He chuckled. “No, but Lea… well, we… me, her and Fox had a thing a while ago. We had sex with her at the same time.”
My heart hammered in my chest, and I could have sworn it felt like jealousy. “Oh…”
Charlie’s hands lifted, and I thought he was going to move away from me, but instead, his fingertips started tracking patterns over my stomach, making my skin tingle.
“For me, it was some fun. Nothing more. As soon as I knew Fox was getting serious about her, I stopped. I don’t have any feelings for her other than she’s a friend. She feels the same about me.”
I wriggled in the bed, pretending to get comfy, but really I just wanted to feel his hard cock against my ass, listening to the way his breathing changed as I moved.
“But I guess your question was more about your experience with James, right?”
I shrugged.
“Not everyone will be like him, Princess. In fact, if they are, you should run like the wind. Learning what you enjoy,knowing your body, it’s an important part of sex, and a confident woman… a woman who can voice their needs, vocalize their pleasure, be open about their desires… fuck, that’s sexy as hell. No matter what lies you’ve been told in the past.”
I sighed because I’d never had that; a safe place to experiment, and I wondered what it would be like to just let go. I’d been taught to lie on my back and take what I was given and I found it hard to think there was any other way.
“My turn.” Charlie interrupted my thoughts. “What would you like in a boyfriend?”
I paused, letting his question settle. “I don’t know. I’ve never thought about it. I guess someone who could make me laugh but knew when I was hurting. Someone who liked that I was bossy and independent. Someone so unlike the men my family expected me to marry. What about you? What do you want?”
Charlie sucked in a deep breath and I could have sworn he was sniffing my hair, which made me tilt my head, hoping his lips would brush against my skin. “Someone who can keep up with me. I’m a lot. Not just in bed, but in life. It’s like I’m permanently over caffeinated… well, that’s what Fox and Archer tell me. Someone who listens and hears what I’m really saying. Someone I can trust, no matter what. Someone to be my best friend as well as the person I can fuck until she screams my name.”
His words flooded my body with excitement, need pulsing between my thighs when I realized that I wanted to be fucked like that… and that I wanted to be fucked by him.
“Nope, I’m not getting any warmer. This is stupid. Get your ass up, Princess, and get down those stairs.”
“I was comfy,” I huffed.
“I promise to get back in that exact same position in bed, in front of the fire under a huge feather filled duvet. I will not die in my sleep because you want to stare at the stars that it’s too stormy to see.”
“Promise?”
I felt him smile against my neck. “Promise. Now move.”
Chapter 15
Charlie
Fox once told me that when I found a woman I wanted to share my past with, she would be my keeper. The one I fell for and never wanted to let go. I’d forgotten that until I was lying in that daybed, freezing my ass off, hands pressed against Fern’s belly while I tried to warm my frost-bitten fingers. And now we were back downstairs in bed, fire lit, buried under the duvet and blankets, facing each other.
“You promised we could get back into the exact same position,” she whispered. “I want your hands on me again.”
“It’s probably not a good idea, Princess.”
She slapped my arm. “You promised. I’m rolling over and I want your hands where they were.” Then she paused. “Shit, wasthat too bossy? I don’t want to think you have to do something you don’t want to do.”
I pushed my fingers through her hair, moaning when I felt how soft it was. “I’m a grown man and I’m okay with telling you no if I want to. The problem is, I don’t want to say no to you.”
“So don’t,” she said, her voice so soft it danced over me like gossamer in the breeze.
“The same has to go for you, though. If something happens you don’t want, you have to promise me you’ll say no. I’d stop in a heartbeat.”
Pressing a kiss to the edge of my lip, she smiled. “I know.”
And in that moment, I knew I was fucked. I was going to make out with Fern Richards, and no force in the world was strong enough to stop it.
She rolled over, pulling my hands to her stomach, pressing herself back against me. I groaned, nestling my face to the curve of her neck, breathing her in.