by Kelli Walker
"Lay down," he whispered as he slipped off his shoes and unbuckled his pants.
I nodded and swiveled around, scooting to the center of the bed. As I relaxed my back into the pillow, I watched him unzip his pants and let them fall to the ground. He stepped gingerly out of them and crawled across the bed, positioning himself at my knees. I bit my lip as my breath caught in my chest. Just a simple touch of his fingertips against my skin sent me into a whirlwind of anticipation.
Pushing my thighs apart, he slowly lowered himself down to the bed. Ryan hooked his fingers into each side of my pink satin panties and pulled them down, dropping them from the bed. His eyes shifted to me for just a moment before his head disappeared between my legs. My shoulders tensed as I felt his lips slide across the inside of my thigh. He hovered over my plump and pulsing lips, the warmth of his breath singing to them, calling for me to open to him. I could feel a trickle of wetness between the creases of my skin slide down, cooling my skin with the air.
He pressed his lips to my pussy, kissing it as if he were kissing my lips. My breath held in anticipation, burning my lungs. When his fingers pushed through my folds, I let my head fall back, focusing on the sensations. He spread apart my lips and ran his tongue through my juices. I could feel the softness like silk caressing my skin. The tip of his tongue swirled around my clit, and I groaned as he pulled it into his mouth, suckling it. The hint of pain mixed with the pleasure of his tongue put my entire body on edge. My nipples hardened, and I wrapped my fingers around them.
He continued, moving his mouth against me, bringing the pressure within me further toward the surface. My hands fell from my breasts and pushed through his hair, moving down to the sides of his face. I wanted him to keep going, but I also wanted to feel that long hard cock deep within me. I wanted to stare deeply into his eyes as the ecstasy filled us both.
"Ryan…" I whispered.
He lapped at me once again and looked up. With a heavy breath, I tried to speak, but the pleasure was too much. Instead, I pulled on him, beckoning him to come to me. He didn't fight me like I thought he would. I thought for sure he would attempt to pay me back for nearly spilling him all over the front of his rental car. Instead, he wiped his chin and moved up me, hovering over me.
Our eyes locked as I ran my fingers down his sides to the band of his boxer briefs. I pulled one side down and then the other until he was able to shimmy them off. His body relaxed into me, and I could feel the firmness of his shaft against my stomach. His eyes danced over my face as his hand pushed the hair back out of my eyes. I leaned up and kissed him as my hips tilted upward, and my legs wrapped around him without thought. His hands fell from my head and palmed mine, pulling my arms up as our fingers intertwined.
Lifting up, Ryan looked me right in the eyes. His body pulled upward, and he swiveled his hips, readjusting. I could feel the head of his cock hovering at my opening, and it took everything in me not to push down, pulling him into me. I let him lead, though, my mouth falling open in pure ecstasy as he pushed through my wetness and slid his hard shaft deep inside of me.
Once inside, he leaned his body down, making small, subtle movements against me. He rolled his hips, pushing into me. I opened myself up wider and rolled my head, moaning softly. He pressed his lips together and furrowed his brow, letting his head drop. I untangled his hold on my hand and lifted his chin. I could see it in his eyes. He was desperately trying to hold back. He was trying to make it last as long as I hoped it would.
I shook my head and pulled his face toward me. "Just be here, be with me. Don't hold back."
He let out a long-held breath and smiled, kissing me as his hands found my hips. He pulled himself up and pushed his fingers into my skin as he lifted my ass from the bed. Our bodies clashed hard together, the intensity of the moment finally exploding from both of us. The way his body slapped against my clit sent ripples of wild pleasure through me. My arms went out to both sides, and I screamed in pleasure, arching my back. I could feel my breasts bouncing with the motion of his abdomen as it slammed into me.
"Yes," I screamed out. "Don't…stop…."
A growl erupted from his chest, and he held on tighter, pushing into me as he leaned forward. His hips moved fast and hard, and the build-up inside of me reached its peak. My mouth fell open, and I sucked in a deep breath, looking up at him.
"Yeah?" he growled. "You gonna cum for me?"
I nodded my head, only a squeak leaving my lips. He slammed down into me and leaned forward, rolling his body against me. My eyes rolled back as my head tilted, and the rippling explosion of orgasm burst through me. The air left my lungs, and a wailing moan followed it. My back arched into the air as he pumped once more before pushing hard and deep. Through the haze of ecstasy over me, I could feel his cock pumping as I closed around him, pulling his seed, pulling his pleasure.
He groaned, letting his head fall against my shoulder, his chest frozen as the last bit of soothing orgasm rippled through him. His arms wobbled, and he fell to the side, resting his hand across my stomach. I licked my dry lips and pulled the covers over us as I turned toward him, pushing my nose to the tip of his. He wrapped his arm over me and pulled me close to him, so our bodies were pressed together.
A giggle escaped my lips, and he narrowed his eyes at me. "What?"
I shook my head. "Nothing. I'm just happy."
He smiled at me like he used to, the glimmer in his eye and everything. I rested my head down on his arm and snuggled in close to him, letting the warmth and the safety of his arms lull me to sleep. I pushed away the fear, even if it was just for that one night, absorbing the love I had missed for so very long.
I woke up the next morning pleasantly with my head resting on Ryan’s naked chest. The early morning sun showed comfortably through the sheer curtains. Its rays made our bodies glow with the warmth of a love fulfilled.
I traced my fingertips gently across his chest as though it were a mirage. My hands grazed through his chest hair and danced over his nipple, to which his body flexed with a sleepy chuckle.
“That tickles.”
I smiled up at him, and he smiled back. We moved closer and kissed. One kiss ended with the beginning of the next. By the time his hand was slipping under the covers to caress my bare body, we were making love again.
The passion from the night before was still there, but tempered and more forgiving. He kissed my neck and took his time, letting me feel every slow inch of his body. He finished me first before letting himself go. I’ll never forget how he throbbed inside me.
As our muscles relaxed and we shared smiles of satisfaction, we were happy, awake, and ready for the day. We took turns showering, and I made us coffee. With a plate of toast and fruit to-go, we were out the door and off to begin house hunting.
I read off the first address on my mom’s list, and Ryan plugged it into his phone’s GPS. We pulled up to the curb alongside the property but didn’t even bother getting out of the car. The place was a wreck, overgrown with brush and weeds. The yard itself was tiny, and the house… couldn’t even really be said to be that. Its shingles were worn smooth, and the roof was caving inward in at least two different spots.
“You’d have to start from scratch, but I don’t know what you could even replace it with. Is that the neighbor’s fence? I feel like your family’s barn is bigger than this whole lot.”
“Yeah… Let’s move on to the next one. We can always come back if there isn’t anything better.”
He pulled away, and we began our search for the next address on Mom’s list. As it turned out, that was easier said than done. It took us until noon to finally find the place - a moss mildewed cabin deep in the woods. Even in the middle of the day, just a few weeks past the summer solstice, there didn’t seem to be a single ray of sunlight touching the crooked complex of logs and planks.
“Well, Ryan… This might be harder than we thought. I guess you could always clear out a bunch of the trees and see if anything from the structure could be
salvaged.”
We slowly got out of the car, but it wasn’t long before we climbed back in and tried to find our way out of the labyrinth of shaded gravel roads. The front door to the cabin was altogether missing. A peek inside the damp, musty interior was curious but alarming. An endless sea of upended furniture, trash, magazines, toys, clothes… There might’ve been bodies under all those piles of junk. In fact, with the amount of animal life around and the state of the front door, there was sure to be at least a few different species who had moved in to nest in the abandoned shack.
“Let’s look at one more, then we’ll stop for lunch. I had no idea this would take so long, but the next one is bound to be better, right?”
“It’s not like the last two set the bar very high.”
We laughed, trying to remain positive, but so far, I was cursing our little town. Of course, everything’s going well; he wants to come home… and all we have to show him are a bunch of garbage heaps.
Finding the next address wasn’t nearly as difficult, and it was at least in better shape than the first two houses, but, once again, the land was cramped. The dwelling itself was decent, but it was plain and unwelcoming. I began to lose hope, seeing that there weren’t many choices left to see, and most of them were shared duplexes or ranch houses in the middle of town.
If Ryan was feeling disheartened, he wasn’t showing it. He took me to lunch and rationalized that living in one of the next towns over wouldn’t be the end of the world. I tried to show him some enthusiasm but just couldn’t. I was too busy thinking to myself that I should’ve known it was all too good to be true.
We sought out the next location, absent any of our former enthusiasm. We turned down the road that connected my parents’ house with his, passing the turnoff for my own little one-bedroom cottage and continuing past anything I recognized.
“You know, I don’t think I’ve ever been down this way.”
“Me neither, Harley; I always thought your parents and their neighbors owned all the land up to the preserve.”
“They do… and the GPS makes it look like the road ahead dead-ends. I don’t think we missed it, but maybe Mom gave me the wrong address?”
Our questions were soon stowed away, though not completely answered. Around the next bend, the asphalt road did indeed end, but we continued on, dropping down to cut a gravel drive between two embankments in the surrounding meadow. A simple white mailbox at the road’s end confirmed that we would at least attempt to trek down the path; the numbers beside the little red flag matched that of my mother’s list.
The convertible shuttered as the tires bumped over the last edge of pavement one by one. I could see Ryan’s knuckles whitened as he gripped the steering wheel, but he soon relaxed, realizing that we weren’t about to repeat the chaotic adventure from the potholed gravel backroads of the earlier cabin property.
“This isn’t so bad. I still wish we had something with four-wheel drive… but I think we’ll make it as long as it doesn’t get too steep or cross over any streams.”
He needn’t have worried. We began to enjoy ourselves as the gravel track brought us on a meandering dance through the meadow. We soon forgot why we were there as we crossed through a beautiful covered bridge over a rippling stream as clear as fresh snowmelt. We emerged on the other side beneath a fantasy-worthy canopy of quaking aspens just starting to yellow for the fall. Their stark white trunks were everywhere with blackened eyelids where former limbs hung. Those wooden eyes seemed to smile beneath the overhead shimmer of little golden leaves. From above the stream, the breath of a cool breeze swept through the valley, bringing a shower of them, like an amber volley, across the path. The cascade of leaves surrounded the scarlet convertible in a splendid storm, like a serene cyclone, dropping the little yellow hearts across our laps and into our hair.
The beauty of the scene took me completely by surprise. “Wow! This… is like a painting. I feel like I’m seeing snowfall for the first time again, except it’s sunny and warm.”
Ryan slowed the car, and we stopped, just watching the unbelievable scenery all around us. I grabbed his arm and pointed, barely daring to breathe.
I whispered to him. “Look!” Off to my right, two adolescent fawns swooped and played into view, circling each other in a dance between the trees. A proud, wary doe soon followed behind, hardly giving us a glance as she watched over her young ones amid their games.
My grasp dropped from Ryan’s shoulder, down to his hand. I wrapped myself around his arm, smushing my cheek against his shoulder as I continued to whisper excitedly. “Where are we?! How have we never known about this place?”
“I… I don’t know, Harley. This has to be part of the nature preserve. I don’t understand how anyone could have developed anything out here. This road shouldn’t even be here, but that bridge is old - probably way older than either of us. At the same time, you can tell it’s been taken care of, just like the road. There hasn’t been a single low spot or anything. I have to know where this is leading, is that okay?”
Smiling, I watched the deer disappear beyond the foliage across the stream. “Are you kidding? Go! Just know that there is no way anything up ahead can be any more magical than this.”
We started to move forward again, and Ryan laughed with shared disbelief. “I know this is just sublime. I feel like we took a wrong turn into a fairytale. If this isn’t the road to some kind of enchanted castle, I won’t believe it.”
We pulled out from the wooded glen and fell back under the sun’s bright rays. We were in another stretch of the meadow, surrounded by wildflowers of every shape and color imaginable. The head of the stream could be seen off to our left, rolling and trickling over smooth grey rocks up the hill we now faced. Our eyes danced across the landscape to the wild alcove’s shoulders of black spruce. The hill rose in front of us with its peak hidden by the sun. I covered my brow, squinting through the sunlight, and gasped. Ryan looked over at me, stepping on the brakes out of reflex. He followed my gaze and likewise covered the sun with his hand. He was just as speechless as I had become.
The road ahead lost its gravel, exchanging it for a smooth pattern of cobblestone pavers. The elegant driveway traced up the hill, snaking through the mystical meadow, and disappeared at the foot of an immense Victorian-era manor house.
With excitement, we looked at one another and proceeded up the hill, marveling at the smooth stone driveway. We mounted the meadow’s dome and circled to a stop amid the hillcrest’s parking area.
Both of our mouths hung open as we silently stepped from the car, gazing up at the mansion.
“It’s… beautiful.”
Ryan, at first, was just as blown away. However, he was quick to point out the massive house’s single flaw. “How old do you think it is?”
“I honestly have no idea, and Mom didn’t include any notes. If she had, we might’ve saved us half of a day wasting our time with those other places.”
“Yeah, but Harley… Look at those windows. They look like they’re drooling.”
I looked where he was pointing. Sure enough, it looked like the glass panes were drooping. I walked over to the hedges bordering the circular parking plaza and leaned over, taking a closer look.
“It’s like the glass wasn’t solid. The panes at the bottom are thicker than their supporting lattice while those at the top are so thin, they look like they could fall out at any second.”
“Yeah, look at the second floor. Some of them already have.”
“Well, I mean, every house we look at is going to need some kind of work. At least replacing windows isn’t a big deal.”
Ryan didn’t seem totally convinced, but he was still a lot more enthusiastic than when we looked at the other properties.
“We’ll see, Harley. You want to head inside?”
I skipped forward to the towering wooden door, twirling my arms as I danced across the huge wraparound porch. “It’s like a hotel! You could host a hundred people out here!”
He
smiled at my amazement but merely nodded in response. I couldn’t understand his apparent disappointment, but as I swung the big front door open, my excitement fell to the bare rotting floor.
The house’s entrance must’ve been truly grand… a hundred years ago. There were faded railings curled and spreading from what had to’ve been an impressive dual staircase. There were no stairs, though - not really. Every fourth one or so was almost still intact, but the rest were either missing or splintered in a dusty heap beneath. I looked down and couldn’t help but vocalize my dismay. “Oh no!”
There were no floorboards. They must’ve been removed some time before. I couldn’t even walk into the room for fear of stepping on one of the thousand exposed nails. Even if I could tightrope my way along the exposed support beams, they didn’t look like they could be trusted to support my weight.
I turned and walked back to the safety of the porch with my head hung, and my spirits evaporated. Ryan stepped up to the threshold, placing a palm on either of the door frames before leaning in and letting his eyes adjust to the darkness.
“Wow. Uh… Well… At least I’d get to choose whether I wanted tile, wood, or carpet.”
I rolled my eyes. “Ryan, this isn’t funny. We can’t live here! It would take years to make it safe, no matter how perfect it is.”
I didn’t realize my slip until Ryan turned with an eyebrow raised. “We?”
I immediately stopped pouting as, too late, I tried to take back my words. “Uh… You. You can’t live here. Isn’t that what I said?”
He fully removed himself from the threshold dropoff and moved toward me, twisting his head and squinting in pantomimed disagreement.