Hitting his shoulder, I replied, “I’ll tell you later. Let me finish up one thing and then we can leave.”
It was then I noticed Tucker had a small bag in one hand. “I brought you a change of clothes. Your other bag is in my car.”
I kissed him then pointed over to the other side of the room to the large conference table and sofa. “You can either have a seat there or over here.”
He looked at the large leather seats at my desk and then over to the sofas. “I’ll pick the sofa.”
Tucker made his way over to the sofa, and I couldn’t help but watch him as he walked off. Damn, he had a nice ass. A really nice ass.
“Stop staring at my ass. It’s creepy.” He never even turned around to say that to me; he knew that’s where my eyes had strayed.
I chuckled. “You like it.”
“Maybe we could role play. You’re the boss, and I’m your hot assistant you take advantage of with your dominatrix ways.”
I quirked my brow. “You wish.”
He moaned. “Fuck yeah, I do. I’ll look up costumes on the internet while you finish up.”
Laughing, I took a seat in my chair and finished looking at the reports Marge had sent for my once-over and approval.
I SAT BACK on the sofa and watched as Charlie went over paperwork. She frowned, picked up the phone, and dialed a number. Glancing at my watch, I wondered if she knew how late in the day it was. No one would still be here.
“Philip? I need you in my office right now.”
My eyes widened in surprise, and I wasn’t sure if it was from her demanding tone or the fact that this Philip guy was still here.
Ten minutes later, there was a knock on her office door.
“Come in.” Charlie’s voice reminded me of the days when we exchanged jabs. There was a coldness in it that actually made me feel sorry for this Philip dude.
“Ms. Monroe, you’re here late.”
Her eyes narrowed, and I couldn’t help but smirk. The asshole sauntered over to her desk as if he expected something other than what was fixin’ to come out of my girl’s mouth.
“B and G shipping.”
It was all she said as she pointed to the chair and motioned for the guy to take a seat.
“Yes, I’m over that account.”
“You were tasked with helping to get them on a course of sustainability. You’ve recommended an organizational redesign.”
He nodded.
Charlie’s brows lifted. “Is that it?”
The guy shifted uncomfortably in his chair. “Well, no. They have some unclear responsibilities, other issues that are hampering the effectiveness and efficiency of the company, but I think we can get them running smoother with the redesign.”
“What about changes in management? How about changing up their cycles? Where are the diagnostic analysis that you’ve worked up?”
He let out a chuckle. “Ms. Monroe, I know my job. It’s why you pay me what you do. I’m sure you have a lot of accounts you have to look over, and I’m sure you are inundated by the learning curve required to get up to speed on all of the accounts.”
Oh hell. Dude did not just say that.
Charlie flashed this jerk a smile and stood. I could see the way he looked her body over and it made me fist up my hands. Smoothing her dress, Charlie walked around her desk, leaned on it next to this dick and folded her arms over her chest.
Jesus Christ, she looked fucking hot as hell towering over this dick.
“A learning curve?” she asked.
The guy licked his lips. “I’m sure I can … help you … if you’d liked to have dinner and discuss this a bit more.”
Now her hands were to her sides, gripping her desk.
“Philip, I have more knowledge of this shipping company in my right pinkie finger than you do in that brain of yours. Do you honestly think I wouldn’t notice you’ve been pushing this company to the side? What I want to know is why we don’t have a solid plan in place to deliver to them next Wednesday when we sit down with them.”
He smiled, as if that would smooth things over.
“I’ll have the plan in place, Charleston.”
She pushed off the desk and walked closer to him. Leaning down, she placed her hands on the edge of the chair.
“It’s Ms. Monroe to you, and if you ever suggest again I don’t know how to run a company I’ve been groomed to take over since I was ten years old, your ass will be out on the street faster than you can say CMI. Do we understand each other?”
He swallowed hard and nodded.
“I want these reports by Sunday, six p.m.”
“What?” He stood and was about to argue with her. Even though he was taller than Charlie, she stood up straight, her chin lifted high, and a defiant look took over her face.
“Do you have a problem working on this? After all, it should have been finished by noon today.”
He took a step back when Charlie stared at him.
“No, I’ll have it done by Sunday.”
She grinned. “Good.”
Spinning on her expensive-ass high heels, she rounded her desk and stood there, staring at him. It was a silent dismissal, and one he heeded.
He turned to leave, finally catching a glimpse of me sitting on the sidelines. His face turned white as a ghost.
That’s right, asshole, I just heard everything.
“Philip, one more thing.”
He pulled his gaze from me and turned to face her. Charlie now sat, her eyes back on the pile of papers in front of her.
“If you ever so much as look at me the wrong way or think to ask me out again …” Her gaze lifted. “You’ll be fired. That goes for any female employee here at CMI. Do I make myself clear?”
He didn’t answer her right away. It wasn’t until she lifted a brow and tilted her head to give him a stern look that he replied.
Philip nodded. “Yes, ma’am. It was a simple misunderstanding.”
“Good, don’t let it happen again.”
The guy hurried out of the office, shutting the door a little harder than necessary.
I glanced from the door to Charlie, back to the door, and back to Charlie.
“Holy fucking shit, that was the hottest thing I think I’ve ever seen.”
She looked up at me. “What?”
Standing, I made my way over to her. “You putting that asshole in his place. Christ, Charlie, that was sexy as hell. I really want to role play now.”
Her cheeks turned a beautiful pink.
“Please tell me you’re almost done because we really need to get out of your office, and soon.”
Digging her teeth into her lip, she gathered up the papers, an envelope, and a few other files and pushed them into her briefcase.
“I’m ready. I can go over the rest of these on the drive up to the lake house.”
I frowned.
“I’m sorry; it won’t be but maybe thirty minutes more of work.”
If there was one thing I was going to have to get used to, it was Charlie being married to her job. I wanted to chuckle. Fuck … I was already making plans to share her with this damn company.
“Let’s go,” she said, grabbing her purse and rounding her desk.
CHARLIE WAS RIGHT; she only had about thirty minutes left of work to do, and she knocked it out on the drive up. She also made five phone calls and chewed out three of the people for not having their jobs done or not having something done right. She talked about shipping companies, telecommunications, biopharmaceuticals, as well as growth and low-cost expansion in some automotive plant in fucking Germany. To say I was impressed was an understatement.
When she finally threw her work into the backseat and let out a sigh, I turned to face her.
“How in the hell do you know about all of that shit?”
She laughed. “It’s my job to know it all. I don’t know everything about all of it, just the things that matter. I pay people who know the important things. We have former FBI agents, Nobel Pr
ize recipients, Ivy League professors, and economists, just to name a few, working for us. They’re the ones who are supposed to know their jobs.”
“Yeah, but how do you know when they’re falling short on the job?”
Charlie shrugged. “I learn what I need to know about the companies, what we need to do for them, and when that’s not being done, I have to play the hard ass.”
“And that means making people work all weekend?” I asked.
“If that’s what needs to be done. It’s not my fault they’ve jacked around all week and didn’t get their shit done. I manage to take the weekends off.”
I smiled.
“You’re making my cock hard hearing you say the words ‘jacked around’ and listening to you talk like that. And how you stood up to that prick earlier. Christ, I almost whipped out my dick and jacked something around right then and there.”
“Tucker!” she exclaimed, hitting me on the shoulder as I let out a laugh.
The closer we got to the lake house, the more the memory of that weekend came back to me. It was an amazing weekend, but one that ended not so great. I was hell bent to make sure there wasn’t a repeat.
“I forgot how beautiful it was up here,” Charlie softly said when we pulled up and parked. The lake was behind the house, and you could see it driving down the driveway.
“How often do you come up here?” she asked.
“Not often.”
I wasn’t about to tell her I had only been here three times since that weekend she walked away from me. That each of those times I was forced by my parents to be there.
When we got out of the car, she lifted her arms in the air and let out a moan while she stretched. Dropping her arms to her sides, she walked toward the lake.
“If this was mine, I’d be here every weekend.” Without taking her eyes off of the lake, she kept talking. “Did I ever tell you I bought a hundred acres of land?”
My head jerked back. “You did? When? Where?”
Her arms wrapped around her body. “Last year. It has a little cabin and a small lake on it.” Charlie glanced over my shoulder. “Near Marble Falls. You and Nash would die of if you saw the deer at this place.”
My heart sped up at the thought. “I could use another head on my wall.”
She rolled her eyes and made her way back to my truck where she got the bag that Lily had packed for her and her work stuff.
We walked through the large foyer and living area and down the hall to the master bedroom. It was the same room where we’d made love for the first time. I chanced a peek at Charlie when we walked into the room. Her smile was evidence that those same memories hit her as well.
“Sure had a lot of fun in this room,” she whispered.
“Sure did,” I replied, trying to ignore the hurt I’d felt in this room as well.
I’d wait until Sunday morning. If she didn’t tell me about her little plan to seduce me and marry her, I’d tell her I knew about it. That she didn’t have to trick me. I’d marry her to help her keep her company … and more importantly, because I loved her. The second reason being the most important.
Charlie gasped when she opened the bag Lily had packed her.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
Her eyes lifted to mine. “Did your sister pack this … or you?”
Frowning, I answered. “Lily did. Why?”
She laughed. “Well, let’s see. There is nothing but lingerie in here, a couple of bathing suits and dresses. Does she know how cold it is outside?”
I chuckled. “Hot tub.”
Charlie’s eyes blazed with fire.
“She also only packed me skimpy clothes.” Pulling out a T-shirt, she frowned. “I’m pretty sure she cut this to make it a crop top.”
Making my way over to her, I pulled the shirt out of her hands and drew her body against mine. “It doesn’t matter. I told you I plan on keeping you naked all weekend.”
Her arms wrapped around my neck. “I like that plan.”
Leaning down, I kissed her gently on the lips. “I want you, Charlie.”
Her hand slipped under my shirt where she dug her fingertips gently into my chest.
“Then take me, Tucker.”
I WOKE WITH a jolt. My heart pounded, and I couldn’t catch my breath. Glancing around the room, I remembered we were at the lake house. Glancing to my left, I panicked when I saw the empty bed next to me. Memories of the morning Charlie left me hit me like a brick wall.
“Charlie?” I called out as I pushed the sheets off of me. Glancing down at the floor, I saw a pair of sweats I’d shed when Charlie and I had made our way into the room last night. Each of us ripped each other’s clothes off as we made our way to the bed. We’d made love after we got here, went for a late dinner, then watched a movie. When Charlie had looked at me with nothing but desire in her eyes, I dragged her off the couch and to the room where we messed around like two teenagers who couldn’t get enough of each other.
Now my damn heart was pounding, and I prayed this wasn’t a repeat of seven-plus years ago.
The sound of the front door opening and closing had me rushing out to the main living area.
Charlie was making her way into the kitchen. Her hair in a ponytail, her body dressed in running pants and a T-shirt. A jacket was tied around her waist.
“Good morning,” I said, trying not to let the sound of my relief sound in my voice. I’d thought she ran away, and here she’d simply gone out for a run.
“Morning! I would have woken you up to let you know I was going for a run, but you looked too peaceful sleeping.”
Making my way over to her, I grabbed her hips and leaned down to kiss her.
“Have a good run?”
She nodded. “I did. I needed it. I’m going to have to make an effort when I get back to run each morning. It clears my head and helps get me focused.”
“I can think of other ways to help get you focused if you want to try those out each morning.” The devilish smirk I gave her caused her to burst out laughing.
“You’re awful, Tucker Middleton, simply incorrigible.”
“I never said I wasn’t a sex fiend, now did I?” With a smile on my face, I went to work on getting some coffee made as Charlie took out some fruit and started to cut it up. “Want a fruit smoothie?”
I scrunched my nose. “Pass. I want French toast and eggs.”
One call from my mother to Linda, the woman who takes care of this place, had the place stocked with food. Of course, when my mother found out I was bringing a woman here, she was all too happy to have me skip Dad’s little bullshit dinner he had tonight. She’d asked me to call him, though. Said he was upset about our fight and mentioned to her how we all needed to sit down and talk.
I had no idea what he planned on talking about. Surely he wasn’t about to admit to my mother he cheated.
“Hey, you’re in deep thought. Everything okay?”
My gaze drifted over to Charlie. Damn did she even have a clue as to how stunning she was?
Not wanting her to know I was thinking of my cheating father, I forced a smile. “Yeah, I was thinking about Sedotto.”
She lifted her finger and waved it back and forth. “Nope, no thinking of work today. I declare today a work-free zone. I’ve already silenced my phone and hid it away in my bag. Today is just about us.”
My dick twitched in my sweats. “I like the way you think, Ms. Monroe.”
I saw my phone sitting on the counter. After sending a text to the managers, I put it on silent. “Anything happens, they can handle it. That’s what I pay them for.”
Her smile was brilliant. “We’re letting go this weekend.”
“That means no fucking fruit smoothie. It’s French toast.”
“With fruit on top!” she added with a sexy grin.
Rolling my eyes, I gave in. “Fine, with fruit on top.”
After breakfast, we both changed and headed into town. It was a short twenty-minute drive, but we spent the entire
day walking around all the shops. I’d forgotten how into antiques Charlie was and her love for old houses. She’d spent nearly an hour talking to a woman who had been outside her house watering her flowers. They talked about the old house the woman had bought with her husband and how they did all the remodeling themselves. After a tour of the whole house, we walked back to my truck, our fingers laced together and Charlie looking the most relaxed I’d seen her in years.
“Are you happy?” I asked.
She stopped and faced me. “Yes. I’m very happy. Thank you for bringing me here, I needed this.”
“Do you still want to buy old places and flip them? I remember you talking about that in college. Your grandfather did it before it was the cool thing to do.”
She giggled and gave a small shrug. “Pappy, my mother’s father. He made a fortune doing it. It’s something I’d still love to do, but with my job …”
Her beautiful smile faded and something else moved over her face. Regret? Sadness? Maybe even a bit of anger was there.
“Um, with my job it’s just hard to find the extra time.”
I wanted to press her for more.
“What about marriage and a family someday? Do you want those things?”
She stopped walking and turned to me. “W-what?”
The way her voice sounded so innocent, almost vulnerable.
“A family and a husband. Do you want that someday?”
Her chin quivered, and she dropped her gaze from mine when she answered. “Yes. I want both of those things.” Lifting her eyes, our gaze locked. “Very much so.”
This wasn’t a part of her little plan. I could see as clear as day that Charlie spoke from her heart.
“Do you … want those things?” she asked in a shy voice that surprised me. Charlie had always been so sure of everything. Vulnerability was not something she showed often, if ever.
Smiling, I took her hands in mine and squeezed them. “Yes, I want them both.”
I was expecting to see relief in her eyes, but it was the opposite. Her eyes filled with tears, and she pulled away from me. Her arms wrapped around her body as she turned away.
“Charlie, what’s wrong?”
Her hand came up to her mouth, and I knew she was fighting to hold it in. I wanted to pull her into my arms and beg her to be honest with me. Tell her I’d marry her in a fucking heartbeat if it meant she’d be happy. If it meant she’d stay married to me and plan a future together, we’d go to the justice of the peace if this town had one.
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