The sun is warm on my face and bright, so bright I have to clench my eyes closed to protect them from the searching ball of gas. There is a slight wind that brushes across the skin of my bare shoulders and sweeps my hair out into the space behind me. I inhale the salty sea air as the frothy waves lap at my bare feet and they begin to sink into the drenched sand.
I know he is there before he even touches me, like always he is a part of me now that I can never let go. His powerful tattooed arms wrap themselves around my body, my skin immediately aching for the attention I have yet to fully experience. As if on cue, he drops his tender lips to my milky skinned shoulder and plants a gentle kiss there.
"You waited," he whispers surprised against my neck, his deep and velvety voice reverberating through my bones. I lean into his half naked form and he tightens his grip in response, enclosing one hand in the other as he pins me against him. He is bare footed too and our feet brush past each other as I change position. Even with two toes missing his balance is impeccable and he holds me tight when the waves threaten to wash me away.
"I would wait forever," I breathe, my eyes falling closed as his tongue darts out to moisten my neck before his lips lock onto the skin and my pulse quickens. I snake a hand slowly behind me to pull his head close to me, a silent begging reaction from his assault. He smiles against my pounding pulse, his arms separating and a flat palm pressing against my flat stomach.
"I was afraid you wouldn't," he says through kisses. The tide is coming in around us with every white trimmed crash of the tiny waves against our legs. The bottoms of his pants are instantly wet and stick to his muscular legs but we ignore it. The sun is setting before us abnormally swiftly, it rippling against the pink skyline as it drops below the horizon. We do not plunge into darkness straight away and even with passionate eyes closed we still know the sunset is happening. It always does.
His hands never leave my body, exploring every curve and hilly breasts with the admiration of a blind man. When he drags his delicate touch over my bosom my back curves and I arch into his hands further. Waiting has been cruel to me and I have not been here for a while. One of his hands kneads at my breast while the other tucks my ruddy locks from my shoulder allowing him access to my already excited skin. My breathing falters and my knees feel weak as I rest a gripping hand against his powerful thigh.
I turn so we are facing, the sand beneath my feet sopping with seawater and causing my toes to sink below the surface. Like a dark shadow looming over his life his tattoo speaks to me, distracting me from my words for a second while I study the battle on his chest. The Devil points a wicked finger towards the arch Angel whose wings are weathered and tired from battle. I see Michael in the Angel, his entire life having been nothing more than a battle for survival he has waged against his self.
"Don't be afraid," I soothe laying a soft hand to his cheek. With a sigh he crooks his neck and pushes his hand further into my tiny palm, his own darting up to grip at mine and never wanting me to let go. "You never have to be afraid," I tell him, my words of wisdom coming from my heart. His eyes flicker open and meet mine. The bluey hues are tainted with black, a reminder of his prison life that will haunt him forever.
"What if it's too hard?" he asks me with a cryptic air in his voice. I cannot answer him with anything but a smile and a gentle squeeze of his hand. My life has been too hard at times and I did the cowardly thing and turned to drugs for a release. Even now, as we stand on a white sand beach at sunset with the waves tickling our feet in the most serene encounter I have ever known I am an addict. Every time I close my eyes I am reminded of my spectacularly tattooed poison and his godly touch.
Without a single word his lips sweep over mine, smacking together with eager longing and pure passionate need. We both need this. It is why we are here, away from Fox River and its horrors. Away from everything that ever tried to take us down or stepped in our way. Erasing all of that left only us, wrapped in each other's embrace.
