by Lee, Kimball
“Ah, Charlotte, you are a woman who gets into a man’s blood. I’m sorry, I should have let the moment pass. I suppose it’s seeing you here in this beautiful place. Thank you for helping me find a house. I won’t… allow myself to get caught up in old familiar feelings again.”
“Of course, I’m happy that you’ll be close by. If you buy this place, you and Keller will still come to the McCall House for a few weeks each summer, won’t you? We’re going next week, after Hadley’s birthday party. My little girl is eighteen and on the verge of becoming a major film star. Life happens when you’re looking the other way, doesn’t it?”
Chapter Four
How many nights had Hadley spent at the Royal Sonesta in New Orleans, she wondered? Her mother had some kind of sentimental attachment to the hotel and, truth be told, so did she. Her mother—oh, the push and pull of having a beautiful, overly-involved, infuriatingly loving mother like Charlotte. She and Hadley had deeply rooted mother-daughter issues, so much so that Cuatro Rhodes was writing a book about them. He had called Hadley in a drunken stupor the night before and told her his synopsis for the “somewhat fictional” novel had caused a bidding war among the major publishing houses. That was just what she needed, a bestselling book written by the man she had just dumped. Now she was standing in a hotel lobby with Holden Bly, and thank God Charlotte was the kind of mother who believed in safe sex. She had taken Hadley to the gynecologist just before her eighteenth birthday for a lecture in the proper use of condoms and a prescription for birth-control pills.
Holden, oh my God! She couldn’t wait to tell Skyler that she was head-over-Jimmy Choos in love with him, and he was totally three exclamation points in all the departments leading up to the big event. She was standing with him at that very moment in the lobby of the Royal Sonesta—well, they weren’t just standing. They were making a bit of a scene as lovers are likely to do, kissing, hands touching, eyes dreamy and besotted. It had all happened so quickly, but wasn’t that the way love was supposed to work? Or maybe it had been building over a lifetime. She’d always known Holden. He had been there in the background, part of her brother’s other life. They hadn’t given each other much thought before, although now they wondered why. They shared a brother, which meant at some point in time his father and her mother had cared for each other. That was fairly common knowledge, that Alexander Bly loved Charlotte Hale then and now. And that Charlotte had chosen to leave him and marry Hadley’s father, and it all got convoluted after that. Whatever the case, it no longer mattered. Atticus might share DNA with each of them, but their only tie to each other was this all-consuming passion that had erupted out of nowhere and held them in its grip.
“Mr. and Mrs. Smith, is it? Will that be a room or a suite, and we’ll need a major credit card to have on file please.” The young man behind the front desk cocked an eyebrow as he gave the teenaged couple the once-over. Holden handed him a credit card and held a finger to his lips. “I see, Holden Bly…oh yes, right, Mr. Smith, welcome to the Royal Sonesta. Anything you need, anything at all… enjoy your stay.”
“Mr. and Mrs. Smith, you are so clever,” Hadley said the minute the elevator doors closed.
Holden lifted her against the wood paneling and her sublimely long legs wrapped around him.
“My lover is smart and strong,” she said, her hands in his thick, unruly hair, pulling his lips to hers.
“Not your lover yet, and not that strong,” he said, although he was incredibly tall and muscular. “You weigh almost nothing, and would it embarrass you if I pointed out that your shapely little ass fits perfectly in my hands?”
“Yes, it would be very embarrassing, but say it anyway,” she said, and his mouth covered hers in a deep, heated kiss, and only moans escaped from either of them until the doors opened.
“Fuck! I hope we make it to our room,” he said. They were both needy and breathing hard as he walked quickly down the hallway, still carrying her.
She swiped the keycard, the door swung open, and they were inside a beautiful room with a view of the French Quarter.
Holden hesitated next to the huge bed with its intricately arranged duvets and pillows. Instead of placing her on it, he let her slip from his arms so that she stood next to him. They stared at the bed and knew it was a big step, a monumental leap, for both of them. Hadley’s first time to make love and Holden’s first time to be in love.
“Hadley, we don’t have to…” Holden started, but she put her fingers to his lips and traced their outline.
“We’re doing this, Bly,” she whispered. “You’re the one, the only one for me.”
He hesitated for a moment, goose bumps rising on his arms when she called him by his last name. It was what her mother, Charlotte, called his father any time he’d ever seen the two of them together. His father loved it, and no one else addressed him that way. It had sounded like a caress or a promise, given to him solely by the woman he loved. And it sounded just as heady and full of unspoken promise when Hadley said it to him.
He stopped thinking then, his instincts taking over; the sound of that forbidden name echoing in his head. It was both an invitation and a warning, a siren’s call that was not to be resisted.
Hadley’s hands moved over his chest. She was ready for this, impatient to discover his body and the pleasure it could give her. She yanked the tail of his shirt out of his jeans and her eyes took on a dreamy quality when her fingers met his hot skin. He was young, not yet twenty, and his muscles were long and lean. His body was a work of art, disarming in its elegant male symmetry. He made her think of Adam, God’s first mortal creation, fundamental man, newly risen from the earth.
His hands roamed over her body, his sea-glass colored eyes on fire as he tugged the t-shirt over her head and she stood bare-breasted. She was tall and thin, with the most inviting upturned breasts and a tiny waist. He tangled one hand in her long, dark hair and slipped his free hand down the back of her loose jeans, cupping her firm little butt cheek. His hands held her steady as his mouth assaulted hers, scalding hot and insistent. He tugged her hair so that her head fell back and her neck was exposed to his lips. She moaned as he trailed light kisses down to her exposed breasts.
She worked frantically at the buttons of his shirt, finally ripping the last of them in her haste to open and push it away. He lifted his head to capture her mouth again and as she plastered her body against his, together they gasped at the jolt of pure sensation. Finally Holden broke the endless kiss and stepped back to unzip her jeans and his own. She was speechless as he stood naked and hugely aroused. His beauty combined with his blatant sexual need was so startlingly erotic that she hid her face against his chest and tried to slow her racing heart. He lifted her easily, and placed her on the bed with her lovely legs parted. She blushed and tried to close them, but he pushed her knees apart and his mouth descended on her sex. She clutched his silky hair and cried out sharply when his tongue swept over the soft folds and lingered on delicate tissues she scarcely knew existed.
“Please, Holden, please!” she begged, and writhed beneath him as she felt a coil tightening deep inside.
She began to fight him as the first orgasm gripped her, and he moved her upward onto the bed, lying next to her, pinning her with his legs as his fingers sent her careening into ecstasy once more. His fingers were deft and quick, working to open her, parting the slick, wet lips, skirting the trembling, tightly clinched opening of her pussy. It was all so new to her—she had only ever known the lonely pleasure of her own touch. She bucked and twisted under his touch, eager to go farther, but fighting the invasive feel as he pushed a finger inside her. She began to pant and tremble with a mixture of need and a touch of uncertainty.
For Holden to go slowly, to hold himself in check with Hadley, was next to impossible. He’d had plenty of sex, but never with anyone who mattered, and this girl mattered—she was a game changer. To make love to her, to be her first… he couldn’t let himself dwell on the significance of it, or he might untan
gle himself from her and walk away. Atticus would never forgive him, Hadley would most likely break his heart, but too bad and too late, she was already etched on his soul.
“Hads,” he whispered, kissing her lips, her face, her forehead, as she clung to him. “Are you sure? You’re so tight and you’re fighting me, we can wait, baby. Listen to me, I need to get a condom…”
“No, it’s safe. I’m sorry, I can’t keep still, I want you so much. I want this Holden, please!”
It was a blessing that she was so wet. She was swollen with anticipation, clenching hard on his invading finger as if to reject him. He pushed hard, determined to do what they both wanted. His thumb massaging her clit, his mouth capturing a pink nipple as her back arched, her body straining toward his. He slid another finger inside her and then he felt it, the barrier that had to be breached and torn away.
Her hands were on his shoulders, her nails digging into smooth solid muscle, her lips parted and panting, her small cries urging him on. He moved above her, his brow furrowed as their eyes met, her eyes wide and hopeful, answering his unspoken question. Yes, yes, yessssssss….
He moved quickly, taking her by surprise just as he meant to. His cock driving into her hard, meeting resistance and pushing past it. Breaking her open, ripping through her, as her teeth sank into his chest, a sharp bite of pain for both of them. He stopped abruptly, holding back for a long moment, letting her catch her breath, absorb that sting of violation. He kissed the hot tears from her cheeks and she thrust her hips up, her long, thin legs circling his hips, lifting and opening herself to him. His body responded instinctively to the invitation, slowly at first, then raging with need, pushing far, far into her as their combined wetness eased the way. He had never felt anything quite so amazing, her hot, greedy mouth on his, her small, beautiful ass in his hands. Her unbearably tight, sweet pussy pulsing, massaging his cock, driving him past any hope of return. She yielded to him, moaning and clawing as the throbbing pain and pleasure sent a jolting climax through her that seemed to last forever. At last he let himself go, let himself spasm and gush and fill her very depths as she drew him in ravenously, possessing him as surely as he possessed her.
They made love over and over through the day and into the night, always satisfied but never sated, each touch, each climax, spurring them on to the next.
“We have to stop,” he said. “You’re so swollen, I don’t think it’s possible to do it again. Are you sore, baby?”
“Yes, but I don’t care. God, how can it feel so good? No wonder lovers go insane from wanting each other. I need to say something and then we can just move past it, maybe it’s just the afterglow flooding my logical mind. I think I… I might…” Hadley started the sentence a half dozen times, but she was afraid to say the words, let alone think them.
“You love me? You might love me? We’re too young to love each other? Please say you’re in love with me. I know I love you, and if you love me back, I don’t care for how long or short a time, give me your heart and it will be enough. I’m in love with you, Hadley, and it’s not a passing thing, it’s the real thing. If you love me right now, even if it’s only for this moment, it’s still a gift from you to me. I want to be your first love and your last love and your only love. If you tell me I’m the first man you’ve ever loved, well, I’ll be happy. At least I’ll be happy until you’ve finished conquering Hollywood and the rest of the world and you’re ready to make your real life with me.”
“I love you, now and probably forever. Can I say it that way? Does that sound too iffy, too self-centered? I’m eighteen… who am I kidding? I love you Holden. Someday… someday you and I will live by the sea and swim naked and I’ll be the mother of your children. Oh… I mean, if that sounds good to you.”
“That sounds so good to me, you can’t imagine. It’s a deal then, let’s swear it, we’ll live the dream someday. My father and your mother, they messed each other up. You and I will make it right. Your babies will be my babies, just us, the two of us, when the time is right, no one comes between us.”
“I swear it, Bly, you are my forever love.”
*
Charlotte’s dinner party at the McCall House went on in spite of everything. Finn was not quite himself, Amanda was already drunk when she and arrived, Mia and Skyler had both slammed the front door and left. But Ava’s words especially had struck a chord of anger deep inside of Atticus. Part of him knew it didn’t matter—it was for the best, most likely, that Holden and Hadley were in New Orleans together, falling in love, making love, whatever the fuck they were doing. Why should he care? His sister was eighteen and he doubted that she would ever set foot inside New York University as planned. Stardom was calling her. She’d made huge splash with a tiny part in her first film, and it was only the beginning, that was a given. So why should he care if it was Holden who showed her how sex could be? If not him, then that privilege would fall to some hard-dick actor wanna-be in Los Angeles who’d never be anything but a bartender or a pizza delivery jerkoff. Maybe it wouldn’t have mattered if Holden hadn’t agreed to keep an eye on Hadley. He’d done that all right, and from the sound of excitement in Ava’s voice, he’d done a hell of a lot more. Fuck! What did it matter, really? He was out his head with frustration over Skyler—that might account for his viciously bad mood. She was too fucking young, and she looked at him with eyes filled with not just lust, but… love. That scared the hell out of him, because he knew he could very easily lose his way with her. He could fall hard and fast for Sky, and he didn’t have room in his life for a love affair. Maybe later, he kept telling himself. She was the kind of girl you gave your heart to, not just your body. He was twenty and she was seventeen, those numbers didn’t add up, they were too young with too much of life ahead, maybe later… maybe, maybe.
“Atticus, what’s going on, son?” Finn asked. “Let’s sit on the porch and talk, okay?”
They sat in painted rocking chairs on the front porch while Charlotte entertained assorted friends and family inside. Finn started to say they should walk around to the back of the house, to the side that faced the water. It was a dark night, too dark to see very far, but they would feel the Gulf breeze, and hear the soothing sound as the waves hit the shore.
“This isn’t about Hadley and the fact that she and Holden are… together, is it? You want to be with Skyler but you’re not ready. You have a career as a pilot ahead of you, the timing’s all wrong for serious feelings. Is that about right?” Finn asked, looking out across the lawn. Its hulking, moss-draped trees stood like eerie sentinels in the humid night air.
“I’m not going to be a pilot, so don’t get all preachy about it, Dad. I’m dropping out of the Academy and going straight into SEAL training, my mind’s made up, so just save the speech. It won’t do any good.”
“Well, that is a surprise. You’ve had this course set in your mind since you were a little boy. All of a sudden a girl makes you feel something that’s completely unfamiliar and you do a complete one-eighty? Why not finish school, have a few years of adventure, then come back for her? I know Sky pretty well, she’s not a frivolous girl. She’ll wait for you, Atticus,” Finn said, leaning toward his son, trying to read his face in the dim porch light.
“Yeah, like Mom waited for you? Maybe I give Sky a chance to fall in love with me, and I go on doing what I need and want to do before I settle down, then I come back for her… I don’t want to hurt you, Dad, but your love life sucks. Sorry that’s so clear to everyone except you and Mom and Alex, but three people in a relationship is fucking not okay. I will not fall in love with that girl, or give her the chance to get attached to me and play out your entire train wreck again.”
“Well, I see the years we spent trying to hide the awful truth didn’t work too well, huh? Not much we can do to fix that now, Atticus. Your mother is not an ordinary woman. Two men fell in love with her and she couldn’t help but love them in return. I thought my work was the most important thing in the world and because I turned my back
on true love, my true love met Alex Bly. The way it is with Charlotte is that she breaks your heart and mends it at the same time, and you’re never the same after that. You see, she’s the piece that holds you together and makes you stronger. The love she gives you is worth so much more than some small bit of pride or bargain you might make to keep it. Her love is worth sharing, Bly and I both know that. It took us some time to get there, but it’s the way our lives have played out. Don’t try and judge what you haven’t yet experienced. As for you, Atticus, you’re absolutely right not to get involved before you’re ready. Don’t give up the Naval Academy because you don’t trust yourself to stay away from Skyler. Hiding yourself in special ops will not save your soul, take my word for it.”
“It’s what I want to do, Dad. What chance do I have to be a Navy pilot, anyway? I have to take the reins of Bly International in ten years, and that is not the life I had planned for myself. I want to go to hand to hand against the enemy, I want to make the world a better place, and I want it now. You know how that feels, it’s what you did; it’s who you are. Yeah, you gave it up, but did you want to, or did you do it for her? You miss it, I see the look in your eyes when you watch all those SEAL movies. You’ve been there; you were the best.”
“I’m lucky that I lived through it, you have no idea. You’d better harden your heart if you can’t resist the pull of abuse and misery and intrigue. It’s not romantic, Atticus, its bloody and its hell and it gets pretty real when you’re in the thick of it. Can you cut a man’s throat while his child watches? Can you torture him within an inch of his life, then save him so you can do it again if he survives? Better take the rest of the summer to think about, it can’t be decided in haste. And maybe it would be best if you steered clear of Skyler, at least until you figure it all out. There are chapters to life, Atticus. It seems to me that I was your age just a short time ago; it goes by fast. Don’t jump off the cliff too soon. Your mother and Charlie, Hadley too, they need your strength, son. Now, where is Bly, at your house? He and I have an issue to talk over. Are you going back into the party?”
