‘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 carvinginto 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 wordswere 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.
‘Mmm, busted.’ She didn’t want to remove the wedding ring. It was beautiful, but it was more than that. It was her link to Sean when he wasn’t there, whether that was at work, in London or in the next room. Removing it was like giving up and accepting they were over.
‘Aye, busted, Mrs Butler. I know, I know… Ms Paradise, but humour me here because there is something so fucking hot about calling you Mrs Butler.’
‘I agree.’ The whole time she’d doubted her ability to stay with him, Cherry had never been able to stop thinking of Sean as her husband, of herself as Mrs Butler. The hold was too strong.
‘Oh, you do?’ A cheeky sideways smirk brought the carefree Sean swimming to the surface.
‘Mmm, maybe. I kind of like it. But I also like being Cherry Paradise. It’s unique. Like me.’
‘So you be Cherry Paradise. Far be it that being married to me should rob you of your unique identity. But allow me to think of you as Mrs Butler in here from time to time.’ Sean tapped his temple. ‘Because I’m not going to lie, it’s hot as fuck.’
‘Speaking of being hot.’ Cherry shivered.
‘Aye, it’s baltic. Come on, let’s get out.’ Sean retrievedher bra, Cherry put it back on, and as he braced her from behind, she climbed up the rocks to dry land.
When they arrived home, a package had arrived addressed to Cherry. She sat at the table, a letter in perfect cursive script open in her hands, surrounded by swathes of colour swatches and a framed photograph her mum had sent – oddly an enlarged version of the one she carried in her locket.
