Chapter Thirteen
After his declaration that Trey would be kissing her at the end of the night, the nerves began to creep back into Charlotte’s subconscious. Would he be disappointed?
Seeming to sense her shift in mood, Trey kept their conversation for the rest of the session light. She laughed more with him than she had in ages. In fact, that weekend had been more filled with laughter and joy than Charlotte had ever had in her entire life. After another hour, Kym finished up her tattoo. Gazing at it in the mirror, Charlotte almost broke down and cried. Though Kym had done the design without any input from Charlotte, it still somehow spoke to something deep inside her that she couldn’t explain. The girl holding the wand was tiny, but she held the universe at the tips of her fingers. Somehow, Charlotte was beginning to think that anything was possible. Just like that little girl.
Trey surprised both women by asking if Kym would ink him next. It was a small tattoo, but obvious significant to him. He had his fire badge number inked on his right bicep, and Kym added some free hand flames around it, showing the badge with distress, but still holding strong.
Just like he had for her, Charlotte sat by him through the tattoo process, holding his hand. “How do you get assigned your badge number?”
“Actually, the badge number holds a lot of significance for us. PGH is obvious, for Pittsburgh. Seven is for the zone I work. The next two are your rank, and change as you climb higher on the ladder. The last four will never change and signify the year you were first inducted into the fire union.” Trey kept his gaze glued on Charlotte through the whole tattoo, and refused to look until Kym announced she was done after only forty-five minutes.
“Okay big guy, you survived.” Kym cleaned his arm, and he finally glanced down at her handy work.
“Wow.” The badge seemed to almost pop off his skin it had so much depth and life to it. PGH-7-4-2011 seemed to glow with the heat of the fire behind the metal. It truly was amazing. “I gotta say, that hurt like a bitch. But it was worth it.” He turned to Charlotte. “You are one tough cookie to have sat through that for five times longer.”
“Ten times, and you are right. She is a tough cookie.” Kym waved them both off when they tried to pay her, escorting them out of the shop and throwing Charlotte a wink over Trey’s shoulder.
The night air was crisp. They had been going through an unseasonably warm few weeks for March, but mother nature seemed to have finally realized it was still winter. Charlotte shivered, and Trey threw his arm around her shoulders, pulling her into his side.
Their size difference was almost comical. Charlotte’s head didn’t even top his shoulders, and his bicep was almost the same size as her head. But she loved it. Loved the bubble of protection encasing her as she walked in his arms. Like he would take care of anything that got in their way.
“Where is your car?” Trey glanced down at her, leaning in to press a soft kiss to her forehead. Almost like he couldn’t help himself.
“Um, just a block down there.” Parking on the South Side of Pittsburgh was infamously tight, but she had lucked out getting a space only three blocks from Galaxy Ink.
“Okay, I’ll walk you to your car then get mine and pull it around. Don’t drive off without me. I want to follow you home and walk you to your door.” No one could argue with that deep voice when it issued a direct order. Charlotte had no desire to even try.
The ride home wasn’t long, but the speed of her pounding heart made it feel even faster. Like she was on fast forward hurtling toward something she knew nothing about or how to prepare for it. Would Trey expect to be invited in? Would he kiss her? He indicated he wanted that earlier, but was that just talk? If he did kiss her and he did come in, would he want sex? How could she tell him she was a virgin? Would he care? Would he lose interest?
The questions swirled in her head without end until her head hurt almost as much as the bandaged tattoo on her lower back.
Pulling up outside her apartment complex, she parked in her reserved spot and waited for Trey to pull into one in the visitor’s section. They both exited their cars as she waited as he made his way to her side.
Just like outside the tattoo shop, he slung his arm around her shoulders, pulling their bodies tight together. “I’m glad to know you live in a nice neighborhood. It would’ve driven me nuts if I knew you lived someplace dangerous.”
“Yeah, it’s a good building too. Mostly families and older couples.” Charlotte lead the way toward the secure door to her building, up the three flights to her floor, and turned outside her apartment. “So, this is me.”
Trey scanned the area, as if looking for weaknesses in the security or maybe the fire safety. “There should be an extinguisher out here in the hallway. You have one in your kitchen?”
Charlotte suppressed her grin, as she shook her head no. He was worried about her safety. Why did that excite her?
“I’ll bring you one next time.” Trey nodded firmly, as if that had been decided and he felt better now.
“So, you want there to be a next time?” The question came out quiet, weak, scared. But she stood strong, wanting to know exactly where his head was at the moment. Other than thinking about the safety of her building.
All at once, the tight expression on his face melted. His eyes warmed, and his mouth spread into the most panty melting grin on the Earth. “Oh, baby girl, did I not make that obvious yet?” Trey stepped closer, backing Charlotte up until her back pressed against the hard door. “There is most definitely a next time. There are so many next times in our future, I can’t see the end of them.”
“Okay. Good,” she whispered. Excitement flooded her system, both because he wanted to see her and didn’t seem to want to stop seeing her anytime soon. But also because he leaned his whole big body into her, over her. His bent arms rested on either side of her head against the door, those giant canons almost blocking all light from the hallway, dropping them into a dark, intimate cocoon.
Slowly, deliberately, Trey inched toward her, giving her plenty of opportunity to stop him. But even if she wanted to, she didn’t have the words or courage to put a halt to the kiss she could see coming from a mile away. Plus, she didn’t want to stop it. For once, she wanted to barrel head first into something without overthinking it. Fortunate that his hulking body and masculine scent prevented any thought at all.
She expected him to go in for a chaste kiss at first. To work her up to the more passionate stuff. She. Was. Wrong.
Trey’s thick lips captured Charlotte’s lower lip, drawing into his mouth slightly so he could nibble on it. The shock of arousal that zapped through forced a gasp from her lips, and Trey swooped in for the kill. He pinned her against the door with his hips, the very big proof of his arousal pressing into her belly. His tongue swept into her mouth, gliding and dance across her own.
“Kiss me back, baby girl. Let me feel how nasty that sweet little mouth of yours can be.” She hadn’t realized until he mumbled the words against her lips that she stood stock still letting him invade her mouth while she sat there like an idiot.
But the need in his voice broke her out of the stupor his assault on her senses had caused. Wrapping her arms around his neck, Charlotte pulled herself up closer to him. He growled in response, going back in for another kiss. This time, she didn’t hold back. Charlotte may not have learned much from her first unfortunate attempt at kissing a man, but it turned out she didn’t really need to know much. She just had to let go.
