Finally

by R. L. Mathewson

She followed his gaze and watched as Devin realized that Lucifer was looking his way. A moment later that smile was gone as he watched Lucifer head for the office door. She watched as Devin mouthed, “Oh, shit,” as Lucifer headed towards the shop, shaking his head in disgust as he went.

  With that done, Charlie headed back to her desk and sat down with a satisfied sigh as she looked up to find Rebecca watching her as she popped another Hershey Kiss in her mouth. Clearing her throat, Charlie said, “He had it coming.”

  “He really did,” Rebecca murmured in agreement as Charlie pulled up Fire & Brimstone’s website and decided to get to work.

  *-*-*-*

  2:00 P.M.

  “Where the hell did I go wrong with you?” Jared, or rather Uncle Jared as she was told to call him, asked, slowly shaking his head in disgust as he looked at the man who’d decided to join them a few minutes ago.

  Ignoring his father, Jason said, “So, where were we?”

  “You were trying to interrogate me?” Charlie absently reminded him as she focused on Bradford Construction’s website.

  “Was I doing a good job?” he asked, making her lips twitch as she made another note.

  “Not really,” she said, chuckling as she focused her attention back on Uncle Jared and-

  “I’m going to need another shelf,” Lucifer said, drawing their attention to find him looking down at the stack of children’s books that he’d placed on the floor.

  “So, let’s get back to you telling us your deepest and darkest secrets,” Jason said, drawing her attention back to find him smiling hugely as he waited.

  “Did we already talk about the time that I spent in prison?” Charlie asked, pursing her lips up thoughtfully.

  “We did and it was fascinating,” Jason murmured, nodding his head even as he gestured for her to continue.

  “How about my aspirations to be a high-class escort?” she asked, watching as his lips twitched.

  “You have to live your dream,” Jason said, nodding solemnly.

  “You really do,” Charlie murmured in agreement even as she glanced back at Bradford Construction’s website and made another note.

  “I’ve dreamed of smothering you in your sleep,” his father said, narrowing his eyes on his son.

  With a long-suffering sigh, Jason reached over and absently patted his father’s head with a murmured, “Your dream makes me sad,” before shifting his attention back to her. “What else?”

  “I’m going to beat you,” his father said, slapping his hand away.

  “I’m telling Haley you said that,” Jason said as Jared’s eyes narrowed on him.

  “Who handles your social media accounts?” Charlie asked, hoping to get the men glaring at each other to focus.

  “You do,” Uncle Jared bit out as he glared at his son.

  “I see,” Charlie murmured as she opened Facebook and googled Bradford Construction only to find a link for the website and realized that she had her work cut out for her.

  Nodding, Charlie made a few more notes before reaching for her phone and opening her calendar, trying to figure out the best day to go out and get some pictures of Bradford Construction’s latest project when an unsettling quiet had her frowning as she looked up and-

  “Now, back to your deep dark secrets,” Jason said, making her sigh.

  *-*-*-*

  3:00 P.M.

  “Do you have any more Slytherin figures?” the large man that had moved onto organizing her Harry Potter memorabilia asked as Charlie sat there, slowly exhaling as she rubbed her temples, trying to will away the headache that had started ten minutes ago when her three o’clock appointment showed up.

  “I’m not going to hurt her. I promise,” Matt said, only to follow that up with, “I just want to spank her ass until my hand falls off,” as his brother was forced to take him down with a headlock while the reason that the owners of Bradford Furniture were currently beating the shit out of each other calmly continued to swipe through the website themes that Charlie had suggested.

  “I like these,” Jenn, the teenager that had driven a Bradford to violence with a few absently murmured words, said as Charlie’s attention shifted to Reed’s wife Joey, who was quietly sitting on the beanbag in the back, reading on her Kindle as she absently ran her hand over the large swell of her belly.

  “I don’t know how you were able to get anything done with your paperclips and notepads in the same drawer,” came the heavily sighed words to her left that let her know that Lucifer had moved on and was now organizing the cabinet that he’d helped himself to from storage.

  Nodding, because she honestly wasn’t sure what else she was supposed to do, Charlie reached into her bottom drawer to grab the Advil only to remember that Lucifer had moved it into the bathroom where he’d decided it belonged. Sighing, she pushed her chair back, walked over to the mini-fridge, grabbed a Coke, took a sip and found herself once again glancing to her left to find Devin standing there, watching her with the sexiest grin that she’d ever seen.

  That alone was going to get him killed, Charlie decided as she stepped out of the way when Reed was forced to take his brother down with a tackle that had his younger brother muttering, “I’m dying,” and Charlie heading to the bathroom to get the Advil.

  *-*-*-*

  4:00 P.M.

  “God, that’s so good,” Mr. Dixon whispered, unable to help but groan as he took a big bite out of one of the large cupcakes that his heavily pregnant granddaughter had brought for their meeting while she slept in the chair next to him.

  She looked exhausted, Charlie thought as she took a bite of the delicious chocolate cupcake with buttercream frosting that she’d helped herself to and couldn’t help but nod in agreement because these were really good. As she savored the perfect combination of chocolate and buttercream frosting, Charlie found herself glancing at Necie’s large belly and-

  No, she wasn’t going there.

  At least, not right now.

  She was going to worry about that tomorrow, Charlie told herself firmly as she shifted her attention back to Dixon’s Bakery website and-

  “You need coasters,” came the heavily sighed complaint as she found her cupcake plucked out of her hand by the man that she thought left an hour ago. Blinking, she watched as Lucifer devoured her cupcake in one bite before heading back to the kids’ play area to organize their Legos.

  Forcing her mind back on the topic at hand, Charlie cleared her throat and-

  “That better not be a cupcake in your hand,” came the coldly spoken words from the doorway that had Mr. Dixon going still as Duncan, who looked really pissed, walked into the room and-

  Firefighters were definitely hot, Charlie couldn’t help but notice even as she found herself wondering what Devin looked like in his uniform when he was a police officer.

  Probably hotter.

  “This isn’t what it looks like,” Mr. Dixon said, swallowing nervously as he hastily placed the cupcake down on her desk and then followed that up by pushing it towards her.

  “No? Because it looks like someone is going back on a bland diet,” Duncan said as he walked over to his wife and placed his hand on her belly as he glared at his grandfather-in-law.

  “You wouldn’t dare!” Mr. Dixon bit out, visibly seething while Charlie found herself once again rubbing her temples.

  “Oh, but I fucking would,” Duncan said evenly as Mr. Dixon nodded slowly as he said, “I never should have let my granddaughter lower her standards,” which was followed by a gasp of outrage that had Charlie wondering if it was too late to reschedule the rest of her appointments.

  *-*-*-*

  5:00

  “I want a divorce,” Trevor bit out as he glared at his wife while Charlie sat there, debating who she should start with first.

  Zoe ran a small accounting business that focused on bookkeeping, which was pretty straight forward while Trevor flipped houses and wouldn’t stop glaring at his wife, who really didn’t seem all that concerned while she swip
ed through the marketing packages that Charlie had created.

  When Trevor realized that his wife was still ignoring him, he shifted his glare to her and-

  “I’m going to kill your friend,” he said, making Charlie frown until he sent a pointed look at Ben, who’d stopped by a few minutes ago to check on her, to find him running an appreciative eye over Zoe, taking in every generous curve as he ate a cupcake.

  Biting back a sigh, Charlie pushed her chair back, stood up, and walked over to her best friend who was apparently oblivious to how close he was to getting his ass kicked. She grabbed Ben by the arm and dragged him towards the door.

  “Wait. What are you doing?” Ben asked as he shoved the rest of the cupcake in his mouth as he glanced past her to throw Zoe one last appreciative look and-

  “Oh, shit…”

  -let her know that he’d finally realized that he had a very large Bradford glaring at him. Sighing, she shoved Ben out of her office and found herself quickly moving out of the way when Trevor decided that he should help Ben find his way back to his car.

  For a moment, Charlie stood there, contemplating helping her best friend, but…

  He’d be fine, she told herself as she headed back to her desk, deciding to use this opportunity to get back to work only to sigh when she spotted Lucifer sitting at her desk, muttering, “This just isn’t going to work for me.”

  *-*-*-*

  6:00

  “Why is he here?” Ethan, Devin’s uncle and the incredibly handsome doctor that wanted to hire her to handle his practice’s online marketing, asked as he watched his son reorganize the file cabinet that he’d helped himself to from one of the upstairs offices.

  Charlie raised her hands and let them drop with a muttered, “I honestly don’t know.”

  “I see,” Ethan said, sighing heavily as he walked over to his son and-

  “Wait! I wasn’t done yet!” Lucifer said as his father dragged him towards her office door only to throw over his shoulder, “I’ll be right back,” as he shoved his son out the door.

  “Okay,” Charlie said, sighing as she went back to rubbing her temples, wondering when this nightmare would end.

  *-*-*-*

  7:00

  “Why didn’t my father fill this out?” Aidan asked, glancing up from the iPad in his hands to send her a questioning look.

  “Because he was forced to drag Lucifer out of my office,” Charlie said, continuing to rub her temples as she watched Aidan frown as he glanced towards her right to find Lucifer taking down her Slytherin poster so that he could switch it with her Indiana Jones poster.

  At Aidan’s questioning look, she said, “He came back after your father left.”

  Nodding, Aidan said, “I see,” as the reason why all the Bradfords has insanely awesome websites continued to watch her as she nibbled on a cupcake.

  “You’ve done a great job with Bradford Creations,” Melanie said, nodding absently as she glanced back down at her phone to check out the rest of Bradford Creations posts.

  “Thank you,” Charlie said, wondering why the Advil wasn’t kicking in yet.

  “Do you think you can do the same thing for us?” Aidan asked, placing the iPad on the desk so that he could reach down and pick his son up from his car seat only to sigh when Lucifer walked over and plucked the baby out of his hands.

  “I think I can help you…” Charlie started to say only to let her words trail off when Aidan got out of his chair and went after his brother, demanding that he give him back his baby.

  That led to Charlie reaching for more Advil when Melanie shot her a pitying look as she said, “It gets worse.”

  *-*-*-*

  8:00

  “Are you okay?” Charlie couldn’t help but wonder as she watched Kasey drop her head between her legs.

  “Fine. It’s just a little morning sickness,” Kasey said, nodding but something, mostly the fact that she was now getting up and slowly made her way towards the beanbag in the back of the room with a weakly mumbled, “I need to lay down,” told her that she wasn’t.

  “Maybe we should call your father?” Charlie said, shifting her attention to the cute little girl with pigtails who was absently rolling a baseball between her hands.

  “I’m fine,” came the mumbled reply that Charlie chose to ignore.

  “Already texted him,” Sebastian, the boy who had taken over for Kasey when she’d started turning an interesting shade of white, said as he continued swiping through the packages that she offered.

  “This is going to end badly,” Mikey said with a pitying shake of her head.

  “What’s going to end badly?” Charlie asked as her attention was drawn to her left to find Lucifer standing at her office door, glaring as he muttered, “I wasn’t done,” but it was the arrival of her nine o’clock appointment that had her wincing as Kenzie, who’d been called in to help with Lucifer, glared at Roger, a pediatrician and if rumor was correct, Kenzie’s estranged husband, and-

  “M-maybe we should reschedule,” Charlie found herself mumbling as she watched Kenzie grab a fire extinguisher and-

  “Oh, come the fuck on!” Roger shouted when he found himself sprayed with foam and Charlie decided that it was definitely time to call it a night.

  Chapter 39

  He should probably be concerned that she was trying to smother him with a pillow, but as she settled her weight on top of him, Devin decided that she could do whatever she wanted to him.

  God, she felt good, Devin thought as he ran his hands over her bare thighs.

  “Stop that! I’m trying to smother you,” Charlie said, sounding adorably pissed as she shifted so that the towel that she’d wrapped around herself brushed over his thighs and-

  “Are you kidding me?” she demanded as she tossed the pillow aside so that she could cross her arms over her chest as she gave her ass a pointed wiggle that felt really fucking good.

  “Is something wrong, baby?” Devin somehow managed to ask with a straight face.

  Eyes narrowing dangerously on him, she bit out, “I hate you.”

  “Aw, what’s wrong?” he asked, pretending that he didn’t know that his family had spent the day testing her sanity.

  “I’m not talking to you,” Charlie said as she continued to glare down at him.

  Not that he could blame her, Devin thought as he ran his hands over her smooth thighs and slid them beneath her towel.

  “What are you doing?” she asked, following the move with a curious look in her eye.

  “I’m making it up to you,” he said, running his hands back down her thighs.

  “I don’t think that’s humanly possible,” the woman that he’d watched stomp inside her apartment a little while ago, muttering all kinds of threats to his ass as she’d made her way to the bathroom where she’d continued to vocalize her desire to wring his neck, said.

  “Are you sure?” Devin asked, folding one arm behind his head as the other one continued sliding up her thigh and-

  Had him watching her as his thumb found her slit, drawing a soft moan from the beautiful woman that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. She was so fucking beautiful, Devin thought, watching her as his thumb slowly ran between her legs, lightly brushing over her clit as she licked her lips.

  “Are you still mad?” Devin asked, feeling his lips twitch when she mumbled something incoherently as she shifted on him, causing her wet pussy to slide across his cock, making the tip ache for contact.

  “Furious,” she promised him on a moan and a solemn nod as she reached up and pulled her towel loose, dropping it so that it pooled around them.

  “Would it help if I told you that I missed you?” he asked as he slowly ran his eyes down her body, taking in the gentle slope of her throat, her large tear-drop shaped breasts tipped with light pink nipples hardening with every gentle roll of her hips.

  God, she fucking destroyed him, Devin thought running his eyes over the soft swell of her belly until he found himself watching his thumb teasi
ng her clit as the plump pink lips between her legs spread open over his cock, enveloping it in a wet embrace as she moved over him. A small gasp drew his attention back up as Charlie leaned down so that her breasts pressed against him, causing her hard nipples to move against him with every slow roll of her hips as he pulled his hands free.

  He reached between them and found one large breast as his other hand moved to her ass and encouraged her to keep moving as he leaned up and kissed her. He’d spent so many nights thinking about her, thinking about what it would feel like to touch her and hold her and now that he could…

  He was never going to let her go.

  “You feel so good,” Charlie whispered softly as she moved on him.

  “Are you still mad at me?” Devin asked, brushing his lips against hers as he wrapped his arms around her and slowly rolled her onto her back.

  “Absolutely,” she said, making him chuckle as he settled between her legs.

  “Would it help if I told you that I loved you?” he asked, rolling his hips so that he was moving against her.

  “No,” she said, making him smile only to make him groan when she spread her legs wider and-

  Made him groan again when the move caused him to slowly slide inside her with the next roll of his hips. God, she felt incredible, Devin thought as he kissed her. He wished that he could go back in time to the day that she walked into Bradford Creations. He would have done so many things differently and once he had her, he never would have let her go.

  “What if I told you that I adored you?” Devin asked as he raised himself up so that he could watch her as he moved.

  “I’d rather have it in writing,” Charlie said, making him chuckle as she reached up, cupping his face in her hands and pulled him down for a kiss.

  “I think I can manage that,” he assured her before he kissed her, taking his time to move inside her, savoring the way it felt to slide inside her only to groan when her walls tightened around him, squeezing him as she grabbed onto his shoulders and moaned his name as her back arched off the bed while pleasure spread through his cock, pulling his balls up tight before spreading up his spine as her name was ripped out of him on a groan.