by Gina Kincade
“Really? You’ve been to some of my operas? I wish I’d known. Why didn’t you come backstage and see me? A beautiful woman like you would have easily been welcome. I would have loved to meet you, to know you were in the gallery — watching. Ah, but then, you probably had a date. I would have been gracious and gentlemanly. I wouldn’t have flirted with you in front of your escort!”
“No, that was not the reason. I just couldn’t, that’s all. Who was I to impose on you, to insinuate myself into your life — just a girl. I wanted to see you and hear you repeatedly. I have all your albums. That is what drew me to the symphony the first time I heard you — your voice. I think I fell in love with your voice the very first time I ever heard you sing. Who knew I would fall in love with the man, too. But, I suspect that happens to you a great deal.”
Realizing what she had just said, Riley tried to back-track and smooth over her gaffe. She had never wanted to tell him she had fallen in love with him or that she probably always had loved him. She never wanted him to be gracious to her and polite. She would have wanted more, even then.
Keenan stood and crossed the room again in three long legged strides.
He was at Riley’s side before she realized what had happened.
“But Riley...it doesn’t happen to me a great deal. It has never happened to me — ever. There have been fans, and there have been women. I am no saint, after all. But there has never been a you — a heart-stopping ginger named Riley Parker.”
Riley stirred something in him that was primal, instinctual, demanding. She had since the moment he saw her, the moment he smelled the fragrance on her hand, the instant his lips sought out hers. He could try, but he knew instinctively he would never be able to shake his desire for her, his need to be with her, in her, consumed by her. It was all he could do today to control himself and not sweep her into his arms and bury his face in her neck against her pulse, pressed to her heart to feel her rising heat against her breasts. He could not deny his love for Riley but what was he to do if she did? What if she denied her love for him? They came so close this afternoon to even talking about it then Riley slammed the door, hard and tight against the very thought.
Why? Was she scared? Did she think she was just a passing fancy?
For the first time in his life, he really was not sure what to do now.
There was so much to consider, so many people to think about, tangent results — the ripple effect. And in the end, their lives were at stake. He knew his thoughts and contingency planning was thorough, but he really wanted to talk to Riley about it all. He needed to talk to her and feel her encouraging touch, her reassurance that he had thought of everything. He needed to breathe her in and hold her.
He needed to be held.
He need to be held by Riley.
He put his head down on his desk and rested his forehead on his arms, strong arms that everyone turned to when they needed reassurance.
Now, he did. He needed Riley.
Riley rose from the couch and moved to this man she could not deny loving.
Oh, God, I am so nervous. Is it Keenan or is it me?
Riley had already told Keenan how she felt.
They cannot find that which they are not seeking, and she was not looking to make something out of one night. And she wanted to make sure he knew he was not obligated to make her feel there was any possibility of a future.
Still...she hoped.
She knelt before him and put her head in his lap with her arms around his calves.
Keenan held out his hand to Riley and she put her drink down before she rose.
When Riley got to her feet, she put her arms around Keenan’s waist who eagerly returned the embrace. He felt the soft small rise of her breasts just under her arms, so warm and pliable. She smelled like an open meadow, fresh and clean, after a spring rain, layered in wild flowers, heather and lavender. His mind wandered momentarily to the soft indent of the nap in her neck, where she smelled most like vanilla.
“You somehow manage to make me feel so much more certain and secure. Thank you, Keenan. But, I don’t want you to think that I am some gold digger, or crazy obsessed fan. I really meant to say that I love you voice, your work, your music. I would never corner you or try to pressure you.”
“You will never have to, Riley. I have been waiting for you all my life. And here you are, standing in my office.”
Riley began to cry.
Riley pulled out from Keenan’s embrace and stepped back. She looked up at Keenan and smiled. She walked over to the sink in the bathroom and drew some water then rinsed her face. She dried off and fixed her hair. She pulled her lipstick out of her pocket and applied a thin layer to her lips. The tears had made her glow, her face bright, her eyes alert — as if she had been caught in a spring rain.
“Keenan, I had a moment. I needed that moment to release all the doubt that had built up in me over the years. I am scared, but I am a good scared now. I am fearful, but I am strong. I am afraid, but we will prevail. I know that. I don’t know how I know that, but I do know that.
“It has been such an emotional twenty-four hours, Keenan. Would you mind if we went back to the hotel, or my house? I don’t think I could piece together another coherent thought or make a sound of any intelligence.”
“Of course not, Riley. You know what I am trying to say, don’t you?”
“Yes, I think so, Keenan. I am fine. I think I shall take a long hot bath and slip into bed for a nap. I just cannot believe what an emotional rollercoaster it was today. It is so exhausting, feeling one thing and saying another.”
“Would you rather go home?”
“No, not really. Anywhere with you, do you mind? I’m afraid I will wake up and this will all have just been a dream.”
It’s not a dream, Riley. I love you.”
“Oh, God...” And she started to cry again.
“Don’t cry, Riley, please. I don’t want to make you unhappy.”
“I’m not, Kennan, really. I’m not. I just never dreamed it would be like this. I never thought it would happen to me like this — or even at all.”
“Come on. Let’s go back to the hotel. We’ll have room service and talk and drink Cristal and make love again. I’ll prove to you that this is not a dream for either of us.”
They caught a cab back to the Hotel Whitcomb, Room 457. The maid had entered and returned everything to its original loveliness and order. The drinks he ordered from the cab were already waiting in the room on a silver tray by the window.
“Would you like a nightcap, before you go take a bath, Riley?”
“Yes, yes thank you, Keenan. I don’t know if I will be able to finish it, without my face plunging into it, but I’ll try!” Riley laughed, sincerely relaxed for the first time in weeks, perhaps ever.
“Okay, I understand completely.”
“Thank you.” Riley rose on her toes and kissed the man she loved, but just a kiss on his cheek. “I will never forget these few days. They really are a dream come true.”
“Oh, Riley. Now, it is you that does go on!
Riley walked to the bathroom door and looked back at Keenan. She was tired, but didn’t really feel sleepy. A bath would be perfect for her tonight. She turned and Keenan was watching her, still, and she wiggled her fingers in a wave at him with a small tug to her heart.
She was beyond that now, had been for since his office. Riley closed the door to the bathroom, kicked off her shoes and started the water in the tub. There were candles and body oils, bath salts and essence beads. Never one to deny herself the luxury of an indulgent aromatic bath, Riley poured a bit of everything into the hot tub water and lit the perfumed candles. Riley began to peel her clothes from her weary body. She hung her clothes on the wall hook in the closet, pulled the terrycloth robe from the back of the door and took a sip from her drink.
When Riley turned to the bath, the water was perfect. She leaned over the edge and turned the water off, then toe-tested the temperature as a matter of h
abit. It was perfect. She put the wine on the edge of the tub, stepped into the water and spiraled down into the water in the way a feather falls to the ground, slowly, delicately in wistful circles of aerial drifts.
A soulful ‘ahhhhh’ of relief escaped her body as the water covered every inch of her aching heart and body. The heat rose from the surface of the water and made her feel light-headed — or perhaps it was the wine. The candles flickered in the darkness and then Riley heard the music.
Someone to Watch Over Me.
The rich melody began in a soft embracing, wakening style and wafted across the room and into her bath on the rich, bass raw-boned tones of Keenan’s voice. Riley’s heart stopped beating in a paralyzing contradiction of frenzied panic. Moments later, the light from the bedroom was blocked from her sight by a large, black form in the doorway.
“Keenan...”
“Riley, I couldn’t resist.”
“Keenan...I...”
Keenan pulled the ottoman over and threw a towel over it, much as he had the night before. He moved confidently around the bathroom, while Riley sat silently. She watched him move, her heat rising with the steam, and watched his body flex, twist and bend. He had not changed in either his form or bearing.
Riley could not find her voice.
Had her heart stopped?
He put a bottle of Cristal on the ottoman with Cristal flutes and another bowl of strawberries. Moonbeams and candlelight and a night not unlike another. He bent and slid his fingers into the abundance of auburn curls that crowned Riley’s head, and he cupped the back of her head at her neck. He knelt to reach her and pulled her up to meet his mouth as his lips found hers in eager hunger. She melted into his kiss, his lips soft as butter, open, his tongue in search of hers as it curled into every corner, dip and crevasse.
She could not breathe.
The heat was stifling.
Her breast froze in a velvet vice.
Her heart had stopped! Had it started again yet?
Keenan pulled away from Riley’s mouth and stood, raised his left foot and stepped into the tub. His right leg followed as he swung his foot over the rim of the tub and into the hot water. She looked as his large black penis dangled temptingly before her eyes.
Oh, how she had fantasized about that cock in the hours since they were last here together at the Hotel Whitcomb.
He bent and balanced the weight of his lower body on his hands securely planted on either side of the tub. As he lowered his body into the water, he slid his feet between Riley’s knees, under her thighs and on either side of her buttocks. His knees kept her legs spread wide at her knees and allowed the hot, steamy water to assault the intimate tender folds of her pussy. The sensation hit her hard and fast — shocked her into the realization of what was about to happen again and she was wont to deny her desire. She had had sex, plenty of sex over the years, but never the desire, never the passion, never Keenan.
Keenan hooked his feet around either side of her hips and pull her towards him. Riley felt as though the current of a powerful wave raised her and drove her closer to him, into his open arms. He brushed the curls from her face and gazed into her green eyes. His touch was just as she remembered it from last night.
It was as she had always dreamed a lover’s touch would be throughout the years in the lonely company of darkness — soft, penetrating, insistent.
She thought their story was brief, over last night but it was only just beginning — their story. She wanted to die in his arms then and she wanted to die in his arms now.
Keenan reached for a strawberry and fed it to Riley. Her eyes were locked on his in a magnetic embrace from which she could not escape — even if she had wanted to. Riley reached to touch his face, tempted by the pleasures she remembered, and would relive, of his mouth.
She would never forget him no matter how long their story played out.
She did not want to forget him.
She wanted to love him forever, to die in his arms, his breath upon her neck the last thing she would ever feel in this life.
And here he was, in her bath, again.
Did she care? — Yes.
Did she want him here? — Yes.
Had she ever loved another? — No.
Would she? — No, never.
Would he touch her again? — Yes, deeply.
She prayed, as she had since she first heard him sing.
The sweat trickled down Riley’s forehead, following the curves of her face to her temples then around the soft, wide high cheekbones that framed those eyes he told her were beautiful. The perspiration rolled into the hollow of her cheeks then made a crooked path to her jaw line.
Keenan watched the slow silken trail to her jaw as it nipped into her neck down and caught on her collarbone, the ‘little key’ to her body.
Riley touched her hand to the spot at her neck which drew his attention.
The perspiration followed her clavicle to the indentation of her jugular notch, the small at the base of her neck his tongue sought as her intoxicating fragrance worked a magic of miracles upon his resistance.
“Keenan...”
“Riley, don’t say anything, not now, not yet. Just let me adore you; let me look at you and memorize your every curve. Let me love you — make love to you. I have barely been able to think of little else since I saw you last night. Every time you walk by me, or bend to dress, as you sleep, while you open your mouth to eat, whenever you tilt your head back to sip a drink and I see your long luscious neck, the neck I held as you buried my cock down it. I think of little else but you, Riley. I can’t help myself. I am in love with you. I have always been in love with you — waited for you. Please, Riley — don’t say a word. Let me love you...”
“Keenan...”
“Shhhhhhh, darling. Please, let me just revel in the moment. Strawberry?”
“Yes, please, all of it — all of you. I have always loved you, Keenan. No one could ever take my heart. I never gave them a chance. It was always you from the very first moment I saw you on stage so many years ago. It was always about me with you, us together. T dreamed, I fantasized. I couldn’t think of anyone but you. I never thought of anyone but you. Every time I tried, in someone else’s arms, I saw you — I dreamed of us. I’ve thought of only you. And I had no way of knowing, no expectation. I expected nothing from you but last night.”
“Let’s have champagne. Cristal, darling?”
“Yes, Keenan.”
Keenan poured some of the champagne into the Cristal flutes he brought. The demo CD he cut started up again. He hummed softly as he poured the Cristal. He looked happy in Riley’s eyes. She was happy. This had been the best day of many in the last few years. Riley could not believe what was happening to her. The love, the man she desired above all others, sat across her in her bath and before long she would be making love with him, drinking him in, swallowing him whole, and burying herself into his body — sharing one heart, one desire, one love, a single breath. Riley was finally at peace.
She finally felt whole, herself fulfilled, happy even if only for a moment in time.
She was with the man she loved, the only man she had ever loved.
Keenan was the first man she had ever given herself to body, soul and heart. That was her Keenan. She had one heart, one love, one breath...one life. And that was all she wanted, all she ever wanted.
She sat, naked, across from Keenan. And he sat naked, his palm wrapped around her cheek, caressing her face, opposite her with a flute of champagne and a bowl of strawberries. She never believed it could happen to her twice in one lifetime. But it had.
Last night and tonight. Dare she believe forever was possible?
Someone to Watch Over Me came on again and Keenan began to sing, low throaty soulful soft and wispy. Riley began to cry.
“You did that for me?”
“Yes, Riley, only for you. No one has ever heard it but you and me. It was yours and yours alone. It was my love letter to you.”
“K
eenan...I have loved you from afar, longed for you. But, I never would have interfered — you know that, don’t you?”
“I know, and I you, darling. But we’ll never have to deny our love or hide what lies between us — our love, not by intent or purpose, but by destiny. We were meant to live out our lives together, of that I am sure. But, not before we did what we had to do — what we were meant to do. I’ve had a wonderful life. You’ve had a wonderful life. And now, we have a life that was promised to us by fate, by God which we can’t leave or ignore. I’ve given my word in front of God.”
“Keenan, I had no idea what the future held, but I didn’t think it was us. I often dreamed of you, thought of you, but I dedicated my life to my work...and the occasional opera.”
“Riley, I don’t know what this life holds for us beyond this moment, beyond tonight. I can promise you nothing but my love.”
“Keenan, today, I am a rich woman. I expected nothing from you and now I have your love; I had meager hope for love — and now... now, I have so much to believe in and look forward to. I am moved, so deeply moved, by your warm embrace. I am so grateful and humbled. I have such hope for...for us — for the future.”
Riley’s eyes welled with emotion and tears.
“Don’t cry, darling. Our future is bright with promise. Make love to me tonight and forever. Everything else we can face together and it will all be fine.”
“I do believe you, darling. And making love with you is what I want, what kept me alive and in love with you in my dreams.
“I truly believe, Riley, there is more. Something no one else could ever live up to or give either one of us.”
“Really? What is that, love? Champagne, please.”
Keenan reached for the chilled bottle of Cristal.
“Plato said it better than I ever could,” he began.
Riley handed Keenan her empty champagne flute.
“It seems odd to be talking about Plato in a hot bath with you, Keenan, but I feel so blessed, so overwhelmed by love and good fortune.”
