Love Charm for Carlotta (A Short Story in the Love Charm Series) (4 page)

He turned around in her driveway and then gunned the bike.
She grabbed onto him tightly.
A cheap trick, but yeah,
that was better
. The feel of her small hands pressing into his waist
almost distracted him from paying attention to the road. If only she'd move
them forward, and a little bit lower. She used to tease him that way, and it
was the best foreplay he'd ever had.

They roared through the quiet streets of Chilmark. Jace knew
he should feel guilty for manipulating her, but guilt was something that rarely
bothered him. Except for what he'd done to Carlotta by leaving her for so long.
Every time she tried to protect herself from him, a knife twisted in his gut.

By the time they reached the beach, his normal positive
nature had asserted itself. He'd make it up to her, no matter what he had to
do.

He hopped off the bike as it rocked to a stop.

"What are you doing?" Carlotta said. "I
thought we were just going for a ride."

Jace wanted to growl. Where was the girl who would have
hopped off the bike, thrown her arms around him, and laughed with sheer joy?
How could he find her again?

"Come on." He pulled her off the bike. "I
want to see the breeze blowing your hair." Actually, he wanted to see it
flowing all over his stomach, but he wasn't dumb enough to say so.
Yet.

"My hair is short now," Carlotta said.

"It's perfect." He ran his hand lightly through
her black curls. He'd enjoy the great view if he ever did get her to go down on
him again.

She shivered, and he had to stifle the urge to grab her and
tumble her down to the ground.

"I need to go home now," she said.

"You used to love this beach."

"I still come here." She met his gaze.
"Alone."

He stepped closer and cupped a hand around her face.
"Come on, Carlotta. I've got a whole
lotta
something for you."

"That," she said tartly, "is the worst line
I've ever heard."

But she didn't step out of his reach and her eyes were
sparkling again.

"You know I can be a goofball." He touched the
corner of her mouth. "I just wanted to put a smile on your face."

For a moment, she stared at him in the moonlight, no hint of
a smile on her face. A sharp breeze blew off the water, and the surf lapped at
the shore.

And then she licked his finger.

Jace caught his breath, afraid to move. He knew an
invitation when he got it, but, for a moment, he was unsure of his approach.
Would he scare her off if he let her see the passionate urgency that was
overwhelming him? Or would he give her too much time to think if he tried a
slow and gradual seduction?

"Carlotta—" he murmured. He slipped his finger
into her mouth.

She sucked it in, and licked it again.
While
keeping her eyes fixed on him.

He thought he might come on the spot, fully clothed, while
he explored her warm, wet mouth.

A lone seagull shrieked overhead, and Carlotta jerked back.
She looked at him, her eyes wide. "What am I doing? I don't even like
you."

Shit.
Major check
.
"Of course you do,
sweetie." He bent down and kissed the side of her neck. "You've liked
me since the day I gave you a dandelion in first grade."

"I was easy then. I've grown up now."

"So I've noticed." He stroked his hands down the
sides of her curvy body. "I can't tell you how much I like your grown-up
parts." He touched the underside of her breasts.

"Jace," she said in a warning tone. "I don't
want—"

He feathered his thumbs over her nipples and she gasped.

"You don't want what?" he asked. He strained to
keep his touch light as her nipples beaded.  The wait for her consent was
torturing him.

"Carlotta?" Slowly, lightly, he continued to
stroke her. She had to give in. He would die, otherwise.

"Jace."
She threw her
arms around his neck.

He crushed his mouth to hers, relief and passion warring
within him. She accepted his tongue deep in her mouth, and played with it in
the eager way he remembered so well.

Her warm body was perfect in his arms, and he began to trace
her curves feverishly. Her breasts, her butt, anything he could reach. The
cotton beneath his hands reminded him that she wore only a sundress, a piece of
clothing that made her totally accessible.

His hands began to shake as he thought about delving beneath
the dress and touching her soft inner thighs, and then moving up.

But he didn't have even a blanket. He couldn't take her
right here in the sand. His plan had been to kiss her here on the romantic,
moonlit beach, and to soften her up for a seduction back at her house.

But his plans were useless in the face of this urgent,
overwhelming desire to make her his once more. He ground his pelvis against
her, wondering vaguely if he was being too rough. But she pressed back against
him, and the way she moaned his name aroused him more even than the feel of her
breasts in his hands.

He had to touch skin. He plunged his hand into the top of
her dress and heard the cotton tear. Shit.

But her pale breasts spilled into his hands. He plucked at her
nipples while she arched her back over his arm and moaned with pleasure.

Jace knew he was going to lose control soon. And he had one
important issue he had to deal with before he lost all coherent thought. He
tugged out his wallet, yanked out a condom, and opened his pants.

When Carlotta gasped, he looked up. She was staring at him.
She reached out a hand and touched him, lightly. "Jace," she
whispered. "I never thought I would see you again."

Her fingers trailed over him, and lust roared through him. His
plans and scruples disappeared. He swept her up and deposited her on the soft
sand. Even as he followed her down, he was pulling up her skirt. Her panties
disappeared with one twisting tear.

He plunged into her.

Slow down
!
a
faint voice whispered somewhere in his mind. This was how they'd been in their
youth, eager and frantic, unable to use finesse, at least until they'd taken
the edges off their appetites. But, things were different now. She was wary of
him, afraid of being hurt again. He should use her gently.

But his body wasn't under his control. Instead, it was
bucking and pounding like a storm-tossed boat. Carlotta was arched up against
him, biting any part of him she could reach.
His ear, his
neck.
He shuddered with pleasure. Her legs wrapped around him and he
felt nothing but her soft skin, her wet warmth, and her stinging bites. He
gritted his teeth to hang on. He couldn't finish before she came, but his own
orgasm was barreling through his body, just as relentlessly as it had when he
was a teenager, loving this same sweet girl.

The thought almost pushed him over the edge. He hung on, his
chest pumping at a rate he couldn't have sustained if he weren't a professional
athlete. But he had to make sure that this experience was as wonderful for
Carlotta as it was for him. She was fighting her attraction to him as hard as
she could, and he already had a lot of making up to do. Leaving her frustrated,
even if momentarily, would set him back.

He hitched himself further up on her body and rotated his
hips. There! Her high-pitched cry told him he'd hit the spot. She clutched him
now with her arms and legs, clinging as he battered her.

"Carlotta," he groaned. He wanted some word from
her, reassurance, or pleasure. Her body was so tense, but it was the wrong kind
of tension.

Her body kept moving in a sexual dance they both knew well.
But she closed her eyes, and turned her head slightly away from him. The truth
flashed over him. He knew how to make her body sing, but he hadn't gotten
inside her head, never mind her heart. She hadn't accepted him back into her
life, and he shouldn't have tried to do this tonight. It was too early. She was
too badly hurt. He could make her come, but it would be a physical release
only. She still wouldn't trust him, or accept him back into her life.

But the sex had rolled them up in its embrace. Like the sea
pounding on the shore, he surged and withdrew, and she followed where he went,
like the foam of lace clinging to the surf.

At the moment when she cried out in ecstasy, sorrow pierced
him.

He knew how to give her an orgasm.

But he didn't know how to make her love him.

"Jace!"
Carlotta tried to
gather her wits together. Why was she lying here in the sand, her body sated
with pleasure and Jace Burton propped on his elbows, looking down at her? She
couldn't read his expression since he blocked the moonlight, but she was sure
it was smug.

She'd been a fool. She'd let him do what she'd sworn she'd
never do again. No doubt he was looking for a way to make his escape right now.
How could she have made such a terrible mistake?

She clutched a hand to the torn bodice of her dress.
"What have we done?"

"Hey, babe—" Jace smiled at her. "No harm
done. By the grace of God, I even remembered the condom." He slowly pulled
out of her. "Speaking of which, I'd better dispose of it."

She closed her eyes. She wouldn't look. She knew better than
to look.

Her eyes opened. He stood there like the magnificent athlete
he was. His tight body was carved with muscles, his broad chest tapered down to
narrower hips, and his strong thighs framed his magnificent—No, she couldn't
stare again.

She almost whimpered, and her weakness galvanized her. If
she didn't get up and move, she'd be crawling over to put her mouth on him. And
that would only compound her mistake.

Thank God she was still wearing her dress. As she pushed
herself to her feet, she caught a glimpse of her torn panties gleaming whitely
in the moonlight.

Jace's
gaze followed hers. He
grinned.
"Lost cause, babe.
But look on the
bright side. You're gonna have to ride home on the bike commando."

Oh, Lord.
Holding onto him all the way.

Carlotta smoothed down her dress, as if she might press away
any trace of Jace Burton from her life. But it was no use. All she could think
about was him, standing naked in the moonlight, watching her. She was doomed.
The word echoed in her head like a deep bell.

Dooooomed
.
Dooooomed
.
As if an evil witch had—

She gasped.
"The love charm!"

She didn't realize she'd spoken until Jace raised his brows.
"The love charm?"

"Never mind.
It's
nothing." But that wasn't true. It was very definitely something. She
could see it in her mind's eye. The ground-up silver bean, the petals from her
hydrangea bush, a spray of her perfume, all wrapped up in a blue silk package.

"Are we talking about Love Potion Number 9?" Jace
grinned. "I think that means you're supposed to kiss me." He stepped
forward.

"It's not funny, Jace. My friend Ashley got her husband
from one of these love charms."

"Ashley who?"

"
Kursh
," Carlotta said
without thinking. Her mind was still reeling over this new, dreadful thought.

The love charm must have enchanted her to make this terrible
mistake.

"Is she here on the Vineyard?" Jace asked.

"Who?"
Here he was,
already talking about another woman.

"Your friend, Ashley."

She stared. "Ashley? She lives in Florida. Her
husband's in the Army."

"The husband she caught with a love charm?"

"Yeah."
Carlotta shook
her head. She needed to think more clearly. Of course, Jace wasn't interested
in Ashley. But the discussion had reminded her that other women were always a
factor in
Jace's
life.
Which would
never work for her.
She wanted to be the only woman in the life of any
man with whom she had a relationship.

And the more her body yearned to move closer to Jace, the
more determined she was to flee. While she still could.

"Carlotta, what's wrong?" Jace reached for his
jeans. "Give me a sec."

"We need to go!" She felt almost feverish with
fear. That love charm had bewitched her into having sex with Jace. But Jace
didn't love her, and he never would. The longer she stayed with him, the
greater her pain would be when he left.

"What's the rush?" He pulled his t-shirt over his
head. "I want to hear about this love charm that got your friend Ashley a
husband."

"Don't worry." Carlotta almost ran over to the
bike. "I'm going to call Ashley and get an antidote."

He laughed. "You really think you've been a victim of
magic?"

"Don't make fun of me." She glared at him.
"What else would make me do such a stupid thing as have sex with
you?"

"Hey, don't worry about my ego or anything."

At least she'd wiped the grin off his face.
Which didn't make her feel as good as she'd expected, but she
needed to shore up her self-respect.
She couldn't bear it if he thought
she'd turned back into the lovesick fool that she'd been in high school.

"I don't think your ego could be harmed by me,"
she said. But her anger had fled. Suddenly, she felt tired. Sand scratched at
her everywhere, and the wind blew coldly across her bare shoulders. "I
want to go home, Jace."

Silently, he crossed the sand, helped her on the bike, and
started it up. He drove sedately all the way to her house.

But when they got off the bike, he halted her with a hand on
her arm.

Jace sighed. "You don't trust me, do you?"

She couldn't stop the stiffening of her body.