by Multiple
Daniel was thinking, “To what?” when the jerk of the parachute came. All of a sudden it got very quiet. The fall was gentle now. The bright yellow sail flowered and fanned out into the air.
“You okay?” she asked.
“This is amazing,” he answered. He felt suspended in thin air, without the sensation of falling at all.
“That’s San Francisco over those purple hills.” She pointed, and then said, “See the ocean?”
Daniel’s heart soared. He had never experienced anything like this in his life. He felt the air warm ever so slightly the farther they fell. Claire leaned, and they made some sweeping turns and dips, circling up and dropping down, like on a roller coaster without tracks. He felt her small warm body above him, strapped so tight she couldn’t get away. He liked the feeling.
“I love this,” was all he could say. At last he began to see little houses and some ribbons of roads. He saw the trailer and the airstrip that looked about an inch long.
“You wanted to know how it felt to fly. Well, this is the closest thing I can think of.”
“It’s—it’s amazing.” His heart was overwhelmed. He could feel tears collecting in the sides of his eyes, and then disappearing in the sunlight as they fell farther.
He had the sensation of the ground coming up to greet him in little degrees, and the air continued to warm as this happened. He began to smell the earth, the dust in the air. The vineyards in the distance looked like rows of green tight-looped commercial carpet. They floated and drifted lazily for nearly a half hour.
At last, there was the sensation of real falling as Earth came up to greet them.
“Put your feet out front but don’t lock your knees. Let me touch first, then you can stand.”
His feet shot out in front of him. The ground came up quickly and touched the soles of his shoes so that he merely walked forward as Claire pushed him. She unhooked them.
They faced each other and removed their helmets, letting them crash at their feet. His heart was filled to bursting. The look of Claire’s smiling face thrilled him. She was the most beautiful woman he had ever laid eyes on. He trusted her with his life. He wanted to spend the rest of his life feeling this good, this happy. He’d been taken on a journey he never wanted to end.
Claire looked at Daniel’s skin, which was blotchy red-pink. His hair stuck out all over the place. He looked utterly ridiculous. She couldn’t help but smile. His eyes fixed on her lips. She knew he wanted to kiss her. It would have been a perfect kiss. She knew it as sure as the fact that there wouldn’t be anything there if he tried.
He tousled his scalp with his hands, releasing some of the straw that had gotten entwined there. He let out a couple of shouts. Claire laughed at him. She danced a little jig, her flowered clogs kicking up dust.
“Isn’t that the best?” she giggled. “I love it more each time.”
He extended his arms wide and she jumped into them, wrapped her legs around his waist and they fell to the ground. Claire was on top, straddling him. He rubbed the back of her waist over her top, then lower, his hands caressing her bottom cheeks in tender, fluid motions. Claire felt the place between her legs lurch and ache for him. She instinctively rose up and pressed her mound to him just enough so his eyes grew wide. She surprised herself as well.
She was getting used to feeling the excitement when she was around him, especially when her body was pressed against his. She didn’t want it to end. They looked into each other’s eyes.
“Thank you,” he said.
“My pleasure.”
“Claire—”
“Sh, Daniel. It makes me feel wonderful that you enjoy this. Life is made to be enjoyed.”
“With you.” He rocked her hips so that under her clothes she ground against his hardness.
“No, you know that’s not possible.” She eluded his attempt at kissing her. He was only going to feel air. She released herself and started stripping off the equipment. She was doing it efficiently, trying to concentrate on the routine, but inside her heart was racing. It had flushed her face.
“How does all this work?”
“These are not clothes I brought with me. They are clothes of your world I brought into your dream. That’s why you can feel them. Your body doesn’t know the difference between a dream and the real thing, and I took some license with the dream. You are feeling the clothes and the straps, not me. You cannot touch or feel me, really, but you can feel the clothes in the dream.”
“But this felt real.”
“It was a dream. Dreams feel real, especially the dreams I’m directing for you now. You will remember the dreams I help you with, always, unlike your own, which will be fragments of thoughts and scenes. And don’t ask me because I do not know why or how.” She smiled. “That’s what’s so great about it. You get to experience it, but it never really happened.”
Daniel spent the rest of the dream driving alongside the ocean, the wind and sun on their faces and in their hair. At one point they stopped and walked along a white stretch of deserted beach. Daniel brought her a hot chocolate, which Claire held between her hands as she inhaled the scent, and they watched the sunset, sitting next to each other on the beach. The sunset was especially orange and the wind particularly warm and soft. The mist from the ocean washed his spirits clean. As they watched the sun set in the horizon, Daniel wondered how much of this was his doing and how much was hers.
And then he figured it didn’t really matter. He enjoyed it, not needing to know.
“This has been a perfect day,” he said, finally. He lay back in the sand and closed his eyes. Claire wrapped herself around him and snuggled against his chest. He could feel her shoulder through the fleece top, and after tracing the line of her collar down to where the zipper part was, he pushed his two fingers inside to the warmth, but there was no skin to feel. He resigned himself to that fact, sighed.
Someday. There has to be a way. What kind of a God would bring me this angel and then not let me touch her, taste her?
Chapter 24
Claire was alone on a Friday night, Daniel off to a dinner appointment. Best place to stave off loneliness was to go to a planetarium show.
It was a sparsely populated group this evening.
She sighed and leaned back into the velvet rocker chair as the lights dimmed and the symphony music came on. The announcer began the program. He had a voice she could listen to forever, deep and soothing, like Father’s.
Looking up at the twinkling stars, she was struck with a sense of homesickness. She was living between two worlds and not fully a part of either one. The stars reminded her of views from Heaven, which she missed. She longed for her sisters at home.
She wondered if, some day, Daniel would look up at the heavens and sense her—perhaps see a star and think of her twinkling down on him. Something wet dripped from her chin onto her collarbone and she realized then she was crying.
She felt warm hands cover her wet eyes and she tensed, ready to disappear, but settled down as she heard the familiar velvet words, warmed by his soft Brazilian accent.
“With so many angels looking down on you, how could you be sad? Don’t cry, Claire.” And then, as she was about to change form, Daniel delivered his urgent whisper, “Don’t go, Claire. Stay.”
The vibration of his voice swept down her spine, spreading out down the backs of her arms and thighs, awakening places she felt for the first time in her angel life. I ache for him.
She fell into the fantasy of belonging in this human world. This was the man she loved, calling her to his side. This feels real, but it can’t be.
Her body desired more. She heard his heart beating too, heard the sound of his breath as he inhaled, and the creak of the theater chair behind her as it rubbed the leather of his jacket when he moved. His long, veined fingers were moist with her tears and his heat, as they bid her closed eyes to wait, his hands resting gently against her cheeks. Two thumbs circled the arches of h
er ears, causing her to shiver with expectation.
She released herself to the care of these fingers, these hands that smelled of lime. His long lashes fluttered on her skin as they brushed against her temple. His warm breath and a sensual kiss to the back of her neck raised the soft hairs there. I am entranced by this man.
The sound of his tongue as it lightly tapped the back of his teeth, to form the melody of his words, melted her.
“Don’t open your eyes, Claire. Please don’t open your eyes.”
Yes, yes I shall obey. She nodded. Her only allegiance was to the soft voice that commanded her complete obedience. When he removed his hands from her eyes, she didn’t move.
“Yes, keep them closed.” That velvet voice again warmed her ear. She heard him move to sit beside her. Her body hummed in anticipation of where he would touch her next.
And then Daniel’s warm lips were, at last, on hers. Lime scent filled her nostrils with the sweetness and urgency of his soul. Claire could smell traces of his shampoo and soap. It was excitingly new and familiar at the same time.
His hungry lips pressed deeper into hers as she acquiesced to his heat. She was on fire. This was how she imagined a kiss would feel, smell, and taste—only more intense. Her tongue touched his as she parted her mouth, granting him access. He made a little sound deep in his throat.
Were my lips coaxed to drink this elixir, or am I willingly inhaling it? Is there a place where I end and he begins?
He withdrew again with another gentle command. “Claire, see me. Open your eyes and see me.”
When she opened her eyes, she first saw the twinkly lights moving slowly over the dome of the planetarium “night” sky. Then she saw his face, not more than a breath away.
“I see the face of my beloved,” he whispered, kissing her in the soft spot under her jaw and back up to her lips.
Yes, that is the word. Beloved. Now she knew what the sonnets meant. Beloved lover mine.
His eyes searched every part of her face. His lips lapped and eliminated all the evidence of her tears. A pairing of color, scent, music and emotion shimmered around them. He has a dust effect over me.
“If your Father makes you leave at dawn, then we have the whole night together,” he murmured.
Not enough time. Oh, not nearly enough time.
His thumb and fingers came up to brush her cheek, and then dropped to elevate her chin and fully expose her mouth to him again. His long kiss and probing tongue left need on her lips.
“But when I go, it will be forever.” Her husky voice cracked. She could barely speak.
“Then this is all we have.” His eyes underscored a faint smile. She saw what the evening could hold for them both. She blushed.
“It won’t be enough,” she insisted. Her eyes filled up with tears.
“Then let’s take all we can while it is ours.” He extracted another long kiss from her willing lips. “I won’t be able to leave you tomorrow. Fair warning, okay? If one of us has to do it to save our souls, it won’t be me.”
She nodded at his confession, wondering if she would have the strength to do it either.
They stood in unison, then quietly walked the long aisle up to the top of the bowl of the planetarium, arms and hands locked together, swinging slightly. She leaned against him, not wanting to be parted from the warmth of his body or the feel of his muscles.
Outside, the real stars were triple in number. The moon was almost full. There was plenty of light on the path to his car. He wrapped his arms around her and bent to kiss her throat at the top of her collarbone. His lips nibbled the length of her neck up to her chin and then claimed her lips again.
She responded by pulling him to her. She needed to be as physically close as possible to him now. The lushness of their bodies together made her dizzy. He slid his hand under her shirt, looking into her eyes. She wanted him to look at her in the moonlight, all of her. She wanted to be touched, kissed, and claimed by this human. She wished for the first time in her life that he owned her, in every sense of the word.
“You touch me where no person has touched me before.” She delivered this as the simple fact it was.
When they arrived at his house, she felt as though the wooden structure welcomed and celebrated her. At the front door, he released his arm that had hung around her waist to find his keys and disarm the keypad. She was jealous of the attention the keys received; she wanted those fingers on her body, playing and painting the feelings on her skin like he did with his watercolor crayons on paper.
I am your canvas, Daniel. Use me to tell the story of us.
Her thoughts were full of anticipation as they ascended the stairway to his bedroom. She had no sensation of walking. He released her hand to open the bedroom doors and she free-floated into him. She would have fallen had not his large hands found her rib cage.
She pushed her breasts against the granite muscles of his chest. The place between her thighs sent out a small current of electricity, demanding attention. She pressed it against him. Her arms came up and crossed behind his neck. She inhaled him and allowed herself to be taken away again by another long kiss.
His hands drifted down to her bottom where he cupped and pushed her into his groin.
I love his need. She exhaled as their lips parted. She explored the region at the top of his buttoned flannel shirt and kissed him there. Claire heard as well as felt a sigh emanate from his chest. Daniel turned her so that her back was to the bed.
“Wait right here a moment. Close your eyes.” He kissed them closed.
Claire could hear movement but had no idea what was going on until he commanded her to open her eyes. He had lit several white pillar candles. The fluttering of the golden flames sounded like wings of a bird in flight. There was music–the music of harps. Her eyes filled with tears as she became overcome with bliss.
“It’s an altar,” Claire whispered. Her tears flowed freely down her cheeks.
“A celebration of our love,” Daniel answered. He held her close again. “Do you trust me?”
She looked down, then up at him with a small smile and shook her head from side to side. “I want to be ruined by your love,” she said through her tears.
“Tonight you will feel what it is like to be worshiped,” he said.
She leaned into him again and wound her arms behind his neck, pulling his head down to press his lips against hers. Just before contact, she whispered, “Take me and never let me go, Daniel.”
He sat her on the edge of the bed and kneeled at her lap, removing first yellow clog and then the other The jeweled charms sparkled in the moonlight. His warm fingertips explored the length of her calves, one at a time, inside, kissing a trail up under her gown.
She looked at the curly dark hair, the top of his head in her lap, feeling his breath on her thighs, savoring his need mixed with hers. She removed her gown, tossing it to the side. He cupped her breasts in both his hands, tickling her pink nipples with his warm tongue, sucking on them. The gentle pressure caused her nipples to tighten into knots. Her breathing was uneven, rising with every touch to her body.
Claire felt she was being treated like a rare and delicate flower.
Daniel removed his shirt in one smooth movement. She looked up at his chiseled torso, which gleamed, all the muscles in his chest and upper arms moving in waves. She held her breath at the beauty that was his tanned body, offered to her.
He pulled her to standing position. They kissed again, her bare skin pressed into his hard body, as he unbuckled his pants and slid them down his thighs. She watched him step out of them. His red silk boxers lay in a heap on top. He stepped closer, pressing his body fully against hers. His muscled thighs and erection pressed against her.
“Now do you trust me?” he said as he cupped her face in his large hands.
“Yes, Daniel,” she whispered through her lips. “But you must show me what to do.” She didn’t want to disappoint him. He was a man of many pa
st loves. “Can you show me?”
“The only thing you need to do is to love me forever.”
“And that I will.”
Taking her hand, he led her to the pillows near the headboard. He lay back and pulled her on top of him. She was still, her ear on his heart, listening, feeling every part of him as she covered him with her body. His fingers feathered over her back, down to her buttocks and then up again. He moved underneath, pressing one knee between her legs and rolling her to one side, massaging her belly, one finger tracing a path lower. He kissed her there, and then went farther down. Her fingers lazily laced through his hair as he continued to move. He stopped just inside the top of her thigh; she could feel his hot breath on her tiny opening. His thumb pressed on the button there and Claire jumped with pleasure. She looked down to see his eyes watching her intently.
Her awakening continued. Daniel was a careful lover. He didn’t rush any part of the exploration so she could feel all of what he did. He noticed what she liked, what made her smile. His fingers slid inside her wet peach, pushing aside the flesh of her lips. She experienced a little shot of pain as he separated her folds with delicate fingers she had seen caress his art. He played her body like an instrument.
As his tongue replaced his fingers and stroked the insides of her opening, Claire thought she was going to explode. She arched to his kiss, pushing her sex hard against his ravenous mouth. Her lips gasped for air as she pulled his body up to cover hers, his lips engulfing and claiming her. Confined to the hardness of his chest, her breasts arched up against him, her lower belly pressed to his maleness.
The sensations of their skin on skin was as beautiful as anything she had experienced before, and better than she had imagined. It was so natural, him on top of her, warming her with his need, ministering to her desire and strumming her heartstrings.
She smoothed her hands down his back to his rounded cheeks and squeezed them. The firmness of his flesh under her fingers, the smoothness of his lower back and the bulges of muscles at the sides of his thighs were thrilling. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew she would not be able to live without the feel of him on top of her. It was natural for her to press him to her, to spread her legs and grind her sex against his warm cock.