The man now staring into the pool resembled Gary, Violet’s ex-boyfriend, his face caught in an expression of surprise.
“Yes, that will do for now.” Aphrodite said in quiet satisfaction. She tapped the new statue on the shoulder. “Maybe someday you’ll look beyond your own desires and see someone to love. In the meantime, enjoy the view.”
A swirl of wind, and the goddess disappeared.
Epilogue
“And in conclusion, it is clear from the evidence that stonemasons from Iona were instrumental in the creation of the temples of Athens.” Nick checked the last sentence for grammar and spelling errors, and then saved the file, nodding satisfaction. It was done, finally. He burned the final version of his thesis onto a CD before shutting down his new shiny white laptop.
Done, the last hurdle to his degree, the one thing he needed to keep his teaching position at the university, academic recognition of his expertise of the ancient world. When he and Violet had arrived home a year ago tonight, freed from the curse, they’d found an envelope with all kinds of useful documentation, including a social security card, birth certificate, and school records, all in the name of Nicholas Rockman.
Just another of the Goddess’s little jokes.
He’d taken a few months to get up to speed in reading and writing English, and then had applied to the university as a graduate student. His knowledge of ancient Greece and Rome had caught the professors’ attention and soon the anthropology department had put him on the staff as an assistant, subject to his finishing his thesis. Now the position would be permanent.
Nick smiled at the accomplishment. From lawn ornament to scholar in a single year…not bad for a three-thousand-year-old man! With his salary, Violet would have to work much less in the future and he’d be able to take care of their expenses.
From the living room, Violet’s tuneless humming broke through his thoughts. Taking the disk with him, Nick left the office nook in their bedroom and, as he’d expected, found her in the bentwood rocker she loved so much. He grinned. It had been a stroke of genius to figure out when Gary’s new landlady would get fed up with her absentee tenant and sell off his property. He’d made a point of getting to her garage sale first, buying all the items Violet’s former boyfriend had taken.
She’d been delighted to see her belongings again, only wasting a few moments wondering what had happened to the odious man. Funny thing—she’d noticed the new statue in the garden but hadn’t figured out whom Aphrodite had chosen to take Nick’s place.
Nick had recognized Gary at once. He knew the goddess and how much she loved a joke, almost as much as she loved a good love story. Watching Violet, rocking gently in her chair, he was glad to be part of the latter and not the former.
She glanced up and her smile welcomed his approach. “You finished?”
He held up the disk. “Just now. Two hundred pages on Grecian columns, ready for publication.”
“Wonderful, Nick!” Even after a year, Violet’s praise still warmed him like no other’s. Making her proud had become one of the most important parts of his life.
“How’s your project coming?” He pointed to the elongated square dangling from the long knitting needles. “Isn’t that a little big?”
She lifted the work and examined it ruefully. “It was supposed to be booties, then a sweater. Now I think I’m making an afghan.”
“Well, any of the three would keep our baby warm.” Nick pulled her from the chair and cuddled her close, his hand stroking the five-month bulge under the robe. “I see you’ve taken to wearing mine.”
“Mine barely fits around my middle,” Violet complained, her lips finding his chin. “Yours is much more comfortable,” she told him as she nibbled.
Slipping his hand inside the robe, he found the tightened flesh that covered his child. It was still a little soon for him to consistently feel the baby’s movements, but knowing he or she was there, resting in Violet’s body, sent a thrill shooting through him.
His child in his wife, his seed come to life, just as he’d wished for a year ago. Life was wonderful.
Stroking her bare belly, he discovered that it wasn’t the only thing bare about her. The soft curls of her woman’s mound tickled his fingers when he dipped past the slight bulge.
“You aren’t wearing any underwear,” he said, pulling the robe further open, reveling in the sight. No bra, no panties, just Violet, gloriously pregnant. As full-chested as she had been, now her breasts were magnificent things. Nick’s mouth watered.
She glowed under his heated gaze, and not because of the baby. Desire lit her face and she reached to tug free the bottom of his shirt. “I was thinking we should celebrate.”
“Celebrate is good. You can’t have any champagne, though,” he told her through gritted teeth as she opened his shirt and stroked the new hair that had grown across his chest in the past year.
“And chocolate isn’t good. I’ve already gained six pounds this month.” She leaned over and licked his nipples. Nick forced back a groan. “What we need is something that has no calories, or alcohol. Hmm…What would you suggest?”
Oh how he loved this second trimester horniness. Since Violet had stopped feeling ill, at the end of the first three months, she’d been persistently pulling his clothes off at odd moments of the day, demanding he satisfy her hormone-driven body. It was enough to make Nick wonder how many children they could have. One experience with pregnancy wasn’t going to be enough.
Of course, her hormones were only part of it. Bold little Violet she’d become since their first meeting, no longer uncertain of who she was, but now a woman who knew her own mind and what she wanted from life.
Nick thanked all the gods that what she wanted was him in her as often as possible.
Pulling the robe off her, he placed it over the chair behind her to cushion her as he directed her back into the seat. Violet leaned against the back as he knelt before her and spread her legs wide over the rocking chair arms. Nick took a moment to admire the sight of her opened folds before leaning in to taste her. She squirmed and moaned as he tongued the hardened nub of her clit, reveling in the tangy juices already pooling from her slit.
Violet’s hands dug into his hair, urging him onward. Nick reached behind her to grasp the back of the chair, supporting her between his arms and moving the chair to and fro. The gentle rocking made it easier to set his pace.
The rocking gave him other ideas, too.
Violet shuddered under his ministrations, her clit throbbing under his tongue, her hands clenching at his head in unleashed passion. “Come for me,” he whispered.
She did, crying out his name. Nick stood and caught her as she collapsed forward into his arms. Easing her back into the chair, he turned her so she knelt on the seat cushion and could rest her arms against the back.
His pants came off in one movement, his mind so full of the sight of her rounded buttocks that it barely registered he should have removed his shoes first. After a little struggle he was naked, thinking Violet’s post-climax euphoria had hidden his clumsiness.
Her grin as he approached told him she hadn’t missed a thing. “Nice to know I can still fluster you, my husband, even in my current bulging state.”
“You are the most beautiful woman alive, Violet,” he chided her. “And you know it, too. Look what you do to me.” He watched her eyes widen at the sight of his cock, massive and ready for her. He gave it a couple of preliminary pulls, spreading the pre-cum along the shaft, enjoying the feel of his hand, knowing how good the feel of her pussy was going to be.
She started to climb off the chair, but he stopped her. “Lean forward against the chair, Violet.”
Anticipation in her pose, she did, lifting her ass obediently in the air. He found her woman’s opening from behind and slipped partway inside. Her welcoming sigh told him she was prepared for this and he slid home within her tight, enclosing warmth.
He breathed deeply, reaching for control. She felt wonderful and he w
anted this to last. Violet shot a glance over her shoulder, her eyes bright with pleasure. Nick pulled up on the arms of the chair and it rocked back, taking her with it. His cock slid slowly out of her. When he pushed down on the arms, she slid back onto his shaft. He repeated the action, and Violet rocked with the chair, his cock sliding in and out with the movement of the chair.
Violet rocked and moaned, Nick’s hips taking up the action as well. He thrust deep within her, using the arms of the chair to keep Violet in movement.
Deeper he plunged, harder than he’d dared in recent months. The doctor had assured him sex wouldn’t hurt Violet or the baby, but still he’d been hesitant. Now hesitation left him. Nick reached forward to caress his woman’s full, heavy breasts, the round belly where his child lay, and he let his body speak to her of everything in his heart.
She was his to possess, his to love, to take care of, to protect. His woman, carrying his child, the pair of them his family. Emotions of love crowded those of desire and still he thrust deeply into her glorious body, letting this possession of her stand as a symbol for what he felt.
She was his Violet, in the roses, in the bedroom, or in any other place he could hold her and love her. He would care for her—as a woman, as a wife—and support her as she supported him, mentally and physically.
She was his Violet, forever.
The End
About the author:
Cricket Starr lives in the San Francisco Bay area with her husband of more years than she chooses to count. She loves fantasies, particularly sexual fantasies, and sees her writing as an opportunity to test boundaries. Her driving ambition is to have more fun than anyone should or could have. While published in other venues under her own name, she’s found a home for her erotica writing here at Ellora’s Cave.
Cricket welcomes mail from readers. You can write to her c/o Ellora’s Cave Publishing at P.O. Box 787, Hudson, Ohio 44236-0787.
Also by Cricket Starr:
The Doll
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