Those brilliant blue irises searched his face for reassurance that he meant this, that she could believe. She truly could. He had never meant anything more in his life.
And finally, she said the words – a vulnerability so tangible he knew he would do nothing but honour it, forever.
‘Okay,’ she whispered. ‘Okay.’
‘You sure?’
‘Yes.’
Sean lowered his mouth to Cherry’s. For a fragment of time, he stopped and waited there, giving them both a moment to understand this. The implications.
She took the moment. Breathed and waited. For him to kiss her.
So he did.
In a response Sean was only half expecting, Cherry kissed him back, tentative for a split second then with a hunger she seemed barely able to contain, her hands sliding up over his neck, into his hair, grasping the strands, moaning into him like she’d been waiting for him her whole life.
And he got it, because if they were about to do what he hoped they were, then this was everything. At last, this was everything.Everything their marriage should be.
He boxed her in with his elbows. Showing what he could give her.
Strength. Safety. Belonging.
And a tightness straining inside his jeans that desperately needed release.
Cherry’s small body was fierce and hot under his, but also so soft, underscoring her vulnerability. This was awoman of such stark contrasts, so impossible yet so lovable. Nothing made Sean feel the way she did. Every yes, every no, every come, every go, every night spent on the opposite side of the wall from her, his hand moving in frantic rhythm, thinking only of his wife, made being with her now, at last, all the more mind-blowing.
It had been a rollercoaster, but Sean wouldn’t have had it any other way.
‘God, Cherry.’ Lifting away from the kiss, he touched his forehead to hers, words hot like the perspiration that glittered on both their brows. ‘Let me fuck you. Let me show you how I fuck my wife.’
‘Seany, Seany, as long as you fuck like you kiss,’ she murmured as if half intoxicated, draping her arms around his neck, legs curving across his back, drawing him down to her again.
She was no match for him in strength, but Sean wasn’t fighting this, not for one second.
Chapter 23
Cherry
The sun burned overhead, but her husband burned hotter. His heavy, half-naked weight pressed down on Cherry, grass pricking her skin. She arched up to meet him, the air thick with the scent of oak and sweat and raw man, waiting to claim her.
He already had. The moment they met.
But this now was sealing the marriage contract.
Letting him ink his signature all over her.
It was impossible to deny it any longer. To deny herself. To deny him. She needed the man she had chosen to be her forever. The man wearing the solid gold ring that was glinting in the sun with his commitment to her. She needed him to put his mark on her, sear that promise onto her skin. Needed the rough, possessive hand that was sliding up under the hem of her top and inside her bra, taking her nipple between his fingers and squeezing.
Holding it there. Pressing a little firmer. Owning her a littlemore.
‘Oh God, Sean.’
‘This is fucking incredible, Cher. If I die now, I’ll die a happy man.’
‘Don’t you dare die.’ The words came out a trembling command. She couldn’t lose him now, not on this monumental precipice.
‘No chance.’ Sean yanked up her top, pulled her bra down from both breasts and took one in his palm, the nipple of the other in his mouth. Sucked hard.
