A Wishing Moon

by Sable Hunter

He stood next to the bed. She stopped for a moment and just looked at him—tall, broad, perfectly muscled, skin of burnished gold. He held out his hand to her and she hesitated, this man deserved the very best and he certainly deserved honesty from her.

  She wanted him, desperately, but what she wanted most of all was for him to be happy. Jade deserved perfection and she knew in her heart she had not met that requirement prior to the attack—now she wasn’t even in the ballpark.

  She took his hand. He pulled her to him and held her close. She rested her head on his hard chest and listened to the strong beat of his heart. “Thank you for the beautiful homecoming, the candles, the rose petals, and the champagne.”

  “I would try to give you the world, if you asked,” he whispered as his lips began kissing her neck. His hands went to the top of her robe, to push it off. She knew now was the time—she had to stop him.

  “Wait, I need to show you something first.” He allowed her to step back out of his arms. She took his hand and led him back to the bathroom. She turned on both the overhead lights and the much brighter bulbs over the vanity mirror. She wanted him to see the ugly reality without any hiding or pretense.

  “Arabella, darling, what are we doing?” he asked patiently.

  “Before we make love, I want you to see the full impact of the scars in the harsh light of day, so to speak.”

  “Arabella…”

  “No, I want you to see them now, and know you have a choice.” She felt him stiffen at her side. She did not allow herself to try and imagine what he was thinking, she couldn’t stand it.

  She began undoing the small shell buttons one more time. “The doctor said they would fade or I could get plastic surgery to reduce the size and the ugly red color, but I wanted you to see them up front, before we went to bed. I couldn’t bear waiting until we were in the throes of passion and then watch your face change when you uncovered the scars.”

  He stood in front of her; she could not bring herself to look at him at all. She watched her own hands as they completed their task, then she clutched the sides of her gown and lifted her face to his. His face looked anguished and she interpreted the look to mean he dreaded the unveiling as much as she did. “I’m going to close my eyes and if they repulse you, please, just walk away. I will understand.”

  She let the gown fall off and she stood before him, her head hanging in shame. She waited for him to say something, anything—to gasp in horror or turn and walk away. He said nothing, and then she felt his touch. He began pressing tender kisses to the puckered wound on her left shoulder. He covered every inch of the ugly, raised disfigurement with his lips, even following the scar down, as it marred the soft, round globe of her breast. She began to tremble. When he had completed his labor of love on the front, he turned her around and kissed the angry red skin of her back.

  Turning her to face him, Jade knelt in front of her and placed his head against her body. “Don’t you think I know where these scars came from?” He took a ragged breath. She said nothing and he continued, “The bullet that tore into your flesh was meant for me. I don’t count these marks as scars; they are a visible testament to the fact you were willing to sacrifice your life for mine. How could I be repulsed by the evidence of so great a gift?” She cradled his head in her arms and felt the dampness of his tears.

  He stood to his feet and picked her up, easily, as if she were a child. He carried her to their bed and he gently laid her down. As she watched him with wonder in her heart, he undressed quickly and joined her. Without another word he began to love her. Weeks of abstinence must have fueled his sexual appetite, but he was nothing but gentle with her. Pressing his long length against her, he ran his hands up and down her body as if ensuring himself she was safe and whole.

  “I’ve missed you, so,” he whispered in her ear as he began to kiss her lips. It seemed he couldn’t get as close to her as he needed to be. “I don’t want to crush you. Get on top of me.”

  Helping her get into position, Jade resumed his seduction. Both hands cradled her face and his tongue mated with hers, parodying the rhythm his loins ached to begin. He urged her up higher in the bed until his mouth could reach her breasts. He began to court her nipples, using his tongue to swirl around each one in turn, laving them into submission, causing the pink areolas to pout and swell. He teased her endlessly, nibbling the swell of her breasts, pressing them together and molding them with his hands as if they were clay to be fashioned into a piece of erotic art.

  * * * *

  Arabella endured the teasing longer than he thought she would. Jade knew what she liked and he wanted to make her beg. “Please,” she gasped. He continued the sensual assault, yet avoided the one sensation he knew she desired the most. “Please, Jade,” she urged softly.

  “Please, what?” he teased. He wanted to make her say the words. She was such a lady, it turned him on for her to ask for what she wanted from him.

  Seemingly past the point for modesty, she pleaded with him. “Suck my nipples, please. Suck them hard!” Her words fanned the flames of his desire and he happily gave her what she asked for. Placing his mouth over one nipple, he chuckled at her insistence as she pushed downward urging him to take more of her in his mouth. He suckled her breast with fervor, his tongue tickling the nipple even as his lips and mouth applied exquisite pressure.

  “God, I feel so empty. I need you, Jade.”

  Delicate sounds of pleasure escaped her lips, low husky moans and tiny mewls of surrender. He knew he could make her come just by breast stimulation alone, but he was starving for her and even now, his manhood was clamoring for relief.

  Aching to be inside of her, he gently nudged her onto her back, and covered her body with his. Careful of her shoulder, he adjusted the pillows to make her comfortable, taking one from his side of the bed and placing it under her hips. This tilted her vulva up toward him, giving him an erotic view of her hot, pulsating core. Slowly, he guided the head of his penis to the silky pink opening of her vagina. This was only their second time to make love in the flesh. “Do you want me inside of you, Arabella?”

  “Yes,” she groaned. “Please, Jade. I ache for you.” He pushed the head of his penis inside of her very slowly. She began to undulate her hips, seeking to draw more and more of him deep within her. They both watched as his thick, hard penis went deeper and deeper. She lifted her hips and tensed her inner muscles massaging the length of him. This triggered the end of his control.

  “I can’t go slowly anymore Arabella, I want you too much.” He lifted both of her legs and put them up over his shoulders. This gave him unbridled access to pump into her as hard and fast as she could stand.

  She gasped at the pleasure. “Oh God, Jade this feels so good.”

  He watched her face as he loved her. There was no pretense, no fake gasps and groans, only pure, unadulterated enjoyment. This woman was not ice, she was fire. Kate had tolerated their sexual encounters. Arabella reveled in them—an equal, enthusiastic participant.

  “Jade, I want to kiss you, please.”

  He changed their positions so he was covering her and their faces were touching. She wrapped her legs around his waist and lifted her lips to his. As she kissed him, he felt her inner muscles begin to vibrate in an intense orgasm. She bucked underneath him, causing him to explode inside of her. He continued to pump until the last drop of his ejaculation shot deep inside of her. He lay down on her, supporting himself with his arms so he wouldn’t crush her.

  “You are the most wonderful lover.”

  “How would you know? I am the only lover you have ever had.” He was teasing her, but then again, he wasn’t.

  “I know how you make me feel, even now—I love how you feel inside of me. You have spent yourself, but your penis is so big and thick it is still giving me pleasure.” Her hips began to move under his and her tight sheath began to massage his ultra sensitive rod. She allowed her hips to move in tight little circles and increased the rhythm of her inner muscles and suddenly he
found his cock growing, expanding, refilling, getting harder than it had been before.

  “Roll over, baby.” He helped her get into position. He arranged the pillows so she could lean over them and he could enter her from the back.

  “This is new, I’ve always wanted to try it doggie style.” She let the pillows support her middle and held herself up with her arms on the other side. Her curvy backend was turned up and waiting on his attention.

  “You have me as hard as a rock.” He reached under her and massaged her vulva to ensure she was still wet enough to handle him. When he touched her, she tensed and moaned her desire, which only fueled his need.

  Guiding his cock into her pussy, Jade moved his hands around to cup both breasts, which dangled heavily in front of the pillows. She gasped with delight. He set the speed on slow and sensuous. “God, this is so good.” Every time he plunged in, he tweaked her nipples. She ground her hips back against him, causing him to laugh with joy. “How do you know how to do these things?”

  “Fantasies.”

  That one word almost sent him over the edge. The globes of her breasts were the sexiest handles he’d ever held onto. He leaned down and kissed the curve of her back. She arched toward him, attempting to accommodate his every desire. Her breathing picked up and he knew she was building to another orgasm. He raised her upright on his member and pulled her smooth back against his chest. He kept one hand on her right breast, maintaining the nipple stimulation he knew would drive her crazy. The other hand slipped down to cover her mound. He found her swollen clitoris and began to rub her sweet spot in sensuous circles, round and round as he pounded into her now convulsing body.

  “God, Jade, I’m coming so hard, so good!” She jerked in his arms and her scream of delight catapulted him into the hardest orgasm he had ever experienced. He held on to her, enjoying every possible ripple of electric ecstasy that could be drained from the mind-blowing experience. Still holding her back against him, he ran the palms of his hands from her shoulders down to below her thighs and back again, finding their home as they cupped her breasts and squeezed them, not with frantic desire but with devoted appreciation. Then he tenderly kissed the scar on her back. With grateful fingers, he tenderly touched the ridge of scar tissue on her shoulder and whispered in her ear. “I love you.”

  When he said those words, the words she had been longing to hear, she instantly became completely and utterly still. All of the wonderful sensations that had been washing over her body were suddenly overtaken by a much stronger reaction—absolute and utter relief—he had said he loved her!

  Still connected to him in the most intimate and loving way, she did not attempt to turn around for fear of hurting him, plus she could not bear to break that most precious of connections. She lifted the uninjured arm to touch his cheek and turned her head to meet his lips with her own. “Oh, Jade, I love you so.”

  He must have known, there was no way it could have been a surprise. She had been telling him she loved him every day of their acquaintance, in every way possible, with every cell of her body. Still, he reacted as if the simple words were unexpected yet longed for news.

  “My God, Arabella. What you do to me. This has never happened before.” As inexperienced as she was, even Arabella knew a man usually could not have intercourse three times in quick succession. Yet here he was—thick, hard and surging within her. And even though she was replete and in some ways exhausted, she accommodated his needs with the greatest of delight.

  * * * *

  Evangeline and Arabella watched as Angelique took a piece of Lyle Session’s shirt and fashioned it into a small poppet. She carefully sewed buttons on for eyes and stitched a nose and a mouth. Stuffing the poppet with yew, wormwood, pepper and nettles, they had decided to go beyond the more passive protection charms and delve right into a full frontal attack. This typical voodoo/hoodoo charm was meant to bring Lyle Sessions to his knees.

  Angelique took the poppet and stitched it up around the herbs, then she sat the small doll on a marble slab and proceeded to anoint it with Damnation oil. She lit a black candle and burned a piece of parchment paper, in which his name and his deeds had been inscribed. Next, she placed the oil-drenched likeness in a cast iron cauldron and lit the whole thing ablaze—completely obliterating the charmed likeness of the insane killer. “Soon, he will regret he was ever born,” Angelique whispered.

  * * * *

  While Arabella was still recuperating, Jade took care of quite a bit of business. He cleaned out Kate’s things from his apartment and had them delivered post-haste to her parents’ house, just as he’d promised. He started keeping hours at his congressional office and even met with his campaign team for a quasi reunion/celebration.

  He took time to address a session at the capitol and thanked everyone for their prayers and support. He made appointments and noted the times for several critical votes—all things a good congressman should do.

  He also dealt with a persistent job offer from one of the most prestigious law firms in town, which reiterated their desire to have him join the firm. They left the door wide open, if he ever came to the day when politics did not meet his expectations; they foresaw a mutually beneficial association. Jade wasn’t closing any doors, right now he didn’t know what he wanted—except for Arabella, of course. He had no real need to work, if he never worked another day in his life, he had enough money to meet all of his needs. The politics was a head-rush, but being governor or even president someday was something he could live without. Admittedly, he enjoyed the work at his old law firm, Jade loved a good argument and missed the days at college when he had excelled at debate and law had seemed like the career for him.

  Politics had turned his head and he felt like he had done some good down at the capitol. Green issues were not usually his parties forte, but he felt as if he were making some headway with some of the old hats and one day, maybe, the rest of the state would catch up with their forward thinking capitol.

  The meeting with Reese, however, did not go as well as everything else had. “Reese, I really don’t want to hear this,” Jade stated his position emphatically.

  “You’re making a huge mistake, Jade. That woman is going to finish you in politics. Your names have already been linked. I’m not saying she isn’t coming out in a favorable light, helping find those murder victims and all, but she will never do as wife material. Arabella Landry is certainly no Kate Thompson.”

  Jade’s blood boiled as he listened to Reese judge Arabella. He did everything he could to contain the anger, but he was just about to erupt. How dare this sanctimonious son-of-a-bitch say those cruel things about Arabella! “Reese, you’re my friend, or at least I thought you were. There is one thing you need to be aware of, Arabella comes first. Politics means nothing to me, compared to her. If my party can’t accept me and Arabella as a team, then I don’t want anything to do with the party or their politics. As for Kate Thompson, her name isn’t worthy to even be in the same sentence as Arabella’s. Kate is a cold, calculating icicle, where Arabella is a warm, loving, exciting, giving woman.”

  “Jade, people are talking. The rumors are starting to get around. They’re using the word ‘witch’.”

  If Jade hadn’t been so furious, he would have laughed. “Reese, Arabella is a witch—a precious, powerful, cute-as-a-button, wand-waving, chanting, card-carrying witch. I don’t really blame you for your ignorance; I used to be in about the same shape. But that little witch and her family saved my life. They used their considerable powers to resurrect me from, might as well be, dead. I will never be able to repay her family the great debt I owe them. And if you ever do one thing to hurt Arabella or to let her know this vile shit you are spewing, I will not only beat the hell out of you, I will give Arabella permission to turn you into a roach.”

  Reese shut up and walked out. Jade took a deep breath and shook his head. Actually, he didn’t have any idea if Arabella could turn anyone into a roach, but he suspected if she couldn’t her grandmother p
robably could.

  Now, all he wanted to do was go home to Wildflower Way, back to the heaven of her arms.

  Tyler Garrison was there when Jade got home and he learned five more bodies had indeed been unearthed from the Townsend property. The remains seemed to vary in time as to how long they had been buried; some looked to be years old and others possibly less. There were newspaper reporters and TV cameras everywhere. The road in front of Wildflower Way was congested with traffic. News had spread fast across the state about a serial killer lurking in the wilds of the Texas Hill Country.

  Before Tyler left, he got Jade off to one side. “Congressman, I’ve looked into your background,” he began. “I see you have a concealed handgun permit.”

  “I do. I haven’t taken advantage of it. I don’t exactly think a servant of the State should walk around on public property armed to the teeth.”

  “I couldn’t agree with you more,” the detective acquiesced. “The less people we have walking around with guns, the better I feel, but here and now, I’d feel a lot better if you were armed. Sessions is not going to rest until he kills one of these women and you and I both have a vested interest in keeping them and those they love safe. I hope you don’t mind, but I took the liberty of having one of your staff go by your apartment and bring me your weapon.”

  Jade laughed as he watched the detective bring out Jade’s own pistol from his pocket. “If I didn’t like you Garrison, this might make me mad. But, I’m with you, this thing with Sessions is not over and I want to do everything I can to protect Arabella and her family.” He took his gun from the detective and tucked it into his belt, under his coat.

  That night in their bed, Jade tried to show her what she really meant to him. Over and over again, Reese Philips’ words echoed in his mind and he strove to apologize to Arabella for other people’s ignorance with every kiss of his lips and every stroke of his tongue. She, despite her witchy powers, had no idea anything was wrong at all. She laughed and played and pleased him endlessly with her soft touch and soft lips and the soft sweet folds of her womanhood.