Family First
She was a warm-blooded woman; she'd had lovers before. Good, bad, special, casual... None of them had ever felt as right as this, when she lay beneath her husband and savored the feel of each slow, steady stroke.
Thrust and retreat. Thrust and retreat. His was a carefully executed strategy. She knew his goals. Such single-minded lovemaking occurred each time she paid a visit to her 'old' world for any extended period of time. Like yesterday.
She'd spent the afternoon and most of the night enjoying the opulence that accompanied the celebration of Faith and Stefan Cassadine's wedding anniversary. Like the other selectively invited guests, she had been fed and pampered, lavished upon and entertained. She'd ridden Spoon Island with Faith and wandered awed through the seemingly endless Cassadine library with its rare, hand-bound books. She had danced with a surprisingly humorous Nikolas and gently flirted with a young hacker protege of Faith's who was both frighteningly smart and endearingly geeky. And despite the unusual conclusion of the previous night's celebration, Dara returned to the Harborview Towers with a light step and bright smile.
Sonny had insisted she relate the details of her outing. Dara had been reluctant at first, but Sonny was adamant. And so she had, accompanied by her husband's biting commentary. At one point he interrupted her with a quick kiss. He was happy, Sonny said, that she'd had such a good time.
Electricity sparked between them and all thoughts of conversation ended. For most of the early morning hours Sonny played her body like an instrument, reminding her of where she belonged. And who she belonged to. Dara tried to convince him that she was here for the long-haul, but the lovely lawyer suspected that some tiny part of him was convinced that after spending time back in a world she sacrificed to be with him, she would reconsider the choice she made.
"Michael!" A particularly deep thrust reined in her wandering thoughts and forced a hoarse cry past her lips. Dara prepared to surrender and allow herself to just enjoy Sonny's mastery of her body when she heard the little masculine laugh he uttered. She retaliated against him using inner muscles that clenched and milked him mercilessly.
" Fuck ! "
Now it was Dara's turn to laugh. She pushed against her husband's sweat-drenched chest and demanded he comply. Sonny readily rolled over onto his back, granting Dara control. She grasped his pulsing erection with one hand and lowered herself teasingly down the length of him. Sonny muttered a curse that would have made her ears burn if she hadn't been so focused on other sensations.
Dara was in no hurry to satisfy Sonny's growing desire for relief from her almost torturous attention. She rode him with a lazy rise and fall, occasionally lifting her body until just the head of him remained within her warmth. A swirl of her hips, stinging scratches on his chest... He was not the only one capable of playing a body with expertise.
Sonny snaked a hand between Dara's thighs and thumbed the little bundle of nerves that never failed to send a jolt of electricity through her body each time he touched her there. This time was no different. The pleasure was so intense that for a few seconds Dara lost the leisurely rhythm she had set.
A loud, frantic pounding on the bedroom door was followed so closely by its opening that the two things seemed to happen simultaneously. The door flew open with such force that it hit the wall beside it with a sound like a clap of thunder. Sonny harnessed some long-unused instinct and pushed Dara off him and onto the floor away from the disturbance. The move was so unexpected that the lawyer had no time to brace herself for the fall, but instead landed on the floor with a thud. "This must be," Dara thought illogically, "what it feels like to be thrown from the saddle."
"Boss! Boss!" Dara recognized the voice of Sonny's easily excited guard, Max. She peered over the top of the mattress. What she saw would have been humorous, if not for the absolute ire that flooded her naked, erect husband's face.
"You. Lost. Your. Fucking. Mind?" Sonny railed.
The bodyguard ignored his employer's anger and his nakedness. "I'm sorry, Boss, but you gotta turn on your television!"
"Max," Dara managed to pull the tousled bedsheets around her body. "We don't have a television in this room. What's going on?"
The big guard ignored Dara's query and looked wildly around the room. His gaze settled on a radio on the dresser and he rushed to it and pressed the button that would power it on.
"Max..."
"Be quiet , Boss!" Max gestured toward the radio.
Dara took the opportunity to hand Sonny his robe. She had to push it at him several times, he was so stunned at the bodyguard's audacity. It only took a couple of sentences from the radio for Dara to realize that it wasn't just Max's behavior that held Sonny frozen. Like some bad Hollywood movie, the radio announcer kept saying something about a world-ending catastrophe.
Dara sat down heavily on the bed. She doubted her legs would have continued to hold her anyway. She listened in disbelief to both the president's announcement and the numerous experts sharing their opinions on the matter. After the third repetition of the startling broadcast, Dara was finally able to shift her attention back to the others in the room. Max stared at the radio as though he could not comprehend what he heard. Two other guards, Francis and Milo, stood listening from the doorway. They, like Max, were fixated on the radio.
"Michael?" Dara didn't think her husband even heard her. He stood in the center of the room with his cellphone pressed to his ear. He listened for a moment, swore softly and dialed again. It wasn't until Dara gently touched Sonny's arm that he focused his gaze on her. "Michael, who are you calling?"
"My kids," Sonny replied. "I need to call my kids." He spun suddenly and hurled the cellphone against the wall, smashing it to pieces. "But all the fucking circuits are busy!"
Dara placed a calming hand on his back. She could feel Sonny's muscles, taut and coiled, through the thick cotton fabric. "Then take the guards and go check on them," she urged. "If they've seen the news then they are probably afraid and need you near."
Sonny grabbed the previous day's clothes off the nearby chair and strode into the bathroom to dress. Dara understood his need to check on the welfare of his children. Sonny 's love for them was one of the things that helped balance out his many flaws. Right now they needed him to calm their fears.
Trouble was, so did she.
