Chapter Nine

CHARLOTTE"S MEMORIESwere proving to have the worst timing ever. As Sano wordlessly lifted her off his lap, Charlotte was reminded of the time Lukas first asked her to marry him, and the memory had her wincing...just as Sano set her back on her feet.

Blue eyes immediately narrowed on her expression, and Charlotte held her breath. In all the times she and Land would have a misunderstanding, he would always be the first one to ask for an explanation. And in the times when she was clearly in the wrong, Land had never asked that she apologized. It had always been Charlotte"s failing, with her pride making it hard for her to apologize to Amelia, and later on to Landon, because they were the ones who had mattered the most. And because her husband knew this, he would always give her the same set of choices.

Blowjob or "I love you"?

And of course, she had always gone for the former.

A blowjob only required Charlotte to open her mouth while the latter required her to open up her heart, which she had always found difficult, then...and now.

Charlotte waited expectantly for Sano to either ask for an explanation or give her his usual choices, but instead he politely told her he had a call to make. She had a feeling that was a made-up excuse, and all he wanted was some space, but seeing Sano walk away left her so stunned all she was able to do was gape.

Was that all he was going to say?

Really?

By the time she recovered from her shock, it was too late for her to say or do anything, with Yuki telling them it was time to head to Platform 7.5, and all she could do was follow behind the group while Sano ended his call and went on to talk about God-knew-what to Vassi and Seri.

She knew it was another ploy to prolong their time apart, and Charlotte was beginning to realize just how much Land had spoiled her during their marriage. Not once had he ever made her feel the need to apologize or even just woo him out of a bad mood, and the realization now made her feel like cringing in shame.

Earlier, Sano had described himself as being selfish in their marriage, but Charlotte was starting to think she had just been as selfish. Or at least, she had been so caught up with her own worries, and she had been so stubbornly proud, she had failed to see how much Land had spoiled her, just to make up for the times he had to leave.

The group finally reached Platform 7.5, which turned out to be another train station facility that was exclusive for passengers of the Yume. There were women in uniform wearing cute hats waiting to welcome them, and a red carpet had also been laid out in front of Car #5, which served as the Yume"s on-board lounge.

It only took a couple of minutes for everyone to board, and then they were off, with Yume cruising down the subway tunnels at a speed of over sixty miles per hour.

As soon as she got the keycard to her suite, Charlotte excused herself from the group so she could head down to the powder room...and give herself a pep talk.

Yume had easily surpassed her every expectation, and it truly felt like a a hotel on wheels, with its tastefully luxurious interior and the wide selection of on-board amenities that it offered. Being one of its first guests was like a dream, but...how could she feel any kind of happiness over this when Sano was obviously still upset with her?

Charlotte scowled at her reflection on the gilded vanity mirror above the marble sink. It"s time to grow up, she told herself. She would no longer act like some horribly spoiled brat by waiting for Sano to come to her first. This time, she would be the first one to go after him, and if necessary, she would even...she would even try to act cute!

It was something that Land had always loved to tease her about, and he could go on and on just talking about how "cute" she was acting. Why are you so cute, Charles? You"re too damn cute, Charles. Who taught you to be so fucking cute?

She had always believed Land was only saying such things to annoy her, but...whatever. Today, she would make a serious effort to act cute for him, so—-

Charlotte looked at herself in the mirror.

Let"s do this!

She bit her lip like how she had seen other girls do—-

Jesus!

Charlotte yelped in pain as her lip-biting attempt ended up causing her to bleed, and she hurriedly yanked a tissue sheet off the box to wipe away the blood. She had always been secretly fascinated by how women seemed able to seduce men just by biting their lips, but maybe it was time to accept once and for all she was too much of a rough-and-tumble kind of girl to ever do it properly.

Fine then, Charlotte thought with a grimace. Since lip biting was off the table, then she could try...yuck, yuck, yuck. Merely imagining what she planned to do was enough to make her feel sick, but she told herself to suck it up and turned her attention back to the mirror.

Stop acting like a spoiled little brat and just do it!

Charlotte curled her hands into fists and slowly raised them up at chin level...before moving them like kitten paws begging for a treat. "Meow?"

It was enough to make her gag, and while she was certain doing this for more than a few seconds could cause her permanent brain damage, Charlotte was already stalking out of the powder room in search for Sano. She was going to prove to him how much she loved him and—-speak of the Devil!

Charlotte skidded into a clumsy stop when she suddenly found herself face to face with Sano in the train"s dining car, which served everything from A5 wagyu steak on stone grills to blowfish sashimi on a conveyor belt round table. Her surroundings definitely deserved more than a cursory look, but right now all she had eyes for were Sano, and she was unable to tear her gaze away from him even as she shakily asked the waiter behind the conveyor belt to give them a moment alone.

The younger man said something in Japanese as he bowed before leaving, and she saw Sano"s lips tighten when it was just the two of them alone. This was the longest time for them not to be on speaking terms, but the realization only made Charlotte feel even more ashamed.

She had been with him for over ten years before her husband...went away, and in all those years, Landon had never needed more than a few seconds before taking the first step to fix things between them. That was how much he had loved her, and so now, it was her turn—-

Charlotte bowed as low as possible. "I"m sorry, L—-Sano." It was her first time to directly call him by his name, and she heard him suck his breath in at the sound. "I"m sorry," she went on jerkily, "for never saying sorry in the past, and for always making you take the first step."

She waited for him to speak, but when he remained silent, she slowly straightened up, and her heart ached. His gorgeous face was still impassive, but Charlotte refused to let this get to her.

"Addie"s text means nothing," she insisted, "just like Lukas has never meant anything to me and never will, so please..." Charlotte looked at him entreatingly. "Please don"t be mad anymore?" She waited and waited, but when Sano only continued to look at her, she told herself it was time, and so she slowly curled her fingers into fists like she practiced.

Oh God, oh God, this is already making me want to throw up, but here goes—-

She looked up at Sano with what she hoped were like kitten eyes full of appeal and moved her fists as she said, "Meow."

Sano"s brows shot up.

"Meow, meow, meow. Please don"t be mad any—-oooow!"

Sano was once again pinching her cheeks.

"Where the hell did you learn to be this cute?"

It was that line again, and a laugh escaped her even as her eyes started to sting. "Anime," she managed to tell him, and for some reason this had Sano groaning as he yanked her close. His arms wrapped around her, and even though he was hugging her hard enough to crack her ribs, Charlotte didn"t care. She hugged him right back, and her eyes squeezed shut at how painfully familiar everything felt. The angles of his body were different, but the essence of it remained the same. This was the man she loved, the only man she had loved and would ever love—-

"You"re too cute, Charles. Always too damn cute."

She had never thought she would miss hearing him say such words, but she did. She had missed hearing them. She had missed him. So, so much. She had missed being with Land so, so much, and when she thought about how many hours they had left—-

"I want to kiss you so bad, Charles," Sano groaned under his breath.

It was enough to rid Charlotte of all of her inhibitions, and she found herself tiptoeing as she whispered into his ear, "Then do it. Take me to our room—-"

A powerful shudder rocked Sano"s body. "Don"t tempt me, Charles—-"

She wriggled out of his arms and took hold of his hand. "I mean it. And you can do more than kiss—-"

"Fuck."

A gasp spilled past her lips as Sano grabbed her hand and practically dragged her with him as they left the dining car and walked briskly back to the front of the train.

"Now"s the time to change your mind," Sano muttered. "Once I have you inside—-"

"You won"t even have to undress me," Charlotte heard herself say even as her cheeks started to turn pink. "You can just f-fuck me—-"

Sano tripped over his own feet, and Charlotte couldn"t help laughing despite her nervousness. Even though she knew Landon was Sano and vice versa, it was still another man"s body that she would soon be intimate with, and the thought left her feeling out of sorts.

A part of her was frightened, another part of her was secretly and shamefully thrilled. It was like a fantasy coming to life, to have a stranger make love to her and feel no guilt about it, since Sano also happened to be her husband.

"Last chance," Sano gritted out when they finally reached their suite.

Charlotte answered this by using her own key card to unlock their door.

"God, Charles."

Sano had both of them inside the suite in a flash, and Charlotte didn"t even have the chance to spare their surroundings a glance. As soon as he had kicked the door shut, Sano was already cupping her face, and the way his blue eyes glittered down at her had Charlotte catching her breath.

"Are you truly sure about this?" he growled. "I want our first time to be long and sweet, but if we do this now..."

Oh God.

Sano might have left the rest of his words unspoken, but her mind hadn"t any trouble filling in the blanks, and oh, the things she were starting to remember—-

The erotic sound of her moans as they slipped out of her mouth...

The stroke of his tongue as it penetrated her mouth...

The thickness of his erection as it stuffed her mouth...

And that was just her mouth, Charlotte thought helplessly.

"Charles?" Sano"s voice was rough with barely-suppressed desire, and her knees knocked against each other as she imagined how it would feel once that desire was fully unleashed.

Swallowing hard, Charlotte lifted her gaze to his, and her words came out in a tremulous rush. "I just want to be with you...Sano." She had been about to call him Landon, but she managed to correct herself in time, and the blaze of heat in his eyes told her she had done the right thing.

He would always be Landon to her, but if they both wished to move forward, then she had to accept that he was also Sano now, and oh God, when she thought about how she could only have twenty-four hours with him—-

Charlotte could feel Sano"s shock when she suddenly threw herself in his arms. "I missed you so much!"

"I"ll never make you miss me again," Sano said fiercely as he hugged her back. "I"ll make it up to you in this lifetime, I promise you..."

Charlotte"s heart started to pound when he drew away and regarded her with hooded eyes. "Are you sure you want to do this now?"

Charlotte, instead of answering with mere words, locked her gaze with Sano just as she reached for his pants, and as she heard him suck his breath in, she slowly pulled his zip down—-

"God, Charlotte."

She didn"t even have time to savor the sweetness of hearing him groan her name, with Sano already reaching under her skirt, and oooooooh...

It had been so long, so, so long since she had heard that ripping sound, so, so long since a man"s hands had torn her underwear away just like that, and Charlotte was all at once hot, trembling, and oh so wet.

He whipped her around all of a sudden, and all Charlotte could do was gasp and tremble even more as she found herself bent over the back of a chair.

Oh God, oh God.

The hammering sound of her heartbeat filled her ears as she felt him pull her woolen skirt up until the material bunched around her waist, and when his hands clasped her hips, and she felt the thick and hard length of his erection twitch and throb violently against the crack of her ass—-

"Sano..."

He drove inside of her just as she whimpered his name out, and her whole world shattered at how it felt, to know that this was her husband fucking her again, but at the same time, it was also a stranger"s cock that was now stuffing her pussy.

It felt good and bad, it felt right and sinful, but in the end, it was oh so irresistible, and all she could do was moan and hold on to the chair"s armrests as Sano began fucking her deeper and deeper, harder and harder, and oh, so fast - so, so fast that it was making her head spin—-

"Sano, oh God!"

His name became a mindless chant that Charlotte found herself whimpering over and over as she felt her entire body burn and ache.

"Am I fucking you good, Charlotte?"

Oh God.

"I want to hear you say it," Sano growled. "I want my dirty little angel talking to me like she"s always had—-"

God, oh God.

That was how he had always called her in bed. She had always been his dirty little angel, and when she thought about how long, oh God, it had been so, so long since she had heard him say those words—-

Aaaaaaah!

Sano suddenly pulled out before ramming back into her with so much force that she could"ve sworn it had made her see stars. Or maybe not that, but the fierceness of that thrust had definitely rattled her mind, and all she could think after that was—-

"More," she sobbed out.

"More what?"

"F-Fuck me harder. Please!"

"How hard?"

"Enough to d-destroy my pussy—-aaaaaah!" Charlotte could only moan as Sano did exactly as she asked, and he was fucking her harder and harder—-

"Yes, oh God, yes!"

She felt like a slut as she heard herself pant the words out, and she felt even more like one when she looked over her shoulder and saw the harsh hunger outlined on Sano"s handsome face. Her heart knew she was staring into her husband, but her mind also told her it was not Landon"s face, and oh God, oh God—-

She had "met" Sano for the first time today, and yet she was already letting this man - this stranger - fuck her like she was his sex toy, and oh God, oh God—-

It was the dirtiest thing she had ever done in her entire life, and the thought had her gasping and her toes curled hard—-

Sano suddenly gripped her hair and yanked her head back.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" he growled. "Has it finally occurred to you that your husband is fucking you with a different cock?"

Oh God!

That Sano had easily guessed the direction of her thoughts had her cheeks flaming even as the inner muscles of her pussy contracted—-

"Fuck!"

And then he was pounding into her wildly and savagely, and oh God, oh God, oh God—-

"Does it turn you on, Charlotte? Does this new cock of mine turn you on so fucking bad—-"

The words were just too much, and Charlotte could only cry his name out—-

"Sano!"

Sano groaned as Charlotte started to cum, and both of them felt the way her orgasm gushed out of her tight and throbbing channels.

"Oh God, Sano."

His fingers dug deep into her hips as he shoved into her one last time—-

"Charlotte..."

Sano"s powerful body jerked against hers as he exploded inside of her, and the burning, sticky heat of his seed filled her pussy.

"I love you, Charlotte, I love you. I love you."

He had always told her that after sex. Always. And so she should"ve expected it. But she hadn"t. At all. And it was why the words completely caught her off guard, and she started to cry.

I love you, too, Sano.

I love you, too.

I love you so, so much.

She ached to say the words, but she knew if she did, she would never stop crying, and it would only be a matter of time before he figured out something was wrong.

I love you, I love you, I love you.

All she could do was whisper the words in her mind over and over as she felt his cock continue to spill out cum twitch after twitch. She wished it could last forever, but just like this heaven-sent day with the man she loved was meant to end, Charlotte eventually felt Sano carefully withdraw out of her, and she immediately felt empty and alone.

I love you, Sano, I love you.

It was almost ironic how much Charlotte wanted to say the words now, when all those years they had been together, nothing short of torture could"ve made her say the very same thing to her husband.

God was probably teaching her a lesson, Charlotte thought as she pushed her skirt down with slightly trembling fingers. When she thought about it now, she couldn"t even recall why exactly it had been so hard for her to say those words. Was it because her last memory of her parents being together was Amelia crying "I love you" to her husband, and Charlotte"s father still choosing to walk away in spite of it? Or was it because she had always believed she never deserved someone like Landon, and a part of her had held the words back as some kind of safeguard?

Whatever her reasons were at that time, Charlotte was now old enough to realize that there could never be a good enough excuse for her to hold the words back, and it might be why Landon had always seemed so unreasonably jealous of Lukas. At that time, she had actually thought his jealousy "adorable", but now—-

The feel of Sano"s hands holding her shoulders interrupted her thought, and a moment later she felt him gently turning her around to face him.

"I love you, Charlotte."

The words caught her off guard once again, and all she could do was stare at him.

A crooked smile twisted over his lips, but Charlotte couldn"t help noticing how the smile failed to reach his eyes.

"I know you have a hard time saying it back, but right now..." Sano"s voice turned taut. "I need to hear you say them, Charles."

"I..."

Oh God.

She wanted to say the words, she really did, but she was scared of what else she would say after it. She knew it made no sense, but those words felt as if they were her last defense, the one last thing that made her strong and keep the truth of Cass" visions to herself—-

"You just need to say them once."

Charlotte looked at him helplessly. "Sano—-"

"Or can"t you say it," he bit out, "because it"s no longer true?"

What?

Charlotte was stunned when Sano suddenly walked away. "Sano—-"

"Do you remember my friend Oscar?"

Charlotte"s confusion grew. "I...yes." Oscar was Land"s friend at work, and her husband had often told her there was no secret in this world that Oscar wouldn"t be able to eventually uncover. As long as that secret had a paper trail—-

Oh no.

There could only be one reason for Sano to bring up Oscar"s name at this moment, and when she saw his gaze turn bleak—-

No, no, no.

"It"s true then."

Charlotte"s heart broke at the hollowness of Sano"s tone.

"I kept hoping that this could be the one time that Oscar had fucked up, and the contract he had found was fake."

"Sano—-"

"But it isn"t, is it? You signed that contract with Lukas," Sano said tonelessly, "and that"s why you now find it impossible to tell me you love me."