Page 63 of Charm

“On your knees,” he orders. “I need your mouth on my dick.”

The plea in his voice is so needy that it catches my breath in my throat. I grab hold of his hands for leverage. I’m partway down to my knees when my phone starts ringing again.

Mild concern is now full-blown panic within me. My heart feels like it’s thundering through my chest wall.

I dart back up to standing. “I have to get it, Holden. Olive. What if it’s about Olive?”

I instantly realize what I’ve done. I’ve revealed a secret that I intended to hold onto tightly for as long as I could.

His gaze searches my face. “I’ll get the phone.”

He darts to where I left it by the front door when we came in. He scoops it up as it rings, but his gaze never leaves me.

Just as he hands it to me, the ringing subsides.

I scan the screen. Three missed calls from Martha.

I don’t care what happens next. All I care about is that my daughter is safe, so I press the button to call Martha back.

She doesn’t answer. My sweet angel does.

“Mommy?” Olive breathes hard into the phone. “Are you okay? I tried calling a thousand times.”

Holden’s gaze catches mine just as he takes a step back to give me more air to breathe and room to think.

“I’m okay, sweetheart,” I whisper into my phone. “Are you?”

“Grandma gave me her phone to call you.” She sniffles loudly. “We went to see a play in the park. There’s a lady with a box of kittens. Grandma said I can’t have one, but she said you had the last word.”

“Grandma’s right,” I say, keeping my eyes on Holden.

A soft smile spreads over his lips as he listens.

“Why can’t the last word be yes?” she whispers.

“We can’t get a kitten right now, Olive,” I tell her.

“Are you sure?” she questions. “I’ll take care of it all by myself.”

For a few days, until the responsibilities of pet ownership would fall mainly on the shoulders of her grandparents, since I work so much.

“I’m sure.” I bow my head because this unexpected collision of my real life and the man I spent the best weekend of my life with is hitting me like a freight train. My emotions are all over the place. “I’ll talk to you more about it when I get home.”

“Will that be soon?”

“Yes,” I say, sealing the fate on what I know would have been an unbelievably fun afternoon in Holden’s bed. “I’ll be home in just a little while.”

“I love you, Mommy!” she screams into the phone.

“I love you, Olive,” I say without any hesitation. “I’ll see you soon.”

I end the call and take a deep breath before I cradle my phone close to my chest and look Holden dead in the eyes.

“You’re a mom,” he says with a grin. “Aren’t you?”

“Olive is my daughter. She’s everything to me.”

“She’s a very lucky girl.” He walks toward me. “I bet you’re a kick ass mom.”

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