2.
She has the living room all to herself. Charlie enjoys the soft comfort of the couch and the warmth of the fire in the fireplace. She stares into the flames while midnight slowly creeps towards a new morning. She breathes in the comforting scent of wood and pinecones.
She was ready to fall asleep with the lazy glow of whiskey and an evening filled with good stories and good company. But that was before Miles had decided to be an asshole and scare the shit out of her.
The bottle of whiskey on the wooden table in front of her keeps her company. She listens to the sounds of the forest outside. It's quiet inside. The crackling of the fire fills the living room until the sound of the kitchen door being closed pulls her away from her slow stare into the fire.
She listens to the heavy familiar sound of his boots on the kitchen floor until he walks in and his eyes find hers. 'Hey..' Her voice sounds relaxed.
Bass moves his hand through his hair. He puts his leather jacket over a kitchen chair. 'Hey..'
Charlie knows him. She knows he has checked the windows, the locks and the small area between their cabin and the line of the dark shadows of the trees around it. It is what he does. It is what they still do every single night after years on the road.
Charlie is aware of how Bass fills the entire living room. She is aware of wide shoulders and blue eyes and the sound of his boots on the floor. She follows him through the room with her eyes and she realizes that for the first time, she is thinking about where he is going to sit. He sits down next to her.
She can smell the rain filled night air he has walked into the room from outside. But she can also smell the whiskey and the leather of his black leather jacket that mixes with the forest air.
She slowly lets the warmth of the fire guide her back to her stare into the flames. She takes the bottle of whiskey and lets the liquid warm her from within before she offers him the bottle without looking at him. Is another thing they still do. They listen to the sounds of the night. They drink. They don't have to talk.
Bass eyes light up when she shares the whiskey with him. She's probably not even aware of what it does to him when she sits down next to him, relaxed and willing to share a night and a bottle of whiskey with him. She's lost in her own thoughts but her fingers still brush against his. She doesn't seem to notice. She looks relaxed and beautiful as hell. Her arm is touching his but she doesn't seem to mind. Hell, he doesn't mind.
Watching Miles scare the shit out of Charlotte and his brother's wide as fuck grin when he had walked back inside the house brought back memories of a lifetime ago. It's an old trick they used to scare the shit out of each other and to get the girls they wanted when they were teenagers. Their plan had been simple: one of them scared the girl, the other was there to comfort her. It had always worked and they always thought it was the best plan in the history of ever.
Charlie's eyes move over his face. A slow, wide smug grin appears on Bass' face. It is a grin she can't ignore. 'What?'
Bass grin gets even wider. He moves his arm over the back of the couch in a relaxed effortless movement. 'What Miles did back there?' He nods towards her bedroom while he takes another swig from the bottle. 'We used to do that all the time.'
There is confusion in her eyes. Bass tries to ignore how good it feels when she looks at him the way she does because he knows something she doesn't. He also decides not to tell her how adorable she looks when she is annoyed. He does tell her about their brilliant plan.
'We always got the girls we wanted. Best strategy in the history of ever.' Pride mixes with the blue of his eyes.
Charlie smiles. She tries to picture Miles and Bass when they were younger. But she also rolls her eyes at him. 'So one of you scared the shit out of a girl, the other comforted her?' She keeps on looking at him with her best are you freaking kidding me now look. 'Did that shit actually work?
She ignores the weight of his arm behind her on the back of the couch. The warmth of his skin radiates towards the skin of her neck, even through his shirt. She ignores the way her breast is close to his chest and shirt.
He moves his head closer to hers. He fights the urge to nuzzle her neck. 'You tell me, Charlotte.' His voice is deep and filled with burning tease.
Charlie's eyes move from his eyes to his scruff. Her name laced in his low, deep voice still lingers between them. She follows the lines of his strong neck before he catches her with his eyes. She forgets about the whiskey. She forgets to tell him to go to hell. There is too much Monroe sitting so close to her.
Bass slowly moves his fingers through her hair. He moves a lock of hair behind her ear. He watches her. She is still looking at him. She is still sitting next to him. He expects her to tell him to go to hell. He expects to see a wave of disgust in her eyes. But he can only see hesitation. And then he licks her bottom lip. It is everything he needs. He moves his arm around her shoulder to press her closer. When her eyes still haven't filled with anger or loathing, he can't stop himself. His wraps his hand around her cheek before he kisses her slowly and deeply.
Charlie lets him kiss her. His mouth is warmth. She can taste the whiskey he has been drinking on her lips. War and their blackout world are far away. She can feel him swirl inside her belly. His mouth is hot and his hands on her body are heated and in control. He covers her mouth with firm lips and eager want.
Bass knows they can get caught like this. But hell, she feels good. She feels too good to stop whatever the hell is happening. She moans softly against his mouth. He craves to to hear her moan against his damn mouth again. He pulls her closer.
Charlie can't stop. She doesn't want to stop. She wraps her hands around his face. Her tongue finds his. She almost drowns in his low grunt. She straddles him. Her hands find the wide wall of his chest. Bass is everywhere. His hand moves under her tank and when the calloused skin of his fingers caresses her skin, the only thing she can do is close her eyes and give into him.
His fingers dig deeper into the skin of her legs. He knows where they will take this. He wants her. Fuck. She wants him. Maybe this is a stupid as hell plan. But he is Sebastian Monroe. He can still do whatever the hell he wants.
The wind howls around the house. The rain beats against the window. But he only listens to her breathing. The fire burns slowly and adds a glow to the room of a small cabin hidden in the forest. It's quit inside. He kisses her again. His hand moves into her hair. It is him and her and a couch hidden in a forest. They lose themselves in each other in the dark while his mouth refuses to let hers go.
The sound of a thick branch moving against the window across from his bed wakes Miles up. He groans into the darkness of the room. He is not going to get out of bed. He knows Charlie is probably trying to get back at him. He knows Bass is probably more than willing to help her. They are a couple of morons. It's not going to work.
He is tired. He has a headache. He needs to get some fucking sleep. He curses before he decides sleep is more important than Bass and Charlie acting like morons in the middle of the fucking night.
He hears another sound. It's not the rain. It's not the wind. It sends a cold wave of ice through his blood. It's like the wind moves through the wood of the house. He opens his eyes. Maybe he had too much fucking whiskey. Because when he looks up, he sees something move at the other side of his window. A dark shadow creeps alongside window. He doesn't know what the hell is happening, but there is something changing inside the room. When he moves his hand over his face to focus, he swears he can see a cloud of icy breath against the glass of the window. When he looks again, the shadow is gone. He groans again.
'Yeah, definitely too much whiskey.'
Bass presses another kiss against her temple. His arms encircle her while her long hair softly brushes against his chest. She has wrapped herself around him on the small couch. He makes slow paths with his fingers over the skin of her back. 'Thinking about how to get back at Miles?'
A smile appears around her full lips. The warmth of his voice and breath are close to her skin. She looks away from the fire and her eyes connect with his. 'Not tonight. I think I am going to wait a little.' She looks at Bass with a wide smirk on her face. 'But yeah, I am definitely going to get my revenge.'
'That's smart.' Bass grins. He tries to ignore how her hoarse, sexy as fuck voice shoots straight to his cock. 'Need some help with that ?' His voice is deep and laced with a hint of smugness.
'Maybe….' She smiles at him. She tries to ignore the pride in his eyes when she offers to include him in her revenge plans. She probably will let him help her because no one in the world knows Miles better than Bass.
Bass has to swallow away the way she looks at him. He has never seen her like this. He slowly kisses her. Charlie can feel him grin against her mouth. She wraps her hand around his face while he moves his arm around her middle to pull her closer. The air outside is filled with rain. It's cold. But her skin is warmth against his chest.
Author's Note: I love cabins in the forest so working on this story is so much fun! Thank you so much for your comments and follows for chapter one. I love them! There will be a third chapter and I hope I can publish that chapter next week. Love from Love