by Julia Wolf
We got back in the limo and headed for the surprise Frannie and I had arranged, with a lot of help from James.
“Where are we going? I wanna dance!” Rachel was bouncing in her seat. She was in the fun stage of drunkenness, still cheerful and energetic.
“We have a surprise for you! Don’t you worry your pretty little freckled face,” said Frannie.
Our destination wasn’t far, and when we pulled up, we told Rachel to close her eyes, then led her inside.
“Okay, open!” I said.
She looked around and screamed. “Joe!”
He laughed and held his arms out for her, and she went running to him.
James had closed down Bar Royal for us, and Frannie and I had arranged for Joe’s group to meet us here after they did whatever men do at bachelor parties.
The bar was normally crowded with high top tables and chairs, but James had cleared them out, making the dance floor of Rachel’s dreams.
When a Salt-N-Pepa song started playing, Rachel screamed again.
“That’s my jam!” she cried, pulling Joe with her to the middle of the dance floor. Marcus and Ryan followed with Frannie between them, making a dancing Frannie sandwich. James watched his girl from behind the bar, tenderness written all over his face.
Frannie and I had made a playlist just for Rachel, with all nineties music. We knew our girl well, and as long as she had her man and room to dance, she was happy.
A warm hand rested on my shoulder, making me jump.
“The dress is even sexier from behind,” Charlie whispered in my ear.
I turned around and grinned at him.
“Oh no, wait, I think I like the front even more,” he said.
He grabbed my hips and yanked me against him.
“Watch it with your grubby paws. This dress is a rental,” I said, looping my arms around his neck.
“Having fun?” he asked.
“Mmhmm. My new name for the evening is Isla Vinny Cock, just so you know.”
Charlie leaned his forehead against mine. “I hope you don’t love just any cock.”
“I love your cock the most.” I giggled. “So, what did you and the guys get up to? Did you drag Joe to see strippers?”
“Nah, we offered, but he wasn’t interested. Believe it or not, we played laser tag and we’ve been bar-hopping since then. It’s been the most wholesome bachelor party I’ve ever been to.”
I smacked his chest. “Don’t look so disappointed.”
He chuckled, then gripped the nape of my neck. “Why would I be disappointed when I have the sexiest fucking woman alive in my arms?”
Warmth spread from my cheeks, traveling down my chest and pooling between my legs. I never stopped wanting this man, even in a bar full of our friends, wearing a sequined dress, with Notorious B.I.G. blasting in the background. We’d spent almost every night together over the last week and a half, neither of us getting much sleep. When we were together, we were either talking, laughing, or devouring each other’s bodies.
“You say the sweetest things,” I said.
“I’m going to have to kiss you now, in front of all these lovely people.”
No one was paying any attention to us, but even if they were, I didn’t think I could go another second without his lips on mine.
Charlie tilted my head back and covered my mouth with his. He stroked the bare skin of my back, making me shiver in his arms. His tongue found mine, gliding over it, licking the line of my lips.
“You’re torturing me,” I breathed.
Charlie looked around the room. “There’s gotta be somewhere we can go. I won’t survive an entire night of looking at you in that dress unless I can be inside you.”
“We should be able to go one night!” I said the words, but I didn’t believe them.
He took half a step back and grabbed my hand. “Well, if I can’t be inside her, then will the lady do me the honor of dancing with me?”
“I would love to get jiggy with you,” I said.
I wiggled my hips on the way to the middle of the dance floor, Charlie following right behind me. We made a tight circle with my friends, singing along to the Will Smith song at the top of our lungs.
Before Rachel brought me into her world filled with nineties music, I hadn’t known any of the lyrics since they were before my time. But her passion for music of that decade could not be avoided, and soon, I knew the words to songs that were popular when I was a toddler. I drew the line at doing the Running Man, though.
We danced for hours, the women lasting far longer on the dance floor than the men. Charlie went to the back to play foosball and darts with the guys, but he came back to kiss me or tell me he’d missed me every once in a while.
I loved that my friends were his friends too. I loved that we could be in the same room but do our own thing. Edward had never liked my friends. He said I was different with them, and that was true. With them I was the most me, and truthfully, he didn’t like that.
“Guys, I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m kind of tired of dancing. And I’m sleepy,” Rachel slurred.
Frannie hugged her. “Girlfriend, you’re a drunkie.”
Rachel nodded, her head floppy. “I so am. Is it time for our slumber party? Where’s my man?”
Frannie and I found Joe, who looked to be in about the same condition as his fiancée. Rachel draped herself on Joe, and they both started murmuring how crazy in love with each other they were. Frannie went to find James, and I tracked down Charlie.
“Are you sure you don’t wanna come home with me?” he asked.
“Not tonight. But I’ll see you in the morning,” I said, running my palms over his chest.
“You make it sound sexy, when in actuality, I’m going to be dragging my ass twenty miles.”
I laughed. “But think of how proud of ourselves we’ll be when we’re done.” I threw my arms around him in a hug. “And we can snuggle and nap together afterwards.”
He sighed. “All right. You had me at snuggle.” He kissed me tenderly, then let me go.
Frannie and James’ living room was full of air mattresses. Ryan and Marcus called it a night and went back to their place, and James was hiding away in his bedroom, but Rachel, Laurel, Frannie, and I were sprawled out, drowsily rehashing the night.
“I think that Madonna drag queen was into Rachel,” Laurel said.
“She totally was. She was hot too!” Rachel declared.
“You know who else is hot? Charlie. Don’t think I didn’t see him feeling you up,” Frannie said to me.
“He’s pretty dreamy,” I sighed.
“Laurel, you need a man. Then we can quadruple date,” said Rachel.
Laurel waved her hands wildly in the air. “Men are nothing but trouble. Not your men, of course, but the ones I attract. I’m giving up on them.”
“Good plan. Wait for the quality,” Frannie said.
Rachel sighed. “Have I told you how much I love all of you?”
“We love you toooooo!” Laurel sang.
“To the bride!” I cheered.
“To the bride!” they echoed.
We giggled until the wee hours of the morning, then finally fell asleep in a puppy pile right in the middle of the air mattresses. This night was definitely going into my top ten best nights ever, right along with Wicked. My heart and soul were really and truly full and content, for myself and my friends.
Twenty-One
Charlie and I got through the twenty miles. It wasn’t pretty, but we did it. For the last mile, we held hands, pulling each other along. I could probably do anything if Charlie was beside me, making me laugh.
We took an icy shower together, both too tired for any funny business. While I dried myself off, Charlie went to get me a T-shirt to wear. I put my foot on the toilet to dry my leg and gasped when something fell off my toe. A toenail!
Charlie walked back into the bathroom and I was still standing there, naked and frozen in place with my leg propped up.
He groaned. “Torture.”
“Come look at my foot!” I whined.
He moved behind me and peered over my shoulder. I wiggled my nail-less pinkie toe and he gasped too.
“Holy shit, is that supposed to happen?”
“I don’t know! Maybe? I’ve heard of runners losing toenails, but I didn’t think it would really happen!”
My toe looked pretty gross, especially since the rest of them were painted cherry red. Are the other nails going to fall off too?
“Is this the wrong time to tell you you’re still insanely hot, even with nine toenails?”
I laughed and tried to elbow him. “You’re so sweet and sensitive!”
Charlie pulled the T-shirt he’d brought me over my head and wrapped me in his arms.
“Are you truly worried about the toenail?” he asked softly.
I shook my head against his chest. “Not really. I mean, I enjoyed having all ten of them, but it’ll grow back.”
Charlie led me to the bed and guided me to sit on the edge. Then he kneeled in front of me and lifted my leg, bringing my foot to his mouth.
“Don’t do it!” I cried.
“Oh, I’m gonna do it,” he said.
Then he rubbed his lips across my foot, leaving a gentle kiss on each toe, paying extra attention to my poor, poor pinkie.
“I can’t believe you kissed my nail-less toe!” I giggled and kicked when he bit the arch of my foot.
“I told you I’d kiss and lick every part of you, even your janky toe,” he said with a grin.
I pulled him up to the bed, wrapping myself around him. He pulled the duvet over us and we cocooned ourselves in his big bed, our legs intertwined, breathing in and out each other’s air. Charlie stroked my face, pushing my wet bangs back so I was completely open and bare.
“You mean...just, everything to me. I still can’t believe I get to have you,” he said with such tenderness and vulnerability, my eyes burned with tears.
I cupped his cheek with my hand, pressing my body closer to his. “Charlie,” I breathed. “I feel the same. Sometimes I think I’m dreaming when I’m with you like this. Nothing has ever felt like this.”
The word was there, but neither of us said it. I knew I was falling, but mostly, I felt like I was floating. Not aimlessly, though. I was drifting toward being wildly in love with Charlie. It was there, in front of me, I just had to reach out and take it. But the floating felt so good, I wasn’t quite ready to move the rest of the way.
We kissed languidly, our mouths melting into each other. His tongue swept gently across my lips and the inside of my mouth, and his fingertips drifted down my thigh, just barely touching my skin.
I wrapped my leg around his hip and pressed him to my core, moving my hips against his hardness. I had just run twenty miles and all my muscles were exhausted, but I needed Charlie more than I needed rest.
He pushed my T-shirt up and palmed my breast, kneading it. Then he ran his hand down my stomach and between my thighs. He parted my folds and slid his finger into the wetness, skimming past my clit to my entrance, then back up again. I moaned into his mouth as he slowly drove me crazy. And when I thought I couldn’t take it anymore, when I rolled my hips, seeking friction but finding none, he sank two fingers inside me at the same time he took my breast in his mouth.
I threw my head back and sighed his name. Holding Charlie close with my leg, I reached between us and gripped his hard length. The skin was hot and silky as I ran my hand up and down in the same rhythm his fingers moved in and out of me.
“That feels so good,” he groaned when I squeezed him.
I rocked my hips against his hand so he hit my swollen clit each time. Charlie sucked my nipple between his lips, then bit down just hard enough to hurt, but in the best way. My orgasm flowed through me, and Charlie held my writhing body against him, anchoring me as I floated. I’m always floating with him.
Charlie slid his fingers out of me and pulled my leg up, then slowly, torturously, entered me. We rocked our hips together, moving languorously. We weren’t chasing pleasure, although having him inside me was out of this world. No, we were connecting with our bodies, our eyes, and our hearts.
Charlie stroked my face as he moved inside me, and I held him against me, running my palms over his back and arms.
When he started to move faster, growing harder inside me, I met his thrusts with my hips and nuzzled my face into his neck, kissing and biting him until he groaned and pulled my head back. He smothered my mouth with his as he came deep inside my body, holding me still with his arms and legs while he rocked against me.
“Goddamn, I never wanted that to end,” he whispered gruffly.
I ran my fingers through his hair and grinned. “I don’t know, the ending part is pretty nice.”
“I want to live inside you.”
“Might be awkward going out in public,” I said sleepily.
“True.”
Charlie yawned, and I snuggled into him. “Naptime?” I asked.
“Mmhmm. My second favorite thing to do in bed with you.”
Then, we drifted.
When I woke up, I turned toward the window. Charlie was there again, his back to me as he painted. He hadn’t shown me any of his new work, but I knew he’d finished a few pieces over the last few weeks. I didn’t press him, though. I was content to sit and watch the movements of the muscles in his back as he swiped across the canvas with his paintbrush.
I lay on my side, snuggled under the blanket for a long time, so content, I didn’t want to move or change anything.
“I feel your eyes on me,” Charlie said suddenly.
“Don’t mind me. I’m just lying here all snuggly and happy.”
He turned around and smiled at me. “Listening to you breathe is the best soundtrack to paint by.” He moved his easel so it was facing a wall, and then walked over to the bed, kneeling in front of me. He snuck his hands under the covers, resting them on my hip and belly. “You’re so warm and soft,” he said, stroking my skin lightly.
“You have the best bed. Mine isn’t nearly as cozy,” I said.
“Is that why I can never get rid of you?” he asked with a smirk.
“That’s exactly why. I’m here for the bed.”
Charlie leaned in and attacked my neck and shoulder, blowing raspberries until I squealed.
“Come on, lazy bones, I want to take you out to dinner.”
I sat up and stretched my arms over my head. “Oooh, a date?”
He pulled me out of bed and kissed me soundly. “A date. A very casual date at the brewery, but still a date.”
“If there’s you and beer and food, then it’s perfect,” I said.
“I ran twenty miles today, I’m ordering something fried,” I declared.
Charlie held up his beer. “I’ll drink to that!”
We ordered our dinner—burger and fries for Charlie, fish and chips for me—and talked with the people at the next table, the owners of a candy shop on Main Street. Charlie had been welcomed with open arms as part of the community when he bought Abe’s shop, and he’d dived right in too. He seemed to know every other person in the brewery by their first name. It made me happy to see he loved this town as much as I did. And that the town loved him back, but then who wouldn’t?
When our orders came, I ate my plate of fried yumminess slowly, savoring the salty, oily taste. Eating like this was rare for me, so I wanted to enjoy every single bite.
“Are you ready for Rachel and Joe’s wedding?” Charlie asked.
I sighed. He was asking about my part in the wedding. “I’m nervous. I’ve been trying not to think too much about it. When I do, I feel like I might have a panic attack. I know it’ll be okay, but it’s hard to tell my brain that.”
Charlie kicked my foot under the table. “You, Miss Eliza, are amazing. You playing piano is probably the most gorgeous sound I’ve ever heard.”
I kicked his foot back. “And you, Charlie, are sweet. It’s not th
at I doubt my piano skills. I know I’ve got it going on.”
Charlie raised a brow, but laughed. “Okay, can’t argue with that.”
I grinned. “I never claimed to be modest. But yeah, performing in front of people I don’t know is what makes me nervous. Thankfully, Rachel and Joe are having a small wedding and I know a lot of the people who will be there, so it’s not as bad as when my dad would force me to play at his company’s Christmas party in front of five hundred people. I’d be sick for days leading up to that.”
Charlie rolled his eyes and grunted. “I’m sorry, but your parents didn’t deserve you. I don’t know how people like that produced a daughter like you.”
I tucked my hair behind my ears and nibbled on a French fry. “They weren’t the best parents, but it also wasn’t the worst childhood. I was fed and clothed and I know they loved me in their own way. I always felt safe, if not accepted and comfortable.” I pointed my fry at him. “Now, you clearly had an awesome childhood.”
He chuckled. “Clearly?”
I tilted my head to the side and considered him. “Yes, clearly. You’re the product of parents who let you be yourself. I could tell the first time I met you. You’ve always been the same Charlie, from the second you walked into Rachel and Joe’s Friendsgiving. You’re just so comfortable being yourself, and that’s something a lot of us struggle with.”
“Well...thanks. I think? It hasn’t all been smooth sailing. I was kind of a shitty teenager. And they haven’t always been down with my lifestyle, to be honest.”
“Why not?”
He picked at the label on his beer. “I guess I’ve had a bit of Peter Pan syndrome. Never growing up. I’m thirty-four years old and I finally feel like an adult, you know?”
I chewed on the crunchy end of a French fry. “Mmm...and I’ve been an adult since childhood. It’s not all it’s cracked up to be.”
He laughed and stole a fry from my plate. “But yeah, overall, my parents are fuckin’ rad. I can’t wait for you to meet them.”
“I can’t believe we’re going to Japan!”
Once I had agreed to go with Charlie, he didn’t waste any time booking our tickets. We were going for two weeks, spending half the time with his parents, and the other half traveling around the country. I had told him as long as I got to go to Harajuku, visit a couple salons, and see Mount Fuji, I’d be a happy camper. He promised me that, plus lots and lots of sushi, karaoke, and as many temples and shrines as I could handle.
