Chapter 2
It was always a little disconcerting for Preston to fall asleep to Charlotte in bed with him and wake up alone instead of wrapped around her. There were, of course, days each week when she was still there. The bakery was always closed on Sundays, and Preston made a point to push off any work until Monday on those days. He was bound and determined to make things work this time. She’d given him two chances already, and he was certain that he didn’t deserve a third. Though, he was bound to make sure that he wasn’t going to have to ask for a third. He promised himself he would do whatever it took to make her confident that she was the most important thing in his life.
Life had changed so much for him in the few weeks. He could hardly believe that it had only been two weeks since she’d officially moved into the penthouse with him and ended the lease on the tiny apartment she’d been renting on the other side of town. He’d had plenty of space up here, more than enough for two people, though he’d always lived alone. Charlotte was the first person he’d wanted to share all of this with. She was the only person he wanted to share anything with, it was the reason he’d asked her to marry him. He knew he didn’t want to go another day without sharing every moment with her.
They were due to make this final in less than six weeks. It was already nearing the end the of April, and they’d set a date for June 2nd. It was the first date available at any of the venues they’d chosen, though it had taken some extra money to book somewhere at such a late date. Money didn’t really matter to Preston. What did matter was that Charlotte was happy though he was wondering if that were really the case as the days she spent with him wore on.
There was so much that he wanted to do with her, and there was far more to it than just the marriage. He’d kept a part of himself on lockdown for far too long. It had been easy to do when the women who went through his life were temporary partners who were using him for a good time as much as he was using them. He’d never had the urges that he felt around Charlotte with any of them.
When he was younger, there had been several instances when he’d been far too intense for the women he’d tried dating. Preston hadn’t always been the kind of man he’d become by the time that Charlotte had come along. He’d tried to have several relationships back when he was just an up-and-coming nobody getting his first business off the ground with the help of Howard Specter, and he’d had several women run screaming from him when he showed who he really was. The rejection had not only taught him to keep that part of himself shut away from everyone in his life, but also to feel ashamed of his desires. He hadn’t had those desires in years, maybe he wouldn’t allow himself to want them but with Charlotte it was like an ever growing itch that he needed to scratch.
Preston hadn’t asked her to marry him just to keep her in his life. He did want her in his life, but he really and truly wanted to spend his life with her. He wanted to share every part of that with her including the things that he’d kept from everyone else for so long. He just didn’t know how she was going to respond to all of it. The two of them had been through so much already, and at every turn, she gave him hope that she was going to be the person he could completely be himself with. She had already showed that she loved him for him that her trust and loyalty were true and pure.
That meant just one thing. He was going to have to come clean with her and tell her what he wanted. The part of him that he’d kept locked away was so much darker than the light that she’d brought into his life. It was very strange how much they contrasted each other. It even showed through in their physical appearance. She was young, bright, bubbly, and dressed like a preschool teacher most of the time. He loved her flouncy skirts and beautiful curls that cascaded down her back, they even bounced when she walked.
He was older, dark, severe even and often could be found decked in a suit. Sophie often joked that he was a bit of a stiff shirt. Preston didn’t mind the jest, he liked uniformity in his life and control… to say he was a control freak was a serious understatement. It extended further than that though. He had this desire to dominate her, to see her submit to him and beg for pleasure and it was more than he was going to be able to keep denying for very long.
Preston felt like he owed it to Charlotte to be honest with her before the two of them committed to this any more deeply than they already had. He had hope that she was going to be open to trying things out with him though he knew he was going to have to take it slow for both their sakes. It had been a long time since he’d explored this part of himself, and everything that the two of them tried was going to be a first for her. It was one of the great things about being with her. Preston got to explore her responses to everything, it was intoxicating to watch her explore desires and experience sensations for the first time. He couldn’t deny that her being a virgin when they first met was a thought that he’d pleasured himself to multiple times. The thought of defiling her innocent body was a fantasy he was fixated on.
Now, he just needed to find a time to bring it up with her. He was beginning to think that sooner was going to be better than later, but she was hard to catch up with, even harder than he was most days, and he was a billionaire owner of multiple businesses. The difference was that she was doing everything herself, and he had a whole corporation of employees who could take care of the day to day running of things. It meant he could take a day off whenever he felt like it by only rescheduling a few appointments. Charlotte, on the other hand, was going to have to make sure that she had someone to fill in for her and show up at five in the morning to start baking croissants and bagels and stick around through the rest of the day to take care of cakes, cupcakes and cookies.
Now that she’d hired Riley, things were a little easier in that department. It meant that she wasn’t working six days a week like she had been once the bakery had opened, but she was still there more than twelve hours a day, five days a week. Working sixty-hour weeks wouldn’t have been so bad, but she’d also been moving, trying to make a relationship between the two of them work, and more recently, planning a wedding. He could see why she was so busy. What he really needed to do was plan a night for just the two of them. He’d tried to get her to hire more people, but she was insistent on bringing up her baby herself… he remembered feeling the same way when he was starting out. He knew she’d learn to delegate, he just hoped she wouldn’t learn the hard way by burning out.
Preston climbed out of the bed with a groan, stretching and getting himself up and about for the day. He was supposed to be in the office by eight this morning for his first meeting, and the sun was just starting to get high enough in the sky to light up the city between the skyscrapers. It shone brightly through the bedroom windows where he’d left the blinds open. He rubbed at his eyes and made his way into the bathroom to get ready for work. He grabbed his phone off the night stand to take it with him once an idea hit him regarding everything going on with Charlotte.
Starting up the hot water, he grabbed his phone and leaning against the glass while he typed out a message to Charlotte.
So, I know you’re a busy and very successful woman, Miss Fairchild, but I was wondering if I might trouble you for an appointment this evening. I have something important I’d like to discuss with you.
He laid the phone down on the counter next to the sink and climbed into the shower, letting the scalding water run down his body. He wasn’t certain how long it would take Charlotte to answer. It depended on a lot of factors including how busy the bakery was this time of day. It was likely to take a while since seven thirty in the morning was the prime rush of people heading into their office jobs for the day, so he wasn’t expecting anything as quickly as it had come. The tone made him jump though he was in the middle of soaping up his hair and had to wait to wash out the suds before he could reach out for a towel to dry his hand enough to touch the screen and see what she had said in reply.
Depends… I’m kind of busy with my fiancée on Fridays.
The message was followed by a laughing emoji.
She had a cheeky character that he’d really seen blossom the closer they became. All he could do was laugh and shake his head using the voice assistant to compose a reply.
I see. I was hoping to see you at about seven this evening, in the office at the Pierce Building, like old times?
Preston hurried to finish his shower, grabbing the towel hung on the hook just outside the glass door as the tone to indicate her reply went off again. He knew it was her rather than one of the random assortment of messages he usually woke up to on a weekday without even picking up the phone. On a whim one morning, she’d grabbed his phone when there were a million of them going off and raised an eyebrow when she said, “How do you know who is who?”
“Usually, I just look at the screen.” He’d said in a sarcastic tone as he laughed and shrugged at her, unsure what she was trying to ask him.
“No, I mean. There must be some people who automatically get a reply no matter what’s going on right? Someone who doesn’t text you unless it’s important, like Sophie or I don’t know… your fiancée?” She had grinned over at him as she went into the settings of his phone changing a few things before handing it back to him and grabbing her own phone and tapping a few keys.
Before he’d realized what was going on the phone in his hand went off in an obnoxious flurry of bird chirps and trills that sent her into a giggling fit. As soon as he looked at the screen and saw a message from her that simply read one word.
Hi.
Since then, he had refused to change it, no matter how many times she’d insisted that it was far too girly for him to have on his phone. It didn’t matter. It reminded him of her, and she was right that it gave him a way to identify who was texting him a heck of a lot faster than just waiting until he got a break to look at the screen. There were a few people he would drop what he was doing to reply to immediately, and Charlotte had been right when she’d assumed it was Sophie and herself, though for vastly different reasons.
His assistant was only going to text him when it was necessary. The two of them were friendly, but she knew when he was busy, and she was going to stay out of his way as much as possible just because it made Sophie’s job that much easier when Preston could take care of things himself.
On the other hand, it didn’t matter if he was in the middle of a business meeting or just working on something on his own in the office, he was always going to answer Charlotte. He knew she was busy enough that the few times she could snatch to text him were valuable.
Her reply made him grin.
Alright then, Mr. Pierce, I suppose I can make room for you in my schedule, for old time’s sake. See you Friday? In the place where we first met?
That had been his exact intention. He needed to have a talk with her, a very serious one, and he wanted to have it in the place he’d realized he was in love with her. He planned on telling her that and telling her a lot more about himself than he’d ever thought he was going to reveal to anyone ever again. In the same token, he’d never believed that he was going to ask anyone to marry him either.
He still had the towel wrapped around his waist and was wandering into the bedroom to get dressed as he tapped out his reply when a sudden naughty thought hit him. He walked over to the floor-length mirror in his closet and snapped a picture of towel slung dangerously low on his waist. Beads of water were still running down his chest in rivets, adding to the allure. He wasn’t sure what came over him, he’d never even considered sending a photo of himself to someone, but he just went with it. He attached the photo with his last message and smiled to himself.
Alright, seven PM sharp. I’ll expect to see you right on time.
That last message was a little more forceful than he was used to sending her, but it portrayed a taste of what he intended to share with her. This was far more than just a business proposition, but business propositions were what he was familiar with. He just hoped that she was going to take this one as well as he’d taken hers, but he had no way of knowing until it was out in the open between the two of them. All that was left to do was to get through today and make sure that everything for tonight was going to be absolutely perfect.
He headed into the closet, running a hand along the line of suits that were hung up on the right side of the closet. This was where he kept all his work clothes though there were a few that he saved for more special occasions. Those were on their own at the back of the walk-in. He made a beeline for that rack, pausing when his hand ran over just the perfect one, a dark gray three-piece suit he hadn’t worn before now. He’d been waiting for just the right occasion, and tonight seemed like it was going to be just the right one. He was looking over his ties, trying to decide on the perfect one when his phone chirped again with Charlotte’s distinct alert tone. He was smiling already as he anxiously picked up his phone to see her response to the photo. Her response only had three words and elicited the exact response he’d hoped for.
OH. MY. GOD!
Chapter 3
Charlotte didn’t know what to expect tonight when she’d gotten a text message from Preston as soon as he should have woken up this morning. Normally, she would have taken awhile to answer him, but she’d caught a break in the morning rush when Riley walked over to her and sent her to the back. It was just in time too, because Charlotte was trying to do about seven things at once, like pick out a flower arrangement from the photos that the florist had sent her last night in her email, ice cookies, and fill a customer’s order while she was ringing someone up. Needless to say, it wasn’t going well.
She didn’t even have the sound on when she’d pulled the phone from the pocket in her skirt and glanced at the screen to see the message from Preston. She couldn‘t help but grin though she had no idea what kind of business he wanted to talk about. She could only assume it had something to do with the wedding, but the fact that he was asking her to meet him in his office was a little ominous.
Her mind drifted back to the first few times she’d been to this office. The first time was an accident, she had only gone up to his office to retrieve her pasty basket that she had sent up for an order of mini muffins. The visits after that initial meeting had been absolutely nerve wracking. She’d been thinking of nothing more than making sure her business proposal for her bakery was perfect, oh and trying not to notice how insanely attractive he was and making a fool of herself because of it. Her body was always on high alert when she was around him, she remembered praying that he wouldn’t notice her pert nipples through her shirt or how she uncontrollably squeezed her thighs together when his masculine scent wafted past her.
The fact that a few short months later, the two of them would be engaged and living together, planning their wedding in six weeks wasn’t anywhere on her radar. Now, the shoes seemed to be turned, he had a proposition for her, though she couldn’t wrap her mind around what it could be.
The prospect of having a meeting with Preston after work made her day go by a little more quickly until the last few hours before closing came. The day had seemed to zip by during the busiest parts of it, customers came and went in a blur. Even the couple who had come in for the wedding cake tasting seemed to go by before she knew what was going on. That meeting had been a success, at least. They’d chosen a lemon sponge with a butter-cream icing for the cake, along with a design that was five layers tall. It meant that Charlotte was going to make a pretty penny off the profits from the cake, though it was going to take hours to get everything prepared before she or Riley drove out to deliver it to the wedding venue on the Saturday they were getting married. It was about a month after the date that she and Preston had chosen for their own ceremony. Another deadline added to the mix!
That had gotten Charlotte to thinking about everything that she had to plan, making the hours between the end of her sales meeting and the time she was supposed to meet Preston drag on. Even though they’d gone slowly, Charlotte still hadn’t managed to find a free moment to work on what she wanted in the ceremony. Thankfully, she’d always been part
ial to tulips, so choosing them for the bridesmaids’ bouquets had been a simple decision. Her own was going to have matching white tulips and roses, bound with a yellow ribbon around the stems. It was at least one more decision to get out of the way.
Finally, the time had come for her to close and lock the door behind the last customer, putting away the few things that remained in the display case that she could store until tomorrow and looking around the empty bakery with a sigh. Some days she still couldn’t believe that she finally had her dream bakery.
“So, Riles? You sure you can handle cleaning up the back on your own?” If she was going to make it over to Preston’s offices before seven, she was going to need to leave sooner rather than later, though she could manage to at least help clean up if Riley needed the help. She wasn’t going to leave her hanging if that was the case.
“Yeah, I’m sure, Charlotte. I’ve done this a million times before, and I can do it now. Just trust me. I’ll get it spic and span for tomorrow. Now you go and have a great night with that handsome man of yours. You deserve a break.” Riley had nodded, almost shoving Charlotte out the door to make her walk over to the Pierce building a few blocks away.
She could have driven, but she had the time and inclination to get some fresh air before she had to hear whatever it was that Preston needed to talk to her about. She’d had a sense of dread growing within her now that she had time to think about it, and Charlotte was hoping that a walk would help her clear her thoughts, so she could walk into things without a look of dread on her face.
Now that she was getting off the elevator, her cardigan draped over her arms and her bag hooked onto one shoulder, she was still all nerves. She had no idea why she felt anxious, maybe it was just the thought of being back in Preston’s office… it always intimidated her to see him in his element.
Indulgence: A Billionaire Virgin Romance Page 2
