It had been almost forty years since the Rochas had left Porto to start a new life in America. With virtually no money, Charlotte’s father had fallen back on his skills from home, going to work in a local bakery. The bakery served the strong Portuguese communities in Fall River and Providence. Those customers were soon asking for her father’s recipes which were so reminiscent of home. He became the critical resource, eventually taking over the bakery and then expanding. With three children to feed, Luzia joined her husband in the bakery bringing her recipes with her. They created wedding cakes and pastries, sweet bread and muffins. Luzia created take out meals with spicy Chorizo and fragrant stews. Soon they were getting a lot of press, reaching far beyond the Portuguese community.
The day that Charlotte met Regan, her brother was delivering a huge food donation to the fundraising event from Jake and Old World Bakeries. Jake, also Harvard alum, teamed with the whole family to give back to Harvard the only way they could. Old World Bakeries had donated the desserts and baked goods for the event. Charlotte had been on a lunch break from work when she walked over to see her brother and ended up staying for the event.
It was only natural that Regan might make the mistake she had. Charlotte was in business clothes and seated at an event for some of Harvard’s largest donors. She introduced herself as Charlotte Roche, her legal name, and was immediately mistaken for a member of the extremely wealthy family that owned one of the largest pharmaceutical companies, and much more. After all, the family resided in Boston and had made many large donations to the University.
Far from being born with a silver spoon, Charlotte had been fortunate when she received a full scholarship to Harvard, allowing her to attend the prestigious but very expensive school. Her brother received only a partial scholarship and had worked in the bakery to fund the rest. That had turned out to be providential.
He learned the business from the ground up and when he found himself using real-life experiences from the bakery in his marketing classes, Jake realized he had an opportunity in front of him. Upon graduation, he proposed a risky expansion into an online business. Charlotte was supposed to follow in his path by running the back office and her younger brother planned to bring his culinary training to the business in the future.
Although Charlotte hadn’t followed through on the family dream, Don was developing new recipes to further expand their business. He would join the company when he graduated in December. Charlotte’s plans had been dashed when she had been forced to flee Rhode Island and the East Coast.
Now Maria was stepping into the role she had hoped to fill. A local Providence girl they all knew from childhood, Maria assumed responsibility for all their financial operations and was soon Jake’s fiancé as well. They made a great pair both in the business and in life. They were planning a wedding for late the following summer.
.
“So, tell me about things in Chicago. I want to know everything, but first, run through the break in. Did he take anything? Do you know what he was after?” Jake asked in rapid fire. “I still think we should hire security and let you come home.”
“Not necessary, Jacobo. I told you I am staying with Alex.”
“Does that answer the security question or the home question? What does ‘staying with’ mean exactly? What do we know about this Alex? Is the fact that you are living in sin supposed to make me feel better about things?”
“Oh jeez, now you sound like Papa. Staying with Alex means I am in a secure building and don’t need security. It also means that I am – maybe – in an interesting relationship that might have a future. Speaking of which, you haven’t told Mama I am living with a man, have you?”
“Are you kidding?” Jake shot back. “Do you think I want to give her a heart attack? She will ship you off to Porto to live with cousin Adolfo in a heartbeat.”
“God forbid,” Charlotte said with feeling. “I may as well shoot myself, or join a convent. Adolfo would keep me under lock and key and my life would be over. Are you hungry? I’m starving. Do you think we can find a decent Chinese restaurant that delivers?”
Opening her computer, the pair perused the local restaurant choices before deciding that they could take their chances at a nearby Chinese restaurant.
“It looks like a dive,” Jake observed.
“Exactly,” Charlotte agreed. “Not likely we’ll see anyone we know in a place like that. But just to be safe…” Charlotte picked up a Red Sox cap and her hoodie and shoved her hair under both. Soon they were crossing the parking lot toward the non-descript car her brother had rented.
“You didn’t even drive your own car?”
“I didn’t want to risk anything. Gil has been hanging around a bit too often and a few of his buddies have been, too.”
“I don’t want to talk about it or think about it again tonight, deal?” Just thinking about her old boyfriend send a frisson of fear skating up Charlotte’s spine.
Over Szechuan chicken and spicy-hot shredded beef and celery, the siblings discussed Jake’s wedding plans, the newest menu items for the bakery and Charlotte’s work. After 90 minutes and replete with food, Jake finally brought up the topic they had been skirting.
“Char,” he finally ventured, placing his hand gently over his sister’s, “what about just going to the police? I will not let something happen to you. I will not have you miss my wedding because you can’t come home. I don’t understand what is stopping you. It seems like the logical solution.”
“I am not proud of what I did when I accepted this job, Jake, but how do I retract it all now without looking like an outright liar? I had to get out of Boston. You know that. I need to protect my job, Jake. I really love it and I cannot risk all this drama becoming public too soon. I think eventually I will be able to explain the misunderstanding to Regan – my boss,” she clarified, “but I need more time. I just feel certain that if I do a fantastic job for her and LHRE, Regan will be fine when I tell her about the deception.”
“It wasn’t your mistake, Carlotta, it was hers. Just tell her. Don’t you hate living this lie anyway? What does this Alex guy think? Does he believe you are some blue-blooded Daughter of the American Revolution too?”
Looking at Charlotte’s face, Jake instantly understood the problem. “So, it’s not your job at all. You are too talented for them to fire you over your personal background. We both know they can’t fire you over something personal anyway. It’s the guy, right? He thinks you’re a rich bitch. He must be some snob. Maybe you are, too.” Jake finished with a sneer.
“Oh, Jake, he’s not. I swear, but he comes from an old, established family. The right side of the tracks, the right schools…”
“You went to Harvard, Char. How much more right can you get?”
“Yeah, on scholarships.”
“So what? You should be damn proud of that and you know it.”
“Jake, his sister is marrying a U.S. Senator’s son. The guy is an Illinois congressman. A baker’s daughter just isn’t in the same league. Besides, think about Papa’s secrets. We need to keep those, too.”
“I see,” Jake said, a sadness coming into his deep brown eyes. “It really is you who is the snob. You’re ashamed of your family. I would never have thought that of you, Carlotta Rocha.”
Charlotte knew that her brother was furious. He never called her by her birth name otherwise. She had changed her name legally when all her problems had started but to her family she would always be Carlotta Rocha, not Charlotte Roche.
“I just need a little time to explain everything, Jacobo,” Charlotte said, stressing Jake’s full name. “I am not ashamed. I love you guys more than anything. It’s just, you know how things go. It starts with a little omission at a party and pretty soon everyone thinks you have tons of money and influence. I feel like my life spun out of control overnight. First Gil, then this.”
“This is minor, compared to Gil. You need to get that injunction reinforced and keep him away from you. Then you need to come clean
at work.”
“I know, Jake. I know.”
“And then, Carlotta, you better bring this Alex fellow home to meet your parents before it gets too serious. They will never forgive you if you don’t.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Charlotte was sitting with her feet up on the huge sofa in the media room, television blaring, computer in her lap and the Sunday papers scattered all around her. Alex drank in the sight of her, stunned again by her beauty. No, she was not a model with perfect features. Instead she looked pretty, wholesome and healthy, like a woman who took care of her body but didn’t obsess about it.
Best of all, she looked perfectly at home in the room. Their room. She had not gone back to her apartment in more than a month now and neither of them had discussed the possibility of her doing so. The anxiety that had clouded her eyes and caused a tightness around her mouth was gone. She felt safe here and that was of paramount importance to him.
Alex thought long and hard before asking Charlotte to move in with him, even though when he proffered the idea it sounded spur of the moment. Alex never acted in the moment. Never. He considered the fact that he was turning his back on other women. He no longer wanted any woman but Charlotte. He considered the fact that he would be sharing his space with someone, day and night. If the someone was Charlotte, he found he loved the idea.
Most of all, he considered the fact that Charlotte was hiding something from him, something sinister and potentially dangerous. She was lying to him too. He hated that she did not trust him with the truth. He hated not knowing Charlotte viscerally. He wanted to know minutiae about her, from what toothpaste she used to every playground episode from her childhood.
But he was keeping secrets too. What a hypocrite he would be to demand the truth from her when he was lying to her face. If he could not trust her with his secrets, how could he demand that she trust him with hers?
So, he had taken the plunge. He intended to take her back to her place and let her miss him a few days before asking, but over dinner he realized he didn’t want to wait. He had barely been okay with letting her go home to sleep on it briefly. He would have pressed her again in before the passage of even two weeks, but the burglary resolved the waiting issue. She had come back with him then and there and they never discussed it again. He wasn’t sorry. He loved seeing her sitting there. He loved coming home to find her in his home – their home. He had to remember to think of it that way from now on.
“Hey there, Gorgeous,” he said as he snuck up behind her and kissed her cheek. She was clearly startled, then pleased, reaching to turn off the television and put her laptop aside.
“Hey there, yourself,” she responded, standing to step into his embrace. “I missed you.”
“With all your travels you still had time to miss me?”
“Are you saying, Mr. Gaines, that you didn’t miss me?”
As an answer, Alex swooped down on Charlotte, pulled her tight against his body from neck to knee and bent down to capture her lips in a hot, moist kiss that went on and on. He allowed her to come up for air briefly before claiming her mouth again, his lips firm against hers, his tongue hot in her mouth sending shivers of electricity through her veins.
“Does that answer your question?” Alex raised his head, breathless, without loosening his hold on Charlotte. “I missed you so much.”
Charlotte’s face split with her wide grin, her heart-shaped face completely lit up by the compliment. “You could have fooled me. You never called.”
“Are you kidding me?” Alex pulled from her arms to feign being shot. “You wound me. I called and texted every single day and you know it. You were the one who was too busy to answer. I had to wait and wait for you to throw me a bone.”
Alex wasn’t exaggerating. While he had faithfully texted Charlotte multiple times a day during his travels, she had clustered her responses, which he had to concede were numerous, in a single thirty minute window each day. She had been funny, open and sexy in her brief phone messages and longer texts, but still Alex had been left wondering what she was doing the other 23 plus hours. He wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt, but…
“So tell me all about St. Louis. How did it go?” he probed with an innocent look on his handsome face.
“What’s to tell? The business was good. The contract is progressing.”
“Where did you stay? Did you see any sights? The arch? Eat any good food while you were there? I didn’t even ask, were you alone or did Regan go too?”
“Well, aren’t you just full of questions? I stayed at some downtown hotel that looks like every other downtown hotel, saw a lot of conference rooms and ate room service. It was long days and frankly exhausting. How about L.A.?”
“Lots of meetings there too, but I did get a little chance to do some shopping on Rodeo Drive. I might have a small present somewhere in my luggage and if you are a good girl…”
“Oh, Alex,” Charlotte oozed, draping her body around his, putting her lips very close to his and running her fingers through his thick hair. “I can be very, very good. Try me.”
Alex needed no other encouragement before lifting Charlotte in his bulging arms and tossing her down on the sofa. He had her tee-shirt and yoga pants off in a flash and was yanking at his shirt when he felt her fingers stroking his stomach and her hands moving to undo his belt buckle. It seemed she was as anxious as he was. He fell on her the moment she had his pants down, hungry to feel her sheathed tight around him, desperate for that closeness he missed when he was away, grateful she had obtained birth control.
After a frenzied start to satisfy their lust, Alex slowed the pace, taking time to savor the feel of Charlotte’s whole body. He reveled in the tingle of her fingers lightly stroking his arms and chest, then her hands massaging the length of his back muscles until they slid down to his butt and sank into his flesh. Charlotte pulled him hard inside her. Alex picked up the pace again, sliding deep into Charlotte’s waiting body, pulling back to enjoy the unbelievable sensation of sliding in again. She was so responsive, clinging to him, kissing him deeply, drawing his tongue to tangle with hers as she pulled him back into her body.
Little whimpers came from Charlotte each time Alex pulled back from her and she sighed with pleasure when he returned to sink far inside her. Soon he had her panting and gasping for breath, begging for release. He barely kept himself in control but he wanted this to last, to make up for five days without this woman.
He had been a starving man when he fell upon her lithe body and felt her strong legs wrap around him. He knew now he would not be content with one meal.
Alex pulled Charlotte tighter under him and moved quickly, plumbing her depths over and over until he felt her spasm beneath him, her breath hitching, her hands wild on his skin. He loved watching her climax, knowing that he had brought her that pleasure.
Taking several deep breaths, Alex stilled in Charlotte’s body, resisting the urge to let go as he felt the last of Charlotte’s orgasm flutter around him. Then he kissed her deeply and slowly, thoroughly ravaging her mouth. Choosing the exact moment when she was just about to calm completely, he wrapped his hands around her breasts, kneading and stroking them and sending fire surging back through her veins. He watched her face, kissing her again before moving lower to replace his hand with his mouth, sucking hard around one taut nipple. Charlotte writhed beneath him almost lifting them both off the sofa. Alex chose that moment to begin moving inside Charlotte again, stoking her pleasure and his own with long slow, rhythmic friction.
Alex felt Charlotte spiraling to her release, felt her body begging to let go as he dipped into her with painstaking slowness. His warm lips closed over her other breast, teething her nipple and causing her to cry out. He gently tongued the tight bud as she tried to increase the speed of his thrusts, her hips lifting to his. Her ruthless hands were everywhere, pulling him tighter against her, trying to draw his body deeper into hers. Alex moved to her mouth, scoring her lips with his teeth before he took her
mouth in a brutal kiss. Bucking wildly himself, he reached for their mutual release. Desire surged through his body as Charlotte repeatedly whispered “please”.
Feeling swamped by the storm surging though his body, Alex made one last futile attempt to hold back. “Come with me, Char,” he begged between gasped breaths.
Charlotte strained briefly for that last bit of pleasure before ripples of satisfaction ran through her body, squeezing and milking Alex until he thought he would scream from the intensity. He felt her body softening into his as they came down from their mutual high, catching their breath.
“Welcome home, Alexander,” Charlotte said with a coy smile and a brief peck on Alex’s lips.
“Good to be here, Charlotte,” he responded with a soft nibble of her lips. “Very, very good to be here.”
They lay together for several minutes as their breathing slowed, stroking each other’s skin gently, making small talk before Alex finally got up from the couch and scooped up his clothes.
“Between traveling and you, my dear, I am in dire need of a shower. Join me?”
Bedeviled (Beguiling Bachelors Book 3) Page 15
