Since I left work earlier I didn’t have to fight through rush hour traffic so it didn’t take me long to get home.
“Ollie!” I called out as I walked through the door and he ran to me. I smiled when he jumped over my legs and licked at my pedicured feet. “Come here.” I said and scooped him up into my arms. Even though Ollie was a German shepherd, he was still a puppy. Ollie was going to be my medicine this weekend because he wouldn’t judge me for crying my heart out. He’d love me no matter what and stay by my side. He snuggled in my arms and I kissed his soft fur as we walked into my bedroom. It’s been a long time since I had an afternoon nap and right now I could use one. I lied down with Ollie still wearing my sexy lavender chiffon suit and thought about Charles one more time before I fell asleep.
When I woke up it was dark in my room and Ollie was nowhere to be found. I stretched my arms over my head and got out of bed. I quickly stripped off my clothes and went into the bathroom to take a shower. Once I was done and warmly wrapped in my towel, Ollie made his way into the bathroom and barked.
“Who told you that you could leave me?” I said while laughing. I knew he was hungry, hell I was hungry. I dried myself off and put on a robe and walked into the kitchen. I poured food in Ollie’s bowl and took some left over steak out of the refrigerator. Unfortunately as I ate my steak I started thinking about Charles. I couldn’t get over how much different Charles looked in a suit compared to his normal “cowboy” get up. He was so laid back and easy to talk to it was no wonder that we slept together. Our attraction to each other was undeniable, but he had a woman already.
“Is it honestly cheating when he’s purchasing a bride?” I asked as I bit into the delicious meat. Charles definitely had a good head on his shoulders, but why the hell was he doing this? I’m actually surprised that he’s not embarrassed about the set-up because from what he told me everybody knew. If I was him I don’t think that I could respect Joanna enough to promise to spend my life with her. I know I kept telling myself that it wasn’t any of my business, but I loved Charles and if he’s that lonely he should just be with me. I’m not desperate or anything and I wasn’t in a hurry to marry him like he was with this woman, but he owes it to himself to go out with a woman who he’s actually spent time with.
“Policy or not I need to talk to him.” I stood up and walked over towards the table in front of my door that housed my keys. It was against my policy to interfere with the lives of my clients, but I couldn’t let him marry this woman. I know that I’d be losing a client and money, but losing someone you cared about was much worse. Just as my fingers was reaching out to pick up my phone, Charles’ familiar name went across my screen.
****
I agreed to meet Charles at Nicki’s, a cute little diner, over breakfast to discuss something important with him. Last night when he called, Charles didn’t even let me speak and he sounded frantic about something. The only thing he told me was we needed to speak urgently and that it couldn’t wait until Monday morning. He was running fifteen minutes late and I was starting to feel a little anxious.
“May I get you some more coffee ma’am?” An attractive waiter came over and smiled at me. He’s been checking up on me every five minutes since I came in and I wasn’t oblivious to the fact that he was attracted to me.
“Yes, thank you.” I said politely and he nodded his head and grabbed my mug. As soon as the waiter disappeared out of sight I saw Charles rushing in through the door. I stood up nervously and waved my hand to him. He saw me and quickly walked over to me and grabbed a seat.
“I’m sorry that I’m late Stephanie,” Charles said as he took off his signature hat and placed it on the table. “Traffic was bad and I really didn’t get too much sleep last night so I woke up late.” He said and I saw his face flush. Wow, was he thinking about me last night like I was thinking about him?
“It’s alright.” I said with my voice shaking a little. “I didn’t sleep that well last night either.” I watched Charles fumble in his seat and I was starting to grow a little more concerned. I’ve never seen him this way before and it was shocking to see him clearly uncomfortable.
“Hello sir, may I get you some coffee as well?” the waiter asked looking over at Charles. The waiter’s face didn’t have any of the softness that he had for me and he seemed a little annoyed about Charles arrival. I wanted to smile because I knew that the young waiter was jealous, but I was worrying too much about Charles at that moment.
“Yes please,” Charles said and looked up at the boy. “I already know what I want. Can you bring me a steak omelet with some toast?” The boy nodded his head and wrote down Charles order on his scratch pad. I ordered some bacon and eggs and the boy smiled brilliantly at me and said that our food would be ready shortly. When he left Charles stared straight at me. “Joanna is flying into town Thursday night and wants our wedding to be held on Friday.” My face flushed when he told me that.
“What?” I said in disbelief. “She’s arriving ahead of schedule and we’ve already booked Mystique for your wedding venue for August! There’s no way I’ll be finished in time for Friday.” I was shocked that the woman was coming into town sooner, but her expectations were impossible. There are still things that needs to be done that can’t happen in several days.
“I’ve called Mystique and their allowing our wedding to be held on Friday. All I need for you to do is to maybe speed up your process a little bit. I’m willing to pay you extra for this too, Stephanie.”
“Charles,” I said as I stared into his torn face. I thought that maybe he wanted to talk about what happened between us the other night. I couldn’t believe that he was actually trying to go through with this woman’s crazy demands. I didn’t even care about the extra money he was willing to pay me, I had to tell him how I felt. “I don’t think that you should do this.” He raised his eyebrow and narrowed his eyes.
“Now I know that you think that you won’t be able to do this, but I’ve seen your work. Have a little more confidence in yourself.” I shook my head. That wasn’t what I meant and I needed him to understand.
“No, I don’t think you should go through with this marriage.” I finally said and he stared at me blankly. “Look, I don’t know why you decided to go with the whole ‘mail order bride’ option, but I think that you deserve better than that. What happened between us the other day was amazing and even though I’m not trying to marry you, it’s way too soon, but I think we have a connection.” I blushed and stopped when the waiter came back over with our food and I looked away from Charles as he stared at me. “Thank you.” I told the waiter and he smiled for me.
“Enjoy the food.” He said to me before he walked away from us.
“Stephanie, I’m not a man that goes back on what I decide to do. I’m stubborn. Always have been and always will be. It’s in my cowboy blood.” I looked him in his eyes then and I felt my face beginning to flush. I began picking at my food then trying to force myself to eat. “I understand how you feel and if I would have known you first, then I probably wouldn’t be going through with this. I’ve messed up once and I don’t want it to happen again. This wedding is going to happen Stephanie and I need you to plan a gorgeous one.” There was nothing I had to say to that. I kept my eyes on my food and we ate in silence.
“Here’s your bill and thanks for dining with us today.” The waiter told us and grinned at me again before he walked off. Charles slapped some bills on the table and got up.
“I’ll contact you again on Monday morning. Thank you for all of your help and for meeting me on such short notice.” Charles grabbed his hat and walked off without another word. Without thinking, I pushed to my feet and ran after him and when I finally caught up with him, he was getting into his car.
“Charles!” I called out his name and opened the passenger side of his car door.
“Stephanie, what are you doing?” he asked me and I didn’t respond. I slammed the car door shut, took his face in my hands, and kissed him hard on the
lips.
Chapter Six
I didn’t care if people were walking passed Charles’ car and watching us. The only thing that I cared about was Charles. He struggled against me a little bit and tried to gently push me away from him, but I wrapped my arms around his neck and refused to let him go. My tongue probed around his mouth and I could taste the bitter coffee that lined his mouth.
“Mm…” I moaned when he relaxed into the kiss and began sucking on my tongue. I placed my hand on his muscular thigh and I could feel him throbbing.
“Not here.” Charles whispered and I finally allowed him to pull away from me. “We’ll come back to get your car later. I’m sure it’ll be fine here.” With that said Charles started his car and quickly sped off down the road. I was sure if he kept speeding that we’d get pulled over, but I never saw the red and blue lights as we made our way to his house. He lived in a nice house, one of the best looking ones on this side of town. The house was white and blue and the lawn was kept trimmed and tidy and the inside of his house was equally beautiful.
“Your house is gorgeous.” I said as I took in the leather furniture. He shrugged and closed the door tightly behind him and pulled me into him. He placed his warm mouth over mine and gripped my ass tightly in his hands.
“You’re gorgeous.” He whispered and picked me up. I wanted to look at the rest of his house, but my mind went hazy as he made love to me with his mouth.
“Charles.” I whispered his name as he kicked opened a door and seconds later I was sprawled on my back on his king size bed. He unbuttoned his vest and threw it to the side and his cowboy hat followed. I watched him strip off his clothes and I admired the muscles that rippled. Once he was finished with his own clothes he bent down and went straight for mine. “Your hands are cold.” I commented as his cool fingers brushed against my skin once he had undressed me.
“It’s alright; you’ll be sweating in no time.” I blushed then gasped when he began kissing and sucking on my neck, definitely an erogenous zone of mine. I gripped his thick hair and pushed him down softly when he began travelling down the length of my body.
“Charles” I whispered again when he began tonguing my belly button. I squirmed under him and then I pushed his head down even lower. “Ah! Charles!” I screamed once his head was where I wanted it to be. He took my clitoris between his lips and sucked on it gently. He was definitely talented when it came to his mouth and I knew that I could get used to his talents. “I want to do you too.” He said nothing as he moved from above me and pulled me up. Charles lied down on his back and I hovered above him with my lower half facing his face. I stroked up and down his length with my hands gently and he pulsed and quivered with my touch. When he brought his head back to me I lowered my mouth on him.
“Ah, that’s good.” He moaned and I sucked him slowly and deeply. I moaned when he followed my motions and after a while I felt myself coming hard.
“Ah! Ah! Charles!” I shuddered and picked up the pace with my mouth because I wanted him to come as well.
“That’s enough.” He said and pushed me away from him. He moved from under me and slammed me back onto the bed. Reaching on the floor he grabbed a condom out of his pants pocket and pulled it over his length and positioned himself at my entrance. “I can’t hold back any longer.” He said and rammed himself deep inside of me and I howled out in pain. He did me fast and frantic but he also took good care of me as well. He made sure that I felt good and when I didn’t, he readjusted himself. It took a lot to match his movement because I was so close to the edge and I wasn’t ready to come yet. I wanted to feel his body longer because I didn’t know if this was going to be the end of us. “You’re driving me crazy.” Charles said and gripped my hips to bring me up harder into him and I cried out from pain and pleasure.
“No more!” I couldn’t take it any longer and I came hard while trailing a line of fresh scratch marks down his back. “I love you.” I accidently said and I closed my eyes when his head quickly looked over in my direction. I didn’t want to face him and I was embarrassed that I was stupid enough to let that slip. He didn’t say anything as he continued thrusting deeper into me. After a few more rough thrusts, he came hard.
“Shit!” he groaned and had to catch himself before he fell and crushed my body. I kept my eyes closed as he gasped above me and I wrapped my arms around his shuddering body. I didn’t know what he was thinking, but he didn’t pull away from me as I held him.
“I love you.” I said again and patted his back.
****
Charles drove me back to the diner in silence and I was sure that I was beet red. Not only was I rejected, he didn’t speak to me after we had sex, but I could feel that he was done with me and I couldn’t help but to feel hurt about it.
“Here we are.” He said pulling up at the diner right next to my car.
“Thank you.” I said with a small voice. What else was there to say? I wanted to ask him what he was thinking but I was afraid of the answer that I was going to receive. Without saying anything else I got out of his car and walked over to mines. After I made sure everything was in order I got in and as soon as I shut the door he sped off again down the road. I willed myself to not cry and I started my car and made my way back home. I needed a drink very badly and I wanted to eat the chocolate ice cream that I bought the other week at the store. I knew I was being childish, but I didn’t care. Cliché or not I was going to do it until my heart stopped hurting and I can finally breathe again.
Chapter Seven
During the next several days, I canceled all of my appointments to work solely on Charles’ approaching wedding. We didn’t talk about the incredible sex that we had or the fact that I told him that I loved him, we just kept it professional. He wore a blank expression as we discussed the layout of the wedding and I had tried my best to keep a calm demeanor. However, every day when he left my office, I closed my door and lied my head down on the table. When Wednesday came we were completely done with the preparations. I had somehow managed to pull it off but I wasn’t happy about it. I’d be losing the man that I loved to a woman who he didn’t even know, so how could I be happy about it?
“Thank you so much for your help Stephanie.” Charles said and gave me a pleasant smile. I managed a simple smile and a curt nod.
“You’re welcome, after all I do aim to please.” He stood up and I followed as I extended my hand to his. This’ll probably be the last time that I saw him so I might as well feel his warmth for one last time. He reached out and took my hand gently and bent down to kiss it. I blushed and watched his smooth lips caress the skin of my shaking hand. He looked up at me then and I saw tenderness in his eyes.
“Goodbye.” He whispered and I nodded my head. I was too choked up and I knew that I’d sob if I said anything else to him. He turned around and walked out of my office. I gave Karla the day off so as soon as I heard his car start up and pulling away, I sat down heavily in my seat and cried. I didn’t know what to make of him kissing my hand, but I’m pretty sure that it was his way of telling me goodbye. I knew that it was going to happen so I didn’t know why it shook me up so bad but it did.
“It’s because I love him.” I whispered to myself and picked up my belongings. My office was scheduled to close in another two hours, but I was the boss and I had no other appointments today. One of the perks of being the boss was that I could leave at any time that I wanted. Right now I didn’t even want to look at my office because all it would do was remind me of the wedding that I planned that would ultimately be the end of me.
****
Friday dragged on slowly as I sat at home in my nightgown at six in the evening with Ollie resting on my legs. I decided to take the day off because I wasn’t fully where I wanted to be emotionally. I wasn’t crying anymore because I was starting to annoy myself, but I didn’t feel happy either. Who would have known that a job that I loved doing so much would cause me to fall in love with an engaged man?
“I did this to myself.�
� I said as I stroked Ollie’s fur. If I would’ve kept my meetings with Charles more professional then I wouldn’t be hurting right now. “I bet he’s standing at the altar right now.” Charles said that his bride wanted an evening wedding because it was more romantic. I could picture her walking down the aisle with a beautiful white dress that hugged her slim body. The thought of that made me sick and I turned on the TV to drown the screaming in my head.
I sat there watching TV with Ollie until he eventually got up and went into my room. Apparently my mood made Ollie uncomfortable since he wasn’t able to make me feel better.
“Booze will work.” I said and stood up to walk over to my refrigerator. I still had a half a bottle of Vodka left and it was calling my name. Before I made it to the refrigerator, my doorbell rung followed by several knocks. “Who the hell is that?” I whispered to myself and quickly went into my room and grabbed my robe. I closed the door to my room because I didn’t want Ollie to come running out towards the door. “Who is it?” I called out and I received no answer. I wasn’t expecting any visitors so I expected it to be someone selling something, but when I opened the door I gasped in surprise. “Charles?” I said as I looked at the man dressed in a dark suit with his hair slicked back. He looked absolutely gorgeous. Charles took that opportunity to capture my gapping mouth in his.
“I couldn’t do it.” Charles whispered to me and I wrapped my arms around him and felt tears falling down my face. “I couldn’t marry Joanna when I’m in love with you.” Hearing Charles say that to me made my sobs grow louder. There was so many things that I wanted to ask him. I wanted to ask him where Joanna was at and if he abandoned her at the altar. I wanted to know why he didn’t come to me sooner because I’ve been so miserable. “I’m so sorry.” Charles said and took me into another kiss. The feelings that ran through my body then was unexplainable. I had the man that I loved in my arms and even though I felt sorry for the woman who travelled all the way from Germany to marry him, he wasn’t meant to be with her because he was meant to be with me.
Romance: My Stepbrother's Plaything Page 6
