Read Online The Contingency Plan (The Lonely Heart Series) by Latrivia Nelson - Free Book Online

later. 
    Raising his head just an inch above his fisted hands, he looked across at her, eyeing her long, swan like neck and the mole just above her collar bone.  Suddenly and without control, his mouth began to water.  Thoughts of what it would feel like to be able to slink up against her, wrap his hands softly around her ebony skin and gently lap at her neck until she collapsed into his hands began to fill his head.
    He remembered a time when that would have been possible, when she would not have fought him at all.  But seven years later, his mildly innocent little butte r fly had immerged from her cocoon as a grown, very intimidating woman with jaded undertones and an ice cold façade.  Sully could only blame himself.  The way that he had left her was deplorable by all measures of the word, yet here he was trying to redeem himself for his own selfish reasons…again. 
    “What are you thinking so hard about?” Charlie asked, raising her head back up to stare directly at him.
    A growl preceded the truth.  “The next part of our meeting,” Sully answered.
    “That’s right. You had some sort of a personal issue to discuss, right?”
    The way that she said it sent a chill down his no r mally steel spine.  Sitting up, he stretched his long legs until they hit her booth and yawned.  “You could say that.”
    Charlie waited.
    Sully scratched the back of his neck.  A tale sign that Charlie recognized.  Catching himself, he pulled his hand down and planted both elbows on the table.  Knitting his brows, he laced his hands together and gave her his most serious glare.  “You know that I’ve never stopped thinking about you.”
    Great fucking intro, idiot, he admonished himself quietly.  “What I mean is that what happened between us has forever stuck with me.  It shaped me in a lot of ways.”
    Charlie’s face was still blank, but she did at least blink at his last statement.
    “I’m at a special place in my life where I’ve made the money, made the contacts, made the difference that I wanted to make.  But I’m still hollow,” he said, touching his chest.
    You mean shallow , she thought to herself.  “Did you come here to ask forgiveness?” Charlie interrup t ed.
    “That and…” Sully took a deep breath.  Shaking his head, he gave a nervous laugh, revealing the dimple in his cheek.  “What I’m about to say…you just don’t hear every day.”
    “Spit it out, Sully,” Charlie huffed.  She couldn’t let on, but the anticipation was killing her.
    “I’ve recently realized that the one thing that I’m missing in my life is a family, but you know my background.  My mom ran off; my dad basically crumbled behind closed doors and has spent the rest of his life working like a robot.  I have serious trust issues…”
    “Blah, blah.  What is it, Sully?” Charlie pushed harder.
    “Wow, you don’t make it easy on a man, do you?” he asked, bucking his eyes.
    “What man has ever made it easy on me?”  Her eyes narrowed. 
    Sully had to admit that she had a point, but her statement could not stop him.  After all, he had not come this far just to be verbally castrated.  “The point is that I’ve recently visited a fertility clinic in D.C. about having a child.  I want to skip the bat-shit crazy wife, the chaotic divorce and focus on the kid.”
    Charlie suddenly slouched in her chair.  “What?” she said aloud before she knew it.  “What does that have to do with me?”  The confusion on her face spoke volumes. 
    Again with a nervous laugh, Sully lifted his finger. “Funny you should ask.”  He cleared his throat.  “My very good friend runs this clinic.  And I’ve told him about my very, very unorthodox plan and he’s agreed to help me.”
    “What?  You can’t have kids?” she asked, looking down at his crotch.
    Sully looked down in between his legs and frowned. “What?  No, my reproductive organs work just fine,” he said, bringing her back to his point. “I