by elda lore
Her gorgeous dress the night I threw her in the pool.
Her stunning attire for Zeke’s celebratory dinner.
Her sleeping form under a comforter on my cottage floor.
Her thumb traced the edge of the picture and her mouth curled. Her eyes flitted forward.
A peacock plume. A hot air balloon. A cliff near the sky.
Her brows pinched. With happy memories, came the difficult, but I hoped the final three would please her. I held my breath.
A shower head. A warm tub. A giant bed.
“The places we made love?” Her brow pinched.
Made love. That’s how I wanted to her view the experience. She wasn’t sex. She wasn’t a one-night stand. She was love.
“Some of the best memories for me.” The weight of Veva’s eyes pinned me to the ground. A cyclone of fear twisted through me; I didn’t want her to forget. I didn’t want her to hate the memory. She stepped past the sketches and strolled to me. That sacrificial lamb sensation washed over me, and I couldn’t look away from her as she stalked to me. My arms unfolded and my hands slid into my jeans, hoping to disguise my body’s hypersensitivity to her, and hold me still from reaching for her. Standing before me, so close, but not close enough, her breasts brushed my chest. I sighed as she inhaled. The tender swish of fabric ignited the imagination of skin-on-skin.
“Those are the best memories for me, too. Thank you.” When it was only Vee and me, I felt invincible. Her tenderness shone bright, and I wanted to lay under her light. I was even further convinced that outside the estate was the place to win her over. Her head leaned forward, and I licked my lips.
“No sex,” she whispered. Was that a hint of disappointment, or did I imagine it? Her forehead pressed to my chest and my arms wrapped around her. I wanted to breathe her into me and hold her against me. I wanted everything from her, but I had ten more days.
+ + +
“Here.” I handed her a silver balloon outside the art building after class on day three.
“What’s this?”
“You need to find them all. One of them is not like the others and it marks where you are to stay and wait for me.”
“What?” She laughed in that popping bubble way, signaling her pleasure and intrigue at my mysterious trail. “How will I know I’ve found them all?”
“You just will. I have faith in you, but hurry. The balloons will be harder to find in the dark.” She skipped down the art department stairs, her flouncy dress kicking out behind her, and found a second balloon a short distance from the building, tied to a bench. The floating orbs spread further and further apart the more she crossed the campus. At one point, she turned back to see me following her at a distance. The rays of her smile found me, and my body warmed at her excitement.
“Twelve balloons? How fitting.” She’d found the final destination and waited outside the observatory. A yellow balloon marked her last stop, and she stood under her bouquet.
“Better than a dozen flowers?”
“Maybe,” she teased without conviction in her tone.
“We shouldn’t be here,” she giggled, as I pressed open the door. Originally locked, I had a special key for entrance, as well as assured privacy. She followed me, her balloons trailing behind her, ribbons tight in her fist.
“It’s perfectly okay.” The space wasn’t large, and I led her to the center of the domed room. A canopy painted in celestial blue with fluffy white and graying clouds covered the curved canvas over our heads.
“It’s beautiful,” she whispered.
“Yes, it is.” She caught me staring at her instead of the heavenly image overhead and I turned away slowly. “The sky is such a mystery. The stories told about the unknown over our heads began because we need explanations for the unknown. Humans want answers.” I walked slowly around the large telescope in the center of the room. Veva followed me, still focusing upward. “But not everything in life can be explained with such detail as how the atmosphere formed and protects the earth. Some things are unexplainable.” I stopped, resting an elbow on the edge of the base for the giant eye.
“Faith was born because some things are unknown, but we have to believe. No, we want to believe certain things exist. Faith in the weather watering a field. Faith in the sun coming back around every day. Faith in a religion. Faith in love.” Her head lowered and her brows pinched. She stared at me.
“The unknown. We can’t touch it, but we feel it.” I tapped my chest.
“We feel it so strongly, it must be real. We trust ourselves that it exists because we feel it inside.” My fist beat once. “I think therefore I am.” I stepped toward her. “But it’s more than that. I feel therefore I exist. Without feeling or emotion, I’m dead. And the things I feel for you, my beautiful girl, prove to me, I’m very much alive.”
My face was in front of hers, and my forehead pressed down to meet hers. I closed my eyes, drinking in the ever-so-slight contact. My mouth watered so fiercely. Just one sip, I told myself, but it wasn’t true. I’d tasted the sweetness of Veva—her very name meant life—and I needed more than one drink to sustain me. My thirst would never be quenched.
“Kiss me,” she whispered.
“No sex,” I teased.
“Just kiss me,” she snipped without snark behind the words.
My mouth met hers with a touch so tender it would make a lesser man cry. Rain kissed, a sprinkle of drops, a misting brush of a breeze. My mouth moved slowly, methodically, whispering over her lips. I love you, I said with each delicate dip. Stay with me, I implored as I sucked on swollen skin that took its time to response to me. I want to believe, cried out from closed lips caressing over mine. No tongue crossed the line, only an admission of attraction contained in a kiss passionately slow but heating up fast. We pulled back in unison, as if we each read the other. Breaking off before the sparks flared, when the gentle candlelight was all we desired.
“I’d like to show you something.” I crossed the room quickly and flipped several switches. The cylindrical room darkened slowly, and the dome opened overhead. The sky shifted to a navy blue and evening was on its way. I took her balloons and tied them to a railing on the side of the base. Directing her behind the telescope, I positioned it to point out various constellations.
“It’s amazing,” she sighed. “We try to lie out at night on the farm, just to stare up at the heavens. Then you get attacked by mosquitos.” Her bubbly sound filled our private space, and she told me other stories about her farm, the river behind the property, and the brilliant night sky.
“There’s something in particular I want to show you.” I took control of the telescope, positioning it to the correct coordinates.
“Here.” I pressed her in front of me, positioning my arms on either side of her. “Look for the turquoise dot. It should be straight ahead.”
“Found it,” she giggled and my jeans strained. I inhaled her fresh rain scent and then warned myself to settle. She observed the sky for a moment or two before pulling back from the lens. “It’s a beautiful color.”
“It is. And it’s yours.” Reaching into my back pocket, I pulled out a folded paper and handed it to her. She tilted her head, licked her lush lips, and hesitantly unfolded the page.
“I don’t understand.” Her eyes turned to liquid.
“Stars are suns, millions and billions of miles away. They are an energy source. You’re my energy source. My life source. It’s written in your name, Veva: life, and now, it’s written in the heavens. You have a proper place in the sky.”
“You bought me a star?”
I smiled slowly in answer.
“You’re the only sun I want to orbit.”
She giggled again, but a tear splashed down on the paper. Crushing it to her chest, she chuckled. “Thank you.” Her arms enveloped my neck, embracing me. In response, my arms wrapped around her lower back. She was my sun and I would circle her for eternity.
VEVA
Day four began with miniature sunflowers
in abundance. We hardly had room for them in our apartment, and I was tempted to give some away, but Persephone refused. The scattered arrangements reminded us both of home in the early fall and the bright, feathery pedals around a dark center personified Solis.
If flowers are better than balloons, I give you a dozen dozens, but I’d never take back the kiss.
My lips tingled at the reminder of his tender kiss. Soft and sweet, the heat grew quickly. Reading me, Solis pulled back before I burst into flame or imploded with the crackling energy between us. A gentle rainstorm of desire pattered on my lips when I thought of that kiss, but I was quickly longing for a summer storm.
+ + +
Day five included a late afternoon picnic high on top of a cliff overlooking the valley and the university.
“Why do you seem so down?” Solis asked as he handed me a grape. He lay on his side, legs stretched long, and crossed at the ankles. His lean body perched up by an elbow. He could have been modeling jeans or something, with his rock star good looks. My lips twisted in worry. I didn’t know how to tell him what I’d overheard.
“I was at the dean’s office this morning.” Solis sat up straighter at the statement. “I heard him reprimanding you.”
Dean Bonner had given Solis a stern warning.
Student/professor relations are strongly prohibited. I would hate to remove her from the school because of your clouded judgment in morals, the dean growled.
“He can’t do anything.” That’s what Solis had said earlier in the day in response to the dean’s threat. You can’t do this.
I can do as I please. What is best for the university. I don’t care if your father is a major contributor here. You do not run my university. I do.
“I don’t want to lose my place at the university, but I don’t want you to go, either.” This brought a smile to Solis’ lips and he turned to face me. The words were true. It had only been five days, but in truth, he had me within the first five seconds of seeing him. Meddling with my schedule or falling from the sky, Solis went above and beyond what he needed to do to prove we were meant to be. My body reminded me every time he was near how much he was the other half of me, and every time we separated, I didn’t feel whole.
“I’m not going anywhere, and neither are you.”
“He could fire you.”
“He won’t.”
“He could kick me out.”
“He won’t do that either.” Solis handed me another grape. “I don’t want to hide us, but I know we need to be careful for your sake. Humans have different rules about teachers and students.” He wiggled an eyebrow at me. “We’ll just continue to keep a safe distance, like we have been.” I didn’t miss the sarcasm in his tone.
“How did he come to question you, anyway?”
“Office cleaners saw us leave the observatory. Told the dean, instead of asking security, who would have covered for us.”
I nodded in understanding.
“I didn’t know your father was a major contributor.”
“Zeke appreciates education. He’s fond of learning.” Solis looked off in the distance, as if holding off more details. I waited in silence, but he offered no further information, and I wondered if my education was part of Zeke’s bountiful generosity.
“Think I’ll ever learn a gift?” This question had plagued me ever since I left him on the highway. I meant what I had said. I didn’t think I’d develop a gift, or discover one, or whatever was supposed to happen. My eyes remained focused on a grape rolling between my fingers. It was strange to discuss these things, stranger still to believe in the possibility of them. What if a gift never came to me? Would Solis lose interest in me?
“You have your clinicals now, right? I think you’re discovering every day where your talent lies.” He swallowed, and I felt his eyes on me, but I refused to look up. “I know what you did with Letty was difficult, but your patience and compassion with her proved you’re on your path for discovery, Veva.” The mention of Letty made my heart ache. I turned to look out at the valley.
“How is she doing?” I asked softly, frightened of the answer, feeling a pinch at the memory. He had slept with Letty. The thought hadn’t fully left my mind. I told myself repeatedly it didn’t matter. I understood what all those women saw in Solis, what all those women had received from him. I only wanted what they had shared, I argued with myself, but I was wrong. I wanted something more. I wanted something special for him, and me.
“Don’t.” The boom in his voice startled me. “Don’t think it. Don’t go there. It’s over. It’s history. You and I are the future, not the past, Veva. We are not our parents. We will not be them.” His hand reached for mine, but deciding it wasn’t enough, he bent to his knees and crawled toward me, towering over me as I fell back on the blanket. He balanced above me, blocking out the sunshine behind him. “No more thinking of past mistakes.” His tone softened and he lowered his lips to brush mine. The kiss was tender, like the night at the observatory, and my body jolted with the renewed energy of a revved engine. Electric sparks and tender shocks pulsed throughout my being. I wanted him, and yet we’d made our pact. No sex. His mouth pulled back and my body lay wired. He was the lion, and I, a willing prey to his capture. Take me, my core screamed, but I let my head overrule my desire. I would stick to our deal. Kissing wasn’t sex, though, and I let his mouth cover mine again.
+ + +
I had my first exams and I needed to study, so I avoided Solis as much as possible on day six. A sweet note filled with singular words found me later that night.
Twelve days, and twelve ways
to say how I feel about you.
Love. Hope. Destiny.
Feisty. Complete. Free.
Sunshine. Peacock. Rain.
Forever. Calm. Storm.
I’d fallen asleep in the midst of my books after shoving my laptop to the side of my bed. A strange warmth surrounded me, and I wiggled into the comfort of heat. My body melted along the ridge and I slept peacefully, waking in the same cozy temperature as the night before. Slow to open my eyes to a new day, I squirmed in comfort. Suddenly, the familiar feel of arms wrapped over me and my back molded to a chest forced my lids to spring open.
“Solis,” my sleep-laden voice croaked.
“Hmmm, Peacock, I was having the best dream.” His hip gyrated forward to meet my behind, which moments before had rubbed against him.
“Solis, you promised.” My grumbling tone came out seductive and deep. His responding moan at my ear only intensified the heat surrounding us.
“We sleep, that is all.” But his hips jutted forward again, and my backside replied in kind. A sharp hand at my hip stilled me, and a pinch of my skin told me my little tease would lead to no joke in another second.
“We might have said no sex, but I could still please you. I want to please you.”
Like a lazy kitten, I arched back, drawing my behind over the hard length of him once again. I played with sunshine, and it burned, but I wanted the heat on my skin. His thick hand slid forward at my invitation and pressed against my lower abdomen. Slipping into my pajama shorts, a long finger stroked over warm skin.
“Peacock.” The growling tone of his booming voice sent a shiver down my spine. His entry was swift, and I jolted back, my body responding in a private dance over the length of the finger inside me. My ass rubbed over him and his mutters of encouragement increased.
“Fly for me.” Lips lingered at my neck as our bodies synchronized. My thighs clamped and stiffened, holding in the scream as I clenched the edge of the bed, floating as if hang gliding over a valley. As I stilled, his pace continued behind me.
“Fuck, Peacock. The things you do to me.” A final thrust and he swore again. “I haven’t experienced something like that in a while.” He chuckled, and I didn’t know if he meant the dry-humping or the orgasm. Afraid to ask, afraid of his answer, I remained still with my back to him. His hand removed from my pajamas and he gently twisted me to face him. Honey colored
eyes searched mine.
“I missed you.” His warm breath at my ear sent shivers over my skin. “Let me love you.” He tugged me closer against him and my body betrayed me. I gave into the comfort and snuggled against his chest, my own arms wrapping around him to press tighter into his embrace.
“I’ve missed you, too.” The truth didn’t hurt to speak. A gentle kiss to my shoulder let me know Solis liked what I said and my eyes drifted closed at the start of day seven.
+ + +
Each time Solis drew near me, I thought the electric attraction would spontaneously combust. On day eleven, he seemed edgy and out of sorts. He had been spending each night with me, and I couldn’t figure his mood, but it matched the start of a gloomy day. “Let’s stay in bed,” he mumbled and my desire to act on such a thought propelled me from the sheets. One more day. We could hold out one more day, but the growing anticipation filled me with an achy need.
By day twelve, the romantic gestures and sweet kisses had kindled a fire so fierce, I shook with desire. I awoke to a gentle nudge at my shoulder.
“I have something to show you.” I stared up at honey eyes glowing despite the darkness. “Get dressed.” His whispered tone and the heavy blackness surrounding me hinted at the early hour.
“What time is it?”
“Maybe four. Hurry.” He stepped back from the bed and his smile enticed me to rise. He chuckled and I reached for my hair.
“If you’re going to laugh at me, I’ll just go back to sleep.” I flung myself back to the pillows, but two columns of muscle caged me in. Narrowed eyes peered down at me.
“You are the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. Peacock hair and all.” He chuckled again and I spun away from him. The soft caress of a peacock plume brushed over my cheek but I swatted it away. Solis had taken me back to the Peacock Preserve on another day of his countdown. Today, we were out of days. The thought made me spin. The motion surprised him.