A Path Well Traveled
Chapter 6
A/N: This chapter leads out favorite idiots into slightly more kinky territory. I don't think it's anything outrageous, but I thought I'd warn you just in case. In my mind, Sharon was not always as conservative in her sex life as Duff would like us to believe. I get that, as far as he is concerned, she lived the life of a nun when Jack left, but we all know he has Sharon on a mommy pedestal. Well, I don't, and this story explores a slightly naughtier side of her. I understand if that's not your cup of tea, but I hope you'll take that leap with me and enjoy the ride.
Sharon had not consciously pointed her car towards his neighborhood, and yet, she found herself in front of Andy Flynn's small apartment. She was still reeling from what she had learned earlier, her heart pounding and her chest constricted in panic.
Sharon Raydor was no stranger to having to deal with difficult situations. As a mother of two with a full-time job and a husband who was mostly absent, even when he was physically there, she did not expect life to be easy.
In recent years, she had gotten used to Jack's addiction. He had always been a charismatic man, even more so after a few drinks. At some point, a few drinks with friends had turned into spending long nights at bars, drinking until he was barely able to make it home on his own. She had lost count of the times she had to load her sleeping children into the car to pick up their inebriated father, because the cab driver that had been called by the bartender refused to take him. She had struggled to get his uncooperative and increasingly heavy body into the car and later from the car to the sofa. She had cleaned his vomit out of the carpet of their car, fighting her own nausea at the acrid smell that lingered long after any visible evidence was removed. And when he failed to pass out right away, she had been on the receiving end of his bad temper as soon as the buzz started wearing off. He had never been physically abusive, but his words inflicted just as much pain. When he was sick of her requests for him to spend more time with his family, to cut back on the drinking, to focus on his job so that he would not lose it again, he left for weeks or months on end, only to return full of remorse and promises to do better. They had done that three times over the last two years, and only a few days earlier, he had walked out on them again.
Jack leaving had not come as a surprise. She had expected it to happen, even if she had hoped that he would wait until after Christmas. What she had not seen coming was standing at the checkout, intending to pay for Christmas gifts for her children, only to have her cards declined. It was a thoroughly humiliating experience, but nothing compared to marching into her bank half an hour later to demand to know what was going on and having a middle-aged man in an expensive suit tell her she was broke.
He could not have been any more condescending when he had informed her that it was not the bank's problem if she and her husband were unable to take care of their finances and that they would most certainly not grand them any further loans, especially considering her husband's current lack of gainful employment. He had, however, been helpful in determining the extent of her financial problems.
It was a week before Christmas, and Sharon had seven dollars and fourteen cents in her wallet. Their bank account was cleaned out, their credit cards maxed out, and their house mortgaged twice. Jack had even emptied their children's savings accounts, the ones both their parents contributed to every birthday and Christmas.
She had spent another hour trying to get a hold of her husband, hoping that they could fix whatever he had done. It was one of his drinking buddies who had told her that Jack had discovered his passion for gambling, and that he had talked about going away to Las Vegas or Reno or some other place with a lot of casinos. She had no way of finding him and no way of getting back the money he had taken.
The moment she realized that, the anger that had burned like a fire inside her belly had given way to the cold fist of fear clenching around her heart. Not only did she have no presents for her children, but she also had no way of putting any food on the table over the holidays. How she would manage to make the mortgage payments on one salary, she did not know, either.
Her entire life was falling apart around her, and she had no idea how to fix it. She felt lost with no one to turn to for immediate help. As she sat in her car in front of the bar where she had tried to find her husband, Sharon's mind kept spinning around the same words over and over again.
There's no way out.
Breathing was increasingly difficult and she felt dizzy and nauseous, her vision blurry as dark spots danced in front of her eyes. How she had managed to start the car and make her way to Andy's place without causing an accident, she did not know, and she preferred not to think about it too much.
They had not seen one another for a few months. When Jack had returned in early October, they had decided, once again, to break off whatever their entanglement was. She refused to call it an affair, although, technically, that was exactly what it was.
To his credit, when he opened the door for her, Andy did not hesitate more than a second before he stepped aside to let her enter, nor did he pause to question her when she walked right into his arms.
He did not need to ask her what had brought her to his door. It was a pattern he was becoming all too familiar with. They had a good time together, Jack came home, they decided to not see each other again, and at some point, Jack left again, sending her back to him. Maybe he should resent her for using him like that, but the fact of the matter was that he liked to be with her.
They did not have a relationship. They were not even particularly close friends. What they had was great sex that had only gotten better the longer they knew each other. There was a trust and familiarity between them that made their encounters more enjoyable than anything either one of them had experienced before. It was possible that the secrecy and sense of doing something forbidden added to the pleasure. He did not know what exactly it meant, and he feared that he was getting a little too involved, but he was unable to walk away from her.
As for her continued attachment to her wayward husband, he could not really blame her for that. She was doing again and again what Andy wished his ex-wife had done at least once. She gave Jack chance after chance to come home and be the husband and father she needed him to be. He had no idea if it was her faith, her stubbornness, or a combination of both that gave her the strength to put her heart on the line over and over again, but he admired her for it, even if he wanted to punch Jack in the face for continually disappointing her.
She seldom talked to him about her marriage, and if she did, it was never in great detail. The moment he had opened the door and laid eyes on her, however, Andy had known that something was different this time. Whatever Jack had done, it had shaken her to the core. She was trembling in his arms, her breath ragged, and her face deathly pale.
He wanted to ask her what had happened, to find out what he could do to help her, but she cut his words off before he was able to utter them, her lips capturing his in a desperate kiss.
Andy questioned the wisdom of drowning her problems in sex, but who was he to judge? Besides, as her deft fingers made quick work of his shirt buttons and her lips trailed hot kisses along his jaw and down the side of his neck, he was powerless to stop her, his body already responding to her touch.
It was madness. Sharon was convinced of that. There were a million things she should do, but all she was able to focus on was the feeling of Andy's skin underneath her hands, his scent filling her senses, and the taste of him on her lips. Once he had caught up with her, he turned them around and pressed her against the closed front door, his body hot and solid against hers. She felt his arousal digging into her belly as they fought to divest one another of their clothes.
Never before had she felt such desperation to be with someone, to lose herself in another person. Rational thought eluded her, and all she wanted was to make the pain in her chest go away, at least for a little while. At that moment, she did not know how else to do it. Andy was her refuge, as she had been his many times before.
When they were down to their underwear, Andy pinned her against the door again, their hands clasped next to her head, and their lips locked in a searing kiss. She whimpered into his mouth as he stole her breath, their tongues dancing, exploring tirelessly. Desire had her entire body throbbing, shooting along her nerves like electricity. Her skin felt flushed, sensitive to the slightest touch.
"I'm sorry," she finally spoke when they broke apart for air, her words no more than a gasped whisper. They both knew that she should not have come to him. It had been only a little over two months earlier that she had broken their arrangement off to welcome her husband back into her life. She felt horrible for using him, for only showing up when she needed him.
The truth was, she was beginning to miss him when they did not see one another. Over the past few weeks, she had found herself longing for his touch when she had been with her husband. If anything, that was even more reason to stay away from him. She was getting too close, but she was unable to let go completely of the connection they had, no matter how unfair it was to him, or to her, or even to Jack, although she did not particularly care about that at the moment.
Andy softly brushed the corner of her mouth with his lips before he leaned his forehead against hers, quietly shushing her.
"Don't ever be sorry for coming to me when you need to. You'll always be safe here."
Sharon was not a damsel in distress. She did not need protecting, and she did not need anyone to take care of her and her business. No one who was even just remotely acquainted with her would ever claim otherwise. That did not mean, however, that she did not occasionally have moments when it helped to lean onto another person. Everyone did.
Andy knew his limits in these moments. He was not her knight in shining armor. She did not want or need him to swoop in and make her worries go away. What he was able to do was provide her with a place to step away from it all for a little while, a chance to regroup and think of something else until she was ready to take on whatever challenge life had thrown at her.
It was by no means a one-sided arrangement. Sharon did the same for him, and the fact that he had not gone insane in the aftermath of his divorce was largely owed to her strength and kindness. She let him talk about the things that were weighing on his mind, she listened when he ranted about his ex-wife, she held him close when the thought of losing his children made life seem pointless, and she distracted him when he would otherwise have crawled into a bottle.
Maybe one day he would be ready to admit to himself that he was in love with her, and maybe the time would come for her to be ready to accept his love, and possibly even return it. It was not that day, yet. Instead, he gave her the one thing she would accept from him – comfort and distraction.
His words only fueled her passion for him. The promise of a safe haven, of a few hours of not caring about anything but each other was exactly what she needed. Arching against him, Sharon moaned when he trailed kisses down her neck, nibbling at her collar bone. She wanted to touch him, to pull him closer, to feel his hot skin under her hands, and dig her nails into his firm muscles.
He did not release his hold on her hands, though. Instead, he turned her around and brought her arms up so that he could grasp both of her wrists with one hand, pinning them down above her head. His groin pushed against her ass, and the fingers of his free hand trailed down her side, across her stomach, brushing the underside of her breasts. His touch was maddeningly soft, almost tickling, and it left her skin tingling in its wake. She ached for more. She need him to make her forget, to draw her out of her head.
His hand skimmed down over her stomach again, making her muscles flutter in reaction. He did not hesitate to slip his fingers under the waistband of her panties, letting them trail through her curls, one of his long digits burrowing between her folds to seek out the evidence of her arousal.
She bucked into his touch, whimpering when he slipped another finger inside her and then another. The heel of his hand pressed against her clit as he thrust into her hard and fast, the sudden change of his approach taking her breath away. She moved her hips in counterpoint with his thrusts, feeling his solid body pressed against her back, his hard length digging into her ass.
Her release was so close. It was coiled tightly inside her, ready to explode at any moment. Her breath came in short pants in between whimpers and moans, her heart was pounding so hard that it made her dizzy, and her skin was slick with sweat. At some point, Andy had released his hold on her wrists, curling his free arm around her, his hand pressing against her stomach, just above her pubic bone. Her own hands were still where he had put them, her nails digging into the worn wood of the door.
Her entire body burned with it, and the pleasure she felt was beginning to turn into pain as the edge remained just out of reach for her. Andy leaned even closer, his lips brushing against her ear, his soft words tickling the sensitive skin.
"Let go, Sharon. I've got you."
She wanted to, but it was no use. She was too tense, her mind still too active, despite Andy's skilled touch. With a frustrated groan, Sharon slumped against the door, slapping the palm of her hand against the hard surface.
Andy carefully withdrew his hand from between her legs and wrapped both arms around her, pulling her back against him. He held her close for a long moment, swaying their bodies back and forth when she let her head fall against his shoulder. A few angry tears rolled down her cheeks, but he did not say anything.
He gave her a moment to calm down before he turned her around and cupped her cheeks with both hands, his thumb caressing her lower lip. When he looked into her eyes, it was not the fire of passion that he found burning in their depths. It was there, but dulled by a shadow of sadness and something so dark that it frightened him. He had never seen her like that before, and he did not know how to make the darkness go away, but he was determined to try.
"Tell me what you need," he implored, his lips hovering close to hers. He felt her uneven breaths against his skin, his heart clenching in sympathy at the conflicting emotions he saw in her expression. There was pain, and fear, and hopelessness, but what got to him the most was the raw need.
She shook her head, wanting to drown in his kind eyes. She felt lost, as if she was falling through space with no sense of where she was and nothing to hold on to except the man in front of her. The thought of letting go of him made her panic. What did she need? She had no idea. All she knew was that, without him, she would be lost.
"I don't know," she whispered looking up at him helplessly. "Just make me forget."
He studied her for a long moment before he came to a decision. He hoped that it would be the right one, that it would indeed help.
"Do you trust me?"
Sharon did not hesitate to nod. There were so many things she was uncertain about at that moment, but trusting Andy was not one of them. When he tugged on her hands and led her to his bedroom, she followed him without question. She allowed him to finish undressing her, his hands and lips skimming over her skin as he slowly, deliberately peeled her bra and panties off her body.
The cool air on her heated skin made her shiver, and she tried to close the distance between them, to snuggle up to him and seek out his warmth, but he would not let her. Instead, he stared at her naked body, only touching her with his hungry gaze while he was still dressed in his briefs. She felt a flush rise up into her cheeks, her eyes slipping to the floor between them in embarrassment. He would not allow it, however.
"Look at me," he commanded, his voice firm.
He was pleased when she followed his order without protest, seeing the way her eyes darkened with desire as she straightened her posture, unintentionally pushing her chest out towards him.
It was something that they had talked about a while ago. She had confessed, albeit reluctantly, that she sometimes wanted to give up control, to submit to another person completely and let them determine what she should do and feel. They had shared their secret fantasies and darkest desires that night, and Andy hoped that fulfilling some of hers might help her let go of her problems for a little while.
Letting his gaze linger on her enticing form, he waited until she started growing restless, taking pleasure in the darkening of her skin from her chest to the roots of her hair. He was dying to touch her, to let his fingers brush over her breasts and tease her already puckered nipples, and he knew that she wanted that, too. She was chewing on her bottom lip, drawing it into her mouth.
When his control was beginning to slip, he took her by both arms and turned her around to face the foot of the bed. He put one hand between her shoulder blades and pushed her upper body down until she was forced to catch herself, placing her underarms on the soft mattress. He tapped the inside of her feet with his toes, nudging them apart as if she were a suspect he was preparing to search. The sight of her bare ass presented to him like that was almost his undoing. His own arousal was hard to ignore, but he pushed it aside, instead focusing on running his hands over her skin.
He massaged the firm cheeks, digging his fingers into the tense muscles at the base of her spine, running them all the way down to the back of her thighs and up again, allowing his thumbs to draw inwards, brushing lightly over her swollen outer lips. She moaned at the fleeting touch, pushing back a little bit, seeking more.
When he brought the palm of his hand down hard on her right cheek, she yelped. Her skin tingled where he had slapped her, but before she was able to process what had happened, he did it again, and then once more, picking a different spot every time. The pain was sharp, followed by a steady burn that warmed her ass thoroughly. Then he caressed the abused flesh again, his gentle touch soothing, relaxing. She hummed and closed her eyes as the pleasure of his touch swept her away on a gentle wave.
Then he applied his hand to her cheeks again, and this time he did not stop. His palm cracked down on her skin again and again, each time in a different position, the force of his blows changing constantly, giving her no chance to adjust. She lost count after a little while and gave herself over to the sensations he invoked.
Her gasps and whimpers slowly turned into deep moans as pain and pleasure swirled together until one was indistinguishable from the other. She buried her face in the soft fabric of the duvet, muffling the screams she was unable to suppress. The tingling of her reddened skin set other parts of her body on fire, and she felt moisture pool between her legs. Her sex was pulsing with need, the sense of being completely exposed to Andy's eyes only heightening her arousal.
The ache that built inside of her was almost unbearable by the time he finally stopped spanking her. When he trailed one finger through her curls from her clit all the way to her back entrance, her knees almost buckled and she gasped into the sheets.
"Andy, please," she begged, almost sobbing when he stepped away from her instead.
"Get on the bed and lie on your back."
While his instructions were meant to sound dispassionate, he was unable to hide completely just how much he was affected by what they were doing, and the knowledge calmed her nerves considerably.
She did as he asked, following his movements with her eyes as he walked to the closet, only to return a moment later with one of his silk ties. For a split second, she felt panic well up inside of her at the thought of being completely at his mercy, but she had told him that she trusted him, and she did. She had asked him to help her forget, and she had a feeling that, whatever he had in mind, he would succeed.
Raising her arms above her head, she held onto one of the iron rungs of the headboard, allowing Andy to tie her wrists together and to the bed. She watched his face as he worked, his dark eyes fixed on his task in single-minded concentration.
Letting her gaze wander down his body, she felt her fingers twitch with the need to let them brush through the dark curls on his chest, the memory of the soft hair tickling her skin fresh in her mind. He still wore his briefs, the dark blue material tented with his straining erection, its tip peeking out at the top, glistening and red. She licked her lips, imagining the taste of him, all salt and musk, a smile tugging at her lips when she thought about what he would do if she ran her tongue along his length, circling it around the sensitive tip.
He must have realized where her mind had gone. As soon as he had secured her hands above her head, he hooked one finger under her chin and made her raise her eyes to meet his. Smirking down at her, he planted a gentle kiss against her lips before he looked at her again.
"Not tonight," he said of her earlier train of thought. "Tonight is about you."
With that he began kissing her all over, his lips brushing against her eyes, her nose, her cheeks, his teeth tugging at her earlobe, sucking it into his mouth until she moaned softly. He whispered one word into her ear, his hot breath against her skin so distracting that she almost did not hear it. She snorted when she realized that it was supposed to be her safe word, but forgot all about it a moment later when he latched onto that extremely sensitive spot right behind her ear, sucking gently, surely leaving a small mark.
He nibbled and kissed his way down her body, spending long minutes teasing her breasts, kneading the supple flesh, rolling a nipple between his fingers while sucking the other one into his mouth, scraping his teeth over it, and flicking his tongue against it until she whimpered and arched into his touch.
When he switched sides, he attacked her soft mounds in earnest, biting and tugging until she threw her head back and forth on the pillow, moaning as she was caught between pain and pleasure. With a few more gentle licks to soothe the abused flesh, he moved on, over her slightly rounded stomach and farther down.
The scent of her arousal almost drove him mad as he settled between her thighs. His dick twitched, aching where it was trapped against the mattress. He fought against the urge to bury himself inside her, to pound into her until they both screamed their release. That was not what he had planned, however. Instead he looped on arm around her thigh, laying the hand against her stomach, as he trailed the finger of the other through her curls. He softly massaged her swollen outer lips, refusing to touch her where she really needed him. When she drew her knees apart even more, a wordless plea for more, he closed his eyes for a second, praying for strength as her lips parted, making his mouth water with the sight of her glistening depth.
He drew his finger closer to her entrance, dipping the tip inside her just far enough to collect some of her moisture. He circled her clit, not quite touching it, before he did it all over again.
Sharon thrust her hips into his touch, trying to get closer, to have him push deeper. His hand on her stomach held her down, pressing against her hard as he slowly inserted a finger into her, enjoying her heat and the way her muscled rippled in reaction to his touch. Then he finally gave in to the desperate need to taste her.
Andy was going to kill her. She was sure of it. When he ran his tongue around her entrance and then latched onto her clit, a loud moan was drawn from deep within her as sparks of pleasure zapped along her nerves. He was relentless, lapping, and sucking, and scraping his teeth over her until she could hardly breathe.
Once again, she was so close to finding her release that she could practically taste it. Every single cell of her body was afire, tingling with her desire as he pushed a second and then a third finger into her, curling, and twisting, and pumping them inside her.
If she had room in her mind to consider them, she would worry about his neighbors and what they might think about the screams they heard from next door, but there was no way she would be able to keep it down, even if she tried. He had her right on the edge, but once again, she was not able to take that last step.
The pressure inside her kept building, and it felt as if it was going to tear her apart. She was desperate to feel the explosion, chasing his touch with her hips, straining against the tie that kept her from burying her hands in his thick hair, to scrape her nails against his scalp and tug him closer, to hold him to her as she ground into him.
Andy must have realized that she was struggling to find her release. His frantic movements slowed down, and he withdrew his fingers, gently running his tongue over her throbbing lips, soothing the reddened flesh, and giving her a moment to catch her breath. She was grateful for the small reprieve. His slower, more deliberate motions brought her back to enjoying his touch more thoroughly instead of concentrating on chasing her elusive orgasm and getting caught up in the frustration that came with her failure to achieve it.
Kissing his way up her body once more, Andy captured her lips in a searing kiss, sharing the taste of her desire with her. She moaned into his mouth, their tongues tangling playfully. One of his hands was planted on the mattress next to her torso, holding him up where he hovered over her. The other was still between her legs, his fingers keeping up their slow thrusts while the pad of his thumb lightly brushed over her clit.
Andy reluctantly broke their kiss, briefly tugging at her lower lip before letting it go. He looked down at her, waiting for her to open her eyes and meet his gaze. When she did, he withdrew his fingers from her depth, smiling when the corners of her mouth turned down in disappointment at the loss of contact. He kept studying her as he inched his wet digits away from where she so badly wanted them, watching her eyes widen when he circled a fingertip around her back entrance. He gave her a moment to process his actions, waiting to see if she was going to protest.
Her breath caught in her throat, and for a second she went rigid as she realized what he was asking. The idea scared her, but the gentle pressure of his finger also sent a shiver of excitement down her spine. She had never allowed anyone to touch her there before, even though she had, on occasion, wondered what it would be like.
Curiosity and arousal eventually won over her fear, and she tentatively tilted her hips to push against his questing finger, giving him permission to do as he pleased. It felt strangely liberating to give him complete control, to hand all her trust to him.
He was almost certain that she would tell him to stop when he saw her eyes widen and felt her body tense, but then she surprised him. Having her surrender to him like that was highly arousing to him. She lay beneath him completely open in every sense, trusting him with her body and her pleasure. He vowed to cherish that gift and to do his best not to disappoint her.
The teasing was merciless. He kept his touch gentle, spreading her moisture, letting his thumb flick over her clit or a finger dip into her swollen folds. She was ready to scream at him by the time he finally pressed one of his long digits into her tight opening, the muscles protesting slightly before they let him pass.
Sharon closed her eyes and breathed deeply, moaning quietly as the slight discomfort of the unfamiliar intrusion turned into intense pleasure. Andy was careful as he moved inside her, gently thrusting into her until she relaxed. Andy reached over to the nightstand with his free hand and retrieved a bottle of lube from the top drawer, before he kissed his way back down her body. He settled between her thighs once more, his lips closing around her clit as he began to slowly and deliberately drive her out of her mind.
The friction was maddeningly delicious, even more so when he slid a second finger inside her, the generous amount of lube he had applied cold on her heated skin. His tongue moved between her engorged clit and her throbbing pussy, lapping up her abundant arousal and making her whimper and moan. His fingers stretched the tight ring of muscles, thrusting and twisting until she rocked her hips into his touch.
The pressure inside her built fast, and he pushed her higher and higher with every thrust, every flick of his tongue. When she finally came apart with a scream, her entire body twitching and tingling with the intensity of her release, he did not stop. He kept going until a second orgasm exploded from deep inside her, and then another one, until she was left whimpering and moaning helplessly, begging for mercy as her hips still thrust, seeking for more.
When Andy finally stilled his hand and looked up to study her, the sight that greeted him almost took his breath away. Her eyes were closed and her lips slightly parted as she panted, her skin flushed and glistening with a thin sheen of sweat. He felt her inner muscles flutter and her thighs tremble. Her hair was mussed, spread out around her head in a halo of brown, and gold, and red.
Slowly withdrawing his fingers from her, he retrieved a few tissues from the nightstand and cleaned them before he lay down beside her, his head resting in his hand as he studied her. He ran his fingertips up and down her body, tickling the sensitive spots at her side and making her abdominal muscles flutter under his feather light touch.
He only granted her a couple of minutes to recover, and when her eyes opened reluctantly, the emerald orbs almost black with her lingering desire, he rose to his knees again and leaned over her. His lips captured hers in a long, passionate kiss that made her arch her back in search for closer contact. When he finally pulled away, he brushed a few light kisses along her jaw up to her ear, where he gently nibbled at her lobe.
"I want you to turn around and get up on your knees," he instructed on a heated whisper before he sank his teeth into the soft skin of her neck, drawing a groan from her.
Sharon thought she knew what he had in mind, and the mental image made her tremble. She struggled to turn onto her stomach with her hands still tied to the bed. The restraints tightened around her wrists as they twisted, the silk of Andy's tie cutting into her skin. She felt his eyes on her as she shuffled around until she was somewhat comfortable on her knees, her upper body supported by her elbows and her forehead resting on the pillow. There was no help from him, and he made no move to loosen her restraints to alleviate the slight discomfort they caused.
When Andy nudged her inner thighs to push her knees farther apart, she complied, hiding her blushing cheeks in the pillow. Although, why she even bothered feeling shame at this point, she did not know. They had moved so far beyond any sense of propriety already, that it seemed ridiculous. And yet, presenting her bare bottom like that, knowing that he would be able to see how aroused she was and imagining that her ass cheeks would still be glowing from the spanking she had received, left her feeling deliciously exposed and vulnerable.
He sat on his heels behind her, and she watched him as he reached for the bottle of lube again, squirting some of it into his hand, and coating his hard length with it. He curled his fingers around his throbbing flesh and gave it a few slow pumps, and Sharon wished that she was able to do it for him. She wanted to feel his heat in her hand, to cup his balls with the other, squeezing and pulling gently, with just enough force to make him grunt in that way that drove her crazy.
Then he rose to his knees and shuffled closer, one of his hands holding onto her hip to steady her, while the other guided him to her entrance. He drew the thick head of his cock through her folds, pressing it against her clit before entering her pussy in one long, deep thrust. Her walls stretched around him, welcoming him as he set a relentless pace. Within moments, she was moaning, her entire body tingling with renewed passion once again. If he so much as touched her clit, she would fly off the edge again.
Instead, he left her bereft when, after only a few thrusts, he pulled out of her again. Before she was able to protest, his palm connected with her ass again in a series of quick slaps. His hand was still slightly moist from the lube he had applied to himself, and it only intensified the pain she felt. It translated into pleasure in an instant, leaving her wet and throbbing, anticipating his next move.
When it came, she was so out of her mind with arousal that there was no hesitation. There was more lube, cold on her furled hole, but only for an instant before the gentle but insistent pressure of his cock set her on fire.
He had prepared her well. She was completely relaxed, and his length slid past the tight muscles with no more than a slight twinge of discomfort. For a second, she tensed at the unfamiliar intrusion, but when Andy smacked the side of her ass a couple of times and growled at her to breathe, she obeyed, allowing him to fill her completely.
They both stilled for a moment, giving Sharon time to adjust. Both of his hands gripped her hips, his fingers digging into her skin as he groaned at the exquisite pleasure of being buried inside her. Then he started to move very slowly, closing his eyes for a little while to keep himself from exploding right away.
Sharon buried her face in the pillow to muffle her increasingly noisy response to the sensations he created. When he leaned over her and slipped one hand between her legs, two fingers sliding between her swollen folds and into her throbbing depth, the base of his thumb pressing against her clit, her grunts turned into screams.
She was going to die. There was no way around it. The pressure inside her built beyond what she thought possible, and for a frightening moment she feared that she might pass out. The friction was almost too much, but whenever she thought she could not possibly take more, he increased his pace, the fingers inside her curling to touch all the right places. She wanted to push back into his thrusts, but at the same time, she wished to roll her hips into the hand between her legs. Her breasts moved beneath her, the painfully sensitive nipples brushing against the sheets, sending even more pleasure along her already overloaded nerves.
When it finally came, her release was overwhelming. It felt as if every single muscle in her body went rigid, driving the breath out of her lungs. It was almost painful in its intensity, and it seemed to have no end. Sparks exploded behind her closed lids, the soft pillow barely muffling her desperate screams.
Her inner muscles gripped his fingers and his cock impossibly tightly, and her legs almost gave out under her, his hands the only thing holding her up. It only took a few more thrusts until he felt his own release start at the base of his spine, liquid fire burning down his thighs and up his back as he spilled his seed inside of her with a loud roar.
He held onto her for a moment as the last sparks of pleasure traveled through him, his length twitching a few more times. Then he carefully lowered her to the bed, keeping their bodies joined for a little while longer. When she lay on her stomach with him stretched out on top of her, part of his weight braced on one arm, he freed her hands with the other hand, rubbing her reddened wrists gently once the silk tie fell away.
He trailed lazy kisses along her shoulder as he massaged the arm he was able to reach. She was certain that his weight on top of her was all that kept her from floating away. Her head was still spinning and her heart pounding frantically as she tried to catch her breath. Her shoulders ached from having been in the same position for too long, but she was unable to move a single muscle, her entire body limp and unresponsive.
Soon they would have to move. Andy was growing heavy as his arms trembled under his own weight, and his softening member was slowly slipping out of her. Her thighs were sticky with the result of their release, and there was a sizable wet spot forming underneath her. In another few minutes, their sweaty bodies would start cooling down, leaving them shivering in the cool air of his bedroom. They would need to take a shower and strip down the bed, and the windows would have to be opened to take care of the heavy scent of sex that lingered in the air. All of that would have to wait for a little while longer, though. They both needed to linger, to enjoy the afterglow and the sense of closeness that had never been quite that intense before. Her last thought before she drifted off into a light slumber was that she wanted this feeling to last forever.
It was much later, once they had shared a shower to wash the evidence of their encounter off their skin that they lay in Andy's bed, her head on his shoulder and their fingers laced on top of his stomach. She had one leg draped over his, and his free arm was wrapped around her, playing with the ends of her still damp hair.
"Do you want to talk about it?"
Andy hoped that she would, but he did not expect it. She surprised him when, after a long pause, she started speaking. She told him about the fight that she had with Jack four days earlier and how she had returned from work that night to find him gone. He tugged her a little closer when she drew a ragged breath, patiently waiting for her to continue.
It was hard to admit that her marriage was broken, that her husband did not love her or her children enough to stick around. This time, however, the devastation Jack had left behind went beyond broken hearts, and Sharon struggled to share just how bad things were.
"He took everything we had," she finally confessed in a small voice, her face flushing with shame. "He cleaned out all our accounts and took out a second mortgage."
She closed her eyes in an attempt to stop the tears, drawing deep breaths to regain control over her emotions, a tough battle she was only partly successful in winning. If he noticed the few tears that escaped, he did not comment. His only reaction to her words was the tension that went through his entire body and the tightening of his fingers around hers.
"I don't know what to do, Andy."
Her voice was no more than a broken whisper, thick with suppressed tears and shaking slightly with her effort to hold them back. It hurt to see her so vulnerable, so broken.
Anger was rolling through him in thick waves, turning his stomach and making his head pound. Once, years ago, Andy had considered Jack to be good company. Not really a friend, but they hung out at the bar occasionally or met at their sons' ball games on the rare occasions Jack bothered to show up. He had been fun to be around. That was, until Andy had gotten closer to Sharon and found out what a rotten husband Jack was. While Andy was in no way husband or father of the year material, the one thing his ex-wife could never claim was that he took away the money she and their kids needed to live. On the contrary; he always paid the court-mandated child and spousal support, and more on top of that for birthdays, Christmas, and other special occasions. It was the one way he was still able to be a part of his kids' lives, and he would rather go hungry himself than leave them wanting for anything.
His hands were itching with the need to be wrapped around Jack's neck, to punch the other man until he saw reason. Instead he held on tighter to the woman in his arms, wishing, not for the first time, that he was able to make all the pain and worry go away for her. And once again, he wondered if their lives would have turned out differently if they had met many years ago, if they had gotten married to one another. He wanted to believe that he would have been a better husband to Sharon than he had been to Sandra, that he would have given her a chance to go to law school. In his fantasy, Sharon did not resent him for his long hours or the troubling memories he failed to leave at work, and he did not spend his evenings at the bar, drowning his sorrows instead of being with his family.
He would never know, and all he was left with was regretting his mistakes and fighting his conflicting emotions regarding Sharon's marriage to Jack. On the one hand, he wanted nothing more than to hunt Jack down and make him fix what he had broken, on the other hand, he had a hard time letting go of his selfish wish to take care of Sharon and be with her for as long as she would let him.
In the end, it was not up to him. She would not thank him for butting into her private life. Despite her opening up to him and the way she was feeling at that moment, Sharon was intensely private and fiercely independent. She did not need him to rescue her.
"What about your parents? Can't they help you out until you get back on your feet?"
He knew what it would cost her to ask them. She was a grown woman, and admitting to her parents that the man they had never approved off had turned out to be exactly what they had predicted would not be easy. From what she had told him, however, they were not exactly short on money and loved both their daughter and their grandchildren very much. He could not imagine that they would hesitate to help.
Sharon sighed as she thought of the conversation she would have to have with her mom and dad. "Yes, I'm sure they will not mind loaning me whatever I need, but they are currently in Europe and will not be back until mid January. There is not much they can do until then, even if I were inclined to ruin their vacation by calling them now. I will just have to figure something out until then."
What that would be, she did not know. The few friendships she had managed to maintain between work and her family were not close enough for her to be comfortable asking them for a loan. She was already going through her jewelry box in her mind to figure out how far pawning the few valuable items she owned would get her. For a brief moment, she felt good about the thought that her wedding and engagement rings would probably get them through the rest of the year, but that feeling was gone almost as fast as it had come. As much as she resented her husband for what he had done, those rings still meant something to her, and giving them away would most likely hurt her more than him – if he ever even noticed.
"I can give you enough to tide you over until payday," he offered, the words tumbling out of him before he had been able to think.
He held his breath, waiting for her reaction, realizing that she might not appreciate the offer. He did mean it, however. It was finally something that he could do for her, even if it was not as much as he would like.
She pushed away from him, sitting up and tugging the sheet up to her chin as she shook her head.
"Andy, no. I can't take your money. We're not… I can't take it."
Rising from his comfortable position among the soft pillows, Andy turned to face her, reaching out to clasp her hand in his once again, looking down at their entwined fingers while he considered his next words carefully.
"Look," he finally began, "I don't need a great deal of money for myself, and I already paid Sandra what she needs for herself and the kids. What's left over, I'll probably spend at the bar, anyway. I want you to have it. You can pay me back whenever you're able to."
She was about to protest, but Andy went on before she was able to speak.
"I get that you don't like this, but the thing is, it's not just about you. If you don't want to take it for your sake, take it for Ricky and Emily. Don't you think they deserve to at least have food on the table for Christmas if their father can't be bothered to be there for them?"
It was a cheap shot, and he felt horrible for taking it, but it got the job done. Her resolve was slowly starting to crumble. He knew that she would never even have considered his offer if it had only been her, but there was very little she would not do for her children.
"Please let me do this for you, Sharon."
He cupped her chin and sought out her eyes with his, feeling his heart constrict at the pain she saw reflected in them. His thumb brushed over her cheek, wiping away the few tears that had escaped her struggle for control. When she finally nodded, he released a breath he had not been aware of holding. Laying back down, he gently tugged on her hand to pull her with him, wrapping both arms around her when she snuggled into his side.
Soon, she would have to return home to her kids and the struggles that awaited her there. Until then, Andy comforted her the best way he was able to, hoping that she would leave his place a little stronger, ready to face what would be a tough few weeks ahead. He still wished that there were more ways for him to help her, that she would let him shoulder some of her burdens, but the knowledge that she and her small family would not go hungry, at least for the next couple of weeks, gave him some satisfaction. He was confident that Sharon would find a way to handle the situation and come out of it even stronger. It was who she was. It was one of the reasons he loved her.
~TBC~