by Roxie Odell
Cheri reached up and took his face in both hands. She felt the rough stubble on his jaw and kissed him with everything she had. She hungrily drove her tongue into his mouth, starving for him. There was a fleeting nervousness, a slight wave of self-consciousness before passion stormed in and completely took over. She pressed her lips to his, and the floodgate opened.
The walls between them slipped away, and their bodies became liquid. They lapsed into their dance of rapture, writhing against one another. Cheri extended her legs outward to capture him. She wrapped them tightly around his lean hips and drew him to her soft, sensitive center.
They grinded, their bodies fitting together in all the places they needed them to, a delicious collision for them both. Exhilaration curled through her insides, then gathered in her belly in a sexual ticklishness that only made her crave more. Thomas’s touch transformed her into pure animal, a being driven only by lust, need, and instinct.
His large, powerful hand stroked the heat between her legs, and she rocked her hips up toward him with invitation. Her own hand strayed down his long, lean body, in search of the hardness she knew was ready for her, waiting for her fondling. She unfastened the waist of his jeans and freed him from that denim prison. He was so deliciously well-endowed that just the thought of it made her suck in her breath in anticipation.
He was hard and soft at the same time. His length was like steel, but the skin on that part of him was almost delicate. She leaned forward, pressing him back onto the mattress. She gathered her hair, loosely twirled it, and flung it off to the side, then lowered her mouth to his erection. She took him in, as deeply as she could, savoring every inch of his length. She tightened her lips and sucked in her cheeks to form a sweet, hot, wet friction for his pleasure. She directed him to collide with the pliant walls as she worked her constricting grip in countermovement.
Thomas moaned and lifted his face to look up at the ceiling. He pressed her shoulder firmly, just on the verge of too powerfully. Cheri moved her head up and down on him with ease, feeling empowered by the fact that she thrilled him so.
She flicked her tongue, dancing it across the head of his shaft, and Thomas tapped out. With a hurried touch, he urged her up and off him, as if that bliss was more than he could bear. Cheri let herself fall backward and looked up at him in the shadowy room, with wonder.
He gazed at her in the darkness. Even in the low light, she could see the awe and affection he had for her. She hoped it was really a look for her and only her, that he was willing to put all others behind them. He drew his fingers down her torso with whisper lightness, causing her nipples to harden all the more with the immense and wonderful torture of the sensation.
He arched his spine and placed his hot, hot mouth on those rosy tips. Cheri craned against him with as much flexibility as she could muster. She had the intense desire to press into him, to fuse her body with his. Feeling the same, Thomas stroked the backs of her thighs, then drew her leg up and onto his broad shoulder. He rose and cupped her ankles with his large hands before he drove into her with a single, firm thrust. They both froze with the wonder that their connection stirred.
In seconds, Thomas was buried to the hilt. She could feel all of him with all of her, and every point of contact was electric. Immediately, Cheri’s core drew up tightly around him, fitting him like an erotic sleeve as he began to move.
Cheri was so aroused that every little pressure, every little stroke was amplified; the slightest movement nearly sent her over the wondrous edge. The only problem that presented for her was that she didn’t want it to end. Forever, she thought. Give me forever, Thomas, she silently begged, wanting to hold on to that magical moment till the end of time.
Thomas nestled his lips up against the base of her neck, and that had her coming undone. Her body surged with passion, and she bucked against him like a madwoman, pumping her hips upward, this way and that, in absolute frenzy. His moan was more like a growl, echoing his deep, rich voice that always left her weak in the knees. She knew he was having as wondrous a time as she was, for he was practically sailing into her time and time again, his hips withdrawing and gliding into her with large, swinging motions they both struggled to keep up with.
Thomas was magnificent; his body was so powerful and agile as he chased his climax. He flipped her suddenly and entered her from the side, then leaned down and covered her back and arms with kisses. She was unbelievably sensitive; every place had become erogenous, and his lips were like fire as he peppered her with those luscious assaults.
He held her in his firm grip, driving into her until he could no longer maintain that rhythm. His movements became rigid, less fluid, and his eyes grew distant. Cheri had done her best to hold off, but at that point she let herself go, happy to cum with him. Her body dissolved into a series of endless spasms that rippled from deep within her. She clenched his hardness as he continued to push into her pleasured channel, until he was a mass, crying out and twitching with ecstasy.
Thomas, spent in every way, collapsed beside her. Cheri relaxed her body and let the end of her blissful climax wash over her, unbelievably perfect. Their fingers found each other in the dark, and he lifted her hand to his lips and kissed each fingertip one by one. Then they wove their fingers together and lay quietly, until they were seized again by need.
They had been together every way possible, yet each time they came together it was a new experience. Cheri was eager to have him inside her again, and she never stopped feeling that urgent desire as long as he was near, no matter how angry she was with him.
This time, Thomas was sprawled on his back while she mounted him, finding her balance by pressing her knees firmly into the mattress on either side of his body. She worked her hips slowly, but the time before had taken quite a bit out of her, so her gyrations were not very well choreographed. She closed her eyes and let reaction guide her as she rocked with sultry, sensual rhythm on his rock-hard shaft. She did not move with the same kind of impatience as before; she decided to take her good, sweet time this time. She bounced softly, jostling her round, cupcake-sized breasts about. Thomas covered them with his palms, and his touch was comforting, causing deep warmth to pool in her belly.
She snaked her spine like a belly dancer, her movements becoming ever-more wicked and wanton. Thomas took hold of her hips and helped her along, and his broad palms almost encircled her completely. He controlled her, swiveling her around on him. She drew her knees up, pushed her weight down on him, and took him deeper into her. She touched herself and knew immediately that she could bring her pleasure back to life.
She cocked her knees back and forth, moving on him, stirring him alive again. Through her lowered eyelids she saw how riveted he was by her, and it spurred her on. The very spectacle of her did that to him, turned him on, and she loved that he was so enthralled to be with her, to feel her dancing atop his mountain of manhood.
He gripped her thighs with his hot hands, then fanned her legs like wings as she continued to work herself. She was seized by pleasure as her spine stiffened and she knew she was going to climax again. She wanted to drag the sweetness out for as long as she could, yet she was greedy for the intense sweep of rapture.
Eventually, Cheri was depleted of all control or choice in the matter. She reached the pinnacle of their passion, the point of no return, and before she knew it she was drowning in it. Waves of a powerful orgasm enveloped her, paralyzing her with its bliss.
Thomas grunted as her body gripped his, but he drove through until he, too, had no choice but to succumb. His climactic wails filled the house as he moved until he could move no more. They were bathed in sweat and exhausted, but completely satisfied… at least for the moment.
After some quiet, Thomas stirred and got up to fetch a towel from her bathroom. He dampened a corner of it with warm water and returned to wash her body with it, a refreshingly pleasant surprise. “Milady,” he said as he dragged the soft terrycloth all over her skin.
“Thank you,” she purred
.
He then washed up in the bathroom before returning to join her in the bed. Once again, he took her hand. “So it came to you, huh?” he said.
“What did?”
“The conclusion.”
Cheri sighed, well aware that the time had come to discuss her decision to stop drinking once and for all. “Yes,” she said, reflecting on her idiocy with a nervous bite of her bottom lip. “I-I don’t know why it took me so long,” she said softly, flabbergasted that just hours before they were fighting like battering rams and threatening lawsuits, but now they were basking in the afterglow of their love, passive and compatible.
“It’s one of those weird things. You don’t get it until you get it,” he said. “No one can get it for you.”
She cackled. “You sure tried,” she said. “You were going to make me take the cure, to swallow the bitter medicine whether I liked it or not.”
“Yes,” he said. “It’s been killing me to watch you destroy yourself, Cheri.”
“Frankly, it was a nice change to wake up without feeling smashed out of my mind. I lost so much time.”
“I tried to tell you that.”
“I know, but I really thought you were just exaggerating, trying to scare me straight or something. I remembered you mentioning sixty days, and… Well, I looked at my bank statements, and I guess that kinda cleared it up.”
“You can go through a lot of dough that way,” he agreed.
“That’s not the worst of it. I lost my job and put my house in jeopardy, too, but I really don’t care as much about those things. They’re material, temporary anyway. It’s more that I lost track of time and reality. That really smacked me in the face. I’m not sure why that particular thing was the thing that got me, but it did,” she said. “I guess that was my a-ha moment,” she explained. It was actually more than that; it was more about her feeling afraid that she’d be unable to stop, but she couldn’t bring herself to confess that.
“It takes whatever it takes,” he said, squeezing her hand.
A new, heavy silence entered the room, like an uninvited guest squeezing between them.
“Shall we talk about that night?” Thomas asked, breaking through the wall of awkward quiet.
Cheri turned her head, pressured by pain.
“Can we just talk about it and get it out of the way, or is it too soon?” he asked.
“I don’t wanna wreck this moment with that one,” she replied.
“But we have to clear the air on that, Cheri,” he said.
She said nothing, and he took that as his green light.
“You were right, all those things you said about me. I do push you away in times of hard emotion,” he admitted. “I don’t want to excuse it, but part of me doesn’t want you around me when I’m at my worst.”
Cheri wasn’t about to buy that lame excuse, but she continued listening anyway.
“I did go view Dad’s body, to confirm things for the medical examiners and such, and I planned to come straight home after that, but… Well, I was so upset that it was like my body wouldn’t let me. I looked down and found my steering wheel turning toward this watering hole I know. I saw this person there who—”
Cheri lifted her hand to stop him. “I think that’s about all I can take right now, Thomas,” she said.
“Look, I know you don’t wanna hear this, and I’m sure it won’t make you feel any better, but I wasn’t thinking of you or us at the time. I wasn’t trying to destroy us either, though. It just…didn’t come to mind.”
“Didn’t come to mind?” she spat. “Thomas, how could you—”
“Almost done,” he said softly, interrupting her. “Just so you know, I never saw that woman again. I know it was rotten and mean, but after that night she was gone. Not only that, but I haven’t had a drink since, and I’ll never have another drop for as long as I live. I don’t want to hurt someone I care so much about. You might not want to listen or even believe this, but I really have very few people in my world, Cheri, and among them you’re almost the most important one to me.”
“You’re wrong, Thomas,” she said, soaking up what he was saying.
“I am?”
“Yes. I do want to hear stuff like that, those magic words. The trouble is that I need to be able to trust what I’m hearing.”
He didn’t say anything, deciding it was best to let her have the last word. He drew her into him and held her securely.
Cheri sighed. Thomas was so amazingly comfortable to snuggle into, like a security blanket. In that moment, all was perfect. She didn’t feel toxic for the first time in more time than she could remember. Content, warm, and happy, she drifted off to sleep in the arms of the man of her dreams.
Chapter 6
Cheri woke with a start when she heard someone rushing around in her house. “Wh-what? Thomas?” she whispered, dazed and confused as she felt the empty spot in the bed next to her. “What’s going on?” she scolded as she flipped on the lights, blinding them both. “You scared the heck outta me. Are you late for work or something?”
Thomas adeptly avoided eye contact and held his tongue, neither of which were like him at all.
Cheri trembled inside, with that same familiar fear she knew all too well, that quake that overtook her when she realized her lover was hiding something. “Thomas, what’s going on?” she demanded.
“Let me get dressed, and then I’ll explain,” he answered.
Cheri couldn’t help but sulk away; his serious tone told her everything she needed to know, that she was not going to want to hear what he had to say.
Thomas pulled a chair up to the bed, and the thought that he didn’t even want to sit next to her almost made her want to cry. He was shirtless, and his bronze, perfectly cut chest looked amazing against the blue of his jeans, which made his distance all the harder to bear.
“This was a mistake,” he blurted, then raked his fingers through his long hair as if trying to gather his thoughts.
“Oh shit,” she said, almost ready to throw up, as that was the last thing she expected to hear. She touched the back of her hand to her forehead, as if she was going to swoon and pass out like one of those frail Southern belles in an old movie.
“No,” he said, grabbing her firmly, “don’t misunderstand me.” He paused again to collect himself, clearly struggling to find the right words. “You and I are both fragile, Cheri, and we need to take things very, very slowly. I know I need to show you more than just tell you that I regret what I did. Take it from someone who knows. You might feel pretty good right now after we…did that and after you’ve gone cold turkey, but you’re about to experience ups and downs like you cannot imagine. Detox is no joke, and after all the drinking you’ve done it might even be good for you to visit a doctor for a checkup.”
Cheri was overwhelmed with emotion. She had just woken up, yet she felt exhausted, completely drained from her night of passion and from all the mental and emotional Olympics she’d been through over the past twenty-four hours. As much as it hurt, she knew that what he said made a lot of sense, but she certainly didn’t want to accept it.
“Do you understand what I’m saying?” he asked, stroking her arm lovingly, with a very light touch.
“Yes, and I’m glad to know you don’t plan to ditch me again,” she said, offering him a sheepish half-smile.
“I won’t ditch you, baby, but for now you need a friend more than a lover,” he wisely surmised.
Cheri turned her head, not wanting to cry in front of him in spite of all the tears she’d already cried before he walked back in her life.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, not quite sure why she seemed so upset.
“It’s just hard to hear you’re not my man. It was hard to know you weren’t my man when—”
Thomas turned her chin with his index finger and wiped away a tear with his thumb. “I will always be your man, for as long as you’ll have me, but we definitely have to start over, at the beginning. We both have things to work on
,” he said.
She laughed softly.
“What’s so funny?” he asked, sounding a little vulnerable.
“Well, we both know you’re really the fuck-up in this relationship,” she said affectionately, “yet you always end up being the wiser one.”
He pressed his lips to her forehead and cupped her face. Their chemistry surged through her as he lingered, restoring and grounding her as only he could.
“Are you going to stay for breakfast?” she asked finally, hoping it didn’t sound too desperate or needy. She knew she wanted him to be her man, knew she needed him like crazy, but she was also keenly aware that he was right. We have to work on trust, she told herself, but surely we can work on some more of those buttery scrambled eggs first.
“I should stop by the house before I go in to work,” he said. “Maybe you can come over tonight, and we can go over your books.”
“I was thinking I should reach out to my boss and let her know what’s been going on with me,” she said. “There could be a chance they’ll take me back.”
“You can try,” he said, “but…”
“But what, Thomas?” she asked, arching a brow.
“You can’t undo it. Sit on it for a day. If it’s really a good idea, it still will be tomorrow. Maybe this is a chance for a fresh start for you, to consider what it is you want from a job,” he suggested.
“I just want an income that’ll help me replace some of the life savings I kind of blew…er, uh, drank through,” she admitted sadly. “I think if I come clean about my drinking problem, they’ll—”
He put a finger to her lips and, even though she knew he was just gently interrupting her, the effect went straight to her core. Any touch from him was such a turn-on, no matter how somber or sleepy she felt. She nearly melted when he said in that baritone voice of his, the one that felt as sweet and enticing as hot fudge on an ice cream sundae, “Just put it on the back burner to simmer a while.”
