She always took notice of lemon cakes when she saw bakeries. Ever since Sutton. Even though she never ate them, it justhappened. It was ingrained in her. Now it seemed it had a purpose.
Romance.
She could wipe the slate clean from that kiss and start over tonight. She could take Sutton out, and?—
She had what it took. The thought struck her just then, in that moment.
She knew she had what it took for Sutton to want to be with her. Charlotte wasn’t necessarily certain what it was, but she knew she had it. It had worked before, somehow, without her even trying.
“No.” Sutton started pacing again, crossing her arms and then uncrossing them. “No, Charlotte, I don’t want to have dinner tonight. That’s not why I came here.” She took a deep breath and stopped her movements, coming to stand right in front of Charlotte. Only a foot or so away, closer than Charlotte had stood to her.
Charlotte quirked her eyebrow, setting her palms behind her on the desk as she looked up at Sutton, ignoring the way her pulse sped up just a bit as she did. “Yes, you came here to yell at me about sending you a gift basket.”
“I came here because…” Sutton stared at her, that cerulean gaze seeming to turn laser-intense, and Charlotte’s heart rate jumped with it.
And then her heart rate went through theroofas Sutton’s mouth descended to hers.
She hadn’t seen it coming. Her hands flexed in surprise against the papers on her desk they had landed on, as Sutton pressed forward. She hadn’t seen it coming.
She could have never seen it coming, the way Sutton was standing above her, Charlotte’s crossed legs bracketed between Sutton’s thighs while Sutton slid her hand into Charlotte’s hair and kissed her.
The kiss was nothing like a kiss she expected from Sutton Spencer. It was not soft or hesitant or coaxing or sweet. It wasn’t romancing Charlotte.
It was devouring her.
Sutton’s lips were hot and heady and demanding on her own, moving intently as Sutton’s tongue swept into her mouth, tasting her. They wordlessly demanded Charlotte keep up with her, and in spite of her utter shock, she did.
She gasped and groaned in succession, shock andwantcoursing through her. One of her hands came up to clutch at Sutton’s waist, and she clenched her thighs together as the desire pulsed through her.
Only Sutton could give her that reaction, she thought dimly, as her blood rushed through her. She’d been with women in the last ten years, of course she had, but it had always been discreetly agreed-upon, quiet affairs, and somehow, the wanting reflected that. Physically, sure, she’d wanted the women. They’d always been beautiful.
But it was nothing—nothing—like the need that pumped through her right now.
Sutton backed up her body just enough to keep their mouths connected and still draw her hands down to Charlotte’s legs. Crossed as tightly as they were, when she felt Sutton’s hands on her, the long fingers burning through the thin layer of her skirt, she let them fall open.
A moan tore from the back of her throat as she felt Sutton’s fingertips on her bare knees, moving up her thighs. Charlotte’s head absolutely spun.
What washappening?
Sutton moaned against her lips in response, and Charlotte swallowed the sound, greedy for more.
Sutton’s lips fell from hers and trailed down to her neck, and Charlotte didn’t need to be urged or encouraged in the least for her head to fall back, baring as much of her throat as she could for her.
She wanted it. She wanted to feel Sutton’s lips on her skin so badly. She felt like she’d been starving for it, for years.
And she had been, she thought vaguely, digging her fingers into Sutton’s hip now before slipping under her shirt with the hand she didn’t have braced against the desk.
Charlotte had longed to touch Sutton’s soft, heated skin for as long as she hadn’t been allowed to. She had wanted to feel the way Sutton’s pink lips would press against the base of her throat in that way she did—the way she was doing now—since the last time it had happened.
She wouldn’t deny it to herself, even as confusion swirled through her.
Because…
“What ishappening?” she whispered, her voice breathy and hoarse already as she stared up at the ceiling of her office.
“You drive me crazy with wanting you,” Sutton answered, her own voice so sweet and needy, sounding confused herself. “You always have, and then you kiss me, and I just—want.”
And then Sutton’s mouth was on hers again as Sutton’s hands slid Charlotte’s skirt up her thighs even farther.
