Page 35 of Seeking Happily Ever After

In a different time.

“How about we pick out your second favorite ring, then?”

She smiled and nodded. “I’m sorry, Nick. Really. I’m not usually so…sentimental about this kind of thing.”

“It’s all good. I understand.” He took her hand in his and squeezed gently. “What about we go with something you can wear later then? A gift from me.”

For the next few minutes they looked at rings, and finally decided on one they were both happy with. A round cut diamond, surrounded by chips of ruby, her mother’s birthstone. It was pretty, but not too flashy. Char liked it, Nick thought it was expensive enough to be suitable, and most importantly, it wasn’t her dream ring. Because that ring deserved to be on her finger in an entirely different circumstance.

The idea settled deep into his heart.

A maybe.

Aone day.

ChapterTen

It didn’t takethe three of them long to fall into an easy rhythm in the guest house. It was small, certainly. But they made it work. Charlotte couldn’t help but think maybe it was the close proximity to each other all the time that helped the bond between the three of them grow so strongly, so quickly. But even Amelia seemed to enjoy Charlotte’s presence, smiling and laughing more every day.

As far as Charlotte and Nick, once they’d made the decision to keep things light, with no expectations, it had opened up a whole new comfort level between them. They kissed easily, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. She knew Damon and Katie had noticed their increased intimacy, too. She’d seen the raised eyebrows and the smiles and shakes of their heads when they were all together, but she didn’t care. They were having funandhelping the custody case. Surely when Susan did make her visit, she’d notice the closeness, too.

There was no way not to.

In the evening, over glasses of wine, they would cuddle and kiss and fill each other in on their various personal details that a caseworker might ask if and when she ever popped in for her visit, but they still hadn’t taken their relationship to the next level. Not that Char didn’t want to. She did.

So badly that at times it was hard to focus on anything else, like the matter at hand. Amelia.

“So when do you think it will happen?” Charlotte asked Nick as she returned from the bedroom after laying Amelia down to sleep. It had been just over a week since she’d moved in and they’d started playing house together, and there’d been no sign of the caseworker popping in again.

In fact, as far as Charlotte knew, nothing had happened in the case at all. At least, nothing Nick had told her. Not that he needed to tell her anything, but Charlotte couldn’t help but be invested in the outcome. Not that she wouldn’t have been anyway, but now, after living with Nick and Amelia and seeing firsthand how amazing he was with her and how much love he had for her, she couldn’t imagine the little girl being anywhere else. Shebelongedwith her daddy. One hundred percent.

“I have no idea.” Nick finished up putting away the plates he’d just finished washing, hung up the dishtowel, and turned around. “Honestly, I thought it would have happened by now. I don’t know why. I mean, I know these things take time, but I’m not used to waiting for things.”

And just like that, her focus on the matter at hand was broken, and desire flared through her.

“Is that right?” She crossed the room until she stood in front of him. She lowered her eyelids and bit her bottom lip when she got close. “What else aren’t you used to waiting for?” She reached up and let her fingers trace the stubble on his chin. He’d started going longer and longer between shaves. It was unexpected from him. And she liked it. It was gruff and sexy.

Char wasn’t usually so forward. In fact, in every one of her past relationships, she’d always been a little tentative, or shy even. She couldn’t pinpoint where the change in attitude was coming from, but something about Nick brought it out in her, and…maybe it was their situation, and the fact that there was no real pressure on their relationship. Because it wasn’t even a real relationship. It was make-believe, with no expectations, and that made it so much easier to put herself out there and go after what she wanted. Even if it was temporary.

Which was exactly why she was more than ready to go after something else she’d been wanting more and more of lately. And that was only natural, right? It had beensolong since she’d felt anything. So long since the feel of a man’s lips on hers had sparked something deep inside. She was beyond overdue to feel sexy and desirable. She craved it.

Needed it.

For too long, Billy had used sex as a weapon. Withholding it or demanding it as the mood struck. But she was past that; she’d worked through it. Put it in her past. And now…she needed more.

She was pretty sure Nick would agree that this was exactly what they both needed.

And he wasn’t complaining either, as he put his hands on her hips and held her firmly in his grasp. “Oh, I think you know what I’m not used to waiting for.” He tugged her toward him until his lips crushed hers. One hand slipped behind her head and he held her close as his tongue twisted with hers.

Her body liquefied under his attentions the way it always seemed to, and she melted into the kiss, pushing herself closer to him until they were pressed back up against the kitchen counter. It had been a long time since she’d been intimate with a man, and even longer still since she’d enjoyed it.

Instinctively, Charlotte knew she would more than enjoy any kind of physical activity with Nick. If their kisses were anything to go by.

And oh man, they sure were something to go by.

She was more than ready to take this—whatever it was that they were doing—to the next level. Char groaned and let her mouth slip away, so she could press kisses on his neck. She inhaled the scent of him, fueling her desire as she alternatively sucked and nibbled on his neck, eliciting moans from him that were making it increasingly difficult to not tear his clothes off right there in the kitchen.

But then again, why not?

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