She breathed into his mouth hungrily, feeling his own breath inside of her. The exchange only made him want her more. “Come into me,” she whispered.
“I’m already inside of you,” he said, unable to catch his breath. “I never left you.”
Cupping her bottom in his large hands, he stood embracing her in the middle of the floor and kissing her more passionately than he had ever kissed a woman before her.
She wrapped herself around his body, squeezing her legs tightly around his lower torso. The muscles of his large, wide back tightened as he tilted his head to kiss her deeper still.
Charlie expected for him to move, to carry her to the bed, but he did not. He only pulled her closer to him, to his needy erection - hidden by the very thin layers of fabric between them - and to his beating heart that felt like it would pound right out of his chest. He never wanted to let her go.
A moan escaped her as he began to move her body against his own. She needed more than this. She needed him now.
“Bed,” she uttered, not able to say a full sentence in between their kisses.
Sully carried her quickly. Laying her back on it, he put a hand on her silk, pink pajama pants and began to pull at them. Now was all that he needed to hear.
Charlie caught his hand and stopped him. “Condom?” she asked in between kisses. Her eyes were urgent.
“No foreplay first?” Sully asked, heaving a deep breath. He swallowed hard and planted his fists in the bed beside her, showing the detail of his carved arms. He shrugged with a playful grin. “Or we could just go for it.”
Charlie laughed. “Sorry. I’ve been married for ten years. So, foreplay is sort of one of those special treats. But of course, I want foreplay. I’m a woman.”
“And of course, I don’t want foreplay. I’m a man,” Sully countered.
They both laughed as Sully pulled her pants all the way off. He looked down at her body and licked his lips. In a more serious tone, he growled. “No, I’m lying. I do…I want to. All night if you let me.”
A borage of illicit thoughts swept through his mind, and suddenly he could see his head between her thighs taking in her feminine scent. He marveled at how she had changed, how voluptuous her body was now that she had had children. In fact, he craved her more now than he ever did when she was a girl.
“This is different for me, Sully. No other man has seen me in eleven years, and the children totally marred my body. Twins? Are you kidding? I’m not a college girl anymore. I have stuff…” She tried to hide the stretch marks on her stomach.
Sully stopped her attempt to down herself. “You look incredible,” he said, touching her legs. “Unbelievable.” Pushing up her night shirt, he kissed her stomach where the stretch marks visibly were. “Amazing.” He grew harder by the moment. Starting to feel his penis throb, he growled again. “As a matter of fact, you’re killing me.”
Charlie couldn’t help but smile. “Thanks…for the compliment.”
He rose up with a calm peace in his eyes. “I just want you to relax and know that I’m not interested in a school girl. I want to be with the grown woman in front of me. There is nothing about you that I don’t want. You gave me my children…my life as it is now. I think that you’re perfect.”
The lines in his beautiful face showed now under the cover of poor lighting, but Charlie thought it only made him more beautiful.
She was speechless. He sure knew how to make a woman submit. Letting out a sigh, she opened her legs further apart and forgot about her stomach. “How can I say no?” she asked in a soft voice.
Sully hovered over her. “You don’t say no. Now, kiss me again,” he begged. Moving her legs part with his own, he nestled down in between them. It felt like home there, nice and warm. A place that he could stay forever if she let him.
Taking his face in her hands, Charlie kissed him slowly, enjoying the feeling of his body pushing hard on top of her own.
“If that is what the gentleman requests…” she toyed.
Her hands tangled in his brown locks, accented with silver streaks. She had wanted to do that all day, since she first saw him at the airport, but she knew then what it would lead to – the place that they were now.
“You are so beautiful,” Sully said, looking at her face. “Do you know how long I have dreamt of having you in this room, in this bed with me? And now that I do, I’m not sure that I can handle you leaving it.” Raw emotion showed on his face, unable to be cloaked by playful banter.
Charlie held him closer. “I never thought that this place would feel like home.” A tear fell down her face. “This house, this family. It makes me feel…,” she paused for a minute and tried to stop the burning tears that were running down her cheek over onto the bed. “It makes me feel like I was supposed to be somewhere else all along. And that scares the shit out of me, Sully.”
Sully wiped her tears with his thumb. “Maybe you were.” He kissed her cheeks gently and then her shoulders and then lastly, her neck. The warm flesh of his mouth lingered there until he heard her moan.
Her growing excitement pleased him beyond words. He wanted more than anything to satisfy her deepest desires, to make her quiver in ecstasy. Running his fingertips up and down her skin added to the fire boiling lava hot inside of her. The simple touch was erotically tantalizing yet only made her want more.
“My sweet Charlie,” he said, voice strained.
“Sully, I love you,” Charlie felt herself say. The truth leapt from her before she had time to think about it. Her eyes were closed as she drifted off to another place, but Sully’s eyes were open and locked on her.
After teasing her with damp kisses down her abdomen and softly kissing her navel, with care, he pulled down her pink lace panties and dropped them on the floor.
Opening her legs further, he slinked up her legs with kisses starting below her calves, behind her delicate knees, in between her hot, steamy thighs and then finally he stopped.
Her back arched in preparation. Biting her lip, she waited, hands fisted and holding her breath.
Sully teased her, running a hand down the small strip of hair that led to her womanhood. “Breathe,” he ordered, staring down at her and knowing that he was in complete control now.
She panted out hesitant breaths.
“Breathe,” he said again, this time placing his thumb on her pearl. He applied just enough pressure to make her tremble.
She rolled her head down into the disheveled comforter, trying not to scream aloud. Finally, giving in, she let out a deep breath. As she did, he ducked in between her legs and sucked at the pedals of her throbbing, glistening flower. The taste of her made him want to explode with an orgasm then, but he kept it at bay.
Her hand grabbed the top of his curly locks and drew him in further.
Grabbing her by the waist, he pulled her into his deep kiss and felt her body spasm.
He wanted to prolong her at this heightened peak. “Not yet,” he said, pulling away. The words were more for him than her. At the moment, he wanted simply to plunge into her widely and sate his own desires, but her enjoyment was more important to him than his own.
The teasing was killing her. “Sully,” she cried out. “Please.”
“Please what?” he asked, wanting to hear her say.
“Make love to me,” she said, dripping wet.
Sully’s entire body was burning hot with desire. He pulled his shorts off in one motion and returned to her naked. Every muscle in his body was taut and unyielding, every curve defined. His thick, elongated penis stretched up in front of him filled with blood and pearling at the tip.
It was then and only then that she realized that the lights were still on. She looked over at the light switch and made a motion for it. “Turn it off.”
“No. I want to see every inch of you,” he said, more serious than before. He clenched his jaw tight and reached for the top button of her shirt. Grabbing both sides of it, he tore it off her body. Buttons flew onto the bed, and ripe brown sk
in emerged.
Her rigid nipples pointed out towards him, begging to be kissed. Cupping them in his palms, he leaned over her, placing the tip of his rock-hard penis at the opening of her soaking vagina. “Do you want me?” he asked, pulling her hand down to make her feel him.
“Yes,” she panted, trying to move closer towards him. “Now.”
“How badly?” he asked, watching her eyes roll to the top of her head. He bit his lip, ignoring his own desires for the moment.
“More than I’ve ever wanted any man,” she confessed.
Sully kissed her lips softly, sucking at her tongue. “More than you want Alex?”
“Yes,” she said, going crazy. “Please, Sully,” she begged. “Make love to me.” The temperature of her skin singed him. His cool breath fanned against her as he bent to her breasts and licked at her nipples.
Arching her back more, she wrapped her legs around him.
“Shit,” he gasped. Her wetness transferred on to him as the lips of her flower pushed up and down his shaft. A breath caught in his chest as he tried with all of his might to simply kiss her.
“Now, Sully,” Charlie pleaded. “Now.” She undulated under him harder.
Sully moaned. “Not yet,” he said, slipping a finger down in between them to sate some of her excitement, but it only made her wilder.
She felt his deft fingers, eager to please, slip inside of her deep right before she exploded. “Sully!” she screamed as silk ran down his fingers.
“Look at me,” Sully ordered, pushing against her mound. He breathed hard. His chest pushed up against her breasts.
She opened her eyes and stared into his. Moaning and pulling at the covers, she watched him.
“I love you,” Sully said, with tears running down his face. “I love you with everything that I have,” he said, burying his face into the crease between her shoulder and neck.
Arching her body upwards, she felt him finally thrust his body into hers.
They both screamed out, holding on to each other. Like the perfect key for the lock of her heart, he opened her. Every emotion, reservation, dream, hope and secret came barreling out as they moved into each other rhythmically.
“Never let me go,” she whispered.
191
The Contingency Plan
Chapter 12
When Charlie got off the plane at LaGuardia airport on Monday evening, Frank was there to pick her up. Quietly, he helped her load her bag of keepsakes from the kids and Sully into the back of black Cadillac SUV along with her overnight bag and then jumped inside with her.
She was still wiping tears from her eyes as the driver pulled off into the late evening traffic. Dusk was on the horizon and with it the haunting pain of leaving her other family back in Norfolk.
Nothing prepared her for how she felt when she separated from them. It was like a death sentence to walk down the terminal from their loving face. Still, she knew that she had to go. Her other life was waiting on her. Her husband. Her beautiful children. Her job. They were all anchors that kept her grounded to New York and New Jersey, hours from the place that she wished to call home.
The only bright thought she had about going back was her boys. She missed them now, strangely, more than ever. She wished that they could have experienced their older sister and brother for themselves. She wished that the reunion could have lasted longer.
Then thoughts of Sully assailed her. They had made love all night, woke up bright and early and cooked for the children and spent all day together as a family. It was like a dream, so surreal, so pleasant. The beauty of it all made the pain just that much worse.
Frank looked over at her and offered her a napkin. “I brought these because I was certain you would return this way,” he said sincerely. She had been on his mind all weekend and he quietly hated her for not calling him while she was there to give her the skinny.
She took the napkin gratefully, pulled off her shades, and wiped her bloodshot red eyes. “Thank you,” she said, sniffling.
“You poor thing. Did you cry all the way?” he asked.
She nodded yes. Her voice was weak and cracking. “They were so sweet. Each of them had a gift for me when I left and Sully…” She swallowed hard. “He gave me a box of pictures from the kids’ births’ up until now.” She took a deep breath and looked out of the window. “What am I going to do, Frank?”
Frank’s brow rose in confusion. “Isn’t it obvious?”
She looked over at him and took his hand. “It’s going to break Alex’s heart.”
“Well staying with him just because is going to break yours, dear. It’s survival of the fittest at this point.” He patted her gently.
“I just want to go and see the kids before I do this. He won’t be home until tomorrow, but I think that I’ll go down to the firehouse and talk to him alone tonight. It can’t wait any longer. We need to talk.” She straightened up as she said the words, as if confessing it made her stronger.
Frank nodded. It wasn’t his place to tell her what to do, but he couldn’t agree more with her decision. They had been fighting for years now, and every year things only got tenser. It was clear to see from the outside that they simply were not meant to be.
Of course, they had given it a good try and tried to be as good to each other as possible, but in this life, one needed more than a good try. They needed full, unconditional love.
***
Thankfully, Hanson and Hunter were still up when Charlie finally got home. After Frank and the driver pulled off, she quickly made her way through her red front door. Home. Sweet. Home. Everything was in its place and the smell of home-make cooking permeated the entire house. Warm bread. Hot meats. Sweet treats. Dropping her bags at the front door, she ran up the stairs as fast as her feet could take her up to their room to greet them both.
They jumped up from their toy soldiers and tackled her with enthusiastic hugs and kisses.
“Where have you been?” Hunter asked.
“Did you bring us anything?” Hanson probed.
She looked at her darling boys, caramel-skinned, heavy set giants with chubby cheeks, big brown eyes, curly locks of jet black hair, pink lips and dimpled chins and felt herself literally go to mush. They were her pride and joy. Her perfect pair. Only now, she was blessed to have two sets. That couldn’t be a bad thing.
“Yes, I missed you,” she answered, kissing them both. “Yes, I brought you something back,” she said remembering her bag downstairs.
Sitting on the chair in front of Hanson’s desk, she grabbed them both and hugged them tightly by their waists. “Were you good?” She willed herself not to cry anymore, but she was definitely on the verge.
“They were boys,” Maria said, walking through the door. She gave Charlie a welcome home smile as she knitted a scarf. “They asked about you every hour on the hour.”
Charlie laughed. “Yet they ignore me when I’m home.”
“That’s a man for you. He only appreciates you when you’re gone,” Maria said with a grin.
Charlie raised a brow. “And the man of the house, is he still at work?” She looked up into Maria’s eyes..
“Yes. He’ll be there until tomorrow morning.” Maria noticed the red puffiness around Charlie’s eyes. “Is there something wrong?”
Charlie smiled at her boys and nodded. “No. I just need to go into town and talk to him, if you’re going to stay the night.”
“For you two to talk…,” she flicked her wrist. “I’ll stay all year.”
“Thanks, Maria,” she said, getting up. Looking back down at her boys, she clasped her hands together. “Who wants a story after a hot bath?”
“Can we just read a story?” Hanson asked with a bit of a whine in his raspy voice. “I took a bath last night.” He loathed baths all together and preferred to stay dirty all week, but his mother would never let him, and Hunter felt the same but would never speak up.
“That’s the thing about baths. You need to take one every day,” Charli
e said, glad to be back with them. She had missed them so very much.
***
When the kids were sleep a few hours later after much coddling and kissing and a few bedtime stories, Charlie slipped out and headed to the firehouse to see Alex. There was so much muddled up in her brain until she felt like she would have an aneurism. How would she explain everything? How would she even broach the subject? Would he immediately ask if she slept with Sully and if he did, would she tell the truth? So many questions. Her hands were literally trembling.
Turning on her radio, she slipped on a smooth jazz CD and tried to calm her nerves. The sounds of Kenny G came through her surround sound. Ahh, that’s better, she thought to herself.
After a few more minutes of quiet driving, she began to gather her thoughts and her head. Honesty had always been the best policy for her in the past. There was no need to start being dishonest now.
Still, there was nothing she could do to prepare herself for what she was about to do. Break it off with her husband. Break his heart. That was a hard pill to swallow.
“God, give me strength,” she said as she turned onto the street where his firehouse was.
Alex loved ice cream from the old timey shop on the corner, right beside his work. So, she pulled over and parked and decided to grab them both a pint of mint chocolate.
She went in quickly and got in the short line, hoping that her gesture would take some of the edge off.
After she had paid the young woman behind the counter, she walked slowly in the dark under the nightlights to the firehouse. The sound of her boots echoed off the hard pavement.
With every step, she felt her nerves ripping at her. Butterflies began to flutter in her stomach again and her hands became clammy. Pulling her black wool coat to her closer to her face, she took a deep breath and eyed the couple on the side of the house talking. She saw the man dip in and kiss the woman gently on her lips, then run a hand down her backside.
The Contingency Plan (The Lonely Heart Series) Page 16
