I relax, my shoulders falling as I sip my wine. Everyone seems to be getting along and wanting to be here together. No drama, just eating, drinking, laughing over Connery’s self-deprecating jokes. Spencer rests his hand on the small of my back, a shiver of pleasure running up my spine as he does. I lean into him, needing him close.
“You feeling okay?” he asks softly, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear.
I nod, running a hand over his jaw, kissing it quickly. “Better than I’ve felt in awhile. I thought this impromptu dinner party was a bad idea, but Jill knew what she was doing.”
He kisses my cheek, and I cherish it, feeling so secure with the man I love. He’ll do anything to keep me safe. “I’m glad we have so many friends,” he says. “It helps being in this with other people.”
I feel Daphne’s eyes on us, and I sit up, reaching for the bread bowl. But Spencer keeps his hand on my knee and the gesture comforts me. Right now, he is my anchor. Truthfully, I hope he always is.
But I know it’s rude to stay in the love bubble, and so I focus on my long-time roommate. “You ready to move into your new place?” I ask her.
She nods, lifting her glass of wine. “It’s going to be strange, not being in the dorm, but it will be nice to have a bigger closet.”
Ava laughs, raising her glass. “Here, here!”
We crack up and Ava talks a little about her summer internship in London at a fashion house. “I know it sounds glamorous, but it’s a little intimidating,” she admits. “I want it to go really well.”
“But Whitaker will be there too, won’t he?” Prescott says, and I wonder if that isn’t a hint of jealousy I hear in his voice.
“Who’s Whitaker?” Jill asks.
“Winslow Harrington’s little brother,” Connery fills in. “He’s a little...I don’t know...slimy if you ask me.”
“No he isn’t,” Ava says, sticking up for him, pursing her lips and crossing her arms over her chest. “We’ve been close for years. And he even helped me get the blog posts down over New Year’s. He’s solid.”
“Okay.” Connery lifts his hands in surrender. “Good to know. I just spent a weekend with Winslow, skiing, so I’m a little bitter with the name Harrington at the moment.”
“Didn’t go well?” Spencer asks, chuckling.
“The weekend? Oh, we did a bang-up job convincing my brother we were together, she’s good at pretending.” He takes a drink of his wine. “But it’s always a show with her. And that’s coming from the guy who asked her to put on a show. It’s kind of exhausting.”
“Hey, preaching to the choir, brother,” Prescott says, chuckling, which gets him an elbow from Ava.
“Sorry,” Connery says, shaking his head. “I know you know all this.” He leans back in his chair. “This dinner doesn’t feel like a show, though. It’s fucking refreshing, to be honest.”
I laugh. “It’s because the infamous Princeton Charming has learned that us commoners are pretty fun.”
Spencer laughs, wrapping his arms around me. Everyone groans as he leans in for a kiss.
“You guys are the cutest,” Ava says. “I’m really glad my brother is dating you, Charlie. The annual family weekend in Nantucket next month would be so lame if you weren't there.”
Prescott laughs. “Wow, I see where I stand.”
“It’s your first family weekend too, right?” I ask Prescott. The weekend was brought up yesterday when Spencer's mother called confirming that we were still coming.
Spencer had been livid with her for asking about head counts when I was still recovering, but I talked him down. At least his mother has realized I’m not going anywhere. Fighting with his parents isn’t going to help anything.
“Yeah,” Prescott says, leaning back in his chair a smirk tugging at his lips. “Though I have crashed the event a time or two. But this is my first official invite.” There’s a flash of pride in his eyes when he looks over at Ava. “I’m glad they approve.”
Spencer half groans, half laughs. “I think I’m going to be the one struggling that weekend. I still can’t get over my little sister dating my best friend.”
We all laugh, and Jill and Daphne go into the kitchen to grab dessert.
“So is Jill seeing anyone?” Connery asks me, leaning across the table.
“You’d have to ask her yourself.” I’m not in the business of setting people up, especially since I mistook Tatum and Jill to be a thing not too long ago. Her love life isn’t my business, but I add anyway. “But I’ll tell you this, she’s one of the good ones.”
“Yeah,” Connery says with a smile. “I see that.”
Later, when everyone is leaving, Spencer and I clean the kitchen. Daphne offers to help, but I want to do something domestic, something regular, with Spencer. So much of this month has been dramatic and intense. I want more of this, casual dinner with friends and drying plates and glasses with the man I love.
What surprises me the most, is that Spencer - this elusive and elite man, seems to want the same thing, with me.
“Why are you smiling?” he asks, his hands soapy as he runs a sponge over a dinner plate.
“I’m just happy. In spite of everything.”
He pulls me to him, his wet hands on my face, his lips on my mouth. “I’m happy too,” he says. His kiss is sweet, gentle and sincere. My heart swells as he kisses me. I swat him on the butt with the dish towel as he takes the dish from my hand and lifts me onto the counter.
“God, I like kissing you,” he says, his hands on my waist, my body awake for the first time since the accident.
“I like doing all kinds of things with you,” I tell him, his hands running under my shirt, my skin prickling as he does. His touch is full of desire, and I kiss him again, harder this time.
His mouth opens and I breathe him in as he stands between my legs. I feel his heat, his length, his want.
I know he feels mine too.
“I love you staying here,” he says.
The words send a jolt through me, reminding me that this relationship is moving fast. Faster than I ever expected.
“Me too,” I admit, kissing his ear, wrapped up in him.
Daphne walks into the kitchen, and we pull back. “Oh, hey guys, am I interrupting? I was just coming to make tea.”
Before we can answer, she begins rattling around in the cupboard, grabbing tea bags, putting a mug of water in the microwave. As it counts down the seconds, she rattles on about the night.
Spencer and I share a knowing look. She lives in her own world.
“Jill and Connery seemed to hit it off, didn’t they?” she asks, not remotely registering the private moment Spencer and I had been sharing.
“Seemed like it.” I tug my hair into a messy bun. “What is Connery doing after graduation?” I ask Spencer.
“He’s starting his doctorate in the fall,” Spencer says.
“Oh, nice,” Daphne says. “Isn’t Jill doing the same thing?”
“Grad school? Yeah,” Spencer says with a sigh, obviously annoyed with Daphne, and trying not to show it. “But she wants to get into politics, not teach.”
I lift my eyebrows. “How do you know that?”
Spencer smiles, his hands not leaving my hips. “We got to know one another while you were…”
“In recovery,” Daphne offers, smiling. “We all totally bonded, didn’t we?”
Spencer’s jaw tightens. “It wasn’t exactly a campus mixer, but yeah, I suppose we all got closer.”
Daphne’s tea is ready, and she adds several scoops of sugar to it. “I’m restarting keto tomorrow, so today doesn’t count,” she says as way of explaining a question no one asked.
“Night Daph,” I say as she finally takes the cue and walks down the hall to her room.
I exhale, not wanting to complain.
“I’ll love it when she finally leaves,” Spencer whispers in my ear, then he blows hot air against it and I giggle, his breath sending warmth down my spine.
“M
e too. She’s…”
“A lot.”
I kiss him again, loving the way our lives have intersected so tightly. His friends are my friends, mine are his - the things that seemed insurmountable - coming from two different worlds, now seem trivial.
We fit.
“You’re a lot too, Princeton Charming,” I say, my eyes roving down to his groin.
He laughs. “You know it. And when Daphne moves out, I plan on showing you just how much I am.”
5
Spencer
“Good morning,” Charlie whispers sleepily, snuggling her perfect ass against my morning wood.
I groan, pulling her closer, and burying my face in the nook of her neck, inhaling her scent. Waking up to Charlie in my bed every morning has its perks, especially since Daphne moved out. But the best one is seeing her smile first thing in the morning.
She twists around and wraps her arms around my neck, hazel eyes filled with so much love, and I can’t help but suck a breath in. Fuck happily-ever-afters, this, right here, is what everyone should be striving for - to wake up with the person they love and feel like the world makes sense.
Her smile broadens, and I kiss her nose. “What are you grinning about?”
“I’m just happy.”
I kiss her, soft, gentle, but it quickly turns into more, and it’s not long before I’m buried deep inside her, my own groans matching hers before my thrusts send us both over the edge.
Another perk to having her here.
“Love you, Spencer,” she murmurs, her breathing still ragged.
“Remember that when you’re stuck in a house with my parents all weekend,” I say, remembering what day it is. Ava and Prescott will be meeting us at the airport in a few hours to take the family jet to Nantucket.
“It’ll be fun.” She presses her lips to mine before rolling out of bed and heading toward the bathroom.
“I think our definitions of fun are slightly different.”
Charlie’s laughter is followed by the shower turning on. I’m about to follow her and show her the fun I prefer when my cell buzzes on the nightstand.
“Hey Beckett,” Sam Paparelli says. He’s one of the private investigators I hired after Charlie was run off the road.
“You have anything for me?” So far he’s done a shitty job. But then so have the local police. The only thing that’s given me confidence is the security team I have watching Charlie twenty-four-seven.
There’s a heavy sigh on the other end of the receiver before Sam says, “If I’m going to get anywhere, I need more to work with.”
“I’ve given you everything I have. What about Decan? Have you looked into—”
“I’m telling you, his story checks out. And from what I can tell he doesn’t have the skills or the IQ to pull off the advanced coding on those blogs. Plus, if your dates are correct, he wasn’t on campus when Charlie got the first note.”
I pinch the bridge of my nose, frustrated, but Sam isn’t telling me anything I don’t already know.
“I can keep working the case, but unless whoever is behind this strikes out again, I really have nothing to go on.”
At least the man is honest, even if it’s not what I want to hear.
I hang up, and join Charlie in the shower, kissing her hard when I step in.
She blinks up at me, and her small frown tells me that she’s read my mood. “You’re really stressed about this weekend, huh?”
I shrug and press my forehead to hers and let my hands roam down her body. I just want her safe, but telling her about my call will only upset her, and she’s just starting to finally sleep through the night without nightmares.
“When we’re there, any time you want to leave, just tell me. I’ll have our bags packed and us out the door before you can—”
“Hey.” She smiles up at me. “If we’re going to be together, I’m going to have to get used to being around your parents.”
“There’s no if, Charlie. We are together. Anyone who has a problem with that will have to deal with me.”
Her lips twitch up.
“What?”
“I like when you go all alpha protector on me. It’s sexy.” Her tongue darts out across her bottom lip, and her eyes fill with desire.
I smirk, lifting her up so that her legs wrap around my waist, and my already hard cock is pressed against her. “You keep looking at me like that and we’re never going to make it to Nantucket.”
She chuckles. “I think Ava and Prescott can wait a few extra minutes.”
* * *
“Oh my God, this place,” Charlie says as our car pulls up to the family home, the place I’ve spent every summer of my childhood.
“I know, right?” Ava says, blue eyes sparkling. She takes Charlie’s arm and starts to drag her toward the house, leaving Prescott and me to gather the bags.
“Hey,” Prescott calls out. “A little help.”
Ava looks over her shoulder and chuckles. “You two can manage. I want to show Charlie the beach.”
The two of them disappear behind the dunes, and Prescott mutters under his breath as he tries to manage my sister’s two oversized suitcases, along with his own.
“Jesus,” he grunts. “I swear she packed these things with rocks. Who needs this much stuff for one weekend?”
“Ava.” I laugh. Thankfully Charlie only packed a small duffle bag, and I’m already halfway up the front steps when the doors swing open.
“Boys.” My mom gives me a polite smile before her eyes light up when she sees Prescott. I’m still not in her good books, but I can’t bring myself to care. She’s not one of my favorite people at the moment either.
“Mother,” I say, kissing her cheek when she gives me a stiff hug,
“I’m so glad you made it,” she says. “How was the flight?”
“Uneventful,” I say. Which is exactly how I’m hoping this weekend will be, but I can already see from the glassiness of my mom’s eyes that she’s had a few martinis.
“Good, good.” She glances around. “And where’s Ava?”
“She took Charlie down to the beach,” I tell her, aware of the way her mouth turns down slightly when I mention Charlotte.
I’m about to warn her to be nice, but she ushers us inside before I have the chance, and starts, “Your rooms are all set up. I have you boys on the third floor at the end of—”
“Charlotte and I will be sharing a room,” I say, holding her gaze.
Her hand flutters to her chest, and her eyes widen. “That’s highly inappropriate. I’ve put the girls—”
“Mother,” I say sternly, not willing to back down, not even for the small sliver of peace I know will come. “I’m sure I don’t need to remind you whose name Grandfather put this place in when he passed.” It’s only a small warning, but it’s one that gives her pause.
Much to my mother’s surprise, my grandfather left his entire fortune - every single penny - in Ethan, Ava, and my name when he’d died. But the house, this house, was given to me. Even I’m not sure what motivated his decision, but I know it crushed my mother, and since then she’s been almost tyrannical about lording over the estate while she still can.
But after I graduate next month, she’ll no longer be the trustee over it.
It’ll be mine to do with as I please.
My father has wealth of his own, more money than my mother could ever spend, but I know she’s still bitter about it.
“Well.” Her chin tilts up, expression barely flinching before she turns to Prescott. “We’ll be having an early dinner on the terrace in an hour.” She gives a stiff smile. “I hope you’re both hungry.”
“Famished. I’ve been looking forward to one of your meals all week.” Prescott gives her one of his grins, lightening the mood as he uses his charm to compliment my mom and gain one of her rare smiles.
“I prepared white chocolate cranberry cheesecake for dessert. It’s one of Ava’s favorite.”
I grunt, knowing the only thing my m
other did to prepare anything was order her servants around. But then, she’s always been very good at that.
Leaving the two of them, I head up to the third floor. There’s a small bedroom on this landing with the best view. I pause in the hall, a flood of memories crashing over me, stronger than the ocean waves on the beach.
Growing up, this felt like home in ways our D.C. house never did. It was here my grandmother patiently taught me how to ride a bike, where my grandfather taught me to play poker using peanuts, where my sister and brother and I would dig in the sand until our shoulders were sun-kissed and our cheeks had freckles.
It was safe, it was familiar. In the summer, it was long days with sand castles and clambakes. And in the early spring, like it is now, we would ride our bicycles into town and go to the bowling alley and arcade. Our regular, day-to-day lives, even as children, were consumed with elite private schools, tutors, and learning French and Latin. Here though, in Nantucket, we were free to be children.
That was before we lost Grandma and Grandpa.
Before we lost Ethan.
Now, nothing is the same as it was. With my parents running the show, the house feels no different than the place they own in D.C.
Except I have memories here. Memories that bring me back to a simpler time. A time where love and laughter reigned. Where family was everything.
I want more of that.
No matter what I do next, career-wise, life-wise, I want that to be central. To be king. To be the driving force in my decisions.
As I walk down the hall, I pause at the family photos my grandma hung. My grandparents on the beach, walking hand in hand. A photo of my siblings and I on the whitewashed deck, sand dunes and ocean waves behind us, grinning as we waved sparklers on the Fourth of July. A snapshot of the family elbow deep in butter with a table full of lobster claws.
My grandparents had money, loads of it - but they had something else. Something I have too, something I didn’t know I needed until Charlie came into my life.
Forever Princeton Charming Page 4