Legal Action (Surrendering Charlotte Chronicles) (11 page)

             
He picked her up and he was still wet from the shower. His eyes never left hers as he laid her on her bed then locked the door and climbed in with her.

             
“Are you sure?” he asked her. “It could change things.”

             
He knew how to hold himself in check but he was struggling with his need for her. He wanted her more than he wanted his next breath, but he didn’t want her to know that he was in love with her.

             
“Let’s just not let things change,” she said as she wrapped her legs around him and used her own hand to guide him into her.

             
Maybe it had been so burning hot because it seemed taboo; they were breaking their vow to never let sex ruin their party of three. Now they were both cheating on JP. They decided it would be the only time it would ever happen, so they stayed up all night until they were both so raw they could barely walk or pee. They’d finally fallen asleep sometime the next morning and when they heard JP in the kitchen making coffee she made Finn go out the window naked.              

             
He didn’t care, he walked back through the front door as JP was handing Charlotte a cup of coffee. He stood there butt naked and said, “Did you realize that if you go out early enough you can steal the neighbors newspaper?” He threw the paper on the kitchen table, said good night and slept the rest of the day.

             
JP stuck his head in Finn’s bedroom later in the day and said, “Hey, next time you sneak down the street to fuck Mrs. Kravitz come back with your clothes, numb nuts.”

             
Finn gave him a thumbs up and went back to sleep.

             
Charlotte was still on the couch in her nightgown and JP turned to look at her and motioned toward Finn’s room.

             
He shook his head and said, “Can you believe that pervert? I think he nearly fucked himself to death.”

SEVEN

Alexander Bly, West and JP stood in a small garden in Hong Kong waiting to see how it was going to go. Jamey Huang and five of his men walked into view, he had Charlotte next to him.

             
She was barefoot, in jeans and a man’s blue dress shirt. She looked drowsy and one of her cheeks was bruised and her bottom lip was split and swollen.

             
Bly exhaled sharply and started toward her. West held him back telling him to not show anger, to wait if he wanted her back at all.

             
Finn appeared out of nowhere and walked toward Huang and his group and everyone got quiet.

             
Huang’s men aimed handguns at Finn, except for Jamey who just smiled and pulled Charlotte close.

             
“Any last words for her?” Jamey asked, watching Finn.

             
“A good bye kiss,” Finn said and leaned forward. He kissed Charlotte lightly on the mouth and knocked Jamey out with one blow of his powerful fist. “Go,” he told her, staring into her eyes, she was crying hard and clinging to him as four of the men attacked him. They pushed her aside and dragged him away.

             
A single man stayed behind holding a gun. He pushed Charlotte toward Bly and continued to point the gun at them until Bly collected her and they rushed to a waiting car.

             
On the jet Charlotte was curled against Bly, relieved to be safe in his arms. She was still crying as she pictured the way Finn looked at her for the last time, and she wouldn’t be consoled. He’d kissed her then smiled as if there was nothing to worry about before he was attacked and dragged away. Her head was against Bly’s chest and he stroked her hair, his heart thumped rhythmically against her cheek. There was a doctor on board and he deemed her completely sound and gave her a Xanax. Still she couldn’t stop shaking. Her life would go on, she would be happy with Bly; they would have a beautiful life. But, Finn wouldn’t survive and the thought of his eyes, still as alive and defiant as the men beat him, made her weep again and again. He’d been her best friend and she loved him like family.

             
JP had his satellite tablet on searching the Hong Kong news stations.

             
“Look at this,” he said as he typed swiftly and the picture from his electronic tablet flashed to life on the jets big overhead screen.

             
A British news station was saying, “A massive explosion has occurred in the heart of Hong Kong. The building, which was vacant at the time, belongs to the Huang Worldwide Corporation. Huang headquarters reported that Mao Huang’s son and some of his friends were touring the building today and were almost certainly killed…”

“There,” JP shouted and whooped, “that’s him I know it! I’m recording it, let me back it up and enhance. Look, Char, that’s gotta be him,
I think the tough son-of-a-bitch got out! Way to fucking go Finnegan!

***

              Charlotte resigned as legal counsel for Bly International. She would continue to draw blood in the courtroom with her arguments but she wanted to be free to legally ravage Alexander Bly’s body as often as she could.

             
Bly proposed to her on his boat while the sun sank into the ocean leaving a painters palette of pink and orange behind. He slipped the huge Tiffany diamond on her finger on bended knee as the yacht cruised toward Hawaii.

             
Before she could say “yes,” his mouth covered hers with scorching kisses and whispers of his undying love and passion.

             
He led her to the bedroom to make it official, to make her realize she was his and only his.

             
In the night, after Bly fell asleep, Charlotte tied her bathrobe and walked out on deck to marvel at the moon and the endless ocean. The stars hung like lanterns in the sky and the sound of the water moving aside as the yacht raced along was somehow lonely. She felt the cell phone West had given her vibrate in her pocket. It was a secure line and other than Bly and West, no one knew the number. She smiled to think Bly must have discovered her side of the bed empty and missed her already.

             
“Yes?” she answered, coyly.

             
“My love, don’t marry him, wait for me. Charlotte, I’m coming for you,”

             
“Finn? Are you alright, how did you escape, where are you?”

             
She began to cry and he calmed her and told her not to say another word.

              He said he loved her more than life itself, he was sorry it had taken so long to realize what was truly important. He wanted her to know they would have their cottage in the country and they would be happy and have babies and raise sheep in the garden.

             
He told her not to worry as she cried, they would be together soon.