Love & Secrets

by Elizabeth Lennox

  “Relax, Charlotte. I love you like this.”

  She laughed slightly, but then his mouth touched her, his tongue flicking against that nub and…she groaned when he pulled her gently into his mouth. Leaning back, she could barely breathe as he took her higher and higher. Fast! He was fast this time! Oh, so deliciously fast! Normally, he liked to take his time, enjoy himself down there and, in the process, drive her wild! Usually, he had her screaming, begging him to give her a release. And that only added to the tension.

  But this time, he took her right to the edge, her back arching, her body pressing into his mouth while one of her hands moved into his hair, holding his mouth there. Charlotte held her breath, tense and desperate, right on that edge, fearful that he wouldn’t give her that last little nudge that would take her over and into…

  “Yes!” she screamed, losing herself in the beauty of his ministrations, her body writhing while his strong hands held her steady so that he could extend the pleasure. Gasping, Charlotte trembled as the waves of pleasure slowed, unaware of her fingers pulling at his hair.

  When he finally stopped, lifting his head, there was a triumphant grin that caused her to laugh. “I think you should get sick more often,” she teased, loosening her fingers on his hair.

  “I think you should let me do that more often,” he came right back.

  Another laugh and she shook her head. “You do it whenever you want anyway.”

  He pulled her down from the sofa so that she was straddling his hips. “Thank you,” he said, his voice changing from teasing to something more. Sincerity. “Yesterday was pretty miserable, and you showing up to help was…” he struggled, trying to find the right word. “It was nice.”

  She beamed down at him and Oz wanted to roll over so that he could bury himself in her heat. He wanted to make love to her, to show her how grateful he was for…her. For her body and her sweetness, her kindness and caring.

  Unfortunately, before he could say anything, two wet noses came up, pink tongues licking his face. “Okay!” he yelped when they wouldn’t stop. Charlotte laughed and he growled as he pushed both dogs off and sat up. The gasp from Charlotte pulled his attention back to their position. “Nice!” he groaned, and his hands slid under her sweater, pushing it higher. “I think we could do a bit better than moments ago. Are you game?”

  Charlotte sighed, resting her hands on his shoulders. “I don’t think anything could be better than moments ago,” she teased.

  “Oh, a challenge!” he growled. “I like a challenge!”

  And with that, he rolled again, then sprung to his feet. With an agility that didn’t seem possible in a man who had been so sick just twenty-four hours ago, he lifted her into his arms and carried her up the stairs.

  For the next several hours, he proved that he was fully capable of besting the morning’s pleasure! Over and over again!

  Chapter 13

  Several weeks later, Charlotte felt as if she were floating on cloud nine! Life was pretty darn good. Several of her patients were doing extremely well. The youth activities club that she and Oz were spearheading was gaining attention within the community and several other parents were volunteering their time and expertise. Her group sessions were meshing with Oz’s sports programs, which meant that the support was gaining traction and…she was falling in love with Oz. Dangerous, yes. But also magical. Amazing. Shockingly wonderful! He met her at his house or hers every evening and they’d spend time cooking together, talking, and enjoying each other’s company. When the kitchen was cleaned up, the food put away, and the last bits of their work completed, he would take her into his arms and make love to her, then hold her in his arms all night long, waking her with a kiss in the morning to start the whole, amazing experience over again.

  Yes, Charlotte knew that this kind of bliss couldn’t last. Something in real life would happen. An argument, disagreement, or…something. But she had complete faith that she and Oz could work things out. Everything about him made her happy! He was open and honest and a complete tease, which she loved!

  And she suspected that he felt the same way about her! Good grief, even Bart and Betty were blissfully in love, if their snuggling and eagerness to run side by side every evening and morning was any indication. They didn’t like to be separated so when Charlotte brought Bart to work and Betty went with Oz, there was a lot of sighing and huffing.

  “Good morning!” she called to Nancy as she walked by the lobby.

  “Someone’s in a good mood,” Nancy laughed. “I think I need a night with the very handsome Oz.”

  Charlotte was startled by the jealousy that hit her with her friend’s words and stopped in the middle of the waiting room. “Keep your hands off my man,” she replied with mock severity.

  Nancy laughed, holding her hands in the air. “Don’t worry about it. Trust me, Oz has eyes only for you!”

  Another startling revelation and all of those happy feelings swarmed her once again. “Really?”

  “Oh yeah!” Nancy shook her head. “I saw the two of you walking down the street near Tony’s the other day. You stopped to talk to someone and he couldn’t tear his eyes away from you!”

  “Aww!” Charlotte tried to play down Nancy’s observations, but…they made her feel happy. Happy and hopeful!

  “I’d better get ready for the morning,” Charlotte said and headed into her office. Nancy was a fabulous assistant and had already pulled the files for the morning’s patients. They were sitting on her desk in the order of their appointments and Charlotte was able to grab the file on top and quickly skim through her notes from the last session.

  Oz whistled as he walked into his office, Betty prancing by his side. The fluff-ball was just as enamored of Bart as Oz was of Charlotte.

  “Stop it!” Carly snapped, walking into his office.

  “Stop what?” he asked, reaching out to ruffle her hair. It was smooth and sleek this morning. The perfect time to mess it up.

  “Don’t even think about it!” she ordered, stepping out of his reach just as he started to lift his hand.

  “Don’t do what?”

  She gave him The Stink Eye, the look that only baby sisters knew how to give their older siblings.

  “Don’t do whatever horrible, annoying brother-thing that popped into your mind.”

  Jayce walked up behind her, messing up her hair and Oz laughed, stepping back out of the way just in time. Carly swung around, glaring at Jayce, shooting daggers his way. “You are so going to pay for that, brother dear.”

  Jayce chuckled, his fists resting on his hips. “Like you scare me,” he taunted.

  Immediately, Carly backed down, her shoulders curling in slightly and the anger completely dissipated from her features. Instead, a look of…sadness? No, that wasn’t quite it. Anger? Nope. Not exactly. And before either Oz or Jayce could interpret her expression, she turned on her heel and walked away.

  “I have work to do. The contract for the Belize issue is on your desk along with notes from our client.” She was ten feet away when she called back, “Lopez is expecting possible solutions by next week.”

  Jayce moved closer, both of them staring mystified at her retreating back.

  “What just happened?” Oz growled.

  Jayce shrugged. “I have no idea. But she’s never let me get away with anything like that before.”

  Oz nodded. “Something is wrong.”

  “Ryker’s out of town,” Jayce commented. “As soon as he gets back, I’ll ask him if he knows anything.”

  Both men blinked, then turned to face each other. The silent message was conveyed and agreed upon. They’d find out what happened. Fast! Their sister was in pain. They didn’t like it!

  “I’m on it,” Jayce announced with fierce determination. They both went their separate ways, both determined to discover what had happened to make their sister react in such a way.

  Oz walked around his desk and contemplated his next move. As the older brother, Oz felt the need to protect his
baby sister. But he also knew that Jayce was just as fiercely protective of Carly. Oz needed to back off and let Jayce handle this.

  Not that Jayce had any self-esteem issues, Oz thought with a chuckle. No, probably just the opposite. Someone needed to take him down a notch. Unfortunately, Oz was no longer able to do that consistently. There’d been a time, years ago, when Jayce had been a relatively easy take-down. But no longer. And Oz was proud of him for that.

  Is this what fatherhood felt like? He walked over to the window, flipping absently through the files Carly had left for him. But he couldn’t read the words. His thoughts had drifted to the possibility of being a father. And of Charlotte as a mother. Kids. Babies? No, he couldn’t really picture babies, but yeah, he could easily picture blond haired boys with Charlotte’s smile. That would be pretty cute, he thought.

  Work, he reminded himself. Fantasies later. Later, when he was alone with Charlotte and he could…

  “Work!” he said out loud, banishing the thought of Charlotte…

  He sat down behind his desk and pulled the first file forward. This would be an easy issue, he thought. Plan a security system for a factory in Ohio. And figure out who was stealing supplies. For the next several hours, he focused on work issues, designing security systems, talking with current and potential clients and advising both on their concerns.

  Around two o’clock that afternoon, Carly rushed into his office, a look of deep concern on her face.

  He was on the phone, but lifted a finger when he noticed Carly. “Kurt, I’m sorry to interrupt, but I need to go. An emergency just came up.” He hung up the phone without waiting for his client’s response, standing up and automatically going into battle stance as Carly rushed towards him.

  “What is it?” he demanded, leaning his knuckles on his desk.

  “It’s Charlotte,” Carly announced. “She’s not physically hurt,” she blurted as soon as Oz straightened, his features going blank. “She’s fine! Okay, probably not fine,” she explained, biting her lip before taking a deep breath. “I had lunch with her today and everything was fine. But at the end of our lunch, we were walking back to her office where I was parked and she got a phone call. It wasn’t good. Whatever someone told her, it was really bad news. She didn’t say anything, but Oz, she’s hurting.”

  “I’ll fix it,” he said, grabbing his keys and hurrying out of his office with Carly at his heels.

  “I heard from Emerson that she’s in the park, Oz. Just sitting on a bench.”

  Oz stopped, his hand resting on the steel handle of the glass doors for a long moment. But then his brain kicked into overdrive and he nodded sharply. “I’ll handle this. Tell Jayce that I just hung up on Senator Rickland.”

  “I’ll take care of it!” she called behind him.

  Oz was in battle mode. Just as with any sort of danger, he blocked out everything except fixing the problem, eliminating the danger. His senses were on high alert and he noticed the world and every detail of his surroundings, his gaze shifting left and right as if searching for a sniper or any possible danger, even though he was still in the small town with the warmth of the sunshine streaming down on his shoulders. It took him less than five minutes to make the usually ten minute drive to the center of town. He parked in the church parking lot, looking for Charlotte. She was sitting on a park bench, the freshly planted flowers at her feet and the sunshine making her blond hair sparkle. But he could see that something was wrong. Very wrong!

  Rushing over to her, he noted the sheriff standing sentry by the corner of the park. Oz nodded to him and Emerson nodded back, acknowledging that Oz was here and would take care of Charlotte, no matter what had happened.

  Kneeling down in front of her, he looked into her eyes. They were hidden by her sunglasses, but he could still see that she’d been crying.

  “Honey, what happened? Tell me and I’ll take care of it for you.”

  Charlotte looked up, startled by his presence. But after that first moment of surprise, she threw herself into his arms and that seemed to unlock her tears. She buried her face against his neck, the tears streaming down her cheeks as her body shook with her pain.

  Oz lifted her into his arms and just held her on his lap as he sat down on the bench. Charlotte was in pain and he hurt because of it.

  When the emotions seemed to slow, he pulled back, still not sure what to do. He held her firmly, his body still tense and battle ready.

  “What happened, honey? Who did this to you?”

  She pulled back, but didn’t slide off of his lap. She wiped her tears with a tissue, her sunglasses long gone on the bench next to him.

  “No one did anything to me,” she sniffed. “Other than not listening to me.”

  “What does that mean? Who didn’t listen to you?”

  “The judge.” She wiped away a fresh wave of tears and closed her eyes. “A little girl,” she whispered, her lips seeming to be numb. “She’s so beautiful, Oz. Only six years old, not old enough to understand. But…” she sobbed again, her hand covering her mouth as she pulled herself together. “Her father smacks her around and I told the judge that he’d do it again! I told him! But that asshole judge said that fathers need a chance to be with their children! He said that the jerk had gone through anger management classes and deserved the right to try to be a good father again!” She stood up and paced back and forth. “I told that judge that the father wasn’t ready! The jerk simply went through the motions of the class! He never admitted that he has an anger problem! He never took the class seriously! But that pompous, self-righteous, prick of a judge let that man have weekend custody! Not supervised visitation rights! Nope! The judge was convinced that he knew better and ordered the mother to hand over custody of their daughter to the monster over the weekend!” She sniffed slightly, rage over-taking her sadness. “Now that girl is in the hospital! She has a broken arm because she spilled a glass of milk! A broken arm and…and emotional, psychological trauma that will be with her for the rest of her life! Oz, do you have any idea how hard it is to trust other people after you’ve been beaten at such an early age? A child never truly recovers! One can learn to live, to go through the motions. But you always have those memories! So, while that asshole sperm donor – I’m not calling him a father! He doesn’t deserve that title! A man has to be good and gentle and a role model to earn the title of ‘father’. I don’t care if you feel differently! That little girl is in pain because that asshole hit her! So now that tiny child will be in therapy for years because he couldn’t control his temper!”

  Oz stood up, his body frozen in a cold, powerful fury. “Tell me his name,” he growled softly.

  Charlotte frowned up at him and he tried to relax. Tried to hide his intentions. He even told himself that he should allow the courts to handle this. Let the justice system punish the fa…sperm donor. Charlotte was right – the man didn’t deserve the title of “father”. That title was reserved for men who could control themselves.

  Yes, he knew that he should allow the justice system to work. He should release the issue and let the courts deal out the punishment. But he couldn’t. No, Oz knew that he wasn’t going to release this issue. An abuser should be…he had a plan.

  Charlotte leaned in and Oz automatically wrapped his arms around her, holding her close. She hiccupped a few times, but the torrent of tears had seemed to stop.

  “I can’t tell you his name,” she replied softly. “Patient confidentiality.” She sighed, pulling out of his arms as she rubbed her face. “In fact, I’ve told you too much already.” She sighed, another tear slipping down her cheeks and she forced herself to smile up at him. “Thank you for coming here for me. I suppose Carly told you I was upset?”

  “His name, Charlotte,” he repeated.

  Clearing her throat, she picked up her sunglasses and shook her head. “As much as I’d love for you to find him and teach him a lesson, I can’t allow you to have that on your conscience.” She lifted up and kissed him, taking in a deep breath
. “You’re a good man, Oz. Let me handle this. I’ll contact the authorities and I’m going to head into the hospital this afternoon to talk to the child. Nancy canceled my appointments this afternoon. I’ve already spoken with another judge and she’s agreed to revoke weekend custody. The district attorney is preparing an arrest warrant, so finally, things are changing for that poor girl.” She took a deep breath. “It will work out.” She gave him another kiss, then walked back to her office, waving to him before she went back inside.

  Oz stared at her for a long moment, contemplating his options. But in the end, he knew that there really wasn’t an option. He made some calls. Ten minutes later, plans in place, he drove back to his office and spoke to Jayce about the senator’s needs.

  Chapter 14

  Charlotte smiled as she walked out of the courtroom that afternoon. It was a small victory, but she smiled at Linda’s tight features. “You won,” she whispered to the mother of the small girl who had been smacked around because she’d accidentally spilled a glass of milk at her father’s house. “Go to the hospital and take care of Bethany.”

  Linda smiled but Charlotte knew that the mother was fighting tears. Just the smallest issue could take her over the edge.

  “Thank you for your help. I don’t feel so powerless now,” she announced. “I think I’ll take Bethany on a trip. Some place where Dan can’t find us.”

  “I think that would be a good idea. A new life would help both of you.”

  Linda nodded and tried to smile, but the expression didn’t make it to her eyes. “Thank you for all of your help.”

  Charlotte wished that she could have done more. She wished that she’d somehow been able to stop that first judge from allowing the father visitation at all!

  Walking into her house later that evening, all she wanted to do was hide under the covers and start a new day tomorrow. Yes, tomorrow would be better. Tomorrow, she’d start again, taking on one battle at a time. Her stomach growled, but the idea of cooking made her feel even more exhausted.