The Complete Captive Heart Duet: Lost and Found

by Aarons, Carrie

  “I love you,” he groans as he slides into me, his eyes, a lust filled midnight black, never leaving mine.

  I want to say it back, but my throat is so clogged with emotions that I’m sure I’ll start crying. There are already tears leaking out of my eyes, staining the mattresses beneath us.

  Tucker’s big hands hold my face, and I circle his jaw just the same with my palms. Our lips caress and brush together with each slow pump of his hips, and I wrap my legs around his strong torso as he takes us both higher. So impossibly high.

  We’re talking to each other with our eyes, communicating the love, desire and pleasure coursing through our bodies. There are no sounds but the pattering of the rain on the roof of the cabin and the claps of thunder. I make out his features in the moonlight, but every once and a while, a lightning bolt illuminates the entire room, and I get to see his full form as he commands my body.

  Our releases come on shuddering breaths, the intensity of watching each other quietly unravel at the same time is too much. Our orgasms go on for what feels like forever, until I’m dizzy and seeing spots on the edge of my vision.

  Afterwards, Tucker rolls us, his length still hard inside of me. Our arms wrap around each other, my leg thrown over his waist and my head in the brawny nook between his shoulder and his neck. He smells like sex and rain as he leans down to whisper in my ear.

  “I have no idea what I did to deserve you, but I promise you … I will spend every day for the rest of my life thanking whoever or whatever led you to me.”

  Chapter 35

  Tucker

  The storm washed away the past. The water didn’t leave us completely renewed and able to forget; it cleansed and refreshed, taking all of our hurt and mistrust with it.

  I wake with Char draped over me, the dewey sunlight streaming through the windows in blissful beams of light, as it only can do after a rocky night of thunder and showers. Last night was the final stage of our grief, the last straw was let go of and swept away under the bridge. My soul feels lighter, the pressure on my shoulders is gone. Where before there was a mental block, an obstacle that kept me from getting too close, from going all in … now there was clarity and the need to share everything with Char.

  “Baby …” I kiss her lips and admire the rosy glow of her half-asleep face.

  She tosses and groans. “Still sleeping … sex later.”

  I chuckle, sliding my hands from her naked hips up, up, up to her bare breasts. I take one in each palm and stroke them, making her nipples bud tightly.

  “Okay, fine, sex now.”

  Char straddles me, her eyes still closed and her chestnut hair hanging in front of her face. I just wrap my arms around her smooth back and make no move to continue my exploration of her body.

  “I just want to talk.” I kiss the top of her head where it rests on my chest.

  “Talking boring. Sex fun.” Her gravely sleep voice is adorable and all I want to do is snuggle her for the next few hours. But we need to talk.

  “I’m sorry that I left.”

  Char blinks her eyes up at me, and I can tell that even through her early morning fog she is listening.

  “Ever since I took the deal two and a half years ago, I’ve felt unworthy of you. Like I was dirtying your perfect facade. You are brilliant, this shining star who I was pulling down out of the sky by remaining with you.”

  “Tucker, that’s not how you are at all. And I’m far from perfect.”

  I squeeze her side. “Oh, I know that …”

  She laughs quietly at my poking at her.

  “I thought that for so long, that after a while, I started to believe it. And then at the party at Hunter Landon’s house, what that guy said to you, about you. It all came true, everything I was fearing. I was fucking up your life and my filthiness had finally infected you.”

  Char sighs, cupping my chin in her small hand. “You make my life infinitely better. Nothing you did or could do has ever ruined me, or made my life worse. Sure, it hasn’t been easy being married to you. But for the life of me, I wouldn’t do anything over. We found each other exactly when we were supposed to.”

  I flip her over, needing to look completely into her big brown eyes.

  “You’re right. And I see it now. I had to go through all of that shit, endure the injury and the drugs and even prison. I used to lie awake at night, in whatever hellhole I was crashing in at the time, and wonder what the hell my purpose was in life. What path God could possibly have for me if it wasn’t football. And now I know. It was you. It was always you. It just took me a while to get back to you.”

  She presses her lips to mine, a soft, sweet taste of passion. “I love you, Tucker Lynch.”

  “I love you so much, Charlotte Lynch.”

  * * *

  Turns out I got my couple hours of snuggling, and a two rounds of mind-blowing sex to boot. When Char and I finally go to get dressed, we almost piss our pants. In our haste last night, we left Charlotte’s duffel bag out in the mud and rain.

  Most everything is soaked through, besides a few pairs of underwear, one bra, and two T-shirts. She pulls on her underwear and T-shirt while I go in search of some dry pants.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me,” She hoots out a laugh when I return with her outfit for the day.

  “Hey, at least this pair fits. And at least I found you shorts.”

  She pulls the shorts, clad with the Camp Marsh logo, up over her voluptuous hips. She looks hot in her camp gear, and I almost want to take her to the obstacle course and see if we can reenact our first kiss. I’ll have to surprise her with it later.

  We walk hand-in-hand down to the quad, the late morning rush of campers heading for activities after breakfast swarming around us. Some of the kids scream hi to me, some ask me who my lady friend is.

  “Oh, Charlotte! We are so happy you are here!” Melody halts us with her cheery tone in the quad.

  She jogs up to us, looking not a day over forty-five even though she’s the same age as Willy. The only tell on her age are the snowy white curls that float around her face like a halo. Her blue eyes sparkle as she pulls Char away from me and into a tight hug.

  “Hi, Melody. It’s nice to be here.” She smiles at me over Melody’s shoulder.

  “Alright, alright, let the girl breathe Melly.” Willy walks up and taps his wife on the shoulder before pulling my wife into an even bigger bear hug.

  “Gosh, I’m going to have to come here more often. I’m really feeling the love.” She giggles.

  Willy lets her go and slings his arm around Melody’s shoulder. “Yeah, I think everyone could hear the love you two were feeling this morning.”

  Charlotte blushes as I cough awkwardly into my shoulder.

  “Oh, Willy, let the kids be kids.” She hits his arm. “Charlotte, I have some arts and crafts going on over here. Why don’t you join me and we can catch up?”

  Char looks at me, and I know she doesn’t want to leave my side. We’ve just gotten each other back, completely. But I know Willy wants to talk to me, to impart some more sage wisdom. And I have my whole life with Char ahead of me.

  “Go ahead, baby. I’ll be over in a second.”

  Melody puts her arm through Char’s and they scurry off towards a picnic table of little girls drawing and sprinkling glitter over everything.

  “So I take it you worked everything out?” Willy claps a hand on my shoulder as we look at our women.

  “We still have a few wrinkles to iron out, but everything is going to be okay. I have her, and that’s all that matters.”

  I can see him smiling in my peripheral vision. “Damn right it is.”

  One of the little girls at the table turns to Charlotte as she helps her pick out a color for her drawing. I overhear her say, “Are you a mommy?”

  Char’s face blanches, and I see Melody look up at her. I never told the Marsh’s about our miscarriage, but now that I think about it, they would probably be the best people to tell. Char shakes her head and
says, “Not yet, but I hope to be someday.”

  The little girl turns back to her drawing. “I think you’ll be a really good mommy.”

  Char’s eyes find mine, and I see she has tears welling in her chocolate orbs.

  “Willy, why did you and Melody never have kids?”

  He coughs. “We wanted them, oh, how we wanted them. But it wasn’t in the cards for us.”

  The way he says it, I know it’s a sore spot. “Oh, jeez Willy, I’m sorry. That was intrusive.”

  “Nonsense, son. I have no secrets, and neither does Melly. We tried for years, but we were never successful. It’s why we opened up this place. All of the campers who come to Camp Marsh are our children, at least for the summer. We get to hear their laughter and see them succeed at things. It fills our souls.”

  I nod. “We lost a baby, you know.”

  Willy turns to me. “Melly thought so. An instinct or something. Maybe a sixth sense, for another woman who has been through miscarriage. It’s terrible. But you’re young and healthy. I think you two will be able to make plenty of babies.”

  I couldn’t tear my gaze away from Char, who was busy sprinkling glitter onto the little girl’s painting. “I hope so.”

  Chapter 36

  Charlotte

  My husband’s strong arms, roped with muscles that bulge each time he flexes, row us out to the middle of the lake.

  “I forgot how peaceful it is out here.” I sigh as I lay on my back on one of the canoe benches.

  Gone With The Wind lays by my foot at the bottom of the boat, but I don’t bother to pick it up. I’m perfectly content to lay on my back and watch the serene blue sky and the puffy white clouds.

  “Even with all of the children screaming?” Tucker jokes. He picks my bare feet up and begins to massage them.

  A slow groan works through my throat. “I can barely even hear them we’re so far out now. It’s such a beautiful day. Do you even know how to set that thing up?”

  I point to the fishing pole and tackle box he’s brought out with us. I doubt he’ll be able to even catch a thing, what with the children splashing in the lake further towards shore. And his complete inexperience when it comes to fishing. But he told Willy he’d try. And so, he’ll try.

  “It can’t be that hard, really. I’ll set it up in a minute though. For right now, let me just sit here and admire my beautiful wife with the summer sun beating down on her.”

  The smile that spreads across my face is childlike. Huge and unedited. “You can’t say things like that to me!”

  He hits a particularly sore spot on my heel and it feels amazing. “And why is that?”

  “Because then I’ll realize that your icy exterior is thawing.”

  Tucker chuckles and leans down, blocking the sun on my face. “Baby, I think you knew you thawed it long ago.”

  His lips find mine and stroke them tenderly. His mouth coaxes mine, slowly and lazily, like a summer afternoon. He sits up with a smile and turns to set up the line and bait.

  “Well, at least tell me you’ll bring back sullen Tucker every once and a while. He’s sexy …”

  Tucker throws me a devastating smile. “Are you trying to get me in trouble with my wife?”

  God, my husband is so damn sexy. It’s kind of crazy that we’re out here on this lake like this. When we first stepped foot in Camp Marsh all those many years ago, Tucker was the boy next door. He was my first crush, and on these very grounds, he was my first kiss. Back home, he was the first boy I ever gave myself to, and the first one I ever fell in love with. He owns every single first of mine. And now he owns my lasts.

  And I have this place to thank. There is something magical for us about being here. It’s where we fell in love again, where we found each other when we were so lost. It’s where we buried old wounds, but developed new fears.

  This is the only place where I was one with our baby. For such a short, sweet period of time that I didn’t know about, our son existed with only us in this deserted place.

  I rub the tattoo on the inside of my left wrist. It’s such a habit now that sometimes I don’t even know I’m doing it.

  “I feel him here too.” Tucker looks at me, and his eyes carry such meaning.

  “I haven’t been back here since, but … I should have come back. I feel him, he’s here with us. For such a brief, sweet period of time it was just us three.”

  I’m surprised to feel the tears gathering at the bottom of my lids. I hadn’t meant for this self-reflection to get heavy.

  Tucker’s hand covers mine. “We will give him a brother. And a sister. So many of them. He can watch over them, protect them always.”

  I nod, too emotional to speak for the moment. As I blink away the tears, I give him the gift I’ve been wanting to share with him for the couple of days we’ve been here.

  “I know we will. But first, we have to build them a house.”

  Tucker drops the bait he was trying to wrangle onto the fishing hook. “What?”

  “I’ve been thinking a lot about the things you said in therapy, about feeling like you didn’t really have a home. And I love the condo, but we need somewhere that is fully us. A new place to start our lives together. I know we only have a little saved up, but I’m sure there are some fixer uppers out in the suburbs.”

  Tucker looks like a kid on Christmas. “Are you serious? You’re going to let me build us a house?”

  I tap my finger to my chin. “Only if I get my own bathroom. And I distinctly remember something about granite countertops …”

  He tackles me, rocking the boat so violently I think he might tip us over. His lips attack my skin, any naked part of my flesh he can kiss is his for the taking.

  “I can’t wait, baby. I’m going to build you the house of your dreams.”

  * * *

  A hundred and fifty pages with Scarlett and two measly fish caught later, Tucker rows us back in to shore. It’s now practically empty, all of the children have gone to wash up for dinner per Melody’s rules.

  I bask in the quiet as Tucker ties up the canoe and puts away the fishing equipment.

  “Have I ever told you how much I love you?” He asks as he slings his arm around my shoulder.

  “Hmm, I think I need to hear it again.” I lean up and kiss him.

  “Well, isn’t that sweet? You two have lasted longer than I ever thought possible.”

  It’s like someone dumped a bucket of ice water over me. That voice is like nails on a chalkboard, and it sends my stomach plummeting to my feet.

  Standing in the quad in front of us in her pastel best is my mother. There is an evil gleam to her eyes, almost as if she’s conducting some sort of scheme in her head.

  “What the hell are you doing here?” Tucker growls at her, and I feel his arm tighten around my shoulder as he draws me into his body.

  She walks toward us and I could swear there might be devil horns growing out of her forehead. I look around for Willy, Melody, anybody who might be able to remove her, kick her off the grounds.

  “Funny you should ask that, felon. I’ve watched you rip apart my daughter’s life, make a mockery of everything I built her up to be. You are the reason my husband left me, why I’m now the gossip on everybody’s tongue. You are a piece of shit, and I’d like nothing more than to see you rot in prison. And now … you will.”

  The smirk on her face is disgusting, it makes me want to hurl. “What are you talking about?”

  She walks closer to me, almost as if she might tuck my hair behind my ear or wet down my flyaways like she used to do when I was a child.

  “Oh, your dear husband hasn’t shared the stipulations of his parole, has he? Well, let me give you a refresher course. As part of his parole, this criminal isn’t allowed to leave the jurisdiction he’s registered in for the first year of his release. And last time I checked, the Poconos are not in Lancaster.”

  My mother’s face is contorted now, her demented, sick jealousy of Tucker and I has finally won. My
stomach feels sour and violent, and I want nothing more than the ground where she stands to open up and swallow her whole.

  I hold tight to Tucker, not even questioning him about the parole. I silently pray that she’s wrong, that she hasn’t just caught him.

  “How did you even know we were here?!” My rage snaps as I realize that she tracked him here.

  “I warned you, Charlotte Ann, that if you chose him over your family and your future … I warned you that this would happen. He’s ruined our lives. And he deserves everything that is about to come to him. I’ve been tracking you two for months, just waiting for him to screw up. To go back to his criminal past and crush you. Again. And now … I finally have, you piece of shit.”

  I’ve never wanted to rip someone limb for limb until right now. Any shred, any morsel of familial bond that had been left on the thin bones of my relationship with my mother was no gone. Disintegrated in her evil wake.

  “You’re a monster! You’re blind to any thing but your self and your agenda. Tucker never ruined a thing. He put me back together again. He taught me how to love. Because what you gave me surely wasn’t love. Congratulations mother, it’s official. I no longer feel anything for you. Not hate, certainly not love, and definitely not pity. You’ve done it all to yourself, and the crazy thing is, you’ll never see it. I hope you rot in your miserable, cold life.”

  She presses a few keys on her phone. “Not before I report your husband to the police, though …”

  Tucker finally steps forward, grabbing her phone, throwing it down and crushing it with his heel. “Not until I make a call of my own, you bitch.”

  Chapter 37

  Tucker

  The funny thing about prison is that it does actually teach you things you would never learn in the real world.