by Avery James
He turned and pressed his lips against hers, sending an electric thrill through her body. Charlotte closed her eyes and smiled despite herself. It was nice. It was really nice.
Why did that have to be so nice? she wondered. Why couldn't the kiss have been terrible?
It would have made it so much easier to get through this weekend if she didn't love to kiss him. Jack nibbled at her neck and she felt her desire growing stronger.
She pushed herself back, but her hands lingered on his naked chest. "That's enough for now. I thought we agreed to get this out of our systems that one night only."
"We didn't say anything about no more kissing. We're going to be married. Kissing is bound to happen."
Charlotte sighed with pleasure and exasperation as Jack's lips returned to her neck. "This isn't exactly how we're going to behave for the cameras. Why do you have to kiss me this way when we're alone?"
"Because I want to. And you want me to," he said, "and right now it seems like the thing to do."
Charlotte hated to push him away. "Put on the sweatshirt and come down for dinner," she said. She pursed her lips and stared at him with what she hoped was a disapproving look. Her eyes darted back to the bookcase. "And don't touch anything in here."
She turned and headed for the door.
"Sure thing, Bean," Jack said.
Charlotte didn't even look back, she just shut the door behind her and headed for the stairs. So much for just getting through the trip.
Chapter 12
Jack looked around. Like everything else about Charlotte's house, her room was perfect and just like her: cozy, warm and bright.
In one corner of the room, her bed sat under the sloping ceiling of a dormer. In another corner sat her desk. Well-worn books with broken spines overflowed from a wall's worth of bookcases. There must have been a hundreds of paperbacks and dozens of hardcovers. He scanned the titles, recognizing more than a few.
So this is where she came from, he mused. The sweet scent of Charlotte's perfume lingered in the air even after she'd left, and Jack couldn't stop thinking about that kiss. A week ago, when he had proposed, he'd broken the first rule he'd set for himself. He had crossed the line and slept with her. It had been incredible, thrilling in so many ways.
He'd thought he had understood Charlotte's insistence that it would only be a one-time thing, that she wasn't about to start sleeping with him just because they were about to get married. It was a bad idea. She had been right, just like was right to break off his latest kiss.
Looking down at the clothes he had changed out of, Jack thought of the secret cell phone in his coat pocket. He hoped the phone wouldn't be ruined from the rain, but didn't dare ask Charlotte for the jacket back. She had seen him using his normal phone, and would be rightfully suspicious that he was hiding something from her if she found out about the second phone. If it was soaked beyond repair, he would just have to get a new number to contact Maria and little Jack.
The thought of them only reminded Jack all the more not to allow himself to get emotionally attached to Charlotte. He knew what would become of their marriage and their relationship, and he didn't want to hurt her by drawing her too deep into the quagmire of his personal life. However, kissing her now and then when they were both in the mood could be excused, couldn't it?
Brushing away his thoughts of secrets and sex, Jack rubbed his chin and smiled as he looked around the room. He didn't know where he stood with Charlotte, but he did know that she had given him an incredible gift. He looked at himself in the small mirror hung on her closet door. For once in his life, he almost didn't recognize himself.
The sweatshirt, the khakis, the carefree grin — even if it only lasted the night, he felt like a normal person. He would meet his fiancée's parents, and he wouldn't have to worry about their social connections or their agenda or any of that. He wouldn't have to worry about his family or his job. When they got back to DC, he could worry about Maria and little Jack or what was happening between him and Charlotte, but for now, he just wanted to go downstairs, eat a home-cooked meal and find out more about his fiancée. And maybe, just maybe, give her a hard time.
He looked at himself in the mirror one more time and ran his fingers through his hair. He wasn't sure if it had been a good idea to kiss Charlotte, but he couldn't help it. For a week, he had held back so that the two of them could figure out their feelings for each other, but Charlotte 's mixed signals seemed to be clearing up. Walking in on him just as he had taken off all his clothes didn't seem like the action of a woman conflicted over her attraction.
Jack walked over to the wall of bookshelves. Many of the books had had been read so often their spines were falling apart. One of the most worn-down paperbacks, Pride and Prejudice, popped out to him from the way its beaten-up cover contrasted with the bright silver letters down its spine. Jack picked it off the shelf and opened to a random page. Charlotte had underlined entire passages and filled the margins with neatly cramped notes in two colors of ink.
Riffling ahead without reading, Jack found a piece of paper folded between the pages. In the top corner a date and a class number were both crossed out. The paper must have started as a high school essay, but Jack found something else. Written a half dozen times in various styles of cursive was Mrs. Charlotte Darcy.
This is too good, he thought. He slipped the book back onto the shelf and headed downstairs.
When he entered the kitchen, Jack found himself face to face with a tall redhead who looked just like Charlotte, only a few decades older. She cut a striking figure, pointing at him with a slotted spoon.
"You must be the man who is stealing my daughter," she said, looking him over, "and apparently my husband's clothes. I'm Ellen."
She held out her hand. Jack walked in and shook it.
"Nice to meet you, Ellen," he said.
"Come on, we have a dinner to finish. I wasn't expecting you for another hour."
"Just let me know what I can do."
"We're just waiting on the roast to finish, but in the meantime you can help set the table." Ellen led Jack to the pantry and started stacking plates in his arms. He'd had never been great at math, but he soon realized that she was handing him more than four sets of dishes.
"Ellen, I couldn't help but notice that there are places for six here," he said.
"Can't slip one by you," she said. "Charlotte's sister Emily and her husband Steven will be joining us."
"Oh, of course," Jack said. Charlotte had a sister? "I didn't know she lived close by."
"Emily and her husband live in Philadelphia. They haven't heard the good news yet. We thought it best to let them hear from you."
"How did you and Pete find out so quickly?" Jack asked. "We hadn't told anyone yet."
"Pete follows just about every political blog known to man. He came across a post about it and told me that someone with Charlotte's name had gotten engaged. There was a picture with it, and sure enough, the Charlotte was our Charlotte. You can imagine we were a bit surprised."
"I think she was too," Jack said.
As Jack finished setting the table, Charlotte came back from the laundry room, and Pete walked into the room with a bottle of wine.
"I had to raid our reserves. It might not be what you're used to, but it was the best we had on hand," he said.
Jack looked at the bottle. With a quick look, he could tell it was nice. Pete had probably gone out and bought it just for this occasion.
"I've always believed that the most important aspect of a bottle of wine is the atmosphere around it," Jack said. "A thousand dollar bottle will taste sour in the wrong company, and a five dollar bottle will taste like nectar if the conversation is just right."
"Well, then," Pete said, "I guess we'll know soon enough whether we're good company."
"Or perhaps Jack can do us the honor of starting the conversation," Ellen suggested. "After all, he and Charlotte must have quite the story to tell. How exactly does a congressman cross paths with
my daughter? And how does he convince her to marry him in such a short amount of time?"
"The story of how we met might require more than one bottle of wine," Jack said. "Charlotte, honey, would you like to tell the story or should I?"
"Why don't you tell them?" Charlotte suggested. "You always tell it so well." She had told their fabricated story a hundred times to strangers, but he knew lying to her parents was something she'd rather avoid. Jack wasn't in much of a mood to lie to them either.
"If you insist," he said, "but I have to tell them the full version if I'm going to get this right."
"Of course," Ellen said.
"The truth is, it was a setup from the start, an ambush," Jack said.
"An ambush?" Pete asked.
"An ambush. As you probably know, your daughter was the maid of honor in her friend Callie's wedding this summer. I was the best man. I actually haven't told Charlotte this part yet, but I'm reasonably sure that Callie and Logan intended to set us up from the start. I think they saw how good we could be for each other." Jack looked at Charlotte to see her reaction, but her face gave away nothing.
"Really?" Pete asked.
"Yeah, but I don't know if it was necessary. The truth is, I saw her across a crowded room, and time stopped. I saw her eyes and the way her hair fell over her shoulders, and everything around me froze. I think I froze too, to be honest, because she came over to me, and I didn't know what to say. I'm usually not at a loss for words, but when I first saw her…" Jack slowed and took a sip of wine. "I was."
"So what next?" Ellen asked as she stepped out from the kitchen and took a seat at the table.
"Naturally, I acted like a complete and utter ass," Jack said.
"Ah, so you'll fit right in," Pete said warmly.
"Charlotte, being a much better and more intelligent person than me, decided to keep her distance. Not literally, that is. She was stuck talking to me for most of the night, but I could tell she wasn't impressed by my name or my job or even my suit."
"If that's the case, how did you end up in our kitchen?" Pete asked.
"Persistence and luck," Jack said. "Charlotte only had to put up with my antics up until the wedding, but by that point, I had won her over enough to agree to a first date. Then I convinced her to go on a second and a third, and dozens more over a few months. Before she could realize how much better she could do, I brought her to her favorite restaurant, and I told her how much she meant to me, and that this was all happening fast, but I couldn't go another day without telling her how I felt. I asked her to marry me, and she said yes."
"A whirlwind romance, huh?" Pete asked Charlotte.
"Yeah," she said. "Something like that. I think Jack's being a little hard on himself in the retelling."
"We'll leave that for your sister, dear," Ellen said.
"Should I have prepared my remarks?" Jack asked.
"The world revolves around my sister," Charlotte said.
As if on cue, Emily walked through the front door. The rain had really picked up outside and pounded on the porch behind her, as if to announce her arrival.
Jack took a second to assess her. It was instinct at this point in his career. Whenever he met someone for the first time, he automatically ran through a checklist in his head of what he needed to know for future reference.
Emily was shorter than Charlotte, maybe a bit over five feet tall. Her hair was brown and straight, and she walked with an air of confidence, holding her shoulders back and trying to hide a slight grin as her eyes settled instantly on Jack.
"Well, hello," Emily said.
"Where's Steven?" Ellen asked.
"I came alone. Steven is stuck at work. You know how important he is there," Emily said. She turned to Charlotte. "When mom said you'd be home for dinner, she didn't mention you'd be bringing a boyfriend. He's too handsome to be a slam poet or whatever your last one was. Then again, he's dressed like one."
"Well, that's because he's wearing dad's clothes. Emily, this is Jack. He's in politics," Charlotte said, forcing a smile. The dig about her ex seemed to have gotten under her skin. Jack stood and shook Emily's hand. "It's great to finally meet you," he said.
"Boyfriend or?" Emily asked.
"Fiancée," Jack said. "We got engaged this past week."
"You're getting married?!" The shout rang through the room, and Emily's eyes lit up as she turned back to Charlotte. "And you're just telling us now?"
"We just got engaged this week," Charlotte said.
"Tell me everything," Emily replied.
"Why don't we all sit down first, Emily," Ellen suggested. "Pete, pour her a glass of wine for goodness sake. The roast should be finished by now, and I'm sure these two aren't sick of telling people the whole thing yet." She headed into the kitchen.
"We just went through it all with Mom and Dad," Charlotte protested.
"Well, then the condensed version," Emily insisted. She mouthed her thanks to her father as he passed her a glass of wine.
"We met at a friend's wedding. I wouldn't take no for an answer," Jack said. He looked at Charlotte, trying to gauge her reaction to everything.
"And now you're getting married?" Emily asked. "Have you set a date?"
"Not yet," Charlotte said.
"How long have you two been dating?"
"Only a few months," Jack said, "but when you know, you know."
"Ahh! This is so crazy," Emily said. "I mean that in a good way. Steven is going to be so sorry he missed this. I have so many questions."
"I think we all do," Pete said.
"So, Jack, I assume that's your car in the driveway. What exactly do you do in politics?" Emily asked.
"He's a congressman," Charlotte said.
"A what?" Emily almost choked on her wine.
"A congressman," Ellen shouted from the kitchen. "They make laws, honey."
"Eh, that's up for debate," Jack said with a laugh.
"I know what Congress does," Emily said. "I just wasn't expecting my sister to meet someone so…"
"Go on," Charlotte said. It had been a long time since she had caught her sister off guard.
"You've finally done it, is all," Emily said.
"Finally done what?" Charlotte asked.
"Found someone who doesn't have a flaw for you to pick at, unless he snores or likes the Yankees or something."
"I think I'm ok on both counts," Jack said. "My family owns a small stake in the Red Sox." "We're a Phillies family, but I think we can let that one slide," Pete said.
"I'm not sure I know what you're getting at, Em," Charlotte said.
"You have a tendency to fall for guys. then nitpick their faults until you can't stand them anymore. Anyway, it was supposed to be a compliment. Can we just let it go?" Emily asked.
"This smelled so delicious when I pulled it out of the oven, I couldn't help myself," Ellen said, carrying the roast in and placing it in the middle of the dining room table. There was a sizeable chunk missing off the end already. "I started without you. Let me go get the sides." She disappeared back into the kitchen.
With a mischievous look in her eyes, Emily sat down at the table. "So, Jack," she said, "want to know what Charlotte was like before you met her?" The look on Charlotte's face told Jack everything he needed to know. He should have just let it go, but he wanted to know more about her. The embarrassing stories were always the good ones, the ones that really told you about who someone was deep down inside. Besides, he doubted Charlotte could actually have anything to be embarrassed about.
"Maybe it's best we leave those embarrassing stones unturned until after we've said our vows," he said.
He watched Charlotte sigh in relief and sink a little lower in her chair.
"On second thought," he added, "why don't you tell me just one thing? Go ahead, tell me the best one you've got."
Chapter 13
"Benji," Emily said. She swirled the wine in her glass and grinned across the table at Charlotte, savoring this moment. Ellen had insisted
that there wouldn't be any humiliation happening during the meal, but now Charlotte's parents were wrapping up the leftovers in the kitchen. Jack leaned over the table beside Charlotte, propping his head up with both hands as he waited to hear more from her sister.
This was the way things had been between them back in high school, Charlotte just trying to get by and Emily asserting herself, trying to be in charge of everything. Even though she was younger, Emily had always been the one to do everything first — she had the first boyfriend, had gotten the first real job, had gotten married first. Emily just couldn't let the engagement announcement go by without using it as a chance to keep all the attention back on herself.
Charlotte watched her, wondering where she was going with this. The Benji story was far from the worst one Emily could have chosen.
"No," Charlotte said. "Come on. Do we really need to do this?"
"Yes," Emily said.
"Who is Benji?" Jack asked.
"So you haven't seen him? Not so much a who as a what," Emily said. "He was Charlotte's favorite stuffed animal."
Charlotte stared at her for a moment.
"I'm sorry," Emily said, "Benji is Charlotte's favorite stuffed animal. He's a little puppy she got when she was young. She still keeps it with her."
"Why are you telling him this?" Charlotte asked.
"She used to bring it to school in her backpack," Emily said.
Charlotte's dad laughed from the kitchen. "Remember when you were moving back to college, Bean? It must have been your sophomore year. You forgot Benji at home, and I had to drive him back up to you."
"You didn't have to," Charlotte said. Ok, now she was embarrassed. She bit her lower lip and tried to plan a way to end the conversation.
"I wanted to," her dad said. "Like it or not, I'm always going to look out for you. I guess Jack will be on Benji duty from now on, though."
"Why are we talking about this?" Charlotte asked.
"I wanted Jack to know something about you," Emily said.
"What, that I'm a big dork?" Charlotte said.
"No, I wanted to let him know that once you have something good, you don't let go. I always envied the way you held onto Benji. I refused to have any stuffed animals after middle school. I thought it was grown up." Emily turned her attention to Jack. "I guess I'm trying to say she's in it for the long haul."
