Walking Among the Cherry Trees: The Cook Brothers Series

by Heather D'Agostino

  Taylor gently pushed on my shoulders as he laid me down on the bed. It didn’t even click at the moment that we were in the master bedroom, my bedroom. I’d never had a man in here. All the nights I’d brought someone home, we always went to the guest room. I’d never wanted to let someone in here before. This room had been my sanctuary, and I hadn’t wanted it tainted. This was different though. This was Taylor.

  His knees caused the bed to dip as he climbed over me before lowering himself. My eyes fluttered closed as I felt his lips trail up my stomach starting at my navel, and continuing until he reached the spot between my breasts. He made quick work of getting my bra off before licking his way over to a nipple and sucking it into his mouth. The warm, wet sensation caused my back to bow and my chest to arch toward him. “Please?” I whimpered as my hands flew to his head. My fingers gripped the silky strands, tugging them forcefully to cause him to look at me.

  “I’ve missed you so much,” his voice was choked and his eyes held unshed tears. Taylor was falling apart right in front of me. “Please, let me do this,” he begged.

  I nodded without speaking before I released his head and shoved at my panties, the last piece of clothing I was wearing. I managed to get them over my hips, but as Taylor’s fingers slid between my thighs, I gave up. Blinding pleasure shot through me causing me to thrash beneath him. All conscious thought left me as my release rose to the surface and spilled over the edge. I’d been denied once tonight, and my body wasn’t taking the chance of it happening again. It wanted more though, and as I slowly began to come down to Earth, I noticed Taylor had stood up and was shoving his boxers off.

  His cock sprang free, standing at attention, and it begged for me. I licked my lips as he crawled back on the bed. I could feel every hot, throbbing inch of him. His mouth sealed over mine, his tongue diving in, reaching for the darkest depths of me. It was sending me into an emotional spiral. His hips rolled, pressing the pulsing fleshing into my thigh as my body called to him. I broke the kiss as words I didn’t even recognize began to tumble out of me.

  He groaned as his fingers kneaded my breast. His lips trailed over my neck, and up to my ear. “I don’t have a condom,” he gasped when I lifted my pelvis to rub against him. I reached between us and let my fingers glide over him causing him to twitch and moan. “Morgan, did you hear me? I don’t have a condom,” he was panting as he tried to hold on to some semblance of reality.

  “I don’t care,” I murmured as I connected our mouths again, and I didn’t. I didn’t care that we were doing this once again unprotected. All I cared about was being with him, the real him, the one that finally let me in like he had all those years ago the first time we made love. Taylor opened doors that had been sealed shut for so long. He’d allowed himself the freedom to love me like he wanted to.

  “Are you sure,” he paused as he looked at me, waiting for me to reassure him that it was ok.

  “Yes,” I gasped as I felt him brushing at my entrance.

  “I’m so sorry,” he mumbled again. He’d been saying it all night, and I think in his mind, he thought I’d never forgive him. “I love you, Morgan.” His eyes continued to bore into mine as his hips pushed forward and he filled me.

  This time was nothing like last month. This time wasn’t hurried. We felt every second of our union, and even though the moment was tinged with alcohol, we were being honest with one another. Taylor’s eyes stayed connected with mine as he slowly began to move. I watched as their green depths swam with emotion. The sparkle that was there when we were kids was slowly coming back. The love I’d seen all those years ago was trying to take root once again as both our hearts reconnected in a way that we’d always yearned for. He blinked as he broke our stare only to lean down and fuse his mouth with mine. The kiss was soft, slow, and languid as he matched its power to the thrusts of his hips.

  My knees rose as I wrapped my legs around his hips bringing him deeper into me. As my hands traced up and down his back, his pace began to pick up. I could sense the change in him. He went from a steady unwavering rhythm to quick deep thrusts. He was losing the battle against his release, and as I felt that deep tingly sensation in the pit of my stomach, I knew I was right there with him. “Oh god,” I panted as he moved faster, and faster. “Tay. Oh god!” My legs trembled as I scraped my nails down his back causing him to groan before his entire body went still. His head fell to the bed and rested right above my shoulder as he paused still shaking against me. “Tay?” I reached up slowly to run my fingers through his sweaty hair.

  “Please,” he mumbled. “Don’t ask me to leave again. I can’t walk away again.” He didn’t give me time to answer before he barreled on. “I need you. Cooper needs you. Please?” He lifted his head to look at me as he ran his fingers across my forehead. Our bodies were still connected, and when I squeezed him, his eyes slammed shut.

  “Cooper?” I whispered.

  “CJ,” he murmured. “Cooper. I named him after Virginia.”

  “Oh, Taylor.” I couldn’t hold back at that point. The tears that had been right on the edge began to fall over and trickle into my hair. My arms rose to his neck to hug him to me as my lips searched for his. Within seconds, he was hard again, and without missing a beat, he began to make love to me all over again.

  We spent the night worshiping each other’s bodies, making up for all the time we’d spent apart. All the years of hurting, all the missed ‘I love yous’, all the soft caresses and sweet words that could have been shared while we’d both suffered in silence yearning for the other. I don’t know when we fell asleep, but thoughts of a future together swirled through my mind. I had so many things to deal with tomorrow, starting with my father.

  WHEN I AWOKE the next morning, it took me a minute to remember I wasn’t alone in bed. I smiled as I shifted and snuggled into his side. He looked so young as he slept with his arms curled under the pillow. One leg was bent at the knee, and other was hanging off the bed as it stuck out from under the covers. His hair was messy, and his lips formed a soft pout causing me to wonder what he was dreaming about. The sheets had slipped down to his waist exposing his muscular back, and when he shifted, causing it to flex, all I wanted to do was touch him.

  “You should take a picture, it’ll last longer,” he mumbled as one eye cracked open to stare at me. I blushed and turned away at being caught. “Don’t be shy now, baby.” He yawned as he rolled onto his side and reached for me. He tugged me against him as he pressed a light kiss to my lips. “It’s nice having you still here,” he mumbled. “I miss waking up with you in my arms.”

  At that moment, my happy bubble burst. Guilt filled me as I remembered the last time we’d spent the night together. I’d gone out in the orchard and cried on what I thought was my baby’s grave. “I’m sorry,” I whispered.

  “Enough with the sorrys,” he kissed my forehead. “This is our second chance.” He smiled as he pulled back and stared into my eyes. Before I could react, a phone began to ring somewhere in the room. I gave him a quizzical look as he sat up to climb out of bed. It wasn’t my ringtone, so I knew it had to be his. The longer it played, the more I started to laugh. Taylor rushed around my room completely naked as “I Shot the Sheriff” blared from his pants pocket. “Not a word,” he pointed at me before digging the phone out of the pile of clothes on the floor and connecting the call.

  “What?” he growled. I knew it had to be Trevor, who else would have that ring tone? “No, I don’t know when I’ll be finished.” He looked over and grinned at me. “What do you think?” he paused. I figured they were talking about me based on the cryptic answers I was hearing. “I’ll call you later. You and Ty can have some quality time.” He disconnected the call, tossed the phone back on the pile of clothes, and then began to climb on the bed over me. “Now where were we?” He leaned down and connected our mouths.

  “Who was that?” I pulled away and asked.

  “My pain in the ass brother. Who else would call me after I left with a woman the nigh
t before? He’s nosy.” Taylor shook his head before leaning in to nuzzle my neck. “I don’t wanna talk about him right now.” He pressed a kiss right below my ear as his hands began to push at the sheets that were separating us.

  “What are you doing?” I giggled as he shoved at the sheets angrily.

  “Making up for lost time,” he snickered before slanting his head to join our mouths.

  We stayed in bed most of the morning. I stopped counting how many times we made love. Taylor didn’t need much recovery time, and if we hadn’t needed to eat at some point, I don’t think we ever would have left the bed.

  “How much of the city have you seen?” I panted as I tried to catch my breath. We were lying side-by-side staring at the ceiling in my bedroom. We’d showered earlier, and I’d cooked some breakfast, but now it was afternoon.

  “Other than this fine bedroom, not much other than the club and train station,” he chuckled as his head turned to stare at me.

  “That’s it then.” I sat up and turned to face him. “We’re going out,” I rose from the bed, marched over to my dresser, and began digging for a clean pair of panties.

  “Morgan,” Taylor snickered. “I don’t have any clothes. We need to go by Ty’s so I can get my luggage if you’re planning on leaving this bedroom.”

  “Get your luggage?” I grinned. “Where do you plan on taking it?” I turned and placed my hands on my hips as I tried to keep a straight face.

  “Well,” he studied me before he stood and moved to stand right in front of me, “I was thinking I’d bring it here, but if you don’t want me too then I suppose I can find somewhere else. There were a lot of women giving me attention last night. I bet one of them would be happy to let me stay with them.” He shrugged before turning to make his way over to the pile of clothes on the floor.

  “I don’t think so,” I shook my head. “Give me twenty minutes, then we’ll go to Ty’s.”

  I know it took me more than twenty minutes to get ready, but Taylor was patient. He always had been. He watched TV while I showered again and dressed myself in a pair of capris pants and silk shell top. I’d pulled my hair back in a low ponytail and applied just a light amount of lip gloss and mascara. It was supposed to be hot today, and if I had things my way, we’d be outside quite a bit.

  “You ready?” Taylor rose from the couch as I gathered my purse and keys.

  “Yep,” I smiled as I watched him appraise me. “Let’s go get your stuff. I’ve got a car waiting downstairs.”

  “Must be nice,” Taylor muttered as we made our way out of my apartment and towards the elevator.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” I snapped at him. He knew I lived this lifestyle.

  “Always having people to wait on you. You’ve changed,” he shrugged as he leaned into the corner of the elevator car.

  “I’ve lived here since birth, Tay. This is who I am. You knew that when you came back here,” I stared at my feet as he stood silent in the corner, brooding. When the elevator reached the lobby and the door dinged open, I turned to him, “I’m not my father, but I’m also not going to pretend to be someone I’m not. If we’re going to be together… you need to accept that this is my life.” I stepped out of the elevator, giving him no choice but to trail behind me.

  Once outside, I climbed into the car, and slid over to allow him space. He didn’t look at me as he climbed in, and the only words he uttered the entire ride to Tyler’s were Ty’s address. “Do you plan on talking to me again?” I grumbled as we climbed out in front of Ty’s building. I gave my driver instructions to wait as we made our way inside. Ty’s building wasn’t as big as mine, but was pretty close to the same upscale type finishes.

  Taylor paused, “I’m just trying to wrap my head around this. How are you ever going to be happy in Cherryville if this is the life you’d be giving up?”

  “Wait! What? Why would I be giving this up?” I shuffled after him as he began climbing the stairs. That was the one difference here. This building wasn’t as tall, so you could take the stairs to get to the upper floors.

  “I live in Cherryville. My business is in Cherryville. CJ and all his friends are in Cherryville. Do you see the pattern here?” He turned around to glare at me.

  “Why are you worrying about this now?” I squeaked. I hadn’t even thought about moving back. After what had happened last month, I wasn’t sure I wanted to anymore. At one point it had been a dream, then Virginia left me the house and it seemed like it could be a reality. Now, I wasn’t sure I could do it. Did everyone back there know that CJ was mine? How would they treat me when they found out the truth?

  “Look at us,” Taylor shoved through at door at the end of the hallway of Ty’s apartment. “It’s only been a day and we’re already fighting again.”

  “I’m not fighting,” I cried out. “I’m trying to understand you; I want this to work, Tay, but you have to talk to me.”

  “Talking doesn’t work with us. You should know that by now,” he growled as he knocked on Ty’s door.

  “Would you stop?” I grabbed his arm just as the door opened, and Ty stood there in nothing but a pair of sweatpants.

  “So it was you,” he grinned as he stared at us and ran his hand through his messy hair.

  “Hi, Tyler,” I released Taylor’s arm and took a step back. Tyler must have sensed the tension between us because at that moment he just stepped out of the way to let us in.

  When we entered the living room, Trevor was sprawled out on the couch watching a baseball game and only offered a wave. I waved back, and Taylor slipped past me to go shower and change. He didn’t look up or kiss me on the cheek like he had been all morning, and an ache began to grow in my belly. Would it always be like this? Had we torn each other down so much that we’d never get back what we had all those years ago? Back then, we’d seemed unbreakable, but my father had wrecked things so badly that I wasn’t sure we’d ever be strong enough to fuse us back together.

  “Have a seat,” Tyler motioned for the couch, “or are you planning to run again?” He held out a bottled water as he rounded the corner, but I shook my head and slowly sank into the soft cushions of the couch.

  “I’m sorry,” I murmured.

  “Don’t be,” Ty chuckled. “If we’d hooked up and then Tay found out about it, he’d probably remove my dick with a dull knife. You’ve always been off limits to rest of us,” he shrugged as he sat down and began chugging his water. “So are the two of you back together?”

  “I don’t know,” I mumbled as I stared at the floor between my feet. “I thought it was heading that way, but now…” I trailed off as I lifted a shoulder.

  “Give him time. He’s had a huge burden to deal with over the years. It’s really taken its toll. He loves you though. I saw the way he looked at you, and for years he hasn’t been able to talk about you.”

  “Ready?” Taylor called from the doorway halting mine and Tyler’s conversation. He’d changed into a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. A duffle bag was clinched in one hand and a jacket in the other. “I’m staying at Morgan’s tonight. I’ll meet you guys at the station tomorrow.” He turned and made his way to the door, leaving me to trail behind him.

  Ty smiled at me as I stood and Trevor offered another wave as I followed in Taylor’s wake. He was still not talking to me, but at least he seemed to want to work it out. After all, he did say he was staying with me tonight. That was something, right?

  “I’M SORRY ABOUT what I said back there,” I reached for Morgan’s hand, resting in her lap. She tried to pull away from me, but I laced our fingers together and gave her hand a gentle squeeze. “I’m just not sure how to fix all this,” I muttered. She nodded as she stared out her window. She didn’t pull her hand away, but she wouldn’t look at me either. I knew it would be hard. She had a life here. She ran a business here, and no matter how I felt about that, I couldn’t ask her to leave any more than she could ask me to do the same. “Where are we going?” I finally tugged on her hand to get
her to look at me. She had mentioned Central Park, but we didn’t seem to be going in that direction.

  “McGregor Enterprises,” she murmured as she turned to face me. She took a deep breath as the happiness that she’d had this morning seemed to melt away into the sadness I’d become so familiar with. “Dad’s in the office today. I figure I better get this over with,” she shrugged. “You don’t have to come up, if you don’t want to.”

  I could tell by the way she was beginning to fidget and chew her lip that that was the last thing she wanted me to do. “I’d like to see your office,” I smiled as I tried to break the tension in the car. “I’ve always had this picture in my head of what you looked like behind a desk,” I nudged her and a small smile began to appear. “You don’t have to do this alone, Morgan. I’ll be there to help.” Her head bobbed slowly as the car pulled over in front of a huge glass building.

  “Here goes nothing,” she blew out a breath as the driver opened her door. I climbed out behind her and stood there in awe, looking up at the towering mass of glass and metal that stood in front of me. McGregor Enterprises was in bold lettering over the door, and several people were busily making their way in and out of the building. Morgan turned toward the driver and said something, but I wasn’t paying attention. He nodded and left us there.

  “Where’s he going? Won’t we need him again?” I was confused, but she shook her head as she grabbed my hand and walked us inside.

  “He’s going to take your things back to my place. We can walk from here or grab a cab. After talking with my dad, I may need to walk off the anger,” she sighed as she headed over to the wall of elevators.

  We made our way upstairs and as we walked toward an office near the back, Morgan smiled at several different people. “I can’t believe so many employees are here on a weekend,” I gasped.