“I was devastated. I threw myself into work and I forgot how to live. I hope you know that was the gift that you gave me before. You showed me how to run a business, but you also showed me how to have something outside of that. Before you, I was always business, in my own way. I kept my focus on school and baking and getting my bakery off the ground. Then you came along and I had a new way to spend my time. I had to figure out a balance between work and something else. It was good for me. You were good for me. You always have been. No matter what my uncle thinks or what you try to convince yourself.”
The knot in Preston’s throat just got harder and harder to swallow. He wasn’t certain whether or not she was going to accept his apologies, but he certainly knew he didn’t deserve it. He’d made a lot of mistakes and the worst of them had been his unwillingness to take a chance on being really and truly happy with Charlotte. Yes, her uncle had threatened his business, but he could have put up more of a fight than he had. He hadn’t even tried and now here she was in front of him lecturing him about how wrong he had been to cast all of that aside.
“Charlotte, I don’t deserve you. He was right about that. I should have put up more of a fight for what we had together, but you’re far better at all of this than I ever have been. You’re the first thing in my life that’s been good and I talked myself into thinking that I could never be good for you without even asking. If you’re willing to give me another chance, then I’m going to stop listening to that stupid voice in my head that keeps telling me I’m not good enough for you and start listening to yours, instead.”
He had no way of knowing how she was going to respond to any of that. He wouldn’t have blamed her for turning around and walking out of his office right now without another word. Preston hadn’t fought for what they had together, so why would she want that back?
Charlotte stood there for a moment, and he could see the way the wheels were turning behind her eyes. She was planning something. He wasn’t certain whether it was how to tell him that he was full of crap and walk away or if she were considering giving him a third chance after he had already screwed up twice. He just knew that, normally, he wouldn’t have given someone as many chances as he was asking for.
She nodded, leaning forward and tucking her hands into her pockets before she stood up and ran her fingers through his hair. He’d forgotten how much he missed her touch and there wasn’t much he wouldn’t give to have it back in that moment. He could only hope this wasn’t her way of saying goodbye once and for all. All he could do was wait for reply.
“I’ve been miserable since you told me you didn’t want me anymore, I need you to know that. If we’re going to do this, you can’t do that to me again, no matter what happens. If we end this again, it’s for good, and I’m going to tell my aunt and uncle all of it this time. I’m not keeping it from them, just so my uncle has no leverage against you. Besides, they are my family, and if I’m happy then they’re going to hear about it.”
Charlotte wasn’t asking anything that wasn’t fair, so he could do nothing but agree.
“Fair enough, but I’m going to have to insist we do it sooner rather than later.” He intended to get this over with as quickly as possible. If he was going to have to deal with fallout from the board or trustees then he was going to need as much time as possible to prepare himself.
“I usually have dinner with them on Sunday. You can come along, and don’t worry about the board. Aunt Amelia is going to read him the riot act this weekend. He’s not going to be able to use me as leverage against you anymore.”
“That’s a relief, at least. I’ll be glad if they know anyway. It’ll take care of a lot of things. Sunday it is then.” It only left him two days to prepare for lunch with Howard and Amelia Specter. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t met them before, but this was under an entirely different set of circumstances. It appeared he had at least Charlotte and Amelia on his side so he wasn’t going into this all alone. Now, he just had to convince Howard that this was all for the best.
Chapter 9
Charlotte was more than a little nervous at the prospect of dinner with her aunt and uncle this weekend. She hadn’t called to confirm things with them yet, but she was fairly certain they were going to welcome her. They usually did unless they were going to be out of town. She happened to know that they were going to be home this weekend and she knew that Amelia had her back about all of this. It was going to go how it was going to go, but she was determined to convince Uncle Howard to let her make her own decisions.
When she had found out that her uncle had been the cause for the ending of her relationship with Preston, her first response was to rage at being treated like a child. She was a grown woman with a business she had started up and was running on her own, but Uncle Howard thought that she needed him to decide who she should and should not be dating. It was endlessly frustrating. She was going to make sure that he took her seriously from here on out.
All she had to do now was make the phone call and tell them she had be joining them for dinner on Sunday. She just didn’t intend to tell them that she had be bringing a companion with her for dinner and she certainly wasn’t telling them who he was. She was sure that Aunt Amelia wouldn’t be surprised, given that she had been the one to tell Charlotte about her uncle’s scheme just yesterday, but it was more than likely going to be a shock for Uncle Howard.
“Well, Andy,” Charlotte leaned down to run a hand across the back of the cat that curled around between her feet under the table, “I guess I have to call sooner or later, right?”
The only answer she got in return was a soft meow as he nuzzled into her palm.
“You’re right. I should go ahead and call them. I mean I’m just asking to come to dinner on Sunday like usual, right? It’s not like they’re going to know anything is up, at least not until we show up together. It’s just that I’m a terrible liar and I’m worried that Uncle Howard is going to know I’m not being one hundred percent honest.”
Charlotte had no idea why she was sitting here saying all of this to a cat. Andy wasn’t going to answer her and if he did then she had bigger problems than trying to make sure that her uncle didn’t figure out she was hiding something from him. All that was left to do was to actually work up the courage to dial the phone.
She picked it up a half a dozen times and put it back down again almost immediately. All she could do was keep rehearsing what she was going to say to her Uncle when he picked up the phone. It all depended on what he was going to say when she mentioned that she was going to come over for dinner on Sunday.
It was really simple. She really had no idea why she was making such a big deal of all of this, except that she wasn’t used to hiding things from anyone. Finally, she took a deep breath, picked up the phone and dialed the number before she could change her mind, though she almost hung up as soon as she heard the first ring. It was only the fact that Andy meowed angrily at her the second she pulled the phone away from her ear that stopped her from ending the call before her uncle picked up the other end of the line.
“Hello?” She recognized the voice at once. It was the same one she had known all her life, though there was more of an edge to it than she had realized before. Maybe it was because her idea of him was colored by the fact that he had tried to blackmail her boyfriend into breaking up with her. That kind of behavior wasn’t something she had realized he was capable of before now, maybe she really was naïve.
“Hello, Uncle Howard” She tried to keep her voice even to avoid giving anything away before she was ready.
“Charlotte!” At least he sounded excited to hear from her, though she doubted the sincerity of it at the moment. “It’s always good to hear from you. To what do I owe the pleasure of your call this evening?”
This was the moment that she had been practicing for, though she wasn’t entirely certain why. It was no different than the dozens of other times that she had made a similar phone call. She just had to make sure she didn’t break and give e
verything away in a babbling confession once she started talking.
“Well, I was just hoping that you and Aunt Amelia wouldn’t mind me coming over for dinner tomorrow. I know it’s kind of last minute and all but, I was really hoping to see the two of you this weekend.” She could have gone on babbling and making excuses for wanting to do exactly what she had done almost every weekend since moving to Denver.
“Of course, my dear girl. We’d love to have you over. You know you never need to ask as long as we’re in town.” It was the most predictable answer she could have gotten. Suddenly, she felt very silly and stupid to have been worrying so much about everything.
“I just didn’t want to show up unexpectedly. I know how Aunt Amelia doesn’t like surprises.” Something told Charlotte that Aunt Amelia was going to be far less surprised than her Uncle Howard at what was in store for tomorrow.
“Ah, well I’ll make sure that she knows to expect you. I’m sure she’ll be thrilled to see you again. I know we both will, as a matter of fact. It’s been awhile since you stopped by. She was just saying the other day how much she missed you.”
Maybe Aunt Amelia missed Charlotte less than Uncle Howard thought she did considering the two of them had been together on Friday for a long talk. It was clear that he had no idea what had happened between the two of them, or that she knew that he had been the reason that Preston had ended things between the two of them. It was hard for her not to say anything, but she had been the one who texted Amelia to make sure that she waited until Sunday after lunch to say something. Her aunt knew she was coming to dinner. She just didn’t know that she wasn’t coming alone.
Charlotte had told Aunt Amelia that she wanted to talk to Uncle Howard herself about everything that had happened. It was just that she wasn’t going to do it alone. She and Preston both had a say in what was going to happen from here on out. Her uncle wasn’t going to be able to bully them both together into doing whatever he wanted them to do and with Amelia’s help he would hopefully give up this ridiculous crusade of his to keep the two of them apart. But there was really no way to know what his reaction was going to be until they showed up at his front door.
There was still every possibility he was going to continue and push things, that he had chance his relationship with Amelia because of a dumb vendetta. She thought she knew her uncle well enough to think he wouldn’t push things that far, but she had also thought she knew him well enough to know that he wouldn’t have tried to sneak around and split the two of them up in the way that he had before. Honestly, there was no predicting what he was going to do. It might all depend on his mood, but surprising him gave them an upper hand. They could plead their case to him before he was prepared to pull the trigger on the consequences he had threatened. It might be their only chance to get through to him before he did something drastic. On the other hand, he may just concede the point to them immediately once he was faced with both his wife and his niece in opposition to him.
Charlotte was busily planning for the worst-case scenario so hard that she was nearly distracted from the conversation she had been having with her uncle.
“Oh, what? Yeah. It has been awhile since I’ve been over there. Things have just been really busy with the bakery so I haven’t had time to stop by, sorry.” She tried to sound apologetic, even though she was panicking inside.
“It’s fine, my dear. Just don’t be a stranger from now on?” She could hear the inclination in his voice rise at the end of the sentence in question.
“Of course not, Uncle Howard. I know you and Aunt Amelia will always make me feel welcome at your home.” There was a bit of an edge to her statement, though she hoped her uncle wouldn’t catch onto her full meaning just yet. In the end, whether she felt welcome there or not was entirely going to depend on his reaction to things.
“Well, I’ll look forward to seeing you tomorrow afternoon, then. Have a good evening, my dear girl.”
“You too, Uncle Howard. Please tell Aunt Amelia I said hello and that I love her.”
Charlotte waited to hear the click on the other end of the line to let her know that he had hung up the phone before she did the same. There was a reason she had called her uncle instead of her aunt. Aunt Amelia had a clue about what was up, though she didn’t know the full story. She hadn’t wanted her to give anything away before the time came for all of them to confront him about what he had done.
Charlotte wasn’t naturally a confrontational person and the proposition of standing up to Uncle Howard was daunting at best. He was a businessman and probably one of the best negotiators she had ever met, except for one person — Preston Pierce. Having him on her side and at her side meant she could work up the courage she needed to get this done. It wasn’t fair for Uncle Howard to think that he could push her around behind her back or to her face the way that he had done. He needed to know that it wasn’t alright and that she wasn’t going to stand for it any longer. All that was left to do was wait until the two of them arrived at the house and found out what was actually going to happen.
Preston was supposed to have his driver pick her up at noon tomorrow for the two of them to head out to the house. It wasn’t a long drive, but the wait until then was going to seem like forever. Charlotte knew just one thing that would take her mind off everything until that happened. She pushed back from the table and walked into the kitchen to grab her apron.
“Well Andy, it looks like I’m making a few dozen cupcakes to keep my mind off things. What do you think about lemon and raspberry?”
Andy looked at her with an unchanging expression and simply meowed.
“That’s what I thought, too. Let’s get started.” Charlotte laughed at the cat walking around the legs of the table and started to get out her supplies for baking. She knew where everything was located at, having committed her entire kitchen to memory ages ago. At least baking could get her mind off the possibilities that tomorrow held. Besides, it would give her a chance to drop by Preston’s later to give him whatever she was going to come up with, like she needed an excuse to see him.
The two of them had gotten back together only yesterday evening and of course they’d spent the night together. She had been nervous to be in his presence again and as excited as she was that they were speaking again she still realized there were some serious issues they needed to discuss. Preston had said some pretty deep and profound things about not wanting a future with Charlotte and not being able to provide the sort of things a young woman her age desired. She wasn’t sure how much of that was him trying to drive her away and how much of it was unfortunate truth.
Those thoughts though didn’t keep her from his arms. She couldn’t resist when he had reached out a hand to touch her cheek or when he slipped his hand behind her neck and pulled her in for a soft kiss. Her hands had instinctively gone to his chest as they both deepened the kiss. She had wanted more, she had instantly felt her body tingling, responding to his touch as she pressed her body against his but Preston insisted they take some time to discuss things. She could feel Preston’s response as well, firm and thick against her belly when she pressed her breast against his chest. She understood and tried to respect his wishes but it left her frustrated and achy all last night and this morning.
Even though it had only been a few hours, she was already ready to see him again. The sexual frustration spurred her on, determined to either seduce him with her body or her cupcakes. Charlotte had spent too long without him to waste any time that she could be spending with him now, and a batch of fresh cupcakes was going to be too tempting for her not to run off and share at the first opportunity. Now all that was left to do was to start baking and see what she could come up with using her nerves as inspiration.
Chapter 10
Sunday afternoon came before either Charlotte or Preston were fully prepared for it. Though, the two of them had both been planning what was about to happen with each other since Friday night. Howard Specter was the last person he ever thought he was going to be u
p against. That was the only thing he was certain about. The man who had taught him how to negotiate was probably the most formidable person he was ever going to face. Not just because Howard knew all the tricks he had learned over the years, but because until now, the two of them had always been on the same side.
The car ride from his place to Charlotte’s had been longer than usual, but since he had picked her up he at least had someone else to share the tension with. They’d seen each other Friday and Saturday night when she’d shown up at his front door with a couple of dozen cupcakes. Her plan to seduce him had worked like a charm. It wasn’t long after showing up at his place he had her spread out on the counter in the kitchen, licking lemon icing from her erect nipples as she writhed beneath him. He had brought her body back to life over and over again before leaving her limp and satiated in his arms.
Now that they were trying to make things work again, he was bound and determined to get as much time with her as possible. She’d only wound up back at her own place this morning so she could shower and get dressed before lunch time, and he had picked her up as soon as was reasonable afterwards.
Preston had done a lot of thinking since Friday evening and now that he had Charlotte back in his life, he was going to do whatever it took to keep her in his life. Meeting with her aunt and uncle today was just the first step in the process. If he was going to be important in her life then he needed to be upfront with her family and the people that meant the most to her. He couldn’t meet her parents just yet and he already knew Howard and Amelia. Being upfront with them about their relationship was a small way he could show her he was committed to all of this.
They were only a few minutes from the Specter residence, and Charlotte was curled into his side watching the scenery pass by out the window. He could tell from the look on her face that she was scared about what was going to happen today. All he could do was pull her in closer to his chest and press a kiss to the crown of her head.
Sweet Seduction: A Billionaire Virgin Romance Page 7
