Over thinking things was often the path to doom. We were both guilty of that one.

No, I wanted my Cherry Girl alone and private just as we were, dependent upon me to show her the way back…to the idea of us.

My plan was still intact.

I knew what she needed, and I would make sure she got every little bit of it.

I tried the doorknob after a minute and surprisingly, it opened. I stepped into the steamy air of the bathroom. There she was just sitting in the shower, her back up against the wall and her arms wrapped around her knees. She looked lost, biting down on her bottom lip by pulling the whole thing under her teeth. I wanted to suck and nibble on that bottom lip until she was breathless and not thinking about things that scared her anymore.

My beautiful girl needed me right now. She was also gloriously wet and naked.

I didn’t say anything, just stripped down to my skin.

Naked was the way to play this. There would be no boundaries between us then. And keeping her naked would keep her in the room with me. She couldn’t run away if she didn’t have anything to wear. I had some intelligence after all.

Her eyes flipped up to watch me as I undressed. And then, they widened when my shirt came off. That was the moment I knew. I knew that she saw it.

I stepped in and sat down opposite her on the shower floor. Face to face, body to body, hot water falling between us, droplets from the spray bouncing everywhere, coating our skin and hair. Wetting us both.

Elaina reached out her hand and touched my tattoo with trembling fingers. “You got this to remember us?” she whispered in awe.

“I did.”

“It is beautiful,” she whispered again, as she traced the design with a fingertip, studying the ink carefully. “A dragonfly in the cherry blossoms…”

“Beautiful like you, Cherry.”

“Why did you have it done?—You got it…p-put on after I was…gone?” Even with all the water falling around us, I could see the tears pooling in her eyes as she asked the questions.

“Because I never stopped loving you and knew I never would. I wanted you forever in my skin.”

A sob came up from out of her throat in a burst of air. She closed those glassy dark blue eyes of hers, and her whole body softened in what looked like great relief.

“So did I,” she said softly, her eyes still closed and her lips still quivering.

Then she turned her back to me slowly, her head tilted to the side, extending her elegant neck. She reached around and pulled her wet hair off to the left, leaving her right shoulder exposed. As I gazed at her perfect skin, I almost stopped breathing when I saw the most stunning tattoo of cherry blossoms and branches done in sky blue and pink. It was very Asian in design and exotically inked, and also larger than I would expect for her slim body. Elaina didn’t have any other tattoos, so for her to have such an impressive image placed permanently on her back, was a gesture of how meaningful our relationship was to her.

Fate can be beautiful and that was an example of one of those times. Don’t ever forget such moments...or the gift of them.

My heart skipped a beat or two as I stared. I’d forgotten about what Ian had told me—his cryptic drunken comment about me not being the only one to have a cherry blossom tattoo. I’d been so focused on the events playing out between us, that it had slipped my mind. She’d never worn any clothes that would allow it to show.

“I wanted you forever in my skin too, Neil.”

****

I traced the air above the design with my finger, just the tiniest little bit above the skin so I wouldn’t wake her. I wanted you forever in my skin too, Neil.

My Cherry was in bed with me and she was asleep. I didn’t want to disturb her but that didn’t stop me from looking and enjoying.

She lay on her side—her body stretched out like a Greek goddess on a dais—the sheet partially draping over her body, but showing enough skin to make me want her again.

The wanting would never be a problem for me. I only had to think about her naked and I was ready. I’d had so many years of practice doing that, you see. Too f**kin’ many.

I vowed I would never be in that situation again with her though. Aching for her when she was lost to me. Afraid of trusting in the only person that could make it right for my heart. So much wasted potential. Wasted time.

“What are you thinking about?” she asked in a sleepy voice.

“You’re awake, Cherry Girl?”

She rolled back over to face me, placing her two hands under her cheek on the pillow. “I am.”

Her eyes moved over my face, studying me with the contented expression of a satisfied female. She looked happy again. She looked peaceful.

She had the look of a woman who was staying with me.

An expression I would have killed to have seen, if only for just one time, in the last six years.

“I was thinking about how beautiful a sight it is to have you naked in my bed. To have you close enough, where I can reach out and touch your warmth just like this.”

I brought my hand to one of her br**sts and caressed its softness, plumping the swell first and then ending with my fingers, drawing on her nipple, making it harden.

She gave me a sexy purr and a half smile.

“To smell the scent of you and me, after we’ve been making love together.”

I buried my nose at her chest and drew it up, inhaling the unmistakable smell of sex, mixed with her intoxicating scent.

She arched her body closer and breathed a little heavier. My words and deeds were getting her hot.

“To taste the sweet flavor of you.”

I covered her whole mouth with mine and plunged my tongue inside for a thorough taste, while my fingers found their way into her pu**y lips for a slippery welcome. I pulled my hand back and popped those three fingers into my mouth, sucking everything off in a decadent show.

Another sexy moan as her eyes flared wide. Yep, she was getting’ hot for more.

“To show you just how much I love you, and that I can never bear to be without any part of you, ever again.”

She looked down at our bodies under the sheets, seeing how hard my c**k was, yet again, how much desire I had for her.

“I’m thinking about how I’m the luckiest f**kin’ bastard on the planet because you’re here with me.”

I rolled her onto her back, splitting her legs very wide with my hands behind her knees, making her calves rest on my arms. I sank my hips down into all that heaven of hers to find my center target. My c**k aligned perfectly against her pu**y, and I loved the flare of her eyes, and the breathy sound from her throat, that intimate contact brought out in her as our parts touched.