Finally

At long last, the Finale of Finally. It would probably help to read the first three chapters of this, to understand this final chapter. I really enjoyed writing this couple's story. And though they're of my own creation I've grown very fond of Rico and Sherry, and I hope you'll enjoy this.

Something was off with Sherry. Rico could feel it, but couldn't figure out what it was. Though still pretty affectionate, somehow she seemed to be gradually pulling away and he had no idea why.

Last night he'd confessed that he loved her, and she'd said it right back with no hesitation, and yet something had shifted between them. All he knew was that he wanted things to go back to the way they were before, when she'd laugh and tease as they made love, and they were happy and everything felt perfect.

Could be he'd scared her and she wasn't ready to hear how he felt. But she had to know this

thing

they had going on was way more than just a fling. At least it was for him.

Holding her close in bed, he watched her closed expression as she traced a fingernail around his nipple. She looked so serious and wasn't saying a word. Finally, unable to take anymore, he tipped up her chin, and asked, "Hey, what's wrong? What's going on?"

Deciding there was no point in lying to him, letting out a sigh, she told him the truth. "To be honest, lately I've been feeling kind of guilty and a little selfish being with you, when I know you should be with someone more your age who can give you everything you deserve."

Rico had no idea where she was going with this. "I'm not following you, Sherry." Seeing as she was all he'd ever wanted, he couldn't imagine being with anyone else anymore, and hoped she'd know that by now.

She looked up into his eyes, and he could see the torment in hers. "It's just that when I saw how good you were with your niece and nephew, I realized that one day you'll probably want kids of your own, and we both know at my age I would never be able to give you any."

He blew out an exasperated breath, surprised that his family, without even knowing it had changed things between them, or at least her perception of what she felt he needed.

"Yeah, I love 'em, they're great. And I also know that anytime I want to see them, I can. Liv's more than happy to have me take them out somewhere and even spoil them a little whenever I want. But, that's enough for me. When I take them off my sister's hands to give her a break, the kids and I get some alone time and everybody's happy. So, I don't need to have kids of my own to know what it's like. I've been helping her with the two of them since they were born. And sometimes I feel like more of a dad to them than their own father, who's never been overly involved in their lives."

Though she nodded, Rico still thought she didn't look too sure.

Smiling into her eyes, he squeezed her ass, and kissed her. "But I'll tell you what I

do

need right now, though."

Smirking, she had a pretty good idea what he needed, especially when she reached between them and felt how hard he was. Lifting her leg and resting it on his hip, spreading herself open wide, she took hold of him and pressed him to her opening. "Am I getting warm?" she asked, loving how blissed out he looked as she ran the tip of his cock up and down along her slit.

"You're way more than warm, baby, you're red hot. And you got me right where I need to be."

Impatient for the feel of her, his hands tightening on her waist, he thrust his hips and pushed, till he was sliding into her nice and deep. Smiling into each other's eyes as he thrust, he let her have a feel of what she did to him every single time they were together, when she had him aching to get as close to her as he could possibly get.

Gently pushing her onto her back, he pulled out half-way and then thrust hard, till he was balls deep, right where he needed to be. As he slowly made love to her, he captured her lips with his, and soon she had her fingers tangling in his hair, softly moaning as he did his best to show her just how much he loved her.

When he could feel she was getting close, he changed the angle, got up on his hands and gave it to her good and hard, just where she seemed to need it, if the way she was squealing and clawing at his back was any indication.

"Oh, yes, right there. Oh, fuck me, yes!" she cried out tossing her head from side to side as she came with a shivering climax running right through her, hard enough he could feel vibrating into his cock.

Following right behind her, feeling the familiar telltale tingle run down his spine straight to his balls, Rico threw back his head and growled as he ruthlessly pummelled her pussy, giving her everything he had, till both of them collapsed clutching each other tight.

Her breasts still heaving hard, Sherry grinned coyly. "Now

that's

what I'd call a nice way to wake up."

Rico chuckled, took hold of her by the chin and kissed her, knowing if she'd let him, he'd be happy to wake her up like that every morning for the rest of her life. But for now, he was just glad that she seemed to have accepted what he said about the two of them being enough for him.

And hell, if she needed more, he figured he could always get her a cat.

When he went downstairs to make them some breakfast and heard the shower start to run upstairs, he frowned as he went into the fridge to get what he needed to scramble up some eggs. As he cracked them into a bowl and tossed a few sliced mushrooms into a hot buttered pan, he wondered why she hadn't waited for him, since that was something else they'd always enjoyed doing together, having fun getting each other squeaky clean, so they could get busy all over again.

Then he noticed his keys on the counter that he'd put there to remind himself that the desk light was out in her office where she wrote, so after they'd eaten he knew he had to go back upstairs and take a look at it for her.

Looking up, staring at the ceiling, when she didn't come down right away for breakfast, he imagined she was in her office, probably looking over one of the stories she was working on. But when she did finally make her way downstairs, smiling to himself, he noticed she was dressed to go out in a short little black and white patterned sundress with some pretty sexy looking strappy red sandals. But since she didn't say anything about her plans, he thought it best not to ask.

Once she'd sat down and had a taste of the cheddar and mushroom scrambled eggs he'd made, she moaned. "Hmmm, is this ever good." Then she reached across the table and squeezed his hand. "Thank you for this, Rico."

"No problem. Glad you're enjoying it." Though he eyed her as he ate, since she wasn't giving any indication that she was upset anymore, he decided to just let it drop.

Once they'd finished eating, cleared the table and loaded the dishwasher, he was relieved when she finally told him what was going on. "Oh, I forgot to tell you, I've got a meeting with my sister-in-law and editor Marie. But I should be back in a few hours, and it shouldn't take too long."

"No problem. And while you're gone I'll take a look at the light that's out in your office to try and see what's wrong with it."

About to pick up her purse and leave, smiling into his eyes, Sherry wandered over, wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him, whispering against his lips, "Thank you for being so good to me."

His hands instantly slid up her thigh and under the back of her dress, till he was kneading her tight little ass in his hands, sliding his tongue between her lips, and kissing her right back. All he needed was a taste of her lips and he could feel himself growing hard. And so were her nipples, he realized, as she playfully brushed her breasts back and forth across his chest, starting to whimper and taunting him to take it even further -- which got him wondering if they had enough time for a quickie, even just to take the edge off, before she had to go. She'd got him so hard he knew it wouldn't take much for them both to get off. All he'd have to do was pull off her panties, slide in and give her a nice little send off before she had to leave.

Finally, smiling, Sherry pulled back, shaking her head. "Ooh, what you do to me. You know, if I didn't have to go out, I'd be tempted to let you have your way with me again, like that first night when you bent me over the counter and nearly fucked me silly."

Sliding his hands over her ass and squeezing, with his erection pressed tight against her belly, Rico grinned. "You know I can be quick, right?"

Sherry laughed and pushed on his chest. "Save it for later, stud." She wiggled her eyebrows. "And maybe we can do a little

re-enactment

when I get back."

With a playful swat to her backside, he nodded. "You can count on it."

He walked her out to her car. And once she was seated inside and buckled up, he leaned in and kissed her goodbye, taking the time to linger over her lips to ensure that she knew he'd be waiting for her. She smiled, stroking her hand over his sexy bristled jaw, till he finally pulled back. Sighing, she said, "I shouldn't be gone too long. And if Marie gets too long-winded, I'll just tell her I've got to get back to my book, and that usually works, since she's always after me to send her another chapter."

With one last peck on her lips, he winked and told her, "Well, just remember I'll be waiting for you to make good on that promise."

As Sherry drove toward the city, grinning from ear to ear, thinking of him waiting for her back at home, probably naked and hard as a brick, she could feel every inch of her humming with anticipation. All he had to do was kiss her and he had her willing to do anything he wanted. Ooh, like take her hard from behind on the kitchen counter again. Her pussy already tingling, just imagining how good that would feel, she just hoped her meeting would be quick, or she knew she'd be squirming in her seat, since she was already feeling pretty anxious to get back to him.

After he watched her drive away, shaking his head, Rico got his tool box out of his truck, went back inside and headed up to her office to see if he could figure out what was wrong with the light, hoping it was just the light bulb that needed replacing, he'd check that first.

But when he sat down at her desk and looked around her tidy office with row after row of books on the shelves, a lot of them her own titles, it felt kind of odd to be sitting in the chair where she created the fantasies women like his sister could hardly wait to read.

Then he noticed that she'd left the computer on, and had only turned off the monitor. Curious, with his hand poised over the mouse, he wondered what she was working on, and decided to take a look.

But when the screen lit up and he started to read, he felt his heart sink down in his chest, till he swore it hit the floor as he read the last thing she'd been writing.

'As painfully hard as it would be, I knew I had to tell him that it was over. Though, what we had was beyond anything I'd ever dreamed of, I knew it couldn't last. Ruggedly handsome, virile men like him never stayed faithful for long. Before he strayed, I knew I had to let him go, no matter how much it would hurt to know that what we had was done and I was never likely to see him again.'

Unable to read anymore, Rico reached out and turned off the monitor, sagging down in the chair. He wondered as he sat staring at the black screen how it could end like this, with just a few strokes on the keyboard sealing his fate. Obviously she'd been mulling it over for a while afraid that

he

would be the one to hurt

her

, she'd decided to cut him loose first.

And if he wasn't so crazy about her, it wouldn't matter. He'd just head out and go on with his life, and probably find someone new. But seeing as she was the only woman he wanted and the only one he'd ever cared for this deeply, and already couldn't imagine his life without her, he had no idea what he was going to do.

Never the type to grovel, he realized if she wanted him gone, it was probably best if he just left. No need to tell her why, since she'd already made up her mind about them when she'd typed that final passage, probably hoping he'd read it, when she'd conveniently gone out and left her computer on, knowing that he'd be checking the light. He pushed to his feet, picked up his tool box and headed out to his truck.

As he drove south along the highway toward the city, he just wished she'd have been honest with him when he'd asked her what was going on when they woke up together, instead of leading him on and acting all playful, making him think he still had a chance with her.

She'd told him once she was worried that someone his age could never really be serious about a woman old enough to be his mother, but if he was going to be honest, he'd never had a problem with the difference in their age, and had even surprised himself with how hard he'd fallen for her.

But as he drove into the underground parking garage at his condo, he knew he had to try and forget what they had, or he'd drive himself crazy with 'what ifs'.

After what he'd read, he knew she wouldn't be interested in even seeing his face again, so he'd just have to move on and try and put it all behind him.

Like that was going to be an easy thing to do.

When Rico unlocked the door to his place, and saw his niece and nephew turn their head and their eyes go wide when they looked away from the TV and saw it was him, he laughed at the way they always ran to greet him, squealing, "Uncle, Rico!" with their arms open wide. As he scooped them into his arms, and pressed a kiss to each of their cheeks, he was just glad he still had a family that cared for him.

His sister Liv popped her head around from the kitchen, looking just as surprised to see him. "Hey, I didn't know you were coming over. I was just making us some lunch. So if you're hungry, it's just tuna sandwiches and veggie sticks, and I can make some more if you want."

He shook his head, trying not to look as bad as he felt. "No. I'm good. You guys go ahead and eat."

Liv walked out of the kitchen, narrowing her eyes on him. "So, what happened?"

He shrugged, struggling to keep his voice steady as he tried to explain. "Nothing really happened. I think she just decided she's done with me."

Never one to hide what she was thinking, her eyes went big, her voice rose and she nearly yelled at him, "What the hell did you do, Rico? Because I know last time I saw you two, you were like over the moon happy with each other, and Sherry was practically glowing, and come to think of it, so were you."

That got his back up, assuming it was his fault, and he stared her down. "I didn't do anything, okay. I think she was afraid I might be growing tired of her, so she made the first move and ended it before anything could happen."

Her expression softened, realizing how hurt he looked. "Oh, Rico, I'm sorry. And I got a feeling you really cared for her, too."

When she hugged him to her chest and started gently stroking his hair, he nodded, and told her the truth, fighting to keep the emotion out of his voice. "Yeah, I really did."

"Well, you know what they say: There's plenty of fish in the sea." She pulled back and patted his cheek. "And you're not a bad looking guy, so I'm sure before too long you'll find someone else to fill her shoes."

Trouble was, as he stared blankly across the room, he already knew he'd never find anyone quite like her. And if he had any idea what to say to make her reconsider, he'd say whatever she needed to hear, but he had a feeling from what he'd read that the die was cast and he'd only be wasting his breath.

But, despite his mood, he looked down and smiled when he felt his niece Olivia tugging on his hand and quietly murmuring, "Well, I still love you, Uncle Rico."

Lifting her into his arms, he pressed a smacking kiss to her cheek and said, "Good thing I've still got you guys then, huh?"

Though Liv nodded, she just stared at her big musclebound brother, looking more vulnerable than she'd ever seen him.

Sherry's meeting with her sister-in-law seemed to drag on forever, since Marie had decided to go over every single item in her latest manuscript she felt was even slightly questionable, point by agonizing point, particularly her choice for the male love interest in her story that she wasn't too sure of. But as always, Sherry did her best to keep an open mind and listen to her suggestions. Especially since Marie was the perfect person to review the type of historical romance novels she mainly wrote, since she was basically an expert on Victorian nobility and the acceptable standards of the day. Sherry smirked, most likely because her sister-in-law was actually a bit of a snob herself, in addition to being a very supportive friend who just happened to be an expert in her field.

After clearing her throat, Marie said, "Though in theory I like that you've changed the male protagonist and the object of her desire from a wishy-washy blond aristocrat to a more swash-buckling sexy dark-haired rogue. I just wonder, coming from such entirely different worlds how Lady Madeleine and this new man could ever have a future together. Not that I'm totally against you breaking from the typical formula for this type of novel and trying something new. It's just kind of hard to conceive that they could make it work, and find themselves living happily ever after, as your readers would expect, unless of course Miguel turns out to be secretly fantastically wealthy, or despite the swarthy way you've described him, is actually an heir to a throne. Unless in the end, you plan to have her re-think her rash decision and eventually have her settling for someone more befitting her station in life that she knows in her heart of hearts, would be a far better match, as well as being more acceptable in her society than such a brash rogue would ever be."

As Marie prattled on, it occurred to Sherry since Rico had been the one to inspire her to change her character from a boring, blond pasty-faced dud to a more exciting dangerously attractive and far more sexy bad boy type for the lady in her story to fall head over heels in love with, she knew she was also defending her choice in choosing Rico in real life, too.

When she noticed that Marie was waiting, she thought carefully as she explained her reasoning, trying not to give anything away about her own real life sexy rogue. "Marie, I think that sometimes people are just drawn to each other, no matter if they come from different worlds. And when they've fallen as deeply in love as these two have, then nothing else really matters but them happily living out their lives together, and somehow they just find a way to make it work. I believe my readers will agree that Lady Madeleine choosing an exciting love-filled life with Miguel over a life of privilege with a cool, pompous man like the Duke, just to satisfy the expectations of her peers and family, is a far braver choice that I think they'll thoroughly enjoy reading, and find themselves rooting for a happily ever after for them, despite what anyone in her society might think."

Sherry thought about how hard she'd worked on the story before she'd given up and changed it, and added, "I actually did give her a try with the Duke, and was going with that story line at first. But I just couldn't feel anything for them as a couple, even when he finally kissed her, it felt forced and lacked any real passion, because he simply didn't have an ounce of passion in him, though I tried my best to make him sound appealing. But when I let myself imagine her with the far more exciting choice of devilish Miguel, the story almost wrote itself. And the passion just flowed from them onto the screen. And I think I already know they'll have a happy ever that the fans will absolutely adore."