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Sonny leaned against the bed and gazed down at Dara, who still slept in the pile of blankets and pillows that had somehow ended up on the carpeted floor at the foot of the bed. Clad in his boxers, his eyes once again traveled the length of her nude, willowy frame. She lay on her side, facing him, one arm curled to her chest, the other stretched out in his direction. He longed to touch her everywhere, but she was so relaxed and beautiful sleeping, he didn’t want to wake her. Instead, his fingers reached out and grazed against hers, tracing the lines and contours of each finger and the palm of her hand with the gentlest of touches. She stirred and he stilled his movements, but Dara did not wake and instead, a flutter of a smile crossed her lips before she settled once more. His heart thumped wildly and again, he asked himself.
Was this what happiness felt like?
He knew happiness. When Morgan was born. Everything about Morgan. When Alexis, through stormy eyes, told him Kristina was his daughter. The first meal where Michael, Kristina and Morgan sat down with him and ate the food he’d prepared. Every time Molly smiled at him.
The first time Michael called him “Dada.”
The last time too.
That was different than what he was feeling now.
*~*
There seemed to be no beginnings or ends, but merely hills and valleys. Hills that went up delicious and insistent, breathtaking at the crest and then the valleys where limbs twined, bodies pressed together in the dark where they caught their breath and breathed deeply, readying for the next hill.
Sonny’s hand trailed the length of Dara’s spine in slow, easy brushes as she curled her body into his. “I didn’t imagine us being like this,” he murmured.
Dara smiled, her hand resting at his hip. “What did you imagine?” The teasing in her voice made him smile and he couldn’t remember the last time anyone teasing him as much as Dara seemed to do, make him feel anything but ire. Perhaps it was the way her voice reverberated against his frame, melding into him like a second skin. He loved the sound of her voice as it stretched across his bare skin.
“I don’t know. Different.”
“Different? Oh, let me guess. You’re the sex god and I’m the uptight career woman who needs to get laid?” Dara queried, the pads of her fingers tracing the faint impression of his ribcage. The gesture caused Sonny to take in a quick breath, but he shook his head.
“No, no, not at all,” he insisted weakly and she laughed and she sat up, looking down at him. “Uh huh, you’re the man who can make any woman weak at the knees and hungry for dick and I’m the woman who doesn’t know the joy of a short skirt.”
He opened his mouth to protest, another smile on his face and she let out another laugh, pressing a well manicured nail against his chest. “Nice cover Casanova.”
She reached for the glass on the bedside table, the ice long since melted, and took a swallow. “I saw a look of disbelief once or twice, like you couldn’t believe that Dara Jensen wasn’t some poor woman who’d never slept with any man other than boring ones and didn’t know anything about her own body and how you would fuck color into my black and white sex life.” She fanned herself in exaggeration. “You were gonna show me all your moves, weren’t you?”
Sonny raised his eyebrows at her descriptions. “Well, I didn’t expect you to talk like that, I can admit to that.”
Dara eased herself down to his face, her eyes gleaming curiously. “Why not? What were you expecting?”
Several silent beats passed as both considered her question. “I don’t know,” he finally stated quietly. “This is new ground for me. Whatever I thought before? Is long gone.” He cupped the side of her face and brought her mouth to his, their kiss long and languid. Easily, he pulled her body down and eased her over onto her back, covering her body with his, their mouths still joined. His body stirred as she opened her thighs, his tongue probing the depths of her mouth.
“But this? Doesn’t even compare to before. What’s happened tonight, who we are now, is so much more, so much better that what I even dreamed about,” he said, finally releasing her lips.
Her face softened. “You dreamed about this?”
He nodded, slowly, but firmly.
“That makes two of us.”
*~*
Dara woke, first to the cries of seagulls on the prowl for their morning meal, then to the soft swish of drapes fluttering against the open sliding door to the veranda and finally, and more clearly, to movements in the kitchen.
She rose to a sitting position and glanced around the room, slowly remembering how she ended up on the floor, and she rolled her neck, feeling a crick in her shoulders. She stood then and silently eased into the shower relishing the heat and spray go to work on her sore muscles. She carefully soaped herself up, taking care around the apex of her thighs, wincing at the slight tenderness. The wince didn’t stay long, blossoming into a smile as she felt the hot water wash over her face and skin. The memories of the night before, the long night of she and Sonny shared brought a flush to her cheeks. He’d certainly made good on moving past ‘nice’.
Last night.
The words rolled around in her head, bringing up images and sounds of her and Sonny together and she let out a long, shuddering breath.
Whatever she had thought she needed to get out of her system had stayed.
Hell, it had gone deeper under her skin.
She slipped on a baby soft, white, terry cloth robe, cinching it at the waist as she headed back into the bedroom. This time she smelled the delicious aroma of coffee brewing and her stomach rumbled. She gathered up the bed linens and tossed them on the bed and slowly pulled bits of clothing from around the room. Her shirt in the corner, her yoga pants flung near an orchid on the desk. She knew her flats were in the hallway. Her bra almost under the bed and her panties, now stretched slightly from her frantic movements on the bedside table.
She held her clothing in her hands, ready to dress herself, but instead, she placed them on a nearby leather chair and ventured into the hallway and into the main living space. The morning sun, still new and bright filtered into the room and Dara marveled at the sight of the Port Charles Harbor in the daytime. Already boats were casting out into the waters, the marina alive with families and crew busying for another beautiful day. Shops were just beginning to open and early morning joggers and walkers were taking full advantage of the almost empty boardwalk.
“Perfect timing,” came a warm, rumble from the dining area and Dara turned to see Sonny, also wearing a matching robe set out two plates at the table. Waffles, bacon and fresh fruit adorned each plate and her stomach rumbled once more.
She sat gingerly in a chair and grabbed a slice of bacon, taking a bite. She nearly groaned as the delicious meat melted in her mouth. Sonny watched her movements with a penetrating stare. The woman made everything look sexy.
“I’d like to take credit, but you’ve probably already had the bacon here,” Sonny said, taking a sip of his pomegranate juice.
Dara inclined her head and for the next few minutes, they ate in silence, casting the occasional look at each other. The looks were not shy or awkward, but rather uncertain, as if some of the armor from the previous day had gone back up.
Finally, once she’d eaten enough, Dara pushed her plate away and took a gulp of her coffee. Sensing she was about to say something, Sonny swallowed the piece of pineapple he’d speared a moment earlier and placed his fork down.
“I don’t know what happens from this point,” she stated plainly. “I don’t know where we go from here.”
Sonny furrowed his brow. “Why do we need to go anywhere?”
Dara gave him a look. “I’m a criminal attorney. I work for the D.A. and for the people of Port Charles. And you are-“
“Not,” Sonny interjected. “I know who you are and who I am. I also know what I want.” He blinked, his eyes turning a shade darker. “That’s you.”
A pause and for a moment, he believed that what he felt was mirrored in her own eyes. Dara looked out the window.
“I can’t be seen with you.” Really, it was a statement true for both of them.
Sonny placed his hands on the table. “So don’t be seen with me. Does anyone see you here? Did anyone see you in my bedroom last night?”
“You’re not worried?” Dara couldn’t believe that. Both had a lot on the line. “It’s inevitable that we will be seen together. We have to talk about it.”
Sonny’s eyes flashed. “People have been telling me my entire life that it was inevitable that I’d end up in jail. That I’d die.” He held out his hands. “Hasn’t happened.”
Dara frowned. “Your life isn’t over yet,” she replied, as Kristina’s face flashed through her mind.
Sonny laughed, his dimples flashing. “No, it isn’t, and there’s a reason for it. There’s a reason the inevitable hasn’t happened yet. Money, power, control,” he listed; three fingers from his left hand punctuated each word. “I have an abundance of all three. There is a lot I can and do control in this city.”
His world. It was a topic that was bound to come up and both knew it. Dara’s face fell still. “I know you do,” she said gravely. She lifted a glass of orange juice to her lips, but didn’t drink it. Nothing would wash the bitterness rising from the back of her throat.
“I know what you can do. That’s the inevitable part.”
Sonny leaned back in his chair, irritated, but not with Dara. Of all things, it was Taggert and Taggert’s words years earlier that came to mind.
“You know what’s inevitable Corinthos?”
Sonny glared at the detective from across the table. In a few moments, his attorney would come through the door, the handcuffs would come off and he’d walk out of the PCPD a free man.
Again.
“What’s that?” Sonny asked sarcastically.
Taggert’s demeanor was calm as he leaned forward. “You are.”
Sonny’s face tightened with anger. “Yeah?”
Taggert nodded once. “And that’s what makes you dangerous to the people around you.”
Sonny rubbed his chin and sighed. “I’m not going to hide who I am from you.”
“Everything about me, about my world, is against you,” she countered evenly.
“I’m not.” Sonny rose from his seat and came around to where she sat. He stood next to her and she looked up at him. “I’m in your world and I’m not against me. You’re in my world and you’re not against you. We have that.”
If it were only that simple. He was right. They were in each other’s worlds, and right now, they were not against each other.
But he was also wrong. They were also in their own worlds, and those worlds would never stop battling. They were polar opposites.
It was inevitable.
His hand reached out, caressing her cheek, and she curled her face into his hand, expelling a sigh. “It’s not that simple, you know this,” she pressed the point, her expression welling with anxiety. He pulled her to her feet and without realizing it; they were in each other’s arms, a protective embrace enveloping both.
“I know,” he whispered. Still, he remembered how it felt to simply be with Dara. To watch her sleep, to feel her body mold to his, her breath on him, a smile just for his eyes.
He pulled back, his hands cupping the sides of her face. He wouldn’t give that up.
He wouldn’t give her up. And he wouldn’t let her give up on him.
“Come back tonight.”
It was a request. It was a promise. It was a call, a need, a hand reaching out to her, asking her to take it.
Last night had been physical. Their bodies crashing together because they wouldn’t fight their attraction any longer.
The physical pull to him was even stronger than before, only now, something else was tugging at her, a more searing cry. It wasn’t simple. It wasn’t ever going to be simple.
But she wasn’t here because of simple.
It was Sonny. It was always about Sonny.
He was the reason she was here.
It was the reason she would come back tonight.
And while a myriad of conflicting emotions swirled through every inch of her, she was certain about one thing.
Guilt was not one of them.
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