Never Say Never (The Ladies Who Brunch 1)

She reaches for the hem of her shirt and rips it over her head, tossing it somewhere to the floor. Her breasts are covered in a white cotton bra that is surprisingly sexy given how simple it is. But I don’t give a fuck what she’s wearing—it doesn’t change how badly I want to feel her wrapped around me. “Then fuck me, Damien.”

“Jesus, are you sure?” I ask, running my hands up and down her sides, relishing in the softness of her skin and how sweet she smells.

“I wouldn’t be telling you I want this if I wasn’t serious, Damien.” She grabs my chin, forcing me to look into her eyes. “I know I was hesitant about this at first, okay?”

“Uh huh,” I reply, my lips squished together.

“But I’m dying to feel you inside of me. We’re already this far over the line—might as well go all the way. We’d be reaping the benefits of our fake relationship, like you said.”

I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want that too, but the deeper I get pulled into her orbit, the more I feel like I won’t be able to come back out. But do I even want that?

I do, but I also don’t want her regretting what happens between us either. Charlotte definitely seems more invested in our fake relationship now, but she’s still a flight risk. I know this woman—she’s going to convince herself of something that will send her running for the hills, questioning everything, and making me chase after her again.

She releases my mouth as she waits for me to speak. But on instinct, I reach up and start to massage her shoulders as I think about how I want to respond.

I don’t want her to think I’m denying her, that I don’t want her because I really fucking do. I just don’t know if tonight is the right time.

“Charlotte, I want you too, babe. I do, but…”

She closes her eyes and moans, throwing her head back as I work her shoulders. “God that feels good.” And then she begins to rock herself over my length.

“Fuck, Charlotte. What are you doing?”

Her head falls forward again as she keeps moving and I keep rubbing my thumbs down the side of her neck. “I’m just doing what feels right.”

“You’re trying to make me come in my pants, aren’t you?” I ask breathlessly, fighting the urge to flip her over and pound into her so fucking hard.

“Do you think that I can? Or is this yet another competition you want to win?”

“Oh, come on, Char. You know I love a challenge.”

And the second after the words leave my lips, Charlotte freezes with my hands still on her shoulders, her eyes wide and her mouth agape. “Oh my God, it was you,” she whispers before launching herself off my lap.

“What?”

“The massage!” she shouts, holding her hands up over her mouth now. “I can’t believe I didn’t put it all together before.”

Fuck. Shit. Fuck.“Look, Charlotte. I can explain…”

“How? How do you explain how you ended up rubbing me down before we ever crossed paths with one another?” And then another lightbulb goes off, her eyes indicating so. “Jeffrey! You told me your name was Jeffrey.”

“It was the first name that popped into my head!”

“Jesus.” She spins away from me, over to her purse and starts shoving her clothes into her other bag that spilled out, but her shirt is still on the floor over by the couch. “I’m a moron.”

“No, you’re not,” I say, walking over to her and grabbing her arm. “Please, Charlotte. Just let me explain.”

She twists to face me, shrugging me off. “Is that why you wanted me to agree to this thing? Because you saw my naked body and wanted to know if you could see the rest? If I would be desperate enough to sleep with you? Was I just another challenge to you?”

“I didn’t see your entire body, Charlotte,” I correct her. “If you recall, you were face down the entire time.”

With a narrow gaze at me, she goes silent before she reaches back and frees the clasp on her bra, slipping it down her arms and then throwing it to the floor. “There. Now you’ve seen it all.”

Jesus. Her tits are magnificent, but I don’t feel like this is the time to mention that. “Charlotte…”

“Oh, wait. That’s not everything, right?” And then she shoves her yoga pants and underwear down to the floor, kicking them to the side as well. “There, Damien. Now you’ve seen it all. Happy now?”

“Fucking A, Charlotte. Will you calm down?” I’m going insane trying to get her to listen to me, but it’s hard to tell my dick that now’s not the time for him to pop up to play.

Charlotte’s body is entirely bare, standing there before me with so much hate in her eyes. But there’s lust there too, and I know I fucking feel it because it’s taking everything in my body not to reach out and spank her ass for putting us in this situation.

“Don’t tell me to calm down. I was practically throwing myself at you and you were coming up with reasons to push me away. So which is it?” she asks. “Do you want me or not?”

“Of course I fucking want you, but not like this. Not until you understand how this all happened!” I throw my hands in the air, pulling on my hair on the way back down.

“Fine. Explain it to me,” she says, crossing her arms over her chest as she taps her foot, butt-ass naked in front of me.

I’m trying to convince my brain to keep thinking even though all of my blood is traveling south right now, making this task very difficult. But I’ll be damned if she leaves after this.

“Fine. The day I saw you at The Chop Shop is when I realized you might be able to help me out with the lie I told. So, I went to your office the next day to speak to you—say hello, lay some groundwork before I asked you for a favor. But when I walked into your office, you were already under the sheet on the massage table. You thought I was there to give you a massage, and the last thing I wanted was for you to look up and see me and freak the fuck out, especially since it had been twelve years since we’d seen each other and you were basically naked at the time.” She continues to glare at me, but doesn’t say anything so I continue.

“And you said you were in a hurry, so what was I supposed to do? Walk away? Tell you who I was and make the situation worse?” Her face starts to soften. “So yeah, I gave you a fucking massage. And you know what, I’d do it again. And asking you to do this for me had nothing to do with what I saw under that sheet, Charlotte. In fact, after I left your office and realized how much I fucking enjoyed touching you, I should have left you alone. But I couldn’t. Yes, your ass is magnificent, and I would love nothing more than to worship your entire fucking body for hours…” I take a step closer to her as her arms drop by her sides now. “But none of that has to do with how I truly feel about you, with how talking to you and having you back in my life has made me feel…” I pull her closer to me. “So I’m sorry. I should have said something, but I can’t regret where it’s gotten us. Not now.” She stands there for a moment, her eyes bouncing back and forth between mine before she pushes me off her and starts to walk away. “Where are you going?”

“This was a mistake,” she says as she moves across the room, picking up pieces of her clothing while trying to put them back on at the same time. “I can’t believe I went along with this…”

“Charlotte, I know I fucked up, okay? But please don’t leave.”

She spins around to face me, her eyes wide with shock. “Why shouldn’t I?”

“Because I don’t want you to.”

“Damien…this never should have happened. God, I’m an idiot thinking that this was…that we were…”

I stride over to her, gripping the back of her neck with one hand while cupping the side of her face with another. She’s still naked, but I’m trying not to think about that right now. “Why not?”

“Because it’s you! And me! We hate each other and this was just supposed to be platonic and momentary. It never should have gotten this far!”

“Lust can sometimes feel a lot like hate, Charlotte.”

She scoffs, closing her eyes but then turns her face away from me.

I can’t let her leave, not after the past few weeks, not after watching her submit to me and feeling her wrapped around my fingers and digging herself into my life. I have no idea what the fuck this means moving forward, but all I know is that at this moment, I don’t want to let her go.