One More Chance: A Small Town Love Story

by A. J. Wynter

  “Here we are,” he said, gesturing to the clear pool of steaming water, the glacial mountain stream gurgled past them.

  “I thought it would be bigger.” The spring was about the size of a large backyard hot tub.

  “That’s what she said,” he grinned and laughed at his own joke.

  Charlotte couldn’t help but smile. “Your hockey team must love you, Mr. Immature.” She leaned into him playfully and wondered if she was going to have to make the first move again. Her heart leapedinto her throat as Logan pulled her feet onto his lap and tugged off her socks. It wasn’t the most romantic maneuver but the feel of his hands on her feet was more sensual than if he had taken off her shirt. He rolled up her jeans and tugged off his own socks and pulled his jeans up over his knees before he stepped into the hot spring.

  He held Charlotte’s left foot in his hand and kissed the top before gently submerging it into the hot water. Charlotte grimaced as heat prickled her skin.

  “You okay?” Logan asked.

  “It’s hot,” she smiled and saw the smirk on his face. “It’s hotter than I expected,” she clarified.

  “But you’re warm now, right?” Logan asked. Charlotte realized that the blanket had fallen from her shoulders and the heat on her feet had warmed her entire body.

  “Have you ever heard of cryotherapy?” Logan asked.

  “I have, but I haven’t tried it. I don’t think I like the idea of freezing myself.”

  “I used to do it after practice. It sucks, but it fixed my aches and pains like nothing else.”

  “Are bathtubs full of ice out of fashion now?” Charlotte asked, relaxing as her feet became accustomed to the heat of the spring water.

  “We still do those too.” Logan took off his hat and tossed it onto the rock beside Charlotte. He pulled his shirt over his head and Charlotte stared at his washboard abs. They were better than any anatomical drawing she had ever seen, and his were more like an eight pack. The V of his lower abs was clearly defined, and her eyes followed those lines until they disappeared into the waistline of his jeans.

  “Do you trust me, Billie Jo?” he grabbed her hand and together they stepped into the water.

  “I do.” Charlotte had become successful in an industry full of deceit, lies, and backstabbing. She couldn’t remember the last time that she fully trusted anyone, but looking into Logan’s eyes, she would’ve let him lead her anywhere.

  Logan leaned in to kiss her on her neck, the warmth of his breath contrasting with the cold air sent a shiver down her spine. He ran his hands down the side of her torso and gripped the bottom of her sweater as he balled the fabric in his fists as he pulled her closer to kiss her. He tugged her sweater up and over her head and Charlotte raised her arms to help. He held the sweater against her ass as he pulled her back to kiss her again. Charlotte was conflicted. She wanted more of him, but at the same time, she would’ve been content standing amongst the rotten egg smell, cuddled into Logan’s Brush’s chest, while his lips explored her cheeks, neck, and collarbone.

  Logan slid his hands under Charlotte’s arms and lifted her out of the hot spring. He spread the blanket out on the rock and pulled her down to the ground and crawled over her, pressing his body against hers. Then he knelt back so he could undo the top button and zipper on her jeans, revealing the sexy black lace underwear Charlotte had selected ‘just in case.’ He looked up at her and smiled as he hooked his thumbs into the side of her jeans and pulled them down over her round ass. Charlotte pressed her feet into the rocks and lifted her hips to help the denim slide down her legs.

  Her breath was coming hard and fast as Logan pressed his lips to the front of the black lace, but when she felt his hot breath between her legs, she practically melted.

  “It would be a shame to get these wet. They look very expensive,” he gazed up at her from her waist. She nodded and he pulled her panties down and slid them off her ankles. He tossed them onto the pile of Charlotte’s clothes. Charlotte was wet and aching for Logan. As he stood to pull off his pants and boxers, she unhooked her bra, her nipples puckered in the cool breeze that danced around her body and between her legs. Logan stood to pull off his pants and boxers and the second they hit the pile of clothes, Charlotte wrapped her arms around him grasping his round ass and kissed the top of his thighs. The steam from the hot spring swirled around them, providing a thin veil of modesty as she kissed one side of Logan’s sculpted V, his lower abs, and then the other side, brushing her lips against him as she passed by. She could feel him trembling and while she wanted to make him moan by plunging his rock-hard cock into her mouth, she was going to take her time with him.

  “I’m only going to last two seconds if you put those pretty lips of yours on my cock.” His hand was tangled in her hair at the nape of her neck. He dropped to his knees to kiss her, then pressed his hand between her breasts pushing her to the ground. He kissed her dark brown nipples before continuing on down her body. His lips left a trail of goosebumps from her collarbone to her lower belly. Charlotte squirmed on the rock as she felt his breath and stubble tickling her inner thighs. Her fingertips splayed, gripping a ridge in the rock and held on for death life as Logan’s warm breath gave way to his even warmer mouth.

  “Oh, Logan,” she gasped and propped herself up on her elbows.

  Logan gazed up at her and pressed back down onto the blanket. “Relax.”

  Charlotte glanced around to ensure there were no prying eyes and then fully gave herself to Logan, relaxing her body into his touch. She rested her fingertips in his thick hair and closed her eyes. It didn’t take long for Logan’s lips and tongue to bring Charlotte to her first orgasm of the day. “Oh, my god, Logan,” she moaned and writhed as the wave of her orgasm grew and receded until it finally crashed over her body, leaving her gasping for air. She fell back limp and satisfied and trailed her fingertips across her heaving chest while she caught her breath.

  “That was amazing.” Her arms shook but she was able to push herself up to kiss his smiling face. Logan stood up and reached for her hand. She hugged him tightly, the orgasmic haze still tingling through her body. His chest felt like it was meant for her head, and she closed her eyes and held him tightly while listening to his heartbeat.

  “You’re cold,” Logan said and ran his hands briskly up and down her arms.

  Charlotte realized that she was shivering. “I don’t feel cold.”

  “Come on, get in,” Logan took a step backward into the steaming pool of water. He held out his hand and Charlotte placed hers in his.

  “Wait, Logan,” she leaned back and resisted his helping hand.

  “What is it?” he asked.

  “I want to feel you inside of me.” Charlotte had never uttered anything truer in her life.

  Logan chuckled, “We’ve waited fifteen years, what’s a few more minutes?” he smiled wryly and yanked her hand. Her body slammed into his and with one arm he gripped her around her back. She tossed her head back and laughed, then looped her legs around his waist.

  “Ready?” he asked.

  Charlotte nodded. Logan slowly lowered down into the steaming hot pool until they were seated on the bottom, the water cresting at Charlotte’s collarbone.

  Charlotte held Logan’s hand under the water and leaned back against the slippery rocks, “This feels amazing,” she murmured.

  “It does.” Logan reached his arms around Charlotte’s shoulders and kissed her on the top of her head. She smiled and settled into the increasingly familiar muscles of his chest. “But the best is yet to come.”

  Charlotte looked up at him. “Is that so?” She felt like a horny teenager and reached for Logan’s cock. He shifted away from her.

  “That’s not what I meant.”

  This was the third time Logan had rebuffed her sexual advances, Charlotte wondered what was going on, but pushed it to the back of her mind.

  “It’s cryotherapy time,” he grinned and scooped her up in his arms and leapt out of the spring.

&nb
sp; “No, no, no, no, no,” Charlotte squealed. “Logan Brush, don’t you dar—”

  But he had already set her down in the snow. Charlotte squealed. The steam rushed off their bodies as they melted into the freezing cold snow. She grabbed a handful of snow and chucked it at Logan. He expertly slapped the crudely shaped snowball out of the air. “Don’t start something you can’t finish,” he said and scooped up a giant handful of snow and tossed it, so the freezing pellets rained down over her body. Charlotte squealed again and batted at the falling snow like a cat. Logan scooped her back up in his arms and stepped back into the spring. Her body felt like it was on fire.

  “It’s prickly, it hurts,” she said as she slapped playfully at his arm.

  “I know, it’s a good hurt though,” he replied. He closed his eyes and sank down under the water, his smiling face replaced with steam and bubbles. Charlotte watched the bubbles travel toward her until Logan surfaced inches from her. She leaned forward to kiss him, but he pulled back. “There’s something I need to tell you.” His hands were on her knees and while his face was only inches from her face, he wouldn’t meet her gaze.

  Charlotte’s stomach knotted. “What is it?”

  “Whoo-hoo! Looks like we found some lovebirds here,” someone hollered, breaking the serenity of the area.

  Logan and Charlotte whipped their heads around to see three men approaching them, trudging through the snow.

  “Don’t let us interrupt.” The leader, a pock-faced string bean of a teenager grinned and elbowed his pudgy friend. Charlotte felt pure terror when she saw that he was holding up a cell phone, filming them.

  Logan stood up in the waist-deep pool, water dripping from his hair, his hands clenched by his sides, “You guys need to leave,” he yelled and pointed to the road.

  The fat kid stopped dead in his tracks and stared. “Holy shit, is that Logan Brush?”

  “Put that phone down,” Logan yelled. He leaped out of the hot spring and bolted across the snowy ground in his bare feet, buck naked. The boys stood wide-eyed and frozen in their position. Logan grabbed the cell phone out of the skinny kid’s hand, deleted the video and handed the phone back. “Now leave.”

  The skinny kid took a step back, raising his hands into the air, “Whoa, man. Take it easy.”

  “You three are going to leave now.”

  Two of the boys obediently turned and started to walk back down the trail, but the tall skinny boy stood his ground.

  “You don't own this hot spring.” He crossed his arms across his chest. Charlotte watched as Logan's back bristled, not unlike like a werewolf, and found herself worrying about what she was about to witness. The skinny teenager didn’t stand a chance against Logan.

  “Get the fuck out of here right now. I’m not going to ask you again.”

  Charlotte took the opportunity to slip out of the pool while the eyes of the teenagers were distracted by Logan. She grabbed the blanket off the rock and wrapped it around herself. She stood on the edge of the hot spring shifting her weight from foot to foot.

  “You're done, pal.” The boy grinned. “Come on guys, let's get out of here and give Logan Brush and his treat of the week a little privacy.”

  Charlotte fell to her knees in relief as the three turned and trudged off down the snowy trail.

  LOGAN WAS SHAKING, but not from the cold; anger and adrenaline coursed through his veins, heating him from within. He unclenched his fists when he felt Charlotte’s cool nipples press into his back. She wrapped her arms and the blanket around his body.

  “It's okay,” Charlotte whispered into his back.

  “This is bad,” Logan said. “I lost my cool. I don’t need something like this hitting the tabloids right now.”

  “Turn around and hug me, Lolo,” Charlotte said. “There’s nothing we can do about it right now.”

  Logan smiled. He knew Charlotte was a nicknamer, and this was the first time she had given one to him. He turned and wrapped his arms around her small waist, pulling her in close to him. She rested her cheek on his chest, and he bent down to inhale her essence of citrus and sandalwood. He scooped her up in his arms, wrapping the blanket around her. His feet were freezing as he carried her back to the truck and set her on the passenger seat. He turned the key and cranked the heat, so it was on full blast. “We could always get back in and warm up before we go,” he gestured toward the hot spring with his chin.

  Charlotte looked at her watch. “Shit. Tabitha!”

  Logan pulled on his jeans. He checked his phone, 1:30. “Don’t worry babe. If the roads are good and we don't hit any traffic jams, we should be able to get Tabitha on time.”

  Logan watched from the side of the truck as Charlotte frantically shimmied into her jeans and sweater and piled her hair up on her head into a messy bun.

  “Traffic jams?” she smiled as she hopped into the passenger seat.

  “Stranger things have happened,” he grinned. “We’ve had avalanches this late in the year before. We could be stranded out here for days.”

  They headed down the bumpy logging road. Logan saw the tire marks where the teenagers had parked their car. “Their car must not have been able to make it up the rough road.” He pointed to the tracks. They had walked the high-altitude portion of the road, which explains how they were able to sneak up on Logan and Charlotte.

  “We weren't doing anything wrong, Logan,” Charlotte said. Her body swaying as they crept over the pothole-riddled logging road. She was sophisticated and smart but naïve about the tabloids. “I threatened a bunch of teenagers,” Logan said. “I'll be lucky if the police aren't waiting for me by the time I get home.”

  Logan was surprised when he heard Charlotte laugh.

  “Do you remember where we are? They’re not going to press any charges. They're tough country boys. If anything, by the time we get back to Chance Rapids the story is going to be that they fought you – and won. You know that right?”

  He wondered if Charlotte could be right. “The tabloids would have a heyday with it though. Me, naked, with a beautiful stranger, in the middle of the woods.”

  Charlotte giggled. “It feels like it should be the other way around, doesn't it? I mean, we got busted by a bunch of teenagers, acting like teenagers.”

  Logan chuckled, “Well, when you put it that way...”

  “I really wouldn't worry about it,” Charlotte said. “It was pretty hot watching you stand up for me like that.” She reached over and squeezed his thigh.

  Logan felt the redness rise in his cheeks. He had been prepared to beat those boys into a bloody pulp. Despite being a professional hockey player, he wasn't a violent man. On the ice, he was a technical player, not an enforcer. He avoided brawls and couldn't remember the last time he had been physical off the ice. But if one of those boys had laid a hand on Charlotte, his whole hockey team wouldn’t have been able to stop him from sending all them to the hospital – or the graveyard.

  He reached over to hold Charlotte's hand. Aside from the Peeping Toms, it had been the perfect day. He sighed and pretended to focus on the road.

  He had started to tell Charlotte about the arrangement with Serena when the boys showed up. Part of him was glad he couldn’t tell her because it might have ruined the best day of his life.

  The colorful houses of Chance Rapids came into view as they rounded the corner. The sun was peeking through the clouds, a lone beam lighting up the town. “It sure is pretty from here,” Charlotte mused.

  “The town does have its charms.”

  “Hey, Logan...” He noticed the slight waver in her voice, was she going to ask him to finish the story he had started?

  He cleared his throat, “Yes?”

  “The letter that you wrote...” Her voice trailed off.

  “What about it?”

  “Where did you mail it?”

  “I didn't mail it,” he sighed. Charlotte reached and turned down the radio.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I just left it in your
mailbox.”

  “You’re sure you didn't hand it to anyone? Not Lauren or my mom?”

  Logan pursed his lips, “I’m sure. It was cowardly of me, I know. I wanted to knock on the door and ask your mom or your sister where you were. But I wimped out and left it in the mailbox. It’s the biggest regret of my life, Charlotte,” he paused. “Would you have forgiven me if you had gotten it?” Logan asked.

  “From seeing your mom today, I think I would,” Charlotte whispered.

  “Life’s funny,” Logan said without taking his eyes from the road. “Who knows where we’d be if you’d gotten that letter.”

  Charlotte reached over to hold Logan’s hand. “Not here,” she replied.

  Logan grimaced. He was thankful that Charlotte was in his life now, but his stomach wrenched with grief over the loss of the last fifteen years, their twenties were gone. They should’ve been together that whole time. “Are you sure about that?” he asked.

  “Come on, Logan. Someone did us a favor.” Her voice had changed, it had grown colder. “We would probably be divorced, hate each other, and our kids would hate us. You wouldn’t be Logan Brush, number eighty-eight, and I’d be no better off than Stacy.”

  “That’s pretty bleak.” Logan pulled into Charlotte’s driveway and hopped out to open the truck door for her.

  “Well, we’re here now,” she smiled and stepped down. Logan caught the tears brimming in her eyes. She looked to the sky and took a deep breath and they were gone.

  “We are,” he pulled her in to hug her. “And I’m never going to lose you again. Now, go get your niece.” he gripped her arms and kissed her one more time.

  Logan hopped in his truck and immediately dialed his agent. He had to call off the agreement with Serena Cruise before he lost Charlotte again.

  Chapter 19

  CHARLOTTE MARVELED at the softness of the silk as she ran the train of the wedding dress through her fingertips. Megan was standing on a round pedestal, biting her lip while staring at her reflection.