by Mia London
Some calls were short. He’d have work to do or a basketball game with his friends. But a pit started to form in Charlie’s belly. The calls were getting increasingly shorter. Either Blake was trying not to think of her, or he had someone else to help fill his time.
Tears pricked the backs of her eyes, so she forced herself not to think about it. He always had a reason to drop off, but that didn’t stop her feelings of unease.
The days were passing slowly. Blake set up interviews for a new comptroller, and called his financial advisor.
“Roger, I need to move a few thousand dollars into a checking account.” Having the money available would make it easier to pay for his grandma’s bathroom remodel.
“Yeah, you bet. I’ll take care of it. I may execute of few more trades as well.”
The man was thorough and smart. Over the years, Blake had come to trust Roger with his money, the proceeds from the sale of his first company. To Roger’s credit, he didn’t make any moves without conferring with Blake first. “Oh yeah?”
“I want to be cautious with all this discussion about China wanting to trade oil in the yuan. That will lower the value of the US dollar.”
“Right.”
“So, let me look over your portfolio and make sure everything is as it should be. I’ll call you in a day or two.”
“Great. Thanks, Roger. I appreciate it.”
Demolition of his grandmother’s bathroom started the next day. Ty and Jack would keep tabs on the progress. Blake’s mind wandered to Charlie. They’d spoken several nights in a row. He looked forward to hearing her voice on the phone. He had a hard time admitting that he missed her. His plan to call her less, so he would think about her less, wasn’t panning out the way he hoped. He scratched the side of his head.
The last two weeks or so had been grueling, to say the least. Blake hadn’t slept well since his trip. His demeanor was grouchy, he knew it, the office knew it. Damen mentioned something to him the previous night.
“Man, you have enough money. Frickin’ move to Colorado. Be with her,” he’d said.
“I have a company to run, Damen.”
“Screw it. Forget it. Sell it now, not later,” he’d offered.
“Are you trying to get rid of me?” Blake joked.
Damen grinned. “This is simple, Blake. Would you be happy to be with her? And would she be happy to be with you? If the answer is yes to both of those questions, then the rest is simple logistics.”
And before Blake could retort, Damen threw the basketball at his gut, forcing a gust of air from his lungs. Fire rose in his eyes, and Damen chuckled. “Bring it, big man,” he said and took a defensive stance to guard his basket.
“Oh, that’s how it’s gonna be,” Blake countered, and the game continued.
That conversation replayed several times in his mind. Damen may have had a point. He needed to fix this. But moving to Colorado? Was that his solution?
Chapter Nineteen
He stopped the rental car in front of Charlie’s house. Well, as close as he could get. He noticed immediately four cars parked in front. What the hell was going on? It was two in the afternoon.
He knocked on the front door and a young woman answered. “Oh, great. You can start in the living room. If there aren’t enough boxes back there, you can take some of these,” she said as she pointed to a pile of collapsed moving boxes. Moving boxes?
She spun around and headed for the kitchen. He followed and saw two women wrapping dishes and placing them in cardboard boxes.
“Where’s Charlie?”
The woman who answered the door looked up and replied, “Um, last I heard, upstairs in her bedroom.”
“Thank you,” he managed to get out before heading that direction.
All this meant only one thing—Charlie was moving. Blake had just decided to move back to Fort Collins and she was moving away. He’d been gone only three weeks!
He heard rustling in the closet. He walked closer, and saw Charlie, organizing and folding clothes, placing them into boxes.
“What’s going on?”
She jumped and gasped. She spun around.
“Blake! Crap on a stick! You scared me.” Her hand flew over her heart, then the most amazing smile flew across her face. Faster than he could blink, she jumped over a box into his arms. “Oh my God. What are you doing here?” Her arms looped around him, and her sweet lips crashed over his.
She smelled like springtime. After an all too brief embrace, he released her. “Wait, my question first. Charlie, are you moving?”
She peered up at him. God, she was beautiful. Her hair captured on the top of her head, rosy cheeks without a stitch of makeup, and bright eyes. She wore dark knit pants with a #chickswagger t-shirt. The sight of her made his heart swell. He missed her to his core.
She nodded.
His heart seized. “Why? Where?”
Her pink lips curved. “Chicago.”
Did he hear that right? “What?”
She bit her lips, hiding her smile. “I knew you couldn’t leave your company, so I decided to go there. I’m putting everything in storage, and I’m selling my house.”
“What?” His thoughts whirled.
“Why do you keep asking that? Do you not believe me?” She smirked. “I wanted to surprise you,” her voice dipped. She reached and cupped her hands on his cheeks. “I love you. I have to be where you are.” She smacked her lips against his again. “God, I missed you,” she breathed.
“You were moving to Chicago? Even if it meant leaving your family?”
She nodded. “Even if it meant leaving my family.”
His heart grew ten-fold.
“Christ, Charlie.” He swung his arms around her, lifted her onto her toes, and kissed her madly. She was willing to give up her life there to come be with him.
Her arms swung around his neck, and she moaned into his mouth. They had kissed for several more moments before she broke the kiss.
“My turn. What are you doing here?”
The smile reflected the insane happiness he felt inside. “I’m moving back to Fort Collins.”
Her eyes widened. “So you’re moving back here, while I was planning to move up there?” She shook her head in disbelief.
He captured that gorgeous mouth of hers one more time. “That would appear so.”
With every touch of her soft body and every kiss of her sweet lips, his cock swelled.
“Incredible. So what about your company?”
“I’ll run it from here. But first things first,” he said in his deep, sexy voice that made her melt inside. He pulled the hem of her t-shirt up and slid his fingers along her soft skin. “Text someone downstairs and tell them they can all go home.”
She grinned. “I can’t do that. I need to tell them in person.”
Lightning fast, he lifted her shirt up over her head and flung it to the side. She gasped. “Okay, but do you really want to go down there naked?”
“You’re crazy!” She dashed by him into her room and grabbed the closest shirt she could find.
He indolently followed, pushing the door closed and pulling off his clothes as he sauntered her way.
She held her hands up as he approached, like that would stop him.
“Cell phone, Charlie.” His voice dipped when he grabbed her hips and brought her flush to him, letting her feel his eagerness. “I’m not waiting another minute before I make love to you.”
Her insides did a little dance.
“What the hell,” she resigned and dropped the shirt from her hand.
“Good girl.” He released her so she could reach for her cell phone, sitting in the middle of her queen-sized bed.
His large hands stroked up and down her back and covered her ass.
“I can’t concentrate when you do that.” Despite her words, she didn’t want him to stop. He’d come back to be with her. Her heart felt so full.
He began working her pants over her hips and dragged them to the floor.
“Ooh, no panties.”
She froze momentarily before she continued texting. Faster now. Then she let the phone lay while he caressed her. Her ache in her sex built. He stroked his hands while kissing, nipping, and licking her ass and thighs. She moaned.
He stood. “I missed you,” he breathed at her neck. Then his kisses traveled down her back and across her ass. He had a mission—bring her to ecstasy. His finger skated over her slit. She got wetter and wetter with every move he made. And for the rest of his life, he would always work to make her happy. “We’re meant to be together, Charlie.”
She moaned again as she pushed against his hand. “Yes, Blake.”
“You’re mine. Always have been.” He slid two fingers into her tight channel and gently stroked.
“Ah! Yes, Blake.” Her fingers bunched the sheets.
“Wider, Charlie.”
She spread her legs wider, and he leaned down to devour her. His tongue circling her clit and lapping her center.
“Oh, God, Blake.”
Her muscles began tightening around him. He quickly pulled out.
“Ah!” she shrieked. “What are you doing?” she asked as she looked back.
“Baby, I want to see you come.” Then he rose, flicked off her bra, and commanded, “On your back.”
She smiled with hooded, sexy eyes. Naked, and his for the taking.
He stripped out of his briefs and settled between her. “Know something, Charlie? I love you. I’ve always loved you.” He slid into her, savoring every glorious warm, wet inch.
She arched off the bed and her eyes fluttered closed.
“Look at me baby. I realized what I was leaving behind. More than anything I want you. I want a life with you.” He pumped slowly.
Her eyes grew misty. “Blake,” she breathed, her hands gripping his arms.
“Tell me, Charlie.”
“I’m yours.”
He thrust into her, and she whimpered. She was close, but he didn’t want to rush it. He crushed his mouth to hers. She returned the kiss with as much passion as he gave her. He was a fool to think he could live without her.
“I’m not leaving you ever again. And you’re not leaving me.”
She panted now. Their rapid breathing and the slap of wet skin the only sound in the room.
“Never, Blake. I’m yours,” she sucked in air, “and you’re mine.”
“That’s right, baby. Now come with me,” he whispered in her ear.
Her eyes sealed closed, her head bowed back as screamed out his name. He released inside her, letting her milk him, and leaving him boneless. He collapsed over her, having half the mind to keep an elbow locked to protect her from his crushing weight. He panted into her neck.
“Oh, how I’ve missed you.” Her hand stroked the side of his face.
He lifted his head to meet her eyes. “I’m here now.”
The smile that spread across her face was breathtaking. “And you’re staying.”
“And I’m definitely staying.”
The end.
*******
Thank you for reading my story. I hope you enjoyed it.
Before you go…
Please post a review where you bought it.
Mia would love for you to check out the other Hard Men of the Rockies titles by Chick Swagger authors. Here’s a sneak peek at Adam’s story…
Blackmail and Lace
A Hard Men of the Rockies Novella
by Tracy Ward
I recognized the collection of bumper stickers as I slowly passed. It was Madi’s Jeep alright, parallel parked in front of a brand new bar I’d never seen. Her headlights were dim in the way that signaled her battery was running dangerously low.
Shouldn’t have surprised me.
She’d always been careless like that. With the winter storm moving in, it would take AAA hours to reach her for a jump. And she could forget about a tow truck. I’d told her for years to either buy a newer model car with automatic lights or stop being so scatterbrained. Now that her commercial decorating business was doing so well, it wasn’t like she couldn’t afford the newer car option.
The side streets of Fort Collins, Colorado near the Colorado State campus were empty, even for a Monday night in October. But that’s what happened with high wind gusts, low wind chill and a deluge of snow just now threatening to fall. Needing to make sure she was okay, I double parked beside her. Finding she’d at least remembered to lock her doors, I hunkered down against the bone-freezing cold and went inside.
Her ass was the first thing I noticed when I walked into the bar.
The second thing was that there were absolutely no customers in the place. Were they even open? I couldn’t recall seeing a sign.
A slow grin spread across my face even as a pang of nostalgia tore through my gut like a ripcord pulled on a parachute. We’d really been something together once, back during our carefree high school days. Now we were good friends with occasional benefits. Benefits I hoped to take advantage of at some point during my Colorado stay.
Madi shifted her hips as she bent over an empty table, doing what exactly, I couldn’t tell. Her hair was blonder than when I’d last seen her. And longer. But that was to be expected with women. Extensions were becoming the norm, even among the unpretentious like Madi.
It had been months since I’d last seen the woman who’d once been my fiancé, if you could call our spontaneous and short-lived idea of commitment when we were eighteen an engagement. Months since my Grandma Rosie’s heart attack had me and the rest of my family running back to Fort Collins to be by her side, afraid for the worst. But it had only been days since the end of the LaKendrick Smith trial, where Adam Holder had become a household name. And I was still riding high and feeling invincible, coming off the greatest victory so far in my legal career.
I probably should’ve given Madi a heads up that I was coming back to town, but that just wasn’t our way. Since I’d be around for the next four weeks, helping my cousins update and remodel Grandma Rosie’s family home, my plan had been to look her up later. Even if Madi hadn’t been my first priority, she wouldn’t begrudge me from admiring the view before I made my presence known.
She shifted again, causing her flannel shirt to ride up. A mismatched, purple lace camisole peeked out from underneath. She wore black boots with a thick, minky-fur lining. They came up just above her calf and were sturdy yet stylish if there was such a thing for snow boots. Her leggings, made of high quality dri-fit material, stretched taut across her backside in a way that conjured caveman fantasies, ensuring the survival of the species for billions of years to come.
I’d gotten so used to seeing women covered in business suits after showering in feminism that I’d forgotten what this—the watching of a salt-of-the-earth woman doing an unspecified task—could do to a man. In D.C., where I now lived, women were powerful, sexy, and smart as hell. But nothing could compare to the draw of a strong, equally smart and beautiful, home-grown Colorado girl.
The frigid breath of wind rattled the windows, but even that sound didn’t faze her.
Soon she straightened.
I saw a clipboard and pen in her hand, the colored-cord of earbuds hanging from her ears.
Without thinking of consequences, my palm wrapped around her hip and gave it a squeeze.
She reacted quickly, bringing her elbow up and around.
Years of football training, dodging hits and tackles, kicked in and I ducked, circling her around to face me as I did. Trying to keep us both on balance, I gripped the bottom of her flannel shirt. The material gave when she swung from the opposite direction.
The rrrriiiiippppp and thwack happened at the same time. Buttons scattered just as an explosion went off in my temple.
From the center of her chest, she yanked the earbud cord from her ears.
“Whoa, angel. I didn’t mean to…” I watched as she pushed her hair out of her face. My stomach dropped. “Shit. You’re not Madi.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mia London loves to write.
After reading fiction for years, she decided it was finally time to put those images and scenes floating around in her head down on paper.
She is a huge fan of romance, highly optimistic, and wildly faithful to the HEA (happily ever after). Her goal is to create a fantasy you will enjoy with characters you could love.
She lives in Texas with her attentive, loving, super-model husband, and perfectly behaved, brilliant children. Her produce never wilts, there are no weeds in her flowerbeds, and chocolate is her favorite food group.
Then she wakes up.
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