She was smiling at Sutton, so openly, so fondly, her arms crossed over her chest.
Sutton, still embarrassed at having been caught, brushed a hand through her hair as she turned away from the mirror. “I’m not chopped liver,” she acknowledged, her gaze unable to look away from Charlotte. “But… I’m noyou.”
The words fell to a whisper from the truest, most honest parts of her soul.
Before Charlotte could say anything—and Sutton could already see the vehement disagreement forming on her lips—she shook her head. “Did you know that was one of the first things I ever said about you? Years ago,” she explained, the memory she hadn’t thought about in a very, very long time coming to the forefront of her mind. She grinned at it, nostalgic. “When Regan swiped on you, on SapphicSpark. I’d paused on your profile…”
She trailed off momentarily as she walked closer to Charlotte, running her eyes over her face.
That flawless, perfectly put-together face that only got better with age.
“And I couldn’t swipe on you myself. Because I know I’m not unattractive, but I’m not… this,” she murmured, lost in the memory and in Charlotte’s face. She slowly lifted her hands when she was close enough, drawing her fingertips lightly over Charlotte’s jaw, then her cheekbones.
“You are, actually,” Charlotte whispered back, her eyes hooded as she stared right into Sutton’s. There was a fire in them, and in her words, like she refused to let Sutton think anything else. “You are so muchmore, Sutton. You always have been.”
She couldn’t help but let her eyes fall closed then, taking those words to heart in a way she didn’t know if she ever could have before. The sincerity in them was undeniable, and she was so, so tired of fighting it.
They were no longer fighting it.
“I did not think that the first time we labelled our relationship assomethingwould be in conversation with my daughter.” The words came unbidden, accompanied by a disbelieving laugh, as she opened her eyes.
Charlotte had her own small, charming smile playing on her lips. “It wasn’t quite what I’d envisioned either,” she admitted before that smile gave way to something far more serious. “But everything we said, I meant. I still wouldn’t take the chance to leave, darling, even if you offered it to me now.”
“I think it was incredibly sweet of you to take her feelings into account and ask if she was okay with our being together.”
“If Lucy wasn’t okay with our being together, I don’t think you would be,” Charlotte reasoned before she paused, blinking rapidly. “And… I just realized I don’t think I would have been either.”
Sutton felt herself speechless as she stared at Charlotte.
She reached out, much like she had earlier, only this time she didn’t pull Charlotte in for a kiss.
This time, she wrapped her arms around Charlotte and tugged Charlotte up against her. Right up against her, their bodies aligning from shoulder to knee. And she held her.
She simply held Charlotte in her arms, so closely, feeling her heart beating strong and steady in her chest. It beat against her as Charlotte reached up and wrapped her arms around Sutton, clutching just as tightly.
“I’m still scared,” she confessed in a whisper right against Charlotte’s ear. She squeezed her eyes closed, breathing in the scent of Charlotte’s perfume, feeling it both soothe her and excite her. “I’m still so scared of you, Charlotte Thompson. But I also want you. Want this. More than I’ve ever wanted anything.”
“I do, too,” Charlotte’s words were a promise.
It was exactly the promise Sutton needed to hear.
Either this would be the most devastating thing to ever happen to her, or it could be the best decision she’d ever made for the future.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Charlotte couldn’t quellthe butterflies in her stomach if she tried.
Which was insane, really, because there had been so few moments in her adult life that had caused her tofeelbutterflies.
But she felt them now, as she closed the door to her office behind her and turned to face Autumn and Maya, who were looking up at her from their respective desks.
As she smoothed her hands over the material of her jacket, she made eye contact with both of her assistants and nodded at them.
“I’m leaving for the night, and, barring a true national emergency, would like very much to not be contacted.”
They both, as she knew they would, nodded sharply back in acknowledgement. They both, also, seemed to be holding back small smiles.
Charlotte’s butterflies fluttered once more as she lifted her eyebrows at them both. “Yes, I am going on a date with Sutton. I appreciate your… discretion over the last several months and will continue to appreciate that support in the future.”
