by Audra Hart
He chuckles softly and leans in to nuzzle her earlobe and then gently kisses her scarred temple. “Baby, who says that I want you to?” he asks softly. His powerful hands rise out of the hot water to massage her knotted neck and shoulder muscles. His skillful hands work the tension and pain out of each muscle, and leave a conflagration of yearning in their place. He massages her shoulder and left arm, erasing the soreness and quieting the spasms. He slowly, methodically works his way down her back, humming quietly, kneading each muscle expertly as he descends, ever so slowly toward her low back.
Once there, he spends extra time and care working the knotted muscles and aching flesh above her buttocks. His hard smooth fingers work lower as he kneads her ample butt, erasing all trace of pain, and bringing the wildfire in her blood to a fever pitch. His strong thumbs gently bite into her flesh on her upper thighs, tantalizingly close to her center as his hands slowly, expertly work their way around to the front of her body.
Deidra catches her breath behind her hands. Her entire body tenses ever so slightly for 30 agonizingly glorious seconds. She exhales slowly and her hands fall limply into the bath water as her entire body relaxes. His hands continue their magnificent work down her wrecked leg. When they reach her knee, she slowly opens her eyes and lifts her head to meet his beautiful luminescent blue-eyed gaze. She could feel him willing her to do just that. The knowing smile and smoldering blue eyes are waiting to lock with her hazy green eyes. He leans in and tenderly, lovingly kisses her trembling lips as he softly strokes her cheek.
Equal measures of joy and shame sing in her heart and sear through her consciousness. A bright crimson blush heats her face. Her right hand darts up and pinches her nose closed as she squeezes her eyes shut and then she slips under the water. She can hear his joyful rumble of laughter through the water.
Oh man! He knows! Is he mocking me or just enjoying my reaction? These wild questions rattle through her embarrassed mind. Damn! The burning begins in her lungs. She knows she must surface and take a breath but stubbornly refuses, and shakes her head no under the water.
After nearly a minute, his powerful, cold hands hook under her armpits and drag her into a standing position. She gulps in air, but still can’t make herself look at him. One arm encircles her waist while the other retrieves a soft cotton bath sheet from the shelf by the tub, and wraps it gently around her trembling body. Her eyes remain closed until she notices her breathing is starting to slow down a little as he lifts her from the tub and sets her aright on the plush bath rug. He briskly dries her off with the bath sheet, and helps her don a fluffy, white terry cloth robe. He wraps the robe about her now relaxed body and then snugly loops the belt at her waist.
All through this process, she tries to seek his eyes to gauge what he might think of her at this juncture. But he carefully keeps them slightly averted, so she is unable to get a read on his thoughts. But his body language is stiff, almost angry. “Oh my gosh! Are you mad at me or just ashamed for me?” she demands in a stiff voice.
“Neither one, Morna!” he hisses. He takes a deep breath and then affectionately pats her soft behind through the robe as he plants a kiss on the top of her head. “Go hop in bed now, baby. I will get you some herbal tea to help you sleep. Do you have any of your pain meds for that leg in your bag?”
“Sure I do, but I honestly don’t need them. I swear I am not in pain, well no more than normal from… you know…” she whispers.
“Baby, it doesn’t matter. I don’t want you getting stiff while you sleep. You took a nasty fall. Get into the bed. I will be right back.” His tone didn’t leave any room for argument.
Deidra debates on putting her clothes back on and going home. But she is utterly exhausted, so she slowly walks into the adjoining bedroom. She’s pleased her wrecked hip and leg are so loose and pain-free that she doesn’t even limp much. She wonders how he made such a difference with just a hot bath and a massage. She chuckles and mutters under her breath, “He damn well didn’t learn that massage technique from Seth.” Her head snaps up when she hears a sound from the kitchen that could very well be a soft chuckle.
When she looks at the bed she is surprised to see the covers are folded down. “When did he have a chance to do that?” she questions out loud. She smiles at the Rubbermaid kitchen stepstool by the bed. It really doesn’t go with the room, but proves once again how considerate and caring Lucian truly is.
She secures the lower portion of the robe in her right fist and uses the stool and her left hand to ease her body up and into the bed. Her muscles and connective tissues feel so pain-free and limber that she decides to risk sitting cross legged. A delighted smile lights her face when she realizes she accomplishes the pose without any pain.
“Ah, now that’s a sight I like to see! My lady, perched in my bed, with a huge smile on her face,” Lucian says as he enters the bedroom with a steaming cup of tea and two prescription bottles on the kitchen tray, and another bowl of the chopped fruit. “You look glorious there, Morna!” Deidra blushes happily at his words, but looks at her hands demurely.
He sets the tray on the bedside table, and hands her the cup of tea. He gracefully sits on the bed facing her, as he copies her cross legged pose. “Drink your tea, Morna,” he urges. “Do you feel like eating anything?”
She shakes her head no, she’s much too tired to eat. “Lucian, you use that endearment like you have been saying it your whole life. Is it a name you use for all your lady friends?” Deidra asks shyly.
“Morna, I swear to you, I have never used that name for another soul. You are eternally, my Morna!” he pledges. She rewards him with a shy smile as his words warm her heart and body, even as she wonders at his use of the word eternally. She thoughtfully sips her tea. “Yum, this really is very nice tea. I think I like it even better than the tea you made for me earlier. You are spoiling me beyond redemption.” she murmurs thankfully. Staring into her tea, too shy suddenly to look at his face. They spend several minutes in silence as she sips the tea and avoids his eyes.
Lucian has been tracing patterns on her bare knee while she has avoided looking at him. She doesn’t want to look at him because he will know exactly what his innocent touch is doing to her and she’s had more than her quota of embarrassing moments for one day.
Lucian knows exactly what she’s experiencing; he can smell the pheromones and other chemicals her body is producing. He makes up his mind to go hunt, TONIGHT! He smirks at the thought of both of them trying to ignore the elephant in the room with them. He decides that the sooner she goes to sleep, the sooner he can hunt and relax around her a little more. “Morna, take your meds, baby.” She looks up from her tea and sees a white caplet and a small blue tablet in his palm.
Deidra frowns. “I really don’t need a Lortab and a Valium. Honestly, I am not hurt at all. I promise.” Her eyes reveal her sincerity as she seeks out his face.
“Sure Morna, but I don’t want you to get stiff from the fall. You bounced twice before I could get to you on those damned stairs. Plus, you desperately need a decent night’s sleep. You were so excited this morning when you told me that you had slept four solid hours. That’s not enough sleep, baby. Tonight, in my bed, I want you to get a full night’s sleep! Got it?”
“Okay, okay. That actually sounds amazing,” she agrees. She pops the meds into her mouth and washes them down with the last of the tea.
Lucian smiles at her compliance. Getting Morna to submit isn’t always an easy thing. He suddenly remembers what he wondered about when he retrieved her meds from her purse and decides to ask her about it. “Hey baby, when I got the meds from your bag, I noticed the bottles were filled the day you checked out of the hospital, AMA. Both bottles were labeled for only thirty tablets, and there were still thirty tablets in each bottle. Have you been doing without pain meds all this time?”
“Sure,” she shrugs like it’s no big deal, but he knows it is. He’s seen the hell she’s been through, he just never realized that she wasn’t taking any med
s for it. I know I have seen her take medication. Was it just the blood pressure med? How did I miss that?
“Why? Why suffer when the meds could have alleviated the pain some?”
“I don’t know. Maybe I just don’t like taking pills.” She shrugs again but won’t look at him. He knows there’s more to it than that, but he won’t push her right now. He suspects that she refuses pain meds to punish herself. He sighs but keeps his own counsel on the matter because she’s already feeling a little freaked out by today’s events.
“Will you stay in here with me?” she asks.
“I will for most of the night. But I have to leave for a little bit after you go to sleep,” he replies softly. He stands up and reaches for the tea mug and sets it on the bedside table. “Now scoot over so I can get in there with you for a bit.”
She readily complies with his wishes. Once she is snuggled into his strong arms she realizes belatedly that he is wearing different clothes. She rubs her hand up and down the length of his hard, perfectly formed arm. She tilts her head back to look at him. She sees that he is now wearing a light gray cotton Henley and charcoal gray pajama pants. Her smile fades a little as she wonders how he does things so quickly. She mentally shrugs, deciding that it isn’t that important and decides to enjoy being so close to him. She tilts her head closer to his chest and breathes in deeply to inhale his indescribably fragrant, spicy scent and sighs contentedly. They lie like that for quite a while, each taking immense pleasure in the nearness of the other.
Lucian slides his hand down her left hip and thigh to catch her leg behind her knee and slowly hitches her leg over his. He is tenderly stroking her lush thigh. He inhales deeply and then exhales slowly. “Morna, the old masters would have loved to paint you in the nude. You are so luscious, so voluptuous. I want to caress and kiss every inch of this beautiful body.” Then he inhales again deeply and sighs serenely at her nearness and her precious, familiar scent of arousal.
Deidra tilts her head back again to look up into his face. The sincerity and the longing in his words sparks intense need in her body. Her heart thunders at the thought of him doing just that. She can imagine his hands, his mouth on her body. His luminescent blue eyes lock with hers, and steals her breath away. She opens her mouth to speak, but quickly snaps it shut. Part of her wants to beg him to do just that… But she won’t.
Coward!
“Shush Morna. Relax, baby, go to sleep. It’s early but you are exhausted.” His velvet voice soothes her as he brushes a few stray damp strands of hair back from her beloved face.
Her deep green gaze remains locked with his, as she grasps for something else to focus on; “Can I ask two questions before the meds really kick in?”
“Of course, love.” he replies with an open smile, and plants a kiss on her forehead. “I’ll tell you anything, baby.”
“Be completely honest with me, okay?” Morna says softly.
He nods. “I will, baby. What are your questions?”
“When we were in the bathroom, there toward the end, while you were drying me off... You were angry with me. Why?” She caresses his cheek.
“I wasn’t angry, Morna. I was hurt. Maybe a little frustrated. Screw that, I was a lot frustrated.” He exhales slowly and tries to explain; “Look, I know it may not be reasonable to feel this way. I know you were reacting to feeling flustered, perhaps even embarrassed. But I was hurt because you hid your feelings from me. Hell, you wouldn‘t even look at me, baby.”
She sees the hurt in his face and inhales sharply. “Morna do you realize that you stayed under the water so long I was wondering if you would rather drown yourself than look me in the eyes? And then once I got you out of the water, it took you an inordinately long time to open your eyes. Morna, I know it may not seem like much to you, or then again maybe it feels like a burden to you, I don’t know. But I don’t want you to hide from me again. I don’t want any walls between us, ever. Can you understand that, love?”
Deidra stares at him for a few seconds, she is very surprised by his intensity. She starts to speak, but snaps her mouth shut and swallows nervously, her mouth suddenly very dry. Finally she says, “Yes, I can understand that, but can I explain?” He smiles tenderly and nods, keeping his eyes fixed on her face. “I was just embarrassed, Lucian,” she says in a very quiet voice.
“Baby, you need never be embarrassed around me,” Lucian assures her. He kisses her forehead and murmurs; “Not ever.”
She smiles wanly and says, “Well, too late for that. I have managed to make a fool out of myself twice today, three times if you count my spill down the stairs.”
“Morna, you have not made a fool out of yourself,” Lucian says rather gruffly, and he traces her bottom lip with his fingertips and stares deeply into her eyes.
“Fine, but I heard you laughing while I was under the water. I know that I was acting gutless about facing you, and I am sorry about that. Can’t you understand that and forgive me?” She says softly.
“There is nothing to forgive, Morna.” She can hear the truth in his words and see his longing in his face and wonders why he is holding back. He wants me, why doesn’t he…?
“Sweetheart, I understand, but you have to understand my laughter was born of joy at your reaction to me. I was not mocking you or crowing over some inflated estimation of my prowess,” he assures her honestly as he lovingly caresses her leg. Slowly moving higher and lovingly kneading her ample backside, gently pushing her core against his erection making her blood rage hot.
“I guess I know that. But when you laughed… Well, I knew that you saw what happened to me in that tub. Nothing like that has ever happened to me before. I was shocked at myself, and feeling a bit like a freak,” she whispers.
His eyes are wide and incredulous. “Never!?!” he sputters. “Never in forty-nine years?”
“Not like that!” she hisses, and looks down to his lips. Then she quickly looks back into his eyes. “Not that intense! And that’s definitely not ever happened to me without having sex, for pity sake.” She closes her eyes for a moment to collect herself. “I am mortified that you could do that to me with just a massage. I was terrified to face you, to look into your eyes! I think… ” She cuts her eyes away from his and licks her suddenly dry lips before continuing. “I think that you could do that to me with just your beautiful, impossible eyes and your words. Can‘t you understand what a freak that makes me? How needy and simple that makes me?”
Lucian growls; “You are not needy nor simple!” He quickly rolls her over onto her back with him above her. Never leaving more than a hair’s breadth between their bodies, keeping her leg hitched to his thigh, all the while keeping his weight from crushing her. Morna can still feel his hard arousal pressed against her belly. A gentle reminder, never a demand.
He kisses her trembling lips tenderly and says, “Morna, if I did not keep such a tight rein on myself at all times you would be constantly reducing me to a quivering mass with just your voice, your scent, your touch, your lips.” He lowers his lips to hers and gently kisses her before continuing.
“Hell, Morna, even just a glance at you would be enough to drive me over the edge. That’s always been true. The thing that you are not taking into consideration is that our connection is not just on a physical level. It’s sure as hell not just friendship. Morna, it’s honestly a soul thing. You know these things, baby. Just look inside yourself. All the answers are there.” He puts his hand over her heart and stares at her, compelling her…
She looks deeply into his eyes and feels as though he desperately wants her to acknowledge something, wants her to… What? What do you want from me Lucian? What do you need? I’ll gladly give it to you, I just don’t know what it is that you want from me.
He watches her closely for several long moments as though he’s waiting eagerly for some reaction from her. Finally, he looks resigned when he gently rolls them back onto their sides, all the while softly caressing her bare thigh where the robe has ridden up. “Morna, yo
ur eyes are starting to droop. Ask your second question, please.”
“Why do you need to leave after I go to sleep?” she asks in a sleep thickened voice.
“Simple, my love, I promised to drive a client to the airport in OKC,” he lies evenly. But she can feel his guilt and knows that isn’t the truth.
Her eyes close then flutter open weakly, “Sure,” she says doubtfully. “I get it.” It’s none of my business. “See you soon. I love you Luca,” she murmurs as her mouth nuzzles into his chest.
Lucian watches her even breathing for a few minutes before he speaks, “Morna, why do you call me Luca?”
“Because you are my Luca. You always have been… mine.” Her voice trails off into deeper sleep.
Luca chuckles softly. “Morna, I have never been more grateful than I am right now that you so freely talk in your sleep.” He stays beside her for hours, relishing her warmth, her scent, reliving other nights spent watching this woman sleep. Wishing she would just magically open her eyes and remember everything. Who she really is. Who he really is. What they are to each other. All of it.
He sighs. “Patience, old man,” he chides himself. “She’s coming around.” The urge to peel her out of that robe and make love to her is so strong. He craves her body and wants to get lost in her lush curves and sweet scent but the risk is too great.
He finally decides he better slip out to hunt, in case she wakes up early. She has a tendency to do just that, and she went to sleep very early tonight. He hopes the medication, the tea, and his spell and song will be enough to give a long night‘s sleep. Lord knows she really needs it. “Sleep well, my love, while your Luca seeks the sustenance that enables him to control his darker nature. The scent of your life’s blood is driving me to distraction!” He whispers as he nuzzles her exposed neck, and inhales deeply to savor the precious scent, her precious magical essence that has led him to her repeatedly for nearly six hundred years. He rests his cheek on the spot where her pulse throbs and thanks God that he has found her again. He plants three silent kisses on her beloved face, and then slips out of bed without disturbing her rest. While Deidra dreams of a perfect angel stalking a cougar in a dance of death and life.