Page 67 of Love and Cherish

It stung at first, but Cherish breathed through it. The added pressure from her ass and her pussy combined was insane.

“Oh God,” Cherish said loudly. “Don’t stop. You’re brilliant.”

Cherish wiggled, unable to keep herself still as Haylee moved against her. Cherish sucked in a sharp breath when all of a sudden, her body reverberated with the arousal she so rarely felt. She reached for it, grasped onto it, held it tightly. Following it, focusing only on it, Cherish waited for the hard slide of her orgasm to consume her.

It took way longer than she anticipated, but Haylee showed no sign of slowing down. Flinging her hand down, Cherish grabbed hold of Haylee’s short hair and held tightly as she undulated her pussy into Haylee’s mouth. She breathed heavily as pleasure washed through her.

Pleasure.

Cherish let that fact sink in. She laughed when Haylee slowed, when Haylee licked her clean, when Haylee moved up to lie next to her and pulled the blindfold off. Cherish murmured, “I’m so sorry.”

“What the hell are you apologizing for?” Haylee asked, nuzzling her face into Cherish’s neck. “You taste amazing.”

“That I take so long.”

“If I can go down on you for hours, I will.” Haylee wrapped an arm across Cherish’s middle and tugged her in a little closer. “This was the best night of my life.”

“The best?”

“Yeah,” Haylee answered. “The best.”

Cherish smiled and ran her fingers through Haylee’s hair slowly. She couldn’t lie. It was one of the best nights of her life, too. And she wasn’t going to forget it any time soon.

twenty-two

“Um…I’d like to discuss something else?” Haylee sounded so unsure, her voice almost squeaking in the dim lighting of Febe’s office, and Cherish knew something was up in an instant. With the rise of pitch in her voice at the end of her sentence, it undermined the idea before she could even voice it. “I was wondering if we could talk about my proposal?”

Another question.

But one that made Cherish’s body pulse.

She flicked her gaze straight to Haylee, remembering the feeling of Haylee’s mouth between her legs, the buildup of pleasure, the crashing through it. Her cheeks reddened, and she dropped her gaze to the floor. Febe might pick up on that, but she doubted Haylee would. As attentive as Haylee could be, her focus was far away from Cherish at that moment.

“What proposal?” Febe’s voice cracked through the room like a whip.

Cherish tensed. She hadn’t had time to soften Febe to Haylee’s idea yet. Hell, she and Haylee had barely had time to talk about what Haylee really needed to do in order to prove her point to Febe and maybe make some headway. She almost jumped in to stop everything from unraveling, but Haylee beat her to the punch.

“I want us to specialize in working with veteran families.” Haylee leaned forward slightly in her chair.

That was good, she included herself, using us where it mattered, just as Cherish had suggested. Febe would be less defensive then, but Haylee also seemed to imply that the entire operation should focus on veterans instead of adding it to what they already had.

Cherish whipped her head up to look at Febe, judging her reactions. She already wasn’t in the greatest mood. Something about an HR issue had set her off earlier that morning, and she hadn’t calmed down from it yet. No doubt Cherish would learn the details soon enough and have to deal with the consequences of Febe crossing whomever it had been this time.

“There are veterans and veteran families everywhere, Ms. Coleman.” Febe’s words were emphasized, a cold sharp edge to them.

Oh, this wasn’t good. Cherish bit back words, wanting to burst out and protect Haylee. She blinked at the tension radiating between Febe and Haylee, but just as much as she blinked at her own desires. Protect Haylee? The woman was a wrecking ball. She was strong and incredible and insecure, but it had never dawned on Cherish that she might ever need protecting.

“Yes, exactly.” Haylee jumped a little, her voice rising again in pitch. She was nervous.

Cherish had that pegged from the start, but the slight tremor in Haylee’s fingers set off warning bells. Haylee couldn’t even look Febe in the eye. This wasn’t going to end well, and all Cherish could do was try and prevent it from getting worse. Tightening her body to prepare to join the battle, Cherish couldn’t stop herself.

“I think what Ms. Coleman is trying to say is that focusing on veterans and their families would increase business revenue drastically. With the current conflicts, our military are coming home with a deep need for care.” Cherish bit back anything else she was going to say, but now the pressure that had been building beneath her skin, like an overfilled balloon, eased enough for her to breathe. Surely, she had skirted around the conflict. And this was Haylee’s baby after all. As much as she wanted to support her, and protect her, Haylee had to make her own pitch.

“What I’m saying is…” the vehemence in Haylee’s words was undeniable and sank in Cherish’s chest like a stone in water. “…there are people out there suffering who need to be able to make one call and know it will be answered by someone who understands. And we have a platform to reach a wide audience in the United States. We should be using that.”

Cherish looked over at Febe and then closed her eyes. She barely contained the groan from escaping her lips. Her heart sank in an instant. For the near year that Haylee had worked there, she had thought that Haylee had come to understand Febe. But Cherish was clearly wrong. Haylee was innocent, and she was about to be pounded into the pavement.

Febe’s eyebrows raised at Haylee’s tone.

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