“Be with me tonight, Charlie.”
All it took was a nod, and I had her in my arms. Taking the stairs to my room, I set her down, took a step back, and looked at her. I wasn’t a saint and had been with my share of women, but none compared to Charlie. The woman was beautiful from the inside out. I’d never met anyone like her.
Balancing on her left foot, she reached her hands forward, gripped the hem of my T-shirt, and lifted it up over my head with a bit of my help. Her slender fingers traced my torso from the top of my pecs to my abs. My skin prickled with tiny bumps at the sensation of her skin on mine.
Charlie leaned down and placed a kiss right over my heart, which beat only for her. Moving her hands a bit lower, she landed on my belt, unfastened it, and unbuttoned the top of my jeans.
“You’re awfully brazen, Miss Nicholson.”
Coyly, she rolled her eyes to look at me. “Would you like me to stop?”
“I’d like to catch up.” Without giving it any thought, her arms went straight up in the air, and in a second her soft off-white sweater was lying next to my shirt on the floor. Not wanting to hurt her or fall over, I lifted her up by her hips and set her on the edge of the bed.
On one knee, I helping her out of her leggings, leaving her in pink cotton panties. She leaned back and lifted her hips, her panties the next article of clothing to be tossed aside. Bending down, I gingerly picked up her sore leg and placed my lips on the lightly bruised area. Her pink-tipped toes flexed beneath my hand.
Not wanting to stop, I trailed kisses from her ankle, up her shin, to her knee, to the inside of her toned thigh. She gripped my hair and activated a primal need in me with a force I’d never felt before.
“You have no idea what you do to me.”
“If it’s anything like I’m feeling, I think I know.” Rising over her, I swiftly discarded any remaining clothes and adjusted us on the mattress. Braced on my elbows, I glanced down at her.
I love you.The words once again sat on the tip of my tongue.
Her eyes misted over, and I knew exactly how she felt. We might say we’d see each other again, but there were no guarantees in life. Needing to make this special for both of us, I used slow, measured movements. I took my time showing her everything I couldn’t say for fear it’d make our situation worse.
My hips shifted, and for the rest of the night I made love to the woman who owned my heart.
###
The last three days felt as though we were caught in the eye of a storm. Once she’d accepted the offer, everything happened at Mach speed. Charlie secured an apartment in Seattle, and she spoke to Reese, Sally, and most importantly her parents, who were elated. Charlie had been invited to join a student fellowship that started next week. Which meant rather than leaving at the end of the month, she would be leaving today.
She’d given Reese the go-ahead to speak to the team on her behalf, and now I stood in the foyer, surrounded by her luggage. When she appeared, I took in every inch of her. Damn, she was pretty. Even with her hair in some sort of messy knot on her head and her face makeup-free, Charlie was stunning.
“This is all happening very fast.”
She nodded. “Story of my life lately.”
“Listen—” we both said in unison.
“Go ahead, ladies first.”
“No, I’d prefer to hear what you have to say.”
Don’t leavesat on the tip of my tongue, but again, that wouldn’t be fair for me to say. “Seattle is under six hours away by plane.” Pulling myself closer to her, I snaked my arms around her waist. “I could visit you after the season ends.”
“I’d like that. And I could come and visit you when I have my break.”
“Perfect. What were you going to say?”
“Please don’t be mad, but I asked Cami to drive me to the airport. She should be here soon.”
“Okay, but I would have taken you.”
“I know. Except I didn’t want our ‘see you soon’ to be at the airport.”
“All right.” We stood facing one another, and it was a moment in which I had so many things to say but didn’t know where to start.
“Life’s funny, isn’t it?” Charlie’s eyes misted over. “It’s all about timing. If I didn’t go to science camp, I wouldn’t have met Sally and seen the boy I’d prefer to stare at than do almost anything else. Then if I hadn’t participated in that kicking contest, Reese wouldn’t have invited me to come here, and without both of those things happening, I wouldn’t have become a professional kicker living with my dream guy.”