Legal Heirs - Box Set Edition: Books 5-8 (Surrendering Charlotte Chronicles) (32 page)

“Hey, listen Charlie, I’m not going to the beach. You and Atti have fun, I’ll see you both at dinner, maybe. I know your mom is planning on everyone getting together tonight,” she reached down and kissed his cheek and when she stood up Atticus padded down the stairs barefooted and swept her up in his arms.

“Nope, you’re not getting away that easily, Sky. Charlie and I would get bored without your beautiful face and brilliant conversation, looks like she’s stuck with us, right Charlie?” Atticus laughed and Skyler wrapped her arms around his neck and nestled her cheek softly against his. Charlie ran ahead of them, and he was off in the distance by the time Atticus walked down the back steps. He had intended to set her down on the sand, but instead, he was distracted by the fresh, floral aroma that drifted off her hair, and the feel of her skin against cheek was soft as a baby’s breath. He was aware of the feel of her body in his arms, hyper-aware, suddenly, of the pure and distinctly female presence of Skyler. He let go of her legs slowly, so that she slid down his body before her feet reached the ground. His erection was huge and his hands splayed across her back instinctively as he pulled her against him. Her eyes widened and her lips parted as she felt the hard, thickness through the thin fabric of his trunks, and her hands reached up and held his face when his mouth covered hers with a heated urgency.

Atticus felt as if someone was holding a live wire to brain, the shock was that great when he kissed Skyler.
Seventeen
, the number was like a neon sign in front of his eyes,
seventeen, a girl, barely legal, a bad, bad choice.
But he couldn’t stop himself, couldn’t make himself care, she was kissing him back like no woman ever had.
Like she was a woman
. Her mouth was greedy and delicious and her tongue met his fearlessly, soft moans escaped from her lips and fueled his already astronomical testosterone rush. The thoughts and feelings she roused in him were powerful and frightening, and nothing had ever frightened Atticus before. He knew that she was a virgin, they were part of a tightly knit group of friends and family, and her brother Jack had mentioned it at Hadley’s birthday party. He said men hit on her all the time when she was on a photo-shoot, both the male models and the photographers. Jack had cautioned her to stay away from lecherous men, to save herself for true love, or at least until she was in a serious relationship. Jack was one of his closest friends, and yet here he was, kissing Skyler, his hands on her disturbingly sexy little ass, pressing her crotch into his engorged cock.

“Hurry up!” Charlie yelled from the beach, and Atticus released Skyler reluctantly. He rested his forehead against hers and traced her swollen lips with his thumb, trying to make sense of what he was feeling.

“Shut up, we’re coming,” Atticus said so softly that Charlie couldn’t possibly have heard him. His eyes searched Skyler’s, she looked ethereal and peaceful, and a radiant smiled spread across her face. “Sky, I shouldn’t have done that…”

“I’m glad you did, I’ve wanted you to,” she said simply, her wide green eyes were sincere and guileless. “I want you to do other things with me, Atticus. I want you to show me what it’s like, how good it can feel. It should be with someone who will take his time, someone who cares if I enjoy it…”

“Hey, don’t leave without me, I’ll go for a swim, too,” Vivi called down from the upstairs porch. She wore one of Atticus’ button front shirts held closed with her hand, then she let go and it fluttered open, she was naked underneath. She waved happily at Skyler and went back into the house to put on a bikini.

“Skyler, it’s…”

“It’s what, Atticus?” she whispered, and her voice was soft, and sad, and full of hurt. “Not what it looks like? Of course it is, and why should I be surprised? I set myself up for this, so don’t worry about it. I meet hundreds of gorgeous, sexy men when I’m modeling, and stupid me, I go and give my heart to the one man who’s sure to walk all over it.”

She brushed her fingertips over his lips quickly then turned and ran to the beach, calling for Charlie to come and surf with her.

“What’s going on with her?” Vivi asked. “She looks like someone just broke her heart. Look what I’ve got,” she said, holding up a bottle of tequila and standing on her tiptoes to give Atticus a peck on the cheek. “Oh, by the way, I gave what’s her name from the Beach Club some money for a cab, she’s leaving now if you wanna say goodbye.”

“Goodbye,” Atticus said, and he took the bottle of tequila from her and walked toward the beach.

*

“If you fight it’s going to hurt, and your wrists are already bleeding,” Mia said as she straddled Beau and leaned down to let him kiss her. Her tongue snaked into his mouth and met his, twining and searching until she pulled away and they both gasped for air. “What do you want? Do you think I would actually take your cock in my mouth? Forget that baby, you are too fucking big, you’d strangle me to death.”

“Please,” Beau said, his eyes on fire at the sight of her naked above him. Her body was perfect, she was small boned and thin, but she had the most erotic curves he had ever seen or felt. Her mother had been a swimsuit model or something like that, he’d heard someone say, and it was obvious that Mia had inherited her figure. Her breasts were round and full with dark pink nipples that were permanently erect. Her waist was tiny, his hands easily circled it when she let him, he loved to lift her and ease her down on his straining cock. She bit his broad shoulders and thickly muscled chest, marking him, as she ordered him to stop, but it was the one thing he knew she would let force against her will. His hands would slide from the curve of her waist to her softly rounded hips and hold her as he thrust, thick and deep, into her. He fingered her clit as he moved, and soon she was writhing and screaming as she climaxed. She cursed him and called him a raging fucking bull, or a stud horse whose giant cock was his only redeeming quality. He didn’t care, he loved the feel of her, small and light as a feather as she rode him, with her pussy clinching like a fist as it flooded his cock with her juices. She was mean as a rattlesnake, and it was a rare privilege if she let him kiss her on the mouth, but sex with Mia was beyond compare.

“Let’s try something new, Hercules,” she said, biting his lip just enough to draw a drop of blood that she licked away. She stretched forward, her hands reaching up to unlock his wrists from the toggle bolt that was secured above the linen headboard. He lifted his head, and his mouth captured an erect nipple and he sucked hard eliciting the expected curse. She released his hands and before she could pull away from him he turned her swiftly under him and moved his mouth to the opposite breast. She tried to squirm away from him, she slapped him hard and clawed at his face drawing blood, but he was twice her size and he pinned her down easily. He lifted her thighs, angling her hips upward as he slammed into her. The scream caught in her throat and before she could close her mouth he kissed her, moving a hand to hold her chin still as she struggled. Her mood never calmed, and that fueled his violent need of her, he continued to fuck her in a wickedly relentless rhythm. As he punished her, pushing deeper than he’d ever gone before, stretching and opening her, she began to shudder and stiffen, and the sound of his name on her tongue turned from a curse into a caress.

Beau sat on the edge of the bed afterward, and she lay stretched out, content as a cat. He was a ferociously virile lover, but Mia had nothing to compare him to, and she didn’t intend for anyone to know that he was her only lover. Beau had been her first and he remained the only man she allowed to touch her. He was tall and handsome, although not as tall as Atticus, or as handsome as either of her brothers. His body was thickly muscled and magnificent, an athlete’s body. He was a wide receiver for UCLA, and he was already drawing the attention from pro-football scouts, it was common knowledge that he would have a career in the NFL. She liked him, maybe even loved him in her own way, but she wouldn’t be happy with him, she wouldn’t let herself be. He had a lot to offer, both in the bedroom and out, but he was just not the right man for her, not by a long shot.

*

“Charlotte, are you coming down, my love? Your martini is waiting and so are your sons and everyone else. Hurry up, please. Amanda, Jack, and Ava, just got here.” Finn called up the stairs of the McCall House to Charlotte who was running late for her own family dinner party.

“I’m here, I’m ready. Fix drinks for everyone, but not the kids; they do
not
need liquor. Where’s Hadley?” she asked, taking the drink Finn held out for her and kissing him once, then twice, and smiling up at him.

“She’s probably in her room taking a year to get beautified,” Charlie said, and went back to the game he was showing Atticus on his iPhone.

“Hey everyone!” Amanda said, coming through the front door with Jack and Ava trailing behind her. She took the martini that Finn held out for her, finished it in one long swallow and kissed his lips lightly as she handed him the empty glass. “Is my mother here? I
do not
want to see that woman.”

“Nope, they’ve gone back to New Orleans, too many young girls running around in bikini’s to suit Evangeline, I imagine,” Finn said, refilling her drink.

“Good, serves the old witch right, she needs to face her mortality one of these days,” Amanda said, and drank the second drink as she watched Charlotte move gracefully through the room.
Fuck
, she thought, if any woman just did not look her age it was Charlotte, and she hated to admit it, but the same went for Evangeline. She loved Charlotte, but it still pissed her off that she was thin and sexy and had a husband who was as hot for her as ever. And what did Amanda have? She’d fucked West like a banshee and still he’d gone back to her mother, until Evangeline had grown tired of him and kicked his ass to the curb. Then the greedy bitch had lured Charles Tremont away from his dumb-shit Texas heiress. Now the two of them were happily married and Amanda was alone. She’d lost JP, the love of her life, and West, and now she was reduced to sleeping with her brother’s body guard, Billy Kipling.

“Uh, save a little vodka for me, sister,” Charlotte said, hugging Amanda and telling everyone to go into the dining room. “Don’t be so mean about my latest stepmother. Are you and Evangeline ever going to make up? Come on Amanda, she’s really great, who would have thought she and I would end up being such good friends?”

“Don’t talk to me about her, please. You and I are friends, she’s just the old woman who idolizes your son above every other person on earth. Speaking of, come here Atti and give your Auntie Amanda a kiss, and tell me how it’s going at the Academy.”

“It’s going great, I’m working hard, staying busy, and learning a lot. Have you seen your youngest daughter, yet?” Atticus asked, he’d been waiting for Skyler to come down stairs. He was thinking of going up and barging into the room she shared with Hadley and making her listen to him. He had things he wanted to say to her, he wanted to explain that Vivi and all the other girls were just a form of recreation. He wanted her to know that he had felt something when he held and kissed her, that maybe someday down the road when she was older…

“Skyler? I have no idea where she is, she hasn’t called me, and we haven’t talked since Hadley’s party. Speaking of Hadley, do you have any idea where she is? Well, let me just tell you what we saw when we left the airport in New Orleans…”

“Auntie Amanda, when did you get here?” Mia said, she and Beau had come into the house and Mia kissed her aunt’s cheek without taking her eyes off Atticus. He never failed to ruin her good mood. She was still glowing from an afternoon of sex with Beau, and now here was her half-brother, looking like a living breathing sex god. She might as well admit it, Beau couldn’t hold a candle to Atticus even on his best day. But what man could as far as she was concerned? She made a decision at that moment to see a psychiatrist, she hated herself, and she was sick to death of having him fill her every thought. She was determined to purge him from her heart and mind if it was the last thing she ever did.

“Mia, would you do me a favor and go up to Hadley’s room and see if Skyler is coming down for dinner?” Atticus asked, and he leaned forward and kissed his sister’s cheek.

It was such a light kiss, and such a small gesture, but it touched her deeply. It brought quick, stinging tears to Mia’s eyes, and she turned away before he could see them. She rushed out of the house before anyone other than Beau noticed, and Beau let her leave because sadly, he knew exactly what haunted Mia.

“That girl is just odd, she always has been,” Amanda said. “We’d better go sit down before we ruin your mother’s party. Will you sit next to me, Atticus? By the way, Alex wants to talk to you, something about Holden, I believe.”

“Okay, after dinner. I’ll be right back,” he said.

Atticus climbed the wide stairway and stopped at the door to Hadley’s bedroom. He started to knock but the door opened and Skyler bumped into him as she stepped out onto the landing.

“Oh!” she said, looking up into his sapphire eyes, her heart went crazy as he stared down at her, and then he lowered his lips to hers. She couldn’t help herself, her hands reached up and around his thick neck, pulling him closer, holding his mouth to hers. She felt a boldness overtake her, it felt so good and so right to have his lips on hers. Then she let her hands move downward, to the smooth, taught, sculpted flesh of his shoulders, chest, and back. The heat of his body burning right through his shirt, searing the feel and shape permanently into her hands.