Legal Heirs - Box Set Edition: Books 5-8 (Surrendering Charlotte Chronicles)

by Lee, Kimball

  “I’m here, I’m ready. Fix drinks for everyone, but not the kids; they do not need liquor. Where’s Hadley?” she asked, taking the drink Finn held out for her and kissing him once, then twice, and smiling up at him.

  “She’s probably in her room taking a year to get beautified,” Charlie said, and went back to the game he was showing Atticus on his iPhone.

  “Hey everyone!” Amanda said, coming through the front door with Jack and Ava trailing behind her. She took the martini that Finn held out for her, finished it in one long swallow and kissed his lips lightly as she handed him the empty glass. “Is my mother here? I do not want to see that woman.”

  “Nope, they’ve gone back to New Orleans, too many young girls running around in bikini’s to suit Evangeline, I imagine,” Finn said, refilling her drink.

  “Good, serves the old witch right, she needs to face her mortality one of these days,” Amanda said, and drank the second drink as she watched Charlotte move gracefully through the room. Fuck, she thought, if any woman just did not look her age it was Charlotte, and she hated to admit it, but the same went for Evangeline. She loved Charlotte, but it still pissed her off that she was thin and sexy and had a husband who was as hot for her as ever. And what did Amanda have? She’d fucked West like a banshee and still he’d gone back to her mother, until Evangeline had grown tired of him and kicked his ass to the curb. Then the greedy bitch had lured Charles Tremont away from his dumb-shit Texas heiress. Now the two of them were happily married and Amanda was alone. She’d lost JP, the love of her life, and West, and now she was reduced to sleeping with her brother’s body guard, Billy Kipling.

  “Uh, save a little vodka for me, sister,” Charlotte said, hugging Amanda and telling everyone to go into the dining room. “Don’t be so mean about my latest stepmother. Are you and Evangeline ever going to make up? Come on Amanda, she’s really great, who would have thought she and I would end up being such good friends?”

  “Don’t talk to me about her, please. You and I are friends, she’s just the old woman who idolizes your son above every other person on earth. Speaking of, come here Atti and give your Auntie Amanda a kiss, and tell me how it’s going at the Academy.”

  “It’s going great, I’m working hard, staying busy, and learning a lot. Have you seen your youngest daughter, yet?” Atticus asked, he’d been waiting for Skyler to come down stairs. He was thinking of going up and barging into the room she shared with Hadley and making her listen to him. He had things he wanted to say to her, he wanted to explain that Vivi and all the other girls were just a form of recreation. He wanted her to know that he had felt something when he held and kissed her, that maybe someday down the road when she was older…

  “Skyler? I have no idea where she is, she hasn’t called me, and we haven’t talked since Hadley’s party. Speaking of Hadley, do you have any idea where she is? Well, let me just tell you what we saw when we left the airport in New Orleans…”

  “Auntie Amanda, when did you get here?” Mia said, she and Beau had come into the house and Mia kissed her aunt’s cheek without taking her eyes off Atticus. He never failed to ruin her good mood. She was still glowing from an afternoon of sex with Beau, and now here was her half-brother, looking like a living breathing sex god. She might as well admit it, Beau couldn’t hold a candle to Atticus even on his best day. But what man could as far as she was concerned? She made a decision at that moment to see a psychiatrist, she hated herself, and she was sick to death of having him fill her every thought. She was determined to purge him from her heart and mind if it was the last thing she ever did.

  “Mia, would you do me a favor and go up to Hadley’s room and see if Skyler is coming down for dinner?” Atticus asked, and he leaned forward and kissed his sister’s cheek.

  It was such a light kiss, and such a small gesture, but it touched her deeply. It brought quick, stinging tears to Mia’s eyes, and she turned away before he could see them. She rushed out of the house before anyone other than Beau noticed, and Beau let her leave because sadly, he knew exactly what haunted Mia.

  “That girl is just odd, she always has been,” Amanda said. “We’d better go sit down before we ruin your mother’s party. Will you sit next to me, Atticus? By the way, Alex wants to talk to you, something about Holden, I believe.”

  “Okay, after dinner. I’ll be right back,” he said.

  Atticus climbed the wide stairway and stopped at the door to Hadley’s bedroom. He started to knock but the door opened and Skyler bumped into him as she stepped out onto the landing.

  “Oh!” she said, looking up into his sapphire eyes, her heart went crazy as he stared down at her, and then he lowered his lips to hers. She couldn’t help herself, her hands reached up and around his thick neck, pulling him closer, holding his mouth to hers. She felt a boldness overtake her, it felt so good and so right to have his lips on hers. Then she let her hands move downward, to the smooth, taught, sculpted flesh of his shoulders, chest, and back. The heat of his body burning right through his shirt, searing the feel and shape permanently into her hands.

  She backed into the bedroom and he followed her, shaking his head, certain that it was the wrong thing to do. But he was helpless against the lure of this girl who was too young, and too sweet, and much too innocent, for a man like him. But he wanted her, was drawn to her, and it wasn’t just the novelty of a girl who was so new to love. She made him want to be gentle, she made him want to teach her slowly and tenderly, she made him want to be the only man in her life. His lips were on hers again, and she threw her head back and offered her bare neck to him as his lips traced across and down, setting her on fire. She curled one leg around his as they stood, her back against the door with his long body pressing into her. His lips brushed her breasts and nipped an erect nipple through the thin fabric of her blouse. She cried out at the unexpected sharpness of the sensation, and tangled her hands wildly in his hair, craving more of the delicious feeling. His hand pressed the crotch of her shorts and he slipped a finger inside them and met the wet hot heat of her tightly clinched pussy.

  They cried each other’s names at that exact moment, and he knew it was too late to stop, too late to go back to a time before this moment, and this girl. “Skyler, God, I want you,” he said against her mouth. His lips met the sweet taste of tears as they spilled down her cheeks. “Don’t cry, beautiful Sky, I won’t ever make you cry. Please, you’re breaking my heart,” he whispered as he carried her to the bed. She had wrapped herself so tightly around his body that he had to carefully untangle himself so he could lie down beside her.

  “I want you, too, so much. Atticus, so much,” she said, and she pushed his shirt up and helped him slip out of it. He unbuttoned her blouse and he couldn’t believe his hands were shaking, she smiled and helped him with the buttons. He was just as unsteady as he peeled away her short little shorts, and then her lacy bra so that she lay with her hair fanned out around her, and her flawless skin flushed and moist. He poised himself above her, kissing her, loving the taste of her mouth, and her skin, and her tears, the hot erotic tastes of this newly discovered girl. A girl who had always been part of his life, yet he had never actually looked at her, he hadn’t bothered to see her until now. She was a vision, lying beneath him, exquisite and expectant, in only her tiny panties and nothing more. Open to him and waiting, wanting. His mouth lowered to first one breast and then the other, and again she gasped, arching wildly as she cried out. He left her tender pink nipples and moved down her flat stomach to her sex. He nuzzled the crotch of her panties, then moved them aside with his fingers, and darted his tongue over the wet, pink folds, until she was writhing and crying out with her hands clutching his thick, black hair.

  “Ah, Atticus, Atticus, please!” she moaned as her body arched and quivered beneath him. He took his time, using his mouth and fingers to bring her pleasure. She was so sweet, he loved the taste of her, and the sounds she made when she came. He could have watched her forever, the shock of pleasure spreading f
rom her body to her eyes as she climaxed again and again. It was so new to her, and he wanted her pleasure more than he wanted his own, and he needed to open her slowly. She begged to have him inside her, but she was clinched tightly against him, he talked softly to her, trying to calm her. At last he raised himself above her and spread her legs wide with his knee. He worked a finger into her and moved it in and out as her wetness flowed over his hand. He pushed it deeper and felt the barrier of her untried sex, and he stopped and closed his eyes and took a deep breath. She was panting and squirming under him and her hands worked feverishly at the zipper of jeans, she opened them and pushed them down far enough so that his cock sprang free. God, he had never wanted anything more than he wanted to be inside her, he needed to take her slowly, to make it good for her. He reached in the pocket of his jeans for a condom and his heart sank, fuck! He’d grabbed a clean pair of jeans and hadn’t thought to bring condoms, how could he have known he would need one?

  “No,” he said, as her hands circled his cock, smoothing over it as she moaned and urged him to hurry.

  He gave her one last, deep kiss, then pushed himself up and off the bed. He stood with his back to her and forced his cock into his jeans and zipped them, then quickly pulled his shirt on before he changed his mind.

  “What… what’s wrong, what did I do?” she asked, her voice breaking his heart as he knew it would from the very beginning.

  “Nothing, it’s not you, Skyler, believe me, I’m… sorry. I’m really, really sorry, I can’t. This is wrong you’re so young, too young, and…”

  “You bastard, what was this? Did you think you’d do me a favor and then I wasn’t quite good enough for you? Or maybe I wasn’t sleazy enough, what is wrong with you Atticus? You have everything you could want in life, and still you need to humiliate me? Why? What have I ever done to you, except to look up to you, and idolize you?” She had dressed quickly as he listened, he didn’t know how to tell her that for all his bravado, he was afraid of what he felt for her. If he made love to her, he knew he would be connected to her from that moment on. Neither one of them were ready for that kind of commitment, and the fact that he didn’t have a fucking condom in his pocket for the first time in his adult life had seemed like a sign. “Go down to your family, you fucking hypocrite, I’m going for a walk on the beach and DO NOT follow me, I mean it.”

  He watched her run down the stairs and slam the front door, and he felt as bad as he ever had in his life. He walked slowly down stairs, sick that he’d made such a mess of things. He’d been stupid and careless with Skyler’s young heart and with his own, as well, he realized sadly. He felt defeated, knowing that he’d hurt her, and that there was no way she would ever forgive him. She’d trusted him, opened herself to him, and he’d let her down.

  Charlotte’s dinner party was in full swing when he stood at the door of the dining room. His beautiful mother was holding court at the head of the table. He looked at her closely, and maybe he really saw her clearly for the first time in his life. He saw her as his two fathers must see her. She shone from within with some powerful life force, radiating beauty, and vibrancy, and hope of happiness for any man lucky enough to be loved by her. He suddenly understood how the men who loved her could lose themselves, and sacrifice everything to claim her, to have her love them in return. Hadley had that same light, and so did Skyler, that bountiful, elusive, life-altering, ‘gift from the Gods’ power to capture a man’s heart and soul. To hold him as a willing prisoner for the rest of his life.

  “Hey Atti, where’ve you been?” Ava asked, lifting a glass of champagne, although she had no business drinking. “I was just about to tell your mom and dad that we stopped off in New Orleans at the Acme Oyster Bar earlier and you won’t believe who was there!”

  “That’s enough, Ava, save it for later, it’s nobody’s business,” Jack said, and he gave Atticus an apologetic look.

  “Who did you see, Ava?” Atticus asked, but he really didn’t want to know. He wanted to go find Skyler and lead her by the hand to his house and make love to her. He wanted her not to hate him. He wanted to go back in time a few days when he and his brother were cruising south on their Harley’s and there were no complications in his foreseeable future.

  “Hadley and Holden! They were totally wrapped around each other right there in public. They didn’t even care if the whole world saw them! God, no one even told me they were together or anything. But obviously they’re in love or something a lot like it. Wow, talk about a shock, I mean isn’t she with Cuatro? But I guess you all knew about the two of them, right?” Ava said, and she wasn’t sure who looked the most surprised, Atticus, Charlotte, or Finn.

  Every person in the room looked either shocked or surprised, in fact, but Atticus looked the worst. He ran his hand through his hair, brushing the away the strands that would never stay in place. Then he rested his face in his hands as if someone had just cut his heart out. He had asked Holden to help him take care of Hadley over the summer, and Holden promised that he would. His brother was his closest friend in the world, and now what? He had taken off to New Orleans with Hadley the first chance he got, without giving a shit about whether it was right for Hadley, or if it hurt Atticus. Betrayal, it was not something that Atticus could forgive, even from his beloved brother.

  Outside on the beach, the moon was lost behind the clouds and when the sea wind carried them across the sky, eerie shadows fell on the white sand. Skyler cried as she walked along the edge of the water, the waves lapped against her feet and she had the urge to strip off her clothes and swim out into the dark sea. She always felt light and free in the water, she loved to surf and she was good and sure on her board, riding the waves fearlessly. One of the things she remembered her father telling her before he went away was that her mother had been the best surfer he’d ever seen. Was she like her mother, she wondered, and what had happened to her? No one would say, her name was Lizzie, that’s all she knew, and that Beau was her brother. They had both been abandoned by the same frivolous, child-hating, surfer queen.

  And Atticus, it hurt to think about him. He had seemed like a hero to her after she’d been told that her father was dead. He was always sweet to her and Hadley, watching over them and making them laugh. When Jack and Atticus hung out together as kids, and then as teenagers, Jack would tell her to get lost, and Atticus would tell him to leave her alone, that she wasn’t bothering him. How would she ever get past his sudden rejection of her, why had she pursued him and risked her very heart?

  “Where’s your dark haired friend? She must be close by, why would a sweet, pretty thing like you be all alone in the dark?”

  It was a man’s voice, low and disturbing, he was not happy by the sound it. He had a Scottish accent, she realized, so it had to be Angus. Holden had beaten him up at the Beach Club and made a fool of him, so he was probably dead set on getting even.

  “Your friend Hadley is more my type,” he said, catching Skyler’s arm before she could run back to the house. She’d walked a long way, and the surf was pounding, so no one would hear her if she screamed. “But I’ll make do with a yellow haired beauty just the same, besides, it’s dark out tonight, so I won’t know the difference.” He planted a sloppy kiss on Skyler’s mouth and when she bit him he slapped her so hard she fell back into the waves. He waded out and hauled her up by her hair, “You’ll pay for that, bitch. I think I’ll take you with me and keep you for a play thing. You can wake up and suck my dick every morning. When I get through with you, your face won’t look so good on a magazine cover anymore, and none of those high and mighty society boys will ever want you again. Come on little dick-tease, let’s go for a long, long ride.”

  END

  LEGAL HEIRS 4

  The Lost and the Found…

  Chapter One

  Charlotte thought she was going to die by the time the Ghost landed the airplane. When he opened the door and roughly helped her step out onto the wing, she was practically screaming behind the duct tape. Her h
ands were still taped behind her back, but she had managed to sit up in the rear seat as they flew along. She realized they had been flying low, probably to stay under the radar, and they had only been in the air for a few hours. Still, where they were, and whether or not she was about to die, wasn’t foremost on her mind at the moment. She was six months pregnant and more than anything in the world, at that moment, she needed to pee.

  “This is Mexico, do you understand? And it’s not a nice town in Mexico. It’s drug cartel country. This is where they train murderers who don’t give a fuck if you’re beautiful and pregnant. They’d just as soon cut you to pieces and stuff your body in an oil drum filled with acid, got it?” The Ghost held her eyes with his as he spoke, and he cut the tape binding her hands with a quick swipe of a razor-sharp knife. He removed the tape from her mouth in a single quick motion.

  “Ouch, damn!” Charlotte said without thinking, and he gave her a look that easily conveyed his message that she’d better keep her mouth shut. He was both beautiful and scary, and she didn’t want to provoke him, but she did want to find a bathroom or a bush to squat behind before she wet herself. “I have to go,” she said as he dragged her to a nearby Jeep and held the door, growling at her to get in. “Listen to me! I have to use the bathroom before I wet my pants, and you are my brother!”

  “Quiet. I mean that. Shut up or the tape goes back on your mouth. Come on,” he said and led her inside a small building made from a patchwork of rusted metal sheets.

  Inside, two men sat behind battered desks. Neither of them looked up as her brother ushered her into a small bathroom. The bathroom was tiny and reeked of urine, and he was watching her, but at that point she was beyond caring.

  “Will you at least turn around, or do you have some weird fetish for watching women pee?” she asked as she unzipped her shorts.