Chapter Two Charlie

Nick was up to something. I knew it. I’d been waiting for him to call it a night for over two hours, but nope, he showed no sign of tiring.

Well, if I had any hope of making it through all the shopping I had to do tomorrow for the angels, I needed rest.

And an orgasm.

Okay, at least three. He better give me at least three. The first one would be easy. I swear, all he had to do was look my clit right in the eye, and she’d succumb to his every charm and flutter at his feet.

He owed me dammit. Strutting around all cocky and shit still reveling in the knowledge he’d knocked me up with his baby. Anyone else would look like a pompous asshole doing that, but not Nick. Never Nick.

He looked like a damn God.

The bastard knew it, too.

By day, he moved through his career all unassuming-like. A financial planning wizard for clients he genuinely liked and cared about. Then, taking those same tools he used helping modest families, he created highly unconventional strategies on a corporate level with select high-profile clients he’d accepted so he could increase his pro bono work. A natural philanthropist to the core.

By night, he puffed right up with pride, his ego practically needing to be greased up to stuff it through the doorways.

At the moment, as he chatted with a cluster of our parents’ friends, flashing me a toe-curling smile, he was a stunning combo of the two.

What the hell was he waiting for? I know he needed the damn orgasm as much as I did at this point. I made sure of it.

Plus, I had everything in the works to make sure the very next orgasm he had would be the most mind-blowing of his life.

If. He’d. Stop. Talking.

Most of the crowd celebrating tonight had called it a night, with just a few diehards clinging to every last minute they could squeeze out.

Thankfully the DJ switched to the low hum of instrumental music and they turned up the lights a bit, signaling the end. Sinking into a plush chair in the corner, I drew up my feet underneath me and settled in to wait. I folded my hands on the padded arm of the chair and laid my head down.

I’d just rest. For only a minute.

I felt the smallest kick in my belly and smiled, my eyes drifting shut.

“Hey, wake up… I have a surprise for you.”

“Hmmmm, orgasms?” I leaned into Nick’s warm palm along my cheek, but didn’t open my eyes. If anything, I snuggled deeper into the chair.

“Soon,” he said with a laugh.

My eyes popped open then, and I gave him a glare that even the weight of sleep couldn’t conceal. “That is my new most-hated word.”

His eyes danced. They laughed at my horny misery. “I have an early Christmas present.”

“Me too… and if you’d stop saying soon, I could give it to you.”

“It’ll be worth the wait, I promise.”

“What time is it?” I sat up and stretched as I glanced around the room. The only people left were the staff cleaning up and the maintenance guy, John, who’d worked at the lodge for as long as I could remember. He stood by the tree, his forearms propped on a rung of a massive ladder.

“Just after midnight.” He crouched in front of me, took my hands, and made lazy circles with his thumb over my knuckles.

“How long was I sleeping?”

“A little over an hour.” Pushing to his feet, he drew me up and settled his hand along my hip to steady me.

It’s amazing how something inside you the size of an ear of corn could have you so off balance.

“Long enough for everyone to clear out so we could have some privacy. Come on,” he said, leading me over to the tree where John smiled and opened a huge trash bag.

“We ready to do this, kids?”

I glanced between the two of them, just a tad irritated that there was a plan for my tree, but I was the only one who didn’t know about it. “What are we doing?”

“We’re taking all of them.”

“We—wait, what?”

He rocked back on his heels practically dancing on the balls of his feet. “A clean sweep.”

“Nick, that has to be…” My gut bottomed as I thought about the small dent my five thousand dollars worth two years ago looked versus the tree full of angels as a whole. “I don’t even want to say the number.”

His eyes roamed the tree from the bottom to the top. “Best guess, about a hundred thousand.”

Okay, I was definitely still sleeping. I pinched my arm making sure to dig in the nails good and hard. It fucking hurt. “So, did I miss a redwood-sized money tree sprouting from your ass?”

“Nope, I just didn’t tell you about the hefty bonus I got from CoreShield about a month ago.”

“How much are we talking? You still have taxes to pay on that?”

“I do, but they were so impressed with the work I did that when I told them what I planned to do with the bonus, they said they’d match it. We can wipe the tree clean this year.” He grinned down at me. “The best part is, no one will know who did it, but everyone will be talking about it. The mystery turning into a legend just might be enough to get people participating in it for years to come.”

“Permanent halo status, Nick?” My eyes prickled again and a heavy heat spread through my chest. He knew I struggled with walking away from this tree each year and he undoubtedly knew this year would hit even harder. Hormones.

And did he just have a solution for this year? Of course not. If anyone would figure out a way to make it pay off for years to come, it was my husband.

“Yeah, but now we’ll have a matching pair.”

“What about all the shopping?” Was there even enough time to pull that off between the two of us?

“I worked out help for that too. Ready to strip that tree?” He brushed a knuckle over my belly. Before he could drop his hand, I snagged it in my own.

A spurt of energy coursed through me, spiking my blood. “Let’s do it.”

He let me help for all of twenty minutes until they were too high up to reach. The minute I stepped one foot on the ladder, he was there, snatching me right back. “I don’t think so.”

I swatted his hands away. Not that it deterred him. “Pregnant, not broken.”

“But tired and more off balance than normal. No.”

“It was one step.”

“With you, it’s never just one anything. We’ve got this. Relax. You can supervise.”

I called all the bullshit on his promoting me to supervisor. He meant watch.

With a smile, which should have been his first clue, I took a step back. I nodded and smiled every time they glanced in my direction. All agreeable and shit while I had to be, but the minute they were distracted with the last of the angels, I headed for our room.

He really thought he could placate me that easily? Nope. Not a chance. So, instead, I would make use of the renewed energy and stubborn resolve thanks to my nap and glowing personality and… play.

I’d show him supervise.

After peeling off my knee-high boots, I grabbed the cloth bag I’d slipped in my suitcase when he wasn’t looking. And in it—what was called the Rolls Royce of clit vibrators. At least it better be at almost two hundred dollars.

If he didn’t hurry up, he’d miss the show because I was done waiting. I left my hair up, he loved taking it down too much for me to steal that from him. With the comforter peeled back and the packaging discarded, I set the plastic fob on the nightstand and climbed onto the bed—dead center—and settled against the pillows.

All the pillows.

Like a fucking queen. He wanted to pamper me. Fine. I’d get on board.

We were in the same room. The one we’d gotten stuck in two years ago. The one we always came back to now. I took in the couch, the mini bar, and the door where my toy arsenal hung and smiled. Making a deal with a saint turned out to be the smartest thing I’d ever done.

Memories, one after another, cascaded through my mind. Watching him sleep, shaving him for the first time, and there, right next to the bed, the wall where he kissed me when he found out about my secret with the angels. Kissed me so deeply, he practically flicked my clit from the inside out.

My heart raced even now, my skin growing hot and tight. This was a damn good room.

I had just turned on the toy when he barged in, all fired up. “I swear I’m going to break this habit you have of up and disappearing on me.”

I shrugged a shoulder. “You didn’t want my help. You relegated me to watching. I’m not the voyeur, Nick. You are.”

“I didn’t want you on the ladder.”

I directed my attention to the toy and turned it over in my hand. “That’s how I help.”

“Chaaarrrrrrlllllliiiiiieeeee,” he growled.

“Niiicccccckkkkkkk.” I brushed my thumb over the curved oval opening checking for sharp edges or any imperfections. “You had one job, Nicky boy. My orgasms. You missed the deadline so I had to take matters into my own hands.”

“I’ve got two commercial-sized bags of angels I had to haul up here and you’re playing?”

I let my legs fall open giving him a glimpse of just how ready to play I was.

“Little shit,” he mumbled from the foot of the bed as he yanked the ends of his dress shirt out of his pants and started working on the buttons. “Tell me you had on underwear downstairs.”

“Nope.”

When I reached for the hem of my dress, he shot me a glare. “Don’t you dare take it off.”

“Nick, it’s soon. You will give me my orgasms or I’m going to bite you.”

“I will, but revealing those gorgeous thighs is my job. I’ve been dreaming about it since the first moment I saw you in that dress.”

I nudged the knit band up just enough to settle the smooth end of the vibrator against my clit, the sensation, a vibration, but also this slight movement of air that had the gasp sputtering in my throat. Oh God, this thing was good. So good.

His sense of urgency increased and with it, his clumsiness as he fought to stay upright with each piece of clothing he struggled to shed.

The change in my breathing with the low hum of the toy filled the quiet of the room. Nick’s heated gaze stayed transfixed on my hand.

Wet, swollen, and absolutely dying for release, I stretched out and increased the pressure, my arm tossed over my head, as I writhed there, my fingers fisting the pillow behind me.

“Fuck.” He kicked his pants free of his feet and dove for me, his hands wrapping around my knees as he settled between my legs. Mesmerized in a way I hadn’t seen in months, he devoured every last bit of the show.

The way I brought myself to the brink, but yanked myself back, time and time again, knowing when I finally let go, every cell in my body would explode with it. I relished the little gasps bursting from his lips every time he anticipated my toppling over.

What an equal opportunity edger I was.

By the third time though, he lost every bit of restraint and covered my hand with his. “Do it!” he commanded, as he kissed the inside of my thigh. The pressure he applied sealed the gap between the toy and my aching clit which heightened the sensation tenfold.

“Bossy fucker,” I choked out as I rocked into the force of our hands working in unison.

“I’ll make it up to you,” he said, his gravelly voice vibrating along my skin.

Burying my fingers in his hair, I finally let go, the hot flow of release coursing through with every rock of my hips. Pleasure bordering the point of pain pulsed, and I cried out. Too much and not enough, I lay there at the mercy of my body.

And because he knew me—all of me—every last part I never wanted to show anyone, he knew just what to do to keep my pleasure suspended. He yanked the toy away and sent it flying to the foot of the bed. Grasping the edges of my dress with his balled fists, he shoved the knit clean up to my hips, and dove in with his demanding, wicked fucking mouth.

My vision blurred with the first swipe of his tongue. Goosebumps bloomed on my skin the minute he sucked my clit between his lips. But it was that hum of satisfaction vibrating as he ate that had a ragged groan tearing through me while I writhed under the assault of his skilled mouth.

I became absolutely feral listening to him devour me, savoring the satisfied sounds rumbling from his throat. Loving the possessive way his arms locked me in place so there was nowhere to escape. I gave into every sensation wracking my body until the tension snapped and my back arched with wave after wave of pure bliss.

The buzzing in my head obliterated his murmured words as I collapsed bonelessly against the pile of pillows behind me.

I barely noticed the dress disappearing over my head but sighed with relief when my hair tumbled free under his deft fingers. His scent surrounded me, driving me mad with the deep spicy notes in his cologne.

Before I could so much as clear my vision, he splayed my legs wide. Kneeling before me, his mouth devouring mine, the taste of us, of what he did to me with every touch only added fuel to the fire.

“I didn’t think it was possible to want you more, but damn woman.” He bit my lip and soothed the sting with his hot tongue. “You are so damn responsive. I’m absolutely savage watching you fall apart.”

Wrapping my arms around his neck, a sense of peace filled me as I clung to him, not realizing how much I needed this with him again. Morning sickness gave zero fucks about normal work hours, sleep cycles, or needing to be close to your person. For the last few months we’d been at its mercy, but we were totally going to make up for it now.

I smiled against his neck while he continued to stroke his hands along my spine. Even though I savored every single pass, I also had other plans.

His present.

“Hey, Nick…”

“Hmmm?” he hummed as he trailed his lips along my jaw.

“Remember the big dick you had me put away before…”

He stilled but didn’t pull away. “What about it?”

“It’s bigger.”

“Okaaaay?”

“And badder.”

A laughed rumbled in his chest. “I’m listening.”

“Go get your present… blue bag on the table.”

He managed to snag the pouch without losing that possessive grip he had on me leg.

Always with the hands on me, not that I was complaining. Secretly, I loved the hell out of it.

Unzipping the three sides, he flipped the top back and pulled the other toy out of the bag.

Cocking his head, he took in the slopes and curves. “It’s high quality, I’ll give you that, but I’m surprised. Seems a little tame for you.”

Oh this was going to be good. “It’s not for me.”

He turned it over in his hand and glanced up at me. “Huh?”

“It doesn’t go inside me.”

He scratched the edge of his jaw and shook his head. “I don’t understand.”

“It goes inside you.”

“Inside of wh—” His hands shot up between us. “Wait!”

“As I recall, your words were, ‘Try me.’”

“Yes, but—”

Not so cool anymore was he? I dragged my fingers over my nipple drawing his gaze. When I had his attention again, I raised an eyebrow. “Scared?”

He stared at my breasts longingly and swallowed hard. “Terrified. It looks like a lot.”

God, I loved when he was helpless to look away from me. “You just got done calling it tame.”

“That was before I knew where you wanted to put it.”

“Baby, you aren’t going to want to fuck me without that once you get a taste of what it does.” Pushing up onto my knees, I brushed my lips over his reassuringly as I stroke my fingertips over the soft beard I loved so damn much. “If you want to stop, we stop.”

Peppering soft kisses on the underside of his jaw, I glided my palms over his ribs, stroking every sexy dip. God, I’d never get sick of touching this man, tasting him, and pushing him in ways he never imagined.

With every soft stroke he relaxed a fraction more. The air grew hotter between us and the apprehension radiating from him turned to surrender.

“I’m going to hold you to that,” he said as he tossed the vibrator on the bed. Clasping my chin, he stole a hard, hot kiss from my mouth.

“Lay down.”

With one final burning glance, he sprawled over the mattress on this stomach. Folding his hands under his head, he watched my every move. He tried to hide it, but the click of the lube cap flipping open made him jump.

Crawling over his calves, I settled between his knees, nudging them apart. Starting with the toy, I coated the silicone and then squeezed out a generous amount on my fingers.

“You know I’m going to own you after this, right? You’re going to do everything I want. When I want.” Relishing this new, heady sense of power, I spanked him and palmed the muscle after, enjoying what had to be the most phenomenal ass I’d ever seen.

“You’re putting a whole lot of faith in one simple toy,” he said with heated challenge in his eyes as he aimed a look over his shoulder.

Holding eye contact, I streaked the lube right between his cheeks. The minute I hit his asshole, his jaw went slack and his eyes glazed over.

“Fuck,” he breathed, his eyelids sliding shut.

Victory.

“I see I’ve got your attention.”

His eyes cracked open, his heavy-lidded stare on me. “All of my attention.”

I glided the tip of the curved prostate massager along the same trail I made with the lube. With a few gentle adjustments that had him sinking his teeth into his bottom lip, I carefully worked it in.

His body reacted in a multitude of ways. First with resistance, until I lovingly bit his ass cheek to distract him.

A third of the way in, his shoulders and back muscles rolled and flexed as a groan slid from his parted lips.

Two-thirds of the way in, his toes curled, and he dug his fists into the mattress with a few rapid pants.

But when it slid in the rest of the way and settled into place, the base nestling right along his taint, and resting gently against the back of his balls, a shudder moved through him that had me positively trembling with him.

His back arched ever so slowly, his jaw clenched, and when he turned his gaze back to me, his dark eyes became laser-focused on me like I was his fucking prey.

Pushing onto his knees, his chest heaved as he absorbed this new, unfamiliar, but judging by the flush crawling over his skin, wild sensation filling him. “You are the Devil. Fuck.”

I crawled up next to him, kneaded his fine ass cheek once more while I kissed him slow and deep. Sucking his tongue into my mouth, I gave him no way to retreat.

His fingers shot out locking on the back of my neck and before I even got my bearings, he dragged me under him, splayed my legs wide, and plunged in deep and hard.

My mouth fell open on a wheeze and my eyes rolled back. Fuck yes.

Finally out of his own head, he stopped treating me like a piece of porcelain and took. Thank fuck, he finally took.

With a grunt, he closed his eyes and hung his head, his lungs heaving. “Sorceress,” he muttered with a hiss as he flexed his hips.

And now that I had him where I wanted him, I had every intention of keeping him there. Completely at my mercy.

“You have no idea.” Walking my hand along the nightstand, my fingertips landed right on the fob, and I pressed the button.

His eyes shot open and glazed over.

My breath caught in my throat and a smile of pure triumph spread over my face as he went absolutely insane above me.

“It’s everywhere,” he ground out. “Jesus, I feel everything. Inside and out,” he said last with a choked groan.

Finesse went completely out the window. He buried his face between my breasts as he fisted my hair. Holding me immobilized, he fed off my body.

The simplest touch of his lips on my nipples had me levitating these days. But tonight, the way he devoured my flesh in this perfect storm of crude sucking, biting, and licking left me stunned, helpless to whatever he delivered next.

And oh, did he deliver.

With his free hand locked on my hip, he pounded into me hard and fast, the orgasm coming in so swift, so intense, the ability to scream locked tight in my throat as I stared up into his blazing eyes.

Just as the waves began to ebb, he dragged out of me completely, his thumb going straight to my clit, making it impossible to come down. With his other hand, he plunged his fingers into me fast and steady.

His demanding gaze locked on the absolute destruction he sought between my thighs, and in seconds, I was whimpering helplessly. The flood he demanded from me rose swiftly and soaked the bed earning a growl of triumph from deep in his chest.

“Fuck, that’s beautiful. Goddamn.” His hand settling over my jaw, he took my mouth deep and hard, mirroring the complete domination with his hips and cock. His lungs heaved, his breaths going from deep and rhythmic to jagged and sporadic. With each deliciously violent crash of his hips, he panted every crazed sensation coursing through him into my lungs.

On his last thrust, he punched his fist into the pillows on either side of my head, his shoulders locking. His spine locked so tight, he seemed as though he would snap at the slightest pressure. The booming shout of pleasure or agony, my God who knew with the way his teeth ground together, echoed through him.

I cupped his jaw and stroked my thumb over his beard as he struggled for air. Beads of sweat welled up on the ridges of his shoulders, over this chest, along his temples, and along the edges of his hair.

A rapt fascination overtook me as I watched the bead of moisture breaking free along his neck right before trailing down into the hair on his chest.

With a last burst of energy, I pushed up just enough to lick the salt from his skin.

He hissed and his eyes flashed.

All. Fucking. Mine.

Staying firmly buried inside me, he spent the next several minutes coming down under the soothing glide of my hands roaming his skin. With his forehead propped on the pillow next to me, he kept his back arched, keeping his weight off of me and the baby.

Controlled madness.

He turned to me and dropped a series of gentle kisses along my jaw all the way to the soft skin under my ear. “Tell me I didn’t hurt you.”

“You didn’t hurt me.”

“Promise me you’re not lying.”

“Cross my heart.”

He pushed up on his fists and stared down at me, his eyes searching mine. “You own my ass now.”

I sputtered out a laugh at the incredulous tone of his voice and did my best not to gloat. “It’s all mine. I bet you’ll never ask me to put my dick away again, will you?”