Chapter 32
Cherry
Cherry’s mind was like a snow globe, except with the snow replaced by driving Scottish rain. Everything was clouded, visibility fogged, and all she wanted was to find her way through the storm to warmth and safety.
To break down the glass barrier that prevented her from getting there.
To Sean.
Because the one thing Cherry knew, clearer than anything else, was how much she loved him.
But he was unreachable. Closed off. Shutters down – Cherry prohibited.
She’d never seen him like this before. It was always a thinly veiled attempt at resistance from both of them.
This was cold, hard glass.
He was giving up.
Like she’d been terrified he might all along.
Still not talking, they crossed the road from the beach to the house. Sean put his board in the garage while Cherry went inside. She stood in the lounge, considering the place that had become home.
Home she would never see again after tomorrow.
A minute later, Sean appeared, closing the door behind him.
He was soaked through in boardies and rash vest, feet bare, dripping seawater onto the kitchen floor. His face was as striking as ever, and though she preferred the happy Sean, the pensive, brooding man was beyond breathtaking, too.
He pulled his rash vest off and threw it next to the washing machine, where it landed with a wet slap. But this was no body tease. This was Sean living his life in his own house, making no accommodations for her presence in a place where she was no longer welcome.
Cherry was glued to the spot watching him. She should go upstairs and give him space, pack the last of her things, numb herself on her phone, but her husband’s energy consumed her.
Despite knowing she was there watching him, Sean didn’t seem concerned with Cherry at all, and she was certain that was what drove him to do the thing he did next. The thing she was not expecting.
He reached for the gold band on his left hand.
In a stride, she was on him, coming from behind and grabbing him. ‘No, Sean, please don’t!’ Cherry tugged his right hand away from the left. ‘Please don’t do that. Not yet.’
He spun to her, his face set with challenge. She let her hand fall.
‘Please,’ she said, breathless.
‘Please, what? What is it that you want so badly, Cherry?’
‘Please don’t take your wedding ring off.’
The electricity between them crackled with such intensity she could almost smell the burning. They held each other there. She was powerless to move, even if she wanted to.
‘You’ve never taken it off…and… We’ve never.’ Her words tangled on her tongue. ‘Please, Sean, please, don’t.’
‘Why not? We’re done.’
‘Because we’re not done. Because I promise you I’m coming back. Because I love you, Sean. So, so, so much, and the idea of life without you now is unthinkable.’
All she saw reflected back was disbelief – shock, turbulence, the muscle in his jaw ticking, his throat bobbing violently, fingers still hovering over the wedding ring.
He shook his head.
Why did he not believe her? She mouthed back, Yes, the words like a silent prayer. Of course it was true. Of course she bloody loved him.
Then, as if Sean understood everything in the small movement of Cherry’s lips, he took a step towards her, grabbed her face in his hands and crashed his mouth into hers, the ferocity of the kiss nearly knocking her off her feet, before driving them up against the kitchen wall.
Oh my God!
Interlocking her right hand with his left, ring still on, Sean pinned them together against the wall, the symbolism not lost on her. His tongue was hot and desperate against her own, a counterpoint to rough stubble on cold skin grazing against her.
She slid her free hand to the cold, damp small of his back, dragging him closer, every hot inch of him pressed against her.
Her husband, hard and primed.
She was soaked inside and out.
Sean’s hand dropped to her thigh and then slipped beneath her skirt.
In one swift motion, he hoisted the fabric up around her waist and yanked down his board shorts.
Gripping the underside of her thighs, he lifted her off the ground with a low grunt, and she wrapped her legs instinctively around him.
Pressing her higher against the wall, he anchored her with his hips. One hand moved between her legs, sliding her panties aside before he slid two fingers inside her, testing to see if she was ready.
Cherry gasped, head tipping back. Oh, she was ready.
Lifting those fingers, she drew them into her mouth, meeting Sean’s challenging gaze. She knew what he was saying; he didn’t need to say it.
‘You want to leave the man who makes you this wet in seconds? Who soaks you through by standing looking at you? Go on then, I dare you.’
Cherry sucked his fingers, and Sean absorbed every moment, his expression fascinated, satisfied, pained.
Then, barrelling his hips to hers, eyes never deviating from her own, he thrust upward.
Giving her everything.
Every inch of him.
So fierce. So dominant. So fucking incredible.
Cherry slung her arms around his shoulders, steadying herself on the man whom she needed more than anything in the world.
The rhythm Sean found was almost possessed, every drive into her pushing out his need, his effort, his aching for her. A confused tangle of lust and something that felt to Cherry so potently like love it couldn’t be anything but.
‘Fuck, Cherry.’ He snapped against the soft skin of her backside as he took her, eyes near feral. ‘Can you live without this? Can you?’
He must know the answer. She shook her head and tried to speak, but words failed to come. Sean hardened to steel inside her as arousal carved itself on his face.
He ground in deeper, primal need possessing him with a tortured sound that coiled up need in Cherry.
She loved hearing him so turned on for her.
Clenching him tighter inside, she sank her nails into his skin.
Sean’s intense expression of pleasure and pain pinned to hers, she dug firmer and watched the remainder of his composure fracture.
His eyes fell to the place where they met.
She looked, too. Whimpered.
‘Cher.’ Sean ground into her, growled in low broken breaths. ‘Look at us together; we’re made for each other.’
She grabbed the back of his head – the hair there damp from the sea and sticky from the salt water – and pulled his face back to her. ‘I love you, Seany. Come in me. I want to feel it so much.’
And with those words, she’d hit the mark.
A guttural sound, raw and rough, broke from Sean.
His breathing altered – sharper, tighter – and with one last chance to show her how he could fuck her better than any other man, he slammed up inside her.
Then once more. And again, before his body quaked and his release came shattering out of him, ragged, hot and primitive.
The animalistic roar of Sean coming sparked a primal flame in Cherry.
With barely any warning, her climax hit her hard, relentless, desperate, nails clawing at his salty skin, her heated cries ravaging the space between them.
My God, she was never letting go of the man who could fuck her like this. Never, never, never.
Her man.
Her love.
Her everything.
As Cherry’s breathing settled, she found Sean watching her, eyes glazed but attentive, absorbing every movement on her face. Nothing but bare, unshielded love in them.
Maybe he would tell her how he felt. That would make this perfect.
But he didn’t say anything.
Instead, silently, he lowered her to the ground, his release slipping down her leg.
He leaned forward, boxing her in on either side, palms against the wall.
Kissed her softly on the cheek, holding there a moment, tender and safe.
She hoped he might whisper something in her ear, but he pulled back, walked to the kitchen island and returned with a warm wet towel.
Before he could do anything more, Cherry took the towel and dropped it to the floor.
Ravaged from the storm and the sex, Sean – a tousled, dishevelled prize of a man with the purest of hearts – watched her, confused, definitely not expecting what she did next.
Cherry slid her hand down the inside of her thigh, through the viscous liquid dripping there, and slicked a generous amount onto her finger. Then, meeting her husband dead on, she raised that finger and sucked.
‘Tastes like paradise…’ she murmured. ‘Just so you know how I feel about you, Sean.’
Sean’s chest was still heaving a little, his eyes darting in line with every move she made. He raked a hand through his hair, jaw ticking, like he was torn about what to do.
He hesitated for a moment, and she wondered if he might be about to concede something.
But then he spoke.
‘That was something else, Cher. All of it.’ Tenderly, he trailed his fingers through the lower strands of her hair, before they fell away, his touch drifting down her arm and leaving only the memory of his warmth in its wake.
He blinked slowly, hesitating before clearing his throat and speaking again.
‘I know you have to go, and I won’t stand in your way.
But I’m not a hundred percent convinced you’ll be back, so I think that it’s best that we aren’t in touch.
I need to maintain some sanity, you know?
Cherry could hear the seams of her heart tearing, slowly. The prospect of being without Sean, even at the end of the phone, was devastating. But what could she do except respect his wishes? He was right; she couldn’t ask him for anything more when he’d given her so much of himself.
‘Sure, Seany.’ Her hand wobbled by her side, hoping to find his again. ‘I guess we just had the best goodbye-for-now sex ever.’
‘Aye, Paradise, I hope that’s what it was. I really do.’