Strangers (32 page)

Charlie groaned.
“Pack it in.”

His hips rocked and his cock surged inside her.

“You pack it in first,” Kate said.

He let out a choked laugh and she felt the sound ripple through her body.
She could feel the texture of his cock, the heat of it, little quivers running through it when it jerked.
His hands settled over her hips and held her down.
One hard thrust and Kate began to ache with the need to come.
The tendons in Charlie’s neck stood out and he clenched his jaw as he began to move.

The force of his thrusts knocked her knees farther apart.
Kate wanted to buck into him but Charlie held her firm.
They both cried out, breathy moans and groans growing louder as orgasm rose within them.

“Let me move,” Kate begged.

She was so close to coming, a greedy fist of need opening and closing between her legs, each side of the equation leaving an exquisite sensation.
The moment his hands slid from her hips, Kate rocked up and Charlie drove down.
Long, deep thrusts into her body and slow withdrawals.
The sweet pleasure of his cock filling her sent her heart tripping in her chest.

A vein pulsed at Charlie’s temple.
“Kate,” he gasped.

Their bodies slapped together, moved in harmony, the friction winding her, teasing her until she lost the capacity to think, only to feel.
All that mattered was here, now, her and Charlie, together, and Kate felt the starburst inside her.
Fire blazed along her veins and she unraveled in an instant, her whole body caught in the traction of explosive pleasure followed by instant intoxication, spasm after spasm.

But Charlie hadn’t come.
The tension clear on his face yet his mouth twisted in a smile.

“Again,” he whispered.

Was he crazy?
But even as Kate opened her mouth, he changed the angle of his thrust, drove into her body in double-quick time and the protest died on her lips.
In the death throes of one climax, rose the phoenix of another, ecstasy rippling down her spine.

Kate thought she hardly had the strength to move, but she did.
Rising into Charlie’s thrusting cock, but letting him take the wheel.
Kate moved without thought, caught in his rhythm until every cell in her body ached again for release.

“Please,” she begged.
“Oh Charlie.”

She felt him jolt, felt the first spurt of his cum and then they were coming together, crying, sobbing, shaking.

Kate opened her eyes unsure whether she’d fallen asleep or passed out.
Charlie still lay on top of her, though slightly to one side.
His cock was still inside her.
She sighed and he opened his eyes.

“You are perfect,” he whispered.

Kate smiled.

“Do you think we could kill ourselves like this?
Let’s make a pact.
If we want to go, this is the way we do it.
Fucking ourselves to death.”

“When we’re ninety-nine.”

“Goes without saying.”

Chapter Twenty

Charlie lay in bed next to Kate, watching her sleep.
He trusted her and she trusted him and it was a strange feeling, a warm feeling as though she’d wrapped him in something safe and snug.
Charlie couldn’t remember the last time he’d trusted a woman.
Kate was more than his lover.
She was his friend, his dreams—his life.
He’d done something awful to her, but she’d given him another chance.
Kate knew more about him than anyone and hadn’t run.
She’d tried to help.
There was a lot about her he still didn’t know, who’d stabbed her for a start, and the issue of what happened to her parents, but he could wait.

He snuggled closer and traced the outline of her lips with his finger.
He’d managed to tell her he loved her, but hadn’t meant to blurt it out while they lay naked in an ocean of foam.
He hadn’t even wanted to say it when they were in bed, although when he’d fucked her without a condom, the words had hovered on his lips.
Charlie wanted it to be special.
He thought about taking her to Paris or Rome, finding the most romantic place with the moon overhead and…he sighed.
Lying with her resting on his chest in all those bubbles, when he was still racked with guilt over what he’d done, had not been the right moment at all.
But the words had surged up from somewhere and he couldn’t push them back.

Charlie wished Kate had told him she loved him.
Others had said it, but they didn’t know him.
Charlie wanted Kate to say it, wanted her to wake up, look into his eyes and say the three words he wanted to hear.

He blew gently on her lips.

Kate twitched.
“Pack it in.”

Charlie grinned and then the grin slid away because when he thought about it, “I think I love you” wasn’t the same thing as telling her he loved her.
Did he think it or know it?
Knew it.
He loved her.
So why hadn’t he said that?
Charlie frowned.
For someone who was supposed to be good with words, he’d cocked this up.
But she’d said she was his and she was still here, in his bed, lying next to him.
She was sexy and funny and the moment he’d finished making love to her, he was desperate to do it again.
But he liked to talk to her, argue with her—annoy her.
Kate was different.
Kate was the one he wanted.

As he lay contemplating a suitable way to wake her up, his mobile phone vibrated on the bedside table.
Charlie would have ignored it, but it was Ethan.

“I’m outside.
Let me in.”

“I’m busy.”

Charlie slid his free hand between Kate’s breasts and up to her throat.
She opened her eyes.

“You need to see the papers,” Ethan said.
“It’s bad.”

Once Charlie had gone, Kate rolled into the warm spot he’d vacated.
She snuggled into the indentation in his pillow, breathed him in and smiled.
Last night, he’d said he loved her.
Well, nearly.
He thought he loved her.
She liked that it was something he’d thought about.
She wondered how many times he’d said, “I love you” and if he’d ever meant it.
Thinking he loved her was okay.
It wasn’t something to be rushed into.

Kate turned onto her back and stared at the ceiling.
Was she crazy?
It wasn’t okay at all.
What kind of life could she have with Charlie?
His world was a million miles from hers.
He was clever and talented.
She’d left school at sixteen, but in reality long before that considering the amount of time she bunked off.
Plus, he was seriously fucked up.
Maybe worse than her.
She didn’t need someone else who one moment almost raped her and the next said they thought they loved her.
But he wasn’t like Dex.
Charlie had done everything he could to push her away and she hadn’t gone.
Because whether he thought he loved her or not, Kate knew she loved him.

Ten minutes later Kate went down wearing Charlie’s fluffy white bathrobe.
He and Ethan were in deep discussion.
When she saw Charlie’s worried face, her heart cramped.
Now what?

Ethan handed her the newspaper.
“Page two.
Take a deep breath.”

The deep breath didn’t help.
Kate gave a moan of horror.
The heading was
TAKEN BY STORM
, the photograph a little blurred, but clear enough of her and Charlie in her bedroom, hips and lips together, stark naked.
Kate scanned the writing next to the picture.
It gave her name and that she worked in a Greenwich cafe.
Charlie squeezed her fingers.

“Is it legal to do that?” she asked.
“Take pictures through a window?”

“No, it’s not.
We can sue but the damage is done,” Ethan said.

“At least there’s only one photo,” she murmured.

Ethan grimaced and turned the page.
“Sorry.”

Kate felt like she’d been punched in the gut.
There was a shot of her in her wedding dress, a “before” shot where she still smiled and a couple more of her and Charlie in the apartment, this time with her breasts on display.
The article described Kate as a runaway bride who’d jilted her fiancé to get into bed with Charlie Storm.
Kate read it twice to make sure she’d not made the whole thing up.
She hadn’t.
They had.

“I don’t understand.
How did they get those pictures?
Who took photographs of me in my wedding dress?” Although she thought she knew the answer to that.
Richard or someone he knew.
Fax.

Charlie slid his arm over her shoulder.
“If Dickhead was doing it for a bet, he probably wanted proof you’d turned up at the registry office.”

Kate crumpled inside, her eyes fixed on that shot of her in her dress, the smile on her face, the joy in her eyes.
Fax had watched her go into the building, waited until she came out, then told Lucy.
Bile rose in Kate’s throat.

“I had to fight my way through a pack of African hunting dogs to get in here,” Ethan said.
“This is just the start of it.
They’re not going to leave you alone now, Kate.
Everything you do, everywhere you go, they’ll be watching.
Remember what Princess Diana went through?
Every mistake you’ve made will come back to haunt you.
Everything you wear will be criticized.
Everything you say will be twisted.
They’ll try to destroy you.”

Charlie pulled her into his arms.
“Shut the fuck up, Ethan.
You’re not helping.”

“I’m only warning her what she’ll have to put up with if she sticks with you.”

Charlie gripped her tighter.
“Not if.”

“Hey, be realistic.
Kate’s not in the business.
She doesn’t know what it’s like.
If she has any secrets, those walking x-ray machines out there will uncover them.
Do you have any secrets, Kate?
Is there anything I should know about you?”

If Charlie hadn’t been holding her, Kate knew she’d have collapsed.

“Guess you do,” Ethan said.

The coolness in his voice was unmistakable.
Kate wondered what he knew.

“No, she doesn’t,” Charlie snapped.
“Kate didn’t jilt anyone.
Dickhead set her up for a bet and he set her up for this.
I want to sue for invasion of privacy.”

“And make matters worse?
You stir things up now and they’ll really go for you.
Let it die down on its own.
You’ve got to leave the country anyway, so that will help.”

“What?
Where’ve I got to go?”

“You’re needed in Dublin tomorrow.
A preproduction meeting for
The Green
.
I have you booked on a flight this afternoon.”

“Kate’s coming with me.
Book her a seat too.”

“I don’t have a passport.” Another spasm of pain gripped her heart.
She’d filled in an application and Richard had told her he’d sort it out.

Charlie stared at her in disbelief.
“You’ve never been abroad?”

“No.”

He pressed his face into her hair.
“You can get her one, can’t you, Ethan?”

“Not on a Sunday and not that quickly.
Let me take Kate home.
It will throw them off.”

“Why would I want them thrown off?
They know we’re together now.
We
are
together,” Charlie said.

“So while you’re away, you want them sitting on her doorstep, pestering her, taking photos of her buying toilet rolls and blowing her nose?
This is the way we’re going to handle it.
We’ll pretend it was a fling.
A couple of dates.
That way they’ll probably leave her alone.
Just be more careful when you get back.”

“No way.
I’m not going,” Charlie said.
“I’m not leaving her.”

“You fucking well are going,” Ethan snapped.
“You’ve no choice.
This is your career.
No more chances.
I’ll see to Kate.”

Charlie took her hand.
“What do you think?
I don’t want you to have to handle this on your own.”

“I don’t like people telling me what to do.” Kate stared at Ethan, knowing he wanted to get rid of her, wondering how Charlie couldn’t see it.

“I’m not going,” Charlie repeated, lifting his fingers to her cheek.

Kate put her hand over his and stared into his eyes.
“I’ll be fine, Charlie.
You have to go.”

He sighed.
“Fill out a passport application while I’m gone.
Let Ethan handle it.”

Over her dead body.

“When will you be back?” Kate asked.

Charlie looked at Ethan.

“Wednesday.”

“That’s the night of the exhibition at Rachel’s gallery,” Kate said.

“I’ll come and we’ll go out for a meal afterwards.”

Kate smiled.

Ethan and Kate left through the back of the house, while Charlie went to distract the group of journalists at the front.
Kate had to wear Charlie’s clothes—a pair of his drawstring pants and a white t-shirt, her dress, still wet, lay on the bathroom floor.

“What’s with the clothes?” Ethan asked as they sat in the car.

“Charlie tried my dress on and ripped it.”

“Really?” Ethan turned to glance at her.

“No,” Kate said with a forced laugh.

“I was surprised to find you there this morning after what happened at Armageddon.”

Kate turned in her seat to look at him.
“Nothing happened at Armageddon.”

Ethan didn’t like her and Kate wasn’t sure what to do about it.

When he turned into Elm Gardens, a group of photographers waited outside the entrance to Kate’s block.

“I told you.
Is this the life you want, Kate?
Being pestered by the press?”

“I want Charlie.
I’ll take whatever comes with him.” Her voice was firm and clear.

Ethan stared at her for a moment before he spoke.
“I’ll distract them while you go inside.
Don’t talk to anyone.
Don’t even say no comment.”

Kate fled into the building.
She ran up the stairs, straight past a guy who sat on the top step, too slow to catch her, and breathed a sigh of relief once she was safe in her apartment.
The moment she closed the door, the phone rang.
Then the guy banged on her door.
The
Mirror
was on the phone.
Kate broke the connection, but as she started to call Charlie, it rang again.
This time a reporter from the
Star
.
Kate unplugged the connection and called Charlie on her mobile.

“I just got in,” Kate said.

“Come back,” Charlie pleaded.

“Aren’t you about to leave for the airport?”

He groaned.
“How come you don’t have a passport?”

“I’ve never needed one.”