Harper turned her head and kissed Charlie sideways. “Mmm, okay, I have to…” Harper said but stopped as she eased off the dildo, feeling too tight now that she’d come and realizing she didn’t need to narrate.
She stayed on Charlie’s lap, the dildo pressing into her back as Charlie continued her sensual massage. After a few minutes ofneither one of them saying anything, Harper felt like her bones had turned from rubber back into the natural form. “Now is it my turn to, how did you put it, fuck you into next Tuesday?”
Charlie’s chest shook with laughter. “I’m ready whenever you are.”
Harper stood and extended her hand to help Charlie up. As they walked down the hallway together, Harper wondered what other toys Charlie had. And she debated whether she wanted to put Charlie’s legs up over her shoulders and test all that yoga flexibility with the strap or if she wanted to take her on her hands and knees. The night was still young. Maybe she’d do both. She smiled to herself as she pulled Charlie faster.
Chapter Twenty-four
On the first day of November, Charlie awoke to Harper climbing out of bed, seemingly trying not to disturb her, but Charlie had always been a light sleeper. “Where are you going?” she said, cracking one eye half-open against the morning light.
“Sorry to wake you. I have the legal clinic this morning, so I have to get ready.” She sat on the bed naked and brushed hair from Charlie’s face. “But you should stay asleep. You don’t have to teach until eleven today, right?”
“Yeah. What time is it?”
“Seven thirty.”
“Oof. Why’d we stay up so late if you had to get up so early?” Charlie knew they hadn’t fallen asleep until sometime after three. That was not nearly enough sleep for women in their forties, yet she and Harper still always seemed a little desperate for each other, so she was surviving on the amount of sleep she had when she was still an investment banker.
“Someone was a little insatiable again, and one thing led to another.” Harper tickled Charlie’s side as she spoke, and Charlie squirmed away. “Not that that is atypical when you’re here, but four and a half hours of sleep is fine as long as I don’t do it every night. Since you don’t have an early start, you should stay in bed. You set an alarm, right?”
“Fuck, I’m not sure. Can you check my phone?” Charlie tried to pry both eyes open so she could give Harper a winsome look. “Pretty please.”
“Since you asked so nicely.” Harper leaned over so she couldreach Charlie’s phone on the nightstand. “Do you want to unlock it, or give me your password? And it looks like you have a bunch of missed calls from a 212 area code.”
“Ah, fuck. New York. Everyone there can fuck off if they aren’t saved in my phone, which is, like, two numbers.” Charlie told Harper her passcode and draped her arm over her eyes, not wanting the brightness to invade anymore. She was almost curious about who had been calling her at seven in the morning, but if it wasn’t Ashley, she truly didn’t care.
“Okay, then.” Harper hummed for a moment. “Is two your favorite number?”
“No, why?”
“Because half of your passcode is twos.”
“That’s the date I moved to Florida.”
“Interesting. And, yes, you have an alarm set for nine thirty. Does that work?”
“Perfect,” Charlie said, though she already felt herself slipping off to sleep again. She felt the brush of Harper’s lips against her forehead before sleep overtook her.
When she woke to her alarm a few hours later, she reveled in the wonderful tightness of her muscles. It seemed like every night they made love, they were taking it to a new level.
She floated on a cloud all day: teaching class, taking a bike ride around the island, showering, and finally ending up sitting at the bar for happy hour. She floated right up until the moment a tall, slender white man in a brown suit who looked completely out of place walked up to the bar and addressed Harper. “Hi, I’m Robert Woodall. I’m an investigator with the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Enforcement Division.”
Charlie tried to watch him discreetly, even as her stomach felt like it was falling to the floor when he flashed a badge at Harper, who took it out of his hands and examined it closely.
“Okay.” Harper looked as uneasy as Charlie felt.
“I’m looking for a Charlotte Paulson, and I heard she might come in here occasionally.” He took off his hat and used a handkerchief to blot his forehead in what felt like a scene out of a movie set in the fifties.
“Do you have a warrant?” Harper said. Watching her go from laidback bartender to lawyer would have been hot under other circumstances, but Charlie felt like she was going to throw up. There was no sense trying to hide. If the SEC was there looking forher, something was going down. She might as well confront it head on.
“No, no nothing like that. I just want to talk to Ms. Paulson about something. She isn’t in any sort of trouble.” He smiled blandly.
Charlie was about to speak up again when Harper said, “That’s what law enforcement always says, but intelligent people always approach that phrase with caution and suspicion.”
Charlie felt like she was trying to send her a message. She was receiving it but also wanted to know what the hell was going on.
“I can assure you, I’m not a law enforcement agent.”