by Graylin Rane
He chuckled. “Amy, I’ll take very good care of her every need. Then, we can say hello.”
I heard her start ranting about who was better suited to care for me. “She’s not going to like that.” Patience was not something Amy took time for.
“I’ll be back in two days, hear me? Two days!” She meant it.
Amy hung up before I could say anything. Not like my opinion would change a thing at this point.
He swam to the edge. “She protects you.”
I nodded. “Yes. It used to be the other way round.”
“It’s hard to protect others when your heart is bleeding.” He stared right at me.
I gasped. “How did you?”
He held his hand up. “I don’t know the story. It’s yours to tell. The silence of the home and your hesitation indicates a wound newly healed.”
Should I open my wound up to this stranger? Someone I have so much in common with may understand why I’m wrestling with a bear in my mind. “I lost Jorge three years ago. I fell in love so hard the day we met, I thought I had heart problems. Amy took me to the doctor, laughing the entire time.” I looked for his reaction.
“Sudden love is one of the best blessings of life. I’ve had it twice.” A soft smile on his face as he spoke.
I was melting for him. Even better, he didn’t appear to be trying, at all. “Only twice in your lifetime?”
“It’s rare. Even in an immortal life.” His body rippled in the water.
That hit me in the chest. “I was truly blessed.”
“Yes. That’s why I’m the god here. You need someone who understands you’ve had that, what it means to you, and what losing it does to a soul.” His green eyes held compassion and understanding.
He got it. In one hour, he stated what I needed better than I could given a month to write a paragraph.
“You understand.” I sat down in a lounge chair, a little stunned.
He didn’t move toward me. “Yes. So you tell me when you’re ready. I’ll wait for you.”
My hormones wanted to jump on him right then. My brain said to wait a while. If he was going to be around for the rest of my life, we didn’t need to be in the bedroom right then.
“Thank you.”
“Tell me about yourself.” He pulled himself out of the water.
I watched it trail down his body to his groin. “I’m having real difficulty taking my eyes off your crotch.” I couldn’t believe I’d said it.
He laughed a full-throated belly laugh. “Do you have a towel?”
I flushed with embarrassment. “Yes, just a second.” Walking quickly to the small pool house, I unlocked the door. Inside were shelves with the pool toys from our kids, a rack of towels, and the chemicals. Jorge’s towel still hung there. I froze.
Behind me I heard footsteps. “His?”
My throat closed up. “Yes.”
He didn’t move. “Still raw?”
“I didn’t think so.” I thought I was okay.
Anteros reached around me to close to doors. “I can buy clothes.”
“You have money?” I could see us trying to buy things with Greek coins. As much as I’d love it for the entertainment value, I didn’t want to take him out in public yet.
“Eros set up an account for me. Complete with a full identity, using my real name. That’s a first.”
“That’s genius. You’ll remember to answer when your name is called.” They thought of everything.
He held his hand out. “He doesn’t need help in the ego department.”
I took it, pulling my towel from its hook. “Here.”
He hesitated.
“It’s mine.”
“Okay.” He took it, wrapping it around his hips. There was still a bulge in the front. “You’re still staring.”
“You’re perfect and lucky I’m not drooling all over you.”
“That comes later. A perfect body doesn’t make a perfect person.”
Who programmed this man? It was like romance writers got together and filled him with dialogue.
“Do you read?” I loved books.
“Yes. Do you have the classics?”
“I have ancient texts.” Taking his hand, I walked to the bookshelves lining a wall of the living room.
“This is beautiful.” He put his arm around my waist while running his other hand over the spines of books. “Aristotle, Plato, you have Greek philosophers?” His face lit up like my kids did on Christmas morning.
“Yes. Did you know them?” What an odd question.
“I listened to them. We don’t interfere as much as legend says. I attended their lectures.” Gently, he tugged a book from the shelf. “May we read?”
I couldn’t resist. Leaning in, I kissed his chest. “You don’t have to ask permission.”
“I promise to treat your treasures well.” He meant it.
I gained respect for him as we read passages to each other. He was animated as he told me what it was like to see these men speak in person.
Chapter Four
He explained what he thought the story was behind some of the quotes in the books. “Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies” by Aristotle. “At the touch of love, everyone becomes a poet,” and his favorite, “Man: a being in search of meaning,” by Plato.
We discussed immortality and mortality. He explained living for centuries helped him worry less about the small things in every day life. Those changes shifted his direction but not the final destination. I could appreciate that. By the end of the talk, I felt guilty for wasting so much time mourning someone who was gone. Jorge loved to entertain, cook, love, fight, and celebrate life.
Without meaning to, I’d stopped doing all of the things he’d loved, in his name, a complete reversal from his own desires. I still wasn’t sure he’d like his wife with a well-endowed Greek god. His wife sure liked the idea more and more.
Without a question, he kissed me on the cheek when I said I needed to get to bed. He didn’t hesitate in asking for a blanket to sleep on the couch. I was very aware he still wore a towel and would sleep nude. That image kept me pacing for an hour before falling asleep.
I knew I had started to fall for him when I walked into the kitchen to find him making breakfast in jeans and a buttoned down shirt hanging open.
“I could get used to this.” Wow. He was hotter with clothes on.
“I’m not a good cook. You won’t go hungry with me, but we’ll eat out. A lot.” He’d handed me eggs, partially scrambled.
We were alike, he and I. Jorge and I were matched in our differences. Anteros was a bookworm, like me. We had the Lord of the Rings DVDs on the schedule for the day. He’d seen the books on my shelf.
“How long has it been since you were in the human world?” He’d alluded to it last night.
“A century. I’ve heard about the technology.” His eyes lit up. My phone rang last night. Although I’d ignored it, he was fascinated.
My text message alert sounded. It was Amy.
“Can I meet him now?” She wrote.
“No. We’re watching LOTR.” I typed.
“You’re such a nerd.”
“Yes. So are you.” She had a Galadriel dress.
“I’m going to meet him some day.”
“How about dinner tomorrow?” I suggested.
Then, to him, “Amy and her husband are going to come to dinner tomorrow.”
“To check me out.”
“Yes.”
“Okay.” He caught the toast as it popped up. “Gotcha!”
Amy’s response, “Dress him up. I want to see him nude, the man doesn’t feel the same way.”
I put my phone down, laughing. Anteros looked at me. “She wants to see you naked. Her husband doesn’t share that curiosity.”
He grinned. “I’ll keep my body for you. If you want to share it with others, let me know. I’d rather it be between us.”
Oh yes, I was going to be happy with him. “I like that idea best.�
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After breakfast, I headed to the shower. He hung back in the living room. Once clean, I made a decision. Still naked, I returned to the living room. He stood with his back to me, scanning the bookshelves.
“I have something that needs your attention.” I spoke quickly before I changed my mind.
He turned. “Anything for… you.” His eyes wandered over my entire body. I felt more naked with each moment. His strides were long, pulling me into his arms before I could step back.
His kiss was gentle at first, nibbling on my lips until I parted them. His tongue teased mine, the heat rising between us. Wrapping my arms around his waist, I pulled him close while meeting his tongue thrusts with my own. This time, the moan was his.
“Julia. I’m intoxicated by you.”
I found his belt loops, using them to pull him closer. I could feel his hardness against my stomach. The need for him throbbed inside of me. “I need you.”
“As you wish.” He lifted me into his arms, walking to my bedroom.
The column in the middle of my bedroom seemed strange when we’d moved in. An hourglass shaped indentation was too shallow to place a picture. The deeper triangular shelves held small candles while I hung thin ties with paisley designs from the ones a foot above my head with steel bars running through them. He walked right over to it, laughing.
“You don’t know what this space is for.” He glanced from me to the pillar.
“No, I don’t. I think the architect was drunk. Or he and Jorge had a private joke.” Self- conscious, I was on the verge of calling it off.
He removed my delicate candleholders with care while staring at the ties as if to decide what to do with them. “Maybe next time.”
Next time? What was he talking about? I stood naked, excited in my room, watching this gorgeous man stare happily at the column. I’d missed something serious?
Turning back to me, he gathered me in his arms, returning to tease my lips with his tongue. Running my hands up his back, I held onto his shoulders as my knees threatened to give way. He moved his hands down to my ass, picking me up, turning me so my back was to the column. It finally clicked in my head. What a fool I’d been.
He pushed me gently so my back filled the hourglass shape, I reached over my head for the hand grips I’d been using to display ties, and he pressed his full length against me while putting my feet into the lower spaces. It was a standing sex space.
Before I had time to berate myself mentally, his head was between my legs, with one hand against my rib cage and the other teasing a nipple, I felt him suck my clit. The moan I let out echoed. Firmly embraced between the cold column and hot man, I clenched my ass, pushing forward into his mouth. He sucked so hard I gasped, yet still wanted more.
“Oh my god.”
“Yes.” He replied without irony. “Make love to my face.”
I thrust forward, feeling his tongue flick inside me. I lost all ability to think, only wanting him mattered. “Anteros.”
“Call me Anthony, my dear.” He grasped each cheek of my ass in his hands and, humming, pressed his face into my crotch.
I screamed with pleasure, holding onto the handles, my feet locked in place as my toes curled. “Please, take me.”
“You’re going to come more before I plunge my cock into your wetness.”
Oh god, my body twitched. He took two fingers, inserting them while rubbing them together. I wriggled as his hand cupped my clit while pushing his fingers around. Oh gods, please let me come. I felt a surge of desire building inside of me.
“It’s been three years,” I managed to say between moans.
“Then it should be worth it.” He wiggled his fingers, causing my hips to jerk forward, and then he covered my clit with his mouth.
I heard his sucking me right before I bucked. The intensity as he found my trigger while licking and sucking pulled a groan from me I’d never heard before.
“Ahhhh.”
He laughed, sending another wave over the edge. “It seems you like that.”
“Vibration. Is. Good.” I panted.
“I seem to remember humming helped.”
Words, too. I wanted to say. Talking felt good. I heard my head smack as I stopped being able to hold it up.
He hummed, loudly, a tune I’d never heard. I felt every note, his fingers wiggled inside of me, not moving in and out, as his tongue teased me. I was going to burst. I knew it.
The orgasm’s first hit knocked me forward. Hanging by my arms, I was held up by my feet and his hand.
“Careful, my dear,” he said, slipping his other hand behind me for support.
“I can’t hold on anymore.”
He groaned, sending another wave through me. I lost my grip, falling over his back.
“I’ve got you.” He stood, with one hand still inside of me, thrusting, and carried me to the bed.
I lay back, trying to prop myself up on my elbows, wanting to watch him enter me. He backed away long enough to remove his shirt and jeans. His cock, hard and moist, intensified my desire. I wanted him to fill me.
He lay beside me instead. Pulling my right leg over his hip, he began to thrust with his fingers again. “I want to watch your face as you come.”
The orgasm I’d just had roared back to life. Putting my arms above my head, I offered him my entire body. He leaned over, teasing a nipple with his tongue as I made love to his hand. Each time he entered me, I gasped. The orgasm was smaller than the first, but he held my head so he could watch my eyes.
“You’re beautiful.”
Then he rolled on top of me. I spread my legs, wrapping them around his waist, locking my ankles. His only response was a smile and raised eyebrow. He pushed his cock inside of me and I felt electric. He went slow and steady, too slow. I grabbed his shoulders and thrust up with my hips.
“Impatient.” He laughed.
“Yes.”
“Okay.”
He picked up speed, and I heard our bodies smacking together. It felt so good. I needed this. I wanted this. He took my hips in his hands, sat back on his heels lifting me up, and then thrust. I grabbed the sheets as moan after moan escaped me, my breath becoming ragged. He didn’t slow down. I lost track of time as wave after wave went through me. There was no way to count the orgasms, just riding each one as it broke then catching the next.
Then I heard him moan. Looking up, I saw it on his face. He began to grunt softly and moan with each thrust. Hearing his passion carrying him away turned me on even more. I pulled him down on top of me. He braced his forearms by my side, and he couldn’t control the speed as his hips smacked against me. His orgasm was in control. I lifted my hips and rode with him.
“Oh gods, Julia. You feel amazing,” he breathed.
“So do you.”
My own orgasm joined his; I thrust faster until we both screamed out. He didn’t stop. Slow now, he kept moving, my orgasm not ending as he kept massaging my pussy from the inside. I trembled.
“You done?” He teased.
“I think so. Having never done all of that at once before, I could be in for aftershocks.” I laughed as he slid from me.
“I’d like to watch those.” Kissing my nose, he pulled me to him. “I’d like to hold you for a while, Julia.”
“After sex, you don’t have to ask me to cuddle.” I wiggled my ass up against him, feeling him shake with laughter.
“You’re an amazing woman. So much passion, knowledge, and heart.”
I fell asleep curled up in his arms. When I awoke two hours later, he was watching me. “Did you get any rest?”
“I slept fine last night.” He leaned over, kissing my shoulder. “I believe I need items for cleaning.”
I noticed he turned his head away while speaking to me. “Ah. Toothbrush and toothpaste, perhaps?”
“Are those the mouth cleansing tools?” His innocence surprised me. His age didn’t prepare him for modern convenience.
“I have spares in my bathroom.” Getting up, I took hi
s hand. “Let’s get clean.”
The bathroom was set up for me. Jorge built it so I could mentally escape from six children while remaining only a few yards away. The jetted tub sat under a window overlooking the pool. The blue water rippling in the breeze on a sunny day filled me with calm.
The spare items I kept from shopping at big box stores fit into oversized drawers in the vanity. I’d always complained about small storage space in bathrooms and kitchens. Two rooms I thought should have their own walk–in, closet-sized areas. A momentary twinge paused my progress.
He caught on immediately. “This was your husband’s space. I’ll step outside.”
I stopped him. “No, Anteros. Jorge built this whole house for me. It was a gift. He wouldn’t want me to wall you off from rooms because he’d lived here. It’ll take some getting used to.”
“You let me know when to step back. I will not intrude on your memories.” He stood still.
Falling for him would be so easy—I’d recognize it only when my ass hit concrete. “Thank you.” I handed him a spare toothbrush.
He looked confused.
“Yes?”
“Where do I stay?” He whispered the question like he didn’t want to spook me.
The caring in his voice softened my reaction. I had to decide. There were four bedrooms on the other side of the house. He could use any one of them. Did I want to exile him to that end of the house? Rejecting him wasn’t what I wanted to do just because I was afraid to open my heart again.
“With me.” I sounded unsure.
“Julia.” Still whispering.
I’d decided and that was it. Once I made up my mind, it didn’t shift. He’d learn that as the years wore on. “It’s time for me to move on. I’ve kept this bedroom and bathroom the same since Jorge died. When he was alive, I changed the towels, rearranged the furniture, and redecorated every six months.” As I spoke, I finally got it.
My life was on hold because I’d frozen the house the day Jorge passed. Also, I understood my anxiety and hesitation would continue until my children met and approved of this new man.
“You’ve been living in a still life painting.” He pulled me into his arms, watching our reflection in the oversized mirror.