Page 2 of A Night To Remember

Besides from being incredibly good-looking, Paul had been the most unselfish, caring human being she’d ever met. He had been a good husband and treated her like a queen. Everyone who’d known him loved him, and Charlie had loved him most of all.

There was nothing Paul wouldn’t do to help out his fellow man. He had been the type of person who would give the very shirt off his back to a person in need. He would lend his last dollar if he had been asked. Charlie sighed, thinking it was his willingness to help others that got him killed.

Paul had been a fireman, and according to eyewitnesses, he had run into a burning house to save an elderly lady trapped inside. Everyone around had told him how hopeless the situation was, but Paul would not listen. As he was coming out of the house with the victim in his arms, a beam collapsed over Paul, but not before he threw the rescued woman to safety.

He’d died a hero.

While Paul lay dying, Charlie had been home, cooking a special dinner for their first wedding anniversary. When she’d answered the door and received the fateful news, Charlie wanted to die as well.

She’d gone into a deep depression, causing her family great distress. Each night after Paul’s death, Charlie would curl up with his favorite T-shirt and cry. That particular shirt had been such a bone of contention between the two of them since they had been married. It was from Paul’s alma mater, the University of North Carolina. She had hated it, because she had gone to UNC’s rival school, North Carolina State.

Seeing him in that Carolina blue monstrosity, with the huge ram and the Tar Heel symbols, made Charlie grind her teeth. A shiver ran down her spine as she thought about an awful row his shirt had once caused. Now she would have given anything to see him wearing the damn thing. He could wear it every day if he wanted, just as long as he was alive.

Charlie had taken a leave of absence from work for a couple of months before she was able to face the world again. During that period, she’d ended up losing so much weight that her parents and friends had staged an intervention to get her into grief counseling. When she did eventually emerge from her cocoon of depression, she threw herself into her work, spending as much time as possible in the office. Often she’d return home only when exhaustion overtook her.

Unfortunately, work didn’t help her with the solitary nights. She couldn’t sleep in their bed anymore, preferring the guest bedroom. Sleeping in the empty king-size bed they once shared reminded her too much of their steamy nights of passion. Paul had been an excellent lover. He knew just how to touch her, lick her and fuck her. Charlie sighed heavily as she remembered the naughty things he would say to her in bed.

What a sweet little pussy my baby has, or girl, you are the best ride that I’ve ever been on.

It wasn’t even the physical side of the relationship she missed the most. It was his scent, the way he would wake her up every morning with a kiss, and the way he would rub her shoulders when she was tired. Hell, she even missed his silly nickname for her. Paul called her peanut, a play on words due to her unfortunate name.

He had been a good listener and confidant. Charlie could tell him anything. They laughed together. They cried together. They shared in each other’s failures and triumphs. He was her best friend.

And now he was gone. Some anniversary this turned out to be.

Her parents had invited her over for dinner tonight, and a few of her friends had done the same, but Charlie declined their invitations. She didn’t want to be around people who felt sorry for her. That was the last thing she needed right now.

Tonight she wanted to get thoroughly drunk and not remember how much Paul’s death still ripped at her insides. She didn’t want to think about how a part of her was missing. A tear escaped the corner of her eye before she could catch it.

Jake Fox had thought his clients would never leave. He sat at his table, taking another sip of beer. He loved his job, but hated the business dinners and traveling from city to city. Usually his vice-president handled the schmoozing while Jake ran the show from behind the scenes, but Steve was on a long, well-deserved vacation. Jake wished he were on the beach right now. He needed a vacation, but things at work were just too hectic at the moment.

Tonight Jake had wined and dined potential clients for MBF, who were probably more trouble than they were worth. For months, these people had given Jake’s company the run around, and after intense negotiations, there was finally a light at the end of the tunnel. Thankfully, they signed the contract he’d offered and Jake was now able to breathe a huge sigh of relief.

When the last the of Banner group finally left, Jake decided to hang back and have another drink. Dealing with Joe Banner, the group’s CEO, had been quite a trial. Whoever came up with the slogan “The customer is always right” should have been shot. Brown nosing was not Jake’s strong point.

When he looked toward the bar, he was relieved to see she was still there. The dark-skinned beauty had caught his eye the minute she walked into the tavern. His table was close enough to the bar for him to sneak a peek at her every so often during dinner. It was because of her that he’d been able to make it through the evening with his clients. When Joe Banner would start to irritate him, Jake’s gaze would stray toward the mystery lady’s direction.

She was certainly an interesting person to watch. Something was obviously bothering her, however, and it seemed as if she were talking to herself. He was unable to make out the words, but whatever they were they couldn’t be happy ones. Perhaps she had been stood up. For the life of him, Jake couldn’t rationalize why anyone would want to break a date with someone so lovely.

On impulse, Jake signaled the waitress to his table. “Do you see the pretty lady sitting over there at the bar?”

The waitress briefly turned her head before returning her attention to Jake with a shrug. “Yes, what about her?”

“I would like to have her tab placed on my bill.”

“Sure, whatever. I’ll let the bartender know.”

It bothered him to see a beautiful woman in distress, but if he were being honest, it was her beauty more than her distress that caught his eye. There was no doubt about it. She was sexy-as hell. In fact, she had to be one of the sexiest ladies he had seen in a long time. Lowering his lids, Jake casually studied her through his lashes.

Her skin was a rich milk chocolate, so smooth in appearance; he felt the overwhelming need to caress her all over, if only to see if it felt as soft as it looked. Her face was not beautiful in the classic sense, but she was stunning nonetheless. She wore her dark hair pulled back in a tight ponytail, making him wonder what it would look like hanging loosely around her shoulders.

Dressed casually in a pair of jeans and a tight black silk top, she still managed to look elegant. Jake could tell she wasn’t wearing a bra because he could see the outline of her nipples poking through the glossy fabric. His mouth watered as he imagined what those hardened little peaks would look like exposed to his gaze. He bet they were dark like blackberries. He wondered if they would taste as sweet.

Two things in particular stood out on this woman: her lips and ass. Her lips were larger than average, even for a black woman, however they had the well-shaped bee-stung look that Hollywood actresses paid thousands of dollars to achieve. The kind men fantasized about kissing. They looked juicy and welcoming. Just above the corner of her top lip there was a heart-shaped mole emphasizing the sexiness of that generous mouth.

Damn, I wouldn’t mind tasting those lips.

As enticing as her lips were, his eyes wandered to her other prize—that ass. It was high, round, and accentuated by her tiny waist. It was an ass perfect for spanking. Jake could feel a stirring in his pants as erotic images popped in his head. He imagined his cock sliding into her pussy from behind with his balls pounding against the round globes of her backside, and then he’d take his dick, dripping with her cunt juices, and slide it into the tight forbidden hole between her cheeks. He couldn’t shake the image from his mind.

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