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Charlotte rolled her eyes when she heard Esther’s sigh. She could well understand why the other woman was annoyed; after all, she felt the same way. Actually, it wasn’t her style to be annoyed, she approached most things openly and got involved in almost everything. But since that summer it had changed, she had adapted to Esther’s cynical manner and found less and less fun in things that used to bring her joy. Well, maybe it wasn’t only because of Esther, but also because of a certain man…but as soon as this thought even touched her mind, she grabbed it far away again.
“Can you explain to me again what we are doing here?”, Esther asked her.
“Clara wanted us to come – she doesn’t know anyone else here in Sanditon, apart from Georgiana”, Charlotte replied.
“I wonder what connects the two of them?”
Charlotte shrugged her shoulders. She had first made friends with Clara this summer, but then realized that behind the angelic face was a rotten character. She had hardly had anything to do with Esther back then; the red-haired woman had always seemed to her as if she didn’t belong. In the meantime, Charlotte knew the feeling Georgiana appeared to her as the best company, but even then, she had to learn that this woman had never heard a “no”. She was not willing to reconsider her point of view if she then had to agree with someone else. And she hated it when something didn’t go the way she thought it would.
“They both don’t know the word no and they’re both out for their advantage?”, asked Charlotte.
“Well, they match on that point at least”, Esther replied coolly. “I’d love to just give myself the edge right now, but then I guess we’ll never get out of this thing…”
Clara would be marrying a rich banker in a few days and had invited them to her bridal shower. Charlotte wasn’t quite sure what the reason was, after all she hardly connected with this blonde woman, but maybe Esther had simply insisted that they just get together.
“I’m not even sure why Clara decided to play an exit game. She doesn’t strike me now as the kind of person who has a weakness for puzzles”, Charlotte muttered.
“Why not? She found Aunt Denham’s will, too, didn’t she?”
Charlotte rolled her eyes as she thought back on it. During the summer she had spent at Sanditon, Lady Denham had fallen seriously ill with influenza. They had been preparing for her to die, but she had recovered. At the time, Esther had gained Charlotte’s respect because she was the only one who seriously mourned her aunt, even though Lady Denham had not actually done anything to deserve it.
“Yes…and then she screwed your stepbrother on Lady Denham’s expensive Persian rug so hard the walls shook!”
Before, such words would never have crossed Charlotte’s lips, but many things had changed since the summer, she was no longer the naive, innocent country girl who had no idea about life outside. Maybe it was better that she had finally left that behind.
“That was weird…”, Esther replied.
“I never said anything to the contrary. I think Lady Denham saw it similarly, as quickly as she disinherited them!”
“Well, Clara recovered quickly, didn’t she? A rich banker – and for all I know he’s thirty years older than she is. Well, what she wants with him is obvious!”
Charlotte nodded but felt her heart prick at this. She knew what it was like to be dumped for money…well, and for an old flame. She immediately pushed that thought away as well. She didn’t want to think about it any further, that was the past and she hoped that she would never have to see him again, they didn’t move in the same circles.
“Here they come. Smile!”, Charlotte instructed her new best friend.
Esther just grumbled softly but put on a forced smile as Clara and Georgiana approached her. The two were giggling about something and Charlotte took another deep breath. Both were wearing short dresses and Charlotte had to admit that they looked good. She knew that she could not wear such dresses so easily, with her it always looked as if she would just jump at the next man, yet there was hardly anything that was further from her mind. She herself wore tight jeans and a simple shirt, after all Clara had meant that there would be no dress code. Esther was dressed similarly to her, only that she wore completely black.
“Esther, Charlie, is it good to see you. I’m so glad you could come!”
Charlotte wanted to shake herself. She hated being called Charlie. It just sounded wrong…like she was a man, or at least quite masculine. Not that she preferred being called Lottie, that felt wrong too, especially since a hated teacher had always called her that.
“So I’ve already signed us up. We’ll go in two groups and whoever gets out faster wins. Georgie and I have done this before, but with a different game!”
Charlotte felt Esther tense up. It was clear what they were trying to say – we know how this works, you don’t. So you’re going to embarrass yourselves while we know exactly what to do. Charlotte sighed but said nothing. There was nothing to say against the two of them anyway; since they had gotten together, they could hardly be separated.
“All right”, Charlotte finally murmured. “As far as I know, we’ll get another little tool like this, which will open the doors for us once we solve the riddles!”
“Yes, of course. I almost forgot…”, grinned Clara innocently.
She took two small boxes out of her bag and handed them to Charlotte. She was glad she had found out beforehand how such a game worked, otherwise they probably would never have left the first room. Esther next to her only pursed her lips but said nothing more. She was probably wondering, just like Charlotte, what exactly she was doing here and why she had agreed to this. Actually, they both should have refused, then they could have had a relaxed evening at some bar. Esther would have turned down some man and Charlotte would have watched her. But no, they were here, and they were about to get into some story from which they would have to escape again.
“Okay, you two are going to start. There’s one more group coming between us and then it’s our turn. I’ll see you back at the bar!”, Clara fluted.
Esther sighed again, but then pulled Charlotte toward the entrance. Charlotte sensed her impatience and could understand it, she also just wanted to get this over with as quickly as possible. But first they probably had to face the overzealous young man who greeted them at the door.
“Have you guys done anything like this before?”
“No…”, grumbled Esther.
“It’s not bad at all. It can be done, even though it might not look like it in some places. Can I scan your codes?”
Charlotte handed him the two boxes and the young man nodded. He eagerly began to explain that they had three routes, one was the Ancient Labyrinth, which would lead to the treasure, then the pyramid with the Pharaoh’s Curse, and the last was the Count’s Castle. Charlotte did not know at that moment which would be the worst. All three topics were not really her area of expertise, at least at first glance.
“All right, so you’re signed up for the Count’s castle. A little blood, a few vampires. You guys ready for this?”
Obviously, he thought they were some vampire groupies, and Charlotte sighed. Not that she had anything against vampires – they had held a certain fascination for her. But ever since those horrible books about glittery vampires had come out, she had moved away from them. She preferred vampires who sucked the blood out of their victim, then fell tragically in love, and were finally murdered by that very love.
“You have a little over an hour. Now have fun!”
He opened one of the three doors behind him and together they entered the gloomy interior of a castle…even if it was quite small for a first impression.
“Are they fucking serious? Dracula? Vampires? Now she’s totally losing it”, Esther cursed.
“Well, better that than crawling around in some burial chamber. We would have had to climb through a sarcophagus, too. There are only a few rooms waiting for us here and we have to escape from the nasty vampire…”, Charlotte muttered.
“Clara would let him bite her voluntarily after all, it would be so romantic!”
Charlotte giggled softly and Esther joined in. Although they had both noticed the hype, neither of them had participated. Vampires should remain dark figures of the night, in daylight they usually lost their luster…and their bodies, as Esther had once so beautifully pointed out.
“Okay, so let’s find a way out of here first. I’d bite myself in the ass if Clara and Georgiana are faster than we are!”
“That would be even nicer. But those two must have missed one aspect. This is Dracula, not Twilight”, Esther giggled now, and Charlotte looked around.
She wasn’t completely wrong, it was a castle entrance, even if she had always imagined something like this to be bigger. Well, there had been no room for that here. And she had also found the gate, which they probably had to open.
“Okay, let’s try our luck. It’ll work out…somehow…”
For the next forty minutes, the two women made their way through the dark rooms, always trailing the vampire. Nothing really shocked them, even though a doll suddenly stood up in bed in one of the bedrooms. When the shock was over, they both began to laugh. The thing looked real, but it wasn’t. Esther’s comment that the thing could probably also be used as a sex doll took away the last of the fright. They were also lucky to have both read Dracula, because they recognized certain passages and were able to establish connections more easily. Finally they found themselves in another bedroom, but this one was empty and had no door.
“Theoretically, we have a problem. Dracula is not murdered in the castle, but somewhere in the wilderness…”, Charlotte finally said after they had walked around the room for the third time.
“Well, then they didn’t need to lead us to the castle at all. But then again, this isn’t Dracula, it’s…what did they call the stupid guy?”
“Does he even have a name? Wasn’t he just called The Count?”, asked Charlotte back.
“Alright, so we recognized almost everything from the castle because it’s mentioned somewhere in the book and has references to it. But now we’re standing in a bedroom, and we don’t know what to do…maybe now we have to sacrifice our blood to find the door.”
Charlotte started to laugh as she pictured Clara doing this. The woman already started to scream when there was just a little blood somewhere. But that didn’t get her anywhere either. Disgruntled, Charlotte dropped down on the bed, Esther next to her…only to come back up a moment later.
“This thing is too hard”, they shouted at the same time.
“I wonder if there’s a trap door in there?”, asked Charlotte.
“Let’s try it out. We’ve got about twenty minutes left. Clara and Georgiana probably won’t be that fast.”
Together they cleared the bed and sure enough, a flap appeared underneath. The creepy voice from the invisible speakers sounded again. It had been accompanying them through the castle the whole time, warning them of the dangers. This time it threatened that the count would catch them – they would never escape his castle. Charlotte ignored her and pressed against the wood again, which unfortunately did not give way.
“There must be a lever here somewhere to open this thing”, she muttered.
“The only thing in the room is the bed, and since the bed is the exit, it must be at the bed…”
Esther and she started searching the thing, it still took them a while to finally find the tiny button behind one of the curtains – a vampire’s fang sticking out of the wood. It crunched softly and mist rose as the trapdoor opened. Charlotte gave way to Esther, who climbed the rickety ladder and hopefully escaped to freedom. However, she had not expected the trap door to close again with a thud.
“Esther?”, she cried out.
Hastily she returned to the small button, pressed it again, but this time nothing happened – and then the lights went out, too. Charlotte’s heart pounded to her throat as she stood there in complete darkness, not knowing what would happen next. In her mind’s eye, she could already see the vampire approaching her to suck her blood. Then, when she heard a crunching sound, she could no longer suppress the scream.
“Ow damn”, it growled softly. “Is someone there?”, a voice asked. “I really hope that’s part of the game. Will, if this is a joke, I’m going to kick your ass”, the man continued to growl, and Charlotte froze. She knew that voice…she knew that voice all too well.
“Sidney?”, she asked softly.
“Damn it, Charlotte? Are you really here?”
“No, you know, my voice is coming from the speakers. They hired me because I do so well in a creepy castle!”, she hissed back.
Her heart was still beating up to her throat. She couldn’t see Sidney; in fact she couldn’t see anything. And she knew if she unclenched her fists, her hands would shake. But somehow it was good to hear at least one familiar voice.
“What are you doing…okay, stupid question. Are you here alone?”
“No, actually I was here with Esther…”, Charlotte answered.
Carefully she started to feel her way along the bed and at that moment she was glad to have decided against her high heels earlier and wore comfortable sneakers instead. Sidney’s voice seemed to come from the only door, which must have been the sound she heard before she started screaming. She could have slapped herself. What was the worst that could happen here?
“Do you know what the room looks like?”, asked Sidney.
“Yeah, about. It’s about three steps from the door to a bed, a four-poster bed. But be careful the bedding is on the floor. The bed itself is also the exit, a trap door. We already had it open, and Esther went down the ladder…only then the thing closed again, and the light went out…”
“Yes, it was similar with us. I went into the hallway that connects the two rooms and then on one the door closed behind me and I could only open that one…”, muttered Sidney as he must have been moving.
“Ladies and gentlemen, we are very sorry. We unfortunately had a technical glitch. We are working to fix it as soon as possible. While we are working on it, I’m afraid it is not possible to open the doors between the rooms. You can still move forward from the hallways to the next room if it has already been vacated by the previous group. We hope to be able to at least give you light again shortly. Until that time, we ask that you move as little as possible!”
Charlotte heard Sidney’s growl and she would have liked to scream again. That meant she would be trapped here with Sidney for now, alone and no one would be able to come and get her out. She felt around in her pockets, but her cell phone was locked outside, along with her purse. She only had the small box Clara had given her. She knew there was an emergency button on it, too, but she certainly didn’t want to bring the staff here when there might be a real emergency waiting for her somewhere.
She felt her way further along the bed until she came across something soft. For all she remembered, it might be one of the mats they had thrown off the bed to find the exit.
“Charlotte, where are you?”
“To the left of the bed, found one of the mats. I’m certainly not going to stand around here now when I might as well sit!”
Carefully, she settled down on the mat and stretched out her legs. Even when Clara had come up with the idea, she hadn’t been thrilled, but now she knew that things could always be worse. Suddenly she felt someone next to her and suppressed a scream. So in complete darkness she had no orientation at all. This is how someone who suddenly went blind must feel – and Charlotte knew she really didn’t need this experience.
Sidney was sitting so close to her that she could feel his warmth and she had to suppress the urge to move a little closer. But she remembered that this man next to her was married to a beautiful, rich, and influential woman. Just sitting that close to him would have put Eliza Campion…oh no Parker on edge. She didn’t like anyone getting that close to her Sidney at all. And Charlotte could understand her, you didn’t want to share a man like Sidney once you had him. She had had that experience, too, only of course she had not been able to keep a man like Sidney Parker – Eliza had told her so from the beginning. Country girls and influential businessmen don’t mix.
“Charlotte?”, he asked quietly.
“What, are you really going to make small talk or something?”, she returned more bitingly than intended.
“Small talk maybe not…but talking to you. I don’t feel like sitting here in silence next to each other too!”
“Oh, I thought it was quite nice…”, she replied sharply.
“Sure, you love the silence. When did you ever manage to keep your thoughts to yourself for more than three seconds?”, he asked her back just as sharply.
“After all, you said you didn’t care about my thoughts or feelings!”
“When I said that, I was angry, and I already told you I was sorry. I didn’t mean it that way!”, he returned.
She heard him take a deep breath in and out. He probably wished he had a cigarette here, he always needed one when she was annoying him again. She saw his face in front of her, eyes closed for a moment as he took the first deep drag. After that, he could usually relax already. Still, she had once made the mistake of pointing out to him that smoking wasn’t exactly good for his health. Their first big argument had been about the working conditions of his workers in India, their second about that. Well, they were probably more programmed to make each other’s lives miserable than anything else.
“At least in your anger you were more honest than when you have time to think carefully about your answers!”, she replied.
“When have I ever lied to you?”, he asked her through clenched teeth.
“Think about it yourself!”
She knew she sounded like a petulant child, but she couldn’t talk about that, she couldn’t even think about it. He had sworn to her that he would love her, that she would be the only woman for him. And then he comes back from a business trip, and she has to learn from a euphoric Tom that on this trip he had met again with his childhood sweetheart Eliza and that old feelings had flared up. Tom had told her that they were going to get married. He had not even had the courage to tell her himself. Actually, she did him an injustice because she had gone home the same evening. She didn’t want to see anyone else, neither him, nor anyone else from Sanditon. She had only wanted to forget this summer.
“You just disappeared, you never got back to me. You ignored all the calls and messages, but I made the mistake! Sorry I also lose patience at some point. I’m not waiting for a woman who so obviously doesn’t want me. Maybe I can ask you what I was for you? A summer adventure? Just trying out what it’s like to play with someone else’s feelings. Stringer had to suffer through it, after all!”
“You’re fucking serious?”, hissed Charlotte back. “You start with James. Jesus Christ, what did I do? I honestly told him I didn’t want anything from him. And?”
“Yeah, but I was the game to you, or what?”
“A game? You’re the one who promised me he’d come back and then we’d have two more weeks together where you’d go away with me. And it’s you who came back and was engaged to his great childhood sweetheart. For whom, I may remind you, you waited almost eight years!”
She felt the tears running down her cheeks. She had repressed still loving him all these months. She knew that what had happened between them had grown way too big way too fast, but she hadn’t been able to stop it either. It had felt so good, so right. At twenty-one, she had been practically inexperienced because everything had always felt wrong. It wasn’t until she was in Sidney’s arms that she had been able to relax for the first time. For the first time, she had really felt something…and they hadn’t even really made love.
“Engaged? What are you talking about, please?”
“Oh yeah, I forgot. By now you’re married, after all. The real big love, as far as I’ve heard”, Charlotte croaked.
You could hear the tears in her voice, and she hated herself for it. She didn’t want him to realize what power he still had over her. He had broken her heart and she was still learning to live with the pain. Most days she could just block it out and especially when she was with Esther, she felt better. But then there were days when she just wanted to hole up and live out her grief. Heartbreak wasn’t supposed to last that long…but she just couldn’t get over it.
Then she felt a hand on her arm and would have loved to flinch. His touch still had this effect on her. She would have loved to throw herself at his neck and try to get as much as she could. Only she wasn’t like that, she wasn’t a cheap whore, and she wouldn’t stoop to that level.
“Charlotte, I’m serious, what are you talking about please. I’m neither engaged nor married. And if you’re alluding to Eliza, yes, I met her on the trip and she was pretty offensive, but I didn’t want her and don’t want her anymore. Yes, she is still after me, and I admit it sucks. But that’s in the past…who told you we were engaged?”
Charlotte didn’t trust what she had just heard. He wasn’t supposed to be married. That seemed so unreal to her. For months now she had lived with the knowledge that she had lost him because she could never keep a man like him. And now he was telling her that none of this was true. It was almost as if someone was holding the pot of gold under her nose.
“Tom was practically ecstatic that his little brother had gotten engaged to the great Eliza Campion. And that the two would be married in the fall. He was almost giddy with happiness; after all, that would raise Sanditon’s reputation to the heavens”, Charlotte returned defiantly.
“Tom told you that I was engaged to Eliza. And who told you about the marriage?”
“Georgiana mentioned it…”
Actually, Georgiana had only sent her a message saying that she would probably have to play bridesmaid at Sidney’s wedding, and that she hated it all so much. England was a horrible country and she just wanted to get back to Antigua. For Charlotte, on the other hand, a world had collapsed at this news, because it meant that she would lose Sidney altogether that day. After that, he would belong to another woman, and she knew that he would never cheat on anyone not that she could ever ask that of him.
Charlotte felt Sidney’s hand on her arm, his warm hand that had given her so much security last summer. A shiver ran down her spine, though she wasn’t even sure if it was fear or desire. Charlotte swallowed, not daring to look in his direction, even though he couldn’t actually see her.
“Char, you have to believe me that I did not get engaged to Eliza, nor did I marry her. I don’t know why Tom said such a thing, but it isn’t true.”
She felt a tug on her arm and then she felt him just wrap his arms around her. As soon as she felt his embrace, the tears she had hoped had finally driven them away came again. But to feel him so close, to feel as safe again as she had that summer, it brought her walls crashing down. More and more tears ran down her cheeks as she clutched at his shirt to keep from simply losing her grip.
“It’s okay, angel. I wanted to come back to you and keep my promise. Christ, I had already organized a little finca in Spain just for the two of us. And then you were gone, and I was just mad at you. I didn’t want to wait forever again for a woman who didn’t want me in the end…”, he explained quietly.
She knew what he meant. Eliza had left him to marry a rich man. At that time she was just twenty, the man was almost eighty – but that hadn’t bothered her. Eliza had cared for him for seven years before he passed away. And since then, she must have been trying to win Sidney over again, at least after she had mourned her late husband. That Sidney did not want to be treated like that again, Charlotte understood only too well.
“I thought you had left me…”, she whispered back.
“Never. I love you, Charlotte, more than you can imagine”, Sidney declared seriously.
“I love you too…”, Charlotte choked back.
She shivered slightly as she pressed herself even closer to Sidney. She still couldn’t imagine that it could all be so easy – that it was all just a misunderstanding. It just didn’t feel that way. For months now, she had been convinced that he had left her because he loved someone else. And she couldn’t even blame him, Eliza was a beautiful woman who also had money, power, and influence. How could she blame him for choosing against her and for Eliza? And yet she was sitting here in the darkness with him and not Eliza. She pressed herself a little closer to Sidney, felt his hard body against hers and felt like in summer again – so light, as if everything was possible together with him. Damn…it couldn’t be that easy after all. Could it?
“What are we going to do now?”, asked Charlotte softly.
“Hope we get out of here…as soon as possible, I might note. And then I’d like to go out with you…”, he whispered back.
Charlotte blushed. He wanted to take her out, on a date. Yes, he had dated her back in the summer, but they had always kept a low profile, after all Charlotte was a guest at his brother’s house. At the same time, they had still been uncomfortable with the fact that everyone would be watching them once they made it public that they liked each other. And they had also yelled at each other far too often on the public street to assume that they really liked each other…or even loved each other. Someone had once remarked that they should probably just fuck each other to relieve stress. But it had never come to that, they hadn’t gotten beyond heavy fooling around. And it had felt so infinitely good to feel his hands between her legs or to hold his cock in her hand and stroke it. Charlotte felt more blood rush to her cheeks as she thought of how Sidney had licked her.
“Char?”
Before she could answer, the light flickered back on. Although it wasn’t particularly bright, they both had to squint their eyes before they could see anything again. Charlotte blinked a few times until she finally saw the round room in front of her again.
“Ladies and gentlemen, as you just noticed, at least we managed to turn the lights back on. The doors may take some time, we have found the problem, but we are still working on a solution. Please be patient for a little while longer. Of course, we will compensate you all for the inconvenience…”
With that, silence reigned again, and Charlotte looked up at Sidney for the first time. He still looked as incredibly handsome as she remembered him. His dark eyes bored into hers for a few moments before her gaze fell to his lips. Fuck, she remembered how good it had always felt when he kissed her. It took a few moments for her to notice anything more than just his full lips. He had a three-day beard and dark shadows under his eyes, which she knew very well from herself. Only Esther had shown her how to use concealer properly so that the shadows were no longer visible.
“Fuck, Charlotte. Now kiss me already!”, growled Sidney softly.
Before she could react, though, he had already put his hand on the back of her head and pulled her to his lips. As soon as their lips pressed together, Charlotte moaned hoarsely. She clawed at Sidney’s shirt as he slid his tongue into her mouth in demand. It felt so incredibly good, Charlotte complied with his movements as she felt heat gathering between her legs.
His fingers rummaged through her hair, messing up the curls even more, but Charlotte didn’t care. Her own fingers wandered over his shirt until she finally reached his neckline, allowing her to finally feel his soft skin under her fingers again. She tried to feel more of his skin, but didn’t get very far, the shirt was just in the way. A gasp escaped Charlotte when she felt Sidney’s second hand on her breasts. Unfortunately, he didn’t stay there, but moved further down before his hand came to rest on her hip.
“Charlotte, you’re driving me nuts…”, he whispered against her lips.
“Good…”, she whispered back.
Before she could react any further, he had already lifted her onto his lap, and another moan escaped Charlotte. Fuck, she really hadn’t expected that. To feel him so completely now turned her on as only he could. She felt his hardness under her and began to rub against him a little. His moans only spurred her on even more.
Sometimes it was still a mystery to her how she of all people could turn him on like that – but he reacted that way every time. He became hard and gradually lost his control. That it was no different for her, he knew as well as her. Again she pressed her lips to his, though less focused than he – it didn’t feel so controlled, rather clumsy almost sloppy, but it didn’t seem to bother him much. He only pressed her tighter against him and she felt him twitch.
“Sidney…”, she moaned hoarsely.
“If you knew how much I want you…”, he replied.
She felt him begin to move against her. Now she almost wished she had put on a skirt as well, because her jeans were now more than a hindrance. At the same time, she also wanted to finally feel him. There was hardly anything she wanted more right now. She trembled in his arms.
His fingers began to glide over her body again, but didn’t linger anywhere for more than a few seconds, not even on her breasts. She was a little more purpose-oriented there, as she searched for his pants button to get the fuck to his cock. Still, it took her a bit to be able to open the button as well, eliciting a moan from him, which only made her shiver even more.
“Charlotte…”
Finally she had done it and slid her hand down his breeches and into his underpants, finally touching the soft skin again. The loud moan surprised her a little, but at the same time it only turned her on more. This is what she had wanted, this is what she had desired. This man…and she knew that she had him in the palm of her hand – literally. With little room to move, she began to circle his glans while his mouth pressed down on her throat to muffle his sounds at least a little.
“Oh God, Charlotte…”, he whispered.
But then he grabbed her wrists and pulled them out of his breeches. Disappointed, she looked at him. She had had him this far and now he wasn’t going to let her finish either.
“If I come in my breeches now, I can hardly move all day. And believe me, I want nothing more right now than for you to finish this…”, he whispered in her ear. She heard that he was aroused and although she blushed again, she also knew that she had brought him this far. Somehow that made her proud.
“I love you, my angel!”
Tenderly he kissed her and then she felt his fingers in her jeans – and in her panties. A shocked gasp escaped her, for she had not expected this. She hadn’t even noticed that he had opened her jeans. His fingers began to purposefully circle her pearl and she moaned against his lips.
“Sidney…”, she moaned out.
“Does that feel good, Char? Is that what you need?”, he murmured back.
“Yes…”, she breathed as his fingers deftly increased her pleasure. She clawed at him, feeling herself getting damper and knowing that her underwear would be ruined after this as well…but she didn’t care at that moment. She just wanted more of those feelings that Sidney could trigger with his fingers alone. She jerked her pelvis towards him while he pushed his fingers a little further and then penetrated her with one finger. A scream escaped her, which she could only muffle at his shoulder.
“Fuck, Sidney…”, she gasped.
She hadn’t expected him to do that, and yet she began to move toward him. Actually, she was almost riding his finger, and she knew she could hardly stand it much longer.
“Sidney…”, she moaned as she felt the first wave of orgasm rush over her. Sidney allowed her to fully savor her orgasm, still slowly thrusting his finger into her. She sank against him, feeling his second arm encircle her, giving her a sense of complete security. Only slowly did she come back down from her high, still feeling minor aftershocks that Sidney reinforced a bit as he gently withdrew his hand. She jerked toward him, but he held her just a little tighter and she pressed against him.
She stared up into his dark eyes and couldn’t believe it when he simply licked off the finger he had just had deep inside her. Yes, he had licked her several times before, but there was something even more intimate about this that made her blush again.
“You’re so beautiful when you blush like that…”, he whispered softly, kissing her cheek tenderly.
Charlotte leaned her head against his shoulder again and closed her eyes for a few moments. She couldn’t really believe it yet, but half an hour ago they had been arguing and now he had given her a breathtaking orgasm and sworn that he loved her. Besides, he wasn’t married – and she could have had him to herself the whole time. She didn’t even know how to feel at that moment. She had left in a hurry then, so as not to run into him under any circumstances, but now saw that she had made everything worse by doing so.
“I’m sorry…”, she whispered softly.
“What?”
“I just left…I knew I couldn’t run into you, not when you were engaged to her. I…don’t know what I would have done then. I was just so hurt when Tom told me about it, I just wanted to leave. And I couldn’t talk to you either, it just hurt so much…”
She put her hand on his heart and felt his heart beating. It was a familiar feeling; they had sat like these many times before. She felt him slide his one hand back into her hair and gently begin to stroke it. She felt so comfortable in his arms at that moment and really didn’t want to give that up, but she had to tell him, even if it hurt him. She wanted to be honest with him, he deserved that.
“I know how it feels…”, he finally replied softly. “I didn’t know why you were avoiding me all of a sudden. But Tom was also trying to get me together with Eliza somehow the whole time. I don’t know how many times I’ve had lunch with her in the last few months because she wanted to discuss something else. And the only thing I could think about was you. I wanted to hold you, fall asleep with you…wake up with you. But all the time I had to see her, and I didn’t know why you just left…”
She nodded slightly at his chest. That Tom would prefer a connection between Eliza and Sidney, she understood. Eliza had money, lots of money. She had inherited it from her husband, and Charlotte could well imagine that she would be willing to invest it in Sanditon if she had something out of it too – a man like Sidney, for example. However, the fact that Tom was willing to sacrifice his brother for it shocked her a little.
“Charlotte, you have to promise me two things…”, Sidney then said, and she looked up into his eyes. Silently, she gave her consent. “First, we’ll talk to each other from now on, even about things like this. And if anyone ever tells you I got engaged to Eliza again, you ask me about it.”
“Yes…”, she returned. “And the second thing?”
“I want you to promise to marry me!”
“Sidney…are you asking me right now…?”
“Yes, if you will be my wife…”
She didn’t give him an answer for now, as the speaker cracked and then the voice announced that the rooms could finally leave, the technical glitch had been fixed. Charlotte sighed softly, rose a little stiffly from Sidney’s lap and noticed that this position was comfortable on an armchair or in a bed, but not on a mat on the floor. Still moving, she zipped up her jeans and looked for the little fang on the bed that would hopefully open the door this time. Indeed, it did again, to great effect, as the mist spread, and the trapdoor opened.
“You first”, Sidney said, helping her up onto the bed.
Charlotte carefully climbed down the ladder and then looked up. Sidney followed her and they were faced with another door, but they were able to push it open easily – and then they were finally back in the lobby from which they had started. Charlotte sighed with relief.
“Was it that bad being locked up with me?”, he asked with a laugh.
“No, it wasn’t. But I’m still glad not to be stuck in a maze of rooms anymore…”, she grumbled, looking for Esther.
“That’s true. I can think of more comfortable places, too. But you still owe me an answer…”
He embraced her from behind and pulled her to his body again. Charlotte shuddered but snuggled close to him and relaxed for a moment, closing her eyes.
“Will you marry me, Charlotte?”
“Somehow, I had always thought that you would ask such a question by candlelight and red roses…and that you would bring a ring with you”, she teased lightly.
Actually, none of that mattered to her; she knew her answer. But sometimes she just had to do it. Shyly she looked up and saw his eyes shining.
“A ring I can give you…”
“Sidney, stop. Yes, I want to marry you. And no, I don’t need a ring and candlelight we almost had…”, she said as she turned in his embrace.
She could literally see Sidney’s face light up and at that moment she liked this man even more. He just pulled her to him and kissed her. At that moment, all her surroundings disappeared, and she perceived only Sidney. This kiss remained tender, almost hesitant, yet it felt so incredible that it should never end. She clawed at his shirt to keep it from disappearing, it felt far too good for that.
“I thought the next time we saw him; we’d cut his balls off and serve them to him for breakfast…”
Charlotte broke away from Sidney’s lips when she heard Esther’s cool voice. She turned in his embrace so she could look at her friend.
“My balls for breakfast…I think I’ll pass…”, muttered Sidney.
“We just had a little time…to sort everything out…”, Charlotte finally said.
“Yeah, I saw that. I’d better not interrupt any further, then. If you’re here, I suspect you’re out with Babington and Crowe…”
“Yes, we got separated in the second to last room”, Sidney replied. “They should be out in a minute…”
Esther moved away from the two again and Sidney pulled Charlotte along. He really didn’t feel like company right now – besides, he still had to get a ring for his fiancée, because even if she didn’t want one, she deserved one.