Page 60 of Stars and Scars

“Oh thank god.”

I offer her a hand as she climbs over the back of the sofa. She stumbles a bit and falls against me. I catch Charlotte, and she suddenly clings to me like the last parachute on a crashing plane.

“How long is it going to be like this? Will I have to jump and hide at every sound for the rest of my life?”

I don’t know how to answer her. The only thing that springs to mind are platitudes, and Charlotte is too smart to be placated by any such thing.

“I don’t know how long it’s going to take. I do know that if the Order wants to get to you, they’re going to have to go through me first. You hear me? I won’t let them touch you.”

I smooth my hand over the back of her head, feeling her hair’s sublime softness. Her body is soft, too, as it trembles against me. She buries her face in my chest.

“It’s going to be alright, Charlotte. Nobody can find us here. This place isn’t on any map. The Order can’t even find us, all right? I won’t let anyone hurt you. Not ever.”

Her voice vibrates my chest as she mumbles into my shirt.

“I believe you. I feel safe when I’m with you, Grayson.”

I have to laugh at that. She lifts her face from my chest and looks me in the eye.

“Why does that make you laugh?”

“Oh, Charlotte,” I say, holding her close. “In the defense of this country, I’ve done things that I am not proud of. I don’t regret doing them, but I’m not proud of them, either.”

“Have you ever hurt anyone who didn’t deserve it?”

I open my mouth, and then close it.

“Not physically, no.”

“Then I don’t know why you’re so worried about it. You’ve been good to me. Really good, and you don’t have to be.”

I chuckle again.

“You are paying me.”

“Stop deflecting Grayson. Can’t you just take a compliment?”

I sigh and hold her close. She smells good.

“All right, fine. I’m a good man, are you happy?”

“I’m getting there…I was a lot happier earlier, though.”

She snuggles against me. I can feel her heart beating close to mine. My arms envelop her, and soon our lips meet with fire and passion.

I slide my hand from her cheek, down the sinuous curve of her neck, until my palm cups her breast. Her eyes flutter closed. Charlotte folds her hand on top of my own and presses our bodies even closer together.

“I like the way you touch me,” she sighs.

“I like touching you.”

I kiss her on the neck, playing her gasps and soft moans as a symphony. Slow, deliberate, I work my way up her neck until I nibble on her earlobe. Charlotte cries out, wrapping her arms and legs around me like a frog clinging to a frond of wild grass.

I need her so bad, it literally hurts. We shed our clothes and blood rushes out of my head to my lower extremities, leaving me giddy with anticipation. I want to be inside of Charlotte. I need it the way a forest needs rain.

She senses my need, and I see it mirrored in her eyes. Charlotte rakes her nails down my back as I lift my hips and prepare to conquer her all over again.

Charlotte’s deep, guttural moan sounds like music to my ears as I glide in until I fill her completely. Our gazes meet, and we share the moment of pure and complete intimacy.

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