Charlie All Night

10

The station was crowded when they got there at five forty-five. The lobby teemed with two TV crews, print journalists, the sheriff, a grim Bill and Beattie and a bemused Mark.

“What is this?” Mark caught Allie’s arm as she came through the door behind Charlie. Charlie looked back and rolled his eyes at Mark, but he kept on going into the station hallway. “What’s all the publicity for?” Mark asked. “What did Charlie do now?”

“Nothing.” Allie pulled her arm away. “Grady confessed to giving away marijuana to cancer patients. He’s going to be arrested.”

Mark got a faraway look in his eye. Probably planning on confessing to possession of oregano. How anyone could get that caught up in a career-

She stopped. Thank God for Charlie. If it hadn’t been for him, she’d still be with Mark. In fact, she’d probably be Mark.

“I’ve got to go,” she told Mark and went into the station to find Charlie and thank him.

She found him in the booth with Grady.

“There’s quite a crowd in the lobby,” Charlie was telling him. “Anything I can do? Whatever you want, you got it.”

“Nope.” Grady leaned back in his chair, Sam on his lap happily chewing on the sleeve of Grady’s sweatshirt. “I’ve got ten minutes of Hildegarde of Bingen on now, and then I’ll say my goodbyes and go to jail.”

“Oh, Grady,” Allie sat down on the floor of the booth. “I still wish you hadn’t said anything. We could have-”

“No, this is going to be great.” Grady’s voice sounded so self-satisfied that Allie jerked her head up to see if could possibly be that happy.

He was.

“This is exactly the forum we need,” Grady told her. “We need to get this stuff legalized for medical treatment. Now we have a cause. They’re going to have to arrest me and my mother and probably a half-dozen cancer patients. Think of the publicity when Mrs. Winthrop goes to jail. Your celibate bet made the tri-state news. This will have to go national.”

Allie went back to the part that scared her the most. “Grady, you’re going to jail.”

Grady grinned at her. “Not for long. You don’t know my dad. Hell, I didn’t know my dad. He yelled at first, but he had a plan worked out, and then Mom got on the other line, and by the time she was finished, he was ready to run me for governor. He’s all gung ho, getting lawyers and filing motions and calling the press. He says there’s bail and appeals and no end of lawyer red tape he can throw at them to keep me out. And the whole time, Mom and I will be giving interviews, making statements…” He trailed off as his grin widened. “I bet Dad will even let me keep my show once he gets over the shock.”

“He’s over it now,” Charlie told him from where he was leaning on the side of the boom. “He’s arguing with the sheriff in front of the TV cameras. This is going to be a circus.”

Grady leaned back in his chair. “This is great.”

Allie stood up, suddenly reassured. “No, it’s not, but I’ll help, anyway.” She started out of the booth, and Charlie caught her arm.

“What are you doing?”

Allie smiled at him, buoyed by Grady’s optimism and the fact that Charlie was touching her again. “You know all those people I was going to call to try to stop your drug story? They work both ways. I’ll have Grady on the national news by tomorrow.”

“Oh, right,” Charlie snorted. “Even you-”

Allie stopped him in midsentence. “Want to bet?”

“No.” Charlie shook his head. “Absolutely not. I’m not betting anything with you ever again.”

“That’s what I thought,” Allie said and left the booth to make some phone calls.

Three hours later, Grady had been arrested and bailed out, and Charlie was alone with Bill in his office.

“Things didn’t turn out quite the way I’d planned,” Charlie told him.

Bill sighed and sat heavily in his chair. “The two of them. Running a charity drug ring. And now they’re in hog heaven, and the poor old sheriff has to go through the motions. If they’d kept their damn mouths shut…”

“At least now you know,” Charlie said. “The anonymous-letter mystery’s over.”

“Oh, yeah, I’m real glad about that.” Bill leaned back in his chair and glared at him. “So I guess this means you’re leaving.”

“Nope,” Charlie said. “I’m staying. You can tell my dad he won.”

Bill started and then tried to look innocent. “What’s your dad got to do with this?”

Charlie shook his head. “Forget it. I figured it out a while back. You called Dad and told him you had an anonymous letter, and he told you he wanted me settled down and you cooked this up together. Favor for an old friend, right? You didn’t give a damn about that letter.”

“I told him I couldn’t make you stay if you didn’t want to.” Bill scowled at him. “Then you went and made yourself a hit. And me some money. It’s your fault.”

“No, it’s Allie’s.” Charlie signed. “She wanted to make me a star.”

“Well, I got to tell you, son, I’m real glad she did.”

Charlie looked up in surprise at the emotion in the older man’s voice. “I am, too.” He blinked at the thought. He really was glad.

That’s what hanging around with Allie had done for him. Made him career crazy.

“You’re sure gonna make the nights interesting around here,” Bill went on, and Charlie shook his head.

“No, that’ll be the mornings. I want the prime-time spot.”

Bill frowned at him. “Can’t do it. That’s Mark King’s show.”

Charlie shrugged. “Then I’m out of here. And so is Allie.”

Bill’s eyebrows shot up. “Alice? She’s not leaving.”

“We’re getting married, Bill. Whither I goest, she goest. And if we don’t get the prime-time show, we’re going.” Charlie mentally crossed his fingers, hoping Bill wouldn’t call his bluff. Allie was too independent to follow anybody anywhere, but Bill didn’t have to know that.

Bill glared at him. “What the hell am I going to do with Mark?”

“I am not the person to ask that,” Charlie said as he stood ip. “You wouldn’t like my suggestions.”

“All right.” Bill ground his teeth a little. “All right. You got it.”

“Thank you very much.” Charlie turned back as he got to he door. “And good luck with Grady and Beattie. Let me know if there’s anything I can do.”

Bill sat back in his chair. “We can handle it. It’s a family problem.”

Charlie leaned in the doorway. “Well, to tell you the truth, Bill, I kind of think of you and Grady and Beattie as family now. So if you need anything…”

Bill’s face softened and he nodded. “I’ll call you.”

“Thanks. I’d like that.”

Charlie looked in Allie’s office, but she was long gone, her phone calls made while he was helping Grady.

He knew where she’d be, and he tried not to think about it on his way out to the car.

Now was no time to have a heart attack from lust.

Allie opened the door of her apartment when he knocked, and just the sight of him made her weak-kneed. Coming home to bed had been a mistake. It was November first, and Grady was where he wanted to be, and the bet was over, and she wanted him. She didn’t want to lose the closeness they’d had, but she wanted him with a craving that went beyond lust.

So when she opened the door, and he was standing there, broad and safe and male and Charlie, her knees went, and she tried to pretend it didn’t matter. “Come on in,” she said and then went back into her bedroom and crawled under her quilt. “I can’t believe this,” she told him when he followed her. “I can’t believe this last twenty-four hours happened. I can’t believe this last month happened.”

Charlie slumped at the foot of the bed, and Allie fought back her disappointment. He was supposed to be under the quilt with her.

“It happened,” he told her. “The last thing I heard as I went through the lobby was Mark, on the air, telling the world he’d inhaled in the seventies.”

Allie was so surprised, she forgot to lust for a minute. “Inhaled what?”

“I don’t know.” Charlie rubbed his neck. “I don’t care. I’m just glad it’s over. I just want some sleep.”

Sleep. Well, it was a start. She moved over a couple of inches to make room for him. “You can get some sleep here if you want,”

He was still for a moment. “Here?”

She nodded.

“Allie, if I climb into bed with you, I’m going to want more than sleep.”

Her heart did a little heated lurch in her chest. Thank God. Now, if only things didn’t change. “I’ve been thinking,” she said to him. “All last night, and this morning while I was on the phone. And I don’t know what I think about this Grady mess. I don’t even know which one of us is right. But I do know that you did what you thought was right even though I tried hard to change your mind.” She smiled tentatively at him. “And I’m pretty impressed with that, that you’d give up everything to do what you thought was right. And I know that you’ve been right on some other things this month, too. Not everything, but some things. And I know I love you, and you love me, and after that… well, I think we can work this out.” She swallowed. “What do you think?”

Charlie’s eyes met hers. “Will you marry me?”

Allie almost fell out of bed.

“I already told Bill we were getting married, so I’m going to look like a real fool if you say no.” He leaned forward. “Make an honest man out of me. Marry me.”

Allie stopped breathing. Marriage. That was permanent enough. And since it was Charlie asking, it was forever. She’d have to follow him all over the country, and they’d probably have all their kids in different states, and she’d never have a career again.

But she’d have good times. And laughter.

And Charlie.

She drew a deep breath. “Can we get a Winnebago?”

He blinked at her. “Well, yeah. Sure. I guess.” He frowned at her. “Why would you want a Winnebago?”

“So it’ll be like home while we’re traveling,” Allie said, “like a house.”

Charlie’s frown deepened. “Traveling where?”

“Wherever it is that we’re going. It’s November.”

He started to laugh, and she wanted to kill him. “Forget the Winnebago. We’re not going anywhere. I told Bill I wanted a full-time job. Medical insurance. Pension plan. Paternity leave. We’re adopting Sam. I’m settling down.”

Some days, you get everything you ask for. Unbelievable. Allie sank back against the pillows. “Oh. Oh, good.” She closed her eyes in relieved wonder. “Oh, Charlie, I do love you, and I’d follow you anywhere, but I’d really rather-”

“Stay here and make me a star.” Charlie grinned at her. “I know, babe. You’ve got it.”

Allie loved him so much she thought she’d die of it. And he was still a whole bed-length away from her. She tried to glare at him. “Will you please come here and kiss me? You just proposed. You’re supposed to kiss me.”

His grin disappeared. “I’m not going to stop with a kiss. I want a lot more than that.”

Allie took a deep breath. “You’ve got it.”

His eyes met hers and he didn’t move. “This is unbelievable,” he told her. “I feel like a kid on a first date.”

“It’s not like we haven’t done this before.” Allie tried to smile at him. “It’s not like it’s our first time.”

“Yes, it is.” Charlie moved up until he was sitting on the side of the bed, his hands on each side of her, and she put her hand on his arm, grateful to finally be touching him. “It’s our first time for this,” he said, his eyes looking deep into hers. “What we had before was fun, but it wasn’t this. This is our first time.”

She couldn’t move her eyes from his. “I know.” She moved her hand to his cheek, barely touching him. “I know. I want you so much. I couldn’t bear to lose you now.”

She hadn’t meant to sound so vulnerable, but she couldn’t call back the words. He closed his eyes, and then he shook his head. “You won’t lose me. Things have changed, but they’ll be better. They’re already better. If you don’t want to love this fast, we can wait to make love. Until you’re sure.”

“I’m sure,” Allie said. “I’m just… nervous.”

“I know. I am, too. But I want you so much…”

He leaned forward then and kissed her softly, lingering, and the heat from his mouth went straight into her bones and called back all the craving she’d ignored for too long.

“Oh, come to bed,” she whispered. “I can’t wait any longer.”

He stood then and undressed, deliberately, not like the old exuberant Charlie who had stripped at the speed of light and then pulled her to him like a teenager in heat. When he slid into bed beside her, he didn’t touch her; he just supported himself on one elbow and looked down at her as if she was something irreplaceable.

“This must be what wedding nights used to be like,” he said. “Terrifying. Incredible.”

Allie put her hand on his chest to feel his warmth and felt him stiffen at her touch. She’d forgotten exactly how good he would feel under her hand, how hard his chest was, how hot his skin burned, like a brand on her palm. She let her hand trail down his chest and put her cheek against him and listened to his heart pound, and he slowly slid his arm around her waist and pulled her close as he eased himself under her, into the pillows.

Charlie tipped her face to his, and she almost suffocated from love, just watching him look at her as if he was memorizing her. There was so much love in his face, she thought she’d drown in it, and when he finally did pull her head down, to kiss her, she did drown. His mouth was gentle at first, and then more insistent, his tongue invading her, and her hands clenched his shoulders as he grew more demanding. She felt her body deepen in heat against his, her blood growing thick and hot as his mouth took her away, and she willed herself to remember that it was him with her and not to melt into senselessness. She felt him pull at her nightgown and helped him strip it off, closing her eyes as the cool air fell on her body, opening them as the heat from his hands reclaimed her. She licked at the base of his neck, and then down his chest to his nipples, feeling how hard and smooth he was under her lips, hearing his breathing break as she touched him.

Then he bent his head, and she felt the sweet chill of his mouth on her breast, and then the chill turned to heat. She raked her fingers through his hair and pulled his head against her, savoring the ache of his mouth on her. The heat and the ache and the torment were everywhere, and as he moved under her, she fell into him, becoming part of him, wanting him everywhere against her, inside her. Even simple pleasures like the brush of his cheek against her skin became charged with electricity and love.

“I love you,” she whispered to him, and he said, “I didn’t know this existed. I didn’t know until you.”

“Make love to me.” Allie tried to move against him, but he rolled her gently onto her back and began to kiss her neck “I want you inside me,” she said, arching into him. “I’ve waited so long. Don’t make me wait longer.”

“Just a little bit,” he said against her throat. “Just a little bit.” His cheek was on her breast and then his tongue traced down the seam of her stomach, and her nerves fluttered and she forgot how to breathe.

“Soon,” he said, when his hands were on her hips, and her hips flexed on their own, tightening under his grip. “I just need to taste you. I need this first.” His fingers found her, and she moaned and stretched to ease the ache, then he licked his tongue inside her, and she jerked under the shock and grabbed the headboard above her in desperation, holding on to it as if it were sanity.

“You taste so sweet, Allie,” she heard him whisper, and she moaned at the thought while his breath tantalized her thighs. She gripped the headboard until her knuckles went white, trying to stay with him, but his whisper pounded inside her and she couldn’t breathe because the heat was everywhere. “You’re so sweet.”

And then he licked inside her again and again, and she writhed in his grasp, and he moved his mouth harder against her, holding her hips harder against him, and she couldn’t twist away, didn’t want to twist away, had to twist away as me heat screamed through her veins until she cried out, “Oh, Charlie, now,” and he whispered, “Soon,” and drove her on and on until she went over the edge, ecstatically out of control.

He moved back beside her then while she throbbed against him and the aftershocks of her climax wracked her. He whispered that she was beautiful, most beautiful when she was coming, and she breathed, “It’s not enough. I need you inside me.” And he closed his eyes and then moved over her, his lips saying her name soundlessly, his thighs moving her legs apart. She ached so for him that she moaned with it, her veins bursting under her skin. “Oh, please,” she said, clutching him to her, and he said, “Look at me,” and when she did, loving him so much she was insane with it, drowning in the heat and love she saw in his eyes, he moved into her, filling her, and they both stopped breathing for that moment, their eyes locked on each other, their bodies tensed together as the shock flooded them both.

And then they moved together, breathed together, and the heat rushed through them, and Allie surged and bloomed, feeling Charlie in her fingertips, in her heart, in her brain, as his warmth and light and love moved through her, and she fell into her climax, screaming with it, feeling him surge against her over and over, beyond measured rhythm, and his shuddering moans brought her back into the aching spiral again and again until she thought she’d die of ecstasy.

And when they were both quiet, both breathing again, holding each other in the early-morning sunlight, Charlie kissed her and said, “I love you, Allie. I’ll never stop loving you.”

She nodded against his cheek, weak with spent passion. “I know. This is forever.”

She felt him relax, and then moments later he was asleep in her arms, and she held him tightly until she fell asleep, too.

It was afternoon when she woke up, and Charlie woke, too, when she stirred. He pulled her close and she closed her eyes when he kissed her forehead. “I forgot to tell you the good news,” he whispered. “We’ve got a new show.”

Allie frowned at him, still half-asleep. “What new show?”

“Bill gave us the prime-time spot,” he murmured into her hair. “The one at 6:00 a.m. You’re back where you wanted to be.”

Allie sat up, suddenly awake and appalled. “Did you say 6:00 a.m.? In the morning a.m.? Are you nuts?”

Charlie blinked and pushed himself up beside her on one arm. “I thought that was what you wanted. The prime-time show. Back on top.”

Allie looked exasperated. “I can be on top at night.”

He grinned at her and moved his hand to her breast and said, “Anytime,” and she grinned, too, covering his hand with hers.

“You know what I mean,” she told him. “I like the ten-to-two people. They’re bizarre. Let Mark have the prime-time show. At least until Marcia takes it away from him, which should be any day now. We belong at night, Charlie.” She looked at him anxiously. “Don’t you think so?”

“Well, yes.” Charlie started to laugh and collapsed back into the bed, pulling her on top of him. “Wait’ll I tell Bill.”

Allie propped herself up on his chest, enjoying the way her breasts squashed against him. “I can’t believe you even considered the morning show.”

Charlie sighed. “I thought I was giving you what you wanted.”

“You always give me what I want. Which reminds me…” Allie moved her face to his until they were nose-to-nose, stretching and feeling the long hard length of his body against hers. He’d be hers for the rest of her life. She almost died just thinking about it. Then his hand moved lazily down her back to her rear end, and she brought her mind back to the subject on hand. “I have an idea for a new show,” Allie told him. It’ll run forever. Audience of one. I’m thinking of calling it Charlie All Afternoon. And the playlist-”

“I do my own playlist,” Charlie told her and kissed her to start the program.