44. Charleigh

FORTY-FOUR

CHARLEIGH

"You'd better get up and get dressed." He squeezed my bare thigh in his meaty palm. My only response was a groggy giggle since I seemed to be at a complete loss of all my faculties, nothing but a pile of mush in my bed.

Wrapped up in him. Giant arms locked around me where we lay on our sides, my front plastered to the strength of his massive chest.

Our breaths had slowed, but our hearts were still thudding harder than normal, or maybe I could just feel the way his had met with mine, and now mine would forever beat differently.

"Do I have to?" I mumbled at the skin of his neck. The stubble that had begun to sprout prickled over my lips.

I loved the way it felt.

Rough and raw like the man.

But the truth was, I liked every raw thing about him. The way he'd touched me. Taken me. Spoken to me.

I loved him hard and I loved him soft. Loved him gruff and loved when his words went tender.

I gulped around the realization of what I really felt, and I wondered if it was possible he truly had changed everything. If he'd shifted the trajectory. Diverted my course .

If, when we'd collided, he'd broken this cycle that I'd believed I would spiral in forever.

Running. Running. Running.

He leaned in closer and rumbled at my ear, "As much as I like you naked and intend to keep you that way as much as possible, not sure anyone else needs to see my girl like that on the back of my bike. Though now that I mentioned it, pretty sure I'm going to have to have my way with you on it and soon."

Desire rolled in the tranquil waters where we floated.

I edged back so I could stare at the rugged lines of his handsome face. "You want me naked on your bike?"

It was half astounded. Half a tease.

"Want you naked everywhere, though it's not going to be with an audience. Not the kind of guy who likes to share." He pecked a swift kiss to my lips. "Now get that sweet ass out of bed. Nolan's going to be waiting on us."

He slipped off the bed and started gathering his clothes from the floor. Sitting up, I brushed back my hair from my face as I contemplated what he'd said.

"What?" he asked, taking in my uncertainty when he turned to face me as he shrugged into his jeans. My breath punched from my lungs again. I wasn't sure I would ever get used to seeing him this way.

"You want me to go back with you? To your place?"

He breathed out a sigh, and he shifted, climbing up from the end of the bed until he had one side of my face in the power of his hand. "I want you wherever I am. As close to me as I can get you." Then he grinned. "How else am I going to get into this tight little body whenever I want to?"

He brushed his fingers between my legs.

I gasped, though somehow I managed to remain playful. "Maybe I just want you to come to me."

His hand slipped up my torso then he curled his hand around the side of my neck. Gripping on. "I would follow you to the ends of the earth, Charleigh, if that's what you wanted. But right now, there's a little boy at my house who I'm pretty sure is eager to see us both. He about had a fit when he found out you'd left last night without saying goodbye to him."

My heart squeezed. Expanded and pulsed. The affection I had for him was so intense I didn't think there was room for it within the confines of my chest.

"Well, I guess I'd better go and apologize, then, hadn't I?"

"Pack some things while you're at it. Want you to stay with me for a while."

And still I wavered, unsure. "Don't you think we're taking this a little fast?"

His thumb brushed the angle of my cheek. "How could it be too fast if I've been waiting on you my entire life?"

We rode through Moonlit Ridge along the two-lane road that ran beside the lake, the air cool on my face as I clung to the man in front of me. His big body vibrated as he held onto the handlebars. The roar of the engine clouded out all other sound but heightened the rest of my senses.

The scent that clung to him. Leather and ink and wickedness.

The glint of the fading sun that sparked through the dense leaves of the trees.

The taste of his kiss that still whispered on my tongue.

His skin an inferno where it blazed against mine.

Anticipation billowed when he made the couple turns it took to have us gliding down his driveway toward the sanctuary of his house.

An old, custom pickup truck was parked out front. It was low to the ground and painted jet black. River slowed, and he swung his boots to the ground to support the motorcycle while he dug his phone out of his pocket and entered the code to raise the garage door.

He pulled his bike in between his SUV and Raven's little white car before he cut the engine. Then he took my hand to help me swing off, helping me to maneuver without touching any hot metal parts .

But it was River who could scorch me. Sear me through. Those dark, dangerous eyes raking over me while I stood beside his bike.

"A man could get used to this."

"And what's that?"

He swung from the bike, rising to his full, imposing height.

A devastating warrior.

His hand slipped to my cheek, and his voice turned low. "You."

That one word seemed to hold more meaning than any before it, and he shook off whatever had held him rapt before he snagged my hand and hauled me to the interior door. He jammed at the button to close the garage in the same second as he dragged me inside, right down the hall and to the clatter transpiring in the kitchen.

It was another dance party. Like yesterday's, only Raven and Otto were swing dancing, like they'd stepped straight out of another era. Raven squealed and screamed when Otto flipped her.

Nolan howled and clapped where he sat on the island watching them. "That one was a ten! Or even an eleven even though we aren't even supposed to have one of those, but it was really perfect, so I think you get extra credit."

Then he screeched and kicked his feet when he noticed me and River in the archway. "Miss Charleigh, you came back to me!"

He popped off the counter, hit the stool, and was on his feet in a flash and barreling over to me. I didn't have the time to prepare myself before he launched himself into my arms.

I lifted him. Hugged him to me. Breathed him in.

Peace whispered through my being, this child a balm to my soul.

I held him that way for the longest time, relishing in the feel of his perfect weight.

Then he edged back. "You are in so much trouble that you didn't even say goodbye last night. I thought you were supposed to be sleepin' in the guest room right across from me, and I went right there in the morning, and the bed hadn't been slept in or nothin'."

I didn't know whether to laugh with the amount of joy his sweet, demanding words brought out in me, or weep from the truth that I'd been so close to never seeing him again.

Weep that I'd been inclined to run.

And I would have missed this .

I splayed one hand over the back of his head, holding him so close that I could feel his spirit knitting with mine. "Well, that was completely rude of me, wasn't it? Which is why I had to come back here to make sure you knew I was thinking of you."

He angled back, hanging onto my shoulders with both hands. A hopeful twist pulled to his brow. "You were thinking about me?"

"All day," I told him.

I realized then that three pairs of eyes were on us, and the music had been turned down. It was also when I noticed River's spine had sprouted a rod of steel where he stood beside me looking at Otto.

All the lightness in Otto had disappeared, and the two men shared what appeared to be some sort of silent argument.

Worry and questions strained between them.

My stomach twisted in uncertainty, but it was Raven who cleared her throat to break up the tension. "It's about time you two got here. Work was crazy busy today, and I'm starving. I made fettucine."

The tightness in my stomach turned into a growl. I hadn't eaten all day, unable to tolerate food with the way I'd been riddled with indecision. And then after my evening with River…

Nolan inhaled as he rubbed his belly. "Do you smell it, Miss Charleigh? Deee-licious."

"It does smell delicious."

"Um, that's because your auntie is the best cook around." Raven turned her attention to me. "Prepare to have your mind blown." Then she quirked a grin. "Never mind. Cleary, it's already been."

She exaggerated the last with the blink of her long lashes.

Redness flushed my entire being, and River grunted in some kind of warning.

Otto laughed this low laugh that promised whatever he'd been thinking had been proven correct, and he shook his head before he smiled at me. "Good to see you again, Charleigh. How are you tonight, sweetheart? "

I was still holding Nolan. Refusing to let him go. I cut a glance at River. Between the two of them, my heart swelled to overflowing.

"I'm better than I've been in a long, long time." I saw no purpose in hiding it.

"That's because she didn't have any family, Uncle Otto, so she's gotta be in ours because we got a lot of love around here," Nolan said, so matter of fact, as if he didn't wreck me a little more with each adorable word that dropped from his mouth. "Family's just who you love most."

Otto rumbled a satisfied sound. "Yeah, it sure is, isn't it?"

He looked at River again, though this time, there was something emphatic in his expression. Trying to drive a point home that was invisible to me.

I didn't know how much time had passed before Otto cleared his throat. "All right, I've got to get out of here."

"What, you aren't staying for dinner?" Raven pouted. I wondered if he had any idea that she was actually disappointed or if he believed she was only playing it up.

He curled an arm around her shoulder and tucked her close to his side. "Got plans. But don't worry, baby sister, I'll see you tomorrow at Kane's."

He planted a kiss to the top of her head.

She placed a hand on his chest as if to steady herself. I was pretty sure what she was steadying was her heart. "Can't wait."

"Whole crew is going to be there," Otto said with a blaze in his blue eyes that he directed at River.

Nolan bounced in my arms, exuberance riding into his expression. "You know what that means, Miss Charleigh? My best friends Gage and Juni Bee are comin' to see me! We're gonna have a sleepover at Miss Liberty's house and it's going to be the most fun I ever had."

"Wow. That sounds amazing."

"The most amazing," he said with a jut of his chin.

My heart squeezed again. Unsure how I'd been given this. Wondering if I could really truly be a part of it.

Wondering if I could really stay.

"All right, I'm out of here." Otto came striding across the kitchen, so enormous I wasn't sure how the room contained both him and River. He plucked Nolan out of my arms and swung him high, making the child shriek and giggle and clamber to get ahold of his head.

Otto was chuckling as he flipped him before he settled him onto his feet. "There…just to show you've got as good of moves as your auntie Raven."

"Was it an eleven?" Nolan asked, his brows shooting for the sky.

Otto poked his belly before he looked back at Raven. "Just about, Little Dude, just about."

He swung his attention to me and River.

"See you two tomorrow night."

A surprised sound peeped out of me when he pulled me into a massive hug and leaned in close to my ear. "It's really good that you're here. Really fuckin' good."

Then he gave River a clap to the shoulder before he angled between us to head to the front door.

It rattled shut behind him.

Raven clapped her hands. "Let's eat."