Empire of Lies

“Furthermore,” he says, “You’re still here with me when you could’ve left long ago. I’ve left the keys on the dresser for you, left my phones out—all five of them, and there’s no indoor security system here. You could’ve walked out of this damn shower the moment I started talking, too. The other door is right behind you.” He pauses. “You want to prove me wrong?”

“I’m here because you’re supposed to take me to the airport…”

“You’re here because you’re a willing captive, Meredith.” His free hand pinches my nipple as he continues teasing my mouth with his other hand. “And at times in your life, you’ve been just as bad as me.”

“No,” I say, still in disbelief about the way that he’s described me. “None of the things I’ve done have hurt other people…None of the things you listed has anything to do with me being a good person.”

“Meredith…” He looks into my eyes, pressing his forehead against mine. “A ‘good person’ wouldn’t be standing in front of me right now.”

Silence.

His lips quickly latch onto mine, and I wrap my arms around his neck. He slides his tongue into my mouth, giving me a taste of what I’ve been missing—what I’ve been needing, for weeks.

When he kisses me like this, nothing else in the world matters. Every remnant of the last argument is slowly erased, every petty word spit out of spite sails away, and the world comes to a complete stop.

Reaching behind me to shut off the water, he keeps his mouth on mine as he pushes me back against the shower’s glass—not letting me catch more than a few seconds of breath.

“Meredith…” he whispers my name in between the more aggressive kisses, rendering me speechless all at once. His kisses take away all of my previous thoughts and doubts, each one rolling away from my tongue and onto his.

“I missed you…” I manage to utter a few words. “I fucking missed you.”

He bites down on my bottom lip before gripping my waist. “I missed you, too…”

I shut my eyes as he begins kissing me again, as I feel his cock hardening against my thighs, but he suddenly stops.

“Not this time,” he says, waiting for me to open my eyes. “I want you to look at me while I’m fucking you…I want you to look at me the entire time.” He leans down and sucks my left nipple into his mouth, then he slips two of his thick fingers deep inside of me.

Slowly moving his fingers in and out, he sucks harder on my nipple, still keeping his green gaze locked onto my eyes.

“Fuck, Michael…”

He pulls his fingers out of me and bends down to his knees, pressing his mouth against my pussy and kissing it even longer—in the same sensual way that he kisses my lips.

My knees start to weaken as he teases my clit with his tongue, and I can’t help but grab fistfuls of his hair.

Laughing softly, he looks up at me, whispering, “Do you want my cock back where it belongs?”

I nod, too on edge to speak right now.

He presses one last kiss against my clit, driving me even closer to the cliff, but he doesn’t let me go over it.

Standing up, he slides a hand under my thigh and lifts up my right leg, slowly positioning his cock against my soaking wet slit. He pushes it in a few inches, groaning as he slips it in a bit further, and then he pushes himself deep inside of me before wrapping my leg around his waist.

I’m lost before he even begins fucking me, lost in the length of him, in the way that he’s looking at me. Like he can’t bear to be without me again. Even if I wanted to, I can’t dare look away...

He squeezes my ass as he pounds into me relentlessly, as he fucks me in the way I love, in a way that only he can.

“Michael…” I moan his name as I claw my nails against his back, marring his skin. “Michael…”

He keeps his gaze locked on me, keeps fucking me harder and harder. “Meredith…”

As he picks up his tempo, I moan even louder.

“I’m about to come…” I whisper, feeling the tell-tale tremors begi

He holds me taut as he watches, seemingly becoming even more turned on, and he stills seconds later. Finding his own release.

He holds me against his chest as we both come down from our orgasms, his cock still inside of me.

It’s not until several moments later, that he lets me go.

We stare at each other, not saying a word, and I see my future in his eyes—us against the world, me fighting his demons, him conquering mine.

“For the record,” I say, still trying to breathe normally, “Our sex doesn’t count as an apology and I don’t care that you fuck me better than anyone else. You still left me alone in a foreign country and—”

My sentence ends on his lips and he wraps his arms around my waist.

When he finally lets me go, he looks into my eyes and waits until I catch my breath. “I’m fucking sorry, Meredith. I should’ve never left you like that.”

“You should’ve never left me at all.”

“That was my next line,” he says, looking genuine. “I should’ve never left you at all. I’m sorry, and I’ll find a way to make it up to you…”

I stare at him, completely stu

“Take me back, Meredith,” he says, suddenly—catching me off-guard again. “Tell me that you’ll take me back, that we can start over.”

I shake my head. “I haven’t forgiven you for leaving me in Mexico yet.”

“I don’t expect you to anytime soon…” He looks at me. “I’m just asking you to take me back.”

“Are you still attempting to fly me off to Switzerland?”

“No, I would much rather have my wife back, and with me—without strings attached…” He smiles and brings my head closer to his—kissing me again. “I’m still waiting to hear her take me back, actually.”

“Are you begging or asking her?”

“I’m asking.”

“She needs you to beg…”

He stares at me, saying nothing for several seconds. Then, as if his mouth is incapable of saying the word, “please,” or if he’s above begging for anything, he ventures down an alternate route. “Meredith Anderson, it would be in your best interest to take me back. If you don’t, you’ll only be cheating yourself…”

I say nothing.

“Is in your best interest,” he repeats, looking worried that I may say no.

I smile. “That’s as good of a ‘beg’ as I’m going to get from you, isn’t it?”

“It is if you know the man you married.”

I hold back a laugh and lean against him. “I’ll consider taking you back if…”

“If what, Meredith?”

“If you give me two things.”

“Name them.”

“I want more from you,” I say. “I want you to go back to the little things you did when we were dating, but I want a little more…”

“Okay.” He kisses me. “I’ll do that. What else?”

“I want you to tell me the whole story about who you were before, how you turned out to be who you are…”

I brace for him to shut that idea down, but he doesn’t, surprisingly. He leads me out of the shower and dresses me for bed—returning the wedding ring to my finger. After dressing himself, he positions me on top of him, on the mattress, and looks into my eyes.