Legal Heirs - Box Set Edition: Books 5-8 (Surrendering Charlotte Chronicles) (6 page)

The cake was set in front of them and he fed her a bite, “I know you love chocolate, and I know you love me. How does Finn feel about that?”

“I need to go home now,” she said, and gathered her purse and walked to the car.

“Alright,” he said, “but I want to stop at an art gallery in Carmel, it’s only a few miles away.”

He parked on the picturesque street and took her by the hand and led her into the Neal Prather Gallery.

“May I help you find something?” a grey haired man asked as they entered.

“I’d like to buy a Gauguin,” Bly said, and Charlotte stopped in her tracks.

“Well, wouldn’t we all? I’m Neal Prather, by the way, are you interested in prints or lithographs?”

“I’m interested in an original, one of his canvases from his Tahitian period,” Bly said.

“Bly, why are you doing this?” Charlotte asked.

“Alexander Bly?” Neal Prather asked. “Well now, I do have a client who only collects works of the Post-Impressionists. He lives in San Francisco, and he does have a fine painting from Gauguin’s second Tahitian period. If you like I could make a call and inquire as to whether he could be persuaded to sell.”

“Bly, let’s go, please,” Charlotte said, tugging on his arm, but he just smiled and pulled her against him.

“Yes, Neal, call him and tell him to name his price. I’d like to have it shipped to my beautiful Charlotte’s address,” Bly said.

“Certainly, certainly… I can make that happen. It’s a vibrant canvas, would you care to see a picture of it. I keep files from the major auction houses and from past sales.”

Charlotte left the store and walked down the street, she was sick with herself for letting him in the door the night before. He called to her to wait, and in a few minutes he caught up to her.

“I want to give you a gift,” he said, reaching out and catching her arm. He pushed her against the car and his lips were hot on her skin, “why won’t you accept it, Charlotte? You know how it will end eventually, you’ve always been mine, why do you fight me?”

“No, just… no, I shouldn’t have to explain it to you,” she said, and tried to struggle away, but he held her there and she felt his erection, hard and insistent between them.

“Well I already bought the painting,” he smiled down at her, his smell and the feel of him making her weak, “I’ll give it to Atticus as a belated birthday present then. He can sell it when he’s eighteen to pay for college and have a helluva good time with the rest of the money.”

“Hang it in your office, Bly. I said I want to go home, don’t fucking try to provoke my husband,” Charlotte said, slipping away from him and into the car.

They didn’t speak as they drove, Charlotte stared out at the untamed grandeur of the rugged coastline. Bly stopped the car as they approached Bixby Bridge, and Charlotte couldn’t help but comment on its beauty. They walked a little way onto the scenic arched bridge, and Bly fished coins out of his pockets so they could toss them over the side and make a wish.

“Tell me your wish,” he said, and he pushed the hair away from her face, letting his fingertips linger on her cheek and trace her lips.

“I can’t tell or it won’t come true, what about you?” she asked, and she backed away from his touch.

“I’m not telling if you’re not,” he said, and they smiled and stood too close, then walked back to the car as the incessant fog began to gather on the rocks below.

They hiked through the woods near the cabin before the fog snaked up the cliff, and marveled at the size and majesty of the Coast Redwoods. As the sun went down, the forest darkened quickly, and they made their way back to the cabin before they lost their way.

“I’m just going to have a bath, there’s a great tub… that wasn’t an invitation… or anything else,” she said and her face turned as red as could be.

“I’ll stay out here and behave myself,” he said, and smiled as he laid out cheese and French bread on a plate, and poured wine for her. “Wine, so you can relax in your bath,” he said, handing her the glass.

She soaked in the heavenly bath, fragrant with the oil of Ojai oranges, then walked naked into the bedroom to dress. Bly was standing in the doorway waiting for her. She stopped and covered her breasts with her hands, then wondered what she would do about the rest of her nakedness, so she turned her back on him.

“No,” he said firmly, and he stood behind her and rested his hands on her waist. He felt her trembling, so after a moment he forced his hands away from her body, “Let me look at you, Charlotte. I won’t touch you, but I want to see you.”

She hesitated, then turned toward him slowly, she moved her hands away and looked into his eyes. The look on his face was nearly more than she could stand. A look of wonder, and so much longing and love, then lust, and finally surprise. She looked down to see what surprised him, and she realized he’d never know her with her little bare pussy. She turned away quickly, and heard him let out a long breath. He picked up her robe and wrapped her in it, then pulled her hard against him, and his scalding hot mouth covered hers. 

It was like coming home, in a sense, the feel of Bly’s mouth on hers. It felt so right and so wrong and so good. Part of her wanted to melt into him, to let his arms hold her as if he would never let her go. She didn’t let herself kiss him back, just stood still until he knew she wasn’t going to lose control. He finally moved his mouth away and looked into her eyes, he held her face in his hands and his thumbs brushed across her lips. Then his arms wrapped her tightly against the hard width of his chest and she placed her hand so that she felt the erratic beating of his heart.

“It only beats for you,” he said, “and I swear, Charlotte, if I could change it, I would. I often wonder which would be worse, to endure this pain of wanting you for the rest of my life, or the hollowness of never having felt such love. Better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all, I’ve heard, but surely that person never loved a woman as much as I love you.” He stroked her hair, his cheek pressed to hers, his breath was hot against her ear, and he had no idea how he was testing her resolve.

She wanted to tell him that she understood what he meant, that she was just as much in love with him. She’d always heard you could love two men, but only be in love with one. That was a lie, as far as she was concerned. If she could have combined Bly and Finn, they would have made the perfect man. There was Bly’s gorgeous face, and master-of-the-universe attitude, his awesome power and ability to command his world. Then there was Finn’s arresting good looks and absolute fearlessness, combined with the kindest spirit she’d ever know and his light-hearted capacity for fun and adventure. She was both blessed and cursed, of that she was sure, love didn’t have a cure, it had trapped her, and there was no perfect resolution for their tortured triangle.

“I want to hear you say that you love me, and I want to see the truth of it in your eyes. Then I can let you go until you come to me willingly, and I know someday you will be mine,” he said.

“I love you, Alexander Bly,” she said, quietly. Looking into his eyes so that he would know how deeply she meant it, and how difficult it was for her to live with. “I’ll never betray my husband, and I want your promise that you would never do anything to… harm him. The die has been cast, and we aren’t in control any longer. You’re going to be a father soon and I’m going home to try and have another child with Finn. Let’s be as happy as we can be for our children, our lives can be completed in them,” she brushed her lips lightly over his, then swept out of the room.

She did have an air about her, Bly thought, she had a cool, unreachable beauty. A beauty and a love that she held slightly beyond his reach, just like Evangeline.

Charlotte left the new IPod with Bly, so he listened to her music as he flew south the next morning. He was glad, in a small way, that he had her favorite songs at his fingertips. They made him happy, and they made him indescribably sad, but the ache they caused strengthened his resolve. He played a Rob Thomas song that was one of Charlotte’s favorites, and he smiled because the words weren’t true at all.

“Well it’s almost like a disease, and I know soon you will be, over the lies, you’ll be strong, you’ll be rich in love, you will carry on, but no, oh no, no you won’t be mine.”

A beautiful tune indeed, and it might have seemed sad, but Charlotte most certainly would be his, someday.

*

“We missed our anniversary,” Finn said, when Charlotte slipped into bed the next night.

She climbed the stairs quietly so she wouldn’t wake Atticus, she’d driven all day to get home. Bly had offered to bring her back in the jet and have someone drive her car, but she said no.

“We did, didn’t we? Oh, happy anniversary, my love,” she said, and she kissed his luscious mouth and moved his hand between her legs.

“My love my love, you came back to me so soon and you’re soaking wet, so I guess you still love me,” he said, pulling her roughly under him, his mouth moving to her hard pink nipples. “Can we do this, maybe it’s too soon since…?”

She tangled her hand in his hair and pulled his head back so that his neck was exposed to her mouth, and he smiled as she kissed his hot smooth skin. “Fuck me,” she whispered, and her free hand stroked his massive erection before he thrust into her.

They both moaned and they moved together and his mouth consumed hers. His hand moved to her breasts, pinching her nipples then it brushed past her belly and his thumb massaged her swollen clit. She seized around him and bit into his shoulder and tasted blood. He lifted her hips, holding her small ass in his hands and felt himself hitting the deepest part of her. She cried out as he pumped into her, punishing that sensitive spot as it began to spasm against the end of his cock. They both yelled with release and Atticus began to cry from the noise.

Finn kissed her and his mouth turned up into a crooked grin, then he went to get the baby. He lay Atticus down next to Charlotte as he talked to him, “what happened buddy? Did your mommy scare you with all her shouting and biting the devil out of your daddy? Well, you’ll get used to it, because it’s never going to end in this house. Not as long as mommy loves me, and you might as well know, she’s the hottest piece of ass on the planet!”

“Nice way to talk about his mother,” Charlotte said and pulled them close, and they all three lay together, snuggled up and content.

“I went to Jack Sheppard’s cabin at Big Sur, and I meant to stay a week,” she said, after she carried Atticus back to his room. She turned on the bedside lamp and sat facing Finn, “Bly showed up in the middle of the night. JP told him about the wreck, he hadn’t known before. So he had Billy find me somehow and he flew up to check on me.”

“I guess I should be surprised, but I’m not,” he said, letting his fingers play over the soft skin of her face and neck as she looked down at him. “I’m going to teach him a lesson one of these days about stalking other men’s wives. I feel sorry for him in a way, but I told him before, enough is enough.”

“He slept in a guest room, do I need to say that nothing happened?”

“No, my love, you don’t need to say it. I don’t trust him, but I do trust you,” and he lifted her on top of him, and she eased onto his stiff cock.

“I know it’s soon, but I want to try again, I want a little girl, okay?” she said, moving to her own rhythm as his hands moved from her waist, across her flat belly and down to her sex.

“Okay, my love, we’ll make a little girl,” he said, just before she began to quake against him.

*

“So, were you with her, did you run to your precious Charlotte? I get it, you know. Alexander Bly, hard as nails and cold as ice, but so weak where she’s concerned. I’ll bet she laughs at you behind your back, why can’t you see that you mean nothing to her? You can’t even fuck me with her in your head can you? Oh, I’m sorry Alex, forgive me, this pregnancy is making me crazy. Please, if you could only love me,” Maddie begged and wrapped her arms around Bly as they stood in the middle of the bedroom.

“I don’t want you to ever say her name again, do you understand? Don’t let me hear her name on your lips, I’m warning you,” Bly said, he was shouting and he stepped back, but then he held her arms and examined her face. “What have you done, something’s different, what is it?”

“Nothing, my face was getting pinched looking, and I looked tired,” she said as her hand flew to her forehead then touched the corners of her eyes.

“What the fuck did you do, Maddie? You have two babies growing inside of you, my babies!” he shouted and she covered her ears. “Did you put fucking poison in your face, could you possibly be that vain and stupid?”

“I want you to love me again, I want to be beautiful for you. I did it for you, Alex, I want you to look at me like you look at Char….” She stopped mid-sentence and the look on his face was frightening.

“I will never look at you that way, ever. I’m calling your mother to come and stay here and watch over you. You obviously have no regard for the lives you’re carrying, you may not care about those babies, but I do. They’re my legacy and I won’t let you jeopardize them any longer,” he said, and he called for two of the maids to move her things to another bedroom.

“Fine, I need my mother here now, at least I’ll have someone who cares whether I live or die. I’m not moving out of this room either, I’m your wife, and this is our room. The upstairs maids are gone, I had to fire them, they were rude and lazy and they didn’t have any respect for authority,” she said, and Bly wanted to shake her, but he simply picked up his bag and went to another bedroom and locked the door.