Chapter Twenty-Three
Heart pounding. Hands shaking. Lungs seizing. Charlotte’s whole body begged her to stay in bed. To ignore her alarm and the call of a new day. To stay in bed, with Trey warming her back. But she couldn’t do that. Because today was her first of her new promotion. And no matter how afraid of failure she was, she refused to hide anymore.
Trey shifted behind her, the hard ridge of his cock behind his boxers finding the seam of her ass, and grinding involuntarily. The giant T-shirt of his she’d been wearing to bed slipped up higher around her hips. The nerves she’d been fighting for most of the night evaporated into nothing, replaced by an unending need.
In the week since going to the cook out with his family, Trey had barely let her out of his sight. He’d rearranged his schedule at the fire house so that it lined up with her last few overnight shifts. He drove them both to and from work. They ate meals together. Hung out after work. They slept wrapped around each other.
But they had yet to have sex since he came back.
They’d done other things, everything but sex. Charlotte learned the joys of the 69 position. She practiced her oral skills on him almost nightly, until she could make him come in under two minutes. Though she usually liked to draw it out for longer.
But every time they fooled around, and they got to the point where they would either have sex or turn in for the night, Charlotte found she couldn’t do it. Couldn’t welcome him into her body, a body that had only known him. Not yet. Not when there was so much still unsaid.
But she’d been slipping the past couple nights. Wanting to trust him as much as she had in the very beginning. Despite the nightly orgasms, an oddly unsatisfied aura seemed to envelope her. She wanted Trey to fuck her again, wanted to feel him moving inside her body, hot flesh against hot flesh.
He’d been amazing after the barbeque. Never once complained that they weren’t having sex. Insisting that he was perfectly happy to make her come as many times as possible, and she didn’t have to do anything with him she didn’t want to. Trey truly just wanted to be in her presence. She believed that. Trusted that.
So why couldn’t she trust that when he insisted he couldn’t tell her why he had ghosted her, who the woman at the party was, he told the truth?
Trey slipped one hand up her shirt, cupping her delicate breast, abrading the pointed tip with his callused covered fingers. Charlotte moaned and pressed her ass further into him.
“You gotta get up, sugar. Time to go shine.”
With those words the nerves came flooding back. “What if I can’t do it? What if I take this leap and fall on my ass? What it I let everyone down…”
“Hey.” Trey’s voice was firm, but gentle. “You aren’t going to be perfect everyday. You don’t have to be. But you are going to go in there, take that leap, and show yourself you can do everything and anything you want. Now, do I need to carry you to the shower?”
With a huff, Charlotte finally opened her eyes, taking in the man sitting beside her on the bed. “Do I smell coffee?”
“Yup. And I’ve got waffle mix waiting to go on the griddle just as soon as you get out of the shower. I’m not letting my girl go to her new job without a big breakfast.” Trey stood up, leaned over, and flung Charlotte over his shoulder. “Here we go.”
Giggling the whole way, Charlotte yelled at him to put her down, which he did as soon as they stepped into her tiny bathroom. It always shocked her just how much bigger he was than her in bare feet. Pressed up against his chest for balance, her head had to tilt back at an almost ninety-degree angle to look him in the eye. But the affection and warmth in those deep brown eyes made the slight twinge in her neck worth it.
It was moments like these she knew she loved him. Despite the half truths and secrets, she loved him. His kind words, gentle manner, and brutish hunger for her were a lethal concoction. She wanted to say the words. The effort to hold the back burned at her throat. But she powered through, because she needed the whole truth before she gave him her whole heart.
“Shower with me?” The request slipped through before she could stop it. Trey’s eyes lit up, hope shining there so bright, she had to look away for a moment.
“Are you sure? I know we aren’t back to where we were. I don’t mind waiting. And if I get my hands on you while you’re all wet and soapy, there will be no holding back. I don’t want to break your trust more than I have already.”
“I know. But I’m so nervous about today, and just your touch has the ability to calm me down. I need the truth from you, and I’ve tried to be patient. But my body won’t listen to reason any more.” Charlotte took a step back, shedding the huge PFD T-shirt from her slight frame, leaving her totally naked before him. “Just, please, don’t break my heart again.”
“Never.” With one shove his sweatpants and boxers pooled around his feet. “Charlotte, your heart is the most important thing to me. I promise, I would rather die than hurt you again.”
No more words necessary. Trey swept her up into his arms, wrapping her legs around his waist, and stepped into the tiny shower stall. The shower head sputtered as it came to life, the initial frigid water barely registering in her brain as the fire their kiss created consumed them.
“Fuck, sugar, I needed you so much.” Trey shoved her against the wall, water falling around them in streams. He buried his face in the crook of her neck, licking and biting at her skin.
Charlotte did the same, inhaling the smoky scent which seemed to linger on his dark skin at all times. The scent of charred wood had become like an aphrodisiac. Each time he picked her up from work, it would wash over her inside the car as they kissed frantically after being apart all night. It had become a trigger for her lust, moisture spreading down her thighs as her pussy contracted in anticipation of the pleasure Trey always brought.
“I’m sorry, Char, but I need in you. I promise, I’ll make up for it with my fingers and mouth later. But right now I need my cock inside.”
All she could do was whimper in response, her hormones having taken control of the wheel several minutes before. Trey gripped his cock, lined it up with the eager entrance to her sex, and thrust home in one brutal swing of his hips.
They both paused. That long-awaited connection taking both their breaths away. Lips pressed together, mouths open wide, they could do nothing be just be. Together. Staring into each other’s eyes, the shower continued to fall around them, drops dripping from their eye lashes. Somewhere in the apartment, Weasley probably slept in a corner. Outside the neighbors made their commutes to work. The city kept moving.
But in Charlotte’s apartment, time stood still. It was just Trey and her.
“Fucking hell woman.” Trey pulled back until just the tip of his cock still rested inside her, then pushed home again. “I love the way your body grips me. I love how warm and sweet you are. Not just your pussy, all of you. I just… fuck… I love you. I know it’s too soon and irrational, but I do. I love you.”
