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Chapter Two
She slid out of Luis's arms just as the pianist struck the final note to the classical song. Wordlessly she made her way towards the balcony, feeling his unnerving gaze burning a hole through her naked back. The arched glass doors were slightly ajar as she finally found herself breathing in the beauty of the night.
"You never gave me a fair chance." Matthew uttered quietly, his back turned towards her. She couldn't tell how he'd known it was her, but thought it was probably her perfume.
"Love is not fair." She replied in an equally faint voice, walking over to stand beside him and before the rails overlooking Harmony's breathtaking ocean.
"It's not." He agreed, smiling dimly as he tilted his head to watch her profile. After a moment's hesitation, he handed her his bitter drink and she readily accepted, raising the small glass to her mouth and finishing it off. "So I take it you're in love with him."
She shrugged. "Maybe." Her honesty had the most peculiar way of abandoning her when it came to talking about her emotions.
"You know I always thought that we'd have a chance one day at starting a life of our own…"
"Clearly." Sheridan mused, shifting her gaze to meet his watchful one.
"I thought you wanted that too." His tone was more accusing than nostalgic, drawing a frown from her. "You always came back to me in the end." Matt added this time more softly.
"We were good friends." She closed her eyes when his warm hand touched her face. The weather was cold and she felt the chills running all over her nude back. His touch was a welcome advance, so caring, so different from what she and Luis rarely shared.
"We were lovers." He corrected, his hand leaving her face to rest against her back, rubbing the smooth skin. Right then, she was glad no one could see them. They were hidden behind the balcony's wall and unless someone was watching them which wasn't probable, no one would choose the particular angle such that he could catch a glimpse of them.
"Occasionally." Sheridan breathed, aware as he quietly drew her into his arms. "I'm sorry it can never be." It was a murmured statement she wasn't sure that she meant.
Matthew nodded his head in acquiescence. "I'm sorry too, more than you will ever know." Their eyes connected and she knew what was coming next. Tilting her head upwards, she caught his descending lips in a soft kiss, one between friends, between past lovers. There was no passion in the caress.
"This is our goodbye as ever being lovers." Her voice was soft but clarifying.
He smiled as she slipped out of his embrace and returned to her original position of watching the raging ocean. "You should've told me before we kissed." He joked, but she knew he was only half teasing.
"I…" The doors suddenly being forced open startled her. Sheridan looked behind her to find Luis stepping onto the terrace. "Darling, what are you doing here?" She sounded surprised more than anything which only served as fuel for his flaring anger. She should have been guilty, not falsely sweet.
"I would ask you the same thing, but I thought that we should be leaving."
After that, she'd brushed a kiss against Matt's shaven cheek and ignored his whispered 'are you happy?'. The action was visibly to Luis's dismay as he glaringly told her to hurry up and hastily tossed her mink coat at her. It seemed like only a few moments later that they'd left the party. Luis didn't talk to her at any point in the whole ordeal except to ask her if she had her keys because he'd forgotten his in the office. Her reply was simply by dangling the golden chain before him.
Sheridan sighed as she left her purse in the living room and walked into her room. Luis followed quietly, sliding the jacket off of his broad shoulders and setting it aside. Pretending not to notice or mind his presence, she sat before her vanity table and carefully removed her studded diamond earrings, a wedding gift—from Luis.
"Let's talk." He ordered in a controlled voice.
"I get the impression this activity isn't one of your favorite pastimes." A wry smile formed on her lips to accompany the witty tone by which she spoke.
"Let's talk." Luis repeated, appearing to ignore her sarcastic remark.
Sheridan shrugged, looking at him in the mirror as he sat on their… her bed. "Let's." She whispered in detached agreement.
"You overdid it today with lover-boy Laurence."
The same deep laugh that both annoyed him and turned him on escaped her throat in a strain of breathlessness. "You and the little Miss Simmons did well on your own. I'm sure the two of you have had better evenings, but tonight must have been exciting to dare and make passes in front of the wife."
His jaw clenched in silent rage. "I see 'the wife' isn't being completely honest tonight. What happened to the cozy kiss you shared with 'Matt' right before we left?"
She rolled her blue eyes. "Cozy is the perfect word. I couldn't have described it better myself." Her voice faded off and she sighed as she left her chair and quietly paced the large bedroom. Luis was impatiently tugging at the tie around his neck. "The kiss was nothing compared to your actions, your distraction." Her small hands covered his over the black tie. Luis quickly pulled them away and stared at her in silent wonder. She offered no explanation as she relieved him of the pressure the satin cloth imposed on his breathing.
"I don't see how it's alright for you to kiss an ex-boyfriend and so horrible for me to hang around a relative…"
"Whom you sleep with." She finished off helpfully, her knuckles lightly grazing his cheek as she turned away from him. The powerful hand that gripped her own stilled her attempt at walking away. He pulled her back towards the bed, standing when she was close enough. His arms encircled her slender waist and his lips hovered inches away from her own. She closed her eyes, released an uneven breath, and pulled away from his embrace.
"Don't." He whispered, wrapping his arms more firmly around her. "Just don't." His lips ran along her jaw as his fingers traced her spine, making her shiver. Even if there was anything to say, she wouldn't have been able to talk. She just stood there, taking anything he gave her. And he gave her so little. Nevertheless she took it, knowing no protest.
Sheridan brought a hand to his face and cupped his coarse cheek. The prickles he never bothered to shave stung the sensitive skin of her neck, and for a moment she felt she would cry at the falseness of it all. Her heart lurched when his left hand lowered the strap of her beige dress. The expensive gown pooled at her feet as he released the second strap and gently tugged at it. Luis didn't look at her; he simply covered the exposed skin with his hands and pressed her closer against his body. His tongue darted out to touch her collarbone and it lingered there as he slowly turned them around. The support of his embrace left her and she fell back against the softness of the king-sized bed.
He smiled a tiny smile as she lied there with nothing covering her body but a flimsy skin-colored bra and laced panties. Golden lashes fluttered as her eyes opened, their color a shock of sapphire blue. She had beautiful eyes. The sardonic smile on her pink lips drew him back to the moment and she raised her arms in beckoning. "Come here." Her request was a mere whisper in the silent room and he found no choice in complying. The length of his body covered hers, sending a wave of heat coursing through her scantly hidden body. Groaning under the added weight, the mattress shifted to fall slightly where they were.
Luis's touch through the thin lace had her moaning and clutching at his shoulders. Just when she sucked in an erratic breath, his fingers drifted away. And she thought she would die from this craving she'd had for the release he wouldn't even give her. The intention to satisfy her hadn't existed in the first place.
The pad of his thumb swept over the soft skin of her flushed cheek. For a few moments she couldn't feel his lips blazing a path across her neck while he continued the almost sweet caress to her face. She opened her eyes to the image of his handsome face dangerously close to her own, and his dark eyes gazing into hers.
"I never want to see you kissing him again." He hissed heatedly, bracing his arm as he quietly slid off the bed. Calmly he walked out of the room and seconds later she heard the guest bedroom's door slam shut.
She stayed there exactly as he'd left her for an hour, thinking, feeling, missing his touch and resenting it all the same. It surprised her that for a few minutes she thought about Matthew. She reflected on his impression, his knowing somehow that she wasn't exactly on cloud number nine. The breathed question was hopelessly clear.
"Are you happy?"
Hell no. She was miserable. Her own husband made her feel like a whore. An unwanted one at that. Their sexual encounters of late never got past the kissing, the touching, the torture. Luis hadn't had sex with her ever since their honeymoon. She didn't know whether that had played a part in making her kiss Matt or it was that Luis was more than comfortable around his mistress. His cheating oddly didn't matter. So he slept with Monica Simmons. He wasn't sleeping with her; that was for sure.
It all came back to their sham of a marriage. The marriage was a spur of the moment kind of thing. The type that happened after being swept on a cloud of emotion, after a one-night stand with the perfect man that a marriage proposal didn't seem so odd. She couldn't deny that the moment their eyes had met at the awfully fetid night-club… she'd felt something. His dark eyes had twinkled with mischief and with such lighthearted playfulness. They were warm, admiring and he was so handsome. So damn good-looking, she wouldn't have denied anything he'd ask for. And she hadn't…
"Sheridan Crane." She smiled flirtatiously, sliding a silky hand into his outstretched one and shaking it lightly.
"Nice to meet you." His voice was deep and enticing. "I'm Luis Lopez." The roguishly handsome stranger released her hand after holding it for a moment too long. "Would it be too typical if I offered you a drink?"
Sheridan laughed at the seriousness in his voice. "Would it be typical if I accepted?" She raised a golden eyebrow challengingly. Luis simply smiled and glanced at the drink already in his hand right before a very drunk girl knocked him forward, spilling the whiskey all over the front of her fuchsia tube top.
He had apologized profusely but miserably failed at trying to look sorry. She'd known he wasn't sorry. And at the time, by all means, she hadn't minded. She'd loved that about him. After an hour of eye contact and a few minutes of introductory conversation, he'd managed to draw her to him in a way that she hadn't felt about anyone. The whiskey had eventually dried off and they'd shared a few drinks that same night. He didn't talk much. It was mystifying. She hadn't met a lot of silent men. In fact, until then she had never been with anyone who was so drawn back. His eyes said a lot more than he did. And the way he'd looked at her was alluring. It had oozed with wanton lust.
It was inevitable that they slept together… at his place. She'd been taken aback by the luxurious three-bedroom apartment. Obviously, he was rich. The notion gave her a moment of doubt, but it melted away the second he covered her lips with his own and kissed her. The sex was beyond description. It was incredible… earth-shattering.
Sheridan stretched her arms languidly, smiling at the memory of the night before. Her eyes slowly fluttered open to be met with a flood of golden sunlight. It felt amazingly warm. She looked at the empty bed and decided he'd probably left to avoid putting them both in an uncomfortable position. People never quite knew what to say after a one-night stand, and that was precisely what had happened between them last night. A huge part of her was relieved and thankful that he'd left her to gather her things and go back home…
Her thoughts were dismissed immediately when she sat up slightly and found him fully dressed and leaning against the mahogany chest of drawers. He wasn't smiling, but he wasn't frowning either. There was a disturbed serenity about his face. Sheridan knew she was staring; suddenly she didn't know what to think about this awkward mess.
"Good morning." Luis's voice filled the spacious room.
A lazy smile traced her lips. "I should leave." She murmured, the unease dissipating as she wrapped his dark sheets around her naked body and started to place her feet on the fake parquet. His next words stilled her.
"Marry me."
