Cherished by You: A Found by You Finale Novella

by Victoria H. Smith

  Lost in them, I sat so long that the sun did set, the soft glow of our property lights the only thing to see by. I set them to come on after day reached a certain hour, nothing but a soft hum of light in the air on the beach.

  I drew my arms over the tops of my knees, my feet firmly in the sand as I literally forced myself not to worry, worry about her and the situation in which she left.

  Roxie had been so mad at me, and honestly, I still didn’t understand the anger. Call a guy dense, but she couldn’t expect me not to do something and help her in whatever way I could. I would help at the basic levels, as her husband, but I wasn’t just that, and she wasn’t just that to me either.

  We were each other’s best friends.

  “I don’t want her having anything to do with us, Griffin. I don’t want her near us, near you.”

  She said she didn’t want Cassidy near us and I understood that. The fact had been the very reason why I did what I had, to protect our family.

  My gaze searching the beach, I caught my phone in the sand near my feet, the screen still unlit with a call, or even a text from my wife. Just sitting here was damn foolish and I picked it up, unable to take the waiting anymore.

  After dialing, I took the device to my ear and had no regrets. I’d given Roxie her time, her space, and now…

  The glass door behind me sliding open got my attention. As I turned around, my gaze traveled back to the house, my position on the beach just behind it. We had a fence separating our backyard from the beach, and I sat there, watching while my wife approach me.

  Roxie was here as if she never left and I returned my phone to my side, going to stand up. But when she raised her hands, I stayed in my position, letting her come to me. The bell of her dress swayed in the light wind with her strides, and everything flooded back upon seeing her, those feelings of wanting to keep her close, safe. Arriving, Roxie lowered to the beach, but I had to have her in my arms, taking her and our child close to me.

  She came without resistance, snuggling close, and I hadn’t realized how anxious I’d been sitting here. My thoughts had taken the path of worst case scenario in the last few hours, her whereabouts unknown.

  Bringing my arm around her, around them both, I still couldn’t rest easy even though she’d returned. There was so much between us, her last words between us.

  “I’m so mad at you,” she whispered, pushing her small arms around me, as well as she could with her belly. She said what she had, but even with her words, she held me tight. That hold had been both of us, equally.

  Drawing my hand down her arm, her heat, I let her words flow over me. I did know she was mad. She’d told me that before she left.

  “I know,” I said, closing both arms around her.

  Her body moved with her sigh, and I wanted to ask her why she was mad, as well as where she went and why she felt she needed to leave instead of talking to me.

  I chose to ease into all of it, deciding to tell her why I did what I had first.

  “But when it comes to you, Roxie,” I said, “our family, you can’t expect me not to act, to not be there for you in any way I can.”

  And she had to know that, and because of the way I felt, I couldn’t apologize, not for wanting to take care of her. I’d always take care of her. Perhaps, she knew that because she didn’t say anything.

  “Where did you go?” I asked. I did want to give her space, but when it came to this topic, her safety…

  Dark lashes opened toward the beach, the waves.

  “I had to see what she wanted,” she said, and I fought my first reaction and what I knew would be frustration in my voice, my words.

  Squeezing Roxie’s arm, I stayed silent.

  Though, only at first.

  “I’m sorry, baby. But I’m not really okay with that,” I told her being honest. “I confronted her so you wouldn’t have to.”

  Warm fingers touched my jaw, reaching up. She shifted in my arms and stared at me with eyes that made me want to hold her tight, keep her forever and never let go. She was that beautiful, that special, my wife.

  She pressed her forehead to mine, smelling warm. Like sugar.

  “So you see why I’m mad now? Mad that you went?”

  Lifting my head, I stared at her now, confused.

  She breathed. “Your impulse to see her, shield me from her, is the same reason why I went today.”

  “Roxie—”

  “To shield you from them,” she said, her fingers bumping over the rough surface of my jaw. I hadn’t shaved yet, my mind already too consumed.

  Her thumb touched my mouth. “My old stepfamily, my step mom and sisters are poison, Griffin. They hurt me in ways, affected me in ways…”

  Her hand was shaking now, her body tense. I gripped her fingers and her gaze escaped.

  “I can’t have them anywhere near you,” she said, closing her eyes. “I can’t. I’m not strong enough. They’re cruel and terrible, and I won’t have them near you. It hurts. I—”

  “Okay. All right,” I said, pulling her into my arms. Her back to my chest, she stayed there, rested there, and as we both went silent, out breaths in the night the only sounds between us, I finally did get it. Her anger from before and why she had it.

  She wanted to protect me, keep me from the people who’d brought her pain. I understood because I’d been trying to do the same thing for her.

  We always did protect each other, didn’t we?

  I brushed my lips against her brow, viewing out into the crashing waves on the beautiful beach we owned. We had neighbors, but this section was ours, legal and binding.

  She fell into my arms, eyes shutting to the wind, and as she did, I finally felt peace. All we had needed to do was talk to each other, get on the same page.

  I pushed my hands down her arms.

  “Did you do what you needed to do?” I asked after a while. I wanted to hear it. I wanted her to tell me, to listen to her.

  She nodded, her eyes opening. Suddenly, she sat up in my arms, and I let her turn, face me.

  “I need to do something,” she said, playing with the sand a little. “And I think going out, seeing her today, made me realize that.”

  I played with her hair, strands always escaping the messy way she put it up. I was going to listen to her, be the support I think she needed.

  But then she said something even I hadn’t expected.

  “I think I need to help her,” she said, and my fingers fell from her hair, my shoulders stiffening.

  Her lips moved. “I think I need to do it. I think helping her will give me closure.”

  “I’m sorry. Help her with what?” I asked raising my hand but not my voice. I stayed calm.

  It didn’t matter if I was feeling the opposite way inside. I think she felt my frustrations, though because she pushed her fingers through her hair.

  “She needs a lawyer,” she said, dropping her hand. “She’s pregnant and going through a messy custody battle post her divorce. She has nothing but her unborn child and that’s exactly what he wants. He’s fighting for full custody of their unborn child. He wants to take her baby away.”

  Jesus.

  I rubbed my brow, hearing everything she said, and also understanding why she wanted to help. But something I didn’t think she understood was how she was being used. She was pregnant, and her sister obviously knew that. She pulled at Roxie’s sympathy. She was taking advantage of her.

  I decided to tread lightly here, the issue more than sensitive.

  “I can see why you want to help,” I started, nodding. “And this woman, Cassidy, obviously genuinely needs help. But you must see the angle she’s playing at, here. Both her and you being pregnant? It’s very convenient, and she’s probably pretty desperate.”

  “You think she’s taking advantage of me.”

  The words were very much a statement.

  I pushed my hand over my hair. “I know she is. She has to be. It’s just too convenient. And you’re not even that kind of lawy
er, Roxie. You can’t help her that way.”

  My wife had such a big heart, but… this was way beyond her wheelhouse even if she wanted to help.

  I expected a challenge, to be challenged by what I said. I proposed some good arguments, as to why she shouldn’t do this.

  But getting on her knees, she didn’t give that to me. Instead, she placed her hands on the sides of my neck.

  “I need your support,” she said, touching her forehead to mine. The breeze around us, the beach before us she smelled like heaven, my own kind bottled and branded for me.

  “Please,” she breathed, and then she kissed me, touching me in the ways that drove me crazy.

  My cock pulsed underneath her hand, rock hard with no give thanks to the confines of my jeans.

  My hips thrust to meet her palm. “Roxie…”

  Her hand slid underneath my t-shirt, shots of heat surging directly into my abdomen. Her lips on mine, I knew exactly what she was doing, her hands on me.

  Intercepting, I held her back, catching her as she attempted to go for my jeans. We couldn’t just… sex our way around it, the problem.

  Forcing my body to calm, I held her hand, kissing her palm.

  “I do support you, Roxie,” I told her. Because I did, so much. I shook my head. “I support everything you do. I love you.”

  I’d move the heavens and the Earth for this woman, and she had to know that. I would if I physically could.

  Breathing, she kissed my hand too, running her lips along my finger.

  “I know,” she said and the ache in her voice I heard at full volume.

  Laying her head on my chest, she said nothing and even though, we were in the most peaceful environment in the world, our home we both created and built upon, I felt something so loud between us. It resonated in the air, crackled audibly despite how much I hated the fact.

  She wanted to help this girl. She wanted to help despite what she’d done. I could only gather that was because of what she said.

  My wife needed closure, to help someone, not for this woman’s sake…but her own.

  This, helping Cassidy, was very much for her, no one else. I also knew for a fact my wife was struggling with something, an issue that took her to her counselor once upon a time.

  Maybe this would help.

  I had no idea what Roxie struggled with. She hadn’t told me, but I had a feeling if I challenged her on this, kept her from closing this door with her ex-step-sister, I might not only make the issue she was having worse…

  But force some resentment toward me as well.

  My sigh rang heavy in the night, but I knew in my heart what I had to do.

  What I had to let her do.

  “If you do this,” I started, pulling back to stare in her eyes. They were so wide, passionate, and kind.

  As well as hauntingly beautiful.

  My thumb tilted her chin up. “If you help Cassidy… Then you have to promise me you’ll let this go. It’s not good for you, Roxie. It’s not good for our family. You help her this one time, then that has to be it. You have to be done.”

  Because I couldn’t handle anything more, she might offer this woman. It may be the most selfish thing in the world, but I couldn’t allow my wife amongst someone, in a situation too long that would be detrimental to both her health and the life of our unborn child.

  She stared at me for a while after I said that, the waves crashing ahead of us. The night had fallen, but despite the fact I made out her nod.

  “If that’s what you need,” she said, touching her forehead to mine, and she knew me so well. That promise… her faith I needed so much.

  As well as something else.

  Easing her lips up, I gave her a soft kiss in the night, bracing her cheek as I hummed my need for her along her lips. My cock stiffened in a fury, and her thighs jiggled when I bunched her dress above her hips, her breasts bouncing after I shrugged the material over her head and tossed it to the beach. This left her exposed, open to the ocean air, but we’d done this before so many times. Our elderly neighbors never went out after the sun set, so we had our privacy.

  But even if they did…

  I took her lips, guiding her to slide her perfect body on top of mine, and she was perfect, created for me—mine.

  Her belly was swollen, as much her breasts, her skin toasted and warm underneath my hands. Hips wide, full, they were exemplary for my hands, my cock as I drove inside her.

  “Griffin…”

  I squeezed her breast, easing one of her lace cups off to tease one of her peaks.

  My thumb outlined the erect chocolate kiss that was her perfect brown nipple, needing a taste.

  I took that taste, and she moaned, cupping the back of my head, as I sucked. She had her own kind of indescribable taste, hot and sweet; amazing.

  My hand on her stomach, I lifted my hips, seeking her heat through her panties. So wet, she left a spot on my jeans.

  “Fuck…”

  That fell from both our lips, Roxie’s hips gyrating as she dry humped me. Reaching, she eased my shirt off, and I figured she wanted to take some of the control here, her hand reaching down to unbuckle my jeans.

  She had a smile on her lips while she did it, looking innocent, teasingly so. Her dark hair slid over her cheek, reminding me that she was anything but innocent. She took entirely too long to undo my pants, and by the time she did, my dick sang at the freedom, and equally burned beneath her touch.

  She jerked me, two hands, as she worked my cock. Half naked and one breast falling out of her bra, she was the epitome of a wet dream for me.

  And with her being pregnant.

  I held her tummy, my large hands not even big enough to cradle her.

  I moved a hand to her hip, pulling a breath through my teeth, as she pumped me. The tip of the head glistened in the soft lighting of our home’s outdoor lights, ready for so much more.

  I wanted her on her knees. I wanted her, but she threw me for a loop when she eased back. As she slid her panties away with two fingers, she showed me a dark mound, untampered with, natural, and it took all I had in me not to ease her up to my face and bury my tongue inside her.

  I waited, patient while she allowed me into that perfect, warm space.

  But once inside.

  I groaned, the chore of going slow while consumed by her heat that of an ungodly torture.

  “Baby…”

  She swiveled her hips, cutting me off, and when she started bouncing…

  Fuck.

  I took control then, bracing her hips. Holding her tight, taking her along for this ride, I used the force of my thighs to slam into her, fucking her from below.

  The pleasure on her face I lived for, I’d die for, and I watched her, the most beautiful sight above me.

  Pushing my hands along her descended abdomen, I laid my head back to the sand, cruising out this ride, this pleasure I myself had somehow been blessed with. It wasn’t supposed to turn out that way for me. Being in sports, a player’s lifetime usually consisted of drugs, parties, and women who never even gave a guy anything close to love. They didn’t have this. I wasn’t supposed to have it.

  But I did.

  I spilled into her, milking her with every thrust and pulling her orgasm out of her. It came quickly, hard, and that pulse, that damn pulse of hers tight around me vibrated well into my thighs.

  I slid her off when she was finished, her body weak. To the sand, I gave her my arm to lay on. I’d give her any limb she wanted.

  All she had to do was ask.

  Roxie

  Knots coiled, internal with no give. My stomach clenched tightly, and I couldn’t breathe correctly, my fingers going to my necklace.

  You can do this. You can.

  A lot brought me to this place now, my present and even my past. I wasn’t the same girl Cassidy knew back then. I built a life for myself, was having a family.

  Pushing my hands over my belly, I closed my eyes.

  I was a different person, had
different things and tools in my arsenal, and I could use them. I did use them every day I came to work and did the things I loved, for the people I felt needed just as much of a chance as I had. I built something, created something I was proud of because I had the strength. And I had the strength to do this, do something for someone without thought or even hope of appreciation. I didn’t want Cassidy’s sorry. I was way beyond that. I just wanted to know that I could do something for her without any type of thanks.

  I very much wanted this for myself.

  Looking up, something captured my attention, activity ahead from behind the window and office I sat in. They must have been finished, and that confirmed when into the hall came Kerry Donovan, my friend and as well as a lawyer in another life. She’d retired not long after she married her husband Kendrick, but she came out of retirement for today.

  She came out of retirement for me.

  I sat in her downtown office, her practice, which was run by herself and her family. Though she didn’t frequent the office, they kept a space for her, my friend one of the top attorneys in family law once upon a time. She used that knowledge, helping someone for me.

  In the weeks since I came to Kerry initially, she used that time to prepare and today, well, today was the day of the first meeting, my friend acting representation for… Cassidy.

  My former step-sister came out of the conference room within my view with who I knew to be Kerry’s second chair Edina behind her.

  Her hands twisted up, Cassidy walked with her head dipped down. She stood in between Edina and Kerry lacking everything I remembered her having as a child.

  She was much like that day I went to where she lived, withdrawn and quiet. Wearing a pale, pink dress and flat shoes without flash or glamor, my ex-step-sister took up little space. She remained small, quiet and had since the moment she arrived into Kerry’s office. I watched her the moment she came in, quiet myself in the space Kerry made for me in her office. I kept a close eye, feeling it necessary. I may have chosen to help Cassidy, but I’d be watching out for my friend as well. A top attorney or not, I made my friend susceptible to her. This was on me if Cassidy took advantage. None of this would go down unless I was present.