Midnight Rain: a Those Who Wait story, page 44
Sutton’s cheeks hurt from smiling so much.
Lucy nodded firmly as she zipped up her backpack. “Yay! Okay! We can play checkers!”
“It’s a date,” Charlotte confirmed before she slid her gaze toward Sutton. “If that’s okay…?”
“Of course!” The words fell out of Sutton’s mouth.
Because the reality was that she wanted to have Charlotte around—around her, around Lucy—as much as Charlotte could be around. It was a want that increased at an alarming speed, every single day.
“Okay, then! I’m ready,” Lucy informed her, reaching for the door as she dragged her now-closed backpack with her.
“Be right back,” she informed Charlotte before opening her own door.
Lucy led the way up the walkway to the large, beautiful house Layla lived in with Arianne as Sutton trailed behind her a few steps.
In the past, walking to this home that her ex shared with the woman she’d cheated on and left Sutton for had left an unshakable heaviness in the pit of her stomach, even after she’d emotionally recovered from her marriage.
Right now, though, she didn’t feel the sense of foreboding. Her frustration with Layla from earlier as well as how thrilled she was about Charlotte combined in a very disconcerting way, but there was no sinking dread involved.
Layla opened the door as they walked up the porch and smiled down at Lucy.
Sutton recognized that exact smile—remorseful and entirely too exuberant. It was the same one she’d been given many times during their relationship. And at the end of it, given how everything had played out. Layla was apologetic but not remorseful, wanting entirely too much to simply move on.
“Luce, I’m so sorry I couldn’t be there today. How did it go?”
Lucy’s excited smile seemed to take Layla aback as she skipped across the porch toward her. “It was awesome! Mama had us all write a story together, and—and then Charlotte came, and she organized us to do debates! And my team won over half of them!”
At the mention of Charlotte, Layla’s smile faltered, and her gaze darted to Sutton. All she did in response was nod, lifting her eyebrows at Layla as if silently daring her to say something disparaging when they both knew she didn’t have a leg to stand on.
“Charlotte, huh?” Layla asked, gamely smiling down at Lucy once more. It was a lot more strained this time, Sutton noted, and she knew it killed Layla to bite back her initial reaction.
“Yup!” Lucy answered, blissfully oblivious to her mother’s slight changes in tone. “And then we got cookies and hot cocoa!”
That muscle in Layla’s cheek twitched, but she maintained her grin. “That sounds like so much fun, sweetie.”
“It was,” Lucy confirmed. “Can Anha sleep over this weekend?” she asked, smiling widely and guilelessly up at Layla.
Layla cleared her throat. “Uh… well, I’d have to check with her parents?” She sent Sutton a questing look.
“Her mother’s cell number is on the email we got in September from Lucy’s teacher,” Sutton informed her, though it didn’t shock her that Layla likely hadn’t looked at that email since she’d received it.
“Then I’ll call her,” Layla confirmed.
Sutton wasn’t quite certain if Lucy was asking for a sleepover because she knew she could likely ask for anything right now from Layla or if she’d have asked anyway. At the end of the day, that wasn’t really her business anymore.
And when Lucy pumped her fists in the air in excitement, she also didn’t really care. “I love you, honey.”
“I love you, Mama.” Lucy turned to hug her waist.
Sutton stroked her hands over her daughter’s soft hair in return. “I’ll see you in a couple days.”
“Okay! Bye!” she unceremoniously shouted as she disengaged from her, charged past Layla, and ran into her house.
They both watched her disappear down the hallway before Layla turned to Sutton with an arched eyebrow, the smiling façade dropped entirely. “Charlotte went to Lucy’s show-and-tell? Was that just going to be a surprise for me this afternoon when I arrived?”
Bristling, Sutton crossed her arms. “Charlotte only showed up today because there was an unexpected vacancy in the schedule. It was wonderful to have the company at this sort of thing.” She didn’t actually voice the for once she wanted to add, but she knew Layla picked up on it.
And she looked suitably chastised. Well, as much as Layla ever did.
Sutton watched as Layla looked beyond her, down at Sutton’s car parked at the curb. Right where Charlotte sat in the passenger seat.
“It seems this is getting more serious than some sort of working relationship, then,” Layla surmised quietly.
“It is,” she confirmed, defensive yet confident. “And if that’s going to be a problem for you, then we’ll have to sort that out.”
She wondered if Layla would dare to mention anything about their custody arrangement again, like she had the night she’d found out about Charlotte. It had been shocking to hear because Sutton had assumed that both she and Layla knew where Lucy garnered the most stability between the two of them, given that they’d never had to argue about it aloud. Sutton being named the primary parent in their divorce had been silently understood and was never once debated.
And while she didn’t have any concern that Layla could have the ability to change their arrangement, even if they went back to their lawyers about it—today’s situation was just the latest example that Sutton could reference as to why Layla being Lucy’s primary parent would never work—she didn’t want to experience the drain on time, energy, and resources. Not when they’d finally found a cordial co-parenting situation in the last few years.
“No,” Layla finally said, her voice tight as she shook her head. “It isn’t going to be a problem as long as you’re certain you know what you’re doing.”
“I don’t need your seal of approval as to what I’m doing,” Sutton shot back, uncharacteristically sharply at the remark. “When it comes to Lucy, I’d like to think you know I will always put her first.”
That muscle in Layla’s jaw twitched again before she sighed. “Yes. I do.”
“Good. If that’s all, I’ll be going. Have a good weekend.”
Layla cleared her throat as Sutton started to turn away. “Sutton, I…”
She paused, throwing Layla a look over her shoulder. When Layla didn’t immediately speak—and when Sutton didn’t immediately understand the expression on her face—she turned more completely to look at her. “Yes?”
Layla cleared her throat. “Nothing. You have a”—her gaze drifted to Charlotte once more, and she pursed her lips—“good weekend as well.”
Sutton nodded, her gaze drifting to Charlotte as she unthinkingly murmured, “I will.”
Even though Sutton hadn’t necessarily planned to jump Charlotte as soon as they’d entered Charlotte’s home, it was exactly what happened.
It had started as Charlotte had been shutting the door behind them, as she’d spoken, “We can go out for dinner if you want, or—”
Anything else she’d been intending to say had fallen right back down her throat as Sutton had reached out and grabbed Charlotte’s hips, pushing her back and lowering her mouth down onto Charlotte’s.
She didn’t care about dinner. She didn’t care about anything that wasn’t Charlotte in this moment.
Every emotion she’d had to quell throughout the afternoon, due to Lucy’s presence, seemed to hit her in that moment.
Her heart felt so full, and those bird-butterflies were in full swing, and Charlotte had been there for both her and Lucy, and those things made Sutton feel so many grand, sweeping feelings.
They combined into a baffling, intense desire. Maybe it was that her sexual desire—especially for Charlotte—and emotions were linked.
But she’d been animalistically attracted to Charlotte since first laying eyes on her, and this version of Charlotte was even more devastatingly appealing.
She’d pinned Charlotte against her closed door easily, holding her in place with her hips as her hands busily tugging Charlotte’s jacket off.
Charlotte had easily matched her pace, her mouth hot and answering every demand Sutton had for her, in spite of her obvious surprise. She’d dropped her bag to the ground with a thunk that Sutton had barely registered before she’d wrapped her arms around Sutton’s neck and pulled her down, securing Sutton against her.
That had been… god, Sutton didn’t even know how long ago, by this point.
By this point, they sat on the couch in Charlotte’s living room. They’d wandered in here, not breaking their kiss, after they’d stripped one another of their winter outerwear. Hands had been wandering, and she’d breathlessly, hoarsely giggled against Charlotte’s lips when they’d bumped into her coffee table before finally landing on the sofa.
Sutton supposed sitting was not an apt term for herself.
Charlotte was sitting.
Sutton was straddling her lap, knees tightly bracketing Charlotte’s hips.
She swallowed every keening moan that worked out of Charlotte as Sutton slid her tongue over hers. She couldn’t seem to still her hands, not that she was trying to.
She wanted to touch everywhere; she wanted to touch all of Charlotte’s soft, wavy hair, clenching it in her hands, scratching against her scalp. She loved the way it made Charlotte gasp, then arch into her.
She wanted to touch Charlotte’s breasts as she strained her torso up against Sutton’s. She’d done that, too, dipping under the cups of Charlotte’s bra, feeling how hard her nipples were.
She wanted to trace her hands over Charlotte’s silhouette, the curves of her waist, outlining the whole of her.
She wanted to trace her thumbs over the line of Charlotte’s jaw, the softness of her cheeks. To cup her neck, unwilling for an inch of unnecessary space to remain between them.
She wanted all of these things, and she took them as Charlotte took her own fill. Her hands currently settled over Sutton’s jeans, against her ass, gripping tightly and pulling Sutton against her. She assisted Sutton in rolling her hips against her, slowly and sensuously grinding down.
Sutton groaned in the back of her throat, the heat threatening to consume her as she nipped her teeth into Charlotte’s bottom lip, a move that made Charlotte’s hands tighten even further against her before she started gentling their kiss.
Before she broke their kiss, and—
Sutton panted for breath, blinking down at Charlotte a moment later as she dimly realized that Charlotte had broken their kiss and hadn’t done so for the purpose of trailing her mouth down Sutton’s neck.
Instead, she found Charlotte staring up at her, her head fallen back against the plush couch cushion behind her.
“What—is everything okay?” she asked, slowly sliding her hands down to brace on Charlotte’s shoulders.
Charlotte inhaled deeply, nodding, as she seemed to take a moment to clear her mind.
Sutton understood the feeling.
“I… yes,” she finally managed. “Everything is more than okay.”
A slow, lazy, entirely too charming smile slid over her lips as she squeezed Sutton’s butt once more, then slid her hands to stroke up and down the backs of Sutton’s thighs instead. “I just…” Charlotte paused, a contemplative look crossing over her face as she explained, “I want to do this right, this time. Romance and date nights and all. Before the sex.”
Sutton’s lust-clouded vision faded as curious amusement took a hold. She leaned back slightly, settling herself more fully in Charlotte’s lap as she looked down at her. “Charlotte, you are aware that we’ve had sex before. Many times.”
A laugh left Charlotte’s throat as she lightly pinched at Sutton’s thighs. “Very well aware, thank you very much.”
“Are you also aware that this is the longest we’ve ever been in once another’s lives since the very first time we’ve ever had sex without… you know. Having sex?” Sutton could feel a slight blush slide over her face as she stated the fact.
It was ridiculous, but it was also true. And it was something she hadn’t quite thought about in so many words until this moment. But it was the beginning of February, and the last time they’d had sex had been on Christmas Eve.
Even when they’d run into each other earlier this year, they’d had sex on Charlotte’s desk in October before settling into their routine in November.
“Not that we have to have sex,” Sutton rushed to add on, even as her gaze dipped to Charlotte’s chest.
In her fevered haze, she’d unbuttoned Charlotte’s shirt, which hung alluringly open now, her black lace bra proudly pushing up her chest. Her nipples were still visibly hard, and Sutton inhaled deeply as a shot of heat streaked through her again before she pointedly brought her eyes back up to meet Charlotte’s.
“I just mean—there’s not a right way. I don’t think. That’s all.”
“I have thought about that, actually,” Charlotte assured her, stroking her thumbs comfortingly over Sutton’s jean-clad thighs. Her voice turned soft as she added, “And honestly, that’s why I don’t want us to immediately give in to our obviously mutual desire this time.”
Sutton’s eyebrows drew together in confusion, then astonishment. She could have sworn there was a light blush tinging Charlotte’s cheeks now.
“We know that physically we are more than compatible, darling. Always have been.” Charlotte’s eyes narrowed slightly, meaningfully, as she tilted her head up at Sutton. “I suppose I want us both to know that everything else between us works, too. Before that.”
Even if Sutton was physically frustrated, she couldn’t—wouldn’t—complain about that. Not when this was the most romanced she’d ever felt in her life.
She was so aroused she was soaking wet in her jeans while also feeling those crazy-big butterflies. Ah, yes. That was the real Charlotte Thompson Special.
Warmth bloomed in her chest as she dipped down and touched their kiss-swollen lips together, gently. Lightly. Not inciting anything more.
She pulled back before they could take it any further, though, then let out a deep sigh and pushed herself off of Charlotte so that she was sitting next to her rather than straddling her.
“You claim to have never done this before, Charlotte, but you are one hell of a romancer.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
If there was one thing Charlotte had never envisioned herself doing, it was having dinner with the woman Sutton had once been married to.
And yet here she was, approaching the large, beautifully appointed home in Bethesda with Sutton at her side.
Sutton had picked her up from her office an hour ago, something Charlotte had found surprisingly and thoroughly charming.
She’d never been picked up from work by a partner before.
Yet as she’d approached Sutton’s car and Sutton had rolled down the window to send her a sweet, beautiful smile and a wave, Charlotte’s stride had paused.
In that moment, the reality she was settling into washed over her.
She and Sutton weren’t only late-night phone calls and fun dates and hot make-out sessions. They were you’ll pick me up after work and we will go to dinner with your ex to pick up your daughter and I’ll show you the things I’ve never shown anyone.
Charlotte wanted it with an intensity that startled her.
Sutton paused as they climbed the steps toward the front door, giving Charlotte a tentative smile. It was far from the bright, unencumbered grin Charlotte was used to seeing.
Sutton paused, rolling her lips. “I know it’s a little late to not go to this dinner.” There was that self-deprecation. That, mixed with the earnest look in Sutton’s eyes, made Charlotte think back to the woman Sutton had been when they’d first done this. “But I wanted you to know that I really appreciate it. I know that you’re going to New York tonight, that your schedule is crazy busy. I really would have understood if you had to reschedule.”
Everything Sutton was saying was absolutely correct. Charlotte’s schedule was incredibly busy, particularly this week. She had meetings in New York starting tomorrow at eight in the morning, and she’d arranged for Autumn to send her already packed suitcase with Hamish, who was scheduled to pick her up at Sutton’s house after dinner.
“I know I didn’t have to do dinner tonight,” Charlotte softly informed her, searching Sutton’s gaze with her own. “Yes, I’m busy. But the simple truth is that you are my priority, Sutton. And I’ll do whatever I can do spend as much time with you as possible.”
It was the simple and utter truth.
Sutton’s big, blue eyes went soft as her mouth opened on a quiet sigh. “I…” She swallowed, stroking her thumb over Charlotte’s hand. “I want to spend as much time with you as possible, too,” she admitted before she flicked her eyes toward the front door. “And I really want you to know that having dinner with Layla and Arianne is far from a common occurrence, so I hope you know this isn’t—”
“Darling, I’m aware of what this is,” Charlotte gently cut into the oncoming ramble, feeling completely endeared by it.
Sutton’s blue eyes searched hers, her eyebrows wrinkling as she hesitantly checked, “Are you sure?”
Charlotte nodded. “This is your ex-wife realizing that I’m not going anywhere and wanting an opportunity—a real opportunity—to size me up. I’m well aware that this is not going to be a regular event.”
Under no circumstances was she going to make it appear to Sutton’s ex that she was uninterested or unavailable in being present and attentive in Sutton’s or Lucy’s lives. Not only because it was so far from the truth, but because she would be damned if she became the only reason Layla had to accuse Sutton of not doing what was in their daughter’s best interest.
The smile on Sutton’s face became softer, even as a slight blush tinged her cheeks. “I hate to have put you in this position in the first place, as I don’t believe it is any of Layla’s business who I’m with. But…” She bit her bottom lip as she explained, “I do think it’s a good thing for Lucy to have dinner with all of us and see us together. It’s the best thing for her to see all of her parental figures as a unit, no matter what’s going on behind the scenes.”
