Legal Legacy 2 (Surrendering Charlotte Chronicles Book 10) (3 page)

“Always,” he said and
he claimed her beautiful mouth in a searing kiss that rivalled the wedding kiss between their parents.

“Ta
ke it upstairs or out on the lawn, please,” Atticus grumbled, as he scanned the room hoping for a glimpse of Skyler.

“Okay you guys,” Hadley said, breaking free of Holden and his mind-boggling kiss. She looked into his eyes to let him know
that they were good, they were meant to be together, and then she quickly gathered her wits before she spoke again. “We really should pay attention to the happily married couple and did you hear that they’re spending their honeymoon studying wine making and shopping for furniture in Italy and France? There’s this two-story library upstairs that Alex filled with a zillion first editions so Mom could have her pick of reading material, but there’s still not one single sofa in this palace to sit on! They hired some decorator to the stars from L.A. to go ahead and furnish Charlie’s room— actually, he has an entire suite with two bedrooms, a huge study and a media room! And the same decorator did all the Christmas trees throughout the house, so even though there’s basically no furniture yet there are like twenty or thirty eighteen foot tall perfectly decorated freshly cut Noble Firs. Mom says she’s been busy putting her affairs in order so she and Charlie could move up here to this big-time wonderland. She also said she and Alex personally purchased the one piece of furniture that is absolutely essential for an enduring marriage. They bought a
ginormous
carved canopy bed that probably belonged to Henry the eighth or Marie Antoinette.”

“Oh joy!
Henry the eighth and Marie ‘let-them-eat-cake’ Antoinette— not very good marriage references if you know what I mean. Someone is bound to lose their head,” Mia said as she joined the little group, her eyes narrowing as she noticed the way Beau was practically drooling over Hadley. Hadley just rubbed Mia the wrong way, maybe it was because she had that inadvertent way of capturing the attention of every man in the room— just like Charlotte. The apple didn’t fall too far from the tree where those two were concerned, that was for sure. Hadley had won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her very first film role and in her acceptance speech she had cried like a baby and dedicated it to her father who had died only months before.
Best actress indeed, what a little show off
. Like mother like daughter, Charlotte had kept two men at her beck and call for more than twenty years and it wouldn’t surprise her if Hadley didn’t do the same fucking thing to Holden. She would definitely have to talk to her twin brother about that, not that he or Atticus would want to hear a word spoken against ‘Little miss perfect celebrity who can do no wrong’,
ugh
, it made her want to throw up.

“For the record, Marie Antoinette never s
aid to let starving peasants eat cake, that’s a distorted urban legend. Besides she was probably too busy stuffing her pretty little mouth with petite fours to give a damn what was going on outside her country palace right before the guillotine dropped and separated her head from her body,” Hadley said and she nudged Keller toward Mia, they would be a good match she was thinking. Mia with her bitchy ways and probable insanity inherited from Maddie would be lucky to hook up with Keller. It turned out that Keller must have about a zillion extra brain cells because he was finishing college in the spring after only three years and then going on to medical school to become a psychiatrist. Keller was totally hot but he was beyond shy and he never had time for girls with his constant studying. Hadley wasn’t Mia’s biggest fan but she figured it would do wonders for Keller to have Mia drag him to her bed and loosen him up a bit. And hopefully while she was fucking his brains out he would use his genius IQ to unfuck whatever was wrong inside Mia Bly’s pretty head.

“Keller, you remember Mia, don’t you, Holden’s twin sister? When we were sorting out the sleeping arrangements for the guest cottages Evangeline somehow put you and Mia together. Are you okay with that, how about you, Mia? It definitely has two bedrooms but the nights get cold up here so stay warm anyway you can, you know?” Hadley said and Mia got that witchy gleam in her eye and Keller turned beet red and smiled nervously.

“Sure, no problem,” Mia said licking a few drops of champagne from her lips and smiling like a cat as she glanced out of the corner of her eye to be sure Atticus was listening. “It’s Christmas Eve after all, the night when Santa Claus comes, so why shouldn’t everyone?”

“Be quiet
, all of you, Mom and Alex are going to dance the first dance of the evening,” Atticus said, stopping to watch his parents dance before he and Holden and Jack slipped out to meet the helicopter.

“This s
ong is so romantic! I’m totally impressed that Alex and Evangeline planned this entire wedding. Mom had sort of lost the ability to enjoy herself, but I’ll bet she gets with the program when she and Alex go upstairs and retire to that wicked big bed!” Hadley said and she nestled back against Holden with her firm little ass planted squarely against his crotch.
Let him think about what he’s missing when he’s off playing war games and Reef and Beau are escorting me around Los Angeles
, she thought. And although she knew it was necessary for him to feed his passion for risk just as she felt the pull of stardom, it broke her heart that he was intent on following Atticus to the ends of the earth no matter how high the cost.

Chapter Two

“
Dance with me Mrs. Bly, I chose this song especially for us and I think it says it all,” Bly said and then he swept Charlotte into his arms and stopped her words with a long deep kiss as the band played, then they danced so closely that they might as well have been one person.

The
band played and the singer crooned the words beautifully as if Etta James herself was serenading the newlyweds. Guests watched as Bly and Charlotte danced, and many of them, Evangeline included, wiped away a happy tear as the words of the song filled the room.

“
At last my love has come along, my lonely days are over and life is like a song. At last the skies above are blue, my heart was wrapped up in clover the night I looked at you. I found a dream that I could speak to, a dream that I can call my own. I found a thrill to press my cheek to, a thrill that I have never known. You smiled, oh and then the spell was cast and here we are in heaven, for you are mine at last
.”

“Take me to bed,
Bly. Take me to our magnificent marriage bed right now,” Charlotte said when the song ended and they clung to each other with his raging erection pressed hard against her. “It was your idea to keep me waiting until our wedding night and I did hear the minister refer to us as Mr. and Mrs. Bly. I’d say it’s time for you to make love to your wife.”

“
Ah, Charlotte. Making love to you is my reason for living. But we should at least say goodnight to our children and our friends. Come on, we’ll say ‘thank you for coming to our wedding’ to a few people and then I’m only letting you out of bed tomorrow long enough to watch Charlie open his Christmas presents.”

“Mom, Alex, congratulations,” Atticus said, he and Holden and Jack were
heading for the door but he couldn’t leave without kissing his mother goodbye.

“Atti?
” Charlotte said and a sudden chill gripped her heart as he bent to kiss her cheek.

“I love you
Mom, and I’m happy for you, this is the way Dad wanted it to be for all of us. He’s still watching over us so stop worrying so much and let yourself love Alex. It’s really okay, you both deserve everything good that life has to offer. I have to follow my own path, wherever it takes me.”

“Son,”
Bly said grasping Atti’s hand and pulling him into a fatherly hug. “Your mother and I are tired from all the excitement but we’ll see you in the morning. You and Holden don’t have to leave tonight do you? Surely you have a few days to spend…”

“We have to get back, it’s just part of the job, training
missions twenty-four/seven for the first couple of years at least. Has anyone seen Skyler lately?” Atticus said and he and Alex both pushed the pesky locks of hair from their foreheads at the same time.

“She went into town with Reef,” Hadley said, giving her big brother a hard look. “She felt the overwhelming need to get away for some reason.”

“Congratulations to you and Dad, Charlotte,” Holden said, hugging her tight so that she laughed at how alike he and Atticus and Bly were physically. They were so similar in height and size, Atticus was an inch or so taller but it was easy to see they were related.

“Hey there’s a helicopter outside and it’s military, I can tell!
Whoa, it’s here for you isn’t it Atti? I wish I could go too.” Charlie said and he looked at Atticus with a longing in his eyes that caused Charlotte’s heart to clench even harder than before.

“Take care of Mom, buddy.”
Atticus said, drawing Charlie to him for a quick hug. He was taken aback suddenly realizing how tall his little brother had gotten and how much he looked like Finn now that he was a teenager. “Watch over each other and take care of our family, okay? And Hads, tell Skyler that I… will definitely be back.” Atticus looked from Hadley to his mother and Bly and then to Charlie and Mia. They all nodded silently and watched as he quickly walked away followed by Holden and Jack.

“Hey Charlie,” Hadley said
looping her arm through his and drawing him onto the dance floor as Charlotte and Bly prepared to cut the towering white-on-white wedding cake. “Let’s dance and then eat some of that scrumptious lobster they’re serving and then stuff ourselves with cake. Sky should be back any minute and I thought she and I would sleep in your extra bedroom tonight so we can stay up and see what Santa has in store for us in the morning.”

“Cool!”
Charlie said. “But I wish I could go up in that helicopter just once.”

*

When Bly reached the bottom of the grand double staircase he swept Charlotte into his arms and he carried his laughing bride up to their bedroom taking the stair-steps two at a time.

“I feel like
Scarlett O’Hara and you are like a young bull raging up those stairs and down this ridiculously long hallway,” Charlotte said, she was already pushing his tuxedo jacket off his shoulders, untying his bowtie and popping the buttons off his shirt in her urgency to touch him, to feel his body against her hands and mouth and tongue after such a long time. She hadn’t been with him, hadn’t felt his body inside of hers since before Charlie was born, the summer when Bly first met Atticus more than fourteen years before.

Bly kicked open the door to their bedroom at last and stood near the bed and let her hot slim body slip down his.
“Charlotte, Charlotte. You are everything to me, everything good in this world and I’ve waited so long, I might not last the first time we make love. But be patient, I intend to keep you awake and craving my body as much as I crave yours. His fingers were frantically fumbling at the tiny buttons on her dress until she couldn’t wait any longer for the feel of his skin against hers. She was past caring about the damn dress and at that moment she didn’t care or consider it a sacrilege to ruin the exquisite Chanel creation. She placed her slender hands over his large ones and forced him to tear it off of her. The corners of his mouth lifted into a smile immediately and his eyes sparkled with the knowledge of what it meant to her to have him rip this particularly fine dress from her body in her haste to have him.

“This is how I want you from now on, Charlotte,
hot and flushed, panting and eager and wanting only me. Desperate for my hands and my mouth on your skin, needing my cock to keep you filled and sore and still wanting more. You’ll remember how it is to require my touch and my body to make you come. Ah, Charlotte, we were made for each other, I won’t let you deny that ever again.”

“No. Yes. Please. Hurry.” Disconnected words were all she could manage as the fire inside her built and raged and threatened to consume her. It had been more than a year since she had made love and far longer since she had
let herself feel passion for Bly. She was sure that it would take only the slightest kiss or touch from this marvelous man who was now her husband and she would surely ignite and burn up in a blaze of glory.

The white dress fell
in pieces to her feet and his breath hitched as she stood before him in a lacy barely-there confection of bra, panties, garter belt and silk stockings. He muttered
fuck!
under his breath as he knelt to unclasp the ankle straps of her stilettos, slipping them off and peeling down the sheer stockings as his lips moved up the length of her long coltish legs. When his nose and mouth reached the apex of her thighs he breathed her in she shuddered as his long fingers drifted over the wet folds of her sex. “Bly!” she gasped reaching down to clutch at his broad shoulders and draw him up to her so that their lips met in a ravenous kiss.

His hands cupped her fine little ass and he lifted her
onto the bed as her hands flew to his fly and freed him. His erection was long and thick and heavy as her hands guided it to the trembling opening of her sex. She was on the verge of orgasm just from his nearness and when he bent to kiss her, his tongue pushing past her lips and claiming what was his, she exploded and was happily lost. He thrust into her then quickly, almost violently as he opened her tight wet pussy and she arched toward him craving the shock of his size. The throbbing ropey veins of his engorged cock pressing against her most delicate tissues, she reveled in that overly full feeling that was overwhelmingly and erotically Bly.