AlwaysYou

Always You

Karen Stivali

When Shari discovers that her fiancé has been cheating on
her, she lets the wedding go on according to plan.
Except while everyone else
is at the church, Shari is heading to the airport to fly off on her honeymoon
with her best friend, Jon.

Jon is only too happy to help Shari escape what he knew
would have been an awful marriage.
Plus he’s thrilled by the prospect of time
alone with her in a tropical paradise.
He’s always loved her, and desired her
as a lot more than a friend.

A steamy, romantic night on the beach turns into a whirlwind
of desire as they take their friendship to multiple new levels of passion.
But
when Shari’s apologetic ex tries to win her back, she must choose between the
life she thought she was going to have with him and the possibility of love
with Jon.

Chapter One

Jon raced Shari down the hallway of the hotel, feeling as if
they were back in college again.
The keycard jammed the first two times he
shoved it into the door.
She tried to grab it from him, but her fingers were
drunk and clumsy and she wound up gripping his wrist instead.
The sight of her
fingers curled around any part of him sent his brain into overdrive, nearly
making him forget how bad he needed to pee.

The door opened wide, banging into the closet behind it.

“Shhhhh,” she said, louder than he could imagine anyone
making the shushing sound.
“You’ll wake the neighbors.”

“Fine, I’ll be quiet, in the bathroom.” He scooted past her
and slammed the door.
The toilet lid clanged against the tank.
“Unhhh.” It felt
so good to finally get some relief.
Shari banged on the door.

“Hurry up, I’ve gotta go.”

The sound of her voice made him want to keep his cock in his
hand a few minutes longer to relieve the other type of tension that had been
coursing through him all night.

“Jon, I mean it.
I’m gonna pee on the floor.”

He tucked himself back into his pants then flushed.
The
second he opened the door, she stumbled into the bathroom and slammed it in his
face.

As much as he wanted her, he knew tonight wasn’t the night.
She was as drunk as he’d seen her in years.
She had every right to be trashed.
It wasn’t every day a woman walked out on her own wedding.
He still couldn’t
believe she’d done it.

For years he’d tried to convince her that Phil was not the
guy for her, but she’d never listened.
She always had an excuse for whatever
bullshit Phil was doing.
“He’s under a lot of stress at work.” “These women all
come on to him, he can’t help it.”

Every time she’d defended him it had made Jon’s blood boil,
but he knew how stubborn Shari was.
If he’d tried to push too hard he’d have
been pushing her even closer to Phil.
She was contrary and defiant and hated
being told what was best for her.
When she’d shown up on Jon’s doorstep,
suitcase in hand the morning of her wedding, he thought she needed a ride to
the church.

Instead, she grabbed him by the arm and pulled him into his
bedroom, a scenario he’d envisioned countless times over the course of their
friendship.
Since they’d first met he’d never wanted anything more than for her
to be in his bed, but that had never happened.
She always had a boyfriend and
he was stuck in the friend zone, watching as she went from one bad boyfriend to
the next.

* * * * *

“I’m leaving Phil,” she said, swinging open his closet door
and dragging his suitcase out into the middle of his floor.
“And you’re coming
with me.
I paid for this honeymoon and I’m going to enjoy it.”

“What?” had been the only response he’d been able to muster.

She ran jittery hands through her auburn hair, pushing it
back off her face.
“I couldn’t sleep last night so I went snooping and I found
a bunch of emails.
He’s still seeing his ex.
Three years with me and he’s still
with her.
They’ve got plans to hook up as soon as we get home from our
honeymoon.” Her voice had cracked, betraying the hurt behind her manic bravado.

“So you’re calling off the wedding?” His heart was beating
in his ears as he tried to process what she was saying.

“I’m not going to bother calling it off.
Let him get there
and stand up in front of everyone and wait for me to walk down the aisle.
Let
him be the one humiliated for a change.
I’ll be at the airport with my best
friend and by the time he figures out what happened we’ll be on our way to
Aruba.
Unless you don’t want to.” Her hand froze on the stack of t-shirts she’d
been about to shove into the suitcase.
Her brown eyes were rimmed with red,
full of hope and fear as she looked up at him.

He’d have agreed to anything to get that hurt look off her
face.
“If that’s what you want, I’m your man.” How he wished that were true on
all levels.

* * * * *

The sound of the toilet flushing snapped him back to
reality.
The water blared as she turned the sink on full force.
He took his
wallet out of his pocket and tossed it onto the hotel dresser, then stepped out
of his jeans and flopped onto his bed.
He’d hoped they’d get stuck with a
king-sized but the hotel wasn’t full and the annoyingly accommodating concierge
guy had been all too happy to find them a room with two queen-sized mattresses.

The air was thick and humid.
He got under the sheet in an
attempt at modesty, but even that felt too stifling.
His t-shirt was already
starting to cling to his chest, making him wish he could sleep in the nude,
preferably out on the deck.
Having Shari naked alongside him would have
completed the picture.
“Fuck.” The sheet was tented.
He flipped off the bedroom
light and peeled of his shirt.
The ceiling fan sent a gentle breeze across his
bare chest, but the effect was anything but cooling.

He heard the water turn off in the bathroom and wondered
what she was doing.
Is she still dressed?
Did she just wash her face?
Are
beads of water dripping down her chest?

The visions that flashed in his mind were interrupted by the
glare of light when the bathroom door swung open.
He caught a glimpse of her in
bra and panties before she flipped the switch, sending the room back into
semidarkness.
The moonlight filtering through the parted curtains cast a
delicate glow on the room, blue and wavy as the shadows of palm trees swayed
across the bed.

Shari tripped, catching herself on the foot of his bed.
“What the fuck?
Are these your jeans?” She bent down and picked them up and he
heard change fall out of the pockets as she tossed them onto the chair.

“Sorry.” He tried to make out as much detail as he could in
the dim light.
She’d pulled her hair up into a ponytail and her bra and panties
were white, reflecting what little light was left in the room.
His cock
throbbed, straining against his boxers until it finally found its way out
alongside his thigh.
He rolled away from her, sandwiching it between the
mattress and his leg.

Shari threw aside her blankets and crawled beneath her
sheet.
“What a night.”

Jon didn’t trust his voice to work.
“Yeah.”

“Thanks for saving me from that asshole Bruno at the bar.”

“That’s why you pay me the big bucks.”

The sound of her laughter tugged at his stomach.
He longed
to feel the vibration of her against his chest, to take her in his arms and
finally do the things he’d been dreaming about all these years.
A bead of
pre-cum formed at the tip of his cock, which begged to be touched.

Shari’s breathing quieted and he assumed she’d dozed off.
She’d probably sleep like a log.
He shifted against the bed, feeling the wet
spot he was creating on the sheet.
He wanted to throw the sheet aside and jerk
off, long and slow, watching her sleep, but he knew he shouldn’t.
If she woke
up and saw him that would end any chance he’d ever have with her.
She’d think
he was a pervert.

He closed his eyes and tried to think of anything other than
her mostly naked body or his aching loins.
It was pointless.
Knowing she was
breathing not four feet away was more than he could stand.
He opened his eyes
again, finding them even more adjusted to the darkness of the room.
He could
see her silhouette in the dusky light, her breasts rising and falling under the
pearly white sheet.
Her lips were parted, her neck slightly arched.
Christ,
she’s beautiful.
His gaze traveled farther south and to his surprise he
noticed her hips were slowly rocking.

He squinted, thinking his imagination was toying with him,
but it was real.
Up and down, up and down, her pelvis rolled gently beneath the
covers.
He could see that her arms were at her sides and realized her hands
could easily be between her legs.

His cock swelled, heightening all his senses as he strained
to see what she was doing.
He could see the folds of the sheet toward the foot
of the bed.
Her knees were bent out to the sides, rising and falling in rhythm
with her hips.
Holy fuck.
He felt his heart try to pound its way out of
his chest.
She’s getting off.

Jon moved his hand as slowly as he could, knowing any sound
would make her stop immediately.
He inched his way beneath the sheet until he
made contact with his swollen head.
The sensation of his palm grazing the
sensitive tip was almost too much.
He swallowed the hiss that tried to escape
his lips.
He slid his hand down the length of his burgeoning shaft, freeing it
more completely from his boxers.
Moving as quietly as he could, he rubbed his
cock against his thigh.

Shari sighed softly, her breath catching in her throat.
Her
entire body stilled as she must have realized she’d made noise.
Jon remained
frozen though his cock twitched wildly against his palm.
Seconds dragged by as
he waited to see if she’d stop altogether.
Impatience throbbed beneath his
hand.

What seemed like an eternity later, she shifted, extending
one leg so that her foot poked out from beneath the sheet.
He held his breath
as her hips resumed their rhythmic motion.
Her breathing seemed faster, coming
in raspier puffs.
He wished he could see exactly what she was doing.
Is she
rubbing?
Are her fingers inside?
He imagined her wetness as his own oozed
from him, allowing him to glide more effortlessly along the ridges of his
thigh.
His middle finger teased the tip, massaging the slick slit.
He hadn’t
jerked off with someone else in the room since college, and never with a woman
present.
The pressure built from his chest through his belly, concentrating in
a knot of heat deep within his balls.

He heard her head rubbing against her pillow, could see her
hair spilling over the edge of the bed.
Her hips moved faster.
He thought he
could detect the faint sound of her fingers slipping back and forth through her
wetness but that could have been the sound of his own hand.
His gaze was locked
on her, his finger stroking against the underside of his cock in such a
maddening fashion he wasn’t sure how much longer he could wait.
Then her body
jolted.
Her leg straightened, the foot that peeked out of the covers pointed
and froze in midair and he knew she was coming.

That did it.
His balls drew up so tight it felt as though
they were pulling every ounce of energy up through his thighs and his belly.
With one final flick of his finger the cum surged out of him.
Thick streams
shot down the length of his leg, all the way to his tensed calves.
He struggled
not to cry out.
The pulsing continued as he tried to control his breath.

Once he regained his focus he glanced at Shari.
Her bed was
still, her foot relaxed and hanging limply off the side.
She was asleep, her
breathing deep and slow.

Jesus.
He let go of his cock, grimacing as he felt
the sheet stick to his skin.
He grabbed his rolled-up t-shirt from the side of
the bed and mopped up what seemed like an endless amount of semen.
That’ll
be an unpleasant surprise for housekeeping.