by Dee Ellis
It was hard as shit to walk away from her in that big bed. I had a job to do though and even more reason to do it now. I wanted to make her proud. That look on her face that last day of mentoring had given me a fire I had never known. Making my pop proud was one thing. Making my girl proud was totally different and I wanted to see that look every single day.
I never thought I could love my job more, but she made it possible. Which, in turn, made me love her even more. I wanted to be a better man because of her. It’s rare that a woman can affect change in a man as stubborn as I was. Charli was that kind of woman.
Charli had changed everything.
1
Charli was fucking beautiful. When she was laughing while we sat around her place and we watched cheesy horror shows. When I caught her bonding with Mr. Belvedere by sneaking him treats the first weekend she stayed at my place. The cat loved her more than me with little effort on her part. When she was charming my neighbors when Finn insisted we have an impromptu dinner that same weekend.
It was getting colder and it rained off and on while Diego, Davis and I cooked, while Charli was working her magic on Stella and Harper. Gigi showed up midway through, Finn failing to act innocent. Charli lit up, the two gossiping about books, us, and I’m pretty sure Finn. I saw little parts of her, beautiful, sexy and charming as she won over every single person in my life.
It was almost three and a half weeks since my first weekend at her place. I spent all the time I could find with her, and Charli gave me plenty. At least three or four times a week I managed to sneak away for lunch with her. Which often ended with me buried deep inside her. We never got enough; I fucked her bent over her desk when I surprised her once, rough and hard, my hands clamped over her mouth so no one could hear.
One lunch at a pub ended when she worked my cock up beneath the table only to lead me to a bathroom where I pounded into her from behind while we watched in the filthy mirror.
A cold, windy day a walk back to the library ended when the wind kicked her skirt up, exposing her perfect ass. I took her into the nearest alley and dropped to my knees and punished her pussy since she thought it okay not to wear panties.
Oh it was more than dirty, reckless fucking. My sisters loved her, maybe as much as I did. After that cookout with Gigi, the two talked all the time and Gigi was ready to call her another Cooper woman. My place didn’t feel right when I was there without her now, so I rarely was. If I was there, so was she; both Mr. Belvedere and I would beg if we had to. The notes kept up and I bared just about all the parts of me to her and she did the same.
I learned about her prick of a father who left her to deal with the loss of her mom at the same time her fiancé and brothers were sent to fight in Afghanistan. He abandoned her and if I ever saw his face, I might break it. I learned more about the tiny town she came from.
How the expectations to mourn her fiancé forever had nearly drove her mad. We talked until the sun came up, lying in bed and laughing and sometimes crying together. I held her when she cried and then made love to her until she could feel nothing but me, us.
When she made us breakfast and sat in my t-shirt, feeding me and Mr. Belvedere as he cuddled on her lap, I wanted to tell her how much I loved her. I still had not said it. Not in words. I said it every single time I buried myself inside her, wanting to forget where I started and she ended.
I tried to say it in the hours long text sessions we had when I should have been studying. I whispered it to her when I held her as she slept in my arms, night after night, but I couldn’t say it to her. I couldn’t lose her and I was afraid once I said it, made it real, my girl would lace up those sneakers she talked about and hit the pavement. Back home, or worse, right here, she would run from me and break my heart.
Instead I did everything else I thought I should to show her. Charli knew all the people of my life, and they all knew how I felt. Sara still kept a cautious eye on us, which would piss me off if I didn’t love her for loving Charli so much. Harper and Stella talked teasingly about the future when we chatted in the halls and I made it clear it would without question, involve Charli.
We talked about that cautiously because I couldn’t think about a future without her. Not now. We had dinner with my entire family coming up and I was a nervous wreck. My sisters gave their stamp of approval weeks ago; it was Mom who worried me. Pop loved her too, he talked about her often and I knew I had been right with that off handed comment.
Charli might be the reason Pop was finally proud of me.
In just weeks my life had changed because of her. I worked, harder than I ever had before, and I went home to her. I showered her with flowers and midafternoon orgasms in her office or wherever she’d let me give them.
I cooked for her and introduced her to everyone important. I fixed up little things around the cottage for her and thought about a future with her in that place. I loved it there with her so often that’s where I was.
I never took the late night trips to O’Malley’s or any of the other pubs with the guys. I might stop in for a beer before I got off. I lasted just minutes before I knew I was wasting time I could be spending with my girl. Finn never said a word and I think it was because he knew it would be a waste of his time.
Finn was not the only one who noticed. Pop had long made it quietly known he didn’t approve of the badge bunny way of life. That had never been a lifestyle he had indulged in; it had been my mom and no one else for most his life. Pop was right of course; there was nothing exactly wrong with that life, but it certainly wasn’t one to be proud of.
I couldn’t even remember how I could have lived that way before Charli. A few weeks after we started dating, if that’s what you called what I considered the most significant relationship of my life, he caught me headed towards the cottage after work. Pop was not much of a talker, especially to me, so when he talked, I listened.
“You seem like...like a brand new man, son.” There was a quiet knowledge in his dark eyes and I knew he realized who had changed me.
“You know, I feel like it. Charli...I kind of feel like my life started once I met her. The stuff before was just me waiting for her.” Though we weren’t close, not that we didn’t love each other, I had never been so open with him.
“Seems Charli has been quite the catalyst. The girls speak highly of her, Gigi especially. Which we all know is a feat.” We laughed because Gigi was most like Mom, and mincing words was a waste of time to both women.
“Absolutely. The two are thick as thieves. Reminds me of Sara and Mom. I want Mom to meet her.... I just....” I sighed and stared out the window towards the cottage where my world waited for me.
“Cage,” Pop’s voice was as warm and gentle as I had ever heard it, “your mom will love her because you do. To see the change in you...son I was always proud of you, so damn proud when you joined the department. To see you become a man has been one of the most fulfilling things in my life. With Charli in your life, I see you becoming a man better than I could have hoped. I think your Mom might love her more than the girls because of how happy she has made you. That’s all we want, for all of you. The kind of happiness your mom and I have.” Well shit if tears didn’t sting my eyes to hear him say he was proud of me; with or without Charli.
“I always wanted it you know,” The cottage blurred as I opened up more than I ever had with him, “what you and Mom had. I told her once I was fucking around hoping to find it. I don’t know if that’s true, I think I was just being a guy who let things happen to me. When I met Charli...just like you always said, I knew. I know she is my future. Charli is the woman that centers me, gives me a reason to be safe out there, that will give me a family. I love her; more than I thought was possible.” Saying it out loud broke something in me and I felt lighter and freer than I ever had before.
“If your mom could hear you say that,” My pop sounded choked up and I whirled to face him, “you she was worried about. Because according to her I set the bar too high, the way I fell f
or her. First day I met her I knew. That doesn’t happen much so your Mom thought you might always search for something you might never find. I knew, son. I knew why you waited; you love like I do. All at once with an abandon that scares the wrong person. I just hope one day, if you have a son, you let him know how proud you are of him, how he doesn’t need his own love story to make you recognize what a good man he is.” My chest went tight and we both looked away and I knew I had Charli to thank for this too.
“I need you both to love her too. Charli is the most important thing to ever happen to me, Pop.” I felt a heavy hand on my shoulder and I almost broke down again.
“Well I already love her. I met her first,” He chuckled, the big sound filling the car between us and making me smile, “I didn’t know how she might do it, but I knew that pretty little angel was going to affect our lives somehow. I figured it would be Sara. Since....well since Griffin. Give her a break if she still gives you a hard time over Charli, son. Sara loved her like family before she set her boots down in Chicago.” I had learned in the weeks of being with Charli that the two were close, closer than my sisters. Sara lost a lot of people and I knew she couldn’t take it if I fucked up and she lost Charli too.
“I won’t hurt her. I just have to prove that to Sara by loving her more than Sara does. If that’s possible.” Pop laughed and we talked about me bringing my girl home at last. Dinner out at their place was set; I just had to convince Charli of it.
Which was easier said than done because I was nervous as fuck. Taking her home to meet my family was huge. We had discussed it, had joked about her brothers and I coming to blows if I ever met them. When I asked her two days ago to come home for the weekend with me, she had grown distant and cold.
By now I knew how to combat this so when I got off work today, I wasted no time. Letting myself into her place, smelling dinner cooking and hearing her music blaring, I could feel her tension filling the space up. Charli wasn’t in the kitchen so I headed upstairs, finding her in the office. Before I made it in, I heard her talking.
“Maybe two weeks? I need time to let Sara know. No I don’t need a ticket home I can drive. It really is the best decision. No...Cage doesn’t know yet.” My breath went thick in my lungs and my heart stopped. Literally stopped.
I thought she might run but I didn’t think she might really run home. This was her home now. I listened to her make more plans, talking about being gone for as long as it took. Two weeks. Didn’t sound like she would need much to get over me. I knew I couldn’t let her leave. Not without me reminding her how good this was. My sisters loved her, Sara loved her, and she was growing close with Lola and a few other girls at the library.
Gwen was the last piece to the puzzle and I feared I had put it off too long. If I had taken her to meet my parents sooner, she might not be so scared. Because now she knew what was at stake. She knew I was in love with her, even if I never said the words.
Charli knew me taking her home was the final risk we had to take. She didn’t know something though; if they loved her or not, I wasn’t letting her go. Charli was my life now, and they would get right with that or they wouldn’t.
“Hey Sugar,” I stepped into the room before she ended the call, “dinner smells amazing.” I loved coming home to her and finding her domestic and sexy but right now I could barely focus. I couldn’t lose her.
“Hey, baby,” Charli lit up when she saw me, smoothing out the raw edges her conversation was causing, “Maisie, tell Cash and Colton to behave till then, okay? Love you too, Mas.” Her sister in law. Mention of her brothers, who had for too long taken advantage of her, had me raw once again.
Charli hung up the land line, which I had insisted on after that power outage, and closed the distance between us. Though there was still tension in her eyes, there was also love. It hit me like a sledgehammer every time she looked at me that way.
Before I could reach her, she was on me, jumping into my arms, her bare legs going around my waist. My hands slid to cup her ass, finding it bare as a groan ripped through my chest. My girl knew better than to waste time with panties anymore. I just ripped them off.
Charli’s mouth was on mine and I tried to remember why I was upset. I couldn’t taste hesitation or fear in her kiss, in the press of her tongue at my lips, the tangle of her tongue with mine.
“I missed you, baby,” Charli moaned, though it had been less than five hours since I had seen her last, “dinner soon. Until then...” I spun to pin her to the wall, trying to focus but not wanting to ask.
“You running, baby?” My head tipped towards the phone and her eyes clouded. My chest ached when her teeth came out to nip at her lip.
“No. No, Cage,” Her breath huffed out and pushed her full tits against my chest, but I stayed focused, “I am absolutely terrified of meeting Gwen. She...she has to like me. But, that is not about running. I’ll explain. Later. Now...where was I?” Her hips rocked and I growled as her hot center lined up just right with my cock.
“Fuck I missed you too.” Then she was pushing me away and I frowned before she dropped to her knees on the plush carpet.
“Desert before dinner.”
Charli was fucking beautiful. As she yanked at the button of my jeans, then carefully shoved them away, her eyes were stunning. Watching me as she slid her tiny hand around my hard cock, I never wanted to think of someone else touching me again. Just her and her perfect hands. That perfect mouth. Groaning a string of curses as she wrapped it around my cock, I lost focus for a while.
My hands tangled in her thick, honey brown hair as I watched her work that sexy mouth around my hard cock. Her mouth was fucking magic. I got harder when she sucked me all the way back, my head hitting her throat as her cheeks hollowed out. Whimpers came from her throat, because turned it out she loved being dirty for me. Which also just made me harder.
The sun was darkening outside but as the soft orange burned through the windows, framing her beautiful face, I had never seen anything so beautiful. It wasn’t about the dirty deed. It was the love and the need and want in her beautiful eyes. Charli wanted to please me, wanted to make me as mindless as I made her.
I thought maybe she was better at it than I was. I thought maybe she was trying to distract me, but as I watched her pleasing me, my hands rough in her hair, I didn’t care. The ache from the thought of losing her was gone for now. Replaced by the ache of love and need her mouth and those eyes and every little piece of her stirred inside me. Maybe she was running. Didn’t matter, I made her a promise. I would chase. I would always chase.
1
“Charli is amazing.” Gwen hushed to me a few days after that dirty welcome home.
We had agreed on a weekend stay at the cabin by my parents’ place. After of course, she spent two hours with me deep inside her, promising her they would adore her. How could they not?
My sisters were firmly team Charli and with Pop on her side too, Gwen was the last holdout. Not much of one, I learned soon enough. The minute I told Mom I wanted to bring Charli for the weekend, she went into hysterics.
They had to get the house ready, the cabin too. Oh why did I not give her enough time? Between shouting at Pop to get the cabin ready for our special guest, and gushing about how excited she was, I figured it out.
Charli had no one to win over. I didn’t need to worry about Gwen not loving her. Because I loved her, even if I hadn’t said it, so just like Pop said, my Mom loved her already.
After the short drive up in Charli’s truck, I didn’t bother owning a car, we were greeted by the entire family. I think I was more nervous than Charli was to see them all standing on the wide wraparound porch of my parents’ home. Within minutes of greeting her, Mom had Charli wrapped in her arms and then she took her away to the kitchen. I didn’t see her for hours. I thought it was maybe a good sign.
I hung back with Pop, Miles and Parker as we waited for the decision. When they called us for dinner and I saw my girl excited and flush faced, I knew things wer
e good. Things were great.
“Yeah she is.” My mom hooked her arm around mine as I helped her with the food, gushing about Charli the minute she was out of earshot.
“Lord the woman is stunning too,” Mom clucked her tongue in approval, slapping my bicep as if impressed, “I mean I know my boy is beautiful but lord, that girl....so smart and funny and she can cook. So what’s wrong with her? Am I missing something?” We laughed because she was teasing, knowing I was nervous.
“No she is just about as perfect as she seems. I’m pretty sure Sara has told you that, Mom.” She laughed and I hugged her close, so relieved I could lift her up and kiss her for giving me this. It was huge and we both knew it.
“Oh she might have mentioned the girl a few times. Or maybe it was Gigi, who gushes about her nonstop. That girl has you picking out rings. Regan thinks Charli tamed you. Is that the case, Cage? Have you seen the error of your whore ways?” My eyes flew to the dining room where Charli and Pop were busy setting the table.
“Mom! For one, I was never a whore,” I rolled my eyes and hoped I could one day live that shit down, “but the answer to that is a fuck yes. Charli has tamed me. Everything about me. Do...Mom do you really like her?” Gwen’s mossy hazel eyes, so much like my own, swung to the dining room, a thoughtful look on her face.
“Cage...ask me after dinner.” That was not the answer I wanted, but I relented and carried said dinner out to the table.
We all talked and laughed and Gigi made a federal case for how amazing my girl was. I realized something as I sat there, letting her gush.
Gigi was a champion for me and Charli; had been from the beginning. I was still not okay with the idea of her and Finn, which they still denied despite me catching her at the firehouse looking positively guilty last week.
But if she cared about him, I wanted to support it. Even if she didn’t, if it was just fun for her, I wanted to support her. When I was ready, which I wasn’t just yet, I would tell her just that. After dinner, I waited for my Mom’s opinion and she wasted no time.
