"Corri…" I sighed, my voice gravelly just from the sight of her. Fuck, I had missed her. "I really fucked up."

Corri's eyes grew wide as she took in the sight of me. I'm sure I looked awful with my clothes soaking wet and I couldn't hide the fact I'd been crying. I have been crying for days now. 

Anytime I wasn't drunk or had a drink in my hand, I was crying, even if no one could see it. Katrina wouldn't listen to me, her walls were up high. Nothing I said made a difference to her, she was dead set on me never seeing our son again. Her son, fuck. I would never get used to thinking he wasn't mine. I've known for years but it didn't matter. I've always treated him...loved him like my own boy.

For days I had contacted Katrina and was met with nothing but resistance. Hell I even pretended to be into her for a minute, even though it made me sick. I was so desperate to get her to listen to me, I would have done almost anything. Almost. I hated thinking about how I needed to tell Corri about this. 

I wanted Corri. I've always wanted Corri.

She didn't deserve me pushing her away or declining her calls and not coming home for days on end. How could she even forgive me? I was left with a huge hole in my gut when I considered that Corri may never forgive me. And that thought had sent me walking through a thunderstorm just to see if I still had a chance. 

Now I had to find out if I killed what we had before we found our happily ever after.

"Corri," I breathed, my words coming out in a whoosh as I crouched down by the side of the bed. She lifted the blanket off of her body and shifted until her legs hung over the edge. "I don't know how everything got so screwed up."

Corri's brow furrowed with concern as she reached for my face. I let my tired eyes fall closed, savoring the warmth of her touch. 

"Colt," she gasped softly. "Your skin is freezing."

When she pulled her hands away, my eyes snapped open. She stood up, wobbling a little and reached for my hand. I let her tug me up to stand as well. I wanted to grab her up and hold her against me, but she was right, I was freezing. 

Numbly, I followed her into the ensuite. Her hand released mine and all I could do was watch her. I held a small amount of hope when I saw her reach into the tub and turn on the shower. She faced me once more, peering up at me with concern. "You need to get in, Colt. We gotta get you warmed up," she stressed when I simply stared at her and made no move to get into the steaming shower. 

She sighed and then let her eyes drift over my body. I was wearing a zip up hoodie over a tee-shirt and a pair of basketball shorts. It had been warm out earlier, but the rain had made the air chilly and she was right, I was so cold.

I opened my mouth to speak, needing to tell her how sorry I was for pushing her away when all she wanted was to help me. But the words wouldn't come. I didn't even know where to begin to tell her how badly I had screwed this up with Katrina and more importantly, with her.

Corri glanced up at me and then took a step forward. My heart surged when I thought she might kiss me and make me forget how awful the past few days had been. I shivered when she fumbled with the zipper of my hoodie and tugged it down slowly. She peeled the rain-soaked fabric from my shoulders and let it fall with a plop. I stood unmoving as she fingered the hem of my tee and separated it from my wet skin. 

Now I stood in only my shorts, no underwear beneath the clinging fabric. I hadn't taken any clothes when I left days ago and had only been wearing what Jason had offered. And wearing another man's boxer briefs was just not something I wanted to do.

When Corri's shaking hands moved to the elastic waistband of the shorts, I could see the hesitation in her face. She wasn't looking at me then. Her teeth sunk into her lower lip as she concentrated on the task at hand. Despite the fact that she refused to make eye contact, I could see the blush rise in her cheeks when she eased the wet shorts over my hips, leaving me completely bare.

I gripped her chin in my hand and tipped her head back, forcing her to look at me. Her eyes fell closed and I had to fight the urge to kiss her. No, I couldn't kiss her until we talked and I had a chance to make this right. 

When I did nothing but stroke her pink cheeks with my thumbs, her eyelids fluttered open and she gazed at me. Her expression was dreamy, as if she had been just as caught up as I was in our closeness and the way our bodies leaned toward each other. But then I could see the moment she brought down the shutters and remembered what I had done or maybe she just remembered why we were here.

"You need to get in," Corri urged, twisting away from me to check the water temperature one more time. She held the curtain back and invited me in, but I wasn't ready to let her go.

My body, freezing from my walk in the rain, suddenly warmed when I brushed against Corri. As she turned away, I tugged her to my chest and forced her into the shower with me. "Colt!" she gasped as the shower rained down the almost too hot water over our skin.

I couldn't let her go. After being away from her all week, I wanted her as close to me as I could get her. I stepped back and let us both be covered by the water's warmth. Corri buried her face in my neck as I leaned down and gripped her tightly around her waist. We stood there holding each other like that for what felt like forever. I didn't dare speak for fear she would run from me. I felt as though she were slipping through my fingers and I had to say the right thing to make her understand. 

"I'm sorry," I murmured against her cheek. "You have no idea how incredibly sorry I am."

Corri tipped her head back to peer up at me, but I spoke again before she had a chance to stop me. "I promised to get my boy back and I failed. Katrina wouldn't listen to reason. I couldn't make her see that Kash was happy with us. Nothing I said mattered so I…" I paused, hating that I needed to tell her the rest. 

A look of understanding came over her and then I felt her pull away. "Did you sleep with her?"

"Fuck no," I blurted, pulling her back into my arms until our foreheads were pressed together. I gripped the sides of her neck and waited until our eyes met. "I could never do that. That's what I'm trying to tell you. I couldn't even pretend to want her back without her realizing I was faking it."

Corri sighed and nodded before glancing down at her soaked clothes. She was wearing a short pj set that had a frilly trim, that was now clinging to her skin. When she began tugging on the shirt's hem, I reached for it and began to ease it away. My breath hitched at the sight of her standing naked and wet before me. Goosebumps spread across her chest and her nipples puckered instantly. Steam was rising around us as both of us continued to stare. I couldn't hide the way the sight of her turned me on. Corri noticed and immediately bolted for her bedroom.

I cursed myself for not having more control and obviously scaring her away. I finished my shower, washing up quickly and finding Corri dressed again and tucked safely back in bed. I moved toward the dresser and slid into a pair of cotton knit pajama pants. I skipped the shirt in order to get to Corri faster. 

I stood at the edge of the bed and looked down at her. "Can I sleep here...with you?"

Corri was lying on her side, facing the center of the bed. She peeled the blanket back, a silent invitation that had my heart soaring with hope that we could get past this. I moved under the blanket, scooting as close to her as I could without touching her. She had one hand tucked under her chin and the other pressed flat against the mattress. I placed my hand beside hers and moved it until our pinkies almost touched. 

"I shouldn't have pushed you away."

"Then why did you?"

"I…" I searched for the right words, but there was nothing I could say to justify being this stupid. "I was scared. I was more afraid of losing Kash than I had ever been of anything before. I wanted to come back to you with my son and prove to you that I could fix this. And instead I lost Kash and you...I shouldn't have let you go. I need you, Corri. I may never get to see Kash again and that thought just kills me, but I can't lose you too."

Corri's brow furrowed and her expression conveyed confusion. "Did you...didn't you get the messages I left with Jason?"

"No. I've been at the shop, working on an old Charger that came in over the weekend. I haven't been back to Jason's."

"Your phone?"

"Dead," I sighed. "Why?"

Corri shook her head and laughed softly. I couldn't think of anything that could be funny at the moment, but I followed her when she tugged on my hand and led me down the hall. "Look," she gestured into Kash's darkened room. She crossed the space and snapped on his race car lamp. A soft light shone onto the bed and I sighed in relief when I saw his blonde head buried in the pillow and heard his soft breaths as he slept peacefully.

After sitting on the edge of the bed and staring down at my sleepy son, I tucked him in just a little bit tighter and turned his light off. Corri had escaped back to our room and I was eager to find her. I needed answers.

Our room was dark when I found her, once again lying on her side, this time facing the window. I didn't ask her if I could join her. I didn't keep my distance. And I sure as hell didn't keep myself from touching her. I curled my body around hers, pressing my front to her back and using my arm to drag her even tighter against me. "What happened?" I mumbled into her hair, so wired with the knowledge that Kash was back where he belonged.

Corri rolled over to face me and I gripped her tightly as she explained how she went to Katrina and tried to talk to her. "You offered to break up with me?" I asked incredulously.

She nodded and glanced at my chest for a moment. "I had to do something… anything so that I could convince her to do the right thing."

"But what about us? You didn't...want me anymore?"

Corri brought her fingers to the deep crevice in my brow and tried to soothe it with her soft touch. "I just wanted you to have your son back. I hoped she wouldn't really make me give you up. Because that's the last thing I wanted."

I was tongue tied trying to find the words to thank her for her sacrifice. After the way I behaved, I knew I didn't deserve her. 

"So then Katrina showed up a few hours later with Kash and I told her you weren't here, but she left him with me anyway."

"Thank God she did. And thank you for fixing this. I didn't want to admit I was defeated. I was so sure I could get her to change her mind."

"I thought you came home for Kash," Corri admitted shyly. "I didn't even realize you didn't know he was home."

I pressed Corri back until she was lying flat on her back. She gasped when I settled between her legs and trailed my lips up the side of her neck. "I came back for you. To beg you to forgive me for being so stupid. I need you, Butterfly. I need you with me...always. Now I know we can tackle anything as long as we do it together."

I knew that she hadn't forgiven me yet and I knew I sure as hell hadn't done enough to deserve her forgiveness, but I wasn't thinking rationally. I wanted her. I needed her. I had to show her how much I wanted to be here with her.

"Colt," she whimpered, when I rolled my hips forward and let her feel how much I missed her. "We need to talk…"

I lifted my head from that tender spot in her neck that smelled like cinnamon and citrus, that smelled like home, that smelled like the only place I ever wanted to be. I peered down at her with a desperation I didn't know I possessed. "I think we talked enough," I groaned, tugging on her pajama bottoms lightly until a small smile spread across her face. 

"We haven't settled anything," she told me even as she shimmied out of her pants. 

"Sure we did," I insisted, pulling her top over her head as I knelt between her thighs. "I was a jerk, you're an angel. I promise not to screw up again and you forgave me because you love it when I do this."

"Do what…" Corri gasped as I tugged my pajama pants down and thrust into her.

I held the tension in my outstretched arms as I hovered above her. I forced myself to stay still even though it killed me. She blew out a deep breath through her mouth and focused her eyes on me. "Are you okay?" I asked gently, hating that I pushed into her without checking to see that she was ready. 

I bit down on my lower lip when she rotated her hips and used her feet to press into my thighs so I would go deeper. She was so slick and warm that one more thrust told me she was as ready for this as I was. "Fuck, baby," I groaned quietly with my voice barely recognizable even to me.

Corri tightened her thighs around me and as much as I wanted to pound into her, I held back. "Are you sure this is okay?"

"Yes," she moaned as her head tilted back and pressed into the pillow. "Please?"

"Please?" I echoed, unable to keep the smirk out of my voice. With one hand I reached up to grab the top edge of the headboard, the other hand curling around the back of her elongated neck. "What exactly are you asking me for?"

"Colt," she whimpered. "You know what I want."

"Maybe," I countered, using my hips to hold her down as she writhed beneath me. "But I still think you should tell me."

Her breath was coming out in stuttered gasps now. "I need...oh fuck," she panted. "I need you."

My hips were rotating deep, moving with a slow precision that had her teetering on the edge and not quite able to reach her high. "More," she hummed softly. "Do I have to beg?"

I grinned at the thought, but declined her offer. "No. No begging. Just tell me that you thought of me...wanted me like this when we were apart." My hips were moving a bit faster now, drawing back just so I could feel the delicious pull as I slid back in over and over. She was gripping me tightly, making it so fucking hard to go slow, to take my time and savor the feeling of her so slick around me.

Her fingers were climbing up my forearms now, snaking behind my neck so she could pull me close. I lowered my face to hers, but kept enough distance so that I could look into her eyes as she fell over the edge. "Did you touch yourself? Did you imagine my hands, my mouth, my cock in you, baby? Did you miss me as desperately as I missed you?"

Corri's mouth fell open and her back arched up to meet me. And then it hit her. A tidal wave that was her orgasm washed over her, sending her body into jerky spasms that left no doubt she had arrived at bliss. "Colt," she whimpered my name like a prayer over and over. 

I watched every expression, every twitch until her quaking subsided. She was pliable beneath me now, her mouth twisting into a sated smirk. "That was… really something."

I nodded in agreement, flexing my hips faster while still trying to maintain some semblance of control. "Yeah I think you enjoyed that."

Corri's fingers were now cupping my ass, pulling me tighter and forcing me to move faster. I was getting caught up, my control slipping from me. I was pistoning deeper and faster, careening toward a powerful climax that she was drawing out of me like nothing I had ever felt before. Before I slanted my mouth over hers, I cried out, "Come with me, Butterfly."

Her hips were snapping up to meet mine as I fused our mouths together and drank in her cries. Waves of pure pleasure pounded through me as Corri joined me. We were a tangled mess of gasping breaths and slick skin and incoherent whispers. We kept rocking together, slower and slower until we were both completely spent. I rolled off of her carefully, but gathered her right back into my arms and buried my face into my favorite place. 

"What?" Corri giggled when I mumbled against her skin.

I lifted my head and took possession of her sweet mouth once more. "I love you," I murmured when we pulled away. "I don't know how I ever forgot that. Or why I didn't believe we couldn't face anything as long as we did it together. Don't ever let me be that stupid again," I laughed, rolling us over until she was straddling my hips. 

Corri shrugged adorably. "Oh sure. No problem. Just don't get mad when I tell you you're being stupid, okay?"

I bucked my hips and smiled when her eyes went wide. I was hard for her again. How could I not be? With her blonde hair, wavy and wild and falling around her shoulders, she looked like a real angel. But she wasn't. She was my butterfly and despite the fact that I had nearly crushed her delicate wings, she had survived. 

And I promised myself this would be the last time I'd ever leave her side.

....