C&A Novella (Marked Heart #2.5) (4 page)

9

Kissing Auggie as she buttoned the front of his shirt for him, Charlotte couldn't imagine how hard Liv's situation was. There was a certain amount of extra fulfillment knowing the man she was in love with wanted her every minute of every day. If one day he suddenly stopped, there was no doubt in her mind she wouldn't take it half as well as Liv was. As she slid his beanie over his head, Charlotte kissed him once more before they walked out to his truck.

On the way to her apartment, Charlotte mentally went over her checklist hoping to get as much done as possible today.

  "Do you want to look through linen patterns with me?"

  Without giving it a thought, he replied, "I'm sure whatever you pick will be perfect."

Rolling her eyes as she stared out of the window, Charlotte thought about all the articles she had read in bridal magazines. Finding it a little pathetic that was where she had resorted to drawing advice from, she started to laugh.

  "Somethin' funny?"

  Smiling at him she replied, "In one of the magazines I have, there was an article on abstaining from sex for at least two weeks before the wedding."

Watching him scowl and glance at her from the corner of his eye, she couldn't resist messing with him.

  "We should do that." She teased trying to keep a straight face.

  "Nope."

  Cracking a smile she asked, "No?"

  "Not no. Hell no!"

  Put off by his tone, Charlotte snapped, "No?"

  "You must be high outta your mind if you think I'm agreein' to that."

As they pulled into the apartment complex parking lot, she acknowledged the fact that she didn't want to abstain either but the fact that he flat out was telling her no, forced her hand.

  Narrowing her eyes at him she informed, "I actually don't need you to agree, Augustus."

She didn't wait for him to respond before flinging the passenger door open, hopping out of his truck and slamming the door behind her.

Storming into her apartment, she forced a quick smile at Penny but all she could think about was how he hadn't done a single thing to help with the wedding and now he was telling her no.

  "Stop following me!" She griped, when she saw Auggie walk in.

  "Quit tryin' to run things!"

  Offended that was what he thought was going on she snapped, "It was just a suggestion."

  Penny rolled her eyes and walked to the door just as he swore, "It was a stupid ass one."

With his sister now out on the balcony with the door closed behind her, Charlotte started shouting.

  "That's right! I'm making decisions because you're stupid ass hasn't done one damn thing to..." she spouted before stopping suddenly when Auggie walked over and flung the door back open.

  Following Auggie to see who he was talking to when she heard him growl, "You!" She saw poor Seth standing there like a deer caught in headlights as Auggie demanded, "Should the woman get to make all the decisions?"

  Seth's voice was shaky as he replied, "No. I thi..."

  Without letting him finish, Auggie turned back to her shouting, "Ha!"

  Charlotte gave him a sarcastic smile saying, "Alright, forget about what I suggested." His expression started to soften until she narrowed her eyes informing, "It starts now," and slammed the door in his face.

~

With a loud frustrated exhale, Auggie glanced at Seth.

  "Let's go." He growled, heading down the stairs.

'Who the hell did she think she was,' he thought, looking up and noticing Seth was still on the balcony.

  "You comin' or what?" Auggie shouted from the bottom of the stairs.

When Seth started down the stairs, Auggie continued to his truck.

Stewing over how Charlotte was going to be the death of him the whole way out to Kieran's, he felt comfortable inviting Seth along. It was out of Auggie's character to bring outsiders in but Seth seemed like a good guy and since that made him not Penny's type, he thought it was a good show of male solidarity for him to tag along.

Kieran and Liv were sitting on the porch swing when Auggie walked up to the house with Seth right behind him.

  The second he stepped foot on the porch, Liv jumped up and snapped, "Jackass," at him and marched into the house.

  Without getting up, Kieran laughed, "What'd ya do?"

  Reaching down and shaking Kieran's hand he swore, "Stood my ground," before sitting down on a chair next to the swing.

  With a wide smile, Kieran shook his head before acknowledging Seth as he offered, "Pull up a chair, man."

  While Seth appeared to be choosing just the right chair to sit in, Auggie looked at his cousin assuring, "I need a damn drink."

10

A simple fitting for Charlotte's bridesmaids' dresses turned into an awkward yet unforgettable situation, thanks to her sister Silvia.

While they gathered in the back dressing room of Bitsie's Bridal, Charlotte's sister Silvia stared at herself in the mirror inspecting the purple satin dress she was wearing.

  "Do you think he'll like it?" Silvia whispered to Jenna.

  With a questioning expression, Charlotte asked, "Who? Are you bringing a date?"

  Jenna quickly handed Charlotte her blue dress saying, "It fit," before making her way to the bench in the corner and burring her face in her book.

  Suspicious, Charlotte asked, "What's going on?"

  "Nothing." Silvia replied with a sly smile.

Charlotte glanced at Penny as she took a step back from them with a curious expression of her own.

  "Silvia," Charlotte stated in a firm tone.

  As if it was just a matter of time before she couldn't stand it anymore, Silvia shared, "Okay, I've decided. I'm going to seduce him."

  "What?"

  Looking at Charlotte as if she was the juvenile one, she continued informing, "I have it all planned out and I'm sure it will work."

  "What?" Charlotte repeated, looking back at Penny who just shrugged her shoulder's with an 'oh my' expression on her face.

  With a heavy sigh Silvia explained, "Weddings are the perfect setting for romance."

"Oh-kay..."

  With an 'I know what I'm doing' air about her Silvia proceeded to say, "Braden wants me. I can tell. And after we walk down the aisle together..."

  Charlotte instantly cut her off insisting, "No! No he does not!"

  "Yes he does."

Penny's face started to match the green of her dress when she realized who Silvia was talking about.

  "My brother Braden?" She clarified with a nauseated expression.

  Nodding at Penny with an excited smile she replied, "Oh and don't worry, it's okay. I'm eighteen now."

  "That doesn't make it okay." Charlotte stressed.

  Making a 'whatever' face at Charlotte, Silvia turned to Penny saying, "Oh my gosh, Penny, Braden is like so... Mmm. He's like so incredibly hot!"

  "It's bad enough he's staying with us, I don't need to hear this." Penny fussed, looking back at Charlotte.

  Silvia's eyes lit up as she questioned, "He is?"

Penny just stared at her with an expression that fell somewhere between disbelief and exasperation.

Thankfully, Amila walked in before the conversation could go any further.

  "How's it going?"

  Silvia instantly replied, "Great!" before informing, "I'm going to stay at Charlotte's tonight."

  "No you're not." Charlotte snapped, wondering if her sister had lost her mind.

  Confused, Amila asked, "Why not?"

  Not wanting to rat her sister out, Charlotte simply stated, "She's just not."

Silvia shot a nasty look at her sister before eyeing Penny as she pleaded, "Please?"

Penny shook her head in disbelief.

  "Ugh... Fine!" Silvia pouted before storming away.

  "I guess she's wearing her dress home, then." Amila laughed watching her daughter make her way through the bridal shop and out of the front door.

  Hanging Jenna's dress up, Charlotte griped, "Gah, that girl is something else."

  Walking toward them from the corner of the room, Jenna took her dress from Charlotte and glanced at her mom commenting, "Braden."

  "Oh well, she's young and Braden is handsome. All the Caffrey boys are. After all, Gus had that rough, sexy..."

  Scowling at Charlotte, Penny exclaimed, "What is wrong with your family?" As she walked away.

  "What did I say?"

There was nothing left for Charlotte to do, except laugh as she gave Amila a hug.

11

After shutting down Braden's idea of having the bachelor party at a strip club, almost choking Seth out for mentioning wanting to do his little sister, and several beers, Auggie sat in a chair on Kieran's porch. No amount of alcohol could replace what he needed or alleviate the misery Charlotte's ban on sex was causing him.

By the time Charlotte arrived with Penny and Liv, it was late in the evening. He was tired and it was hard to focus on anything but Charlotte standing behind him with her arms draped over his shoulders.

  Adjusting in his chair, to look back at her, Auggie asked, "Are you staying with me tonight?"

"If you can handle it." She replied in a soft tone.

  Leaning his forehead to her cheek, he assured, "I wanna handle you."

He felt a smile form on her face against his forehead before she pulled back and whispered in his ear.

"Only thirteen more days."

Charlotte's words offered no relief. In that moment, they made things worse. He felt like she was being cruel. Dangling herself in front of him with her almost there but not quite assurance, Auggie was sure she was punishing him.

~

Charlotte walked into Auggie's bedroom wearing the Dog House t-shirt he gave her almost a year ago and a pair of his plaid pajama bottoms.

"Oh, what the hell?" He griped, shaking his head at her.

"What?"

  Focusing on the drawstring hanging down the front of her legs, like the bow on top of a gift just waiting to be unwrapped, he barked, "Are to trying to give me a damn stroke?"

  "I was trying to make it easier on you." She fussed back, irritated but clearly confused.

  "Wearing somethin' of mine sure as hell isn't the way to do it."

There was no response from her this time as she stood there staring at him.

Whatever painful side effects waiting until their wedding day had caused, almost seemed pleasant at the moment. He was in agony. This wasn't a battle of wills because he had no willpower when it came to her. You can't give a man a taste of heaven and expect him to be satisfied walking the earth.

Lack of willpower aside, he wasn't willing to go one more minute playing along with her ridiculous mandate.

  Pulling her against him so she could feel the proof of his words, Auggie swore, "I need you..."

  He watched her pull her lips into her mouth before insisting, "You want sex."

  "Ya damn right, I do." He exclaimed, without realizing how harsh he sounded, until Charlotte started to pull away.

  "Wait." He pleaded before sharing, "It's more than that."

In her eyes he saw her resistance, although she allowed him to keep his arms wrapped tightly around her.

  Out of desperation, he shared, "Everything is empty without you. My bed, this house, me... I need you."

Her expression changed to sympathy as she sighed and lightly kissed him.

  "Remember Sophia's baby shower."

Auggie scowled as the recollection of locking himself in the back office of the bar in order to drink himself into oblivion for wanting to be with her filled his mind.

  With a pained expression, he swore, "Lotte, I'm never gonna let..." Trailing off as she placed her hands on the sides of his face.

  "I'm not talking about that. I want our wedding night to be special."

Scowling at her, he nodded.

Punishment wasn't what this was, it was penance. Penance for letting his stubborn as pride ruin the night she had planned for their first time together, and the next night that he had planned as well. When seeing her was still a secret and he had no idea how to handle feeling the way he did about her. He almost lost her forever and she forgave him.

However, the whole sex veto started in the first place didn't matter anymore. If special is what she wanted, that's what he would give her. He owed her that at least.

12

There is nothing quite like attending a Society function to make getting drilled with a needle the highlight of the day.

Even though Penny agreed, set up and had the tattoo gun in her hand, she still wasn't tattooing her.

"You can do it. It's just three little lines." Charlotte encouraged as she lay fully reclined in the chair with her skirt off and one side of her panty's pulled down her thigh.

  "I'm very uncomfortable with..." Penny started before Charlotte cut her off saying, "No you're not."

  Frowning at her, Penny replied, "What if I mess up? These things are permanent you know."

  Counting back from ten in her head, she took a deep breath and replied, "I wouldn't have asked you to do this if I didn't believe in you."

Penny took a slow deep breath of her own and nodded.

The area on the inside of Charlotte hip was sensitive and the second the needle broke her skin she winced, drawing air in through her teeth.

  Suddenly, Penny sat straight up blurting, "Oh my gah! Did I hurt you?"

  "Really? Penny!" Charlotte snapped out of frustration.

  With an embarrassed expression she apologized, "I know. Okay. Sorry. Sorry. I'll keep going."

Closing her eyes, Charlotte leaned her head back and tried to relax and once Penny actually got started, it didn't take long at all to finish.

Charlotte hugged Penny out of appreciation before helping her close up Kieran's shop.

  "How are you and Seth?"

  Penny's face lit up as she replied, "Amazing."

  "Is he taking you to the hospital benefit?"

  With an excited nod, she questioned, "Are you going?"

  "Ah...no. Your brother would never forgive me for dragging him to one of those things and honestly, my bridal shower they hosted today was enough to remind me why I gave up my chair."

  "Oh." Penny pouted as she looked down at the floor.

  "But... If you want, I can give you some pointers."

Nodding enthusiastically, Penny started to say something and then appeared to change her mind.

There was a slight scowl to her expression as she looked at Charlotte.

  "Did you ever talk to Auggie about having kids?"

Shaking her head, Charlotte had been so busy, she honestly forgot all about that particular concern.

"I think it's better if I don't. If he's not thinking about it, I would rather not put the idea in his head."

  "Aren't you curious?" Penny questioned before sharing, "It seems like that would be important to know."

  Shaking her head, Charlotte replied, "Concerned is more like it."

"But he's crazy about you."

Charlotte couldn't help smiling, knowing he was, before letting a serious expression take over.

Sure he was head over heels now, but after a few years, who knew what would happen.

  "Auggie said Liv and Kieran had one of those love at first sight things, but look at them."

  Charlotte noticed Penny glance off to the side before saying, "Their problem isn't new. It started a long time ago, just lately, it's gotten worse."

  Narrowing her eyes at Penny, Charlotte blurted, "You know what's going on with him, don't you."

  Purposely avoiding eye contact, she replied, "Sorta."

  "Is it really all over a stupid tattoo?"

  Shaking her head, Penny appeared sad as she replied, "No, it's over a mark."

Knowing what a big deal that was to them, Charlotte dropped the subject.

Focusing on a happier relationship, she smiled at Penny.

"So, exactly how awesome is Seth?"

  With a slight grimace, Penny replied, "He was fixing to show me the other morning and my mom showed up."

"Wait! What?"

  Nodding with her eyes wide, Penny explained, "Yeah, she busted right in my bedroom door just as we were about..."

  Quickly cutting her off Charlotte, questioned, "Your mom came to our apartment?"

Hesitant, Penny nodded.

  "Did she say anything about the wedding? Is she coming?"

  There was a long pause before Penny answered, "She mostly just fussed at me and Braden."

  "Oh, Okay..."

  "Sorry." Penny genuinely assured, walking to turn off the lights.

Following her, Charlotte wondered if Auggie knew his mom had come by and if he did, why wouldn't he tell her?