The Lost Centurion

by Monica La Porta

  She laughed a throaty laugh. “Well, that would be inconvenient.” A higher wave made her falter forward and she ended in his arms. “No, I don’t suffer from any form of motion sickness.”

  He inhaled her fragrance, the short hair tickling his nose and making him smile. With a sigh, he brushed her crown with a soft kiss he hoped she hadn’t felt. “Little thing…”

  “Yes, big thing?” She laughed and snuggled closer to him, making him laugh as well.

  He let her go and stepped back toward the wheel post. “We must leave.”

  The sea was swelling, but he knew how to navigate the yacht out of the bay, and in less than twenty minutes, they were riding toward Capri and the Blue Grotto—the destination he had thought to surprise her with to make up for his rudeness. He was well aware of his mood swings when in her presence and had seen in her eyes how much he had wounded her. Words had never been his forte, but he wanted to make it right by her.

  “I could get used to this.” She had her back to him, leaning over the polished brass rail, looking at the sea.

  He checked the coast was clear, then secured the route and engaged the autopilot. “I thought you were—”

  “Because of my profession?” Her shoulders straightened, and he saw her hands grabbing the rail with more strength than necessary. Then she slouched back and released the rail, but didn’t turn to face him. “I guess you just paid me a compliment if you thought I worked with people who could afford these kinds of luxuries.”

  “I didn’t mean to offend you.” He longed to touch her, but didn’t dare.

  She shrugged. “It is what I did for a living.”

  “Why did you?” He had wanted to ask her since he had met her, but regretted his decision when she hugged herself, looking even smaller than usual.

  She started shivering, her hunger wreaking havoc through her system. Her stubbornness in denying herself more than what was necessary was maddening to him, but he didn’t push her to feed. He wanted her to ask him.

  “I had no choice.”

  He hadn’t expected her to answer. “Why?” He reached out to her, then let his hand fall by his side.

  “I had nothing.” She rocked back and forth following the sway of the yacht riding the long waves. “I was worth nothing.”

  He understood feeling worthless, and his heart swelled at the thought of Diana going through that kind of pain. Without thinking, he stepped behind her and wrapped her in his embrace, then leaned to kiss the crown of her head, lowered his lips to the spot behind her right ear, then her left. Soon, she was moaning and his hands were everywhere on her body, marking her as his. He turned her and sought her lips, unable to think beyond the need of finally kissing her mouth.

  She suddenly stiffened and he worried she would reject him. His first reaction was to press his arms on her back to bring her body flush against his, to make her understand how far gone he was in his desire to have her. When he worried he had scared her, she slowly relaxed against him, molding herself to him, and opened her lips.

  Eyes closed, heart pounding in his chest, rugged breath, and shaking arms, he kissed her and lost himself in a kiss that took him on another plane of existence. She tasted sweet and pure as he had imagined she would, and so much more he couldn’t put in coherent thoughts. After the first frantic union, he gently explored and caressed her mouth as he was stroking her shoulders and back. When something warm and wet soaked his shirt, he opened his eyes to find her crying.

  ****

  His hands went to her face to wipe her tears, and Diana couldn’t hold her sobs anymore.

  “Did I do something wrong, little thing?” He brushed her eyes with his lips, his hands caressing her body again in long soothing caresses.

  She lowered her head to his chest, too overwhelmed to find the words to answer him.

  “Diana?” He raised her chin with a finger, then left a chaste peck on her closed lips. “Are you okay?”

  She nodded and he lowered his head to kiss her again. When he gently pushed at her lips to coax them open, a rush of pleasure made her lightheaded, and she anchored herself to him, grabbing his arms circling her.

  He misunderstood her gesture and leaned his upper body away from her. “May I kiss you?”

  Diana saw the intensity in his stare and heard the pleading tone in his voice. She knew he thought he would perish if she denied him that kiss and so she had to tell him her secret. “It was my first kiss.”

  It took a moment for him to react to her statement, but his eyes became liquid.

  She had to lower hers. “I’ve never been kissed before.”

  Without letting go of her, Marcus fell on his knees and pressed his face against her belly, his strong back shaking, his arms tightening around her waist. She passed her fingers through his hair and let her tears flow, then kneeled before him and laid her forehead against his. “Kiss me as you’ve never kissed a woman before.”

  She tasted his tears on her lips when he gently sought her mouth, and she lowered herself to the deck, bringing him down with her. In his embrace, she forgot her past and only experienced the present. The pressure of his body on hers, his teeth gently scraping her bottom lip, his tongue dancing with hers. She pulled his shirt up, needing to feel his skin on hers, then passed her flat palms over his chest. The hunger was there, always present, trying to override all her senses, but her physical desire won the battle. Soon the quality of her shivers changed, leaving her without breath and with a different ache to soothe. Her hands went to the leather belt tying his jeans too tightly and her fingers fumbled with the buckle.

  He chuckled between hungry kisses. “Let me.” His hands joined hers and he guided her in freeing the belt from his jeans, then still together they opened the first two buttons. He emitted a sound with his throat and released her hands.

  She let her fingers roam lower and was surprised when she didn’t find boxers under his pants. Under her touch, his skin was so warm he could have run a fever. With her index fingernail, she drew small circles over his hip, then slowly worked her way down the inside of his thigh. She loved to watch and feel how his whole body reacted to her exploration, how he let her play with him, how he wasn’t ashamed to shiver under her touch. He made her feel empowered to take what she wanted, and what she wanted was to give him pleasure. She lowered his jeans and fully exposed him, then bent to give him the most intimate of kisses.

  ****

  Marcus shut his eyes and cried when her lips closed around him. The tenderness of the act overwhelmed him. He caressed her head. “Come up here.”

  Her eyes were hooded, her lips red and swollen. “I want—”

  He pulled her up, then lowered her on her back to look at her. “You’re beautiful.”

  A blinking white light followed by a low beep announced they had arrived at their destination. The entrance to the Blue Grotto was a dark shadow on their right. Reluctantly, he helped her up. “Ready?”

  “For what?” She smiled a lazy smile, her eyes roaming over his body.

  He looked down where her eyes had stopped twice. “Right.” Laughing at having being caught with his pants down, he made to pull them up, then kicked his boots out of the way and threw away his jeans as well. “We don’t need clothes where we’re going.”

  “We don’t?” Her arms went around her chest.

  Marcus finally noticed the one difference between them and resumed laughing, shaking his head at the same time. “I can’t believe you’re still wearing clothes.”

  “And whose fault is that?” Diana started pulling off her top, but he stopped her.

  “Let me correct that.” He peeled the purple top all the way over her head, and left a trail of kisses that started with her eyes and ended at her navel. Then he kneeled before Diana, and while kissing her around her belly button, he pushed her shorts down and helped move her legs out, raising one foot at a time. Before standing, he trailed his mouth down and pressed his lips over her center. He was rewarded by her calling out his name in
the sweetest of cries and he lingered on the spot to savor the perfection of the moment.

  The marine breeze carried the distant echo of church bells ticking the hour, and he reminded himself she wouldn’t be able to enjoy his surprise if they didn’t get out of the yacht soon. With a loud sigh expressed against her skin, he pressed himself closer to her, then released his hold and stepped back.

  Diana gasped when he let her go and he was immediately at her side, kissing her mouth and walking her toward the edge where the rail disappeared to let people jump from it.

  “Close your eyes.” He brushed her eyelids, then scooped her up and tightened his arms around her before he jumped out of the yacht. “One… two… three!” They were in the ocean the moment he said the last number and he closed his mouth on hers before she could say anything.

  For a moment, the dark-blue water covered them and they breathed through each other, their hands seeking solace to the fever burning through their bodies. They both gasped to take air in their lungs when they reemerged, but a moment later, they were united again in a searing kiss.

  Barely conscious of their surroundings, Marcus could still feel the changing quality in the night light, and knew dawn was coming. “Only a sec.” He propelled her body toward the entrance to the cave, and single-armed, stroke after stroke, he pulled her with him, not wanting to let go of her for even a moment.

  They passed under the natural arch, and he stopped swimming when they reached the middle of the cave. “I know it isn’t the same at night, but I wanted to bring you here.” The moon had come out and the whole cave was bathed in the palest glow. He could only see Diana’s changing expressions because she was close, but the rest of the grotto was hidden from him.

  Diana moved in the water in slow circles, raising her eyes to the ceiling, then to the water, and finally back to him. “This is the Blue Grotto, isn’t it?”

  He smiled. “The water doesn’t look as turquoise as it does during the day—”

  She laid a finger on his mouth. “It does to me. I can see it.” Her eyes, illuminated by the faint light, were almost green and her lips pastel pink. She shook away the small drops hanging from her eyelashes and swam to him. “Thank you.”

  Something in the way she acknowledged his gift melted through the last layer of resistance Marcus had built around his heart. Without a shield, he was vulnerable and fully exposed as he had never been for the last two thousand years. He didn’t care.

  “I need you.” He reached for her legs and brought them around his waist to secure her to him. Soon, he was kissing her with renewed abandon, his arms pressing her closer to him, losing himself in the miracle born from love. He bumped his forehead against hers. “I must have you.”

  Equally breathless, she nodded, sought his mouth for a peck, her teeth grazing his bottom lip, her hands roaming up and down his back, then with a sigh, she angled her head to the left. “There.” When he didn’t even attempt to move—he couldn’t—she untangled her legs from him, grabbed his right hand, and pulled him alongside her to the closest wall.

  “Can you reach the floor and stand on it?” She stopped by the edge of the grotto and pointed down at her feet hovering over a large terrace jutting from the rock wall.

  He lowered his feet and tentatively placed his toes down.

  She laughed. “It’s okay. There aren’t any sea urchins on it.”

  Marcus fully stepped on the platform and grabbed her, anchoring her against him with her legs wrapped around him as before. His mouth took possession of hers, then he kissed his way to the hollow between her breasts, feeding his growing need with her reaction. He reverently brushed the scar nested slightly right over her heart, his hands caressing her back, looking for all the marks left on her body. He pressed his fingers on every ridge marring her skin, wishing he could make her past pain his. “You are so beautiful.” He moved up to kiss her mouth again.

  “Marcus—” She pressed herself against him.

  Every moan escaping from her throat reverberated through him in a crescendo of sensations that left him dazed. Her hunger and his hunger mixed with frantic touches and uttered pleas.

  “I can’t wait anymore…”

  He wasn’t sure who had said the words out loud. His heart was pounding against his ribcage, and his legs were shaking. One look at her and he discovered the same vulnerability he felt mirrored in her eyes.

  “I don’t think I’ll be able to stop.” Tears flew down her cheeks, her fangs out, her whole body trembling.

  He touched her forehead with his and smiled at the realization he had never felt so at peace with himself before. “I’d rather die in your arms than live not knowing what it felt like having you.”

  ****

  Before Diana could even think of what Marcus had just offered her, his hands were at her waist, raising her up and lowering her down on him. When he was one with her, she threw her head back and cried at the perfection of their united bodies. The pleasure she received from him was so intense, she screamed before she could stop herself. He filled her body and mind, and when he started moving inside of her and angled his head to the side to free his throat to her, she almost fainted.

  Laying a hand over her breast, he cupped her neck with the other and guided her down to the throbbing vein calling to her. She fought the urge to bite, terrified to hurt him, but he caressed her slowly, inside and outside, worshipping her body with his. He gently pressed her to his throat and gasped when her fangs brushed his skin.

  “Now.” His movements became faster, his fingers teasing her nipples in small circles and tugs.

  The water sloshing around them increased the onslaught of sensations until Diana wasn’t able to hold back anymore and sunk her fangs deeply into him. Stars exploded behind her eyelids. His blood flooded her as if of its own volition, and she drank his essence freely, experiencing how he felt inside of her, and feeding him back how she felt about him. They moved in a rhythm of their own until they completed each other in a simultaneous explosion of the senses.

  Her head resting on the spot between his throat and shoulder, she retracted her fangs and licked the wounds closed. She couldn’t talk. She could barely think. But he had to know something, and so she gathered all the strength she had left to whisper the few words that meant the whole world to her. “I’ve never thought making love could be so beautiful.”

  ****

  Marcus was surprised by her words and, at first, couldn’t reply as he wanted. Diana burrowed farther in his embrace as if wounded by his silence. He’d had a lifetime of misunderstandings over things unsaid and actions not taken. He wouldn’t repeat his errors.

  “Diana?”

  She didn’t move, if anything, she sniffled against his neck. He moved one hand from her firm lower back and brought it to her face.

  “Look at me.”

  She hugged him closer and he could feel her rugged breath fanning his skin and giving him goose bumps all over, which didn’t help his clarity of mind.

  “Little thing?” Before, he had never realized how difficult could be expressing oneself in full sentences when one’s body had other priorities to fulfill. “Please?”

  She finally unglued her face from his shoulder.

  At the sight of her big eyes full of pain, Marcus swore under his breath and that made her blink several times, her lower lip trembling. But she gained control over her emotions and didn’t let a single sob escape. He felt proud of her.

  His eyes locked on hers, and he angled away from her to be sure she would see the seriousness of his words when he finally spoke to her. “I have never kissed a woman the way I kissed you tonight. I never made love to a woman the way I made love to you tonight. I never felt for a woman what I feel for you.”

  “Marcus…”

  He shushed her with a finger on her lips. “Let me finish.” Then he couldn’t resist kissing her; all the things he had wanted to say could wait. “I’d have you again, if it’s okay with you.”

  She lowered her
self onto him as a response.

  Dawn was almost coloring the sky with its pink light when he set the Sirena back toward Amalfi. Worried they were late, he led the yacht full throttle through the water, hoping the Coast Guard had better things to do than check that stretch of Mediterranean Sea. He did remember to have both of them wearing clothes again in case they were stopped.

  The whole time, he wore a grin on his face he knew made him look stupid, yet he didn’t care. Diana’s feeding had left him weak and sleepy, but at the same time he had never felt so sated and full of life. When Villa Eloisa came into sight perched on the promontory, he thanked the clouds covering the moon and slowed the yacht to a cruise pace.

  “Would you like to man the wheel?” He bent to brush her nose.

  “I’d love to.” Her eyes lit up at the idea.

  He pulled her before the wheel stand, then positioned himself behind her, his arms crossed under her chest, his head resting on her shoulder. “Yes, like that.” He corrected her course once or twice, and for the rest of the time, he simply enjoyed her squeals of delight whenever the yacht hit a wave and they jumped.

  “What’s this?” He removed from her short’s back pocket what had felt like a lacy handkerchief.

  “Your idea of romance.” She snatched the flimsy lace from his hand.

  The image from a few hours earlier when he had torn her panties came back to mind and he grinned. “Oh, yeah… sorry about that. I’ll buy you more.”

  “Why bother?” She leaned her head backward seeking an upside down kiss.

  “You’re absolutely right.” He took her mouth for a sweet peck.

  Closer to the coast, the ocean swelled and they endured a bumpy ride that made the navigation more similar to a roller coaster session than to sailing. Marcus was having some difficulties anchoring the two of them to the polished wooden floor, but Diana kept laughing every time they were launched in the air.

  A bigger wave cut the Sirena sideways, and Marcus wasn’t able to hold Diana as they were both thrown against the lateral walls. On all fours, he hurried to her. “Are you hurt?”