Unbridaled

I spent most of my time hanging out with the other supervisors and their families. Alicia was also there and I sat with her and Eloy, the huge guy who had stopped me from doing something dumb, for a while. He pretended not to know me as we were introduced, which was nice. His cousin Martin couldn't make it due to work. He asked how things were going now and I admitted that it hadn't gone over well but we would eventually work it out. He was encouraging, leading me to believe this wasn't his first time hearing this.

I left about three, things were winding down, the food was gone, and it was really starting to get hot in the sun. I drove back to the apartment, lost in thought as to what I could do the rest of the afternoon.

I managed to unlock the door, walk in, and lock it behind me before I realized I wasn't alone. Sherry was sitting on the couch, waiting for me.

"Hi, Ronnie." She looked and sounded nervous, fiddling with a glass of water.

"Hi. Wasn't expecting anybody." The place was kind of a mess, I hadn't made the bed or cleaned up the kitchen.

"Mom said you had that thing today, I thought you'd be along. I haven't been waiting long."

"What do you need?" I hadn't heard from her in two weeks at this point. I had no idea what she could possibly want.

"I came to say I'm sorry I slapped you. I shouldn't have done that. I was mad and lost control of my temper. He told me what really happened."

"I'm sure he did. I'm sorry I stuck my nose where it didn't belong." I was, actually. Not only did it pretty much end my friendship with Ernie, it did serious damage to my relationship with Sherry.

Sherry stared at her hands wrapped around her glass. "It's okay. I would have done the same thing, I think." She paused and took a deep breath.

"I'm sorry about shutting you out. I had a lot of things I needed to think over. I'd like to try to make it up to you."

"I thought you were just pissed I had gotten in your business. Your apology is good enough."

"I could have handled it better. I still want to make it up to you. We were supposed to take a cruise for our honeymoon. It's nonrefundable so either I use the tickets or I'm out the money. I was able to get the cabin changed from the newlywed package to a standard two person cabin and the cruise line will comp some stuff to make up the price difference.

"I was hoping you would go with me. It's not until July so you have plenty of time to get ready. I know you have enough PTO. Please?"

"Mom didn't want to go?" I had a hard time believing my mother would turn down a free cruise.

"I didn't ask her, I'm asking you first. I hate what happened, Ronnie, and I want to make it up to you."

I really wanted to say yes but we needed to really clear the air first. "I'm going to need a couple of days to see if I can get the time off."

"You never take time off. If you explain that it's nonrefundable, I'm sure they'll let you take it. Please, Ronnie. I really want you to go with me." It was rare that Sherry would plead for anything but she was pleading now.

"Okay, I said I would. What are the dates?"

"July tenth through the nineteenth. We fly out the tenth to Miami and fly back on the nineteenth. You may want to ask for two weeks. That will give you some time to recover."

"That sounds like a long ass cruise. Where is it to?" Having never been on a boat before, that sounded like a long time.

"It's a Caribbean cruise. Supposed to stop in a couple of places." She shrugged. "We thought it might be fun."

"I guess I'm going to need sunscreen, then."

Her deep laugh startled me. "Oh, yeah. A lot of it." Sherry stood up and headed toward the door. "I left my address there on the counter. You're welcome to come by later and I'll make spaghetti."

"I won't be interrupting anything? Nothing you don't want repeated to Mom?" Somehow, she would find out I went and there would be questions.

Sherry laughed again. "No, just us. Promise. Before I forget, your passport is still good, right?"

"Yeah, renewed it last year." Occasionally, we traveled to our sister plant across the border. Crossing back into the US required the passport. I could have gotten the card but the book is good everywhere while the card isn't.

"That's good." She set her glass in the sink. "You don't need to bring anything for dinner so I hope you're going to come."

"Yeah, free food sounds good. What time works for you?"

"Six is good. I'm going to take off, I need to get stuff for the garlic bread. I'll see you later." We hugged at the door before I let her out. It felt different somehow, I wasn't quite sure how to describe it.

Once I had agreed to go on the cruise with her, she was more like the Sherry I remembered. Confident, happy Sherry. Even her laugh was different, it didn't sound forced.

I hopped in the shower to freshen up, I had gotten more than a little sweaty during the cookout. Her new apartment wasn't that far from mine. Whoever designed the complex needed to be beaten, because it took longer for me to find her apartment than it did to drive there. The layout made absolutely no sense.

I showed up about five forty-five. She answered the door immediately when I knocked.

It was a very nice apartment. Mom had obviously helped with the decor but it reflected Sherry's taste perfectly. Surprisingly, it was a two bedroom but the second bedroom was unoccupied. It was furnished with the usual things but it was clearly unused.

"This is really nice, Sher. I'm surprised you didn't get a house, though."

"A house is nice but I would have to spend either a lot of time or a lot of money keeping it up. For what I wanted, the rent here made it an acceptable trade-off."

There was something about how she said the last sentence that got my attention. "What were you looking for?"

"I'm still not really sure. I didn't want to get tied into a mortgage until I knew what I really wanted."

Sherry went back to stirring the sauce, stopping to add the pasta when the water started to boil. I took a seat at the table, savoring the smell of the sauce and the garlic bread.

"So I guess you and Ernie finally talked?" Sherry hadn't gone into detail earlier. I wanted to hear his lame-ass excuse.

I expected Sherry to be a little defensive but she stayed calm, even relaxed. "We did. He apologized and explained why."

"I can't imagine an explanation that makes what he did okay."

"He knew it wasn't okay, he never said he expected me to be okay with it. He's very unhappy about losing the relationship you two had and he knows that was his fault, too."

"I don't get how you aren't pissed at what he did."

"There were things about my relationship with Ernie that I didn't really think about until we sat down and talked about it. It was like I did things because everyone expected us to do that.

"When he called it off, I was upset. Now that we talked and I've had a chance to think, he was right."

"It wasn't your fault, Sherry. Don't let that bastard gaslight you into believing it was." That's what I had been afraid of. He wanted to talk his way out of it. Just like always, except now it wasn't funny anymore.

"He's not gaslighting me. He pointed out a truth. Whoever I married, him or somebody else, would always come second after family. Bob and Gina have the kind of marriage he wants and I wouldn't give that to him."

"That just sounds like a fancy way of blaming you."

"Ask yourself this: You're married and you planned to spend a quiet night in. I call and invite you over because I had a bad day and need cheering up. What are you going to do?"

"You wouldn't be doing that all the time --"

"No, but every time I did, you'd come over. Just like I would. Because we've always done that. He realized he wouldn't be happy that way. He needs someone who will be devoted to him, like Bob and Gina are with each other. You and Mom are always going to come first for me."

"He could have figured that out sooner."

"He did. He didn't know how to say it and he thought he would be okay with it. You know how he is."

"I guess." I was slowly coming to the realization that she was right. If she had called any time during the last few weeks, I would have dropped whatever I was doing to be there for her. It probably contributed to the last breakup I had, she wasn't as close to her family as we were and it sometimes frustrated her.

The timer pinged and she pulled the bread from the oven. I dumped the pasta in the colander for her, she drained it and poured it into a bowl to mix with the sauce.

"At first, I thought that maybe he was trying to bullshit me because he was having a problem trying to find someone who could do what I did when we were working together. He admitted he was having problems with that, too, but that wasn't the reason he wanted to apologize."

"When did he develop a guilty conscience?"

"Ronnie, Ernie loved me. He knew I loved him. It just wasn't enough. You and Mom would always be a priority and he wouldn't be happy like that. He wasn't trying to bullshit me, you, or anybody. In the end, he did the right thing. Let it go. Please."

"I'll try. Not going to make any promises." The right thing would have been to say something when it first occurred to him. But Sherry was right about him waiting until things reached the point where feelings were going to get badly hurt to say anything.

"Okay, no more Ernie talk. It's time to eat." And that's what we did, to the point of food coma status.

After eating and the clean up afterward, we sat and talked while a series of movies played in the background. It was after midnight when we finally noticed what time it was. In a way, it felt like the last few months hadn't happened.

I helped Sherry straighten up before I left. She walked me to the door and wrapped me in a lingering hug before giving me a kiss on the cheek. Like the hug and kiss earlier, this felt different, more personal without being uncomfortably so.

Between Memorial Day and the beginning of July, my routine returned to almost normal. Instead of Sherry coming by all the time, we sort of alternated visiting, to include both of us swinging by Mom's house together at least once a week.

Mom, for her part, didn't seem to mind. I talked to Bob and Gina a little more regularly, although I managed to avoid Ernie. It wasn't a conscious decision, I was still torn about how I felt about what happened and how I felt about him.

Sherry changed the subject every time his name came up, at least in front of me. After the day we reconciled, we never talked about what happened. She had made it plain that she considered it in the past and that was where it needed to stay.

Departure Day finally arrived. We both stayed the night at Mom's, where we would leave my truck and her car. Mom drove us to the airport very early that morning. Of course, no visit with Mom went without a critique of some sort.

Today's gripe was our choice in travel wear. We had dressed down for vacation, shorts and tennis shoes, a T-shirt for me, and a thin button front shirt for her. Instead of a bra, she had a bikini top for support.

She gave us good natured hell all the way, we should always be dressed nicely because you never knew who you were going to run into. We promised to do better next time, knowing damn well we would not.

The flight from Harlingen to Dallas was uneventfully quick. We had an hour to kill before our flight to Miami so we had a quick snack. Sherry disappeared into the ladies' room before we headed to the gate.

She was gone for about five minutes and when she came out, I was speechless.

The Sherry that walked out of the restroom was definitely not the one who walked in. The shirt had been untucked, unbuttoned, rolled up to just underneath her breasts, and knotted, exposing her stomach. She had removed the pads from the bikini top, highlighting the fact it was definitely cool inside the airport. The shirt had been loose enough to disguise how small the underlying top had been but not now. There was a considerable amount of cleavage on display, but it was done tastefully.

She literally sashayed over to me and gave me an arms around my neck, full frontal contact hug. "Close your mouth, you look silly like that."

My arms had instinctively gone around her waist. My brain was telling me to let go but the rest of my body wasn't about to let that happen any time soon. She looked incredibly hot. She never dressed like that at home.

"I, uh --" Words failed me. She laughed.

Sherry deliberately squeezed her breasts into me again before releasing me. Grabbing my hand, we made our way to the gate while I tried to make sense of what just happened.

She made it a point, pun intended, to press her breast into my arm as we lined up to board the plane, making sure to not let go of my hand. She also made sure to raise the armrest between us when we took our seats so she could lean against me.

My body responded appropriately to the attention, making it difficult to sit still when her free hand landed on my thigh. I had to cover it with mine when she slowly started to stroke back and forth.

I was just about to call her on it when an older lady sat in the aisle seat next to me. I tried to glare at Sherry but it only made her laugh some more. Once we taxied to the runway, she leaned against me and napped until we landed in Miami.

After deplaning, we stopped at the first set of restrooms we came across. It took me a little longer than usual because it was difficult peeing with an erection. At least I had sense enough to wear loose shorts.

She was waiting for me, her hair now pulled back and somehow managing to look even hotter. She was definitely drawing appreciative looks from people, mostly guys, passing by.

She gave me another full contact embrace when I stopped in front of her. "Um...what gives?"

"I'm on vacation with my favorite person. I'm having fun." I wasn't sure what to make of her answer. It sounded innocent enough but the way she was acting left me confused.

"Yeah, but --"

"Relax. Nobody here knows who we are so loosen up, have some fun. We're not doing anything wrong." I was pretty sure Mom would take issue with that.

In all honesty, I was beginning to like the attention. There was no denying she was an attractive woman and having one hanging on me was not an everyday occurrence. I slipped my arm around her waist as we walked toward the baggage claim and she immediately reciprocated. I tried to keep my hand at her belt line but it ended up on bare skin. She didn't object.

Since we were on a vacation cruise, neither of us brought a large bag. I had packed according to the recommendations, meaning shorts, T-shirts, and one business casual shirt and pair of slacks.

Sherry took care of summoning the Uber and we were checked in by mid-afternoon. When the elevator reached our floor, she became uncharacteristically nervous.

Five minutes later, I learned why.

We were in one of the "honeymoon" suites. I opened the door and brought the bags inside, Sherry following behind me. When I turned around to say something, my heart nearly broke.

Sherry closed the door behind us, locked it, and then leaned her back against it. Tears formed and one ran down her cheek. She looked beautiful and vulnerable at the same time.

"I can explain, Ronnie."

I sat down in the nearest chair. "That might be good, Sher."

"When we made these reservations, we didn't know we weren't getting married. We got a good deal because they weren't going to be refundable.

"There's more. The cruise we booked isn't a normal cruise. Before I explain why, I need to tell you some things. Please hear me out, okay?"

"Sure. It's not like I can go anywhere." I had been under the impression she had changed the accommodations for everything.

"Ernie and I had a very long talk right after you almost got into it at the park. He made me realize some things that I knew deep down were true but I didn't want to admit."

She moved from the door to sit in the chair across from me. "When he said there was someone I loved more than him, he was right. It's you."

"I'm sorry, what?"

"You. He knows, Ronnie. He knows how we feel about each other, even though we refuse to admit it. When you went at him in the park, it was about me, nothing about you. Your last girlfriend, he told me what she said. That she thought you were more in love with me than her."

"I never told him that."

"She did. She liked you a lot but she couldn't compete with me. That's when it started to click with him. He thought it was just one-sided and it would go away once we were married but the closer it got to our wedding day, the more he noticed how much attention I was paying to you.

"He said when I asked how you were before I asked about him that morning, he knew it would be a mistake for us to get married. He didn't doubt I loved him. I simply loved you more."

"Of course I love you. We're related, we grew up together."

"Ernie isn't wrong, Ronnie. I see it now. Maybe your brain is telling you we're not but the way you're acting says you are."

"This is crazy. We can't be in love, Sherry. It's wrong. How does that even work?" I went to stand by the window, looking down at the street below. I really wanted to cry because I knew she was right.

I felt Sherry come up behind me and wrap her arms around my waist. "Just like for everybody else." She came around to stand in front of me, my arms going around her waist while we looked into each other's eyes. "The first step is admitting it to yourself. Can you guess what the second step is?"

"I'm guessing this." Our lips met softly as she pulled herself into me. It wasn't very long, as kisses go. We separated, looked at each other for a second or two, and kissed again, except a lot longer. Her tongue made the first foray, met with mine, and we let them dance until we needed to breathe.

"Whoever it was that made kissing your sister sound like a bad thing apparently didn't have a sister that knew how to kiss." I let my hands drift from the skin of her lower back down over her ass cheeks and back up.

"Wait until you see what else this mouth can do." Sherry rubbed up against me as we went back to kissing.

"I've got something for you, too." She began to unfasten my shorts as I untied her shirt, followed by the knots on her bikini top. She managed to get my shirt off before my thumbs found her hard nipples, followed shortly by my lips and tongue. Her hand snaked inside her shorts and she began to moan.

I guided her to the bed, finished removing her shorts and panties, and had her lay down. Arranging myself between her legs, I kissed my way up her inner thighs. She grabbed a couple of pillows to put behind her as my tongue found her warm folds.

Her hands alternated between my hair and her nipples as I slowly and thoroughly explored every square millimeter of her pussy. She was amazing, I couldn't get enough of her on my tongue. I guessed from the noises she was making, I was doing something right.

As I slowly turned my attention to her clit, she let me know I had found her key. "Like that, just like that. I'm gonna cum, Ronnie. Keep going, just like that --" ended in a long moan as her back arched and her thighs clamped together.

As her body relaxed post-orgasm, I crawled up to lie beside her and she curled into me. I gently kissed her forehead. "So, yeah, I guess I do love you after all."

Sherry mumbled, "I never would have guessed." Not long after that, she was asleep. I wasn't tired but I lay there and held her, soaking in the feel of her skin against mine and the warmth of her body. I didn't have a clue as to how we were going to make this work but I would sure as hell give it my best shot.

Sherry slept for a couple of hours, only shifting so that we ended up spooning. I realized she was awake when she started rubbing her foot on my lower leg. I hugged her tight with the arm I had draped over her stomach and she wiggled her ass against my stiffening cock.