Page 13 of Take Two

I bite my bottom lip.

Chapter 7

Charlie

Just like before, I put my arm across her shoulders as we walk back to her place. When she throws her arm around my waist, I stop in the middle of the busy sidewalk and look into her dark brown eyes. She smiles up at me, and her entire face changes. She goes from pretty to sexy in the blink of an eye. She tries to look away, but I grab her chin and force herto look at me.

“Can I confess something?” I ask.

“Please,” she says.

“Last Friday when I was at your place, I wished that we were on a date and that I got to kiss you at the end of the night.”

“Then it was a date, and you can kiss me now.”

Not only do I not remember the last time I was intimate with a woman, but I also don’t remember the last time I kissed one. Looking down at Violet’s full lips, all I want to do is press mine to hers. She’s a tall woman, but despite her heels, I tower over her. She clears her throat, and her smile drops while she waits to see what I do next.

I lean down and press my mouth to hers. Her lips are plump and soft. She still tastes like the peach ice cream she had earlier, but that’s not enough to deter me. She moves closer and I wrap my arms around her. She feels good. She feels like she belongs in my arms. She opens her mouth, and I swipe my tongue along hers. Uncaring about where we are, I deepen the kiss, and my body immediately reacts.

Before taking it any further on this public street, I pull away and end the kiss. We both pant before I offer her my hand. She takes it, and we walk through Central Park like we’ve been doing it for a lifetime. At one point, she rests her head on my bicep.

We don’t speak for the rest of the short walk. We don’t even say a word in the elevator on our way to her apartment.

“Do you want to watch a movie?” she asks when we get inside. She has a bit of shyness to her now, and I like seeing this side of her. The kitchen is still a mess, and I barely had time to clear the table before she dragged me out of the apartment earlier.

I turn to face her and put my hands on her hips. “The last thang I want to do right now is watch a movie. I’d really like tokiss you again,” I admit. One of my hands slides off her hip and ends up on her ass.

“I’d like that too,” she whispers. The words are barely out of her mouth when I taste her lips again. Unlike the kiss on the sidewalk, I don’t start this one off gently. There’s no one here to watch as I take her in a kiss so raw, so savage that I surprise even myself with it. I know I don’t remember the last time I kissed someone, but I’m positive I never kissed anyone like this.

When she gets on her tippy toes, I lift her right off her feet, and she wraps her legs around me. Her hands find their way into my hair, and I hear myself moan into her mouth. I break the kiss and press my head on her chest. She smells of jasmine and vanilla.

“I think maybe we should stop before—”

“I don’t want to stop,” she says before I can finish my sentence. “I want you to carry me into my bedroom and take off all my clothes.”

“I want that too, but I should take you out on a proper date before we go that far.”

“You cooked me dinner and took me out for dessert. This is the best date I’ve had in years. Even last week when we had pizza and talked was better than anything I had in a while.”

I put her down and feel her slide down my body. My hands caress her sides, but they end up on her firm butt again.

“God, you feel good,” I moan. She presses herself into me, and I know she feels how much I want her. “Like I said, I don’t remember—”

“Good. I don’t want you to remember anyone else. I promise you’ll never forget being with me.” She takes my hand and leads me down the long hallway. There’s a door at the end of the hall, and she pushes it open.

It’s a big space with a canopy bed in the middle. There’s a chaise in the corner that’s covered with clothes, but the room is spotless otherwise. Her furniture is cherry, but her bed is neatly covered with a white duvet.

She faces me and starts to lift my shirt over my head. I stand there and let her. I don’t know if anyone has ever undressed me before, but I do know that I want her to do it again. When she has to get on her tippy toes to get the shirt over my head, I help her out by taking it off myself.

“You look good,” she says once I’m shirtless. She splays her hands against me and caresses my bare chest. She kisses my pecs and runs her tongue along my skin. “You taste good too.”

I lift her shirt over her head and toss it to the floor. She has a nice pair of breasts, and I cup them over her bra. Needing to feel more of her, I unhook it and throw the darn thing across the room.

“Charlie,” she moans when I cover her smooth breasts with my large hands. Her nipples are like little pebbles, and I pull both at the same time. “Oh, God,” she moans. I bend down and kiss the top of her breasts while I feel them in my hands.

When she reaches for my belt, I unzip her shorts and pull them down her toned legs. I don’t know how her body can be firm and soft at the same time, but it is. My fingers slide down the soft skin of her legs as I slowly roll the shorts down. Once they’re off, I take a step back and admire her. She’s in nothing more than a black pair of panties, and I’ve never seen anything more beautiful in my life.

She takes off my belt and pulls down my shorts and boxers at once. I kick them away. One thing I’ve done since getting sober is work out, particularly weightlifting. I didn’t believe my sponsor when she told me exercise was therapeutic, but I promised her I’d give it a try. It’s not only reshaped my bodybut my mind too. It’s helped me not only to focus but it’s given me the high I used to chase getting drunk. She reaches up and touches my pecs again before her delicate fingertips travel south, and her hand wraps around me.