Chapter twelve:

What was it about the sunset against the ocean which made you feel like you could reach for the sky?

The cottage sat just at the foot of the Black Rock. Up ahead, along the base of the cliff sat what seemed to be a hundred different rocks, gathered together of varying descriptions. The frothy, blue-green salt water crashed into them; the setting sun reflected the shoreline in waves, then gently rolled up to the increasingly rising tide line. The wave stopped as it reached the tide line and slowly rolled back into the churning ocean water. This relaxing rhythm of continuous lapping waves was music to their ears. Ocean breezes gently swayed the nearby leafy trees as another day on the beach came to a close. The sun was peeking through the heavy, white clouds illuminating the sky in a dazzling orange glow, causing the fluffy, white sand to appear orange in colour as well. All was still and quiet other than the sound of crashing waves. God's painted masterpiece was a glorious sight to witness.

Taking herself to the edge of the rocks, Rose stopped, with the breeze taking her soul to a place made of complete peace. This was so reminiscent of Santa Monica; how most of her days would be spent at the edge of the water, just listening to nature and for Jack—always for him to speak to her, believing that somewhere out in the world he would watch her. Now, she stood beside him.

''Who knew this could exist here?''

It was as though there was only the two of them in existence. But didn't it always feel that way with him? Miles of sand stretched behind them, the cottage in sight at the base of the cliffs above, which sheltered them from the fading sun but it wasn't cold. A barely there breeze dwindled past now and then just a gentle reminder of its presence. What was more wonderful than a summer dusk?

''I can't imagine a more beautiful place.''

Jack came closer to her, slowly as though he was approaching a spooked horse. Rose didn't seem real to him in a way. She moved, placing one foot on the lowest rock. The trickling sound of the water seemed to entice her out to it and she settled herself on a rock which faced Jack. The power seemed to be within her hands; there was something, addictive about that feeling as she recognised how his eyes were upon her and burning into her. It was giving her a quiet confidence, allowing her to almost lead him out into the water. She said nothing but simply removed her tan Mary Jane shoes along with her taupe stockings and felt her bare skin against the dirt on the floor. Standing from the rock, she kept her eyes out to the ocean.

''I don't think I have ever felt such peace and serenity.''

Rose's voice was sweet and calming. Leaning back against the rock, she slowly dipped out her toe feeling the water run over her skin; it was cool but so much warmer than the previous night.

''I haven't swum since that night and now, all I feel like is swimming naked within this water.''

Jack inched closer and closer until he too was leaning against the rock. Their bodies were just metres apart and up close he saw just how breath-taking she was; without the need to apply any makeup. He also noticed that her white dress was almost transparent and the shadow of the thatch below her stomach grew darker beneath the material. His nostrils flamed, as he fanned away the fire within his own belly.

''Was last night in the waves not enough for you, huh?''

"I can never get enough of the water."

Rose dipped her body out from the rock, sinking herself into the blueness just slightly, but as she reached further outward her foot still on the rock, she almost slipped and Jack immediately placed his hands upon her hip, to pull her back and slammed her against the gravelled wall with a thud, his own body pressed to hers in an unprecedented shift which had almost stolen her breath. The rush of adrenaline had floored him and he hadn't known his own strength. Instead of been frightened, Rose placed her hand tenderly at the heart of his chest. Their eyes met briefly and she felt her chest rise and fall; it seemed to match the unsteadiness of his own.

''Are you alright?''

Jack's left hand was resting against the higher rock behind them, while his right hand was at the base of her back protectively. Without thinking Rose stroked her fingers through his hair, moving it away from his face as he moved toward her face and pressed his lips to hers. Tasting the salt of the air upon his mouth, the sweetness of the candyfloss which they had eaten that afternoon and the traces of everything about him, ignited something within her. Beneath the dimming light of the sun, Rose allowed the rhythm of the waves lapping against the rock to calm her. He loosened his grip on her as she began to walk away. She stepped on a few smaller rocks into the sea and then sat on one, before letting her legs dangle into the water. It felt cool and refreshing. Glancing once back to Jack, she watched how he returned the heat of her gaze.

''Come on, come sit with me.''

Hesitantly, Jack stepped closer to her, his feet carefully navigating over the slippery stones. Rose's head tilted back, and she looked to him with slumberous eyes.

''Why do you look at me, so?''

''How do I look at you?''

''As though I am already naked.''

Naked.

The flames in Jack's belly were climbing higher beneath his shaky breath.

''I feel your gaze on me,'' she said with surprising candour, ''That enjoyment is quite distressing.''

Jack slowly sat himself on the rock, using his hands to steady himself and stretching out his legs in front of him, though still wearing his shoes.

''Well, I am in love with every single part of you."

Rose blinked, breathed through the wild, soaring flutters within her belly and how they threatened to fly across the ocean and take her with it. The air was suddenly stuffy, suffocating...

Slowly, her dainty hands were down at the hems of the white dress, slowly drawing it upwards and as she snaked it up, her body was submerged into the water without so much of a gasp. Aiming the garment at Jack, she threw it to his lap and with a raised eyebrow she was naked beneath the waves with her blonde curls floating about her like some sort of angel.

Jack was hard, throbbing and on display due to the tailored fit of his short trousers. Her discarded dress upon his lap hid the latter for the moment. The water line caressed the tops of her breasts and she was flushed from either the sun or the excitement of the day but now there she was, dripping wet and unashamedly bare. When she shifted her head to look at him, his breath seized in his lungs. It was a sirens glance; one full of heat or hunger. Perhaps longing...

''My God,'' he said gruffly, aching. ''You're lovely.''

He was in a riot of lust, half mad with the need to sate the damned spurring longing which he was sure that she felt, too.

''You make me feel as though I am.''

The sinuous invitation of her movements was not lost on him. Something had roused her passions.

''Will you swim with me?''

Without even thinking, Jack began to unlace his shoes before kicking them off to the top of the rocks. Rose came closer to him slowly, she used her wet hand to feel his hair, running it down his chest before reaching toward the buttons of his shirt and undoing them one by one. The slow way she did, was almost seductive and sensual as her wet fingers soaked into his linen. He removed the shirt from his shoulders, dragging it down his arms before discarding of it on the rock along with her dress. As before, Jack ran a self-conscious hand across his tanned chest, running it downwards towards his naval but then he caught her eye and stopped immediately like a scolded child would.

''Jack, you're the most beautiful man that I have ever seen or will ever see. Don't you dare hide-''

''-I'm not hiding.''

''Then why shield your scars. Your marks. They are part of you.''

Bowing his head, the strands of wet hair fell into his eyes. ''They're a reminder of the man I was in the war.''

Roses entire body suddenly felt freezing. As her wet hand traced down his chest, Jack closed his eyes to enjoy the shudder. Beneath her touch, he quivered, revealing his own innocence at the same time. Innocence at their age seemed to be a rarity and perhaps it would remain for their entire lives. They had barely known any other but each other's touch.

''You were so wonderful then. So young, so spirited and passionate but given a choice, I would choose the man that I see now before me and I would always choose that even if we had a thousand lifetimes together."

Jack touched her hair, waved and blonde cascading into the water, floating about her before leaning forward to kiss her one more time. Her beautiful words had pierced his heart. She led his hand to her frantically beating heart, he felt it there, as his tongue was in her mouth, swirling and touching. She lingered for a second, before letting go and walking further into the ocean.

It was her invitation to join her.

Jack stood from the rocks and removed his short trousers. As he slid them to the sandy ground, Rose watched him entirely exposed from afar and the flames of desire licked at her like before. How could a man like him ever shield himself? He slipped into the water, allowing it to engulf his lower body. She came towards him, placing her hands upon his shoulders.

Her nipples were a soft rose hue and luxuriously long. Puckered by the chill of air on wet skin, they begged for the attentions of his mouth and hands. He stroked his tongue deliberately along the curve of his bottom lip, teasing her visually with a physical enactment of the thoughts smouldering in his mind. Lowering her head, she licked her lips and moved to kiss him. She saw the understanding of what she was about move through his eyes. Once again, he grew very still. Expectant. Watchful. He gave her the lead in the approach, but when their lips connected, he took over. Snaring her nape with his hand, he adjusted the fit of her mouth, his lips opening under hers with barely tempered hunger. Rose gasped as she fell into him, the lone support of her arm giving way. The water was deep enough to stand in, with it reaching about their chest but as they moved, their toes dug into the wet sand below and they floated about completely boneless. Jack's lips were firm, but soft; his skill evident, but restrained. There was a wicked decadence to the way he tasted her; different to the way they had once sweetly loved the other with their mouth but this, this was...

The approving groans, bouts of sudden fervency followed by savouring licks, and the gentle movements of his lips made her mad for a deeper connection. Canting her head, Rose tried to take what she wanted. Surprisingly, he allowed her to. His touch at the back of her neck did not restrain her. It kneaded, as if he couldn't help but touch and was restraining himself to an innocuous part of her anatomy. As if she would or could protest a roving exploration. She turned her head to gulp down much needed air. The tender pressure of his fingertips spread outward from that one relatively innocent place, creating the phantom feel of his fingers running down her spine and between her legs.

"Jack . . ." His name slipped from her lips with remarkable, breathless ease. As he took her mouth, his hand ran down the length of her torso, stroking along her waist and coming to rest at her hip. He gripped her hip bone with a clenching of his palm, nowhere near painful but more than enough to relay his fervency. That tell-tale grasp excited her, made her feel powerfully feminine and seductive. Her hands lifted to his hair, pushing into the thick tresses, gripping the strands by the root and tugging—a returning message to him that she was feeling equally passionate. The slow, deep thrusts of his tongue into her mouth so perfectly mimicked what she wished would happen between them. She arched upward, pressing her aching breasts into him. His grip on her hip tightened, pinning her down. Both of her hands stroked over the broad curves, then slid down his biceps, her fingers squeezing and finding no give to her applied pressure. He was like warm marble. She wanted to touch him all over, take her time, nuzzle her nose against him and breathe him deep into her lungs. She wanted him. In that moment, she wanted him more than anything else in the world. She felt as if her repressed hunger had overtaken her completely. Her need and longing for him was all that was left of her after he'd stripped the entirety of her defences away. His fists clenched at his sides as her hands drifted over the rock-hardness of his rippled abdomen.

Wrapping her arms around him, she drew closer still, delaying her surrender because she desired his first. With the flat of her tongue, she licked across the hard disk of his nipple. He hissed and gripped her hips with bruising strength. He pressed his lips to her forehead in a quick, hard kiss. "I am trying to keep from making love to you, right here against this rock, already."

Rose stilled, her breath panting across his skin, her chest constricted by the weight of his expectation.

"I want to feel your hair brush all over my body. I want to fist it in my hands. I love this colour on you-"

''You haven't told me that before.''

''I love how naturally beautiful it is though. Perhaps it's part of your fire.''

Her hands shook as she reached into the water and wrapped her hands around him. He groaned and jerked in her grip. He made a low, animal sound as he fell heavily into her palms. Her fingers explored carefully, following her gaze. She traced the sinuous curving of the thick veins that coursed the rigid length.

"Say something," he said gruffly.

''I-I have never touched a man in that w-way before.'' she stammered through her own uncertainty.

"Rose." The serrated edge to his voice thrilled her, made her disregard the discomfort of the hardwood beneath her. Jack stood still, his hands tangling in her hair. His chest heaved with laboured breaths, and a slight sheen of perspiration glistened across his abdomen even with the water lapping up against them. He backed her slightly against the highest rock and pressing himself against her, he pushed through the token resistance of tightness. After so long of abstinence, Rose was sore and she gasped as the crown breached the stretched opening.

''Tell me that you're all right.''

''Yes. I am.''

Jack bit back an animal sound of pleasure and fought the urge to fall upon her with a hard, deep thrust that pierced her to the womb. That would be too quickly done, robbing her of the full awareness of his possession. He wanted her to feel the stretch of every wide inch, wanted her to writhe as he sank deeper, wanted her to remember the sensation of that last leisurely stroke that seated him. So, he kept her spread against the rock, her leg about his waist and worked his way into her, his eyes riveted to the point where they were joined. His lungs burned as he gulped in air, every nerve in his body attuned to the feel of her satiny tissues quivering and clasping around him. A surfeit of sensation burned through him. Sweat coursed down his back and chest, a physical manifestation of the rigid control he exerted.

Rose moved restlessly beneath him, biting her lower lip as he slid in and out, pushing deeper and deeper with every leisurely thrust. Hunching over her, Jack sank his teeth into her shoulder. Hard enough to leave a mark, but not enough to break the skin. She moaned and arched into his mouth. It was a primitive act, one goaded by the feel of her. Bare. Nothing between his most sensitive flesh and hers. In all his life, he'd never taken a woman without the protective sheath. Only with her would he do so. Rose—a woman he'd known was meant to be his from the moment he first saw her. Their first time, perhaps, it had been foolish to do so, but now there were no restraints. His hands moved from her thighs to her behind, supporting her weight as he pumped his hips in a timed, unhurried rhythm. She took advantage of her sudden freedom, wrapping her legs around him and tugging him deeper. Her breath left her in a gasped cry of his name as he slid in to the root, buried completely. Jack held still, struggling for control. He fought to make allowances for her straining body to grow accustomed to him. She stared up at him, her eyes wide and luminous, windows to her soul. There was no evidence of the chilly hauteur she was renowned for; the papers had painted her as many things but now she was burning hot beneath him, around him; all artifice and distance melting away. The look on her face was one he'd never seen on anyone, yet it mirrored how he felt—profoundly affected, split wide open, with nowhere to hide. When she pushed upward and kissed his clenched jaw, something shifted inside him, shaking him to the core. His blood was raging for her, spurred by ten years of waiting to be right where he was, but she stayed his violent need with a single soft, sweet kiss. He was devastated by her tenderness in the face of his ferocious desire. Pressing his damp cheek to hers, he nuzzled against her, breathing in the smell of lust and beloved woman.

Bracing himself with palms flat to the rock, Jack withdrew slowly, relishing the feel of her clinging to his him. He returned with effort, pushing through the tight resistance. Her head thrashed and her eyes closed, which he could not allow. He needed her to stay with him, to see him through the storm he knew was coming. The pressure of his impending orgasm was fisted around him and pulsing throughout, warning him that he would soon be wasted by the woman beneath him. Even knowing how she could destroy him; he couldn't pull away. She'd snared him completely that long-ago night, bewitched him beyond redemption. Pushing his arms beneath her thighs, his mouth came down over hers, his head tilting to deepen the contact. Their perspiration and the water sealed their torsos together, adding another raw layer to their heated coupling. He moved. She moved. The found a rhythm. She clawed at his back; he kissed her as if he'd die if their lips were parted. His tongue plunged and retreated along where they joined, both seeking to drive her wild. He needed her wild, as crazed and desperate as he felt. Jack rolled his hips, probing, absorbing every nuance of her fevered response. He found a spot that made her shiver beneath him and exploited it, stroking over it again and again. He growled when she climaxed, the delicate muscles inside her rippling and gripping him. He hung on to his control by the thinnest of threads, needing to see her through first before he took any more than she'd already given him. He slowed, gliding in and out, lifting his head to watch the pleasure take her. The way was easier now, her body accepting his possession with rich creamy moisture. Her eyes were dazed, her lips swollen. She breathed his name as she almost drowned there and then within him.