Page 28 of Charm

“You know who it is.” Joe laughs. “Let me in. I have this chocolate dessert thing for you.”

“You brought me dessert?” I ask as I lean against the door.

“Don’t sound so surprised,” he says in a tone I can barely make out. “You knew I’d come back tonight.”

After unlocking the door, I open it swiftly. “I didn’t know that.”

His gaze travels up and down my body. “Tell me you’re naked under that.”

I do one better. I show him. With a quick tug, the sash of the robe gives way, and it falls open.

“Fuck,” he groans. “You get cake later. I want you now.”

Stunned by the need in his voice, I can only nod in acknowledgement.

In one effortless movement, he drops the box in his hand on the foyer table, deposits his eyeglasses next to it, and wraps his hands around my waist.

He gives the door a kick with his shoe, sending it flying shut with a thud. “I haven’t stopped thinking about you since I left you earlier.”

“But, you had work to do,” I say coyly as he plants a trail of light kisses over my neck.

“I got done what needed to be done.” His gaze finds mine. “Now, I get to do what I’ve wanted to all night.”

“What’s that?” I ask, knowing that whatever it is, I’m going to enjoy it a hell of a lot.

He pushes me back a step and then another. “What do you think?”

I stare at him as he continues marching me backward. I want to remember him forever, so I catalog the shape of his eyes and the slope of his forehead in my memory. I’ll never forget the fullness of his lips or how it felt when he kissed me.

Suddenly, I feel the large dining table behind me. Before I can protest, he’s hauled me up by my waist so I can sit on the table.

“Lean back,” he orders, pushing a finger lightly into the center of my chest.

I sprawl my hands out as I carefully lower my back to the table.

His fingertip never leaves my skin. He runs it over my hardened left nipple before it glides down the center of my body toward my core.

With his gaze still locked on mine, he yanks my ass to the very edge of the table before he drops to his knees.

Not a word leaves him as he trails his tongue along the inside of my thigh. He draws a tight circle with the tip.

“Joe,” I whisper his name. “Please.”

“I promise I’m going to enjoy this a hell of a lot more than you will,” he rasps.

I scream when he laps his tongue against my clit. Weaving my fingers in his hair to hold on to him, I glance down at this drop dead gorgeous man, fully clothed, eating me as he moans his way through it all.

I stareat the wrinkled sheet where Joe fell asleep early this morning. He was next to me then, breathing heavily in an effort to catch his breath. I watched him sleep for more than an hour before I finally drifted off, too.

We couldn’t keep our hands off each other for hours after he arrived. I practically tore his clothes off of him before we bolted for the bedroom.

When we finally came up for air, the sun was rising, and my heart felt an ache it hadn’t experienced before. I knew what it was instantly. It wasn’t regret or sadness. It was gratitude.

Joe Campbell gave me a gift that I desperately needed. I needed to let go and experience everything I haven’t allowed myself to experience in the past seven years.

I’m leaving East Hampton as a better version of myself, and I know that going forward I’ll make more time for myself. It won’t be easy, and it doesn’t have to be frequent, but it needs to happen.

“You’re packing,” Joe says from behind me. “I thought you were mine until tonight.”