Summer at the Sea Ch. 07

A note to my readers: I'm very sorry that this story sat neglected for so long and I'm going to try and remedy that in the next few weeks and see if I can't work out a proper ending. I had this chapter nearly finished for a LONG time and due to some (very) negative feedback, I figured it wasn't worth going any further. Many thanks to the few people who, in the past few months, have left me very kind feedback asking me to finish. I'll try my best to do just that for you.

*

"I heard you in the hall the other night," Lilly whispered in Rose's direction as she placed her glass of lemonade back on the patio table.

Rose froze, startled, her own glass between the table and her lips. "Heard...me?"

Lilly smiled, "Don't act so innocent. I saw your shadow and heard the floor creak underneath your foot."

She didn't seem angry -- if anything, she was amused. Rose felt her face flush red and she calmly placed her glass back on the table top. She shook her head, "I don't know what you're talking about."

Lilly continued to smile her amused smile and this time she shook her head.

"I swear," Rose breathed, her eyes darting towards the sliding glass door at the far end of the patio. She could see Paul rummaging through a kitchen cupboard -- no doubt finding a snack before he headed back to the city.

Lilly followed Rose's gaze and nodded knowingly.

"He still loves you," Lilly said quietly before lowering her voice into the faintest whisper before saying, "And I know you do too."

**

Rose and James sat silent as Lilly slowly plodded up the stairs to her bedroom. Rose could feel James' gaze on her -- just dying to ask her something. She felt the dinner had been an elaborate plot on Lilly's behalf to get the two of them alone together. Lilly hadn't even waited for dessert before making an excuse about being tired and exhausted from the sun. Just like that, she was gone from the table and the room.

"Are you tired as well?" James asked, finally breaking the silence.

Rose's gaze shot in his direction and she shook her head, "Why would I be?"

"You spent a lot of time with her out in the sun today," he said quietly, "I just...assumed."

"No," she replied. "Not at all, actually."

The two of them fell into an awkward silence again and just when Rose was about to excuse herself from the table to return home, James spoke up.

"Are you...happy?"

"Now?"

"In general."

She feigned a smile and nodded, "Of course. That's a silly question."

"Are you?"

She folded her hands in her lap and lowered her gaze once more. "I don't think so."

"Why not?" he asked.

"He...Paul..." she replied slowly, carefully. "He means well. He's a wonderful provider which is obvious from our home; it simply is..." she met his eyes and smiled weakly. "He's not you."

**

Rose gladly took another glass of wine and took in half the glass with one, long gulp. James had lost track of how many glasses he had fed her, himself having consumed a fair amount of scotch. Her face and lips were bright red, her eyes were a little watery but full of a girlish spark he remembered from a few years back. Clearly, most of her inhibitions were gone; she giggled loudly, playfully hit him on the knee and shoulder whenever she had the chance and she was reclined on his sofa in such a way that her dress was hiked up around her thighs giving him a perfect view of the top of her lacy stockings and garters.

"Seriously," he said, taking her glass of wine so she wouldn't spill. "Can I ask you a serious question?"

"Oh James," she said, pushing against his knee with her toes. "Of course you can. Ask me anything! Anything!"

"It's personal," he said with a smile, leaning in close to her and allowing the back of his hand to graze against her stockinged knee.

"How personal?" she teased, narrowing her eyes and grinning wildly.

"It's about..." he played along and lowered his voice to a whisper. "Sex."

Her smile quickly faded and she curled her legs close to the rest of her body. "What about sex?"

He chose his next words carefully, "How often?"

"Every time I see him," she said quietly.

"Today?"

"This morning. Right when I was waking up."

"Yesterday?"

"First thing he arrived."

He touched the top of her foot, but she recoiled from his touch. He furrowed his brow imperceptibly and cocked his head slightly, suddenly feeling more of a psychiatrist than a friend.

"Do you..." he didn't know if he should ask, but with a quick sip of his scotch, he summoned up the courage and continued, "Do you like it?"

She met his gaze and shook her head slowly. He handed her wine back to her and she quickly downed the remainder of the liquid in the glass and stretched her legs forward again, draping her calves over his thighs and reclining further into the cushions. He resisted the urge to follow the seam along the back of her stockings and tried to avert his gaze from the silky, pink fabric he could just barely see between her legs.

"Is it..." he nearly choked on his words, "It's not my fault, is it?"

She shrugged, "Not in so many ways. He just...Paul, dear Paul, he doesn't have any passion."

James breathed a sigh of relief, if it was passion she wanted, he could most certainly provide passion.

"God knows I try," she continued. "I try and I try and...you know, he has this preconceived notion of what a woman -- no, a wife -- should be. I should be perfect and, well, I guess I just shouldn't enjoy sex."

"What?"

"I don't know, James. He pushes me away every chance he gets. Sex is on his watch, on his schedule. I'm just...there."

"What do you..."

"I want things," she continued, as if he wasn't even there. She began impatiently rubbing her legs back and forth across his lap. "I try to initiate certain moves and he won't even give me a chance."

"What sort of moves?"

"Simple things," she replied. "Sometimes I'd like to be on top of him. Sometimes I'd rather he not roll me over onto my back. I just want to be a little...wild."

James smiled and nodded. He leaned forward to set his empty glass on the table and as he did so, Rose's foot moved lightly over his groin. He responded immediately to the -- likely accidental -- touch and quickly folded his arms over her legs and buried his hands between his knees.

"I just have a feeling," she said, reclining a bit more, her skirt hiking up her legs just a little more, "that you wouldn't be so kind."

He quickly turned his head in her direction and his eyes widened. She laughed at his surprised expression and he saw the light in her eyes again. He loosened up himself and tickled her feet lightly, egging her on.

She shrieked loudly and started giggling wildly. She twisted and turned, with each movement she inched closer towards him. She laughed, begging him to stop (but silently hoping in her own mind that he wouldn't), his hands quickly went from her feet to her waist and even moreso, she was laughing and before she -- or he -- knew it, she was practically in his lap. His arousal was insistent and both of their breaths came in quick, labored gasps.

"I love you," he said without thinking twice. Her heart jumped and she smiled slightly, the three little words she had waited two years to hear were finally laid out. She curled her fingers around the hair at the back of his neck and sighed deeply.

"I don't think I'm legally allowed to say it back," she joked.

"I don't think you're legally allowed to do anything that you're thinking of doing," he said quietly, his eyes heavy from the touch of her fingers against the back of his neck -- a touch he had missed and craved for too long.

She opened her mouth to say something in return but instead, she leaned forward and pressed her lips hungrily against his. He wrapped his arms tightly around her and returned the kiss with as much passion as she had given him. Not caring what could or would happen next, he slipped his tongue against her own and pressed his hips against hers, prodding her with his bulging erection.

"Whatever you want," he said with a sigh as her lips trailed down his neck and she grasped and pulled at each of the buttons on his shirt, pushing the fabric aside. She bit at his earlobes and raked her fingers against his bare chest as he continued to press his hips into hers over and over again.

"Touch me," she breathed. "Please, just touch me."

Without missing a beat, he kneaded the palms of his hands over her breasts. She responded by kissing him on the mouth again, running her tongue against his bottom lip every time his finger grazed her nipples.

"Why did you marry him?" he asked, a hand diving between her legs and frantically pushing aside the silky fabric of her underwear.

"I don't know," she cried, louder than she had planned to as James quickly buried a finger inside of her. She groaned at his touch and gasped out loud as he slipped a second finger inside. She pressed her lips against his again and she couldn't help but notice the small laugh that escaped from his throat as she did so.

She quickly moved her hips back and forth twice, grinding her pelvis against his hand and asked, "What?"

"You're just..." he smiled and shook his head. He curled his fingers and she cried his name loudly as stars blurred her vision. Her hands quickly made way for his trousers and she deftly undid the buttons and zipper and reached beneath the fabric to find her prize.

"Here?" he asked, stilling his hands.

"Why not?" she asked, looking around. He shook his head, the last time they had been together she had been unexperienced and scared. Now she was experienced, hungry, desperate even.

"Lilly?" he replied as she wrapped her hand around his cock and started to slide out of his lap and down to the floor.

"I think Lilly's the least of our concerns," she said as she lowered her mouth to his member and slowly began to run her tongue along the length of the shaft.

James groaned and croaked out a slow "fuck" as she took him into her mouth. This time, he would let her take her time, he wouldn't press her head down into his hips like he had the first time she'd given him head.

"Mmm...god," he groaned as he felt the tip hit the back of her throat. He marveled at how her tiny mouth was able to take such a large cock in one swoop. She tried to go further, but she was stopped abruptly by a gag and she quickly lifted her head to avoid the surge of consumed wine that was inevitable if she went any further.

"I'm sorry," she said quietly. "Too much wine." She smiled and giggled slightly before lowering her mouth to him once again and swirling her tongue around the head and making her way back down once again.

"Does he let you do this?" he asked as he wrapped his fingers in and around her curly black hair.

"Mm mm," she replied, shaking her head slightly as she did.

"Why?" he tilted his head back and closed his eyes tightly and she ran the palm of her hand over his balls.

She simply shrugged in response.

"Can I tell him how good you are at it?" he joked. She quickly bobbed her head up and met his gaze.

"Absolutely not," she said, her eyes wide.

"Of course not," he said, running his hand around her neck and against her cheek. "I was only kidding."

"Oh, of course."

"Come here," he said, curling his finger, beckoning her close.

"And leave this?" she asked with a smile.

"Just come here," he replied, pulling at her wrists. She complied and stood to her feet and hovered over him. He stared up into her face and smiled before pulling her down into his lap.

"What?" she asked.

"Can I please," he replied, "please, fuck you?"

She laughed in spite of the forwardness of the question and pressed her lips against his. Her entire body ached for him, but she couldn't immediately ignore the nagging feeling in the pit of her stomach reminding her of Paul. She looked down at her wedding ring and bit her bottom lip nervously. She knew she'd already broken just about every vow they'd made on their wedding day, but going the final step seemed so dangerous.

"What's on your mind?" he asked, trying to ignore the hesitation in her reply.

"What will happen?" she asked. "You know...afterward?"

"Anything you want," he replied, having faced such a conundrum in the past. He had participated in the affairs of married women in the past -- not many, but there had been a few women he'd met on a chance encounter only to find out moments before they actually did the deed that they were married.

"What do I tell Paul?" she asked.

"Nothing," he replied, kissing her and placing her hand back on his cock to keep his arousal from dying.

"I've thought about this a thousand times," she said quietly, squeezing him slightly and shifting her hips into a more comfortable position.

"It's not like it hasn't happened before," he said.

"It was different then," she pointed out.

He nodded, "Of course. ...But I can give you what you want."

She smiled and nodded herself.

"How about..." he placed his hands on her shoulders and smiled, "we go upstairs and if you change your mind by the time we get to my bedroom, I will take you home."

She nodded thoughtfully, "And if I don't change my mind?" She twirled her wedding ring around her finger.

He bit her lower lip and made a low noise in the back of his throat. She giggled in response and slipped the ring off of her finger.