One More Chance: A Small Town Love Story

by A. J. Wynter

  “I’ve gotta go,” Charlotte said. She stood up, just as the audience erupted in a cheer. The Bobcats had scored a short-handed goal. She took the stairs two at a time as she bolted out of the private box and into the main arena.

  “Charlotte, wait,” Lauren yelled, but Charlotte couldn’t hear her over the crowd.

  Charlotte received a few sideways glances as she sprinted around the top of the arena, the clicking of her heels drowned out by the cheers and groans of the collective crowd. She pulled open the heavy doors and darted through the concession area, dodging food lines and random fans. Her hair was swinging back and forth, and her heart was thumping against her chest. She stopped and looked at the main exit of the arena. It would only take three steps and she could be outside, away from all the drama and Logan. She took off running, but didn’t alter her course, she focused instead on the doors to the other side of the rink. The adrenaline coursed through her veins as she pulled the heavy doors open and sprinted along the corridor behind the nosebleed seats.

  Her breaths were coming hard and fast as she nimbly ran down the stadium stairs. Her progress was stopped abruptly as she reached the gold seats, running smack dab into the front of a giant man wearing a yellow security coat.

  “Ticket, Miss?” he looked at her with a smirk on his face.

  Charlotte pulled her VIP sponsor pass out of her coat and saw the recognition alight in the man’s eyes. “My apologies, Miss O’Hare. Continue on, but please, Miss, just walk.”

  Charlotte nodded as he stepped aside. She smoothed down her flyaway hair, pulled her shoulders back and nonchalantly took an empty seat behind the players’ bench. Logan’s back was inches away from her, behind a thick layer of puck dented plexiglass. If it weren’t for the almost invisible barrier between them, she could’ve reached out and run her fingers through the waves at the nape of his neck.

  Everyone else’s eyes were focused on the game, but all Charlotte could see was Logan. The sounds of the arena dissipated as she watched him, admiring the way that his players looked at him. He was a respected man. While she loved his outdoorsy Chance Rapids style, the man could fill out a suit. With his wide back and V-shaped torso a dream for any tailor.

  A warmth spread through her body as she watched him. She had kept her guard up with him, like the glass between them now was. Invisible, but still there and it had ruined them as a couple. If she was going to be with Logan, if he would take her back, she was going to have to trust someone with all of her being. Which was something she wasn’t sure she knew how to do. But watching Logan, she realized that the missing piece to her puzzle was within her grasp, she knew that she had to try.

  Charlotte jumped as the buzzer interrupted her thoughts. The second period was over, and Logan’s team filed off the bench and headed towards the dressing room. Charlotte raised her fist to bang on the glass but lowered it back into her lap. She wanted to climb over the glass. Hell, she wanted to smash the glass to get to her man but knew that he was in his element. His focus was his team, not her. The last thing he needed was some crazy lady trying to draw his attention away from his team’s most important game of the year.

  Then it happened. Charlotte saw Logan studying the VIP box. She followed his gaze and could see Freddie, Lauren, and Tabitha there, as plain as day. He froze and slowly started to turn his head. His body followed and Charlotte held her breath as she realized he was turning all the way around. As his blue eyes met her brown ones, she smiled meekly and raised her hand to wave at him.

  He smiled back.

  She scooted forward on her seat and put her hand against the glass. She mouthed, “I’m sorry,” and then, “I love you.” She felt the tears stinging in the corner of her eyes. She had never felt more vulnerable than within those few milliseconds before he responded.

  He pointed to his ear and then to the player’s corridor. Charlotte nodded and stood up to make her way to the entrance. The same security guard she had crashed into earlier opened the door. He smiled and shook his head at her as she walked through.

  Charlotte could see the players exiting the ice on the jumbotron, the cameras following their journey off the ice. She was so close she could smell the sweat and ambition on the jerseys as the giant young men walked by in their skates; followed closely behind by Logan.

  “Hi,” she whispered and leaned against the concrete wall.

  “Hi,” he said and stood beside her. “Are you checking to see if I’m on my scheduled trip to Hell?” His eyes glinted and she swore she glimpsed a hint of a wry smile.

  “Freddie told me what you did.” She pushed away from the wall so that her chest was inches away from the bottom of Logan’s tie as she looked up at him.

  “And...” his voice quivered slightly.

  “I’m sorry,” she as she cast her eyes back to the ground. “I was wrong. I let the past come back to haunt me which I swear I will never do again.”

  Logan placed his hand against the wall and reached for her pinky finger with his other hand. Charlotte gasped as a surge of electricity shot into her body.

  “We both know the truth about the past. And now we know the truth about right now. The only thing that’s getting in our way, Charlotte, is not talking.”

  “I know,” she whispered. “I get scared and I run. Can you forgive me, Logan?” She grasped his hand and looked up into his eyes, waiting for a response, any sign that he would be hers again.

  “Charlotte, I have to go. The team is waiting for me.” He let go of her hand and she felt her heart fall heavily into the pit of her stomach.

  “Um, guys?” The security guard in the yellow coat elbowed Logan.

  Logan and Charlotte turned and followed the guard’s gaze to see their faces, larger than life, plastered on the screen above the scoreboard at center ice. The song Kiss Me was blaring through the arena sound system as heart-shaped graphics pulsed around their faces. The kiss cam had found them.

  Her eyes searched Logan’s, looking for permission to appease the audience with a peck. As the seconds ticked away, the audience started to grow rowdier and louder.

  “Oh, fuck it,” Logan said and grabbed Charlotte around the waist. He pulled her in tightly and planted his lips on hers. His body started out tense, but as his lips lingered on hers, she felt his muscles relax. Her hands hung lifelessly, paralyzed by the sudden kiss but when she felt his body surrender to hers, she reached her hands up to his face. The perfunctory kiss turned into so much more. The stadium roared as Logan and Charlotte drew back and kissed again, this time slower.

  The kiss cam moved on to its next victim and Logan hugged Charlotte tightly. She rested her cheek on his expensive suit, trying not to get any of her eye makeup on the crisp white dress shirt. He pulled back and looked down at her. “I love you too, Charlotte.”

  She couldn’t stop the tears. She grabbed him by the waist and held him tightly. He rested his head on hers and stroked her hair with his hands. Charlotte heard another cheer but this time it was a smaller, much more male, audience. She turned to see Logan’s entire team peering out the door of the dressing room. Some of them were banging their sticks on the bench, and others were clapping.

  Charlotte giggled and leaned into Logan. “You’ve got a game to win mister,” she said.

  Logan laughed, “I need to go kick their asses.” He kissed her again and then walked to the door where he paused then turned to Charlotte and mouthed, “I forgive you.”

  Charlotte’s heart soared. As she stood and watched the dressing room door close, an unfamiliar feeling washed over her; a combination of contentment and exhilaration. She walked back into the main stadium, making her way through the crowd to the VIP box, this time a lot less frantically and with a smile on her face.

  That smile stayed on her face for the remainder of the game and only grew bigger when Logan’s star player scored the game-winning goal in overtime. Tears of happiness sprang to her eyes as she watched Logan’s team celebrating, gloves and sticks littering the ice as the playe
rs hugged each other.

  Charlotte’s felt her phone vibrate in her bag and pulled it out. The text was from Logan. All it said was, “Wait for me.”

  He was asking her to do the one thing she swore she would never do again, wait for a man. It was time for her to trust and let go. She typed back, “I will wait for you.”

  Freddie offered to drive Lauren and Tabitha back to Chance Rapids. Charlotte had objected, but all three of them were insistent. As Lauren hugged her goodbye, her proper and prude sister whispered in her ear, ‘have fun’ and pulled back with a wry grin on her face.

  SHE SHIVERED IN THE cold, stamping her feet to keep warm as she waited by the Chance Rapids bus. Her stomach was fluttering, and she felt like a groupie, especially as the players walked by her to board their bus, each of them shooting her a goofy grin. Logan emerged from the arena behind his players and his eyes met hers instantly. He strode to her, wrapped her in the warmth of his arms and kissed her.

  Charlotte leaned her head on Logan’s chest, avoiding the eyes of the entire team as they cheered and hooted.

  “Ready to go?” Logan whispered to her.

  “Ready,” she whispered into his chest.

  Charlotte and Logan held hands the entire drive back to her house and when she pulled into her driveway both seemed reluctant to let go. Logan looked to her house and smiled.

  “What?” she smiled back.

  “The house,” he said. “It’s not what I expected.”

  Charlotte looked up to her big Victorian house with the manicured lawn and cedar hedges. True, it was her house but it had never felt like her home.

  “What did you expect?” she asked, genuinely interested, still gripping his thick fingers.

  “Something cottagey, less formal, I guess; although this is a beautiful house,” Logan added quickly.

  Charlotte had purchased the manor home after she brokered her first ten-million-dollar deal. When she signed the paperwork, she felt like she had finally made it, a small-town girl done good. But as she looked at the façade, she realized it was just like everything in her life, a mask.

  “It’s renovated on the inside,” she replied, and reluctantly pulled her hand from Logan’s to shift the car into park. Logan jumped out of the SUV and was at her door before she could reach for the handle.

  “M’lady,” he offered her his hand as he pulled the door open.

  She giggled and let him help her out of the car. At the door, Charlotte fumbled in her purse to find her keys. The fact that Logan’s lips were on her collarbone wasn’t helping. Charlotte’s handbag slipped from the crook of her arm to the ground, but she was too lost in Logan’s lips to notice.

  She planted her hands against Logan’s strong shoulders and pressed her body against his, pinning him against the solid hardwood door. His breath hitched and he responded hungrily matching her eagerness. Charlotte arched her head back as he kissed her neck, pressing her hips against his. Logan put his hand behind her neck and pulled her face close to his, “Get your keys,” he growled and crouched to pick up Charlotte’s discarded handbag.

  As they burst into her marble foyer, they were already undressing each other. Charlotte kicked off her heels and pulled at Logan’s wool overcoat at the same time as he pulled her leather jacket back and over her shoulders, the leather and wool landing on the floor in a heap. Charlotte kissed Logan hungrily, her desire for him growing stronger, the warmth in her lower belly spreading down her legs and up to her chest, her body wanted his and the way his breaths were coming hard and raspy she knew the feeling was mutual. Her lips didn’t leave his as she fumbled with his tie. She felt his warm hands on the cool skin of her waist as his fingers gripped the bottom of her shirt. They parted long enough for him to pull it over her head. He looked at her lacy bra and she saw him take a deep breath before he nipped at the mounds of her breasts above the lace. Charlotte moaned and grabbed two fists full of his hair.

  Logan lifted Charlotte up so her feet were off the ground. She wrapped her legs around his waist and kissed his neck as he carried her up the stairs, his hands gripping her ass. He threw her down on the bed and unzipped her jeans, she wriggled to help him pull them off her muscular thighs.

  She caught a glimpse of the duvet cover. “This is the guest room.” She realized that Logan had just honed in on the first bed he saw.

  “Who cares?” he said and kissed her belly while he pulled her lace panties down her thighs. Charlotte writhed as she felt his breath inches from her womanhood. She arched her back and was rewarded with the warmth of his mouth between her thighs. Charlotte’s legs were shaking, and she realized that she was already at the brink of an orgasm. She pulled back, needing to delay the gratification; but Logan grabbed her and pulled her body back to his lips. That was all it took. She moaned, pressing her head into the soft duvet as her orgasm surged through her body. She collapsed briefly and enjoyed the kisses and nips being planted on her sensitive inner thighs. She rolled over and onto her knees and pushed Logan back by his shoulders, so he was standing at the foot of the bed. She unbuckled his belt and pulled it out of the belt loops, the buckle clattered to the floor. His erection was tenting out the front of his pants, so she took care unzipping his fly. Finally, she pulled down the waistband of his boxer briefs freeing his cock.

  She took him in her mouth, his moans fueling the simmering desire between her legs. His fists knotted in her hair and she could feel his legs shuddering as he neared his own release. But before she could finish, he pulled back. His rock-hard cock swayed in the air as he stepped out of his pants and nestled his face in the crook of Charlotte’s neck. He reached his hand behind her back and pulled her up the bed, so her head rested comfortably on the decorative silk pillows. She could feel the warmth of his cock at her opening but instead of pushing into her, he rested there. Charlotte was hungry to feel him inside of her, it would only take a shift and rock of her hips... she writhed underneath him, encouraging him to press inside.

  He stroked her hair and kissed her neck and then her jawbone as Charlotte fumbled in the nightstand until her fingers found the foil package of a condom. She placed it in his hand. He stroked her jawbone with his thumb, his eyes searching hers as he rolled the condom onto his cock. “I love you, Charlotte O’Hare,” he said and then kissed her gently on the lips as he pressed into her. Charlotte gasped into his mouth and she rocked her hips against him in time with his gentle thrusts until he groaned and bit at her neck, crying out as his cock twitched inside her, his body shuddering with its release.

  Chapter 28

  THE EARLY MORNING SUN teased open Logan’s eyes and he looked groggily around the unfamiliar room. His eyes landed on the creamy skin of Charlotte’s shoulder and his early morning confusion dissipated as visions of the night before flooded his brain as well as other parts of him too. The two of them had fallen asleep, exhausted, on top of the covers. Logan shivered, because at sometime during the night they had folded the sides of the duvet up to cover them, but it wasn’t enough. Logan tried to pull the covers over Charlotte, but they wouldn’t reach. He kissed her shoulder and she responded with a sleepy shiver. He shifted gently and rolled her up like a burrito before scooping her up in his arms. He explored the top floor of her huge house, naked before he found the master bedroom.

  Clutching Charlotte with one arm, he pulled the decorative pillows from her king-sized bed. Why the hell do women need all these pillows he wondered as she murmured sleepily into his chest. He pulled back the sheets and set Charlotte down gently, covering her up with her bedding. She nuzzled into the pillow and her breath deepened into sleep. While tempted to wake her up, he was content to sit with his raging hard-on, watching her sleep peacefully, wondering if she always slept with a tiny smile on her face.

  He stretched his arms over his head and wandered over to the window, the sun teasing the sky with pink hues. He pulled the covers back on the other side of the bed and slid in, appreciating the warmth that Charlotte’s small body had already generated. A f
older on the nightstand caught his eye, not because it was anything out of the ordinary, but because of the address scrawled on it: 17 Sugar Peaks Way. He felt slightly guilty as he nudged the folder off the nightstand with his elbow, the paperwork scattering on the floor. He leaned out of the bed to gather it up and his heart dropped when he realized what he was looking at, the paperwork for Charlotte’s mountain house, she was leaving Chance Rapids.

  He slid the papers back into the folder and set it on her nightstand. He slipped down under the white sheets and pulled Charlotte in tightly to him, her small body fit perfectly in his arms.

  CHARLOTTE WOKE UP CONFUSED. She couldn’t move her arms, or her legs for that matter. She tried to stretch but her blankets were wound too tightly around her. She struggled and realized that she was swaddled in the guest room duvet but was in her own bed. She felt the warmth of Logan’s hand on her hip and smiled before turning to face him. She pulled the straight jacket duvet out from beneath her and tossed it to the bedroom floor, freeing up space in between the two of them. When she looked up at him, she was surprised to see that his eyes were open and staring at her.

  “Good morning,” she murmured and kissed his chest.

  “Good morning,” he replied, stroking her hair.

  She moved to kiss him, and he kissed her back, but she felt a reluctance in his lips that wasn’t there the night before. “Is everything okay?” It was never good for a man to have cold feet while he was still in your bed.

  “Char, we promised that we would talk to each other, so instead of jumping to conclusions, I just have to ask,” he patted the folder. “Are you leaving Chance Rapids?”

  The paperwork. She had forgotten all about it.

  “Are you leaving because of me?” Logan continued without waiting for her response.

  “No, and... no,” Charlotte lied, but then looked up at his kind eyes. They had promised to be honest with each other, “I’m not leaving anymore, but yes it was because of you. I couldn’t imagine seeing you with someone else every time I went into town.”