by Jane Henry
“So that’s how we’ll play it,” I say to myself, before I dive in after her. She squeals when she realizes I’m following her, and swims faster, but in five powerful strokes, I’ve caught up to her.
“Think you’re gonna get away?” I ask.
She treads water, turns, and looks at me. I never would’ve pegged this woman for having a playful side at all, but the way she bites her lip and her eyes dart around me, I can tell there’s more to her than I imagined.
“Nadine,” I say warningly. “Don’t even—”
But my warning falls on deaf ears as she dives into the water straight at me. I’m so surprised I can only blink and tread water at first until I get my bearings. She darts past me like a little silvery minnow avoiding a predator, but I easily catch up to her. She’s swimming towards the falls that crash with a deafening roar. Here, it’s cooler and a bit darker. I swim faster and catch her just as she surfaces.
She screams when I catch her, but without being able to stand, I can’t really do much but tug on her foot. She tries to pull away, but I hold fast. Then something catches my eye, and I let her go.
“God,” I mumble. “Nadine, look.”
She looks at me warily. “Is this a trick? Are you telling me to look just so you can grab me or something?”
“No, I mean it. Look,” I say, with more vehemence this time. She looks where I’m pointing, but I take advantage of the opportunity and grab her about the waist. She’s too enthralled to react, though, and I’m looking along with her. Up until this point, we’ve only ever seen the falls from the distance. I never let her get too close, mostly because I was keeping such a close eye on her, and maybe we’ve never been here at the right time of day. I shade my eyes and look up at the bright sunlight streaming down from above and see that where the shade of trees was before is a large patch of sun. I squint my eyes and see there’s a tree stump where there used to be a massive overhanging palm. The storm knocked it out, so sun streams through, illuminating what was dark before.
The spray from the falls masks what’s behind them, but the water parts to the left, and from where we are now, we can see behind them, into the deep, blue depths. There’s a cavern behind the falls.
“Come on,” I tell her. “Let’s check it out.”
We have to swim to the side, so we avoid the powerful falling water, but there’s a small opening where we’re able to get through. Neither of says anything, the noise of the falls is so loud, but a short distance away, in the quiet of the little cavern, we can speak again.
“What is this?” Nadine asks, standing in the shallow water and spreading her arms out.
“Looks like a little sanctuary,” I say with a shrug. There’s a ledge of rock where we could sit, and above the light pours in like sunshine breaking through clouds, powerful and blinding.
I lead her to the edge, lift myself out, then lean in and hold her hand so I can help her step out as well. The ledge is warm from the sun. She joins me, and we both look around in wonder. The cavern behind the falls is small but large enough for us to stand. Beyond where we’re standing now, I can see patches of vibrant green.
“Look,” I say, taking her by the hand. “Let’s go see.”
She follows me without a word. We have to climb out of the cavern to get to the green.
“Let me go first,” I tell her. She’s safe where we are, and I want to be sure there’s nothing lurking on the other side.
I heft myself out, then take a brief look around to be sure it’s safe. My jaw drops as I see what’s here on the other side of the waterfall, and I let out a low whistle.
“What is it? I want to see!” she says like an eager child, and when I turn to her she closes her mouth and looks subdued. “Please?”
I offer her my hand and help her out. She joins me, and we both look around in admiration of this little patch of paradise.
“It’s like… a garden,” she breathes.
“Yep. I wonder why we can’t see it from above.”
“Well,” she says, looking around, “I think you can’t see it from anywhere else, because of the stones and trees around it. It’s… beautiful.”
We’re just at the foot of this tropical garden, and before us is the softest, lush green grass. There’s something about seeing her standing there, eyes all wide in wonder as she looks around at everything, that makes me need to touch her. I tug her hand, pulling her close to me, so that she’s up against my side. She blinks up at me in surprise, but before she can say anything, I lean in and kiss her.
At first, she stands rigid as if she has no choice but to let me kiss her, but when I tangle my hand in her long blonde hair, so blonde now from the sun it’s nearly white, and tug her head back so I can get better access to her mouth, she softens against me. I slide one hand down the small of her back and press her flush against me. Her arms encircle my neck. Everything we’ve done has led us to this point, stripping each other down to the bare essentials, and in that kiss, with the sun shining down on us like a sort of private benevolence, we forgive each other.
It’s an easy matter to lift her straight up in my arms. Her legs wrap around my waist. My cock presses against her and we never stop kissing, slowly exploring who we really are, now that we’re stripped bare and together. I bend and lower her onto the soft grass. She doesn’t let me go, still holding onto my shoulders and arms as if I’m her lifeline. And maybe I am.
I brace myself on either side of her, caging her in beneath me, and lower myself so I don’t suffocate her, but I’m close enough our bodies are pressed together. There’s nothing to say, because we both know.
We need this. It’s time.
She told me a while ago she can’t have children, and I want to know why. Eventually, I’ll have her story. But for now, all I care about is that I’m going to take her now, and we don’t have to worry about the outcome.
Today, it’s just the two of us. Maybe there only ever was just the two of us.
I kiss her temple and cheek, then move my mouth to her jaw, planting slow, deliberate kisses along her tender skin. She closes her eyes and softly moans. My cock hardens between her legs, pressed up against the soft, silky skin there. I draw my tongue along her neck, the sweet, salty taste of her skin making me grow even harder.
“I want to fuck you,” I rasp against her ear, my voice hoarse with need.
Her only response is to open her legs for me, the scent of her feminine arousal making me crazy.
I brace myself on either side of her and continue to kiss her neck and shoulders and chest.
“I’ve trained you well,” I say, when I slide my cock head to her entrance. She’s slick with arousal and ready, trained to want to come. “Even if you won’t admit it, your body knows who your master is.”
She flexes her hands on my back, bracing herself, but doesn’t say anything.
“You’ve never had a man?” I ask.
She shakes her head, and I notice suddenly her eyes are wide and fearful. Is she even breathing?
I lift my left hand and brush the hair off her forehead. “Relax, Nadine. You don’t have to do anything at this point except relax.”
She blows out a breath, a bit of the tension leaving her body. I kiss her neck again and suckle the sweet skin, gently nudging myself at her entrance. She’s wet and swollen, and I glide easily through her folds. She’s ready physically but needs a little more before she’s ready mentally. Her breath hitches, but she still holds on to me.
“I’ll go slow,” I promise. I want to thrust into her and fuck this girl senseless, until the woods echo with her screams and I imprint our lovemaking on this little patch of earth. But she needs slow. I once thought of punishing her by fucking her, but this… this is different.
I’m the one being punished with this slow torture.
“I won’t hurt you,” I tell her. How is it that a woman as beautiful as she is has never been fucked? She’s holed herself up, closed off from what the world has to offer. She’s never trus
ted anyone. I’m the one who’s tied her up, punished her, and kept her as my captive.
Yet I’m the one she gives this to. Her true self.
I’ve broken through the tough veneer. She never would have given any of this up willingly. I had to wrestle it from her, tear her open, and now that I have, I can see that deep inside is a woman so fierce she shatters me into pieces.
“Hold onto me,” I whisper in her ear. My arms on either side of her, I pull her close, and as gently as I can, I glide into her. Her fingers tighten on me. She’s holding her breath.
“Breathe, Nadine.”
With a firm but gentle thrust, I mark her.
Claim her.
Brand her as mine.
I close my eyes and sink into this moment. Her pussy milks my cock as if we’re meant for this.
“So goddamn tight,” I growl in her ear. “Christ.” I lift and thrust, slowly at first, gently building a rhythm of friction that makes her moan in my ear.
“Adrian,” she whispers, her voice garbled.
“You okay?”
“Jesus, God, yes, don’t you fucking stop,” she hisses. With a laugh, I slap her thigh, the next thrust firmer than the first.
“Don’t you tell me what to do,” I order with a chuckle, but I’m swallowed up in her, the scent of lemons, her silken skin, the little moans with my every thrust, the way her head’s thrown back and her mouth parts as if she’s dying for air and I’m filling her lungs. I could do this for hours, for days, forever, just me and her and lovemaking.
“Am I hurting you?” I whisper.
She shakes her head and holds me tighter.
I increase the tempo with painstaking care, drunk on all things Nadine. I’m in a landslide and can’t scramble for purchase; I’m the one who’s conquered her, and yet she’s the one that’s got me in a death grip. We speak no words, but we need none. Our bodies, entwined in the quiet stillness, say what we can’t, a cadence of mutual surrender.
I’m nearing the edge of release when her breath comes out in a whoosh and she throws her head back, abandoning herself to bliss. She’s so fucking beautiful, I can’t hold myself back, and come with a roar on the heels of her climax. Our sounds resonate through the stillness and echo, then fade as we slowly sink back onto the grass.
I move to my side, still in her. Fuck, I want to stay inside her forever.
She turns to me, subdued and humbled, her eyes downcast as she traces an invisible line on my shoulder.
“Will we be here forever, Adrian? Are we going to grow old and die here?”
“Everyone grows old and dies.”
What makes her ask this?
“But what about us?” she asks.
It seems now that she’s subdued and quieted, the fears she harbors surface. “I don’t know,” I tell her. Hell if I know.
“I’m fine being here, though,” I tell her. You know… living and dying here. I’d rather die here free than live anywhere else.”
She nods slowly, contemplating.
I’m not sure she agrees.
Chapter Seventeen
Nadine
I can’t believe I let him fuck me.
But hell… I’m not gonna lie. It was fucking amazing.
He’s brought me to climax before, many times now, but nothing… nothing was quite the same as this. With him inside me. Like I… mean something to him.
I’m not sure why I even think like that.
People fuck all the time with people they don’t much care about.
Does Adrian?
I’m laying next to him on the grass, literally basking in the sun, my thighs still damp. I need to clean up, but I’m really in no rush. I close my eyes, but as soon as I do, I open them up again.
What did I just see?
“Adrian?”
“Mmm?” His head lies on his folded-up hands, and his eyes are closed.
“You have to see this,” I say in wonder. “Look!”
He opens his eyes and looks where I’m pointing.
In front of us lies an array of fruit trees I expected to find elsewhere on this island. I can’t identify the fruits from where I am, but suspect I’ll be able to when I draw a little closer.
He blinks up, whistles, and curses under his breath.
“This is… amazing,” I breathe. “But after those berries, I’m not eating a thing until we test it first.”
“Damn right you’re not,” Adrian mutters.
“But why do you think none of these trees grows outside of this small area?” I ask with a frown.
He shrugs. “I don’t know, but maybe we can find out what they are.” His voice tightens. “And Jesus, Nadine, for God’s sake, I mean it. Don’t eat anything yet.”
But it’s pretty quickly apparent this is edible fruit. After some investigation, I find papaya, mango, and something else that throws me at first, as I’ve never seen it in person. It’s a short tree with broad green leaves, and large, oval-shaped fruits the size of my hand, lightly green prickly bumps on the outside.
“Breadfruit,” Adrian says when I pluck a large ripe one. “We can cook it, and it’s supposed to be really good. Starchy, like a potato. Some even say bread, which is why it’s called breadfruit.”
I feel my eyes go wide. “Seriously? Ooh. I am so game.”
We pick as much of the fruit as we can carry, and he leads me back to the small entrance that got us here to begin with. We step down and even slide a little, finally make it to the mouth of the little cave. I follow him down, and when we get to the bottom, I put the fruit down, so I can scoop up water and let it drip down my back, front, and legs. He grunts to himself, but lets me do my thing, and then we swim over to where our clothes are. My stomach growls with hunger, my mouth already watering. God, what I wouldn’t give for a proper home-cooked meal.
It doesn’t take us long to gather our things and head back to our shelter. We walk in amicable silence until we come to the pantry portion of our little kitchen. Adrian takes out his sharpest knife. I wince at the glint of the blade in the sun. After all, it wasn’t too long ago when I wondered if he’d ever use these knives as weapons on me. I still am not sure I would put it past him, but what we shared there in that little strip of paradise makes me wonder.
Would he hurt me still? I can still see his black eyes narrowed on me in hatred, and the memory makes me shiver. I’m not sure if he’d hurt me now, but I ask myself… would I? Could I bring myself to hurt him if the opportunity for escape came up?
I take an involuntary step back when he sharpens his knife and draws it across the thick rind of the breadfruit. Frowning, he peels the green, bubbly skin, then slices the yellowish fruit into thick slices.
“Start the grill,” he says. “Let’s give this a shot.”
I open the propane and light the stove, shoving my fears about him hurting me out of my head. It won’t do to dwell on that now. And he hasn’t hurt me. The way he made love to me on the grass was almost… gentle.
He holds slices of the fruit over the open flame in a way that he won’t burn himself but the flesh caramelizes quickly. My stomach rumbles with hunger, and I swallow. It actually truly smells a little like bread.
“That’s crazy,” I saw, swallowing as saliva fills my mouth. “It really does smell like bread.”
He nods, still concentrating on cooking it. “Supposed to taste like it, too.”
The memory of bread makes me grow a little wistful. It’s been so long since I’ve tasted bread, and I’d give anything right now for a warm slice slathered in butter.
“Here,” he says, holding out one grilled slice.
I take one of the small plates we found in our stores and wash religiously every night, and hand it to him, like a starving child begging for food. My stomach growls audibly. He chuckles, takes the second, hotter slice of fruit, and pops it boldly in his mouth.
“Does that burn you?” I ask.
He shrugs. “Nah.”
“What’s it taste like?”
I take a tentative nibble of mine. It does taste like bread. Starchy and mellow, with a subtle, unique flavor I can’t quite describe but this is delicious.
“Mmm,” I say. “I could get used to this. All I need is some butter.”
He rolls his eyes. “Cows are in severe shortage, so no butter for you.”
I snort out a laugh at that. “You could say that.”
As we nibble on the ripe papaya and grilled breadfruit, as delicious as it is I begin to wonder.
Will I ever sit down at a restaurant again and order a steak? Ever hit the drive-thru for a double cheeseburger? Will I ever be able to go buy myself a new dress, or a pair of earrings, or for the love of God, a pair of shoes ever again?
“You’re a million miles away, Nadine,” he says, frowning but his eyes twinkle. “What are you thinking of?”
I shrug. I don’t really want to talk about it. But when he fixes me with his stern stare, I can’t help but cave.
“Just… you know, modern conveniences. Wondering if I’ll ever touch them again,” I say.
“Miss your iPhone?”
“Mmm. All of it. Body wash and cell phones and Wi-Fi and shoe shopping. Don’t you?”
He thinks about it for a minute, polishes off the food on his plate, and then shrugs. “Nope.”
I remember what he said earlier, how he’d rather die here a free man than live anywhere else. I work my bottom lip, mindlessly reaching for another piece of fruit, when an ear-piercing, decidedly electronic noise hums through the air. It’s coming from the cabin. I’m so shocked, I drop the fruit and scream. Adrian goes stock still.
“What was that?” I whisper, half-expecting an alien ship to land or something.
“I don’t know,” Adrian says with maddening calm. “Let’s go take a look.”
“But it sounds like a UFO or something.”
He turns, and the corner of his lips curl up. “You would know? You’ve heard alien ships before?”
“Well, I—” My cheeks flush. “Well, no.” I frown. “You?”
