Slowly, I spun to face him. The deep V of my dress was just under his nose. His eyes flicked there for a moment, hesitated, and then returned to watch me as I moved close. I went up on my knees as I slid my arms around his neck, pressing my chest into his shoulder.
Lips just brushing the shell of his ear, I said, “I thought you said you read all my writing?” I pulled back in time to watch the confusion on his face darken into understanding.
His pupils blacked out as his jaw slackened. I ran my lips up the column of his neck, breathing hot breath onto his skin before I gently bit on a strong muscle, flexed with tension. I arched my back, fully embracing this side of myself. It wasn’t alcohol or the sensuous environment. In an alternate reality, if I’d ever come to a place like this with Pete, I would have never been so brazen. I never felt safe with Pete like I did with Charlie. I was free to be myself, in all the glorious—and albeit a little kinky—facets of myself.
After all, what were dark alcoves for if not to get a little freaky?
“Remember the story I wrote where Freddy and Nix had to go undercover at the sex club? They had to pretend to be a couple?” My wrists hooked behind his head, and my back arched so I could lean back and study him. “I seem to remember you specifically mentioning that one.”
His throat worked a swallow as he blatantly stared at my cleavage on display at this angle. He looked back to me and nodded.
I leaned forward and worked my way onto his lap. I couldn’t straddle him in this dress, lest I did intend to show the whole club those waxing preferences, so I sat sidesaddle and ran a hand over his strong, square jaw. His muscles clenched under my slow perusal.
His body was hot and hard, and if I wasn’t totally mistaken, the arousing effects of the club currently pressed into my hip.
“I really enjoyed that story,” he said roughly, tilting his hips up to adjust his pants, taking me with him. He was so strong, it was like I wasn’t even there. He’d be able to toss me around. I could be rocked up and down on his lap and not have to do any of the work. The idea made me clench in anticipation.
“Remember the scene in the upstairs private rooms? Where he had to bend her over and—”
“Kate,” he said gruffly. “I remember. Every word you ever wrote. Vividly.”
The intensity of his words caught me off guard. My desire for him. The passion in his dark gaze, it was all too much.
“I thought of you,” I said. “I’m sorry if that’s weird. But so often when I wrote any of my newer stuff, the most intense scenes, I thought of you.”
His brow furrowed.
“Not Charles the actor,you.RC,” I clarified.
His head shot up, hands on my hips gripping. “You did? But—”
“I didn’t need to know what you looked like.” I dropped my forehead to his and closed my eyes. He’d always been so solid in my imagination, even before I saw his body. The feelings I had for him were personified in an amalgamation of people until he was just RC. Now, in his lap, it was difficult to picture the man from my imagination without seeing Charlie. It had always been Charlie. It would always be him.
“It’s hard to explain, but it was you I thought of so often.” I swallowed down the fear at the honesty. God, don’t let him think I was a freak. “For me, this has been more than just emails for a while.”
“It was more for me too.” He rubbed his nose into my neck, sighing contently. “Before I even knew your name, I was already half mad for you.”
What did this mean for us? Where would we go from here? Eventually, the party would be over, and I had to go back to real life. No more wasted time.
“Charlie? I know in the grand scheme we’ve only just met. But … doesn’t it feel much longer?”
He held my gaze and nodded. “I thought you knew. I thought you guessed, a dozen different times since we came to LA,” he confessed shakily.
“How in the world would I ever make that connection?” Then I added, “To be fair, in my wildest dreams I hoped. But it seemed unfathomable.”
“Same for me.” He kissed my neck. “This feels like a dream for me too.”
My head swam. I was too happy, too on fire with want for him. I didn’t know what the future held, but I needed more than just holding his hand.
“Don’t you think we should take advantage of this time together while we can?” I wiggled in his lap, not subtle in my meaning.
He dropped his head to my shoulder, and I felt more than heard his sharp exhale of breath as he nodded again.
His head continued to move across my shoulder, pushing the sleeve of my dress down with his teeth. The fabric was silky, was just barely covering my hard nipple, and the tape supplied by Emma and the team was doing its job. My whole body shivered at the feel of his tongue grazing the sensitive skin of my shoulder. One of my hands gripped his bicep as the other moved to the back of his head, gently encouraging his exploration.
Maybe this was too soon. Maybe being newly single should make me feel ashamed, but it was hard to feel wrong when everything with Charlie felt so right. There was a comfort in his presence that two years of talking every single day had built. My desire for this man felt more real than anything I’d ever experienced with Pete or any other boyfriend. It felt natural and pure. I wouldn’t shame myself for finally chasing joy.
The slow heady beat of the bass, combined with his clean, masculine scent, made me feel like I was swimming through an erotic dream. Charlie sucked gently on the sensitive skin where my neck met my shoulder, not hard enough to leave a mark but enough to add fuel to my fire. My thighs squeezed together impatiently, and I sighed loudly, eliciting a groan from him.
