“Oh, yeah, she said. “Mmmm… Maybe I’ll take my pleasure like this, by myself, with you watching.”
A look of disappointment crossed his face, but then the stoic resolve returned. She knew she could do it. She was close. But that wasn’t really what she wanted, and he knew it.
“I thought you’d come up with something better than that,” he said challengingly. “After all, that had been plan A, back in the bathroom.” He raised an eyebrow and smiled slyly. “Or is that your preference?”
She shook her head. No way. Not here. Not now.
“Kneel down,” she said. When he didn’t move right away, she pressed down on his shoulders and then he acquiesced.
“Your wish is my command,” he said, smiling up at her. She dug her hands in his hair and pushed that smug smile into her pussy. He startled in surprise and then, realizing where he was, started to lap voraciously. Eliza swooned on her feet. Todd grabbed her ass and held her in place, pushing her even deeper into his mouth. She balanced precariously, her hands in his hair, her toes barely touching the carpet.
It was an unusual paradox; she was forcing him, playfully, to do this, and he was clearly enjoying himself, but her body, to enjoy this, needed to melt, to surrender, or wanted to, and she was wobbling on her feet, literally, caught between control and loss of control. Tonight was about her being in control. She planted her feet on the floor and pushed him away from her. He looked up, surprised again.
“Lie down.” She stepped back, drew his knees forward so that his legs were straight out on the carpet, his toes pointing toward the bed. She pushed back on his chest so that he’d lie down. His beautiful hair was a few feet from the hearth and the firelight made it gleam with red highlights amidst the rich brown. She straddled his chest, rubbed her thumbs hard against his nipples, and bent over to plant a deep kiss on his wet, heavily-scented lips.
He moaned under her, his tongue flicking playfully at hers, but she pulled away quickly.
“Keep going,” she whispered. “Keep flicking that tongue.” She brought her knees over his shoulders and sat astride his face. His tongue found her opening and drove in. She let her hips rock, grinding her pussy into his mouth, soaking his cheeks, sliding up against his nose. His hands were on her ass again, pushing her toward his probing tongue. His thumbs followed the path of his tongue and soon they were both driving into her as his tongue raged over her clit.
The firelight licked her belly, her throat, his forehead. She grabbed her tits and pinched her nipples, hard. She moaned with pleasure and the pinch of pain. She drove harder against his face as her climax spun together just beyond the edges of her awareness. She didn’t care if she drowned him in her juices or suffocated him by fucking his face so hard. He was hers to control, to use, to take her pleasure from. But his fingers weren’t enough now, even though he had three or four, maybe more, jammed into her. She wanted all of him to penetrate her; she wanted to be taken fully; she wanted to take him and the whole world deep inside of her. She reached back and grabbed his cock without seeing. It lay against his belly, hard as wood but with a warm velvet finish. She lifted it, pointed it upwards, gripped tightly and slid that grip down his length and up again. She imagined him spurting inside her.
She cried out—against her coming this time—to hold it back. She wanted more, she wanted everything. She pushed up off Todd’s face, red and drenched with both their exertions, and lifted her ass up, once again in a downward dog position. With one arm supporting her weight she reached the other arm through her legs until she gripped his thick cock. She forced it straight up and then shifted her weight backwards until her pussy was positioned right over it. She met Todd’s eyes, which were glassy with arousal and anticipation and then she dropped down, impaling herself on his throbbing cock in one swift, driving movement. His eyes rolled back and his neck arched as she sheathed his sword to the hilt.
She was on her heels, squatting over him, and with her hands on his chest, she had all the leverage she needed to lift and fall with hard fast plunges. He stared at her, at the wild-animal part of her that she was revealing to him tonight. Her pussy was red, wet, and swollen, and lit by firelight. His cock, shiny with her juices, bulged with veins that seemed ready to burst. He watched everything, looking down his body toward their joining. She pumped him hard as she clawed at his chest. Up and down, up and down, her tits bouncing, her whole being consumed with this powerful pleasure.
Todd slid his hands toward her, along his shaft, until his fingers encountered the slick push and pull of their piston-like movements. She watched him as he held himself straight up into her, his fingers clasped together around his base. She lifted until her labia parted around the wide swollen tip of his cock, but she didn’t let go. She eased back down, aware that his hands would prevent their pubic bones from meeting, but she hadn’t noticed that his thumbs were directed upward now and as she slid down his length, his thumbs slid up against her clit, which caused fireworks of sensation to explode all through her pelvis. She started to feel dizzy but she kept plunging, his thumbs forcing her orgasm to rush forward with dam-breaking speed. And just before she took off on a rocket to the stars, Todd’s forefingers extended behind her, stretching out away from his cock and slightly upwards, sliding along her crack toward her anus.
She cried out, mouth wide, firelight at her throat.
Todd said something then … Sort of mumbly, like, “Take it, Eliza. Take it all… Take me. I love this … You… beautiful…. Love … sexy… oh god…. You… love.”
It was all just a jumble of words that Eliza had no ability to string together as her climax pervaded all her senses. She could only moan and scream with pleasure in response to the sound, the light, the smell, the taste, the touch—oh the relentless driving touch that tremored through every limb, every muscle, every cell of her being.
Her breath, heavy and raspy from her cries, was the first singular sound she registered. And then the crackle of the fire, Todd’s breathing, his gentle, “Ssshhh….” Why was he doing that? She felt his hands on her back, caressing its length. She shuddered and trembled over him.
“Ssshhhh….” He kept saying, gently and quietly, as he guided her down over him to rest in an embrace. As she tucked her face into his shoulder she felt wetness and she suddenly realized she had been crying.
“Ssshhh…” he said holding her tight. The fire warmed the top her head and the rounds of her shoulders. She was damp all over, sweaty. Every part of her was emitting moisture. She was aware of the watery-ness of being human. Seventy percent. Was that the number? Her mind slowly gathered back to itself. What had Todd been saying? Is that what had made her cry? Why had she cried?
She pushed herself up so she could look at him. His eyes looked warm and wet, and more green than blue in this light. She loved his eyes. She kissed him softly on the mouth first and then she pulled back again and said,
“What did you say?”
His eyes glistened as he looked into hers. He smiled as he waited for her to say more, as if he had asked a question not her. When she didn’t say anything else, he furrowed his brow.
“You didn’t hear me?”
“I don’t know. I heard… things… I was somewhere else… in the stratosphere or something. Oh my god, it felt soooo good.” She grinned stupidly.
Todd smiled then, a little stiffly, if Eliza could trust her sight more than her hearing.
“It was nothing. It doesn’t matter. What matters is that you enjoyed yourself.”
“Oh, I did. Immensely.” She sighed into his chest. “Did you?”
“Very much. Also immensely. Can’t you tell from the small lake of come pooling on my stomach?”
It was true they were getting sticky. She pushed herself up to sitting. The muscle contractions to move forced his softening member to slither from her wet pleasure cave. She felt sad to feel him go. A part of her wanted to push him back in…
“Love….beauty….sex…I…you… love…” The jumble of words echo
ed deeply in her mind. She felt one with all of them. She placed her hands on Todd’s heart.
“Todd, I…” He looked at her, his blue eyes holding her gaze even when she felt compelled to look away. “I… I love… I loved all that. I loved taking you that way. Thank you.”
He sighed. “You’re welcome. I trust you’ll return the favor one day.”
“Every day if you want,” she said, trying to meet his gaze with more meaning, trying to convey something she still couldn’t put into words.
He smiled at her. “We’ll take things one day at a time. Keep things a little … unexpected.” He shifted under her. “Let’s get cleaned up. I’ve got an idea about where I want to go riding tomorrow but we’ll have to get up early.”
“Oh, okay.” She shimmied off him and gathered her robe from the bed.
“Would you like to shower?” he asked.
“Only if you shower with me.”
“All right. Let’s get you cleaned up, you dirty girl.” He picked his towel up off the floor.
“You don’t really think I’m dirty, do you Todd? Because of the things I just did?”
He raised an eyebrow at her. “That was passion unchained, Eliza. It was beautiful. Not dirty at all.” Then he narrowed his gaze and steeled his jaw. “I expect you to get a lot dirtier than that.”
He strode to the bathroom and turned on the shower tap. Now what, she wondered, did he mean by that?
A SEA CHANGE
They slept cuddled together in the middle of Todd’s huge bed. Eliza felt sexually sated, squeaky clean from their sensual yet purely functional shower, and so cozy wrapped in Todd’s arms and percale sheets she thought her heart might burst. It really ached. It was if there were a banquet in front of her with all of her favorite flavors lined up for the savoring and she still couldn’t open her arms or her mouth wide enough to take it all in. Like a parched throat in need of slaking, or deep diving lungs in need of a gulp of fresh air, she was aware of a deep longing, almost physical in nature, whose fulfillment was almost within reach if only she could open herself completely. But the ‘how’ of it eluded her, and for some sad reason, she sensed that it would be eternally elusive.
She snuggled more deeply into Todd’s spooning embrace. He made a Hmmmm-ing noise, a sound of pleasure and satisfaction, and gathered her up tight. Minutes later he was snoring lightly, his breath deep and even, lost to his world of dreams.
Eliza lay awake for a while longer. Worrying. Was that elusive feeling love? She had fallen for Todd completely, she knew it. She also knew that love was supposedly the definition of completely falling for someone. Just falling for someone could be other things—lust, passion, infatuation, distraction—but completely falling meant you were done for, you’d taken the leap, you’d lost control, and you were powerless to change without going through heartbreak. Or heartgrowth, she thought. If a heart didn’t break it made sense that it had to grow, right?
She was thinking too much again. She had felt powerful tonight. Vulnerable, too, in taking charge of her own pleasure and showing Todd how she could use him, take him. Not against his will, but according to her own. And she didn’t think Todd had felt powerless. Just as she didn’t really feel powerless when he directed their sexual encounters. It was a kind of give and take, a sharing of power. They took turns. She realized that she liked to be in charge almost as much as she liked to be taken charge of.
Almost. Something in her nature made her want to give in to his power, his definite desire, knowing she was the source of it, and could be the fulfillment of it. Because she knew she could always say no, and Todd knew that, which made taking charge a vulnerable endeavor, as she had discovered tonight. You had to be vulnerable to truly claim your power with another. With, not over. Things got ugly when someone wanted complete power over another person. The expression of power, especially sexual power, was a gift to be given and received. That was how it was shared.
Eliza took some deep quieting breaths to still her mind. What a long strange day it had been. She let go of everything and settled in to welcoming whatever tomorrow might bring.
She woke up alone in the big bed. This had happened once before, the only other time they had slept together in the same bed, and she had thought Todd had left without saying goodbye but he had just gone to her kitchen to make coffee. That had been in her studio flat above her shop. In this sprawling manor of Evergreen Downs, the kitchen was a lot further away, and she didn’t smell any coffee. She didn’t hear the shower going either, but they had showered last night. She stretched out full length in the bed, savoring the tight pull of all of her muscles at once and then their release into relaxation.
“Rise and shine!” The dimly red, womb-like room was suddenly blasted with bright yellow sunshine. Eliza squinted and turned away from the windows.
“Todd?”
As her eyes adjusted she saw his silhouette over by the drapes, securing the big panels with thick gold cords. When he turned to her she noticed he was dressed in his riding duds.
“I let you sleep in, my English Rose.”
Eliza rolled her eyes, English Rose she was definitely not. “Feels like I just fell asleep.”
“No one’s fault but your own if you can’t settle your mind down.”
How had he known?
“Come on, up and at ‘em.” He slapped her on the calf as he walked back across the room toward the door. “I’ve got the horses in the trailer and ready to go.”
“Trailer?”
There was a light knock on the door and Todd was already opening it before the third tap had been rapped.
“Wait,” said Eliza gathering the bedclothes around her. Marjorie strode in carrying a tray with a silver coffee pot, a mug, pastries and fruit. She had a huge smile on her face.
“Now, now, Miss Eliza. It’s almost nine o’clock.” She gave her a meaningful look and rolled her eyes in Todd’s direction.
“Really?” Eliza had slept in.
Todd wrapped an arm around Marjorie. “I appreciate all your efforts to make this easy on me, I really do, but I’ve been through this before.”
“And it’s always been awful!” said Marjorie.
Todd shot a glance at the framed photo on the mantel. “Loss always is.” Then he looked at Eliza. “But gain is the best antidote. And lately I’ve gained something pretty precious.”
“Pretty and precious,” quipped Marjorie.
“I stand corrected,” said Todd with a smirk.
Then they both looked at her with their eyebrows raised as if to say, well aren’t you getting up?
“Um…,” said Eliza. “I don’t have any clothes on.”
“Doesn’t bother me,” said Todd with a grin.
“Nor me,” said Marjorie, and then she laughed. “Just joshing. I’ll leave you to dress, but hurry your wee bottom, Miss.”
Eliza’s eyes widened and Todd chuckled as Marjorie slipped out the door, closing it behind her.
“I suppose I give her a little too much leeway, don’t I?” he said.
“You must have encouraged her all these years.” Eliza crawled out of bed and reached for her new red robe.
Todd had walked over to the mantel and had his hand on the picture frame. “After my mother died, I tried to treat Marjorie like a mother. She was good to me. Never pushed me away or made me feel I was a bother. I think my father appreciated her warmth toward me at a time when he felt so lost. We’ve never had a proper servant-master relationship since.”
“Well, I suppose that’s a good thing,” said Eliza as she fumbled around in her toiletry bag looking for her toothbrush. “She’s a woman before she’s a servant. We’re all the people we are first and the things we do second.”
“Oh really?” Todd left the photo on the mantel and walked over to her. “I suppose you did a pretty good job of proving you’re a sexy woman last night. I completely forgot you also design hats.”
He winked and leaned in for a kiss. Eliza held up her toothbrush between t
hem. “Better wait,” she whispered. She scurried off to the bathroom to make herself more kissable.
As she brushed tiny, frothy circles along her enamel, it struck her that she, too, had forgotten she was a hat designer lately. She wondered how Carmen was doing back at the shop.
“How long will we be riding for?” called Eliza through the door.
“We’ll be gone a couple of hours, I imagine,” said Todd.
Eliza couldn’t imagine going back to London just yet, but she would have to ring Carmen as soon as they got back. She dressed quickly, downed her coffee and croissant, and they were on the road by half past nine.
Todd drove the Range Rover as if it were a Ferrari, but not a Ferrari pulling a trailer occupied by two horses.
“Aren’t you concerned about Honey and Fanfare?”
“They’re used to speed.”
“Sure, their own speed, on solid ground, not in a moving vehicle–two moving vehicles!”
He slowed down a bit. “Maybe I should have asked Albert to drive us.”
“I’m not saying you’re a bad driver, just maybe a little too enthusiastic, considering the narrow roads and the cargo we’re hauling.”
“I didn’t want Albert hanging around waiting for us.”
“Oh, did you have something unusual in mind?”
She’d noticed a picnic basket in the backseat, likely provided by Marjorie, and a couple of blankets and beach towels. It was still way too cold to swim. She hoped Todd wasn’t planning to challenge her that way. She was not about to risk hypothermia to prove her love to him. She caught herself. Where had that thought come from? Why did she say love? She looked out the window. One day at a time, he’d said. And that’s all Eliza could manage anyway.
“I’m taking you to my favorite beach, but we can’t park nearby. We have to ride along one beach, cross a headland, and then down to another beach.”
“Sounds adventurous.”
“You’re up for an adventure?”
“There’s no turning back now.”
London Lace, Series Complete Set Page 16