by Kimball Lee
“Depends, is it the one under your bed from last week?” Finn asked.
“Nope, that little beach chic with the blue Mohawk is working at Mr. Pizza tonight. If I stop by before she leaves she’ll give me a blow job and a pizza and she won’t charge for either one.” JP said, walking to the elevator.
“Sounds good, mate. Get one for me, too,” Finn called after him.
“A pizza or a blowjob?” JP asked as he stepped in the elevator and pushed the first floor button.
“Both,” Finn said as the doors slid shut.
Everywhere Charlotte went she ran into them, she would roll her eyes and turn and walk the opposite direction.
“You do know if you continue to roll your eyes like that they’ll stay that way,” JP shouted after her and she gave him the finger.
A couple of weeks later, out of sheer boredom and raging sexual need, Charlotte went out on a date. The guy was a football player with the IQ of a spider monkey but he had an unbelievable body and an interesting face. At dinner he finished his food, then ate all of hers and polished off three baskets of bread, afterward they went to the Pied Piper Pub and he began to urge Charlotte to drink. He was a defensive end and he was big, but as he leaned close to Charlotte plying her with drinks and urging her to ‘loosen up, baby’ he landed on the floor with a thud. He was out cold at her feet and she stared at his huge body slumped there, then lifted her eyes and met Finn’s crooked grin.
“The guy was a complete nut sack,” JP said, peering over Finn’s shoulder at the slumbering giant on the floor. “Really Char, he was a fucking Neanderthal, we’ll pick your dates from now on.”
“Let’s haul him outside, JP, he’s cluttering up the place,” Finn said as Charlotte just stood there with her mouth hanging open. “Close your mouth, beautiful Charlotte or I might be tempted to kiss you and that would be disastrous for both of us.” Finn threw some bills on the bar and said he was sorry for the mess then he took Charlotte’s hand and led her outside, telling JP over his shoulder to just leave the sleeping caveman where he was.
So they became friends at first and then they became inseparable. As the first year of law school ended and the weather turned warm, they put the top down on Charlotte’s little convertible Beetle, loaded up their surfboards and headed to the beach. Charlotte watched the guys surf and finally they picked her up (one took her legs, the other held her shoulders) and carried her, kicking and somewhat screaming into the waves.
“You’re both crazy, the water’s freezing,” she yelled as JP set her on his board and paddled toward the waves. “I’m not kidding, you two have wet suits, I’ll freeze to death in this bikini! Seriously, I’m used to the Gulf of Mexico, I like warm water dammit!”
JP and Finn laughed at her as they paddled out and JP helped her stand and together they rode a wave for only a few minutes before she fell. She was tumbling under water, not sure which way was up when a hand caught her arm and Finn hauled her against him as he straddled his board. She sat facing him, freezing as he paddled back to shore and heat radiated from his steel muscled chest so she clung to him. She moved her face to his neck and he smelled of the ocean and the earth and the essence of a man and she was glad she was wet with seawater because it was certain that her tiny bikini bottoms were drenched in wetness of her own. She glanced at his face once before they reached the shore and she knew he felt it too, the chemistry between them that was like a force of nature.
She wasn’t careful to shield her body as she turned her back to them and stepped out of her bikini bottoms. She pulled on a soft pair of ragged jean shorts then untied her top and tossed it aside then slipped on a tight blue t-shirt. Both men stood mesmerized and as she turned to face them she laughed at the looks on their faces.
“Really now, you’ve both slept with every girl in three counties so don’t act like you’re not used to the equipment,” she said.
“None to compare with your equipment or your glowing skin,” Finn said, his eyes still fixed on her.
“You’re probably right Char,” JP said, gathering his towel and surf board, “we have fucked every girl in three counties, but to be perfectly clear we’ve never slept with any of them.”
The ‘threesome’ as they came to be known around the dorm hung out mostly in Charlotte’s room. Because she was smart but messy, and they were both military men and organized, she wrote their school papers and they cleaned her room and kept the mini fridge filled with beer and wine coolers. Her room was a quad so it had two single beds and a set of bunk beds, more often than not the guys slept in the extra beds. Finally after dozens of dorm violation warnings from the residence director they went out one Saturday to look at rental houses.
One house where they stopped to peek in the windows was empty and gorgeous and had a swimming pool. Finn was the designated driver and JP was drinking beer and Charlotte was giggly from several wine coolers and before the guys knew it she climbed the back fence and was shedding her little sundress by the pool. Neither of them said a word and when she was completely naked she turned and pulled them both close against her body. She let her lips brush their necks but turned her face away when JP’s mouth covered hers and she whispered, “no, nothing as personal as a kiss.” She ran her hands over their exquisite muscles and her finger tips traced scars from battles they’d fought as soldiers that she couldn’t begin to imagine. Tears stung her eyes as she thought of how proud the two young men were to serve their country and how much it meant to them. They peeled off their clothes and she blushed at the sight of their erections, but she took their hands and together they all plunged into the pool.
They swam and splashed and their bodies touched as they passed in the water, no one said a word, it was summer in Southern California, their lives were simple and the world had everything to offer. Charlotte swam to the shallow end of the pool and sat on the steps, half in and half out of the water. Finn sat behind her and pulled her back against his chest, his legs on either side of hers and his long, hard cock pressed between them. His fingers explored the angles of her face, her high cheekbones and soft lips, and JP kneeled in front of her and his stiffened cock broke the surface of the water, he leaned forward and let his lips graze her smooth, graceful neck and his hands skimmed over her nipples and breasts.
“May I help you?” a woman’s shrill voice broke the silence and they turned to look at her, she was standing with a man, another woman and two children. “Excuse me, I’m showing this house to prospective renters, do you belong here?”
The children began to giggle and point and whisper and the threesome hurried into their clothes and ran to the car. As they drove away they began to double over with laughter and eventually Finn pulled the car to the side of the street and tears filled their eyes as they clutched their stomachs they were laughing so hard.
They found the little nineteen thirties cottage not far from school soon after that and moved in together. Charlotte made them swear that their friendship meant more than sex and they would never go so far again. It would tear them apart eventually, she said, they were fine as they were, they loved each other and sex was only allowed outside their little family of three.
Charlotte slathered on sunscreen and read her law books on the beach while Finn and JP surfed on the weekends. The mild weather year round in San Diego meant that many days they filled a picnic basket and drove to Balboa Park and spread a blanket on the grass to eat and discuss their classes. One cloudless day with an endless azure sky above, the guys talked her into skipping class and they hiked into the hills of the Torrey Pines Nature Preserve. Finn and JP were in fantastic physical shape thanks to the SEAL training schedule they maintained. Charlotte began to lag behind as they neared the crest of a ridge that overlooked the wild blue Pacific, so Finn scooped her up and carried her easily. She was embarrassed at first but then the smell of him drifted to her and she was happy in his arms as she felt his lungs pumping, his heart beating and his muscles flexing against her. She brushed her lips against the
hot pulse in his neck and breathed him in; she could barely stop herself from kissing his remarkable mouth. His step never faltered and when they reached the summit he let her feet touch the ground first and for an instant he held her against his chest. As JP caught up with them Finn stepped back and without thinking, he looked at Charlotte and said, “There you go, my love.”
That’s how he referred to her from that day on, it made JP roll his eyes and smirk, it made Charlotte pray that he meant it, and it gave Finn some small outlet for the feelings for Charlotte that boiled inside him. It was not long after that when Charlotte walked in on Finn in the lone bathroom of their cottage. The cries from JP’s room as he and some girl were fucking like wildcats sent her down the hall in the middle of the night and as she neared the bathroom the light was on and the water was running. She stood unmoving in the doorway, Finn was in the shower, the curtain was open and his eyes were closed, the water poured over his powerfully muscled body and his hand was on his long, thick cock. He released it suddenly and both hands went to his face and although he didn’t know she was there he sighed and whispered, “ah, Charlotte.” She stepped back then and a loose floorboard creaked, he turned at the sound and she waited as he stepped out of the shower and without bothering to turn the water off he scooped her up and carried her to her bedroom and locked the door.
He asked if she was sure and she said nothing would change as his beautiful hot mouth covered hers. Then neither one of them cared anymore, the power of that kiss made them want everything to change and in fact they had changed in that very moment and they would never be the same two people they were before.
He couldn’t stop kissing her and she moaned against his lips as her hands felt the hard bands of his muscled back and chest then down his hard rippled stomach to his wondrous straining cock. His eyes met hers then and they were both wild and out of control, his fingers went to her hot, wet pussy and worked to enter her and she wrapped her legs around him to open herself to him.
“You’re so tight, my love, we’ll go slowly,” he whispered, he was aching to be inside her but he wanted to please her more than anything, he didn’t want her bruised and hurt.
“I need you now,” she said desperately, looking into his deep grey-blue eyes and with her own hand she held the wide, purple head of his cock to her eager, wet slit and raised her hips toward him as he pushed into her.
They both closed their eyes as the delectable feeling flooded over them, he moved into her gently at first but she begged him for release so he held her little ass in his strong hands and lifted her. She cried out as his cock reached the very end of her, hitting something deep inside she never knew existed. She pressed her hips toward him, desperate for the punishing thrusts that caused a tremor to build inside her. He kissed her breasts as he pumped hard into her pulsing pussy, he took one perfect pink nipple in his mouth and felt her body begin to shudder and her sweet, hot sex clinch hard around him as she came. He struggled to hold back as she writhed and cried out and her heavenly pussy seized and flooded his cock with her wetness. When she’d calmed and lay panting beneath him, he turned on his back pulling her on top of him and her soft black hair fell across his chest. She leaned down to kiss him and all the pent up passion she held inside her spilled out and her tears washed over his face as their hips moved together more and more frantically until their bodies could no longer wait and they came together loudly, not caring who heard. Van Morrison’s voice singing ‘Into The Mystic’ filled the room from her IPod, and when they could finally hear over the wild beating of their own hearts, Finn held her close and whispered the lyrics in her ear.
They stole moments and took chances, making love constantly and in secret for the next four years. If he found her having coffee and studying at Starbuck’s she left her books on the table and pulled him into the restroom, he lifted her onto the sink and without saying a word she leaned back and watched his eyes as he thrust his big cock into her. JP worked on her car one day in the driveway so she was changing his sheets to repay the favor. Finn moved quietly behind her and gently eased her face-down across the bed, he pushed her jeans and panties down and entered her roughly and they both came quickly, loving the erotic excitement of being discovered.
They were in love and it was wild and deep and passionate, but after law school he began to leave with JP for weeks at a time. She sometimes wished he went away to cheat on her, but his heart and soul and mind were so filled with her they both knew that would never happen. He risked his life for the thrill of it and to her that was the ultimate betrayal, she could be left without him forever and that she couldn’t stand. At last as they lay in the white, pillow crowded bed in her loft, after his stitched up wounds bled as he moved his cock slowly inside her wringing yet another orgasm out of her eager body.
“I can’t do it anymore,” she said tracing her fingers over his handsome face and gorgeous mouth that were so beloved to her.
“Well I don’t doubt it,” he smiled and covered her mouth with his, pressing his tongue to hers and melting into the taste and feel of her. “You’re three orgasms ahead of me; maybe I’ll take you quickly for once, only thinking of my own pleasure.”
“I can’t let myself love you anymore,” she said and there were tears on her cheeks but she wiped them away and got out of bed. “I won’t wait to claim the coffin you’ll come back in someday, or be left to wonder if you’re dead or being tortured in a prison in some God forsaken corner of the world. You have to choose, Finn, the job or the woman who loves so much that your insane war games are killing her inside.”
He did everything he could think of to change her mind; he brought girls to the loft and let her think he was fucking them, although he left that job to JP since his body craved only Charlotte. He would climb into her bed most every night when he was in town and she pulled his arms around her as he lay pressed against her back or she curled against his chest but she refused to turn her mouth up to his. They suffered for his addiction to the high he got from his work, he was so highly skilled, such a perfect human weapon, he never made a mistake and his success rate was one hundred percent. He believed she would wait for him; he only needed to bask in the intoxicating glory of being the ultimate warrior for a while, then he would give it up for her. He loved that she only dated that ‘limp dick’ Witt Collier as they both laughingly referred to him, he knew there was no threat in the time she spent with ‘Witt the twit’. Finn was extraordinarily good at sensing danger, but his love for Charlotte and his wish for her happiness at all cost clouded his judgment. Out of her past a serious contender walked in to her life, Alexander Bly changed everything.
PART TWO
And Now…
CHAPTER FIVE
Charlotte kissed Atticus goodbye and left him and Georgina at Jude’s townhouse in Hampstead Heath. She drove to Claridge’s Hotel in Mayfair to meet Alexander Bly then Jude and Georgina would bring the baby to meet them in an hour. She wanted some time alone with Bly first, to smooth things over, she needed him on her side if she was ever going to have any chance at true happiness again.
Bly watched her walk through the lobby searching for him and as was his habit, he sat in a far corner so he could bask in her long legged loveliness as she moved toward him. His heart pounded erratically in his chest as he looked at her, she would be his, he knew she’d never let him leave with her baby. Of course that was the purpose of his trip to London, to run the DNA tests and know for sure whose child Atticus was. He’d never been much of a praying man, but he’d talked to God in the last months, asking him to let him be the father of Charlotte’s son.
She sat down on the far end of the tufted sofa and they leaned politely toward each other and exchanged pecks on the cheek. He took her hand and held it to his cheek and she let him because she needed him on her side. Finally he kissed her palm then released her hand and sat back studying her beautiful face. He’d made sure to wear a jacket, aware of the effect her presence had on him and they were there on serious business
, the most serious of his life so far.
“Bly I need you to help me and you’re not going get the results you want from the paternity test, you should understand and prepare yourself for that. Wait, let me finish, my husband has been missing for three weeks and I’m going to find him one way or another. He left suddenly to find JP and now they’re both missing. You have power and influence, the government agencies have turned a blind eye to the matter. They say Finn and JP don’t officially work for anyone, so they won’t get involved. I need you to pull some strings to see what you can find out or at least you could have West go with me and I’ll need the use of your jet, I’m going to find him.” She was leaning close to him, her eyes more frightened than he could ever have imagined and it hurt him to know she so deeply loved another man, but he loved her and like it or not, he would do anything for her.
“There’s your mum, see she didn’t stray too far from her darling,” Georgina stood at the end of the sofa holding Atticus who was four months old and thrilled to see his mother. He reached for her, smiling happily, and Charlotte hugged and kissed him over and over then held him on her lap and looked up at Bly.
Bly stood and shook hands with Georgina and Jude and although he thought they would hate him they didn’t seem the least bit bothered to meet him. Bly looked at the baby and drew in his breath, he was a beautiful child with Charlotte’s large sapphire eyes, and even at just four months it was obvious who his father was. Atticus was the exact image of Finn, and Bly’s heart had broken the minute he looked at the adorable baby.
“He’s amazing Charlotte, I feel… awkward seeing him. It’s obvious who he belongs with and I’m sorry to have caused you any upset, all of you. I don’t know what else to say really…” Bly fumbled for words and his face was bereft.
“Jude is a physician, he’s Finn’s brother and he thinks we should go ahead with the test, just so there won’t ever be any doubt. What do you think, Bly? We can drive over to Universal Genetics, it’s only a few blocks away and they’ll put a rush on it and we can have the results in twenty four hours,” Charlotte said, she felt sorry for Bly, of course there’d never been any doubt in her own mind, but she knew he’d hoped against hope that this child was his future.