Jane was worried about explaining herself and her disappearance to Camilla, but apparently the lines to the bathroom really were long, because her friend still wasn't back. Jane hung out at the bar, sitting on a stool and tucking her long legs under. She asked Oscar, the bartender, for another glass of wine. He looked a little concerned, but he was paid to pour drinks, and if she was at the party, she was obviously old enough to drink.

Jane felt her phone buzz with a text.

"I forgot to tell you how smashing you look xxxx"

Jane was touched. No boy, except maybe Bear, had ever complimented her on her looks.

"Why thank you xxx"

"You only sent back three kisses?"

"Yeah?"

"I sent you four..."

She turned around on her stool and looked for him. She finally spotted him on the other side of the room, standing with what was obviously a very inebriated young man who was talking, very loudly, waving his arms around for emphasis. Charlie was looking at him and nodding, but Jane saw that he had his phone in the hand that wasn't holding the drink.

"xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx...better?"

"Yes. Like the dots, too, though."

"The dots?"

"Yeah...remember when we...uh, you know...that night? You said the dots...were...other things..."

"Oh yeah, haha!"

"Why are you laughing? You don't like how I, um, dot things?"

"I love how you dot things, honest (;"

Charlie was grinning at his phone, not even pretending to listen to his drunken friend. He looked up and smiled at Jane, and she smiled back from her bar stool, a smile so radiant that Charlie could feel it pulling him toward her.

Camilla finally returned from the bathroom then, and Jane had to put her phone away. Charlie reluctantly did the same and tried to focus on Artie, who was still telling him something about--someone.

"So, what was that like?" Camilla asked, agog.

"Hm?" Jane turned toward her friend.

"Don't 'hm' me, Jane Carroway," Camilla reprimanded her. "You danced with Charles McAllister! Was it amazing? Does he smell good? Did you, like, have an orgasm?"

"Camilla!" Jane burst out laughing.

Cam laughed too, shrugging. "Not out of the realm of possibility, don't you agree?" she asked.

Jane, who was still feeling a little woozy from all the alcohol she'd consumed, answered Cam with a little quirk of her eyebrow. "He did smell pretty fucking fantastic, and yeah, maybe I did feel a little twinge."

Camilla stared. "Oh my god, Jane, I don't think I've ever heard you talk that way!" She stared at the glass in front of her friend. "How many is that now?"

Jane just looked at her over the edge of her wine glass as she took a few more swallows and shrugged. "It's wine, don't worry!"

She did a little spin on her stool and found herself face to face with Charlie. She stared at him.

He looked at Jane for a minute before turning to smile at Camilla. "So, you know Amy?" he said conversationally.

Camilla nodded. "Well, she's a friend of a friend, actually," she admitted.

Charlie, who knew exactly how tenuous their connection to Amy was, nodded. Within minutes, like before, he was surrounded by people, and Jane and Camilla found themselves at the center of a rather large group of people. Everyone wanted to be with Charlie, it seemed.

Charlie pulled out his phone and began typing as the conversation ebbed and flowed around them.

Jane's phone buzzed with a text, and she pulled it out, smiling as she read.

"I have to tell you again how pretty you look tonight."

"Well, thanks, but you could've texted me that from across the room, I think. Isn't this risky?"

Charlie glanced up at her before looking back down at his phone.

"I wanted to be closer to you, that's all."

Awww.

"You need to stop texting all this romantic stuff to me."

"Why????........"

"Because I'm going to swoon and fall off this stool."

".....I'll catch you, promise...."

Jane wanted nothing more than to launch herself off the stool at Charlie, so she did the next best thing, and finished all her wine in one drink. Charlie, who was watching her like a hawk, raised his eyebrows, though he continued to keep his eyes on his phone.

"You said you'd ease up on the alcohol consumption, remember?"

"IT'S JUST WINE."

"Which also contains about thirteen percent alcohol, drinky mcdrinkerson."

Jane got another glass of wine from Oscar, expecting to hear about it from Camilla, but she was focused on Charlie and didn't even notice.

The group around them kept getting bigger and bigger, with Charlie always the nucleus. Everyone wanted to be around him, and Jane just sat on her stool and drank her wine. After a while, she really felt strange, and she knew that if she stood up, she'd need help.

She looked at Charlie, which was safe, as everyone was looking at Charlie. He looked at everyone, careful to mix his glances at Jane casually into what he was doing. One of the times he looked at her, she recrossed her legs and his glance dipped between her legs for the briefest of seconds, but Jane felt it, felt the little bloom of heat.

She realized that she'd been staring at his neck, at his chain, which she now knew had a St. Christopher medallion suspended from it. St. Christopher was the patron saint of travelers. His little sister Anna had given it to him when he joined the band, and even though he wasn't a religious person, he wore it because it reminded him of her. Charlie had a beautiful neck, she thought to herself.

Like, really, really beautiful.

Sexy.

He was wearing a royal blue shirt with dragonflies all over it, very fashion forward, which he was known for. He had it unbuttoned halfway down his chest, and Jane stared at his chest for while, thinking what a beautiful chest he had.

From there, her glance went to his hips. He was wearing black jeans, very tight. What beautiful hips he had.

Jane bit the inside of her cheek, hard, since she couldn't slap her own face in such a public place. She shifted her legs, trying to lessen the feeling of pressure, of heaviness between them.

She felt warmth, heat in her belly, and wetness.

She took a deep breath and looked at Charlie, swallowing, hearing her teeth click.

Charlie's glance passed over Jane, then flicked back to her.

She had little spots of color in her normally pale cheeks, and her lips looked--redder, fuller than usual. She re-crossed her legs again, shifting a little on the stool, and the way she moved her hips, well, it was hot.

Very hot.

They made eye contact, and Jane blinked at him, looking so sexy, so fuckable that Charlie momentarily lost his train of thought.

Fuck.

Charlie raised his hand toward Jane with no thought as to how it would look.

She slid off the stool, reaching for it, and fell forward, pitching headfirst into Charlie.

"Whoa!" Charlie caught her neatly, wrapping an arm around her waist. "You okay?" he asked, grinning. He stood with his arm around her. "I think you need a little air, hm?" He began to walk out of the crowd.

Camilla immediately stepped forward. "I can take her, Charles, you don't have to do that," she said, reaching for Jane as any good friend would.

"That's okay, I've got her," he responded cheerfully, and Charles McAllister had such a reputation for being a gentleman that she stepped back, nodding. No one else gave it a second thought, either.

He kept his arm around Jane, leading her to a door to a terrace that was deserted, due to the ass-kicking cold. Neither of them noticed that, however.

As soon as the door closed they were in each other's arms, kissing, oblivious to everything. Charlie pinned Jane to the wall, pressing his body into hers, and she made that sound that he remembered from the first time they kissed in the pavilion in Central Park, part moan, part whimper, and all rational thoughts fled his brain.

Charlie had left the building, leaving Little Charlie in charge, and Little Charlie had only one objective. Jane felt herself being lifted off the ground, and she wrapped her legs around Charlie, and the feel of them around his hips made Charlie nearly demented.

He released her long enough to undo his pants, shoving them down impatiently. Then he had to deal with Jane's undies, which she was still wearing. He took care of that inconvenience by pulling them to the side as he thrust into her with bruising force, grunting with effort. Jane's body was pushed up the wall a little with each roll of his hips, and he pulled the front of her dress down, nearly ripping out the seam, so he could touch her breast, so he could squeeze it and suck on it as he drove into her.

One corner of his mind was a little concerned that he might be hurting her, but she was definitely helping and participating, and when he leaned in to kiss her, so hard that their teeth clicked against each other, he felt her saying, "Harder, harder," against his mouth.

"Ahh, Charlie," she moaned into his ear as she came. He could feel her clenching, tightening on him in pulses as her fingers dug into him, as her ankles locked behind him, and he followed moments later, coming so hard he momentarily saw stars.

He slowly lowered her to the ground, trying not to scrape her back against the brick building any more than he already had. Jane tried to straighten out her dress, which was pulled and stretched in front, and Charlie buttoned up his pants. They both suddenly noticed how cold it was, and Charlie rubbed Jane's shoulders.

They came together for a fast kiss and hug, grinning.

"Thanks for the totally hot fuck," he murmured, giving her bottom a friendly squeeze.

"You really know how to show a lady a good time," she responded, giving him a friendly squeeze back.

"Do I look okay?" she asked, at the door, smoothing her hair down.

"You look fantastic," he said sincerely.

She smiled her thanks, and they entered together, rejoining the group, which was still there.

"Feeling better?" Camilla asked. "Charles take good care of you, you lucky fuck?" She narrowed her eyes and shook her head, smiling.

"He took great care of me," Jane replied, and Charlie heard her, and smiled.