She hadn’t realized he was tense until his shoulders relaxed. “Cool.” His fingers ran up and down her arm, an absentminded gesture that Charlie reveled in.
Good heavens, what would her mother say? Her mom had always pushed her to “guard her sexuality like a priceless treasure.” Charlie rolled her eyes. Mother probably expected Charlie to have remained a virgin too. She sobered. Well, it had been long enough that she wondered if she could reclaim virgin status. Up until tonight, that is.
Dave’s fingers traced a slow, gentle line up the outside of her arm and she gave in, letting out one last deep breath before sliding into sleep.
Chapter Eleven
Her breathing was deep and even.
Her skin was soft, and a scent like vanilla and flowers filled his nostrils: soft and light and mingled with the scent of sex.
He hadn’t expected it to be so … consuming. So possessive. But from the moment he’d put her on the bed and stripped her of her jeans, something had clicked. A proprietary sense that said Mine.
He’d never been a dominating man and it wasn’t like that now either. But there’d been a crushing need to possess her and, conversely, to be possessed. To know that he was capable of bringing her to ecstasy over and over again and to hear his name on her lips as she shuddered around him. And then … not to take her but to lose himself inside her.
And that scared the shit out of him. Big time. Despite the spontaneity of the moment, being with her hadn’t been thoughtless or fun or careless. It had been fast and sometimes rough and other times inspired, but he’d made sure to protect her and when their eyes had met as he climaxed, something had shifted painfully inside him. A connection he hadn’t been prepared for. If he wasn’t careful, he might fall in love with her.
A delicate snuffle came from beside him. She was really and truly asleep in his arms and it filled him with a sweetness he’d forgotten existed. There was trust in making love, but it was fueled by desire and lust and need. The real trust was now, afterward. And clearly Charlie trusted him.
The idea made him panic just a little bit. He hadn’t planned on staying in Jewell Cove. His dad had hooked him up with the job at George’s, something to keep him going until he found a permanent situation. Except, he admitted to himself, he hadn’t been looking for a different situation. Charlie made staying seem … possible. Perfect, maybe.
Charlie wasn’t the kind of woman a man fooled around with. He’d understood that from the start. So he either had to break it off with her and let her go, or really be involved. They’d been fooling themselves, thinking they could keep things casual.
But being open to the possibility of “them” meant opening himself up to the chance of loving … or being hurt. Or worse—hurting her. Because deep down he knew they were two very different people. She loved plans and charts and lists, and he knew life involved a certain measure of improvisation. She had a day planner and he went with the flow. Wouldn’t they end up driving each other crazy?
Her arm tightened and his eyes slammed closed, loving the feel of her wrapped around him so damn much it scared him. He’d forgotten what it was like to be the center of someone’s world, even for five minutes.
She was the center of his too. At least for a little while. So he left his eyes closed and let his muscles relax, shifting a little so they were entwined together. He’d wake her soon, but not yet. He wanted to hold on to the perfection of this moment as long as he could. Then he’d do what he had to do.
*
Charlie woke slowly, then lifted her arms and executed a long, limber stretch. She couldn’t remember a time when she felt this relaxed. The soft fleece blanket slid over her skin and she realized she was still naked.
Her cheeks heated and her stomach did a little flip. Oh my. They’d done it. Charlie, who planned everything, who examined every angle of a situation before making a decision, had taken a huge leap and had sex with Dave Ricker.
It had been amazing. Stupendous.
And she was alone in the bed.
She crawled out from beneath the blankets and shivered in the cool air. Draped over a chair was a flannel shirt, and she picked it up and put her arms in the big sleeves, buttoning it up the front. It was huge. The cuffs came down over her hands and the tails covered her to mid-thigh. Charlie lifted a handful of the fabric and drew a long breath, her head filling with the masculine scent of him. As an afterthought, she snagged her panties from the floor and stepped into them. Barefoot, she left the bedroom and went in search of him.
He was in the kitchen. Dressed in plaid pajama pants and a T-shirt, he looked both adorably cuddly and casually sexy. He was whisking something in a pan on the stove, and there was a hint of chocolate in the air.
“That smells good,” she said softly, and he spun around.
“You sure are quiet,” he said, smiling at her. “I didn’t hear you get up.”