He felt sinfully good. He was built to do this. I closed my eyes losing myself to the sensations. All of this stuff went a long way convincing me that he meant what he said. A really long way. He caught my lips in a heated kiss.
“Come for me, baby,” he said, before getting up on his knees and ploughing me, leaving enough space for his thumb to make its way to my clit. After the previous assault, I didn’t stand a chance. I came speaking in tongues, sputtering, shaking. Soon he was joining me, groaning as his cock shot rope after rope of his come inside me.
The only sound in the room was us panting. He collapsed onto the mattress at my side then gathered me into his arms, nestling me against his chest.
This was new. New was the wrong word. We used to do this all the time. It had just been a while. This used to be my favorite part. Everything that came before it was good too, it was very good in fact, but I loved it when we just hung out together, talking, spending time in each other's company.
Wait a minute, weren’t we talking before this? He totally just distracted me with his dick. I was supposed to be mad at him. We couldn't just keep having sex whenever things got a little heated. There were still way too many questions in the air for me to start getting comfortable doing this with him again. So much for the sweet post-coital cuddle session.
“So,” I said.
“Hm?” he asked. Good. He hadn’t fallen asleep. It would happen in the past. We would be cuddling and he’d fall asleep and I’d be stuck in his bear-grip, sweating, unable to get free.
I felt my face turn red, thankful that he wasn't looking right at me. I felt so dumb and almost desperate asking this, but I had to know. “What are we doing Charlie?”
“What do you mean?”
“This is the third time that we've slept together. You've told me, more than once that you want to have something together. What now? Does this relationship continue or not?”
“Of course, it continues,” Charlie said. “What about everything we’ve done together would make you think that it wasn't going to?”
I didn’t let him see how that statement hit me. I was determined not to lose myself in this experience with him. I couldn’t. This place was so unfamiliar. I hadn’t gone here with anyone in a long time. Relationships had been on the back burner since my mother had gotten sick. I had almost forgotten what it was like to be a girlfriend… if that was what he was asking me. I asked him another question. “So, I'm not going to wake up alone again?”
He sighed and I felt him kiss my forehead. “I'm sorry for this morning, Brenna. I didn't want to leave but what I told Barry to tell you was true. I did have an early meeting. That was the only thing that could have gotten me out of bed. I would have much rather slept in with you.” Once again, I was glad that my back was to him so he couldn’t see how red I was. I definitely hadn’t gotten over that summer, not when I was giddy like a schoolgirl when Charlie told me that he cared about me. I was literally that lovestruck nineteen-year-old again.
Okay. So he was in. I decided to shift the subject a little, because I was getting hot and bothered again.
“Slept in. I was almost late for work. You should have woken me up,” I said. He laughed and kissed me again.
“You looked so peaceful and cute, I didn’t want to bother you.”
“Yeah, yeah,” I said, secretly enjoying his flattery. “I wish you cared about my job as much as you cared about me getting my full eight.”
“Okay,” he said, “how about this. From now I wake you up early. I’ll start by kissing you here,” he touched my nose, “then here,” my mouth, “then here”, my neck. I giggled as he moved down my body.
“And then we’ll see if you can stay asleep when I kiss you—”
“Okay,” I said laughing, pushing his hand away from my crotch. “I get it, you’re sorry.” We both laughed at that. My stomach joined us, grumbling loudly.
“When was the last time you ate?” he asked, still laughing. Me? The granola bar that I bummed from Maggie when I got to work. It had been a rough day, to say the least. I didn’t say that though because I knew he’d lecture me about underfeeding his fetus or something and then he’d have a whole other speech about Jameson if I told him about that. He’d go full King Kong on the dude and probably end up with a lawsuit. .
“Well, you ambushed me when I walked through the door so when would I have been able to grab a snack?” I asked. He laughed.
“We could head downstairs. Jerry could cook up whatever you want,” he said.
“I love those little dumplings he makes. The ones with the duck meat and the greens?”
“How about we switch it up tonight? I don’t think I’ve taken you out yet,” he got up, then helped me. “Wait a minute, I don’t think I’ve ever taken you out at all, ever.”
“For a rich guy you sure are cheap,” I said.
“Don’t call me that. It sounds like an insult when you do.”
“What? Cheap?”
“No, a rich guy.”
“That’s the part you’re mad about? Not the part where I called you cheap?” I asked.
“Baby, we both know that’s simply not the case,” he said smugly. I rolled my eyes and kicked him out of my room. How was it endearing in a way when he flaunted his wealth instead of annoying?
Because you like him, Brenna.
He told me to be downstairs in twenty minutes and to wear something nice. I probably wouldn’t tell him, but I was excited. The day had been a challenge from the moment that I woke up. First, I was late for work while simultaneously thinking Charlie had bailed on me after a night of sex. Then I was sexually harassed by my boss, and then Charlie, the guy who hurt and confused me this morning, gave me the third degree when I got back home. A nice dinner was the least he could do. Besides, I was starving.
Barry dropped us off at a building where we took the elevator up to the twentieth floor. We exited in a restaurant which immediately screamed ‘you couldn’t afford this in your whole life’. The cute, yet simple knee-length dress I had worn, thinking it was nice enough was far from it. The maitre’d greeted us, well, greeted Charlie with a smile and directed us to a table.
“How did we get a table here? This seems like the kind of place that’s booked out for weeks.”
“You don’t stand in queues when you’re with me, babe,” he said with a wink. I giggled, shaking my head. It was interesting seeing which version of some words he chose when he was speaking, the US or British version. I looked around. The dining room was beautifully outfitted, modern and sleek with contemporary art and sculpture. The combined net worth of the people in this restaurant alone could solve climate change. Some people cast their eyes our way, probably looking at him, not me. That was what I was telling myself so I didn’t end up breaking out in a cold sweat and needing to excuse myself.
Charlie looked totally at ease. This was his element. He wasn’t the kind who had to google a restaurant to see whether he could afford anything on the menu before he made plans to go. He was used to these circles. I was not part of this world. This was just a restaurant and I felt out of place. I wasn’t even the one paying. What about someplace else where you actually had to talk and mingle like one of those charity things he went to the other day? What then? He’d never ask me to go with him, would he?
Did I want him to? I didn’t want him to hide me away like he was ashamed of being with someone like me but then again, I didn’t really care about being seen at fancy functions. But that was what being with him meant, right? Doing this shit. He was a chameleon. He blended in completely as a lifeguard at Dana Point Beach and then changed his camouflage to suit places like this just as easily. I didn’t know how to do that.
“What are you thinking about?” he asked suddenly.
“Whether this is the kind of place where I can get some decent tacos or not,” I said, contemplating bringing up my insecurity, and then deciding not to.
“Soft or hard shell?” he asked, humoring me.
“You know the answer to that question.”
“Your tastes might have changed after seven years,” he said. The answer, of course, was soft. Double tortilla always, otherwise the ratio of filling to tortilla was off.
“So, yes or no? Will the kitchen give me tacos here if I ask them?”
“For enough money, they’ll go harvest the corn for you first,” he said. I laughed, feeling some of my anxiety lift. He could probably sense it. He knew this wasn’t my usual scene but when we were together, I could deal with it. Who knew? Maybe after enough of this, I’d be too good for the local taqueria.
No, that would never happen. I was going to thank him when a woman approached and put her hand on Charlie’s shoulder. He looked up at her.
“Charles, what a pleasant surprise,” she said. I looked her up and down. She wasn’t looking at me, she hadn’t even registered my presence before she closed in on Charlie. She had brown eyes and light brown hair that looked salon fresh. She was in a dress that fell elegantly over her very slim figure. Model? She was tall enough. They knew each other, clearly. I felt something hot in the pit of my stomach.
“Elizabeth,” he said.
“I saw you walk in and I just had to come and say hi,” she said. Her hand moved from his shoulder to his bicep. Comfortable, weren’t they? My jaw worked. “Will you be at the Carlisle estate this weekend? Their Hamptons residence; Benjamin is having a party.”
“I made other plans unfortunately, so no. Send my greetings if you end up making it.” She pouted like a three year old looking at him. She looked so ridiculous that I laughed. I tried to disguise it by taking a sip of my wine. She finally looked at me. It was like all the super-rich women of New York City went to the same school where they learned to mean-mug the commoners. That look on her face had been copied and pasted right off Veronica Hampton’s.
“Brenna, this is Elizabeth Thomas, she and my mother are friends.” She didn’t look at me and say it was nice to meet me, the way good manners and convention dictated. She just looked down at Charlie with puppy dog eyes and ran her hand up and down his arm.
“I hope we’re friends too, Charlie,” she said.
“Hi,” I said. Cutting into her clumsy and embarrassing flirtation. “I’m Brenna. I work for Charlie.” She seemed a little confused. Charlie choked on his wine.
“Quite familiar for a secretary, aren’t you?” she said about me without directly addressing me. “You work too much if the best dinner partner you can get on short notice is your secretary,” she said to him. “You have to come to the party this weekend. You need the time off. I’m sure I can find a way to help you relax.”
Relaxation? I rolled my eyes. “So that’s what they call it these days,” I said under my breath.” She heard me and shot me a dirty look. Charlie laughed and she transferred her disdain from me to him.
“Thanks for the invitation, Elizabeth but I can't. You’re right about work. In fact, that’s where we’re headed right now.”
“Seriously?” she asked. What was more unbelievable? That some people worked for a living or that Charlie would rather spend time with me than her and their wealthy friends, relaxing?
“Maybe next time,” he said. She said that she would hold him to that and finally slunk away when she had no more excuses to stand there anymore.
“The famous Elizabeth Thomas, I can't believe I got to meet her,” I said when she was out of earshot.
“That’s her,” he said, clearing his wine glass.
“She’s beautiful.”
“Mm.”
“What? Not your type?” I asked. “Not into her brand of relaxation?”
He grinned. “I have no interest in her or any of my mother’s picks for me.”
“Too bad. She was throwing herself at you.”
“Was she? I was a little distracted by my secretary.” I laughed, covering my mouth and hoping it covered my blush too. That look in his eyes was unmistakable. We were going to be hard at work tonight. Probably the whole night.
21
Charles
“Come in,” I said. The door opened. I looked up, not hearing the person walk in. Niall poked his head around the door and grinned at me. I blinked a couple times.
“Niall?”
He walked into the office, looking around. He whistled. “So, this is where you work,” he said.
“It is. What are you doing here? I know you’re allergic to hard work in all forms,” I said.
“Very funny,” he said, coming up to the desk and running his finger over the wood like he was checking it for dust. I laughed.
“To what do I owe the pleasure of your company?” I asked.
“You banned me from the house, remember?”
Not exactly. I just told him he couldn’t drop by the way he liked to anymore. To his credit, I said it not really expecting him to listen.
“You’re quite persistent.”
“You gave me no choice. I suppose I understand.”
“Understand what?”
“You don’t want me around your woman. You realize that given the choice she would pick the better looking, funnier, cousin with the better personality who could actually pay attention to her because he wasn’t working all the time.”
“Brenna likes a man with drive,” I said.
“Brenna, yes. Your surrogate,” he said. He said the last word like every letter was a single syllable.
“Yes, her.”
“How’s it going by the way. The surrogacy?”
It had been a few weeks since we had found out now and things were going great. We had fallen into a perfect little domestic routine. We saw each other every day. I always knew she’d be home when I got there. We had dinner together most nights, sometimes breakfast too and our sex life was incredible.
“Great. She’s pregnant already.”
“What?” he asked. “I thought it wasn’t supposed to happen that fast.”
I shrugged. “It did for us.”
“I know a guy who was doing that IVF stuff with his missus for two years. It kept… I don’t know, falling out or something.” I stifled a laugh. Thank god Niall never went into the medical field.
“It can take that long but generally if you do it the old-fashioned way, it’s just a matter of timing.”
Niall looked shocked for a split second then laughed. “I knew it. I fucking knew it.”
“Sure, tell yourself that if it makes you feel good.”
“You’re sleeping with her?” he said, looking at me. “Wait, now this just got interesting.” He sat in the seat on the other side of my desk and leaned in so his elbows were on the desk like we were going to gossip.
“I'm not sleeping with her. She's my girlfriend.”
His eyes bugged out of his head. “Wait, I thought she was your surrogate. When I talked to her, she said she wasn't your girl, she called herself your employee.”
“Well, that was technically how it started. That was how we found each other again.”
“Again?”
“Yeah. you know the story I told you about Dana Point Beach? The girl I met that summer?”
His mouth fell open. “That's her?”
Yup, that was her. “When you talked about how it was too bad I couldn't just have the baby without getting away first to make my mother happy, I decided to investigate. I went over legal with the lawyers, a surrogate birth wouldn't affect the inheritance. So, I went for it. I figured I'd rather go through that then deal with my mother and her constantly setting me up with women I have no interest in.”
“Then where does Brenna enter the picture?”
“She was the surrogate that my fertility clinic contracted for me. I don't know, I guess they are always looking for surrogates and she must have answered an ad.”
“She could have ended up carrying anyone's baby then.”
“But she didn't. She ended up carrying mine. Granted, she wasn't all that pleased to see me, but then we got back into the swing of things and well, one th
ing led to another.”
“That's crazy,” Niall said.
“No, it's perfect. It's like, I don't know. God or fate or destiny. We're supposed to be together. After seven years not even a single word from her end or mine, we find each other at the exact right time.”
“Charlie,” he said. “If I didn't know better, I would think you were in love with this woman.”
“In all the years that my mother has been trying to set me up, why do you think it's never worked?”
“To be honest, at one point I just thought you were gay.” I laughed at that.
“You know what? I don't think even being gay would have been enough to stop Veronica Hampton from trying to set me up with a woman of her choice. She's completely obsessed. she just tried to set me up with Elizabeth Thomas a few weeks ago.”
“Oh, her? The model?”
“That's the one.”
“I bet the baby news is going to kill her.”
“She doesn't want me. Not like that. She wants to see a grand merger of the Thomas and Hampton family fortunes.”
“You guys would have made a cute couple.”
I wrinkled my nose. Whether a couple looked good standing next to each other really had no bearing on whether they were good for each other as people. That was what my mother and Elizabeth Thomas valued; who would make the prettiest family portrait. “I'll invite her to the wedding.”
Niall laughed. “Wedding? Aren't you jumping the gun a little bit?”
“We’re expecting a baby already, if anything we're doing things out of order.”
“What about your mother?”
I shrugged. “What about her?”
He leaned back in his seat with a shocked look on his face. “Oh my God, she doesn't know, does she?”
“I don't need my mother's permission to start a family.”
“No, no. You, Charles Hampton, are one of the rare people who does need your mother's permission in order to start a family.”
I shrugged. "She might not like it."
Admit You Miss Me: A Surrogate Pregnancy Romance (Irresistible Billionaires Book 1) Page 13
