed there, though, her thighs bracketing Sutton’s and keeping them locked against each other. Sutton’s hands stayed where they were, dipped just under Charlotte’s borrowed pajama pants so she could run her fingers over Charlotte’s full hips.
Sutton panted up at Charlotte, her lips still tingling as Charlotte looked down at her.
The only lighting came from the television and the colored lights of the Christmas tree, casting Charlotte in a seemingly mystical glow. It was captivating, if Sutton was being entirely honest, and she swallowed hard, searching Charlotte’s eyes with her own. Questioning. Because there hadn’t been a single time they’d started to have sex that Charlotte had stopped them or hadn’t wanted it.
And Sutton… shewantedso badly, she had no idea how Charlotte couldn’t be feeling the same way.
“Darling, I… I didn’t come here for this,” Charlotte whispered, holding Sutton’s gaze. Her voice was so throaty, it sent a shiver right down Sutton’s spine.
She loosened the tight hold she still had on Sutton’s shirt, smoothing her hand over Sutton’s neck in a touch that was comforting and sweet and still made Sutton shiver, especially as Charlotte stroked her thumb over the hollow of her throat.
“Do you not want t—” Sutton couldn’t even finish asking the question before Charlotte cut her off with a choked laugh.
“No. I want to,” she assured her without a second of hesitation. She gently—so gently—stroked her thumb over Sutton’s neck again. Sutton shivered again, but it had nothing to do with heat or wanting or anything sexual. Especially not as Charlotte elaborated, “But I don’t want you to think thateverytime we see one another—especially if it’s not related to the book—that we have to have sex or that I’m expecting it. I came here tonight just to be with you. To make sure you were okay. To make sure you didn’t feel lonely, especially on Christmas Eve.”
There was such a genuine sweetness to Charlotte’s voice. It was something Sutton didn’t hear very often, but she tried to never linger on it when she did. She’d heard it in Charlotte’s voice, years ago, and after Charlotte had ended things between them, it had haunted Sutton.
As she sat there in her living room on Christmas Eve, thirteen years later, she couldn’t help but let the tone and the words delivered with it linger. To settle inside of her, even though she knew it was a bad idea.
Charlotte was perfect and, technically, correct as she insisted that they didn’t have to have sex every time they saw one another.
Her heart stuttered in her chest as she nodded. “I know. I know we don’t have to have sex.”
Maybe that, in and of itself, was a big part of the danger.
She knew Charlotte hadn’t come here just looking for or wanting sex. SheknewCharlotte had come here with the kindest and most caring of intentions, ones Charlotte seemed to have for Sutton, frequently and sometimes singularly.
Everything would be so much easier, really, if Charlotte had come here only for physical intimacy.
For the last six weeks, they had been very physical. Sutton kept it that way; it made sense that way. She always wanted Charlotte, and she knew Charlotte wanted her. Between them, sex was the most uncomplicated part of their relationship.
