Chapter Twenty-Five

A Bond Renewed

An anxious phone call from Eliana brought Sonny hurrying home from the warehouse. She gave him a very hurried version of what had happened at the diner, finishing up with, "She won't talk to me, Sonny. Carly says she's all right, but I'm not buying it. I've got Michael, so don't worry about him, but get home as soon as you can."

Sonny rushed into the penthouse, stopping just inside the door, disturbed by the quiet. He knew from Johnny that Carly was home, but even he had noticed something wasn't right. He flicked on the light, his heart plummeting as he saw her.

"Carly?" She was curled up in the corner of the couch; she didn't respond to his voice.

Sonny moved across the room, almost running. Pulling up the ottoman, he sat across from Carly. He leaned forward and reached out a hand to touch her face. "Carly. Baby, please." His voice was softer this time.

She turned to face him. Her eyes were red-rimmed and hollow, the spark, the flash that he loved, dimmed almost into nothingness.

"Have I really destroyed Michael's life?" She said, tears in her voice and spilling out of her eyes. They were a knife in his heart. "He's only a baby; what have I done to my baby?" She kept repeating herself in a choked voice.

Looking at her, Sonny forgot all about the angry words that had been the last spoken between them.

Damn.

They got to her. Finally.

"What have I done to Michael, Sonny?" Her lower lip trembled. "I've made so many bad choices because I'm so messed up inside…I'm damaged goods…what has that done to my baby?" she started crying again.

In the little time since she's come home and sat in the dark, alone, all Carly could see were the mistakes she's made. The Quartermaines have raised every doubt that has stabbed at her in her dark and lonely moments. All she can think of are all the wrong choices of her past and the people she's hurt. Even when she hadn't meant to, she had been the cause of so much pain to so many.

Sonny slid from the ottoman to the couch and pulled her into his arms. "You have loved your son, and fought for your son with everything you have in you. That's what Michael knows and what he will always know." He began to rock her in his arms, feeling her body shake with heart wrenching sobs. "You have done nothing but love your son. When I come home, I come home to a house full of love. Don't you ever let anyone tell you different, Carly." She crumpled against him, continuing to sob helplessly. Wanting, needing to take her pain away, Sonny began to kiss the tears from her cheeks. Blindly, she reached out for him. Sonny continued to let his mouth roam the contours of her face until Carly slipped a hand up to cup his face, drawing his lips to hers.

He let her initiate the deepening of the kiss between them, allowing her tongue to come seeking his, drawing strength from him even as he gave it wholeheartedly. Sonny drew back slowly.

"Querida, Choices are what life is all about. But all the choices you have made for Michael since he was born have been for him." he whispers to her, lips brushing softly over hers. "All your life you have been running, seeking for something. You didn't even know what you were running from or what you were looking for." He kissed her again and again, speaking between his kisses. "Remember when you told me that you used to wonder what would happen if you just stopped in your tracks? If you stopped running and just decided to trust. Here is where you stopped. Here is where your heart can rest. You don't have to run any more…you don't have to search blindly any more or ever again. Everything you and your son need is right here. Your son is going to grow, strong and healthy, in a family that loves him. He will never want for anything."

He took one of her hands and pressed it to his chest. "Do you feel that? That is my heart. It is your heart. You have it always and I swear to you on my heart that you will never want for anything, not ever again. I promise you that." He pulled back just enough so that his eyes met hers. "Do you believe me?"

She gazed back up at him, seeing the truth of his soul laid bare for her to see. She knows this is not an easy thing for him to do and cherishes it for the precious gift that it is. "Yes, Sonny." She whispered. "Yes."

Sonny kissed her again. His tongue moved slowly in her mouth, slowly deepening the kiss, coaxing a response from Carly. She began to respond, with a soft moan. His hands begin to roam the soft contours of her body, seductive and tender all at once.

He drew back, to stare deeply into her eyes, wanting her to see all that he felt for her.

"Let me love you, baby." He said softly, just before his mouth captured hers once more. This time, his kiss was deep and loving and tender, demanding her surrender. The tears that came now were those of love, as her heart overflowed with it.

His body pressed hers back slowly; Sonny slipped one hand between them, beginning to work on the buttons of her blouse. As her body was bared to his gaze, his mouth followed, kissing each precious inch of skin that is bared to him.

At intervals, his mouth returns to hers, hungry for her kisses, then returns to following the path his hands created while they bare her body to him. All the time her hands caress his shoulders and upper body, working at the buttons of his shirt, tugging it free of his pants, then sliding it over his shoulders, until his upper body was bare to her touch. The feel of his smoothly muscled skin intoxicated her as she slid the palms of her hands over him. She felt his male nipples harden under her touch and the feel of him against her hands sent a flood of heat surging through her. His mouth, his hands…every tender touch spoke of his love for her. Without words, he was telling her, showing her the depth of his love.

When he would have lifted her in his arms to carry her upstairs, Carly wrapped her arms around him.

"No, Sonny… now." She whispered as she pressed her lips along his jaw line.

The need in her voice was such that he couldn't deny her. Sonny pulled her from the couch to the ottoman and moved to kneel before her. Sonny turned his head and met her lips. Her hands were busy at his waistline, loosening belt and then pants, then Sonny was gasping as her hands slid inside to cup him. She began a needful stroking of his sex, groaning into his mouth as she felt him grow and thicken even more under her touch. He began a slow thrusting and grinding into her hands, exciting them both.

Their tongues met and joined together in mutual need. As her hands on him are exciting him, so Sonny wants to return the pleasure. He finished undressing her swiftly, then one hand drifts down to find her already damp and swollen for him. He grazes his fingertips over her, delighting in her response as her hips arch helplessly beneath his touch. He pressed a finger between her slick lips, finding her little nub of pleasure. Dipping lower for a moment to collect her wetness, he brought his dampened fingers back up to circle her clitoris, bringing a new flood of heat to Carly's senses. Her head fell back as a loud moan escaped her lips. Sonny gently pressed her backwards until she is reclining on the ottoman before him.

Sonny plundered the arch of her neck with his lips and then his tongue, moving over her flesh. His mouth moves lower, over the smooth curve of her collarbone, down across the twin stiff peaks of her breasts, pausing momentarily to swirl its way around the soft indentation of her navel. Wanting to delve ever lower still, he gently parted her legs, then dipped his head between her thighs.

Her throaty moans urged him on, excited him even more, if that was possible. He sought out her warm, throbbing pearl of pleasure, caressing it with his lips and tongue as it swelled under his touch. A soft scream escaped her lips as he brought one finger, then a second up to slide into her. She is already hot and wet and ready for him, but not yet…he wants to fulfill Carly in every way before he even thinks of himself.

Sonny kept his hand busy, sliding in and out of her in a maddeningly slow pace, taking his time, enjoying the slow build up of desire. He came up alongside her quivering body, capturing her mouth with his again. His tongue moved in and out of her mouth in the same rhythm that he was building in her below. They kissed, deeply, until the need for air forced them apart. Passion dazed the both of them, sending them into each other's arms in needful desire.

He looked down into her beautiful brown eyes, the flushed face and lips swollen from his kisses only encouraged him to give her more, show her more, love her more. He lets his mouth find her breasts, his lips teasing over the heated flesh, listening to the sounds of helpless pleasure coming from her. Then he was tasting the hard points of her breasts, the texture and feel of them exciting him.

At the same time, his thumb circled her clit, stroking it in a way that he knows will bring Carly the most pleasure. The feel of his fingers moving in and out of her, the sensation of his mouth, and then his tongue, swirling hot and wet around her taut nipples, the intense stimulation is more than she can take. The pleasure he was evoking in her body overtook her; Carly's hips bucked uncontrollably, arching up against his hand as the waves of bliss overcame her…she surrendered to the feelings, her body shuddering into orgasm.

"No se refrena, permitió mí amar usted, permita que mí lo me sienta...." Sonny murmured against her skin. "Don't hold back, let me love you, let me feel you..." His words sent her over the top again, leaving her almost mindless with pleasure. Just the sound of his voice was enough to send her hurtling over the peak. He felt a primal sense of possessive delight mixed with tenderness as he felt her respond to him.

The sound of his voice, whispering soft Spanish love words, took Carly to new heights of passion. Another wave of ecstasy swept over her, sending her senses spiraling upwards forcing her to call out his name again and again. Dear God, she thought, when she could, he hadn't even entered her yet. "Sonny", she breathed his name on a breath of longing and love. While she was still throbbing and breathless, Sonny, unable to restrain himself any longer, rolled over on top of her and sheathed himself deeply inside her.

Carly cried aloud as she felt him fill her. His mouth captured hers and proceeded to tantalize her. He brushed his lips across hers, and a heated shiver traveled through the length of her body. He repeated the movement, this time letting his tongue begin its slow, sensuous dance inside her mouth, mimicking the movement of his body. Making love to her with both.

Pleasure took hold of them equally as his strokes became more insistent, as he moved with deliberate slowness, taking them both to the heights, but at such a pace that when it hits, it will overwhelm them. But still, the journey is exquisitely sweet. Her body arched up to meet his thrusts, soft hands traveling the length of his body and back again, to tangle in his hair.

Sonny felt her legs come up to lock themselves around his hips, undulating slowly against him, so wet, so hot, so filled with needing and wanting that she can barely stand it, but yet she wanted more, needed more. He can feel it too, feels her body as she melts further into him, her flesh molding itself to his. He is in her deep one moment, then withdrawing almost completely the next, the giving and taking causing them both to shake with their unending need for one another.

"You are so beautiful, mi corazón, mi amor." It was true, she was his heart, his love. Her cries of pleasure mixed with his own as they brought one another closer to the pinnacle of bliss. There was no more reason to fight it, no need to draw out the agonizing pleasure any longer. Sonny let go, thrusting almost helplessly and endlessly into her silky wet depths, unable to control himself any longer. Feeling her shudder and tighten around him took him soaring over the edge into his own soul-shattering release, then they were tumbling down, together, to fall at last, into each other's arms.