Chapter 44
Charlie
I wave feebly at my new temp assistant as her minivan careens out of the parking lot and onto the main road. The lady has, like, six kids and when the clock strikes 5:00, the only thing on her mind is getting back home to make dinner for her rambunctious family. I’m pretty confident that the chances of her offering me a blowjob are pretty low.
She and I are off to a good start.
I push a sigh. The end of another long, unexciting workday. Time to face another long, excruciating night alone.
Yay!
Shoving the key into the lock on the back door, I twist it and then jiggle the handle to make sure that the place is secure for the night. I slump against the door and take a moment to stare up at the sky. The orange glow of the setting sun melts into the coppery hills in the distance. The heavy clouds in the violet sky tell me that it’s about to start raining. It’s only fitting that the weather matches my mood.
I’ve been all torn up since I got home from New York. Nova isn’t coming back. And now, I’m struggling to find some kind of direction for myself. The success of my business isn’t enough to fill that void. Other women hold no appeal in my eyes. I don’t want to go to bars with my friends.
I just want my Nova back.
My friend. The girl who understood me. The girl who would show up at my house at all hours with baggy sweats and stolen food. The girl whose laugh I can’t get out of my head. The girl whose curves are memorized by my brain.
The girl I love.
I drop down to the concrete stoop and bury my face in my hands. Maybe I didn’t try hard enough to convince her. I should have been more persuasive. I should have showed her my heart. Because right now, I can barely breathe thinking of how much I want her and how much I miss her. I drag my nails over my scalp and close my eyes against the pain. I really fucked up. So bad. There’s no denying it.
The first rain droplet hits the back of my neck. The cold wetness splatters on impact. The next raindrop follows soon after. I move lethargically, pulling the hood of my sweatshirt over my head. Still, it takes me a few seconds to get my shit together and get up off of the stoop.
I trudge across the wide lot to my truck and with a click of my remote starter, I open the door and climb inside. As I settle in my seat, I notice a sheet of paper jammed under my windshield wiper. If I could ignore it, I would but it’s raining and once I start this vehicle, I’ll have wet shreds of paper all over the glass.
Fucking Jehovah’s Witnesses are taking this shit too far!
Grumbling to myself, climb out into the rain and round the truck. Leaning over the wet hood, I snatch up the paper, I’m about to crumple it up and toss it in the gutter when the shape of the soaked-through ink stains catch my eye. Returning to the dry safety of the truck, I carefully unfold the paper.
I gasp out loud.
My head snaps from left to right as I search for the person who left this here. Is this some kind of sick, twisted joke?
The rain is really coming down now, pounding the windows from all sides. But in the distance, at the far end of the parking lot, I see a shitty, little white car.
A figure is approaching, splashing through puddles, hunched over with an umbrella held up as a shield. A gust of wind flips the umbrella inside out and a head of crazy golden curls comes into view.
No fucking way…
The paper lands on the floor as I burst out of the truck so fast I nearly fall flat on my face. She sees me and the mangled umbrella slips from her fingers. We both freeze. Through the rain and the cold and the whirring emotions, we stare at each other for one long heartbeat.
And then both explode into motion, speeding toward each other. We’re a clichéd movie trope in action. But we don’t care.
“Nova!”
Her smile tears across her face as we crash into each other. She leaps into my arms, wrapping her legs around my hips and our mouths collide. I’ve never tasted a kiss so sweet, so passionate, so full of everything that’s been missing in my life.
“Charlie…” She moans my name between kisses as my hands travel up and down her back.
“You came back…” Relief floods my body as I say the words. She came back…
I don’t want to take my lips off of her as I blunder toward my truck with her in my arms. I yank the passenger’s side door open and climb inside without ever letting go of her. I’m never letting go of her again.
Now, she’s on top of me, clothes soaked through, hair dripping. She’s kissing me. Rolling her hips against me. Drawing her fingernails down my chest.
I’m clawing at her dress. I break the straps and rip the wet fabric clear off of her body. A shiver moves across her skin as my kisses travel over her collarbone. She groans for me as she reaches behind her and unclasps her bra. I tear it away from her body just so I can feel those round, heavy breasts in my hands.
“Oh, Charlie,” she cries and the way she says it sends blood shooting to my groin. She groans even deeper when my mouth moves to her hard nipple and I drag my teeth along the sensitive flesh.
She reaches for my fly. Undoes the button. Pushes the denim down my thighs. Her fingers wrap around my throbbing erection and I’m panting against her skin. “God, I’m so happy you came back, Nova. I was going crazy without you.”
“I missed you so much.” Her words fall somewhere between a sob and a moan. And I just want to fill her up. I want to be inside of her so there’s no separation between us.
I reach into the glove box behind her and grab a condom. When I roll it on, she rises up off of my lap just enough to swallow my cock into the tight heat of her pussy.
Growling as my head falls back against the seat behind me, my hands clench on her hips to control the reckless grind of her body against mine. “Jesus. Yes, Charile. So good.” Pounding both hands into the ceiling, she makes sounds that resonate with me on a primal level.
“You like that, baby?” I fuck her from below, slamming my cock into her depth, drowning in the ripples and waves moving through her core.
“So much. I love it so much…” She draws in a sharp breath. “I love you so much.”
My movements halt. I lift my head up to look into those emerald eyes, glimmering even in the darkening cabin. “I love you, too, Nova. No one else. There will never be anyone else.”
She quivers in my arms. The wet trail meandering down her cheek has nothing to do with the rain. I rub my thumb along her skin to stop the tear in its tracks. And she kisses me, melting into me.
One hard thrust after the next, I pound my name into her bones. One clenching spasm after another, she carves her name into my heart.
Hiding her face in my neck, she shrieks and her body goes stiff. Her legs clamp tightly against my hips as she climaxes. Her nails sink into the leather seating. Her pussy undulates, suctioning my cock.
I detonate like a bomb, my love exploding inside of her. My cock pulses and her walls shake around me. She clings to me as minutes float by, as our breathing smooths out.
After a long time, she pulls up for air. Her skin dewy, her smile serene. “Hi…”
I roar with laughter. “Yeah, hi…” I brush her wet hair from her face. Leaning forward, I grab her drawing from the floor.
She takes it from my hand—a sketch of a giant animated tarantula mounting a badass butterfly from behind. Bee my love bug, it reads. She smiles.
“You’re corny.” I playfully bite her chin.
She snickers. “C’mon—I thought it was clever. Admit that it was clever.”
“It was clever,” I tell her and kiss her chin. “You mean it, though?” I ask leaning my forehead to hers.
“I do.” Then, she whispers, breathless, almost afraid. “I mean it so much it scares me.”
I brush my fingertips over her lips. “I’m so sorry I hurt you. But I’ll never do it again. I love you too much to risk losing you.”
“And I’m sorry I walked away. I should have tried to figure things out with you. We could have found a way but I just ran off. I’m sorry.” Her regret shows in her eyes.
“I’m just glad you’re back, Nova. Tell me you’re staying.”
She smiles. “I’m staying.”
I squeeze her so tight. My arms swallow her up as I kiss her again and again. The life we’ll have together flashes before my eyes. For the first time in a long time, I see a white picket fence in my mind’s eye. “I want to give you everything, Butterfly. I want you to have my last name. I want you to have my babies. Is that okay with you?”
Brushing the tip of her nose against mine. “I want that. I’m yours. In every way,” she promises softly. “I just don’t want to share you, Charlie.”
“You’ll never have to. You are the only choice for me, Nova. Tell me you choose me, too.”
She nods solemnly and wipes rainwater from my brow. “I choose you, baby. I’m yours.”
This feeling is better than winning the lottery. “I’m yours for-fucking-ever.”