by A. E. Grace
She first felt his hot breath on her sex, and it tickled her nerves, ratcheted up her arousal. She wanted him to make her come like she had just done him moments ago.
He wrapped his arms around her thighs and dragged a tongue up her slit. Terry rolled her head back, shut her eyes, and let her legs fall open all the way. He was going to serve her, and she was going to love it.
Liam teased her first, ringing her entrance with his tongue, running it up and down either side of her swelling, yearning pearl.
But when she just about couldn’t take the teasing anymore, he settled into a rhythm on her clit, sending her into sensory bliss. She clawed at his head, pushed her hips up to meet him, and savored the feeling of his lapping at her like a hungry dog.
No, like a hungry bear.
“Yes,” she hissed, gyrating her mound into his face, holding his head against her. Her arms were not long enough to wrap around his head, and so she simply held his hair and tugged him onto her, clamped him to her sex.
One of his hands sidled up her body to grope her breast, before two fingers closed around her nipple. Liam pinched the harden bud, and Terry let out a deep moan, full of lusty body. With his other hand he teased her by pushing a finger in, but only a little bit, and she grinned down at him, exasperated, wishing he would just grant her what she wanted.
Again, on the verge of begging him to get on with it, he got there first, and he pushed two fingers inside her, and she groaned as she stretched around his thick digits. He quickly found her g-spot and put pressure there, rubbing it each time he penetrated her with his fingers.
“Oh God,” Terry choked, throwing her head back into the pillow. Already she could feel she was climbing, feel that ball of energy in her belly expanding.
She was in heaven, inching closer and closer to the edge.
“Yes,” she hissed, her hips moving to match his fingers. “Come on, yes!” Moans tore themselves out of her throat, and her body grew tight as she sensed rapture surging toward her.
“Oh Liam,” she groaned, panting, sucking in big gulps of air. His tongue was playing her like an instrument, working her perfectly, and she was so, so close to coming.
“Ooooh!” she cried as ecstasy exploded within her, as she crested. She felt herself suck at his fingers, felt her sex ignite up into her abdomen, felt pleasure tingle all the way down to her toes.
She writhed and jolted, twitched and tightened, as she was bathed in bliss, as it crashed over her in waves. She saw stars, and her climax was so strong that when it passed, started to wane, she was left panting, feeling exhausted.
“Oh my God,” she said, touching her forehead, wiping away strands of hair. “Oh my God I needed that.”
“We’re not done yet,” he said, sucking her sex off his fingers. “You taste good.” He climbed on top of her body, held himself up on muscular arms, and looked down at her, breathing hard.
She grinned, reached up and entwined her hands around his neck, and pulled him down. He took her lips, kissed her, and though she could taste herself she didn’t mind right at this moment.
She felt him adjust himself in between her legs, and then sucked in air as his wide dome kissed her folds. Terry pushed at his chest, shaking her head, but he inserted himself inside her, slowly, and she dug her nails into his flesh, still so sensitive. His wide girth stretched her, filled her up so completely she felt like she was being touched everywhere. It was amazing.
“Slowly at first,” she gasped.
He nodded, took her lips into his, and as he began to pull out, she bit onto his lip, pulled it down. She tasted blood.
Liam licked his lip, grinning, before crushing his mouth against hers, and driving himself inside her. Terry gripped at the sheets, had her breath snatched away. He started to fuck her fast, dominate her with his thrusts, and she broke his kiss and leaned her head up, eyes shut tight, ragged gasps the only sounds she could make.
Liam licked up her neck to her chin, then pushed her head to the side and kissed her by her ear, smelling her as he fucked her. He rammed himself into her, groped her breasts hungrily with one hand, and then he arched his back and bent down to take her nipple into his mouth and bite on it.
“Ah!” Terry yelped, looking down at him out of wide eyes.
“Payback,” he said, and she laughed.
“Come here,” she told him, and he pressed his forehead against hers, still thrusting into her with abandon. Moans spilled from her mouth, and in between them she found the time to tell him that if he wanted to make her come again, he was going to need to finger her clit.
Liam sent his hand down in between them, raising up so that his hard body was tensed. Terry reached out and ran her hands down his hard stomach, loving the way they tensed with each of his thrusts.
He started to thumb her pearl, leaning back onto his legs as he fucked her, and Terry lifted her arms above her head, sucked on her lip, hummed and moaned her growing pleasure. That second ball of energy was growing, and that tightness, that pressure she felt, she knew he was going to make her come again. And so fast! She had always been a one-and-done kind of girl.
He drove himself into her, thumbed her stub deftly, and he was once again playing her like an instrument. Strings deep in her core were plucked, and she shut her eyes, focused on her impending climax, knowing that it was going to be a strong one.
“Fuck,” he groaned.
Terry looked at him, mouthed ‘come on’, and he doubled his efforts, and she felt herself racing toward the precipice. The spring within her wound, and was nearly there, so, so close!
Terry cried out as she crested, as her body grew tight with pleasure. She held her breath, gripped the sheets until her knuckles went white, and savored the feeling of him driving her through her ecstasy.
“Fuck,” he grunted, and she saw his face bunch up, and she put her palms on his chest, and she looked at him out of lust-laced eyes.
“Come for me,” she breathed, and he dropped onto his elbows, and he locked his lips with hers, and he came, his cock twitching inside her, expanding even more.
“Terry,” he groaned as he climaxed, as he fired himself off inside her over and over. She wrapped her arms around his neck, held on to him tightly, and he buried his nose in her neck, and she heard him inhale her scent.
And then it was over, and they were coming down, their sweat like glue between their bodies. She held on to him, and he onto her, as though for dear life, and for minutes they panted together, kissing slowly, sharing breath, sweat, and saliva.
Exhausted, replete, and sleepy, when he pulled himself out of her she turned to her side, and he held her from behind.
Already she could feel that she was in the clutches of sleep. An afternoon nap would totally hit the spot.
“I think I’m going to have a nap.”
“I’ll be here when you wake up,” he told her.
She grinned, and patted his hands. “Good.”
“Let me take you somewhere tomorrow,” he said. “It’s beautiful, serene. You’ll love it.”
“I’d like that,” she said, smiling. “That sounds nice.”
*
“Where are we going?” she asked, taking the helmet from Liam and squeezing into it. It was an open-faced helmet with a visor, and she popped it down and fastened the chin-strap. “Shouldn’t we be wearing full helmets?”
“They’re hard to rent here,” he said. “Don’t worry. I’ll drive safe.”
She climbed onto the back of the rented moped, and he reached behind her, looking for her hands. She put them in his, and he guided them around his waist.
“Hold me tight,” he said. “Don’t let go.”
“I’ve been on the back of a scooter before,” she said, laughing.
“Well, this is a little faster than a scooter, and the roads here are shit, especially once we get out into the country. We’re going to Tam Coq.”
Terry blinked.
“It’s beautiful,” he said, patting her hands which were
fastened around his waist. “It’s actually amazing. You’ll remember it forever.”
Now she was intrigued. “Okay then, let’s go.”
The moped came to life beneath her, a deep vibration, and they set off through the winding streets of Hanoi, eventually hitting a wider road that would take them out into the country.
She leaned her head on his back as they whipped past rice paddies and farmland. She saw wild water buffalo grazing, and oxen pulling rakes through the soil.
They passed farmers in those pointed, conical, thatch-woven hats, and every now and then a Mercedes Benz or BMW would blur past them, evidence of the new money starting to creep into the country.
She tried to speak to Liam, but her words were snatched by the wind, and so she abandoned the attempt, and instead was content to simply watch the beautiful and varied countryside go by.
The passed by terraced rice fields and deep valleys that looked straight out of paintings. The sun was still rising, and when it broke atop the hills, it sent its orange glow directly at them so that she had to squint, despite the shielded visor.
It was only a little past seven in the morning, but Terry felt wide-awake and full of a new and buzzing energy.
She held on to Liam tighter. She felt happy.
*
“Oh my gosh!” Terry gasped, looking out at the view before her. She was staring down a wide, snaking river that was set in a deep valley, sandwiched by cliff faces on either side. The cliffs were not sharp, but instead blunt and rounded, wearing leaves and vines the way a shaggy dog did its fur coat.
Atop the surface of the river water there was a blanket of bright green vegetation. She could see paddle boats making their way through the floating grass, leaving wriggling trails like slugs. It looked like she was staring at a field straight out of fantasy.
“Those are fields on the water? Floating on the water?”
“Yeah,” Liam said, grinning at her. “We’ll get our own boat, paddle down the river. You’ll see for yourself. The roots just drop down into the water.”
“Are there fish?”
“Oh yeah,” he said. “Lots. Frogs on floating lotus leaves, as well. Every cliché you can think of, we’ll see. We’ll stop off at a couple of caves. Inside the caves, they’ve got these phosphorescent worms, and it’s really quite a sight. It’s like the whole interior surface of the cave glows.”
“Worms?” Terry asked, making a face.
“Trust me,” he said. “It’s amazing. It’s not actually just the worms that glow, but the silk they spin.”
Together they paid for a boat, and climbed into it. The boat rocked precariously as they stepped in, but eventually settled. She was glad now that all those years ago her mother had forced her to take swimming lessons!
Terry sat opposite Liam and watched as he paddled with his back to the direction they were moving. She put a hand overboard into the water. It was surprisingly warm. She could feel the wriggling roots of the grasses that lay atop the water, but she pulled her hand out quickly, wary that she might touch something alive.
“Are there snakes here?”
“Well, sure, but they won’t live in the water. You’re more likely to touch an eel or something.”
“Oh, right, it’s fresh water,” Terry murmured. She watched him as he looked around, his eyes wide and taking in the natural majesty around them.
There was hardly anybody else on the river; at least, no other tourists. Only fishermen and local farmers traversing the lazy current in their identical, narrow and pointed boats. That was why they had left so early. To miss the tourist rush. And now they had the river to themselves, their own private little boat tour.
“You’ve been here before, haven’t you?” Terry asked.
“Yeah,” he said. “Oh, but it was a long time ago.”
She couldn’t help herself. “Alone?”
He met her eyes. “Yes,” he said.
She felt relief. “Was it different then?”
“Not really. I paddled down it as my bear,” he said. There was a glint in his eye. “That must have frightened some locals.”
She grinned. “Really? As your bear? You didn’t care?”
“It was dusk, it was dark. It’s difficult to explain. Shifters feel a… a compulsion to shift. It’s addictive. There is something fantastic about being your animal that when you go back to being a human…”
His voice trailed off, and she studied him for a moment. He almost looked sad, and she wondered if the shift was really as much a curse as it was a boon, as he had said at his old clan’s camp grounds.
“But you’ve not shifted much since we met.”
“That’s the strange thing,” he said. “You know, on the train, I was leaving my carriage to shift.”
“On the train?” she blurted. “That’s ridiculous.”
“No, really. I was going to climb up onto the roof, shift. Give people we passed by a nice fright.”
“But why didn’t you?”
“I met you,” he said. “Well, I saw you, through the window in the carriage door. But then I met you.”
“And you didn’t feel it anymore?”
“No,” he told her, pushing his lips together. “Since then, the urge to shift has… well, I just don’t feel it anymore.”
“Do you know why?”
She saw him hesitate before saying, “No.”
“No, no, no, no,” she said, pointing at him. “You were thinking about saying something else! Don’t hold out on me.”
“A shifter needs a mate,” he said, just putting it out there.
“What exactly is a mate?”
He laughed. “It’s not like we have scriptures we can refer to. My feeling is a mate is a life partner, somebody you love and cherish for life.”
“And you feel the need to shift until you find one?”
“I don’t know,” he said. “Nobody ever taught me about shifter culture. At least, I’d never listened as a boy.”
A silence came over them. The only sounds around them now were the slurping of his paddles as they entered the water.
“I wish I could be a shifter,” she said. “I really do. I want to try it. I want to see what it’s like.”
“There are no dressing rooms, Terry. You can’t put it back on the shelf. Even if you could become one, it would be for the rest of your life. You would be married to it forever.”
“I’d take that risk.”
“It’s not all good,” Liam told her. “Not all the time.”
*
Terry looked with wonder at the glowing ceiling of the cave. Threads of fluorescent turquoise light hung from the rock, strands of glowing silk, and they reflected off the water, creating a magical atmosphere.
“Wow,” she breathed as Liam paddled their boat through the small stream that led into the cave. His face was bathed in the blue glow, and he grinned at her.
“Pretty incredible, right?”
“It’s amazing,” she said, looking around. “Worms do this?”
“Yes,” he said.
She laughed. It almost looked like the roof of the cave had hair, and that she was seeing each individual fluorescent fiber.
“What causes them to glow like that?”
“I have no idea,” he said. “I just never forgot it after I was last here.”
He was right, she thought. This would be forever etched into her memory. She felt as if she’d stepped into some mystical world.
“I know what it reminds me of,” she said, snapping her fingers. “A horse’s mane! You know, because each strand of silk looks quite thick?”
“Yeah,” Liam agreed. “I can see that.”
“It’s amazing how bright they make the cave. It’s not like any sunlight gets in here, and I can see exactly where we’re going.”
He just nodded.
“I wonder if they do this all year around,” Terry said. “Or if the glowing is seasonal? Like, are they just trying to find mates?”
“You c
ould consult your guide book,” he replied. “I think I’d prefer not to know. It is what it is.”
Terry shook her head. “Understanding why they glow, the likely simplicity of the biology behind it, that’s what makes nature seem magical the most. Like, the way a cuttlefish glows, it’s got to be a pretty rudimentary biological process. Its primary purpose is to find a mate. That simplicity is what’s beautiful. I want to know. Like, I want to know the processes behind your shift. Because the science behind it has got to be more beautiful than simply thinking of it as being a mystical curiosity of nature.”
She looked out of wide, excited eyes at Liam, and then reached forward and took his hand. He had stopped paddling, and the boat was just drifting through the cave on the current.
“Thanks,” she said. “This is really amazing.”
She moved over to his side of the boat, and sat with her back toward his chest, and watched the glowing surfaces of the cave trundle slowly by.
She felt the press of his hardening manhood into her lower back. She grinned, but pressed herself into him harder, and together they stared up at the phosphorescence, like smudged stars hanging from strings in a night sky.
This was what she wanted to see on her travels. These were the kinds of new experiences she had sought. Beautiful things, like Liam’s bear, like shapeshifters. She didn’t want the cities, she didn’t want the banal. She wanted to come away from her travels knowing that, if she so choose to, she could write a book about them.
*
There was something special about her. Of that he was certain. His mind played back to the conversation they’d had about a shifter’s urge, about how the shift was, to him and other shifters alike, addictive.
And how he hadn’t felt the need to change since meeting her.
Could it be that she was his mate? How could he hope to know some animal call, what it was, when he’d never experienced it before?
All he knew was that with each passing moment his thoughts dwelled more on her. All he knew is that thinking about her made his heart thump in his chest, and seeing her made him draw breath, made his hands feel empty.