Chapter 14

FOURTEEN

Noah fingered the silky strands of Charlotte's hair where they fanned out over his chest. Her sigh of contentment whispered over his skin. He snuggled her in closer against him, reveling in the feel of her naked body. His junk grew unapologetically tight when he inhaled the familiar scent of her skin, now mingled with the musky smell of sex.

Christ.

He'd just had the best sex of his life and his body was already begging for another round. Not that he could blame himself. He seriously doubted he'd ever grow tired of having this woman.

Of hearing his name on her lips when she came.

Of feeling her velvety muscles clenching around him, urging him on to a mind-blowing release.

Of feeling her heart beating against his.

This is what it feels like to be complete.

Funny how Noah never knew what he was missing before this vibrant, impulsive, larger-than-life woman exploded into his life. He'd wrongly believed all he needed was success on the football field—and his family—to be fulfilled. Clearly, he was an idiot.

He brushed a kiss along the top of her head. "Thank you."

Thank you for opening my eyes. For being you. For giving yourself to me.

"Mmm," she murmured against his shoulder. "I think you're the first guy to ever thank me for sex."

"Get used to it," he growled while trying to ignore the ugly sensation churning deep in his gut at the thought of anyone else experiencing what he just had with Charlotte.

Wearing a smug smile, she rolled onto his chest, letting her long legs drop to either side of his hips. His breath hitched when she settled her core on the part of him arguing for an immediate repeat performance. Charlotte was noticeably less affected, her focus intent on tracing a finger along his shoulder.

"I owe you a thank you, too. Thank you for having my back that night in London. You could have walked away." She looked up at him then, her blue eyes melancholy. "You probably should have walked away given all the bad karma that came about because you played along with me."

As if.

There was no way he could deny Charlotte anything she asked of him, even back then. Besides, he'd never walk away from a woman in need of rescuing. Even knowing the bullshit Bucky Kincaid would heap on him, Noah would still make the same decision.

He brushed a piece of hair back from her face. "You're worth it."

She looked away. "You say that now. You didn't think so once upon a time."

Noah slammed his eyes shut with a groan. "The things you overheard. I didn't mean them. My ego took a serious blow, and I acted like an ass."

There was a ghost of a smile on her lips when he opened his eyes. She traced a circle on his chest. He rested his palm on her cheek.

"I'm sorry I hurt you," he said solemnly. It pained him to know she'd felt less than because of the idiotic things he had spoken out of spite.

"I guess we both did some stupid things. Something tells me we still have some issues, though. Mainly the big one about you thinking you're not good enough for me."

He jerked his eyes to the ceiling, swearing violently under his breath. "Meemaw has a big mouth."

"She's not afraid to speak her mind. To tell it like it is. I adore that about her."

Noah almost laughed. He was right about the two women being alike. There should probably be an emergency alert broadcast every time those two got together.

"And for your information, I'm working hard not to be hoity-toity and snobbish anymore."

The sight of her bottom lip quivering sent a stab of pain to his chest. He reversed their positions. She let out a little shriek that he silenced with his lips.

"It was never about you," he said when she was pliant beneath him. "It's more about my hang-ups. I'm a small-town boy who hasn't seen much of the world. I don't want you to wake up one day and decide I'm not enough."

There. He'd said it out loud. She opened her mouth to protest, but he silenced her with another kiss.

"You're going to tell me it doesn't matter," he murmured against her mouth. "And in my head, I know that. But it's very much a guy thing. I want to be your everything."

Her eyes were shining with unshed tears when she shoved at his chest. He pushed up to balance on his forearms.

"You stupid, stupid, man." She sniffed. "I don't want a jet-setting playboy. I want a man who will kiss me senseless in an elevator then lay beside me on a hotel bed and watch my favorite movie without getting all handsy. The perfect guy for me is the one who crouches down to meet a sick little boy in the eye. A man who allows his wily grandmother to con him into bringing a girl home for her birthday." She cradled his chin with her fingers. "Don't you see, Noah? This small town is the place where you get the most attractive part of you. Your integrity. I don't want a guy who can order a martini in five different languages. I want a guy whose entire town admires him so much they'll show up at a high school football game wearing his jersey."

"You make it sound a lot more glamorous than it is."

She shook her head in exasperation. "You don't realize how lucky you are to have grown up in a place where you have connections and history. I was raised in Manhattan among a million other people who only made it a point to know me because of what I might be able to offer them—money."

He leaned down to touch his forehead to hers. Anyone who'd stood in a grocery store checkout line for the past twenty years had—thanks to the tabloids—a front-row seat as Charlotte went from poor-little-rich-girl to princess. Sure, Noah's life growing up hadn't been easy, given what his family had to endure. But there was a lot of truth to what she said. Like it or not, this town had given him a safety net to live his life as he wanted.

"You'll always be more than enough for me, Noah Hudson," she whispered. "You were exactly what I needed and wanted from the moment we met."

He swallowed roughly. She was wrong. He was so unworthy of this woman. Except he wasn't going to deny himself any longer. She wanted him. She believed in him. He'd do whatever it took to make himself the man she thought him to be. Beginning right now, by making her shout his name in ecstasy again.

Noah's dad nudged him with his shoulder. "You look a lot more relaxed than you did when you arrived yesterday."

"Mmm," he replied, keeping his focus aimed at the women in his life who were dancing with one another in the middle of the VFW hall. Maisy spun around the dance floor like a whirling dervish. Ainsley chortled as she swayed side to side with her feet balanced on Noah's mom's shoes, while Alex and Charlotte tried to teach Meemaw the latest line dance.

Charlotte didn't need a ball gown to look like a princess. Even dressed in a simple black jersey dress, she enchanted everyone around her. Meemaw guffawed when Charlotte twirled her around. How had he ever doubted she would fit in?

"She acts very down-to-earth." His father nodded in Charlotte's direction. "Not that I've gotten to exchange more than two words with her. You two must have made a day of it, exploring the area."

Noah tucked his chin so his dad wouldn't see the telltale blush warming his cheeks. They had made a day of it. Exploring each other, as well as the surrounding mountains and waterfalls. He'd had the best intentions when they started out this morning. It was Charlotte's fault for disarming his plans when she'd teased him about taking her to all the area make-out spots. It would have been a shame to disappoint her.

His father patted him on the shoulder. "I'm glad you've found something besides football to focus on. I don't remember ever seeing you looking this happy."

"You sound like Meemaw." His grandmother had been smugly basking in the fruits of her manipulation all weekend.

His father chuckled. "Today I'll take that as a compliment. And while you stand here admiring the view, I'm going to take this young lady of yours for a spin around the dance floor."

"I was just about to do that," Noah grumbled.

"You snooze, you lose," his dad called over his shoulder while making a beeline for Charlotte. "It's your grandmother's birthday. Dance with her."

His father's words had Meemaw arching an eyebrow expectantly at Noah. Charlotte's blue eyes sparkled with delight when his father began circling her around the dance floor to the tune of a Bobby Darin ballad. With no graceful way of getting out of it, Noah held out his hands to his grandmother.

"I'll take my thank you sooner rather than later," she said once they began dancing. "I'm not getting any younger, you know."

"Gloat much."

She had the nerve to laugh. "Admit it. I was right. You followed my advice and brought Charlotte. She showed her true colors, just like I said she would."

The woman in question was chatting animatedly with his father, as though the two were long-lost friends. Noah couldn't keep the smile from his lips. She had shown her true colors. He'd guessed she was nothing like the spoiled woman the headlines made her out to be. And he was glad his family got to see the low-maintenance, unassuming side of her, too.

"The girls from the garden club were all clutching their pearls when Charlotte began clearing the empty paper plates and cups into the trash." Meemaw donned a proud smile, as if Charlotte had just won an Olympic gold medal or something. "She's good people. And she's good for you."

"Mmm."

Meemaw smacked him on the shoulder. "Don't you dare spoil it by doubting yourself. You're good for her, too. She needs someone like you to center her. That poor girl has been chasing after normalcy all her life. You can give her that."

"Wow, Meemaw, is that your way of saying I'm boring?"

His grandmother glared at him. "More like impossible. You are going to mess this up, aren't you?"

He pulled her in for a hug just as the song ended. "I won't mess it up, Meemaw. I promise. Happy birthday." He pressed a kiss to her forehead.

"I told you to dance with her. Not make her cry," his father said when he and Charlotte made their way over to them.

"Oh hush, you." Meemaw dabbed at her eyes. "These are happy tears. Now, are you going to dance with your mother tonight, or what?"

Noah's dad shot him a long-suffering look before steering his mother in the other direction. "At Last," by Etta James wafted from the speakers. Charlotte smiled as she stepped into Noah's arms.

"Appropriate," she murmured, snaking her arms over his shoulders.

"Mmm." He leaned his forehead against hers and they began to sway in place to the music. "Have I thanked you yet for coming with me this weekend?"

"Let's see. I recall several times when you thanked me last night. And again, today at the falls, followed by a spectacular reenactment in the shower once we got home." She inched her hips closer. "But if you're still feeling grateful, I'll let you thank me again tonight."

He let out a tortured groan before burying his face against her neck.

Charlotte had the nerve to laugh at his discomfort. He was just about to drag her into the utility room at the back of the hall where he could thank her properly, when two hands wrapped themselves tightly around his legs.

"Uncle Noah. Mommy says you're not doing it right."

Maisy smiled up at him with the certainty of a four-year-old who would likely rule the world one day given the genes flowing through her veins. His sister shot him a saucy grin from across the dance floor. Chris shrugged his shoulders, already whipped by the women in his household. Not to be denied, Ainsley toddled over, punch drunk with exhaustion. Waving her arms up to Charlotte, she unleashed a pitiful wail.

"Oh, sweetie, come here." Charlotte lifted his niece into her arms.

Ainsley shot her sister a satisfied smirk before resting her head on Charlotte's shoulder.

"Hey! I want to dance with you guys, too."

He was already hefting Maisy onto his hip before she could finish her demand. Maisy wrapped an arm around Charlotte's and Noah's necks, pulling the foursome closer together.

"This is perfect," Maisy announced.

It certainly is.

Charlotte gently rocked Ainsley. The little girl's eyes drifted shut.

"Do you want me to take her, too," he asked when she shifted Ainsley on her shoulder.

She shook her head. "I miss when Vivi and Gray were this small. I used to dance them to sleep just like this."

The gentle smile she bestowed on his niece robbed him of his breath. Her devotion to her brother's twins was touching. It was obvious Charlotte longed for children of her own. He could give her that. Hell, he ached to give her that.

A round of applause greeted them when the music stopped. It was only then that he noticed all eyes in the room focused their way. Charlotte curtsied as best she could with twenty-five pounds of dead weight on her shoulder. Maisy trotted out her best royal wave for the crowd.

Alex and Chris hurried over to take their daughters. Noah reached for Charlotte's hand, brushing his lips over her fingers. A gorgeous blush stained her cheeks when she leaned her cheek against his shoulder. Noah was a little disappointed there wasn't a camera in sight to record the moment. For once, he'd like to give Bucky Kincaid something to eat crow about.

"Is it time to go home?" Charlotte whispered, the seductively asked question erasing all thoughts of Kincaid from his mind.