Legal Heirs - Box Set Edition: Books 5-8 (Surrendering Charlotte Chronicles) (39 page)

Bly stood in the doorway and was stunned by Charlotte’s words. The three women never looked his way, so they must not have realized he was there.
Charlotte cried for him and dreamed of him?
It broke his heart and galvanized his resolve to take her away from the half-life she was leading. Finn could go fuck himself or get fucked, it really didn’t matter. Bly was ready to say fuck everyone else, only he and Charlotte and Atticus mattered. He owned an island in the southern Caribbean, they would go and live there…

“Alexander, darling, do wipe that look off your face,” Evangeline said as she looped her arm through his and led him to the dining room. “Even when you were a little boy, I knew serious trouble was brewing when that mischievous look appeared. Now, let’s have a nice dinner, and then I want to have Atticus all to myself. He really is so very much the image of you, Alexander, in looks and in his absolute determination to set the world right. I must say, if I could name my favorite person, it would be Atticus, and he’s only a boy. Can you even imagine what a superb man he will become? And you know why, don’t you? Because he’s been blessed with three parents instead of just two, and you all want what’s best for him. Isn’t that right, Alexander?”

*

The years passed. Some were good years, and some were even better. The children grew up, and Atticus, being the eldest, was the first to leave home and begin his new life at the Naval Academy. Finn’s brother, Jude, decided to spend his summers in America when Keller was accepted into the pre-med program at USC, and Charlotte helped him look for a small house to buy. She could have offered him the use of the cottage she and Finn kept as their lover’s hideaway, but that was sacred ground. When she picked him up at LAX, she turned away from the high-rises of Los Angeles. They drove along the 101 past beach communities that dotted the coastline like a strand of pearls. In San Clemente they had lunch and stopped by a realty office to ask about small houses available in the area. Half an hour later they stood on a cantilevered deck that jutted out over the Pacific, and Jude had found his second home.

“I might decide to live here full time in a year or two,” Jude told Charlotte as they walked through the airy rooms of the 1950’s-era house. “Keller intends to stay in California after college and medical school, and I don’t have any other hard and fast ties to Surrey.”

“I think that’s a wonderful idea, although Charlie will miss coming over for the Manchester United games. You and Finn have turned him into a fanatic about British football, you know. Will you sell the cottage in Surrey? I can’t imagine Thanksgiving dinner anywhere else, even if our family has outgrown the house somewhat,” Charlotte said, holding onto his arm as they stood on the deck for one more look before they headed to the realtor’s office.

Jude turned to her and in his eyes she saw a look she’d seen years before. It was when she’d stayed with him in London, waiting for Finn to come back after their honeymoon. She was newly pregnant then and here they were, nearly twenty years later.

“Charlotte,” he whispered, his fingers grazing her cheek and trailing through her hair as the ocean breeze lifted it away from her face.

“Don’t… just don’t, Jude. I have no place in my life for another complication, but I’m flattered by the look, after all these years.”

“Ah, Charlotte, you are a woman who gets into a man’s blood. I’m sorry, I should have let the moment pass. I suppose it’s seeing you here in this beautiful place. Thank you for helping me find a house. I won’t… allow myself to get caught up in old familiar feelings again.”

“Of course, I’m happy that you’ll be close by. If you buy this place, you and Keller will still come to the McCall House for a few weeks each summer, won’t you? We’re going next week, after Hadley’s birthday party. My little girl is eighteen and on the verge of becoming a major film star. Life happens when you’re looking the other way, doesn’t it?”

Chapter Four

How many nights had Hadley spent at the Royal Sonesta in New Orleans, she wondered? Her mother had some kind of sentimental attachment to the hotel and, truth be told, so did she. Her mother—oh, the push and pull of having a beautiful, overly-involved, infuriatingly loving mother like Charlotte. She and Hadley had deeply rooted mother-daughter issues, so much so that Cuatro Rhodes was writing a book about them. He had called Hadley in a drunken stupor the night before and told her his synopsis for the “somewhat fictional” novel had caused a bidding war among the major publishing houses. That was just what she needed, a bestselling book written by the man she had just dumped. Now she was standing in a hotel lobby with Holden Bly, and thank God Charlotte was the kind of mother who believed in safe sex. She had taken Hadley to the gynecologist just before her eighteenth birthday for a lecture in the proper use of condoms and a prescription for birth-control pills.

Holden, oh my God!
She couldn’t wait to tell Skyler that she was head-over-Jimmy Choos in love with him, and he was totally three exclamation points in all the departments leading up to the
big event
. She was standing with him at that very moment in the lobby of the Royal Sonesta—well, they weren’t
just
standing. They were making a bit of a scene as lovers are likely to do, kissing, hands touching, eyes dreamy and besotted. It had all happened so quickly, but wasn’t that the way love was supposed to work? Or maybe it had been building over a lifetime. She’d always known Holden. He had been there in the background, part of her brother’s other life. They hadn’t given each other much thought before, although now they wondered why. They shared a brother, which meant at some point in time his father and her mother had cared for each other. That was fairly common knowledge, that Alexander Bly loved Charlotte Hale then and now. And that Charlotte had chosen to leave him and marry Hadley’s father, and it all got convoluted after that. Whatever the case, it no longer mattered. Atticus might share DNA with each of them, but their only tie to each other was this all-consuming passion that had erupted out of nowhere and held them in its grip.

“Mr. and Mrs. Smith, is it? Will that be a room or a suite, and we’ll need a major credit card to have on file please.” The young man behind the front desk cocked an eyebrow as he gave the teenaged couple the once-over. Holden handed him a credit card and held a finger to his lips. “I see, Holden Bly…oh yes, right, Mr. Smith, welcome to the Royal Sonesta. Anything you need, anything at all… enjoy your stay.”

“Mr. and Mrs. Smith, you are so clever,” Hadley said the minute the elevator doors closed.

Holden lifted her against the wood paneling and her sublimely long legs wrapped around him.

“My lover is smart and strong,” she said, her hands in his thick, unruly hair, pulling his lips to hers.

“Not your lover yet, and not that strong,” he said, although he was incredibly tall and muscular. “You weigh almost nothing, and would it embarrass you if I pointed out that your shapely little ass fits perfectly in my hands?”

“Yes, it would be very embarrassing, but say it anyway,” she said, and his mouth covered hers in a deep, heated kiss, and only moans escaped from either of them until the doors opened.

“Fuck! I hope we make it to our room,” he said. They were both needy and breathing hard as he walked quickly down the hallway, still carrying her.

She swiped the keycard, the door swung open, and they were inside a beautiful room with a view of the French Quarter.

Holden hesitated next to the huge bed with its intricately arranged duvets and pillows. Instead of placing her on it, he let her slip from his arms so that she stood next to him. They stared at the bed and knew it was a big step, a monumental leap, for both of them. Hadley’s first time to make love and Holden’s first time to be in love.

“Hadley, we don’t have to…” Holden started, but she put her fingers to his lips and traced their outline. 

“We’re doing this, Bly,” she whispered. “You’re the one, the only one for me.”

He hesitated for a moment, goose bumps rising on his arms when she called him by his last name. It was what her mother, Charlotte, called his father any time he’d ever seen the two of them together. His father loved it, and no one else addressed him that way. It had sounded like a caress or a promise, given to him solely by the woman he loved. And it sounded just as heady and full of unspoken promise when Hadley said it to him.

He stopped thinking then, his instincts taking over; the sound of that forbidden name echoing in his head. It was both an invitation and a warning, a siren’s call that was not to be resisted.

Hadley’s hands moved over his chest. She was ready for this, impatient to discover his body and the pleasure it could give her. She yanked the tail of his shirt out of his jeans and her eyes took on a dreamy quality when her fingers met his hot skin. He was young, not yet twenty, and his muscles were long and lean. His body was a work of art, disarming in its elegant male symmetry. He made her think of Adam, God’s first mortal creation, fundamental man, newly risen from the earth.

His hands roamed over her body, his sea-glass colored eyes on fire as he tugged the t-shirt over her head and she stood bare-breasted. She was tall and thin, with the most inviting upturned breasts and a tiny waist. He tangled one hand in her long, dark hair and slipped his free hand down the back of her loose jeans, cupping her firm little butt cheek. His hands held her steady as his mouth assaulted hers, scalding hot and insistent. He tugged her hair so that her head fell back and her neck was exposed to his lips. She moaned as he trailed light kisses down to her exposed breasts.

She worked frantically at the buttons of his shirt, finally ripping the last of them in her haste to open and push it away. He lifted his head to capture her mouth again and as she plastered her body against his, together they gasped at the jolt of pure sensation. Finally Holden broke the endless kiss and stepped back to unzip her jeans and his own. She was speechless as he stood naked and hugely aroused. His beauty combined with his blatant sexual need was so startlingly erotic that she hid her face against his chest and tried to slow her racing heart. He lifted her easily, and placed her on the bed with her lovely legs parted. She blushed and tried to close them, but he pushed her knees apart and his mouth descended on her sex. She clutched his silky hair and cried out sharply when his tongue swept over the soft folds and lingered on delicate tissues she scarcely knew existed.

“Please, Holden, please!” she begged, and writhed beneath him as she felt a coil tightening deep inside.

She began to fight him as the first orgasm gripped her, and he moved her upward onto the bed, lying next to her, pinning her with his legs as his fingers sent her careening into ecstasy once more. His fingers were deft and quick, working to open her, parting the slick, wet lips, skirting the trembling, tightly clinched opening of her pussy. It was all so new to her—she had only ever known the lonely pleasure of her own touch. She bucked and twisted under his touch, eager to go farther, but fighting the invasive feel as he pushed a finger inside her. She began to pant and tremble with a mixture of need and a touch of uncertainty.

For Holden to go slowly, to hold himself in check with Hadley, was next to impossible. He’d had plenty of sex, but never with anyone who mattered, and this girl mattered—she was a game changer. To make love to her, to be her first… he couldn’t let himself dwell on the significance of it, or he might untangle himself from her and walk away. Atticus would never forgive him, Hadley would most likely break his heart, but too bad and too late, she was already etched on his soul.

“Hads,” he whispered, kissing her lips, her face, her forehead, as she clung to him. “Are you sure? You’re so tight and you’re fighting me, we can wait, baby. Listen to me, I need to get a condom…”

“No, it’s safe. I’m sorry, I can’t keep still, I want you so much. I want this Holden, please!”

It was a blessing that she was so wet. She was swollen with anticipation, clenching hard on his invading finger as if to reject him. He pushed hard, determined to do what they both wanted. His thumb massaging her clit, his mouth capturing a pink nipple as her back arched, her body straining toward his. He slid another finger inside her and then he felt it, the barrier that had to be breached and torn away.

Her hands were on his shoulders, her nails digging into smooth solid muscle, her lips parted and panting, her small cries urging him on. He moved above her, his brow furrowed as their eyes met, her eyes wide and hopeful, answering his unspoken question. Yes, yes, yessssssss….

He moved quickly, taking her by surprise just as he meant to. His cock driving into her hard, meeting resistance and pushing past it. Breaking her open, ripping through her, as her teeth sank into his chest, a sharp bite of pain for both of them. He stopped abruptly, holding back for a long moment, letting her catch her breath, absorb that sting of violation. He kissed the hot tears from her cheeks and she thrust her hips up, her long, thin legs circling his hips, lifting and opening herself to him. His body responded instinctively to the invitation, slowly at first, then raging with need, pushing far, far into her as their combined wetness eased the way. He had never felt anything quite so amazing, her hot, greedy mouth on his, her small, beautiful ass in his hands. Her unbearably tight, sweet pussy pulsing, massaging his cock, driving him past any hope of return. She yielded to him, moaning and clawing as the throbbing pain and pleasure sent a jolting climax through her that seemed to last forever. At last he let himself go, let himself spasm and gush and fill her very depths as she drew him in ravenously, possessing him as surely as he possessed her.