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I spun around. He leaned against the wall, hands propped on his cane, looking devastating in a light gray suit, vest, and plum-colored tie. A small, tremulous smile graced his lips.
“I’m going to fly at you,” I warned him.
“God, yes,” he said, and I did.
chapter forty-nine
Her body collided with mine, and I caught her up in my arms and lifted her off the ground, holding her so tightly, breathing her in. Oh Christ, my Charlotte. I had imagined this moment a thousand times, but nothing could prepare me for what it felt like to hold her or to listen to her gentle, aching cries as she held me.
She was just as beautiful as I’d remembered. Beautiful in my arms and under my hands and in the fierce beating of her heart pressed to mine.
I loosened my hold on her enough to let her feet touch the ground and then kissed her eyes, her nose, her tear-streaked cheeks, inhaling her and tasting her, until our mouths met in a kiss that seeped into every part of me. I kissed her with everything that I had, thinking the pain of our separation and the hardship of my journey here would rush up to swamp me, but I felt nothing but sheer joy.
And love. Above all, love.
“God, baby,” I said brokenly against her cheek.
“I know,” she cried softly. “I know, I know…”
We remained there a long time. I held her and she held me, until the concert audience let out and parted around us, and we finally let the real world back in. And with it, the close proximity of our bodies awoke another need in us.
She took us to a hotel a block away. It felt small, smelled old. Historic. Much too historic for our purposes.
“You’ll have to pay,” Charlotte said at the front desk. “I have nothing. I jumped off the stage to find you before you disappeared again.”
“Youjumped off the stage?” I didn’t wait for an answer but tossed my credit card onto the desk and swept Charlotte into my arms again to kiss her hard, my tongue sweeping every corner of her mouth, wanting to taste all of herright now.I missed her to the depths of my soul, but my body had missed her too. Badly.
Up one flight of creaky stairs, a key in a door, and then all I knew was Charlotte. Her skin, her hair, her body pressed to me, the scent of her…all of it,mine.
Her hands around my neck pulled me down to kiss her, and the second our mouths met, I literally stumbled at the lust and longing that swept through me. I groaned and kissed Charlotte so hard I feared I’d cut her with my teeth, but she was just as rough. I felt the want in her even before her hands tore at my belt.
“Wait, wait,” I breathed. “When I tell you where I’ve been, what I’ve been doing, you might not like it,” I said, slipping the words out between kisses. My God, she smelled so good, tasted so good. “You may be angry. You may hate me.”
“Did you murder someone?” she asked, pushing my jacket off my shoulders.
“No,” I breathed and kissed her again, groaning because, Jesus, her hands felt like they were everywhere.
She tore at my vest; buttons popped and clattered to the floor. “Did you cheat on me?”
Charlotte was being playful, but the mere thought of it punched me in the gut like a fist. “Fuck no.”
“Then I’ll take my chances.”
She pulled me close, and I could feel her smile on my lips before we kissed again, ravishing each other’s mouths.
“Do you want to go slow?” I asked. My thoughts were breaking apart into nonsense under the onslaught of her touch, but I had to make sure this felt right and good for her. “Charlotte…I love you. I love you but I want you. Hard. Tell me this is okay.”
“I want you too. I’veneededyou…so badly,” she breathed. “It’s okay. It’s more than okay.” She jerked to a sudden stop with a little cry. “But oh…God, we have nothing…”
“Left jacket pocket,” I said.
“You’re kidding,” she laughed breathlessly,relieved.
“What can I say? I’m a fucking boy scout.”
She left me to dig out a condom from my jacket, and then we took up right where we’d left off—a flurry of hard, aching kisses and touches against the wall of that little hotel.
Christ, I still couldn’t believe this was real. After so long, not just apart, but suffering for want of her. She strained to meet my mouth with hers so she could kiss me the way only Charlotte could kiss me. I felt her hot little gust of breath first, so sweet, and then her open mouth brushed mine, her tongue flicking and then retreating. I grabbed her hips and thrust her close to me, craning down for more, but she moved back, just out of reach, and then I felt her teeth capture my lower lip. She sucked it, ran the tip of her tongue along it, then let go.
