“Yes, Mr. Pierce?” Her voice was small and tinny through the speaker as she replied.
“Is Charlotte’s flight on time so far?”
“Yes, Sir.” That settled his mind on what was about to happen next.
“Good. I'll be leaving the office in a few minutes and don't forward any of my calls. As a matter of fact, as soon as Charlotte is home, I'm going to be turning off my cell for the evening. If there's an emergency you can call the landline, but it had better be life or death if anyone interrupts me tonight. Are we clear?”
He didn't mean to sound sharp with her. He liked Sophie, but tonight, he was going to give his full attention to his fiancé. He needed her to know how much she meant to him.
Preston had had a lot of time to think about that for the last few days. He'd spent his hours alone weighing out the priorities in his life while he tried to determine which of them was the most important. In the end, he'd come up with only one decision.
Once upon a time, his business had meant everything to him. It had been his family, his girlfriend, his children. Everything. Since he had met Charlotte, all of that had changed. Preston would never have believed that all his priorities would have been turned upside down by one young woman who had found herself in his office one night after hours. She was beautiful, smart, challenged him in ways no woman ever had and that was just the tip of the iceberg.
Charlotte filled in all of Preston’s missing pieces. She was soft where he was hard. What she was missing, he could provide, almost as if the two of them were made to fit together, and Preston wasn't going to let that go now that he knew what it felt like to have that in his life. From here on out, Charlotte was going to be his priority. She was going to come first before the business, before himself, before everything. This was all he could give to her. She could have him — heart, soul and body — if she would have him.
Preston pushed up from his chair, grabbing his suit coat from the coat near the door before he headed out into the lobby outside his office. It was early for him to get out of here, but he had more pressing business back at home. For the first time in his life, there was something more important than business, and he didn’t plan on giving that up, he would fight with everything he had. IF that meant rearranging his priorities, then so be it.
❖
At half-past six, Preston was already pacing around the foyer in front of the elevator doors waiting for Charlotte to arrive. He’d gotten word when her flight landed, and again when she’d gotten in the car and left the airport. He was counting off the minutes, trying to figure out where traffic might be keeping them up this time of day. Dinner was waiting on the table, the champagne was chilled, and dessert was in the fridge but really, he just wanted to see Charlotte again.
It had been three days since he had seen his fiancée, and those three days had felt like an eternity. It was torture to make him wait any longer, he was kicking himself for not picking her up at the airport himself. Everything else could be damned. Right now, he just needed to hear her voice and pull her into his chest, to feel her heartbeat against his and breathe her in. Her messages kept hinting around at something she wanted to talk to him about, too, and that just had him even more on edge.
When they had serious talks, they rarely ended well. Twice now, these talks had wound up with the two of them being apart for what they’d originally thought was going to be forever. Granted there were other circumstances at play in those situations, others meddling and causing unnecessary drama in their relationship. This time it was just the two of them, which somehow seemed worse. He didn’t have to fight against her uncle’s wild notions this time… this time he just had to prove to her that she was it for him, that she was more than enough. He obviously wanted to speak his first piece, to convince her that whatever fears or concerns she had they could work through, but he knew he needed to allow her to speak first. He owed her that much after everything that had happened between the two of them.
Worrying about what she was going to say had him so distracted that he jumped as soon as he heard the ding of the elevator door signal its arrival on the top floor of the building. It opened to reveal Charlotte with her weekend bag slung over her shoulder and a huge smile plastered across her face. She almost ran out of the elevator into his arms, and all the worries he’d had about what was going to happen between the two of them were gone the instant that her arms wrapped around his waist. Preston planted a kiss on the crown of her head, smiling into her hair.
“I missed you so much.” Charlotte finally spoke to him, but the sound of her words was muffled by the fact that her face was buried in his chest. Her arms were even tucked under his jacket, and Charlotte was almost entirely wrapped up in him by this point. Preston was refusing to let her go for now though. It had been too long since he’d been able to pull her into an embrace.
“I missed you, too. I hope you enjoyed your trip back home.” He finally pulled away enough to steal a kiss from her lips, and that kiss set off something that he wasn’t quite prepared for.
Charlotte’s fingers twisted in the lapels of his suit jacket and pulled him in feverishly the moment his lips met hers. She hadn’t kissed him like that since the night she’d crawled into his lap back in his office and planted her lips on his. That night, they’d wound up wrapped around each other in the bedroom back in the office. Tonight, they were home, and the fact that dinner was sitting and waiting on the table in the dining room wasn’t going to stop him from claiming her as his once again now that she was back in his arms.
Chapter 9
Charlotte wasn’t prepared for what was going to wash over her the minute that Preston’s lips met hers. The two of them had a lot to talk about, but words weren’t exactly in the works when he kissed her. Anything she could think of saying went directly out of her head. She had no idea why this kiss in particular was having this effect on her. Perhaps it was because she’d been away from him for days, maybe it was her body realizing how much she craved him. It was the longest they’d been apart since they’d broken up, and she was being honest when she said she’d missed him.
Being away had given her a chance to get her wants, desires and priorities straight in her mind, and now that she was back and settled on the decision she had made, the clarity making those decisions had given her let her see that what she really wanted was Preston. All the rest of the trappings that had come with him had gotten in the way. Now, she could let all that go and focus on what was the most important.
Charlotte grabbed his shirt as her hands slipped under his suit jacket and she pulled him towards the bedroom, not worried about anything else going on in the apartment. Her bags lay forgotten on the floor in the center of the foyer. For the moment, Preston was in shock, but it only took a couple of backwards steps on Charlotte’s part before his hands moved and threaded into her hair, pulling her body more fully into his.
Charlotte let out a soft whimper in response as she felt the urges that had led her to kiss him in the first place wash over her entire body. She needed him, and she hadn’t realized how much until she’d finally seen him again. Right now, all she could think of doing was showing him just how much. Her hands moved from their grip on the soft cotton of his shirt to fumble with his buttons, twisting them out of the holes that held them in place until she could get her hands on his chest.
“Please, Sir. I need you.” Her words were soft and mumbled against his lips in the heat of the moment between them, but they drug a low growl from between his lips that ended in him wrapping his arms around Charlotte to lift her off the floor and carry her to the bedroom before she even realized her feet were off the floor.
He kicked the bedroom door closed behind them before he threw her down onto the bed, eliciting a squeak from her as she landed on her back. For the first time noticed a look in his eyes, darkened by the desire that had washed over him from the moment she kissed him. Charlotte leaned up on her elbows against the mattress, watching him as he stalked slowly towards her.
Preston didn’t speak, but he moved quickly to slide her skirt up around her hips just before his fingers hooked under the fabric of her panties to peel them down her thighs in one long, swift motion. He had clearly missed her as much as she had missed him, and she was bound and determined to show him right now.
Charlotte was as little surprised when he paused, trailing a line of kisses that alternated with gentle bites from the curve of her ankle and up the full length of her leg until his face was centered between her thighs. With one long glance up her torso at her face, Preston moved in, pressing a kiss to the skin at the apex of her thighs before his tongue moved in against her core and drug a wanton moan from between her lips.
Charlotte couldn’t remember letting go this completely since things had begun between the two of them. Most of the time, she was a little reserved, if not shy. There was some part of her that was usually nervous or self-conscious about what was going on, worried that she wasn’t doing something right or that she was just too inexperienced to make Preston happy. Now, she was confident that the two of them were everything that each other needed, and she could focus on only the pleasure of what was going on between the two of them for what seemed like the first time.
Her eyes closed as her head fell back on her shoulders while the warmth of Preston’s tongue washed over her, and her hand went to thread into his hair and hold him closer out of pure instinct. She wanted more of this, and Preston was happy to oblige as his hands found her hips and pulled her body firmly against his mouth. Preston’s mouth and tongue continued its exploration of her core, teasing and dragging more of the soft but hungry sounds from her parted lips. His lips danced across her soft nub while his tongue plunged into her wet slit over and over again.
Soon she was writhing beneath him, her motions growing more and more fevered while the tension in her frame built to nearly a breaking point. Charlotte knew she wouldn’t last much longer, but when Preston’s eyes found hers and he pulled away to murmur against her heated skin she was done for.
“Cum for me, Charlotte. I want to taste you.” The words were deep and filled with the same need that she felt since her lips met his in the foyer. That moment seemed ages ago now, and she knew that everything between the two of them was just beginning as she let go and let the climax that had been building hit her hard and fast.
She hadn’t even finished riding out the first high that came over her before Preston was stripping off his clothes, leaving them in a pile on the floor in his rush to get to Charlotte who was still catching her breath. Before she realized what he was doing, he seated himself between her thighs and began to tease her with the tip of his firm manhood. He didn’t want to hurt her, he continued to rub her clit with his moistened thumb as he thrust more and more of himself inside her.
Charlotte grabbed his hand causing him to look up and meet her gaze, “Take me Preston, claim me.” He didn’t need another word, he placed his hands on her hips and entered her in one smooth motion that drug another gasp from her as she twined her arms around him to keep him in as close as she could manage.
Immediately, her lips found his, taking the kiss she wanted that joined them completely while her body adjusted to his cock as it slid slowly into her once again. She felt the exact opposite of virginal at that moment. It was the first time she’d been confident about what she was doing and exactly what she wanted from her fiancé. She broke the kiss, locking eyes with him once again as her hands pressed into the small of his back to pull his hips into hers.
Their eyes stayed locked, and she watched the dark fever that washed over him in those first few moments when he began to take her in earnest. She could see him fighting off the urge to completely dominate her until she decided to let him entirely give into it all. There was no point in holding back when she knew that the both of them needed it as much as they did.
“I’m yours, Sir. Completely yours.” Her legs wrapped around his waist, locking her heels around behind his back as he let out another growl.
“Damn straight you’re mine, Charlotte.” His hands moved along her body until they were sliding up her arms, guiding them above her head to pin them into place against the mattress. He was almost entirely given over to the urges inside him, and the next two words were what drove him completely over the edge.
“Show me.” They were simple enough, normal words for most situation, but with what was going on between the two of them, they were all the urging that he needed to claim her completely. Charlotte wasn’t sure why she’d held herself back before now. She wanted Preston, and she wanted to show him just how much she really did belong to him. For the moment, nothing else mattered in the slightest.
❖
“Can we talk?” Charlotte leaned her head up on her hand as she stretched out on the bed. She was still trying to catch her breath after what had just happened, but she knew that she needed to talk to Preston now before the two of them fell asleep. The decision she’d come to affected them both, and she ought to tell him sooner rather than later. Suddenly, she felt a rush of nerves wash over her at what she was about to say.
“Charlotte, you know you can talk to me about anything.” He mirrored her position on the other side of the bed, and she could see the concern that flitted across his face.
What Charlotte was about to say made her feel guilty, but she knew it was going to have to happen sooner rather than later. The time they had left before the wedding was dwindling. There was a stack of invitations already made out and another stack left for her to write addresses on to send out within the next few days. They were almost at the point of no return, so waiting to talk to him about this wasn’t going to be an option, no matter how much she would have liked to have put off this conversation.
She let out a soft sigh and reached out to run a hand along his arm. Charlotte didn’t know how Preston was going to take this, but it couldn’t be avoided any longer. All that was left to do was to just come out and say what she was thinking.
“I wanted to talk to you about postponing the wedding.” She could see the impression her sentence made on his expression. He immediately knit his brows together, and she could feel the panic in her rising in response. She was terrified that he was going to panic or read into things because she wanted to put things off, and she could feel the babbling begin to bubble out of her throat when he didn’t reply to her.
“It’s just that everything is happening so fast, and I don’t know how I’m going to juggle everything that needs to happen between now and then. All I want is to push everything back a little and give myself some breathing room, you know? I mean I still want to marry you. I just don’t think I can do it all right now without going absolutely crazy…”
Charlotte was taking a breath to continue letting her thoughts come bubbling out of her mouth when Preston pulled her into his chest and pressed his lips to hers in a long kiss that cut off her next sentence before she ever had a chance to form it. He kept the kiss going until she visibly relaxed in his arms and leaned her weight into his chest when he pulled away and finally answered her.
“Charlotte, it’s alright. If you need more time, then you need more time. We can reschedule anything you want.” He leaned in and pressed another kiss to the center of her forehead. “Do you have any idea when you might want to try to reschedule all of this so I can get Sophie started looking for venues and rescheduling everything?”
Charlotte hadn’t actually thought about that. She’d spent so much time worrying about how she was going to tell him that she needed more time, that she’d not even considered how much more time she was trying to get. Things just needed to go at a slower pace so that she wasn’t feeling like she was drowning every single day. When she finally spoke, the first number that popped into her head was what came out of her mouth.
“Six months?” Six months was a lot longer than the two months they’d decided on when she moved into the penthouse. It put things off into the beginning of the following year.
T
hey’d be getting married in January instead of June, and it meant that she’d have much more time to get everything in line. They might not be able to get the same venue. When they’d scheduled the place, it was booked solid for the next two years. In fact, the only reason they’d been able to get it at all was because there had been a cancellation. They’d chosen their wedding date around the availability of the venue instead of a date that they really wanted to have. That thought struck her for the first time since all of this had begun.
Charlotte had been so wrapped up and, in a hurry, to get the rest of her life started that she hadn’t really stopped to think about it all. Now that she did, it hit her that it didn’t really matter when the two of them got married. The point of all of this was that they were making a commitment to each other. Getting that done as quickly as possible was suddenly a lot less important than making sure that the two of them were really and truly happy with the day to day of their relationship.
If Charlotte was honest with herself, she hadn’t been happy since all of this started. It wasn’t that she wasn’t happy with Preston, it was that she was so overwhelmed with running a business, moving into a new apartment, and planning a wedding that she hadn’t even had time to enjoy being Preston’s fiancée. Instead, she’d been wrapped up in the minutia of the day-to-day grind that they found themselves in. Rather than sitting with him curled up on the couch watching a movie or snuggled up in bed the way they were now, she was looking at wedding invitation samples and trying to decide what dresses she wanted her bridesmaids to wear and what kind of hair styles they were going to be sporting on their walk down the aisle.
Giving herself that much extra time was far more freeing than she could have imagined it being. The only thing left was for Preston to tell her it was alright. Some part of her was terrified he was going to be sick of her and all the back and forth and wash his hands of all of it. She leaned back and looked up at him expectantly while she waited for his reply.
Indulgence: A Billionaire Virgin Romance Page 7
