Chance (3 page)

For their next date, Logan
took Charlotte to the park. They went for a lovely walk and a picnic. They had
a nice time together. Things were easy between them. They laughed, flirted and spoke
freely, genuinely appreciating each other. Although they shared a definite
spark of physical attraction, neither one of them acted on it. Much to
Charlotte's surprise and frustration, they remained friends…but with a strong
underlying physical current between them.

Later that week, they
enjoyed a movie at the cinema, leaning into each other and sharing popcorn and
drinks. He took her out for another meal. On one special evening, he took her out
to three different places. They had drinks together, a wonderful meal in a
fancy restaurant and then expensive cocktails in a ritzy bar.

Much to her dismay, Logan
was a perfect gentleman, every time. In less than two weeks, they’d been on
five dates. Well, Charlotte considered their outings to be dates. She wasn't
sure if Logan did. However, throughout all of their time together, he hadn’t
even attempted to kiss her on the lips. She wished he would. She really wanted
to kiss him.

Charlotte wondered if
Logan was holding back advances because of her telling him she didn't want any
relationship when they'd first began spending time together. It seemed very
respectful, if not frustrating, of him. However, she'd been going out of her
way since that night, to give him all kinds of signals she wanted more from
their relationship. She was getting bolder over time, flirting with him almost
shamelessly.

Logan had always paid for
everything they did together. He insisted on it. Charlotte was fine with him
paying, at first. However, eventually, that started to make her feel uncomfortable
and self-conscious. It seemed unfair to her, as if she was taking advantage of
him. He often took her to expensive places, always of his choosing, of course.
She began to feel as though she should order only the most reasonable things
possible. Otherwise, she'd feel as if she were taking advantage of his
generosity. She eventually decided to take matters into her own hands.

“
I’m
taking
you
out this time,” she said to him over the phone.

Charlotte was still at Nyland's
when he called her to arrange picking her up outside her office for coffee at
the end of her day.

“No, no, don’t be silly,
Charlotte. I insist on paying,” Logan responded.

“At least let me pay for
the coffee,” she objected. “Really…I mean, it’s only coffee. It’s not as if
it’s going to break the bank or anything. I can afford it.”

“I couldn’t possibly
allow you to pay,” he continued to say, dismissing the idea.

“Please, Logan. It's
important to me,” she said, quite firmly this time. There was a significant
pause over the other end of the phone.

“You’re very kind,” he
said eventually, his voice quiet. “I don’t deserve you.”

She gave a surprised,
little laugh. “Logan, it’s only coffee.”

This time, however, it turned
out it wasn’t ‘only’ coffee. After enjoying some time in a local coffee house,
they took a walk—hand in hand—to an apartment where an associate of Logan’s
lived. There, they picked up Max. Logan said he was helping his associate with
his dog, as he does on occasion. Max needed a good run.

Naturally, Charlotte
suggested they take him to the park. Once they’d arrived in a large meadow with
nobody else around, Logan let Max off his leash. He ran off barking and jumping,
probably after a squirrel or rabbit. Max was good for that.

“Will he be OK?”
Charlotte asked with a little chuckle. “He’s not going to just… disappear or
anything, right?”

“Oh, no. He'll be fine.
He's just enjoying himself. You're very sweet,” Logan smiled, sliding his arm
around her waist.

She tensed ever so
slightly and then relaxed into him. Despite all of the time they'd spent together,
they’d had very little actual physical contact, with the exception of holding
hands and the occasional brief embrace to say goodbye when they parted company.
In reality, having his arm around her was like a hug. She turned her head to
smile up at him. He was a good four inches taller than she was. She liked tall
men. Charlotte wrapped her arm around his waist in return, slowly cuddling into
his warmth, against the bitter wind of the early evening.

“Kiss me,” he said
quietly. It was so quiet, that at first she barely heard him. She wasn’t even
sure she’d caught the words correctly. Then he said it again, louder and
clearer. “Kiss me. All of this time, we’ve been dating; you haven’t kissed me.
I’m starting to think that you don’t like me that way, at all.”

“Of course, I like you,”
she scrunched up her nose, giving him a weird look. “Why would I spend all of this
time with you if I didn’t, silly?”

“Don’t call me 'silly,'”
he mumbled, and then gave her a squeeze. “Why haven’t you kissed me, then?”

Charlotte couldn’t really
answer that question. In truth, she’d thought about kissing him once or twice
after their first dinner date, but she'd been waiting for him to kiss her.
She'd always thought they were just taking things slowly. She'd assumed that
was what he wanted.

She was definitely
enjoying their friendly and romantic activities together, and had finally admitted
to herself she liked him, as more than a friend. She'd realized whatever they had
together was going to go further…much further, if she had any say about it. Therefore,
she’d been quite happy to maintain the status quo and to enjoy simply being
with him without feeling the need to rush things. However, she did want more.

“Well, I just…I don’t
know…” She didn't feel comfortable launching into any big, long explanation
about her thoughts and feelings for him. It would be way too embarrassing for
her. It had been difficult enough for her to admit to herself she'd wanted more
than mere friendship with him.

However, he sounded as if
he wanted an answer from her. Therefore, she tried for an abbreviated version, something
quick and simple that said pretty much what she'd been thinking.

“I guess, I just thought
we were taking things slowly,” she finally said, “Oh, and isn't it the guys who
are supposed to make the first move and kiss the girls?”

She said the last part
teasingly, of course. She didn’t actually mean it. Luckily, these days, it
could go either way. Anyone could kiss anyone. The old-fashioned, sexist
societal rules and traditions that people had to follow, once upon a time, were
no longer followed.

“Yes,” he chuckled. “Yes,
they are. And I will.”

He dropped his arm from
around her waist then and turned to face her. He looked into her eyes with an
intensity that surprised her and seemed to cause butterflies in her stomach.
Suddenly, Charlotte's desire to kiss him was overwhelming as she quickly licked
her lips. She watched him intently as he closed the distance between their
mouths, finally making the first move.

Logan bent slightly over
her, tilting his head to one side and very slowly pressed his lips against
hers. Her eyes immediately closed, her head moved ever so slightly to tilt in the
opposite direction and her mouth parted to accept his kiss. She leaned into it.
They kissed for a few moments and then his tongue slipped into her mouth and
darted across hers, almost teasingly. Charlotte began to lean farther into him,
to deepen the kiss.

He pulled back and broke
their embrace, smiling down at her.

“Well…I’d say that was a
successful first kiss,” he remarked, standing up straight again and putting his
arm around her once more.

“Y-yes,” Charlotte
stammered, her mind was reeling, her breath was coming more quickly and her
heart was thumping with the thrill of it. She felt a little giddy, even a bit unsteady
on her feet. She couldn’t remember the last time anyone had such a strong
effect on her, especially from one simple kiss. She'd rather enjoyed it and she
wanted more.

“Max!” Logan called his
dog, who immediately came darting back to them, tail wagging enthusiastically.
“Come on, Max…hurry up,” he chastised him fondly as he reattached the leash.

“I've got to walk my girl
back home, haven’t I?” He gazed at Charlotte as he said it, appearing to gauge
her reaction. It was the first time he’d ever referred to her as anything that
signified she was his girlfriend. Even though he’d only made this announcement
to his dog, she felt another rush of excitement.

Is that what I am?
Logan’s 'girl’? His girlfriend?

A rather silly part of
her didn’t even know how it had happened. Their union had been both gradual and
insidious. Yet somehow, she’d been swept away by this man. At that moment, she
was sure being Logan’s girlfriend was exactly what she wanted. The honor of
being his was what she wanted more than anything in the world. It felt
right
,
like the natural progression of where things had been heading between them.

As they walked back to
her house, hand in hand, she felt as though she was floating on air, or maybe, walking
on water seemed more apropos. The world around her seemed to melt away, as if it
was in some kind of distant bubble in which they were no longer a part. They
were together, just Logan and her, alone on a perfect and exciting new
adventure as boyfriend and girlfriend.

***

The next few months
passed as if in a whirlwind. They began seeing each other nearly every day.
Logan almost insisted upon it. He’d call her every morning before work, again during
her lunchtime and again, just as she was finishing up at work for the day. He'd
check what time they were meeting and where.

If another commitment
came up or she didn’t feel like going out because she was too tired, he'd give
a sad, little sigh and would tell her how much he'd miss her.

Charlotte's friends were extremely
excited to hear she had a boyfriend. They were happy for her. “It's about
time!” seemed to be the most common sentiment. Her friends wanted to meet him, out
of curiosity. It was so rare Charlotte would have a guy in her life so, her
friends all wondered what this special man was like.

They'd ask her when she
was going to bring him out. Bethany insisted they'd all go for a drink
together. Logan, however, was not sold on the idea. He said he didn’t feel
comfortable being around large crowds of people, especially people he didn’t
know. He'd once told her being in public spaces made him uneasy.

Charlotte questioned him
about his statement. After all, they were always out in public as a couple.
However, Logan clammed up and refused to elaborate. She'd wondered whether it
had been an excuse because he was nervous her friends wouldn’t like him for
whatever reason. However, that seemed strange, as well. It didn’t seem to fit
with Logan's personality. He was usually so confident and self-assured.

Her commitment to spending
so much time alone with Logan on such a regular basis resulted in her seeing
her friends much less often. She occasionally spoke to them on the phone, via
e-mail or text message, but it had been a while since they’d been out together.
She hadn't seen any of her friends in person, except for the people she worked
with.

Charlotte had no major objections
to the new arrangement. She was so caught up in Logan and the way he showered
her with endless affection and attention she didn’t even miss her friends. He
seemed to have a way of being clingy without getting to the point of annoying
her. Maybe she'd just matured and now was ready to share her life with someone.
It seemed to be the natural progression of things.

Eventually, Charlotte's
friends had begun to express their annoyance with her consistently turning down
their offers for evenings out and shopping days. She was always choosing to
spend her time with Logan. Bethany, who was always the bluntest of her friends,
even told her over the phone that she needed to get out more.

Charlotte just brushed the
comments off and ignored them. She assumed they might be jealous of what she and
Logan had. She doubted any of her friends had partners who wanted to spend as
much time with them as Logan did with her. She also doubted any of their
partners were as attentive and devoted to them, as Logan was to her.

After a month of seeing
each other, they still hadn’t had sex. They’d kissed countless times and often cuddled.
On several occasions, their affection had become so heated, she wanted him
there and then. Yet, he never took their physical relationship any farther. She
wasn't comfortable being the aggressor, speculating there might be a reason for
him to want to take things slowly.

After some time, Charlotte
began to wonder if something was wrong. Was something holding Logan back from
physical intimacy? When he stayed over at her apartment one night after a late
movie, she was sure they'd go farther. They’d even slept in the same bed. He
only wore his boxers and she was only in her bra and panties. Yet again, he
seemed content just to cuddle with her. He didn’t even kiss her that night.

Although Charlotte was
more than a bit frustrated, she decided not to worry about it. She reassured
herself he must be attracted to her, thinking back to the many times they'd
kissed. He'd definitely wanted to touch her; they held each other and cuddled so
frequently. She rationalized perhaps he didn’t believe in sex before marriage.