Beyond the Horizon

by Bea Paige

  “Call, Ma, she’ll be worried about you.”

  She does as instructed, managing to speak to Ma to let her know she’s home safe before losing reception completely.

  “You didn’t mention I was here,” I state when she gets off the phone, busying myself with lighting the candles and placing them on the kitchen table between us.

  “Should I have?”

  “Probably…”

  Connie snorts. “Grandma would battle the elements just to make sure you and I aren’t alone together.”

  “So you lied.”

  “She didn’t ask, and I didn’t tell her, because I don’t want Grandma to put herself in danger. Besides…” Her voice trails off as she looks at me.

  “Besides?” The candlelight casts her in a golden glow that only serves to highlight her beauty. I keep my gaze fixed firmly on her face, afraid to let my gaze fall lower. Cycling here I was forced to concentrate on the road ahead. Now I have nothing to stop me from drinking her in. Nothing but my own self-control, which is waning with every second that passes in her company. Fuck, she’s so damn beautiful. I swallow hard and step backwards, glad that there’s a table between us.

  “I wanted to be alone with you,” she replies, with a shake of her head. There’s no shame in her voice, just honesty. “Clearly I needed Mother Nature to intervene, given nothing else I did today worked to make you stay…” Her smile is thoughtful, and her cheeks flush pink. Is she embarrassed by her attempts to seduce me?

  The truth is, everything she’s done today has raised my blood pressure, set fire to my skin, made me rock hard for her. I’m still here, not because it’s too dangerous outside, but because I chose to stay. I can tell myself I did it for a million different reasons: to make sure she’s safe, to avoid getting struck by lightning, so I don’t have to spend the night at Rob’s place. But I know the truth. I’m not a good man. I want her. I want her so bad I’m willing to forget I made a promise to Ma Silva. I’m willing to forget every damn thing I’ve told myself today just for one taste of her lips. If I open my mouth to respond, I’m going to inadvertently admit that. Instead, I press my mouth shut in a hard line and remain where I am, drawing on every last shred of self-control I have left in me.

  Outside the storm rages, drowning out the pounding beat of my heart and Connie’s rapid breathing. I expect her to traverse the table, to make a move on me. Only she doesn’t.

  “I’m going to get out of these wet clothes. I’ll bring you some fresh towels.”

  “Thanks, I’d appreciate it.”

  She pauses by the kitchen door, looking back at me over her shoulder. I try hard not to look at the material of her cotton dress as it sticks to the round curve of her arse. She’s wearing a damn thong. My cock jumps, hardening painfully.

  “Could you light a fire in the living room, please?”

  “Yes,” I manage to bite out, pressing my hips against the kitchen table so she can’t see how hard I am for her.

  Seventeen

  Connie

  I’ve changed into a loose-fitting pair of slacks and a soft, grey, long-sleeved t-shirt. For a brief moment, I’d considered dressing provocatively, but given it hadn’t worked the way I’d wanted it to today, I don’t. I need Malakai to stay, not leave. I might not get another chance like this again.

  Another clap of thunder booms overhead and I jump. For some reason this storm has put me on edge, more so than it normally would. Ordinarily I love storms. I love to wrap myself up in a blanket by the fire and listen to them rage beyond the safety of these four walls but tonight something seems off-kilter. The air is charged and the strange feeling I had the day my mum and dad left, never to return, is back.

  Rubbing at my arms and forcing myself to ignore those unwanted feelings, I grab the towels for Malakai alongside a pair of flannel pyjama bottoms that had belonged to my late grandfather, then head downstairs using the torchlight on my phone to light the way. When I enter the living room, Malakai is crouched beside the open fire, stoking the flames. He’s removed his top but still has his jeans on and I’m struck dumb by the way his muscles tense and release beneath the golden veil of his skin. The black swirls of his tattoo seem to come alive as he moves. My skin prickles and a light breeze lifts the hairs on the back of my neck as though a ghost has touched me there.

  Another warning, another portent that I choose to ignore.

  “Here we go,” I say softly, swallowing the longing in my voice. He places the poker by the fire, rising slowly before turning to face me. I hold out the towels and pyjama bottoms to him. “I’ll grab us something to eat and drink whilst you get changed.”

  Malakai nods, his gaze roving over my body as he takes the items from me. When I reach the door Malakai calls my name and I look back at him.

  “Yes?”

  “I’m starving…”

  “Me too,” I respond softly, dropping my gaze. I understand him completely.

  Ten minutes later I have a tray loaded with sandwiches and orange juice. I could do with a warm drink but given the electricity is still out, there’s no hope of that. Pushing open the door, I find Malakai sitting beside the fire wearing my grandfather’s pyjama bottoms and nothing else. Placing the tray on the table I settle down beside the fire opposite him.

  “I made us something to eat,” I explain, knowing full well that when he said he was starving he wasn’t talking about food. He doesn’t look over at me. Instead, he keeps his gaze fixed firmly on the crackling fire.

  “That wasn’t what I meant,” he responds eventually, still refusing to look at me.

  “I know…”

  Drawing my legs up to my chest, I wrap my arms around them and just look at him. He’s so beautiful. I know I’m making him feel uncomfortable, but I can’t seem to help myself. He sits staring into the fire whilst I sit staring at him. Eventually I have the courage to speak, to break the rising tension between us.

  “Do you want to tell me about your family?” I’m not sure why that’s the subject I decide to bring up. Curiosity perhaps? Maybe it’s just my way of getting him to open up so that I can understand him more.

  “No.”

  Of course that would be his answer, I hadn’t expected anything else honestly. Doesn’t stop me from continuing, though. “Grandma told me that she’s the King’s godmother. She doesn’t care for him. I’d go as far as saying that she dislikes him which, for Grandma, is unusual. She likes everyone.”

  “He isn’t a good man,” Malakai admits. “My family aren’t good people.”

  “She said that too.”

  Malakai picks up the poker and I watch him as he pushes the pieces of wood around, sending little sparks of flame up into the air. I feel like that piece of wood, as though I’m burning up, catching fire, ready to dissolve into ash the moment Malakai touches me. If he touches me. God, how I want him to touch me. How I want to reach over and trace my fingers over the tattoo wrapped around his arm. I’m almost about to when he begins to talk.

  “I’ve run from my family for a long, long time but Ma was right when she said that I can’t run from them forever. Eventually they’ll catch up with me.”

  “Is that why you never stay anywhere long?”

  “Mainly, yes.” His jaw grits, a muscle in his cheek jumping under the pressure.

  “Is that why you’re going to leave as soon as Princess is fixed? Are you afraid the King will come for you?”

  Staring into the flames he doesn’t answer immediately. “Partly, yes. I travel the world to get away from that life, not because I fear it or the King, but because I want no part of it…” He hesitates and I hold my breath waiting for him to continue.

  “But you are afraid, why?”

  “The King, like all his predecessors, uses people as weapons against those he wishes to control. I cannot form long-lasting relationships with anyone because of him, because of what he might do to the people I care about. So I don’t care about anyone.”

  My throat tightens and my heart stills.
“You have a friendship with Lola…” I can’t help but point out. A little thread of jealousy mingles with my sadness for him. She must mean a lot to him if he’s kept up their friendship despite the danger.

  “I care for her, it’s true, but I don’t love her in a way that’s dangerous. That’s something I cannot allow myself the luxury of, not whilst the King still lives and breathes.”

  Malakai’s shoulders drop, his head hanging a little between them, and for the second time in a few days I see a side to him that he’s kept hidden. Vulnerability oozes out of him before he shuts it down quickly. Straightening his spine, Malakai blows out a sharp breath.

  “I can’t love anyone, Connie.”

  His walls are coming back up. I’m losing him.

  “Look at me, Malakai.”

  “I can’t do that.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I’m hanging by a thread, Connie, and I don’t want to hurt you. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

  “I told you earlier that I want your jagged edges. I want you to mark me. I can take it. I want it. Will you give in to me?”

  “You don’t know what you’re asking,” he bites out, the flickering flames casting his features in both light and shadow.

  “I know exactly what I’m asking. I’ve never been more certain of anything in my life. You were wrong when you said I want hearts and flowers. I know this can’t be anything more than just attraction and lust. I don’t expect you to fall for me.”

  “It’s too dangerous,” he argues.

  “I just want you to kiss me, Malakai. Just a kiss, that’s all I ask.”

  “Just a kiss?” he parrots back, turning his head to face me, but refusing to meet my gaze. He’s staring at my feet, a deep frown making a groove between his brows.

  “That’s all,” I reassure him. Hoping for more but not daring to ask.

  “I will leave as soon as Princess is fixed. It won’t be long. This island isn’t my home, Connie. I can’t stay here.” He raises his gaze to my clasped hands, getting bolder, braver. My heart pounds.

  “Yes, but you won’t leave right now.”

  “No, not right now,” he admits, his piercing gaze finally meeting mine. “But I will go.”

  I nod, not willing to think about that. Not willing to think past the here and now, this moment.

  “Just one kiss…” he mutters, leaning forward.

  “Just one kiss…” I repeat, barely able to breathe as he crawls towards me on his hands and knees.

  “Lie down, Connie,” he orders, the low rumble of his voice doing stupid things to my body. I don’t hesitate. I lie back, stretching out beneath him as he straddles me. Already I’m burning with want, the heat from the fire is nothing compared to the fire that burns beneath my skin and the desire that pools between my legs. He crawls up my body until his face is hovering over mine. He stares and stares at me, finally seeing me the way I’ve wanted him to since the moment he stepped onto my beach. He’s drinking me in like a parched man seeing a mirage of a cool pool of water in a hot desert. He knows what he sees isn’t real, that it won’t last, but he can’t look away. I can’t look away either.

  Lowering his top half slowly, Malakai brushes a sweet kiss against my lips, a low groan rising up his throat. It’s no more than a whisper of skin on skin, but I can’t help my body’s reaction to him or the tumble of words that form in my mind at his obvious need for me.

  Desperate.

  Needy.

  Wanting.

  Lustful.

  Fire.

  Burn.

  Burning.

  Wild.

  Wet.

  I’m so damn wet.

  “Malakai,” I mouth against his lips, reaching for him. I want more than just this one torturous kiss. I want it all.

  He rears upwards, away from my touch. His knees squeezing either side of my hips as his chest heaves. He’s trembling violently, fighting this magnetism between us.

  “Don’t,” he snaps, grasping my wrists tightly as he glares at me. So angry, so wild. My heart pounds. If I could, I’d tear it out of my chest and give it to him if only it meant that he’d stay.

  “Please…” I beg, wanting his lips back on mine, wanting his tongue to plunder the depths of my willing mouth. “I won’t touch you, if that’s what you want.”

  “Just one kiss… that’s all I promised,” he reminds me.

  “That was barely a kiss,” I whimper, not understanding why he doesn’t crash his mouth against mine like I need him to do. It’s just a kiss. That’s a lie I tell myself, because it’s so much more than that. So much more. It’s everything.

  “You want me to kiss your lips, taste you, plunge my tongue deep inside your wet heat. Is that what you want, my Little Siren?” he grinds out, almost unwillingly. His heavy brows pull together in a frown and I itch to press my thumbs against the deep groove and ease the stress he holds there.

  “Yes, that’s what I want,” I breathe instead. Everything aches for him. Every part of me wants him to touch me, but I will settle for a kiss. Just a kiss.

  “Then that’s what I’ll give you. Just this once.”

  Malakai releases my wrists but instead of leaning back over me, his gaze meets mine as he reaches for the waistband of my slacks. Yanking them downwards, he pulls them and my knickers off in one swoop, ripping the material free from my body until the bottom half of me is naked and exposed.

  “Wh-what are you doing?” I stammer out as his gaze darkens, making way for pure concentration as his gaze fixates on my pussy. Edging my legs further apart with his knee, he spreads me wide beneath him, his hands grasping my thighs now. His fingers curl into my flesh as though he wants to dig beneath my skin, as though he’s marking me just like I asked him to do.

  “Giving you what you want,” he grinds out before lowering himself between my legs and gorging on my wet, swollen pussy. His tongue laps at me from bottom to top then he gently presses the tip of his tongue against the hard nub of my clit before starting the process over again.

  “Malakai!” I scream, unable to hold back my shock and the instant, mind-altering pleasure that his mouth causes. I reach for his head, wanting to find purchase, to encourage him never to stop what he’s doing. He growls as I grip hold of him and press my hips upwards, needing more, needing this unbelievable feeling to last forever, chasing something that I don’t understand.

  My heart thunders as he tastes me, as his large calloused hands hold my thighs apart.

  My body jerks beneath him as his tongue plunges into my wet heat lighting up nerve endings I didn’t realise I possessed.

  “You taste better than I imagined you would. Fuck, I wish I could kiss you like this forever, my Little Siren. Mine,” he growls, before sucking on my clit and pressing the thick length of his finger inside me. Another digit follows as he scissors them, opening me up further. When his tongue replaces his fingers, stars begin to form behind my eyes.

  “Oh-oh!” I exclaim, my internal muscles spasming. It’s almost too much, and yet it isn’t enough. I want him. All of him. Everything. I need it all. Now.

  “Come for me, Connie. Let me see you come,” he begs, and I hear the intense need in his voice, the thickening lust. But more than that, I hear his sadness and it undoes me.

  “I’m so close,” I choke out, my head tipping back as my mouth opens with a silent scream. He laps at me, drawing his tongue up and over every part of my aching core. There’s no restraint, none. “Oh, God…”

  “Come!” he orders.

  When he sucks my clit, drawing it gently between his teeth, then rears back and slaps my wet pussy, I come. I come so hard that my spine arches off the floor and I make a noise that I don’t recognise. It’s guttural, animalistic, and it matches the thrashing beat of my heart.

  Malakai crawls up my body as I draw in ragged breaths, the aftershocks of my orgasm rolling over me in waves as a sheen of sweat breaks out over my flush skin. I’ve never felt anything like this before. Never.
>
  “Look at me, Connie,” he demands.

  My eyes snap open and for the briefest moment I see what we could be. I see a glimpse into a future that is filled with love and belonging. I see us, happy. I see a lifetime of friendship, love, and wonderous hours of fucking.

  “This will be your one and only kiss, Little Siren. I hope it’s enough to last you forever because that’s something I can’t possibly give you.”

  With that he crashes his mouth against mine and we kiss and kiss and kiss until our lips are as bruised as our hearts and outside the storm runs its course.

  Throughout, my skin doesn’t stop prickling. A final warning that I choose to ignore.

  That same night, sometime between Malakai pressing one last lingering kiss against my lips and the dawn breaking on a new day, he leaves the island whilst I sleep.

  Malakai sails away without a goodbye, leaving me bereft, leaving Lola angry and Rob disappointed. The only person who appears unaffected by his sudden departure is Grandma Actually, that’s a lie, she’s relieved and that breaks my heart more than I’m willing to admit. According to Grant, Malakai woke him up a few hours before dawn and demanded Princess back even though he hadn’t finished fixing her mast. Despite Grant’s warning, Malakai had sailed away on a boat that wasn’t fully fixed.

  He didn’t leave a note.

  There was no phone call to tell us he’s okay.

  There was nothing but a lingering feeling of disquiet and a deep sense of loss.

  For days, Lola and I hoped to receive word from him, but when those days turned into weeks, and those weeks turned into months, we began to lose hope of word ever coming. Summer crawled into autumn, autumn into winter, winter into spring and spring back into summer, and even though Malakai kept telling us he was going to leave, it still came as a shock.