Beyond the Orange Moon (Mathews Family Book 2) (27 page)

She looked into the eyes that were boring into hers and saw herself through them. As she rolled her hips against him and bit her lip, she felt beautiful—like a goddess.
 

 
“You do things to me I never thought possible,” he said, and closed his eyes at her touch.
 

She could relate. She had never been so possessed by someone. She had never felt so connected, not just emotionally, but physically. When he moved, she moved. He knew exactly where to touch and lick. It was a feeling that lingered everywhere, long after he had left the spot.
 

As he touched her breasts once more, she rocked her hips again. “Charlie,” she moaned and ran her hand up and down the hard length of him.
 

She opened his bedside drawer and, with a smile, held out a new condom and tore it open with her teeth, causing him to flash a wicked grin.
 

For the rest of the day and well into the night, they made love in all kinds of impressive positions and ways. They never got dressed and only stopped to get a snack: an apple to share.
 

She couldn’t get enough of him, nor would she want to. When they finally passed out from exhaustion, they remained in each other’s arms. They were naked, intertwined, and, more importantly, blissfully satisfied.

Chapter Twelve

In the early morning hours, as the sun crept into his bedroom, Charlie quietly thumbed out a text message to Mike:
 

Not coming in today. Couldn’t pull myself away from her.

It was the first time, other than when Meredith passed away, that Charlie had called off work. It was liberating, to say the least.
 

He set his phone back on his nightstand and turned to stare at the stunning woman next to him. She was on her stomach, the sheet so low that it exposed her entire naked back and part of her beautiful bottom. He ran his finger along her skin and pulled the sheet down, exposing more of her body.
 

“Mmmmm,” she let out a small groan. With her eyes closed, she smiled.
 

Her long, blonde hair fanned out all around her with one stray piece hanging over her face. She opened her crystal blue eyes and gave him a sexy look that brought every memory of the day before back to him with one lustful punch.
 

“You glow,” he said, and leaned in to place his lips to the skin of her back.
 

Lucy giggled at that. “I do feel especially glowy today.”

“You should,” he said against her skin, “my little garden.”

He trailed kisses from her shoulders to her spine and all the way down to the small of her back. He climbed on top of her and continued to kiss her back, tasting every inch of her within his reach.
 

From the nightstand, his phone began to ring, and he sat up and growled in frustration. “It could be Dylan. She has Jack. Don’t move,” he said, and grabbed for his phone to look at the screen: Tom Monroe.

Meredith’s father. Damn.
 

He had been avoiding the man for days.
 

“I have to take this.” He kissed her on the cheek. “Don’t move and, for the love of God, do
not
get dressed,” he teased, and covered her up with the blanket.
 

“Oh, trust me, I’m staying right here,” she said with a hint of amusement.
 

Charlie headed into the kitchen where he could talk in private. There was no part of this conversation that he wanted Lucy to be affected by.
 

“Hello?” he asked when he took the call.

“Mr. Mathews,” Tom drawled into the phone. “Where have you been? I’ve been trying to reach you.”

Charlie ran a hand over his face. “I’ve been a little busy, Tom.”
 

“Well, single fatherhood must have you busy. I’m sure you have a hard time keeping it all together.”

“Nope. I can’t say that I do.” Tom Monroe was famous for his backhanded comments. That was one; there would be more. Charlie pinched the bridge of his nose. “Anyway, what’s up?”

Tom scoffed. “What’s up? What’s
up
is that I would like to see my grandson.”

“You will. And, as a matter of fact, you do. You chose to go to Michigan and that’s fine, but when you’re in Arizona, you see him all the time. I’ve never kept him from you.”

“He barely knows us!”

“That’s not true.”
 

“Are you telling me that I’m lying?” Tom asked.
 

Charlie shook his head even though Tom couldn’t see it. “Not at all. I’m just telling you that you do, in fact, see him.”

“We want him to come to Michigan for two weeks next month.”
 

Charlie sucked in a breath, biting down on the anger he felt bubbling up. “Two weeks is too long for my one-year-old to be without me. You said a weekend.”

“We changed our minds.”

Charlie brought his fist up to his mouth. In an attempt to cool his anger, he closed his eyes and drew in a long, calming breath. “Tom, it’s going to be a weekend or nothing at all,” he said through gritted teeth.
 

“Well, I’ll have to see what my attorney has to say about that.”
 

Charlie chuckled and shook his head as he gazed out the window. Tom Monroe had a lot of money and resources; there wasn’t a moment when he didn’t take the opportunity to remind Charlie of that. On the other hand, though, Charlie had an attorney of his own; Tom Monroe didn’t have a leg to stand on if he was trying to prove Charlie unfit.
 

“Mr. Mathews?”
 

“Jesus Christ, Tom. My name is Charlie. I’m your son in-law. I think we can drop the formalities.”

“You’re not my son in-law anymore,” Tom snapped. “I would never call a man who keeps me from my only grandchild a son.”

“I don’t keep him … you know what? No. I’m not going to even keep this bullshit going with you. It’s not worth it.” Charlie stalked into the living room. “You can have him for a weekend and that’s it. I’ll be coming with him, but I’ll find my own place to stay. I will be close, though, so don’t try anything.”

“What would I try?”

“What wouldn’t you try?” Charlie grumbled away from the phone.
 

“What was that?”

“We’ll be there in three weeks. He can stay with you, but I’ll be very close, Tom.” Charlie bent down to retrieve Lucy’s bra. His heart warmed with the memory of how it had ended up on the floor. He ran his finger over the delicate material and smiled. “And I might be bringing someone with me, so you better keep your comments to yourself.”

“
Someone
?” Tom let out a small chuckle. “My, my. You sure do move from woman to woman, don’t you, Mr. Mathews?”

“Not as much as you, I hear,” Charlie retorted. “By the way, how is the wife and mother of your children?”
 

“Excuse me?” Tom bellowed into the phone.

“Look, Tom, we can go back and forth like this all day. You don’t want to do it; I don’t want to do it. Just be satisfied with what I’m offering and let’s hang up.”

“Fine. I better see you in three weeks, Mr. Mathews,” Tom spat into the phone. He was enraged and Charlie was actually okay with that. “And keep your latest
someone
out of my sight!”
 

“She’ll more than likely be wherever I am, so that might be difficult.”

“Well, keep her ass in the car. How dare you spit all over my daughter’s memory! You live off her insurance policy while you bring another woman into her bed!”

“Goddammit, Tom, I haven’t touched that money and you know it. That money belongs to my son. I don’t need it.”

“Well, you certainly aren’t denying bringing other women into my daughter’s bed. I don’t know how you live with yourself.”

Charlie felt his chest sting. That was a low blow. “I’m hanging up now, Tom. Goodbye.”

Before another word could come out of that miserable man’s mouth, Charlie ended the call. He sighed as he raked a hand through his hair. It was three weeks away. He would only have to suffer for a weekend.
 

The Monroes, with the exception of Chloe, had made his life a living hell since the day Meredith passed. Before the funeral had even begun, Tom Monroe was waving papers in his face and offering to take Jackson. Apparently, to the Monroes, grief-stricken fathers can’t take care of their own children.
 

Part of him always felt sorry for them. Their daughter was gone; it was every parent’s worst nightmare to lose a child, no matter how old they were. As a father, Charlie understood this, but he had grown tired of the battle. He tried to be fair and allowed them to take Jackson one weekend per month. He allowed them to stop over whenever they wanted. He invited them to everything.
 

He had been more than fair.
 

In the beginning, he had been easily intimidated by the Monroes and all of their wealth, which he knew equaled power. For nine months, he had allowed them to bully him and make empty threats. Then, one day, after an unexpected visit from a social worker, he’d had enough. He went to see an attorney, who practically laughed at the case.
 

Charlie was a good father; he was loving and attentive. Jackson never went without and he was incredibly happy. His attorney assured him that, even if the case made it to court, the Monroes would lose.
 

From that moment on, he took control of the situation and made it perfectly clear:
he
was Jackson’s father and
he
called the shots. Sometimes it worked, and sometimes it didn’t. Due to the fact that he had yet to be served papers, he was pretty sure that their attorney had probably told them the same thing: they had no case.
 

He picked up the rest of Lucy’s clothes and carried them back to his bedroom. Jonah was at work, but he couldn’t be sure when Dylan would bring Jackson home. If she happened to walk in on the remnants of Lucy’s strip show, she wouldn’t let that conversation go until she was satisfied with all of the answers. This new version of Dylan was annoying.
 

He snuck back into the bedroom and gazed down at Lucy, who had fallen back asleep. She looked like an angel against his white sheets. Her toes peeked out from under the covers and he couldn’t help but lean down and run his finger over one of them. With a smile, he got closer and slipped a toe into his mouth, causing her to laugh into the pillow.
 

He tore the sheet away and crawled onto the bed, where he continued to lick his way up her body from her feet to her legs. He even nipped at the cheeks of her perfect ass, which she seemed to love, before licking his way to her neck and then finally to her ear.
 

“Hmm …” she said as he unwrapped a condom. “I love what comes after that sound.”

Charlie laughed as he rolled the condom on and flipped her onto her back. He lifted her up by her ass and slipped inside her with a long groan.
 

“Morning,” she said breathlessly, and smiled up at him.
 

Charlie rocked into her and smiled. “Morning.”

God help him, he was drunk on anything and everything Lucy would give him. It filled him up and made his chest swell with something he hadn’t felt in a long time. He was alive again, willing to fall to his knees if she asked him to.
 

He thrust deeper and didn’t stop until she was gleaming with sweat and calling out his name as she had every other time. That sound—his name rolling out of her mouth while she panted—was enough to drive him crazy.

After his own climax, he collapsed on top of her, panting. He kissed her neck and groaned when she dragged her fingernails up and down his bare back.
 

“I’m so hungry,” she said when her breathing had calmed.
 

“Let’s get something to eat,” he said, and pressed his lips to her mouth.
 

Charlie made everything he could find in his kitchen: eggs, pancakes, fruit, and toast. Lucy looked on, perched on a stool where she wore nothing but the white sheet from his bed. It was a sexy sight that almost made him burn a few pancakes and overcook the eggs.
 

“Jonah said you couldn’t cook,” Lucy teased.

Charlie chuckled as he flipped a pancake. “If Jonah knew I could make a mean breakfast, he’d expect me to make it for him every day.” He turned and set a plate down in front of her. “Believe me, there’s a reason I don’t tell my brothers everything.”
 

“That’s probably smart,” she said with a smile.
 

“I have to go to Michigan in three weeks,” he said after sitting down beside her.
 

Lucy took a bite of her pancake and set her fork down. “For how long?”
 

The disappointment in her voice was enough to calm his raging nerves over what he was about to say next. “Just a weekend, but I want you to go with me.”

“I’ve never been to Michigan,” she said, and popped a grape into her mouth.