Chapter 26
Cherry
If the Sean on the rocks was an advert for Irn-Bru, the one drenched in fresh water was a living, breathing promotion for the great Scottish outdoors.
‘Has your family ever used you as the face of Butlers?’ Cherry forgot the cold now she had a sexy, wet Scotsman to gape at. He had all the right angles to promote the family drink. In fact, who better than the man who crafted the barrels the whisky was matured in?
Sean scraped his wet hair back from his forehead. ‘No. I don’t mean anything to anyone. We’re using Alicia’s brother, Connor, though. He’s Hollywood hunky, a walking orgasm, y’ know?’
‘I guess.’ She rubbed her foot on the silt at the bottom of the pool.
The sun was warm on her skin, but she would need to keep moving to stay warm in here.
‘At least they got someone young. If I’m going to be persuaded to drink whisky, then it needs to be by a guy whose abs I could drink the stuff off. ’
‘Fair point. Whisky advertising has started moving with the times, but it’s still geared towards men. Getting women to drink the stuff is a slow burn.’
‘Hmm, you know who’d drink whisky off your abs?’
‘You, I hope?’
‘Those ladies up there. What were their names? Val and Gloria. They were ogling you.’
‘I don’t think so. They’re lesbians.’
‘I’m sure they can still appreciate you objectively. There’s a lot to appreciate.’
Sean dragged his hand through his hair again, affording Cherry a first-class view of his underarm hair and curved biceps which sent her into cavewoman mode.
‘You know,’ he reminded her, ‘this is the place where you could tick two things off your bucket list – sex with a younger man and under a waterfall.’
‘Hmm. It’s a bit cold. I kind of imagined a waterfall in the Caribbean or something.’
‘I’ll take you there one day… Listen, Cherry.’ She heard the semitone drop in his voice, and she knew joking-Sean was gone. ‘What you said up there? Does this mean you want to be my wife?’
‘I am your wife, Seany.’ True, but not what he was asking. It was only fair that he press for an answer on this one. In fact, she wanted him to.
‘Aye, I know that but, like, forever?’ He eyed her sharply. How did he manage to look seductive and interrogative at the same time? ‘Do you want this forever?’
Cherry’s feet were sinking into the silt. Goosebumps rose up on her skin; her nipples were like frozen peas skimming the water’s surface. And her gorgeous husband was waiting for an answer on whether she wanted to be his wife forever. He didn’t seem to be remotely cold, like he could wait all day.
She crossed her arms over her breasts. Sean glanced at them and then back up to her eyes.
He waited. Patient. Determined to elicit the answer that she was pretty sure he already knew – the answer she wanted to give him.
Like the leap into the cold water of this pool, she would need to take the plunge because fear might always breathe somewhere inside her.
‘Yes,’ she said, the words shivering warmly off her lips into the air between them. ‘Yes, I do want to be your wife forever, Sean. I really do. And I want us to…to make a go of things.’
Sean’s face softened with relief and Cherry’s heart soared. But he stayed where he was. Waiting for more from her. What more could she say? What did he want? I love you? It felt wrong to blurt that out now, in case she was spooked again. She bit down.
Don’t cry, don’t cry.
Sensing her inability to move, Sean came to her.
Stood over her. She considered that she’d never seen him so serious, not even when he’d told her to stop being a massive prick tease.
Gently, he reached down and prised apart her arms, opening her to him in a way she seemed to struggle with.
Cherry let her arms fall, and Sean pushed the stray streak of damp hair from her forehead, examining her with so much tenderness it nearly broke her.
Then his arms were curving round her, and he was pulling her close.
Right into that solid chest of his, bringing her cheek to rest on his beautiful muscular shoulder, allowing her to freely lose herself in the sweet, woody scent of his skin.
She curved her arms around him, too. Oh, thank God for the boundless heart of this man – for never giving up, letting her reach him in her own way and time, and meeting her at the last stretch.
Being held by Sean was exactly what Cherry needed, what her body craved.
He was everything. Safe, solid, warm. All she had longed for, but had been too scared to believe she deserved.
‘Cherry, Cherry, Cherry.’ Sean’s chest vibrated as he spoke her name, low and assured.
Gently, he manoeuvred her to face him, kissed the top of her head, slowly ran his nose down her forehead, over the bridge of her nose, their breath synching, the cool water on his face mingling with the warmth of his skin.
She whimpered in appreciation. It might not be much, but Sean read it correctly and swept her mouth into a kiss, hot tongue insistent against hers, rough stubble grazing her cupid’s bow, those hands that hammered and sculpted all day cupping her face like she was the most precious thing he’d ever held.
To love and to cherish.
She knew he would. If she could get through life’s tribulations with anyone, it was with Sean. He was strong, safe and supportive and, most importantly, aware of what might lie ahead.
Cherry pressed into him. Sean gave a low groan in response, going deeper, harder with the kiss, before he raised her onto his hips in one swift motion. She clamped onto him with her thighs, the water giving her buoyancy, hands on those muscular shoulders surprisingly tanned for a Scotsman.
‘Fuck, Cherry. You’re so fucking beautiful.
My perfect wife.’ Sean lowered her slightly, cradling her backside and urging against her.
The Butler jewels pressed insistently at her centre.
He reached round, unclipped her bra, peeled it off, and cast it onto the rocks behind him, never taking his eyes from her breasts.
Pressing into him, she found a rhythm as he leaned back and watched her, his face etched with arousal.
‘Fuck, that feels so fucking good, Cher. Keep going. I need you so much.’
‘I need you too, Seany.’ She ground against his shorts, moans vibrating into his neck, soft kisses morphing into gentle bites on the tender skin, the tougher sinew of his muscle.
Arousal swirled in her belly and flowed down to her core. No man had ever done to her what Sean did. He was the lost other half she’d longed for all her life. She moulded her hands into his back, craving that oneness again – he was already under her skin, but it wasn’t enough.
‘Mmm, more,’ she moaned.
‘You want me?’ Sean’s voice was hoarse as he grasped at her hair, an untamed need shimmering on his face, the embers of control leaving his body.
‘Of course I want you.’ Her legs coiled around his waist, grinding against him with a methodical rhythm. ‘I want you so much, Sean. I want everything with you. Forever.’
At her words, she watched him tighten to the point of near release, jaw tensing, flexing, tensing, flexing. He was trying to fight it.
‘Come for me, Seany. Come hard and make me come watching you.’
On a tight, suppressed groan Sean unravelled, an intoxicating fusion of pleasure and pain in his face.
Cherry was there with him as he ground against her, eyes fighting and losing the battle to stay open, his climax ripping through him, racking his body as he shuddered into her violently.
It was so unbearably intimate. The friction rubbing onto her clit, took Cherry right to the edge, her aching need culminating in the tension draining from her limbs, talons carving into his skin and her core tightening and pulsing, over and over.
As their climaxes abated like ripples on the water, Sean laughed softly, tiny water droplets vibrating on his skin, his hold still solid on her thighs. ‘Wow! That was unexpected, but incredible.’
She leaned into his neck and kissed it. ‘I loved coming with you, hubby.’ This was what they did best – enjoyed each other.
He groaned. ‘Fuck, you’ll set me off again.’ Stroking his hand down her hair and over her back, he said, ‘You have the smoothest skin.’
Cherry uncoiled her legs from his waist and slid to her feet. Pressed her breasts to his chest. ‘You have the smoothest moves.’
‘Ha. You’re implying I had some control over what happened there. I can assure you I had none. You’re a devil-woman, and I’m absolutely fucked when you’re around.’
‘Next time, let’s ensure we both are absolutely fucked.’ It didn’t escape her notice that she was talking about the future, together. Progress, Cherry.
‘Aye. That would be awesome.’ Sean reached for her chin, tilted it up to meet his face. The sunlight caught his wedding ring, and it glinted. She realised she’d never seen him without it since they’d married. It was just a ring, but this mattered. She suspected it wasn’t a coincidence.
‘You never take your wedding ring off,’ she said. ‘Not even at work?’
‘Of course not. I made a commitment to you. For better or worse. If it gets battered, then that’s a metaphor for life. Right?’
Was he for real? Was Sean Butler for real? Those words were like a wedding vow in themselves, falling out of his mouth like poetry.
‘I mean it, Cherry.’ He spoke as if she might doubt him. ‘This isn’t a joke to me. It’s not a wee bit of fun, although that was a lot of fun. I want to be your husband, and I want that for the rest of my life, whatever that might look like.’
‘Oh, Sean. I believe you.’ That was never the problem. He was never the problem. He was anything but.
‘I’ve noticed you never take yours off either.’ Finding her left hand with his right, he slid his fingers through hers.