Beating as One Chapter 4

“It’s not your concern.”

            Marcus shrugged. “Of course it’s not, but when I can’t seem to get you out of my mind, it becomes a concern of mine. I know you’re married, but you’re the saddest married woman I’ve seen since I arrived here. Isn’t this place supposed to be where lovers can’t get enough of each other?”

            “Doing business here has clouded your thoughts, Marcus. Sometimes couples use this place as a last resort to fix their marriage. Where does it state that people who come here have to be in love with each other?”

            Marcus touched her arm and she glanced at him. “I am sorry, Anne. The look on your face was so agonizing that I felt I needed to stop and speak to you. How is that a man who has your heart and soul not see how truly beautiful and free you are? If I had you, I wouldn’t spend a moment apart from you.”

            She smiled and lowered her eyes. “Promises like those are too unreal, Marcus. Those promises of ‘I’ll never leave your side,’ suddenly disappear after a few years of marriage. It seems that the longer we are together, the more comfortable we are apart. There was one point in our life where we couldn’t stand to be apart from each other. Nowadays, it seems being apart is what we do best.”

            “Why do you think that happens? Why do you think people drift apart like that?”

            Anne shrugged her shoulders and dug her hands into the sand. “I’ve been trying to figure it out myself. Why don’t you tell me?”

            Marcus sighed, turned to look at the waves, and brought his knees up to his chest. “I think that sometimes in life, when things get hard, we turn away from it because we don’t want to deal with it. We would rather remember the better times than fix it during the hard times. Sometimes when an item is broken, we spend years wondering if it’s worth fixing it, when really it’s the only thing worth saving. Marriage is blissful when managed correctly and a trap when it isn’t. Those who believe that they’re trapped are because they choose to see the bad and forgot the good times. And they don’t admit that they need to change.”

            Anne turned to look at him. “You sound almost as if you’ve been there before.”

            Turning to look at her, he smiled. “Perhaps. But you’ll never know, will you? Now, why don’t you head on back to your room and make up?”

 

            Jed lay in bed listening to the waves rush in through the open window. After he left, he found himself at the bar downstairs drowning in shots of Tequila. After the fifth shot, he was seeing double and made his way up to the suite to find himself alone. She wasn’t there and a pang of guilt bit at him. If only he’d been man enough to make love to her the way he truly wanted to, she’d be in his arms right now. But in the heat of the moment, he’d lost his confidence. They hadn’t made love in a while and his fear kicked in forcing the romance in him to blow out. He sat up, his head spinning, and reached for the lights when he heard the door open. He laid back down and held his breath. The footsteps came to the foot of the bed and stopped. He shut his eyes when she flicked on the lights. A few moments later, she searched through her suitcase and he peeked out from his eyelids. Anne was dressed in a black two piece suit that brought out her curves. He watched as she bent down and the muscles in her thighs stretched. He felt himself respond as she hooked two fingers on each side of the panties and pushed it down. His fingers curled around the blankets as she stepped out of the panties. She dropped it into a pile on the ground and then reached behind her and unhooked her bra. It came off and was added to the pile on the ground. Then she turned around and their eyes met. When Jed saw her reaction only then did he realize he was staring wide eyed. Anne stood there, naked as the day she was born, as he sat up, the dizziness gone. In its place was a feeling he hadn’t felt for a long time and he was going to do something about it.

            Jed climbed out of bed and walked to her as she started to cover herself. He reached her in three strides and pulled her hands down. Then he slowly reached up and cupped one perfect breast in his hand. The weight of it filled his palm and he sucked in a breath. Then he reached for her neck, slammed his lips against hers, and the feeling of magic exploded. He felt her respond in her kiss and he grabbed a handful of her hair. Pushing her toward the bed, he put his hands on her hips as she fought his buttons on his pants. He heard the button pop and then it spun on the ground. He didn’t care; he needed her. When his clothes were stripped, he laid her on the bed and devoured her lips, her neck, her body until she was exhausted with pleasure.

 

            Anne woke up to the sound of the waves rushing and the breeze blowing in the wind. She was alone. She removed the blanket and walked naked to the bathroom. As soon as she turned on the lights she saw a glimpse of herself in the mirror. Her hair was tousled, her lips swollen, and there were love bites on her neck and chest. She gasped and reached up to touch them. Jed hadn’t given her these in years. Embarrassed, she looked away and turned on the shower.

            When she came out of the shower, she found Jed was setting the table. He had his back turned to her and she walked to him. He heard her and turned around. She stopped and stared as he stared at her with passion in his eyes, a look she’d missed. He smiled, walked to her, and held her in his arms. When he pulled away, he pulled out a chair and she sat down.

            “How’d you sleep?” he asked as he walked around to sit down.

            Smiling, Anne said, “Like a baby.”

            “Good. Let’s eat some breakfast and then we’ll do some sightseeing. How about that?”

            “Sure.”

            Anne scooped up a spoonful of berries as Jed reached for her hand. She looked up as he smiled at her. Then he brought her hand to his lips and kissed her knuckles.

            “I love you.”

            Anne shoved her hair to one side to show her love bites. “I can tell.”

 

            The sun was high up in the sky, the clouds were clear, and on the beach lay two entwined bodies. Their legs wrapped around each other like vine as their lips touched and kissed. Jed had his hands in Anne’s hair, massaging and pulling as the waves washed up between them. Anne’s lips were wide open, moans escaping from time to time, as Jed made love to her lips. Very slowly, he peeled off her swimsuit and dragged it down her body until she was lying naked underneath him. The sand was the only thing allowed to touch her body aside from his. He raked his nails down her slender legs as she moaned and he felt himself respond harder than ever. He bit her neck and she shivered underneath him.

            “Tell me, Anne, tell me you want me. Tell me what you need and I’ll give it to you. But I won’t give anything to you until I hear your say the words,” Jed whispered into her ear.

            Anne withered and grabbed his shoulders. She pulled away and looked at him. “Don’t force me to, Jed. You know I want this.”

            “You better say it, baby, or I’ll leave you high and dry.”

            She smiled and raked her fingers down his chest. He sucked in a breath as she turned and forced him on the sand. She straddled him and when he felt her openness, he shuddered. She reached up behind and gave him a sultry grin.

            “And if you don’t do as I ask, I’ll make you take a very, very cold shower.”

            Jed raised his eyebrows. “Is that a threat?”

            She ran a finger down his chest. “It is very much, indeed. So either you give me what I want or you’ll be standing underneath a very cold shower head.”

            Jed grabbed her buttocks. “Witch.”