Love Renewed (Love Trilogy) (4 page)

She rolled her eyes, knowing it was juvenile of her, but unable to resist. She stepped back, holding open the door to let him pass by. "You may as well so we can get this over with."

Trevin was not one to pass up an invitation when it came to Charlotte, even if she issued it with the enthusiasm of someone about to get a dental exam. As he stepped inside, he made sure to deliberately brush his arm against her chest while walking past and relishing the sudden intake of her breath. Taking a seat on the couch nearby, he studied her as she closed the door, then walking over to the chair by the fireplace and sitting.

Trevin couldn't believe she let him in the house, let alone sitting in the same room as him again. Charlotte was just as pretty as always, maybe even more so than in the past. She had filled out in those ten years, with slightly larger breasts and wider hips.
 
He was fairly sure her ass had gotten bigger as well, but couldn't really see it to get confirmation at this point.

She coughed and his eyes shot to her face, where she was smirking. She crossed her arms over her chest in a blatant nod to his staring. He felt awkward, knowing she had caught him checking her body out.

"You have not changed much," she observed, giving him a quick once over even as she knew herself to be a fibber at that moment. "Except perhaps that you've finally learned to cut your hair."

He laughed then, causing her to blush. Leaning forward, he stared at her intently.

"You have changed though and I think that you look wonderful."

"Thank you." Charlotte replied to his compliment sarcastically. "I'm sure I'm not the first, or last, woman you will say that to. I do question if you mean it or not."

Trevin frowned. "You know me Charlotte. I am not one to give out false flattery. I never have been so I'm hardly going to start now."

"Do I know you, truly?
 
I obviously didn't know you as well as I thought I did ten years ago, so I think it's safe to say I don't know you now either." She crossed her arms over her chest and sat back with a frown of her own.

"We should talk about that.
 
It wasn't what you thought it was."

Charlotte scoffed. "No, I don't want to discuss it. I'm sure you will tell me that isn't really what happened, but I am not inclined believe you. I know what I saw."

"How am I supposed to prove it to you? It was so long ago, but I didn't cheat on you, Charlotte.
 
I loved you."

Lifting a brow in disbelief, she uncrossed her arms and stood up. "That's not my problem Trevin. You were disheveled with an unbuttoned shirt on while a girl who was only wearing a bra had her arms wrapped around your neck and you two were kissing quite passionately. I'd say that is pretty hard to argue with." She walked towards the door.

In that second, Trevin knew Charlotte would never just take his word for it.
 
As she walked towards him, he felt he had to show her his feelings. Abruptly he stood, blocking her path to leave the room, and then pulled her body against his as her arms automatically came up to push him away.

Before she could do anything to protest, he lowered his mouth to hers.

Chapter Three

I should have seen it coming
, Charlotte thought just a second before she found herself in Trevin's arms with his lips upon hers. She hadn't responded yet, standing limply in his arms with her eyes squeezed shut and her mouth closed, her arms trapped between their bodies. Her body was slowly softening, surrendering even as she thought about how much she didn't want this - actually, how he was the one who didn't deserve this.

Trevin growled in frustration at her lack of reciprocation, bringing his arms up from her back to lightly grasp the back of her neck for a better hold with one hand and slipping the other down her body to grip her ass, pushing to bring her front close to his body.

"Kiss me, Sprite," he whispered against her mouth, nipping her lower lip with his teeth just enough to elicit a gasp from her and taking advantage of it by swooping in with his tongue to kiss her more passionately.

Moaning at the use of his nickname for her and the subsequent conquering of her mouth, Charlotte relaxed against him, kissing him back. Trevin moaned in appreciation, gliding his hand up into her hair to grip it, angling her head to kiss her deeper.

She slid her arms up his chest, the silk of his shirt whispering against her palms like a long lost lover saying “hello”. Sliding passed his collar, she wrapped her arms around his neck, standing up on tip toe to get as close as possible. His arm tightened to keep her there with his hand splayed out on her ass, squeezing slightly.

Oh, how she remembered this. They had always fit so well together even with their differences in height. Being in the same room with him was enough to turn her on and always had been, but kissing Trevin was like nothing else she'd ever experienced. Her whole body tingled and she instantly wanted more.

She'd kissed a boy or two before dating Trevin, but the only person she'd kissed since then had been Jack which had always been rather lackluster.
 
Even though she knew now that it was due to his having more interest in men than in women, she still couldn't help comparing the two of them as Trevin's hands started to roam her body.

Jack had been sweet, but utterly lacking in passion during their marriage. He was her best friend and her confidant, but lovemaking had always been awkward and quick.
 
After a few years, they had gotten into a rhythm, but after she became pregnant with Douglas, the lovemaking had stopped completely. That's when she knew something was wrong, but she had never expected to discover what she had about Jack's sexual preferences.

Trevin's kiss had awakened the sleeping part of her that hadn't been this close to someone in over five years. She felt thirsty for it, as if it was a drink of water she'd longed for in all this time, in the desert that had become her love life. When his hand glided up the side of her body and skimmed under her breast, she made a small exclamation that quickly turned into a groan of desire when his hand cupped it.

Charlotte's mind raced along with her heart. Her nipple puckered under his ministrations, her hair was falling from its bun and her arms were around his neck, holding on like he was her lifeline. She knew she had to stop, but it felt so nice that she just didn’t want it to end right then.

Just one more moment
, she was saying to herself, when Trevin started to pull away instead.

~*~

Trevin was relishing the feel of Charlotte in his arms.
 
It had been so long and he had missed her.
 
Even though he'd moved on after being unable to locate her, which he'd spent a good year doing, he'd never forgotten her.

Kissing her again was amazing. He wanted to devour her right then and there. He had been so afraid she would push him away but she didn’t. Instead, she had caved, kissing him back so sweetly; as if she had been starved for a taste of him after all this time too.

When she wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned up into the kiss, he felt like crowing in victory. She fit so perfectly against his body and he wanted to savor every moment of this long overdue kiss.
 
He put all his frustrations into it, showing her with his body how much he craved her; how much he'd
always
craved her since the first moment he'd laid eyes on her.

Trevin roamed her body, his free hand traveling over the curve of her waist and around the front, cupping his hand over her breast. Charlotte had always had nice ones. When they were younger, her breasts were perky and on the smaller side but fit perfectly into his hands.
 
Now he was sure they were bigger but couldn't really know specifically due to her bra.
 
He squeezed slightly, enjoying the noises she made as he did so.

While his body was begging him to explore her further, in his heart he knew that taking it too far could backfire. If he was able to get her into bed, he knew it would be great but with the way she felt about him, there is no telling what problems that would cause. He wanted her to trust him but taking advantage of her before she was ready wasn't going to do him any favors.

So, he pulled away slowly, watching her face as he did so.

Charlotte mewled a little before opening her eyes, which had gone from her normal dark brown to almost black with her desire. She brought a hand up to her face, pressing her fingers against her lips as if she wanted to instill the feeling of his kisses in her mind. He grinned and released her slowly, the balls of her feet touching the floor again before he let go.

"You always were an excellent kisser," she commented, seeming to pull herself together again and putting up that wall he had gotten past so easily just moments ago. When he grinned wider at this, she scowled at him.

Laughingly Trevin replied, "And you always passionately responded as you did just now. It's good to know that some things never change."

Crossing her arms over her chest, she instantly became defensive. "You are the one who changed everything and you can't fix it, as much as I gather you would like to. I think you should leave now."

There it was, just as he thought. She wasn't ready to let him in, but at least he still had the passion between them to try to persuade her with. Somehow that would get through to her, if he couldn't figure out how to prove he had not cheated on her.

He nodded, surprising her since she'd expected him to try arguing with her. "I'm sure I will see you later, Charlotte." He touched her face gently with his thumb before dropping his hand and walking out the front door.

She knew he was right.
 
He
would
see her again - and she wasn't quite sure how to feel about that.
 
Letting out a sigh, she headed back upstairs to her work for a little bit before picking up Douglas at school.

Halfway up the steps, a curious question crept into her mind.
 
What had Trevin been doing at the school that morning? He didn’t have any family with child he could be dropping off for them and as far as she knew, he didn’t have any kids. Was there something else she should know about after all these years she’d been gone, such as if he had children or not?

If he had a child...whom had he had one with? She didn't even know if he was married or not. Since he obviously hadn't respected the fact they were engaged, it wouldn't surprise her if he was and had kissed her anyway.

Her anger renewed, she knew the next time she saw him she would give him quite the dressing down!

~*~

Later that day, Charlotte went to pick up Douglas from school. She couldn't help but surreptitiously search for Trevin while waiting for Douglas to come outside. He was nowhere to be seen and she shook her head at the unexpected feeling of sadness at this knowledge, since she wasn't so sure she
should
be hoping to see him. Although this made her theory about him having a child less likely; maybe she had been mistaken and he was there for other reasons but she couldn't fathom what those reasons would be.

As they got into the car, Douglas couldn't seem to help himself from chattering.

"It was so neat mommy! The teacher has this pet iguana and it was putting its tongue out over and over! She said we couldn't touch him but I wanted to touch him. I want a pet iguana mommy, can we get one? Can we?" He smiled at her with such joy that her heart squeezed with happiness while she tried to temper her response in order to avoid upsetting him.

"It's 'may we' and I will think about it. Animals are a big responsibility and require lots of work."

"I know but they are so neat mom! I want one! I promise I will take care of it! Please!"

"I said I will think about it." Charlotte didn't like disappointing him but she wasn't sure he was quite ready for caring full-time for a pet. She secretly hoped he would forget about it.

Realizing his mother wasn't going to say yes or no right at this moment, Douglas gave up. He was unusually quiet for the rest of the way home as he daydreamed about the pet iguana he wanted, giving time for Charlotte to reflect upon what she was going to do about Trevin.

His insistence that he hadn't cheated on her was not something she could ignore. She knew what she had seen with her own eyes. He could not deny that the woman had been in her bra nor that he was disheveled with his shirt undone and that they were kissing. So why was he insistent that he hadn't cheated? What did she not know that she missed in those few moments where it was right before her very eyes?

Charlotte had never mulled over what she had seen. She had been so hurt and upset that she left as quickly as possible, starting a whole new life. She felt it now that she thought about it and didn't know how to handle it. And, most of all, she still didn't know why he hadn't run after her and explained himself. She'd ran straight home and stayed there until that evening; why hadn't he come to her house right away if he had been so innocent?

It was those thoughts that made her so angry and hurt. He hadn't cared, how could he have when he did nothing to stop her from fleeing his father’s house? It made no sense to Charlotte, but she put it aside for now, as they finally arrived home.

Anna was in the process of cooking dinner, the aroma of homemade lasagna filling the air as they walked in.

"Grandma! Look at what I made in school today!" Douglas was waving his picture from art class. Taking the picture from him, Anna smiled, seeing that it was a drawing of her, him and his mother. Douglas had never gotten to meet Charlotte's dad, as he'd died the year before Douglas was born.

"It's great Douglas!
 
You have such talent for a young man!" He beamed at her, looking so much like his father at that moment. "I have to go get ready for dinner; mommy said so on the way in!"

After he ran out of the room, and up the steps, Anna gave Charlotte a soft smile. "He is such a sweetie. He reminds me of you as a child," she commented, her eyes filling with tears. "Your father would have said the same."