She yelled, “Who’s there?” from behind the safety of the thick wooden door.
Shit, he thought to himself, groaning inwardly, but at the same time, a wash of relief swept over him, because he knew just as sure as the sun would rise tomorrow that he couldn‘t have walked away.
“It’s me. Are you still awake?”
She opened the door a crack and peeked out cautiously, before opening it all the way. Her long, honey tresses hung in damp waves on her shoulders as she stood before him in nothing but a large towel.
“I was in the shower. Are you alright? I thought you went home,” she said, reaching up to wring a few drops of water from a lock of hair hanging down her cheek.
“Me too,” he said, smiling as he reached forward and traced a path down her face where a drop of water had left a damp path. He dragged in a deep breath, drinking in the sight of her dewy skin in the soft light.
He sighed. “Can I come in?” “Yeah….of course,” she said, her teeth chattering as she ushered him in out of the freezing air. “Why did you….” His soft lips were on hers in an instant silencing her before she could finish whatever it was she was about to say. It didn’t matter…he only had one thing on his mind as he swept her damp body up into his arms and began walking down the hall to her bedroom. He felt her arms tighten around his neck as he carried her and he deepened the kiss.
Without a word he kicked the door closed behind him so Cisco couldn’t follow them in. Although the dog held a special place in his heart, this was one time where man’s best friend was going to have to be his friend from afar.
He leaned forward, gently setting her down on the bed while never taking his lips from hers and somehow shimmied out of his coat, tossing it on the floor behind him.
A second later he pulled back and slipped his shirt up over his head. She started to speak, but he kneeled in front of her, pushing his body between her thighs and put a finger to her lips.
Goosebumps broke out all over her body at the feeling of having him pressed against her bare thighs, and her most intimate place as well, despite the fact he was still almost fully dressed.
“Shhh.” He took one of her hands and put it in the center of his muscular chest. “Feel that?” he whispered. She nodded.
“We haven’t known each other very long. And good sense…society…the rules say it’s all wrong and it can’t be anything more than lust.” He smiled. “Let’s just say, I’ve never been very good at following rules.”
He pulled her hand more firmly against him, and she could feel the steady thudding of his pulse against his ribs.
“Just feel my heart beating right here and now, and you’ll know the one and only reason why I’m here. I know it’s too soon and I know it sounds crazy. But I also know that reason isn’t lust…and I promise you it is the right one.” He took her fingers and brought them to his lips, kissing them softly.
She stared long and hard into his turquoise eyes and then reached forward, gently taking his face into her hands and kissing his lips. Then she took his hand in her own, and placed it against her heart.
“I know,” she whispered back.
He pulled back from her just for moment, pushing her damp hair back from her shoulder as he traced a path down the side of her neck with the silky wetness of his tongue, gliding down to a delicious erogenous zone just inside her collar bone.
She sighed at the sensuous gesture as he picked her up in his arms again and moved her up to the top of the bed and gently laid her back against the pile of pillows. He marveled at how beautiful she looked in this moment, her skin bathed in moonlight…her golden hair splayed out across the creamy pillowcase.
He kissed his way down into the hollow of her cleavage and upon reaching the place where the towel was neatly tucked around her, he slid a finger in and pulled it free, exposing her breasts…and all the rest of her as well. The gentle curves of her body begged to be touched…and tasted. He was more than eager to comply, as his tongue found its way to her nipple, teasing it to pebble hardness.
She gasped as he nipped her gently before working a trail down the center of her flat stomach toward her navel. He lingered here for a moment and then continued a trail of damp kisses along the inside of her hip, going still lower until he reached the soft, wet warmth between her thighs.
He lingered there for quite a long time, savoring the sweetness of her as she entwined her fingers in his long hair. The taste of her was driving him out of his mind….he was rock hard, straining against his jeans, his body boiling like a pool of white hot magma.
A soft sound escaped her lips and he knew he’d driven her to the brink. She too, was like a volcano ready to explode. But not yet…he wanted this to last for both of them.
He raised up, placing one more soft, teasing kiss there between her legs, before working his way back up across her belly to her chest, where he lay his head down between her breasts for just a moment as she softly stroked his sandy hair, and kissed the top of his head.
He pulled back from her and pushed himself up onto his elbows, dragging her nipple into his mouth once more, before finally working his way onto his knees to undo his pants.
She grabbed his hands and shook her head.
“No. Let me,” she smiled, rising up in front of him, face to face…her naked breasts brushing softly against his bare chest.
He smiled. “Do as you will, my lady.”
“There you go. Getting all poetic on me again,” she whispered.
“Poetic? No. I’m just calling you what you are,” he said softly, pulling her to him.
“I like it,” she said matter-of-factly.
“Good. Because that’s what you’ll always be if I have my way.”
He kissed her deeply again before she pulled back from him, running her hands over the thick muscles of his shoulders and down over the rippled abs carved out down the middle and sides of his torso.
His body was like an Adonis…a museum sculpture come to life and she wanted to taste every square inch of his skin. She kissed one of the thick cords of muscle along the side of his neck and then trailed a wet path down the center of his chest, where she lingered for a moment before raising back onto her knees and pushing hard on his wide chest, knocking him back onto the soft mattress below.
She bent over, laughing playfully before pulling his zipper open with her teeth, and then reached down and quickly removed his shoes, and slid his pants down his muscular thighs and off his feet, unable to take her eyes from the rock hard length of him, standing at attention for her alone.
She slid down along the length of his body with feline grace, and then started at his knees kissing a path upward toward her destination which lay at the juncture of his legs. He gasped as she finally reached the goal, taking him into her mouth and savoring the salty sweet taste of his skin beneath her tongue.
She hovered there for awhile before he finally pulled her up and off. He wanted the first time they did this to be as he’d envisioned, with her lying warm and glowing, beneath his strong body, enveloped completely in all the love and physical sensation he could pour from himself into her.
He rolled her over and gently laid her back against the pillows, reaching between their bodies to tease her with his fingers before entering slowly, as his lips descended on hers. Her long legs wrapped around his back and he reached behind her pulling her body closer to him, if that was even possible.
He moved with her, gracefully and slowly, their bodies entwined as one for what seemed an eternity. Finally he broke free from their kiss and moved more of his weight to his knees, and then reached up to pin her wrists against the bed on either side of her head, possessively…and yet gently enough that she could break free at any moment. His eyes bored into hers with a burning intensity.
He leaned in close and slowed his pace for a moment to whisper in her ear. “In all the years I’ve walked this earth, I’ve never known a more right reason for making love, than what I feel right here and now for you.”
/> He buried his face in the curve of her neck as he began to move with more intensity. He could feel her breathing increase as a soft gasp left her lips and her fingers dug into his wide back. A few moments later she cried out as she exploded in ecstasy and an eruption of sweet sensations rippled through her.
He wasn’t far behind. Hearing her voice…and knowing it was because of what he was doing to her sweet body, and feeling the exquisite warm, wetness of her contractions around him set him off like a great boiling geyser, exploding from the surface of the earth. A groan escaped his lips as his body tightened with wave after wave of euphoria.
When it was over he drew in a ragged breath and kissed her deeply. Resting his weight on his elbows, he stared at her in silence as he gently brushed her hair back from her face and traced a path down her nose with his forefinger.
She smiled up at him through the haze of the afterglow and then pulled his head between her breasts where he could feel the steady beat of her heart against his cheek. They lay there in silence for several moments before he finally spoke.
“So…did I manage to earn any more of those points we were discussing other night?”
He lifted his head and smiled up at her playfully. She smirked and nodded.
“Yeah….I’d say you did.”
“I hope it was a lot, ‘cuz I’m sure I’ll need them at some point,” he said laughing lightly. Her finding out about him healing David being the number one reason that came to mind. He tried to push the thought as far from the present as possible. He didn’t really want to think about it…not now, basking in the warmth of her arms and their newfound….love.
He rolled over on his side and traced a finger down her shoulder, as she lay there, with her eyes closed…still smiling. A sense of warmth and contentment like none he’d ever known filled him. Something that all the lust he’d known through out the years, and that which he’d mistaken for love, could never bring.
But his reverie was broken a second later as a chill enveloped him all over and a wave of electricity-like tingle shot through him. A cold sweat broke out all over his body and he shifted beside her, hoping she hadn’t noticed. To his relief he looked over and realized she was sound asleep, still smiling contentedly from their encounter.
He slid from the bed on wobbly legs and headed toward the bathroom to splash cool water on his burning face. For just a few seconds everything seemed to be passing by in slow motion, and time slowed to a standstill as an overwhelming fatigue flooded his brain. He recognized this feeling….it was the same thing that had briefly happened after he healed Harold. This time was just a bit more of a delayed reaction. He grabbed the edge of the sink, splashed some water on his face, and swallowed several large gulps before drying off on the clean towel hanging on the wall. Staring in the mirror, he noticed the familiar flush at his cheeks as the queasy feeling began to diminish and a look of renewed youth took its place.
Funny how the strange feeling had taken longer to come on this time than it did before. He was indeed still learning all the rules of mastering this new game. And more would come in time…whatever time he had left during this Awakening. Or maybe beyond if he was lucky.
He padded back out to the bedroom where Willow was still dozing blissfully. He smiled. She was so beautiful, lying there in the pale moonlight, like a golden goddess from some fairytale. He sat down softly and leaned forward, his lips a mere half an inch from hers. His scent still lingered on her skin…and in a primitive way he wished she could just leave it there as a warning to all others that she belonged to him.
And yet, he knew that unless he solved this riddle of his curse, her love and her heart never could belong to him. And yet, both his heart and love now belonged to her.
He stared at her lying there breathing slow and shallow in her slumber, and marveled that he’d known her less than a week, and yet…it felt like an eternity. What was it about her? That, he couldn’t answer in a simple few words, but it was indeed something as powerfully magical as any spell…or curse that drew people to one another and made them know without a shadow of a doubt when someone came along that had captured their heart and soul.
It came without rhyme or reason. It could happen anywhere… in weeks or months…or even mere days. Of that he was now certain. Just as he was certain that anything he’d felt before now that he’d mistaken for love wasn’t. Not for Dania, and not for the few others he’d fallen for during the short reprieves from his cold slumber.
He lay down next to her, pulling a warm quilt up over them both as he wrapped his arms around her. She sighed in her sleep, snuggled in next to his body and he drank in the sweet scent of her hair, before he closed his eyes, hoping that sleep would come this night, as it had for the past few, but after the fatigue wore off, he felt so alive and full of energy it was hard to shut his mind off.
He lay there for awhile and finally began to relax and before he drifted off, he smiled, knowing that even if he didn’t find a way to break his curse, and no matter how many Awakenings he may possibly have to endure, this night would live on in his heart, forever as alive and warm as it was right now with her in his arms.
C HAPTER NINETEEN
Samson stood in the doorway of the smithy’s small hovel, watching intently as he scraped the edge of his knife against the block of wood he was carving to make a handle for the fine sword he had been making. The sword was for Samson’s father and the smithy had spent considerable time weighing and balancing the blade to get it just perfect, and now was eyeballing the piece of wood every few seconds as he scratched away at it over and over with his sharp blade.
“Ye, see how this is done, boy. Not that ye’ll ever have to work…but this is how a sword is made. Fine and straight it is, for our lordship.”
Scratch, scratch, scratch, went the knife against the piece of dark cherry wood, before the scenery changed and he was standing before a grave, watching as the smithy changed into some faceless robed figure…who was now holding a chisel and hammer, was carving his father’s name into the headstone.
He reached out and touched the stone…lovingly, and felt deep sorrow at not knowing how or when his father had passed. A stone with his mother’s name was nearby too. He wanted to yell at the robed figure to stop carving…that surely he must have traveled back in time and therefore they couldn’t be dead and gone, but the engraver ignored him and continued with his task. The scratching grew louder and was accompanied by a loud….barking sound.
Samson’s eyes popped open and he sat up abruptly in the bed, jolted from his dream. Pale streaks of light filtered through the blind of Willow’s bedroom window and Cisco was clearly ready to go outside, as was evidenced by his loud scratching at the bedroom door, accompanied by the occasional bark. He got up, grabbed the damp towel that Willow had been wrapped in last night and tied it around his waist as he went to the door and walked through, blocking it with his body before Cisco could come bounding in.
The dog jumped up on his hind legs, putting his paws on Samson’s shoulders and smothering him in wet ’kisses’. Samson smiled and gently put him down to the floor, patting his large tawny head.
“Come on, buddy. Let’s get you outside.” He walked Cisco to the back door, and the dog bounded outside into the freezing morning air, returning a few minutes later after doing his business. Samson slid the door open and Cisco came back in and plunked himself down on a blanket lying next to the ottoman in the living room. Samson patted his head and headed back to the bedroom where Willow was still peacefully sleeping.
He looked over at the clock. It was almost 7am. From what he could tell, she usually went in to work in the afternoons, and he wondered if that was what time she’d be going in today…and soon thereafter, finding out about him healing little David. And probably telling him to get out of her life forever.
He saw her cell phone laying on the counter and walked over to see a new text message on the screen that read, “Call me, ASAP! It’s about the little boy. He’s had a BIG turn aroun
d!”
He sighed heavily, wishing there was some way he could keep her there with him all day. He picked up her cell and looked around for a place to put it that would look as though she’d just accidentally walked in last night and misplaced it. He knew it was only prolonging the inevitable, but he’d take whatever small reprieve he could get for now. He made sure the ringer was turned off and tucked the phone under one corner of the couch, figuring she’d think Cisco knocked it off the coffee table and it had slid there by accident.
Well…he thought. Maybe he could at least try to get few more of those points she was keeping track of. Might help when he needed them later. Not likely….but, hey, it couldn’t hurt.
He’d noted the large garden tub, earlier when he’d been in her master bathroom, and an idea began to blossom in his mind as he entered the bathroom, closing the door behind him and turned on the faucet. He poured one of her sweet smelling bubbling potions into the water, and relieved himself, washed his face and brushed his teeth with the toothbrush he’d used from the hall bathroom, from the first night he’d been here.
By the time he was finished with his own personal care, the tub was full of steaming bubbles. He looked around the edges of the sunken haven, where some scented candles were perched and opening the drawer in the vanity, he found a lighter. He lit the candles, and discovered that the switch on the wall nearby ran the jets below the surface. He flipped the switch, marveling at yet another modern wonder that had come about since his last Awakening….an in-home jaccuzi! Everything looked good so he dimmed the lights until the room was aglow with the flicker of candle light, grabbed her toothbrush from the counter, and went back to the bedroom to wake her.
He found her sitting up in bed, stretching under the soft quilt.
“Hey,” she said softly as she stretched.
He slid next to her and kissed her cheek. “Good morning, my lady.” He held up her toothbrush and she stared at him like he was nuts.
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