by Tammy Walsh
We were three hundred feet above the ground in the upper branches of a giant tree. I clung to its trunk, refusing to let go.
The branches were thick around the base and wound out to thin spindly twigs at the very end. They bent and curved and weaved, twisting and turning on one another.
Dyrel hopped from one branch to another, unconcerned with falling his death.
“Are you crazy?” I said, clenching my eyes shut. “What makes you think learning to dance here is a good idea?”
“Because this is where I learned to dance,” he said.
“Here? Really?”
“There’s no better teacher than nature.”
He reached up and plucked a flower from the tree. He brought it over to me and weaved it in my hair.
“Didn’t I mention I have an intense fear of heights?” I said.
“No. You said you have a fear of flying.”
“It’s the same thing!”
“Not necessarily. You could fly close to the ground.”
I growled at him.
“I can’t learn to dance up here,” I said. “Not when I could fall to my death at any second. Maybe Titans can do this. But humans can’t. Not the sane ones, anyway.”
He pressed his hands to his trim waist.
“Let go of the tree,” he said.
“Never.”
“Come on. I won’t let you fall. And neither will the tree.”
“Sorry to tell you this but the tree isn’t going to save me. It’ll turn me into mush so it can eat me.”
“Sure, it’ll save you. Want to see how it works?”
“Not particularly.”
“Goodbye, cruel world!”
Dyrel stumbled back as if he’d taken a blade to the stomach. He tumbled over the branch’s edge and was gone.
I screamed and clenched my eyes shut even tighter.
Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God.
He’d committed suicide.
I can’t believe he just did that.
Right here, right now.
If anybody saw what happened, they were going to think I pushed him.
I’d be locked up for the rest of my natural life.
Now how was I supposed to get out of this tree?
Then something miraculous happened.
Dyrel floated back up onto the branch. He stood there, quite calm and serene.
“You can fly?” I said.
“Not without the aid of a shuttlecraft.”
“Then how are you here and not a bloodstain down there?”
“I told you. The tree won’t let me die. When I fall, the tree’s vines reach out and catch me. Then they place me back on the tree from where I fell.”
“What? That’s impossible!”
“It’s not. You see, this tree is very unique. It’s called the Nurture Tree. It has these flowers, and when they’re ready, they spit out their seeds. But sometimes the seeds fall too early. So, instead of letting the seeds land on ground where they would only die, the Nurture Tree catches them and puts them back where they belong. They stay there until they’re ready.”
“But you’re not a seed.”
“No, but the tree doesn’t know that. All it senses is something falling from its foliage. Don’t believe me? Look up there. See that seed? The wind’s about to knock it free. Ready? Watch.”
I forced my eyes open—at least, I managed to force one eye open—and watched as the seed plummeted from the foliage, down toward the ground below.
The vines disengaged from their position around the trunk and latched onto the fallen seed. Then it drew it up and placed it, carefully, back in its foliage. Then the vines returned to the trunk.
“Do you want to try?” Dyrel said.
I shook my head vehemently.
“Never!” I said.
“Come on. I’ll do it with you.”
“Are you crazy?”
He approached me and gently pried my hands from the tree trunk. I held onto him tight.
“We’re going to sail over the side now,” he said. “Are you ready? You will want to keep your eyes open. You don’t want to miss this.”
“Wanna bet? You know what? I think I’ve seen enough. Take me down.”
He held me in his powerful arms and threw us over the edge.
I tried to stop him but it was no use.
The wind whipped my hair into a frenzy. My scream was half a squeal that barely squeezed from between my lips. Then something soft and gentle wrapped around my legs, ass, head, and shoulders. We slowed as gravity ceased its hold on us. Blood rushed to my head. Then the vines gently lifted us back up, upside down, my hair hanging about my face.
I opened my eyes and witnessed the ground receding. My heart was in my throat, beating a mile a minute. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
Then I burst into laughter, giggling like a crazy person. The vines placed me back on the branch alongside Dyrel.
“That wasn’t so bad, huh?” Dyrel said.
“The second half was okay,” I said.
Dyrel chuckled.
I placed a hand to the trunk of the tree and rubbed my hand over the bark.
“Thank you,” I said.
Dyrel placed his hand next to mine and tapped it.
“Thank you for your kindness,” he said. “Titans have a very close relationship with nature. I suppose all species do. It’s where most of us come from. And, ultimately, where we return in the end. Death has never scared Titans. Sure, they’d prefer not to go but when they do, they know they’ll be taken care of.”
“It’s a beautiful way to think about death,” I said. “I wish humans thought more like that. We’re afraid of death.”
“Modern Titan society is the same. You work so hard for the things you have that you never want to let them go. The trick is to make the most of every minute of every day. That way, it’s not such a sad thing to let it go knowing you’ve lived a life well spent.”
“Is that how you’ve been spending your life?”
“No.”
Then he turned to look at me.
“Not until recently,” he said.
My knees felt weak and a shiver rushed through me when he said those words.
I wanted those lips on mine, to feel them, to taste them.
I pulled my eyes from him, afraid I might expose my weakness for him.
He lowered his hands to me. One hand on my waist, the other interweaved with my other hand.
“Now, we must learn to dance,” he said.
I still wasn’t completely comfortable with the idea, but armed with the knowledge that the tree would catch us if we fell, I supposed it wasn’t so bad.
I lowered my eyes and watched my feet.
Each time I did, Dyrel said, “Eyes on me at all times.”
Yes, sir.
He counted out the steps of the dance, much slower than the teacher did. We performed the first few steps and came to the part I always forgot. I reached out with my foot along the branch and found nothing but empty air.
“There’s no branch there,” Dyrel said. “So, what do we have to do now?”
I put my foot back on the branch. I reached out with my other foot and found a section that was there.
He smiled, nodded, and continued to count. We moved along the branch, with him counting out the steps.
A thick pompom of leaves swung straight for my head. Without even thinking, I ducked.
He swung me around, onto another branch.
I did it! I did it!
In all my hours practicing with the dance teacher, I’d never managed to complete a cycle before.
But the dance was still going.
We danced, my body pressed against his. He was in control, the way Titan culture dictated.
I bent and moved, fitting around nature.
I threw my head back and burst into laughter.
Dyrel counted faster. We finished one step before the next came hot on its heels. I followed him as he led m
e around the tree. We moved so fast, so quickly, the movements came without me even needing to think. I didn’t check my footing or attempt to avoid missing the branches beneath my feet.
And then, finally, he came to a stop.
“Excellent work,” he said.
“You think so?” I said.
“I know so.”
The dance was done but his arms remained wrapped around me, one in the small of my back, the other above my hip, just managing to graze my ass.
I looked up at him and smiled. I felt the hard throb in his pants.
I felt myself loosen, turning wet and ready for him.
We stared at each other, knowing what was supposed to come next, but we were both a little nervous.
Was he afraid I would turn him down and decline his affections?
Or maybe he wasn’t that into me? Did he just think of us as a working relationship the way we were supposed to be?
No, not with that hunger in his eyes and the persistent jabbing in my leg.
I was three hundred feet in a tree, in the middle of nowhere, on a planet no one on Earth knew existed, in the arms of the most gorgeous creatures I had ever seen.
The moment came, and then it passed. We parted.
“That was really great work,” he said.
Yes,” I said, a little disappointed. “It was. It was really good. But there’s one thing we haven’t practiced yet.”
“And what’s that?”
“You said during this event, you have to propose to me, right?”
“Yes.”
“Well, you haven’t practiced proposing yet.”
He looked me over.
“I thought I would do it in the traditional Titan way,” he said.
“And what is that?” I said.
He smiled.
“It’s not complicated,” he said.
“Show me,” I said. “I’m supposed to learn about Titan culture. I might as well learn about this too, right?”
“Well, I’ll announce to everyone around the dining table that I have something to tell them. Then, I take your hand and bring you to me.”
He took my hand and pulled me close to him. Once again, we were back in our intimate pose.
His cock was even harder than before.
“Then I say the words and perform the action,” he said.
“What words?” I said, my mouth dry. “What action?”
Please tell me it’s a kiss.
“It’s a promise we make as Titans,” he said. “Usually, we say it to the emperor. It’s called the unbreakable pledge. When you make it, you can never take it back. You tell your loved one you intend on being with them forever.”
He said the pledge.
“A Titan is sworn to honor,” he said. “His heart knows only kindness. His blade defends the weak. His might upholds the helpless. His word speaks only truth. His wrath destroys the wicked.
“And then, I take my hand and do this with it. I make a fist and bring it toward my chest. It’s a way of showing I take you into my heart. You do the same thing.”
I raised my fist and brought it toward my chest.
“And then you make the same pledge back to me,” he said.
I repeated the words without error or hesitation.
Dyrel blinked in surprise.
He shouldn’t have been. I was so engrossed, he could have recited the entire Titan dictionary and I could have recited it back to him word perfect.
“And then what happens?” I said.
He wet his lips with expectation.
“And then we kiss,” he said.
Yes!
His attention drifted between my eyes and lips.
“We’ve practiced everything else,” I said. “We might as well practice this too.”
I could see he felt nervous. I didn’t blame him. I did too.
As he brought those lips down on mine, my nerves evaporated. It was an explosion. His lips were so soft, so gentle. I sighed as he pressed himself against me. The throbbing in his pants grew so hard it must have been painful. I pressed myself against it, encouraging it.
I grew slick between my legs. I reached up and ran my hand through his hair. I felt the goosebumps pop up all over the back of his neck. They matched those on mine.
He breathed in deeply, dragging me in. I pulled him closer, further, deeper into my soul.
He ran his hands over me, one hand on my lower back, pulling me in, his other hand massaging my neck and hair.
I let my tongue slip from between my lips and begged for entry into his mouth.
He gave it.
His tongue met mine. We both pulled back for a moment to gulp oxygen before diving back in.
I don’t know how long we kissed for.
He pressed against me so hard, I lost my balance and we sailed over the edge. Still we kissed, until, with the wind patting me on the head, I threw my head back and laughed. He grinned too.
The vines caught us and brought us back to the branch. But the vine remained wrapped gently around my leg, tugging on me.
“Will the tree try to make us part of it if we stand here too long?” I said.
He laughed.
“No,” he said. “But sometimes the vines think we’re falling when we aren’t really.”
The tree was wiser than he realized.
I was falling. I was falling pretty damn hard.
“One note about the kiss,” Dyrel said.
“What’s that?” I said.
I couldn’t believe he hadn’t enjoyed it.
“It might be better not to kiss quite so… long,” he said. “I’m not sure my mom and our stuffy family would appreciate it.”
I laughed.
“Then we had better do a lot more practice,” I said.
I ran my tongue over my lips.
“Yes, sir,” he said.
He reached out to me.
Boom!
A crack of thunder rolled across the dark sky. It made me start. Being so high in a tree perhaps wasn’t the safest place to be right now.
Had the sky turned dark that fast or had we been kissing for so long we hadn’t noticed?
The rain fell, patting the leaves.
“We’d better get down,” he said, sounding a little disappointed.
“Yes,” I said.
We scaled down the vines and placed our feet firmly on the ground from the clouds we’d been surfing.
The rain fell in a deluge that quickly flooded the earth, turning it muddy.
Dyrel held my hand as we ran toward the shuttlecraft. We slipped and slid but managed to keep each other upright.
Then, I completely lost my balance and fell on my ass. Dyrel tried to compensate and pull me up fast but he lost his balance too. He fell into the mud with me. It splattered over our arms and legs and across our cheeks.
We shared a look and laughed.
“Well,” I said. “I doubt we can get much wetter now.”
We didn’t run after that. At our approach, the shuttlecraft’s lights flicked on. It spilled from the windows and was warm and inviting.
His lips begged to be kissed.
They sat there, teed up and ready to be attacked by my own yearning hunger.
Spots of water sat on them, dewy from the rain that drenched our clothes and continued to splatter our hair and run down our faces.
I barely even noticed it.
I didn’t think he did either.
We stood in a pool of warm yellow light that stretched across the grass like a heavenly spotlight.
I was falling desperately in love with this man.
Except, of course, he wasn’t a man at all.
He was a Titan.
He was big and broad across the chest. His soaked clothes clung to his muscles underneath. A smile danced on those impossibly mesmerizing lips.
Did he know he had me right where he wanted me?
Right where I wanted to be?
I was his.
If he wanted me.<
br />
Did he want me?
This wasn’t supposed to happen. We had a deal.
We were meant to pretend to be in love, pretend we would get married.
But somewhere along the line, I lost track of that goal.
Now I was floating, heading for a distant but powerful light on the horizon.
It was love. It was fuzzy and despite the distance, I could still feel its warmth.
Then he took me by the hand.
He had a misty look in his eye as he led me inside the shuttlecraft.
And I knew what was on the cards.
I wanted it to be on the cards.
We had a deal.
We were supposed to be arranging a fake marriage.
Fake love.
But there was nothing fake about the emotions tumbling around in my stomach.
We stood before the shuttlecraft entrance. Water dripped from our clothes and puddled at our feet.
The rain pounded the roof, making a pleasant sound, reminding me of the holidays I used to take with my parents when I was young in a tent or trailer. It was wet and chilly outside, but inside, we were warm and dry.
And now, I was with him.
“There’s a small shower booth through here,” he said. “There’s plenty of hot water.”
He turned to show it to me. I took his hand and stopped him.
Then he returned to me and I looked up at him.
His hair was damp and his clothes clung to his toned physique. He still looked amazing.
Not a mess like me.
I reached up and ran my fingers through his hair.
“You’re drenched,” I said.
“So are you,” he said. “You should get out of your wet clothes. You might catch a cold.”
“We wouldn’t want that, would we?” I said.
Oh my God. Am I actually going to do this?
I pulled my jacket off over my head and let it fall to the ground. It hit the floor with a meaty slap. I kept my eyes on him as I unbuttoned my top. It joined my jacket on the floor. I stood there in just my bra.
No? You need more?
I pushed my pants down and let them fold over my feet. I removed my boots with my big toes levering the heels.
I stood there in my underwear.
His hunger burned bright. It reflected my own.
“What about your second rule?” he said, his voice hoarse. “About keeping this strictly professional?”
I raised my chin.
“It’s my rule,” I said. “It’s mine to break.”
