"We should go to the movies tonight," I suggest as I walk into Lottie's office. In my haste, I failed to see Nate sitting opposite my girlfriend, an amused smile on his face. Rubbing the back of my neck in embarrassment, I grimace. "Uh, hi, Nate."
"Isaac," Nate replies, nodding his head an inch. "I hate to break your heart but I've already got a hot date for tonight. You should ask Charlotte to go with you instead. I'm not sure if she's interested in you, though."
I roll my eyes at his sarcastic tone and point at the doorway behind me, indicating that I wanted him to leave. Knowing better than to take instructions from me while at work, Nate turns to Lottie and asks if it's ok that he goes. Lottie nods and promises him that they'll pick up from where they left off tomorrow. 'Spreadsheets,' she clarifies when I send her a quizzical look.
When Nate leaves, I check the hallway outside Lottie's office before heading back inside and closing the door. I wait a few more seconds until I'm sure that no one will interrupt and then make my way over to Nate's vacated seat. All the while, Lottie watches me with worry. She must think that I've gone crazy with the way that I'm acting but I could not care less about what I appeared to look like; I had more things to worry about.
"Ok, so here's the deal," I say, although, from the way my words rush out of my mouth, I'm not sure if what Lottie hears is exactly what I say. "Martha's going out on a date tonight and I thought-"
"You thought, 'Hey, I know what I can do with my girlfriend,'" Lottie speaks, her tone hopeful. "'I can take her to the cinema!'"
I shake my head. "No, what I was going to say is that Martha is going out on a date and I think we should supervise."
Ok, so I may have gone a little crazy. Ever since Martha had announced last week that there was a 'boy' in her life and that they may be more than 'just friends' I've been losing my mind. Of course, I know that this boy isn't the first one she's been out on a date with. She's had several boyfriends, actually. But this is the first one she's been dating while living a) on the same continent as me, and b) in the same country as me, and c) in my home. Before, I could simply ignore the fact that she was dating because if I never saw them or had to see Martha getting all dolled up for a date, I could easily pretend that all her boyfriends didn't exist.
Now, however, I was going into Dad Mode and I wasn't liking it. This morning, over breakfast, Martha thought it was ok to go into detail about this Will guy, telling me how amazing he was, how his kisses were always passionate and how they were going out on a date tonight.
Odeon Leicester Square. 8:25. Transformers: The Last Knight.
Of all the details Martha was sharing, those three bits were the only things that I remembered. I think it goes without saying that no father wants to know that Will copped a feel on their last date, which, by the way, was spent at a coffee shop where his previous love interest worked. Honestly, I think my daughter could do so much better than that.
This all, of course, goes a long way in explaining why I wanted to go to the cinema tonight. Lottie, however, was unimpressed by my suggestion and told me in no uncertain terms that she would NOT be accompanying me to spy on my daughter.
"I think 'spy' is such a strong word," I explain, holding up an index finger so that Lottie knew just how serious I was being. "I like to think of it as more... uh, what's the word?"
"Spying." Honestly, Lottie just wasn't getting this at all.
"Undercover surveillance!" I proclaim clicking my fingers when the terminology comes back to me. "I just want to make sure that nothing untoward happens, that's all. I would do exactly the same for Nugget."
I don't think I should have brought up the baby because every time I did, Lottie would go into Mama Bear Mode and basically lecture me on how she would do everything differently to me. "Kids need to make their own mistakes and learn from them," Lottie says, putting on her maternal voice and speaking to me like a mother admonishes her child. I did not like it at all. It made me feel like what I was doing was wrong. I think it's perfectly reasonable to do some undercover surveillance on Martha. "Plus, not to be rude or anything here, but I deserve my own date night instead of crashing Martha's. So, how about we ditch the spying and we go out for food, whisper sweet nothings as we come home, and then proceed to have really dirty, hot, steaming sex."
As a man, the promise of sex was alluring as hell. What red blooded male would give up that opportunity? I knew that Lottie was using it as a weapon against me but I was a defenceless opponent who could easily be swayed. I nodded.
"Fine," I grumbled as I gave in. I hated caving in for Lottie. But I love having sex with her, so, you know... "But this time, you're on top. I'm getting really bored of seeing the back of your head. No offence."
Lottie cringes. "I don't want to be on top. I look fat when I'm on top and that just grosses you out. It's like you can see my triple chin."
Ok, so the prize for the craziest person officially went to Lottie. She has such a complex about her appearance when she really has nothing to worry about. I've told her so many times that she's absolutely beautiful; if anything, I find her much more attractive now than I ever did before. She hasn't gained any excess weight at all and she only has one chin, but whenever I try to tell her this now, she thinks I'm lying to her.
Getting up from the chair opposite her, I circle the desk and spin her computer chair until she's facing me. Crouching down, I use my index finger to lift her chin so that I can see those beautiful blue-green eyes of hers. "Charlotte, I don't know how many more times I need to tell you this before you understand, but I have never seen anyone more perfect than you. Everything you do mesmerises me, from the way you laugh and smile to the way you dance around the kitchen on Sunday mornings when you think I'm still asleep. I love the way you goof around and you're totally at ease with yourself and around me. You don't pretend to be someone you're not; a lot of people try too hard but you never do. You're the perfect amount of everything and I crave you all the time. You drive me insane, Lottie, even when you're not around. Thinking of you makes me want to be with you.
"I've never been with anyone like you," I tell her earnestly. I wait for her to interrupt me but when I see that she's staring at me in amazement, I know that my words are registering and for that, I'm grateful. Maybe now she'll believe me when I say all of this to her. "Lottie, I've been into you fro the moment I first saw you and since then, no one else has even registered. I know I haven't said this before but, uh... since New Year's Eve, you're the only woman I've been with because once you get a taste of The One, no one else compares. There is nothing I don't like about you, Charlotte Louise Clément-Delaney, because everything I've seen, I love. Lottie, I... You... God, I don't know what to say other than... I absolutely adore you."
Lottie's eyes widen at hearing my words. Honestly, she just doesn't get it, how I could feel like this about her. I know I don't show her enough and I don't tell her enough because, with Lottie, she deserves to know and hear it every day, but this is the woman I want to be with for eternity and way beyond that. I want to be one of those couples that have that everlasting love and when we're old and wrinkly, we're still as mad for each other as we are now, and even in the afterlife, I want to be those ghosts that still hold hands, staring at each other, and thinking, Thank God I found you and never let you go. That's what I wanted with Lottie and I think that's what she wanted too.
"Ok," she finally says. It wasn't the reaction I was hoping for because let's face it, I was kinda hoping that she would faint out of adoration for me and I'd have to revive her with a kiss, to which, she'd reply with I love you. But this isn't Disney and that scene did not play out in reality. Instead, she powered down her computer, grabbed her belongings, ran down to the shop to leave Nate in charge and then practically dragged me all the way back to her apartment, which in itself was an oddity. We always spent time on my houseboat. I shot her a questioning glance when we arrived at her building. "No distractions."
I didn't understand the meaning behind those two words until we were inside the flat with the door shut. The sound of a zip being undone had the hair on my arms on end. Seeing Lottie stand in the middle of the hallway wearing just her red lace underwear and a seductive smile made another part of me stand on end, too.
I'm not going to lie, but I was painfully hard and it was all her doing.
"You know, I've always wanted to have sex in every single room in here," she said. I vaguely heard her words but the way she bit down on her lip, twisted a lock of hair around her lips and hooked a finger underneath the strap of her bra was far too distracting for my liking. "Isaac, are you even listening to me?"
"Sorry, did you say anything?" Walking closer, Lottie held out a hand which made me stop a few feet in front of her. Suddenly, she kicked off her heels and removed all her jewellery, tossing them somewhere over her shoulder. "What was that for?"
She shrugged. "I've never really been completely naked when I have sex," she explained. As if to follow through with her mission, she started to take off her bra, undoing the clasps quicker than I ever would have managed. "I've always worn something- bra, necklace, earrings. But never bare."
"Wait!"I cried out when she tried to take her red lace underwear off. "You could at least leave me with the honour of removing those."
With a wicked smile, I made my way towards her, liking the way she would always take a step back, maintaining the distance and the sexual tension. Ever so slowly, I guided her into the kitchen until she was pressed up against the counter and her breasts pressed up against my chest. Leaning in to kiss her, I teased her as I pulled away and kissed her collarbone instead. She sucked in a breath and arched her back.
"Nice to see that I have that effect on you," I muttered as I dotted kisses across her naked skin, all the way down to the fabric of her underwear. Standing up, I hooked my fingers under the fabric and began to pull them down until they dropped to the floor. Skimming my fingers up her legs, I place my hands on her hips and lift her to sit on the counter. I smirk. "You know, if you want to have sex in every room in the flat, that's going to take a while."
Lottie gave me an intoxicated smile, barely managing words. Instead, she made an mhm noise and nodded.
"That's going to take a while," I sigh. Capturing her lips with mine, I whisper, "I guess we better get started now then."
In my defence, you wanted some more Charlotte-Isaac!
1. Was it good for you, too?
*sniggers*
*realises that's childish*
*sniggers again anyway*
*puts on serious face*
2. Um, really, Isaac? Spying on your daughter? Shame on you!
3. Who here read my short story Senpai? Remember Will Gregory?
4. ISAAC ADORES LOTTIE!
5. Nugget- boy or girl?
See you Sunday, my peeps,
Sarah, xx