Page 74 of Midnight Racers

In all the years I’d been sexually active, she was the only woman that made me lose control enough to forget to put on my diving gear before taking the plunge. My little swimmers didn’t need to be released into the ocean to create new life.

She pouted at me and my heart beat a little faster. “The side effects can be breast tenderness.” My hand massaged her breast. “It can cause weight gain and loss of libido.”

My hand moved over her stomach and rested between her legs. “I like a woman with curves and I think I can activate your libido.”

“Sex is going to kill me.” She pouted again, and I kissed those full lips.

“We need to get up. Surely you don’t want Declan installing your engine?” That motivated Charlotte into action and she crawled off the bed. I lay on my back and watched her as the sunlight highlighted her curves and hair.

“You’re staring,” she accused. “I’m a mess.”

I sat up and tugged her toward me by her hips, my chin resting on her stomach as I peered up at her.

“Every piece of this silken skin belongs to me, so if I want, I can stare at it, since I’ll blow the brains out of any other man who tries to look at what is mine.” I pressed a kiss to her stomach.

Her hands landed on my shoulders and I wanted to look away but couldn’t summon the strength of will to break away from her probing stare. “No one has ever threatened anyone else for me.” She tilted my head back. “I think I like it.”

She didn’t seem to realise that she was dancing with death in this relationship. I had no problem eliminating anyone in my way since I’d claimed her. I slowly pushed myself to standing, my hands curving under her ass to lift her. She automatically clung to me in her own version of a koala bear.

“Good, because I tend to keep what I claim. No returns, no refunds.” I walked to the bathroom and turned the shower on while we shared lazy kisses, her hands tracing over my back and shoulders.

This wasn’t supposed to be a relationship. We weren’t meant to be living together and sharing kisses. They were too intimate, more intimate than sex since she was right there in my face. I could fuck in the darkness of the Midnight Rooms and walk away, but there was no stepping away when she was wrapped around me and intoxicating me.

I stepped us under the shower and let the water cascade over us. It seemed to take forever for us to break apart, both of us dragging in shaky breaths. Our hands washed each other until we were covered in suds and my dick was stirring again.

Charlotte stroked over him. “Later,” she said, standing on her tiptoes to kiss me again.

I had never felt domesticated since I never really possessed roots, wandering across the globe and staying in different houses I owned like a guest. Charlotte changed everything, my house becoming somewhere I wanted to live instead of a place I visited that no one else knew existed. It was a place I hid from the world and preserved precious memories from the past with photographs from my childhood in the study. My geese were even a homage to Grandma.

Charlotte wandered around my kitchen making breakfast with the radio on in the background. She made fresh coffee, which I never had time to do when I was here alone, and the scent permeated the room.

The domesticity scared yet comforted me. The familiar energy of her moving around the house eased the anxiety that normally rumbled around inside me. Pixie sat over beside the mat with her feeding dishes on it lapping at the cat milk Charlotte left for her.

I glanced up as Charlotte set a coffee in front of me. I didn’t even need to ask, she always made it the way I drank it—black with three sugars. I had no idea why I needed three sugars in my coffee. I didn’t like the bitter taste and remembered Grandpa always asking for three.

She tended to not eat lunch, but Charlotte never left home without breakfast. She set a plate down loaded with an English fry on it a few minutes later. It was another area she complemented me in since I was a breakfast person, too. We ate in silence, but there was no need to fill the void since I felt comfortable.

An image of my grandparents sitting eating breakfast on a Sunday morning as they shared reading the local paper popped into my head. I was lost in my memory of the past when Charlotte appeared beside me.

“Finished?” She nodded to my empty plate.

“Yeah, just lost in my thoughts,” I replied.

She lifted the plate and headed to the sink. “Good or bad?”

“Huh?” My brow creased.

“Good or bad thoughts?” she repeated.

“Good and bad,” I replied. “Good ones of my grandma making a fry for breakfast. Bad ones of my dad.”

The blood test results had come in and I wasn’t a match, thank fuck. The problem with that fact being that I was a failure to him once again.

“Anything I can help with?” She watched me with her ass pressed against the counter.

“Nah. I promised my aunt I would get tested as an organ donor for Dad. The results came back saying I wasn’t a match.”

“I’m sorry, is he still on the register?”