I yank the sheets down and pull my shirt over my head. “Then don’t waste time,” I say in a low growl. She hops backward into the center of the bed, slipping off her shirt, pants, and everything else beneath. I climb over her, lowering my body onto hers, embracing her warmth and allowing it to soothe my aching muscles.
I take a moment to stare into her eyes, brushing the hair away from her cheeks. “Do you know how lucky we are?”
“Our crazy, screwed up lives brought us here, so yeah,” she laughs softly.
My mind clears as I focus on Charlotte—her heartbeat, her breaths, her skin against mine, the passion I have for only her. I had been holding myself back from these feelings but with Ari’s encouragement, I finally let my guard down. Now there is room in my life and my heart for passion, a second chance at love—a place both Charlotte and I are discovering together, somewhere that is new to each other like a first love. Our first loves can’t be replaced but they are part of who we both are, and they indirectly played a part in bringing us together, giving us both the gift of a second chance at forever. This second time around is not for replacing memories, love, or a past—it’s only for moving forward and building a new life together as a family, allowing our love for each other to heal our brokenness.
I watch the emotion on Charlotte’s face as we move together in a heated motion. With the tips of her fingers pressed into my back, her lips melt against my neck, and soft moans escape her throat. “Don’t stop,” she whimpers.
Her words trigger rougher movement from me, causing her to clutch my arms harder, bringing along an incredibly delicious pain. “Like this?” I growl, teasingly.
She tries to answer but her breaths are too fast and too loud to create intelligible words. Sweat beads between us as I hold her tighter. The pressure builds, our muscles tighten, and then her tremors cease. I unravel as she does, falling a little deeper into a world filled with light and a happiness that I once thought would be impossible to find again.
Unwinding from our tightened grips on each other, I fall heavily beside her, chasing after each one of my missing breaths.
“Are you ready for tomorrow?” I ask her, curling my arm around her neck.
“Tomorrow is just another day,” she says. “I already have everything I want.”
I press my lips against her forehead. “Our little girls will finally be sisters,” I add.
“And they will have everything they want,” Charlotte says with a gorgeous, satisfied smile claiming her flushed cheeks.
My phone buzzes on the nightstand and I reach over Charlotte to grab it. I press it up to my ear, waiting to hear the wrath from AJ.
“Dude, I’m not even halfway through this job. You need to get your ass down here.”
“I’m coming, I’m coming,” I groan.
“You already did,” Charlotte mutters below her breath through a silent chuckle.
“You motherfucker,” AJ says. “You're in bed right now, aren’t you?”
“Um,” I laugh.
“You’re going on your fucking honeymoon in two days. Can’t you keep it in your pants until then?”
“I’d like to say yes but I’m still making up for the lost time of a five-year, self-induced abstinence.” Charlotte runs her hand through my hair and kisses my temple as she rolls out of bed. I stare at her lazily while AJ continues chewing my ear off. The glow of her bare body in the sun is preventing any and all cognitive thoughts. I have no idea what AJ is saying…never mind getting up, getting dressed, and driving two miles to the job site.
“Hunter!” AJ snaps, trying to regain my attention. Ignoring him, I hang up the phone and toss it toward the end of the bed.
“I’ll have dinner ready when you get home,” Charlotte says, pulling her shirt over her head.
“Thank God, my plan worked,” I tell her. “Dinner on the table, waiting for me in my own house.”
Charlotte throws a pillow at my face and slips her jeans on. “I still have fifteen hours to change my mind about this forever thing.”
“Whatever,” I say, grinning like a fool.
She bounces back onto the bed and kisses me wildly before leaving me, breathless and naked in the middle of a mess of sheets.
AJ follows me home after cleaning up the job site and I’m not sure why. I didn’t invite him back.Maybe he forgot something in my truck?I step out, waiting for him to open his truck door. But as I’m waiting to ask him what he’s doing, Mom and Dad’s car pull up, too.
AJ finally opens the door with a cocky smirk. “Surprise!”
“Surprise for what? What the hell is going on?”
“I don’t know,” he says with a shrug. “Charlotte wanted to have the family together tonight. Something about not needing a rehearsal but just a nice dinner.”
