Charlie

by Elin Peer

  “Come on, let’s see if she has something that can become of sentimental value to you.”

  Again, it took Liv forever to decide between the necklaces, but she finally picked a green amulet with a Celtic symbol on it. “This one.”

  I paid for it and watched as the local woman adjusted the leather string to fit Liv, while her mixed-breed dog sat next to her and kept an eye on the birds flying above us.

  “Thank you, Charles.” Liv rose up on her toes and kissed me. “I’ll treasure it.”

  “Good, I figure you can show it to our kids and tell them how I got it for you on our first date.”

  We laughed together like it was a joke, but on my part, it was more like a wish for the future.

  “There’s something I want to ask you, but I’m not sure how.” Liv bit her lip.

  “What do you mean, how? Just use your words. I understand English.”

  She was battling with the wind to keep her long hair out of her face. “No, I mean, I don’t want to sound too clingy and you’re already spending all day with me, but it’s just that…”

  I lowered my brow wishing I could read her mind or that she would spit it out faster, because I was curious to know what she wanted from me.

  “When we get back to Dublin… I mean, we’ll probably be tired tonight, but…”

  “But I could come back to your hotel with you.” My wish spilled out when she didn’t finish fast enough, but the way a triangle formed between her eyebrows made me add, “You know, to watch a movie and maybe cuddle. Is that what you wanted to ask me?” God, I hoped she didn’t think I expected her to have sex with me tonight.

  “Well, actually, I was going to ask if you wanted to hang out again tomorrow.”

  I cleared my throat wishing I’d kept my mouth shut. “Sure, what did you have in mind?”

  “Why don’t you show me your favorite parts of Dublin?”

  “All right.”

  A large grin spread on her face.

  “What’s so funny?”

  “You are! I can’t believe you’d be willing to prolong this date and spend your evening with me. As if fourteen hours of me forcing you to eat croissants and sitting in a bus wasn’t enough.”

  With a grip on her rain jacket, I pulled her closer. “If that’s surprising to you then what if I tell you that I’d be willing to spend the night with you? Falling asleep with you in my arms sounds very appealing.” I was grinning too, because the truth was that I wasn’t just willing to do it, I was eager to crawl into a bed with Liv and cuddle up with her.

  She met my eyes, and there was a flash of worry behind the excitement. “I don’t want you to think that I’d normally sleep with a guy on the first date, but…” She trailed off.

  “But you’ll make an exception with me?” Hope made my voice crack a little.

  “I didn’t say that. But we could count yesterday’s lunch as a date, and today is like four dates in one.”

  “Good point, so if we count me coming back to your hotel as a date as well, it would be our what… sixth date?”

  “The thing is; I feel so relaxed with you. If we’re talking about a movie night with us cuddling and nothing more, then I’m okay with it.”

  On the inside I raised my fist in triumph as I hugged her tight. “It’ll be the perfect way to end an amazing day.”

  CHAPTER 9

  Movie Night

  Liv

  It was close to ten at night when we finally walked into my hotel room.

  “Fancy.” Charles looked around. “I thought you said you were traveling on a budget.”

  “I am, but I got lucky. They upgraded me to a suite.”

  “Why?”

  “Because the hotel I was supposed to stay at was overbooked. This hotel is further outside the city center and in compensation they gave me an upgrade and free breakfast.”

  “Nice.”

  “Are you hungry?” I pointed to the room service menu.

  “No, but I could drink something.”

  Taking off my jacket, I walked over and bent down to open the mini-fridge. “Okay, let’s see. There’s white wine, beer, soda, and juice. What are you in the mood for?”

  “A Sprite would be nice.”

  I pulled out a Sprite and a Fanta. “What about some chocolate? They have Milka.”

  “Sure.”

  Getting up from my squatting position, I turned to give him the soda. “I was thinking about taking a quick shower. Maybe you can find a movie for us?”

  Charles picked up the remote control and sat down on the bed. “Scary or funny?”

  “You decide, but nothing too bloody. It gives me nightmares.”

  I was back ten minutes later wearing my shorts and tank top that I normally slept in. It wasn’t sexy lingerie by a long shot, but Charles still checked out my legs with a quick side glance. When I saw a small smile on his lips, I relaxed. “Do you usually shower at night or in the morning?”

  Charles moved over on the bed to make room for me. “That depends. If I’ve been at the gym, I’ll shower at night, but otherwise I do it in the morning.” He rolled off the bed. “But since you’re all sparkly clean, I’ll take a quick shower too.”

  Charles was even faster than me and came back in wearing his t-shirt and briefs. “You’d better not have eaten all the chocolate.”

  “No, I left you a small corner.”

  “I should have known from your sugar addiction that you can’t be trusted with sweets.”

  “My sugar addiction? What’s that supposed to mean?”

  He raised his brow. “Ehm, the first time we met, you ordered a cinnamon roll and a hot chocolate with whipped cream. Do you have any idea how much sugar that is?” He was teasing me. “And today you more or less ate five croissants by yourself.” Holding up his hand, he spread his fingers. “Five.”

  “Oh, that’s not fair. I wanted one croissant. You were the one who got me one of each.”

  He laughed and got into the bed next to me. “To taste. No one forced you to eat all of them. It’s a wonder to me how you can look so fit.”

  “How could I stop when they tasted so delicious?”

  Charles opened his arms to me. “With that little self-control, you have me wondering what would have happened if the guide hadn’t called us to the bus when you sampled me. You said I tasted of more, remember? If you can’t stop yourself, does that mean you would have eaten me too?”

  “Nah, you’re not sweet enough.” I placed myself with my head on his shoulder, my stomach against his hip, and my hand across his belly.

  “Really? So, if I was a spice, I wouldn’t be sugar?”

  “No way, sugar is a mainstream spice. You’d be something intimidating like chili.”

  “Really? Why?”

  “Because it’s a spice that people have respect for. It can overpower most other spices and it makes your blood heat up.”

  “Hmm…”

  “What about me? What spice would I be?”

  Charles looked up at the ceiling thinking about it. “Something rare and expensive, like saffron.” He intertwined our fingers and turned to look into my eyes.

  “What do you use saffron for?” I asked.

  “You use it in food and bread baking, but it’s labor-intensive to collect and process, and that’s why it’s probably the most expensive spice there is. As I recall it, saffron also has healing abilities.”

  “You’re just making that up.” My eyes were sparkling with humor.

  “No, I’m not. Here, let me prove it to you.” Reaching for his phone, he looked it up on the Internet and read aloud. “Saffron is a powerful spice high in antioxidants. It has been linked to health benefits, such as improved mood, libido, and sexual function, as well as reduced PMS symptoms and enhanced weight loss. Best of all it’s generally safe for all people and easy to add to your diet.”

  “Hang on, if I’m like saffron, that means adding me to your life will improve your mood and your libido.”

  He n
odded. “Yeah, I’d say it’s working. I’ve been pretty happy today.”

  “Yeah? Me too. It was hard to stop kissing you at the abbey.”

  Charles ran a hand through his hair and closed his eyes for a second.

  “Shouldn’t I have said that?” I asked him.

  His chest rose and fell and then he opened his eyes. “You have no idea how much I’m restraining myself right now. I’ve never tried cuddling without sex, and being so close to you and hearing you speak like that…” He shook his head. “I don’t want you to feel like I only came back to your room to screw your brains out. It’s not like that at all, but damn, you’re putting my gentleman manners under pressure here.”

  I smiled and raised my leg over his. “Would you think less of me if we made out?”

  “No, of course not.”

  Taking his left hand, I placed it on the back of my thigh. Charles was quick to take the invitation and slid his hand higher to my behind. Boring his fingers into my flesh, he let out a soft groan. “Mmmm.”

  Our lips met and we were back to kissing just like we had earlier, only this time, Charles intensified it and let his tongue twirl around mine in a way that ignited every nerve ending on my body.

  “Who taught you to kiss like this?” My question was swallowed by our kissing, and he didn’t answer.

  Instead, he raised his hand to my throat and squeezed a little while looking into my eyes. “Before this goes too far, I need to know: do you have a condom?”

  “No.”

  “Are you on the pill?”

  “No.”

  He groaned again and pulled me on top of him. We still had clothes on but his hard cock felt amazing as I pressed against it. With his hands on my hips, he steered me to ride him while pulling me down for more kissing.

  It had been years since I’d made out like this with my clothes on. Being twenty-six, I was eager to get to the real thing. I’d complained to my friends about boyfriends not taking their time with foreplay, but with Charles there was an urge inside me to feel him inside me. “Why don’t you have a condom?”

  He pulled back. “Because I didn’t expect this.”

  Leaning my forehead against his, I kept rocking my hips back and forth against him. “Your briefs are going to be wet from my juices.”

  “Mmmm… just the thought of your moist pussy makes me want to fucking rip your clothes off.” His voice was breathy as he was kissing me down my neck. “We could go out and buy a large box of condoms and stay in bed all night and tomorrow too.”

  A dazed part of my brain was flaring up with warning signs. “We can’t.” My voice sounded strange, like I didn’t want to say the words.

  Charles growled against my neck. “Why not?”

  “I’m not that kind of woman. I don’t do sex outside of a relationship and we haven’t defined our relationship.”

  Rolling us around, Charles got on top of me and grabbed onto my hair with both his hands. “Then define it!”

  “Okay. For me a relationship means exclusivity and trust.”

  “Good. I want that with you.” His eyes were shining with intensity.

  “So, we agree that we’re taking this to the next level then?”

  “We already did when you took my hand on the bus. I’m not fucking around. I want you, Liv, and I want to see where this thing goes.”

  “Same.”

  “Say that you’re my girlfriend then.” Charles had a challenging look in his eyes, like he didn’t think I’d do it, but I didn’t hesitate.

  “I’m your girlfriend.”

  “Yeah?” It was such a turn-on to hear how full of disbelief his voice was, but then he’d never been in a committed relationship.

  “Yes.”

  “You’re my girlfriend?”

  “Yes.” I bit his lower lip when we kissed. “And you can tell that to all those attractive women at the mastermind group. Don’t even think about giving out any more samples of yourself, because you’re mine now and I want the whole package for myself.”

  “Greedy.” His eyes were shining with delight. “That’s fine because I’m not sharing you either.” He pulled my t-shirt off and buried his head between my breasts.

  My hands lifted his shirt, signaling for him to take it off. He complied and I was blown away by how sexy he looked bare-chested. Charles was fit, but not in that sculpted way that comes with eating on a diet and living in a gym. He was just right, with meat on his bones and muscled arms and chest that revealed he took care of himself.

  “I knew you’d be perfect under that shirt.” I smiled at him as he tugged down my shorts. Throwing them down on the floor he placed kisses on my stomach and let his right thumb slide down along my panties.

  “You were right. The fabric is soaked.” His lips kissed my pelvis bone while his thumb stroked across my clit on top of my panties.

  “That’s because of the things you do to me.”

  “I’ll take the blame for making you wet all day long. It’s boosting my confidence.” Lifting my panties to one side, he pushed my legs apart and slid a finger over my folds. “I like that you left some hair. Some women shave it all off and I’m not into that little girl look.”

  “Good, because I like my triangle… ohhh…” I ended my sentence in a moan when Charles lowered his head and licked me.

  “Relax. I just want to taste you.”

  The TV was showing some movie that neither of us paid attention to. My eyes were closed and I was on sensory overload with his tongue licking me like I was his favorite treat. Looking down it was surreal to me that the man I’d thought of as unattainable was giving me oral sex. Not only was he amazing at it, but he was in no hurry to move on either.

  With my hands in my hair, I moaned and gave in to the sensation of being pampered by him, and then he inserted his middle finger and the feeling of having a part of him inside me felt intimate and bonding. “Mmmm.”

  “Just pretend it’s my cock.” His voice was low and gruff as he added another finger and moved in and out of me. Never had anyone fingered me like this and from the sound of it, I was producing all the moisture he needed to push a third finger inside me.

  “Ahhh…”

  “That’s right, moan for me. I wanna hear what you’ll sound like when I shove more than my fingers inside you.”

  I kept my eyes closed and my head tilted backward. My face scrunched up from the slight pain of being fingered so fiercely, but I still arched up begging for more. “Yes, oh, yes… ahhh.”

  “That’s right. Now be a good girl and come on my hand.” His voice was low and raw like he was beyond horny himself.

  “Mmmm… Charles, how do you…? Ahh, jeezus… it feels so good.”

  “That’s because your pussy knows it belongs to me.” He was patient and kept finger fucking me and talking dirty until I grabbed on to his strong shoulder and cried out my orgasm.

  “That’s right, Saffron, come for me.”

  He dipped his head and sucked on my clit, sending me into a tailspin of a powerful orgasm that took my breath away. All I could do was moan out his name. “Yes Charlie, yeeess…”

  I was still reeling from the climax when he moved to lie next to me. With a satisfied smile on his face, he kissed my shoulder and waited for me to look at him.

  “I like that you’re a screamer.”

  “I’m not a screamer.” If my cheeks hadn’t already been flushed red from my orgasm, he would have seen my embarrassment.

  “You are! And my favorite part was when you screamed out my name.” He kept smiling as I got under the cover again.

  “I’ll admit that I moaned.”

  Getting under the cover with me, he kissed me. “Prepare to moan a whole lot more because I’m not done with you.”

  “Where did you learn how to talk dirty like that? And the way you kiss and…”

  He waited for me to finish my sentence.

  “Who taught you to pleasure a woman like that?”

  “Ah, so I take it tha
t you’re pleased with my skills?”

  “Wow.” I laughed. “I should take a picture of the smug smile on your face right now. You’re so proud of yourself.”

  Raising a hand in the air, Charles grinned. “You just admitted that I’m a great lover; why wouldn’t I be happy?”

  It occurred to me that he had fewer tics than earlier. “Hey, what happened to your tics?”

  “They come and go. I get them when I’m nervous and sometimes just for no reason at all, but it helps when I’m distracted.”

  “Are you saying I’m a good distraction?”

  “You’re the best distraction I could ask for.” He hugged me tight.

  When he released me again, I asked, “How long have you had them?”

  “Since I was a kid. It used to be much worse. I would bite on my tongue so hard it would bleed, and most nights I couldn’t sleep because of tics. And then when I finally fell asleep, I’d wake up with nightmares.”

  “What changed?”

  “It’s been a slow progress. I’ve tried medicine of course, but I found that things like chewing gum instead of my tongue helped, and when I couldn’t sleep at night, I’d use my rocking chair and read. It calmed me down and it helped me get way ahead in school since I was always reading.”

  “Ah, so it’s not just sex that distracts you. A book can do it too.”

  “Yes.” Charles didn’t elaborate because he had begun kissing my neck again. “Maybe we should get some condoms before we go for round two.”

  I couldn’t suppress a yawn and it made Charles pull back.

  “Okay, that sounded super enthusiastic.”

  “No, I’m sorry. It’s not you, I just feel like I hit a wall or something.” I yawned again. “I think it’s the jet lag. And it’s been a long day, not to mention that you gave me one hell of an orgasm, and now my body is all relaxed and tired.”

  “It’s okay. I get it.” He opened his arm for me to cuddle up against him again.

  My eyes were getting heavy but I curled up to him. “I really want to make out with you some more. Maybe if I close my eyes a little and then you can watch the movie. I just need a little nap to rest, you know?”