Forget Me Knot

by Melissa Glisan

  As a teenager she’d thrust herself into whatever niche would have her. For her pains she had been rejected for being too manic, too desperate to be with people, for constantly trying to remake her manner of dress, speech, and hobbies. It wasn’t until a well meaning lover grasped her shoulders and made her look at what she had been doing, not just to herself but to everyone who tried to love her.

  You drive people away because you try too hard to be everything you’re not.

  In the past just recalling the words had been enough to raise a lump in her throat, tonight she felt washed clean of the pain under the glimmering stars. Reborn under the cold light, she saw Frank dressed in his fussy layers of designer clothes. Each layer donned like armor in a battle to be accepted and embraced by the rest of humanity. Flora shook her head, Mark Twain had been very wrong--clothes didn’t make man who he was, only who he was perceived to be. By high school she had understood that clothing was a carefully crafted prison and fought her way free. Tonight Frank, no, she shook her head a small smile softening her lips, Faunus cast aside his deftly spun captivity and stood naked beneath the moon the way nature made him. In all of nature he was unique, and for that he was alone. Until now, she vowed as she waited in the chill night knowing deep in her heart and soul he would soon return to her side.

  ****

  Faunus had raced into the woods, seeking a way to slake the burning hunger coursing through his system. He followed the paths of other animals and burst into the middle of the herd of deer from earlier as they fed. But there was nothing there for him, the doe were full and round with life but for the few suckling spindle-legged children. Even the bucks were placid. They were more concerned with filling their bellies than driving out rivals. He circled back and stood on the edge of the clearing, watching the dark haired woman walk to the center of her groomed garden and wait. Her scent colored the air and he felt his cock react. The restless energy driving his nocturnal run through the woods returned to its origin, Flora.

  Above his antlered crown the stars whispered, Son, tonight you take your bride. His breath caught, after so many years of silence he again heard the voice of his father, a voice that ever spoke to Lupercus, the favored son. Cervi, his human mind balked but his stag-born heart rejoiced, his mate, his bride waited for him in the moonlight. Lightly he stepped from the trees, reading the blush on her rounded cheeks for the arousal it was and not the nip of cold, he paced slowly forward. Earlier she’d welcomed him in his natural state, the horned god, neither man nor stag but both, and welcomed him by the betrayal of her body.

  Flora. His night blooming flower made flesh, petals of milk white skin, her eyes, varicolored at the center of the beauty that was she. He longed to drag the ugly coverings of man from her body, watch her unfurl, open to him on the ground, part for him to taste and touch.

  She startled, and the red of her cheeks warmed like a budding rose, her body told him of her desire and the shame it dredged up. Tilting his head, he let the human emotion of shame tease his animal senses. Shame was foreign, unknown, but a corner of his heart recognized the emotion and he stepped closer to offer solace. His loins ached with the need to bury himself in her wet fragrant core, but the part of him that knew shame, knew patience and stayed his instincts.

  “Faunus?” Flora almost didn’t trust herself to touch him; he faintly glowed in the moonlight. The fat crescent moon lit on his antlers, showing the tall tines from brow to trip in stark relief. But the mercurial temptation that was his hair still reigned atop his head. Her hands itched to touch but she was afraid. He crowded closer and she felt the heat radiating from his body. There was nothing stopping her from looking her fill and she couldn’t stop for anything. His feet were tapered hoofs but much larger than she expected. Red-brown hair covered his legs to mid thigh where it thinned exposing very human thighs. She closed her eyes against the sight of him fully aroused--that was very human and very tempting to her hands. Her mouth watered at the thought of tasting the soft veined flesh standing proudly between his muscled thighs.

  Had his shoulders always been so wide? Without thinking, her hands had reached of their own accord to the corded muscles of his arms, sliding slowly upward to his shoulders. The feel of his skin was like nothing she’d ever experienced, soft as silk but so sleek as to be almost fluid in her hands. Opening her eyes, she looked into his face. The stag-like muzzle of earlier faded into his regular sensual lips and patrician nose. But the eyes remained pools of deepest brown, darker than chocolate, richer than the soil under her booted feet, earthy.

  He watched in silence as she lost her inhibitions, letting her fingers trail icy paths down his chest, over his flat nipples, hardening the dusky flesh. Her eyes went unfocused, dreamy, as she leaned forward and flicked the tip of her tongue against the peaked flesh.

  “Mmm…you are a temptation,” her voice sounded drugged with possibility. “But how do I know you aren’t just looking to get laid.” Rage bubbled up from his human side and the stag shook his head in disbelief. Humans limited themselves with one emotion yet opened eternal vistas with another, it was curiously annoying.

  “I’m standing before you in a shape no other human has ever seen, isn’t that enough to prove the weight of my intentions with you?” He could sense she wanted to believe, but there was an old wound that kept her from feeling self-worth. Humans were odd creatures.

  He took her chilled hands, cupping one around his shaft, the other the pendulous sac beneath. The touch of her hands was exquisite, like being licked by fire and ice at once. His body responded for the first time in memory by producing a pearl of moisture. Delicately he captured the milky drop on a fingertip and held it beneath her eyes.

  “No other has ever been able to summon my seed.” Her eyes locked with his as she leaned forward and licked the salty drop, pulling his finger into her mouth with her tongue. Holding the digit captive she swirled her tongue around it, sucking the digit with swallowing contractions that made him thrust his hips begging her hands to copy the gesture on his flesh held capture in her grasp.

  So many nights Flora dreamed of giving into her urges and desires, but the few times she’d attempted it with a lover her efforts had been treated with derision. She didn’t want to look away; she wanted to see his eyes as she tasted him. Flora freed his finger slowly as her hand fisted around his sleek rod, pumping up and down the shaft in languorous strokes. Bending her knees, she lowered herself until her face was even with his cock. Slowly she rubbed her cold cheeks against the incredibly warm flesh and suddenly understood why he was never cold. She felt his balls tighten, flexing upward with each stroke. He was uncircumcised and the excess skin was something new to explore. Watching his eyes drift near to closed, she dipped her tongue to lave the opening on the head of his cock. Making small circles with her tongue, she eased the skin back slowly as her hand teased the length of his flesh from base to head. His breathing went ragged and her heart turned over, a spurt of feminine power that made her core tremble and weep.

  Roughly his fingers found the buttoned front of her blouse and pulled, some of the small plastic discs popped free, others slid open letting the cold air slide between her breasts as his hands sought the clasp of her bra. Not finding it in front, Faunus shoved the material beneath her breasts, lifting the modest globes upwards for his fingers to roll and pluck the firm pink nipples. Liquid heat burned from her breasts into her stomach to pool lower. In reaction she opened her stance, letting her bent knees rest on the outside of his furred lower legs. A gush of fluid damped her panties and she closed her eyes in reaction, swallowing his length as far as she could, the remaining flesh she worked with her hand as she swallowed and swirled her tongue pulling him deeper into the cavern of her mouth.

  “Stop,” he commanded, voice ragged, and she opened her eyes. His face was flushed; sheen of sweat graced his chest in the moonlight. Flora didn’t want to stop, she wanted him hot and wild thrusting between her lips, but the night was young. Slowly she released his throbbing
erection, licking the underside in broad sweeps of her tongue until he pulled her gently to her feet. “Undress for me,” he urged in a low voice.

  Even though her clothes were half off, Flora felt suddenly shy about shedding the rest. What if he didn’t find her beautiful? Even worse, what if someone looked out of a window? On the verge of running for the side entrance to her greenhouse, she looked up and saw Faunus smiling.

  “My pretty perfect Flower, do you really think I’d allow others to see what we do in your garden?” He stepped lightly around her undecided form, teasing her with gentle caresses, a finger trailing down her spine, a hand ghosting across her hip, the back of a hand sliding under a breast. “I wish to see you, to taste you.” His lips found the back of her neck, nibbling from spine to shoulder as his clever fingers freed the clasp of her jeans and eased the zipper down.

  His mouth on her shoulder felt so good, she tipped her head forward and to the side hoping his lips would explore more. “But what if I screw up?” Strong fingers tilted her head up and back. Flora had a moment to see the liquid midnight of his eyes a second before his mouth closed over her own. He plundered, dipping his tongue into her mouth only long enough to tease hers into his mouth. The game of licking and sucking turned dizzying and her worries were lost as her legs became unsteady. His hot hands cupping, molding her aching breasts as his cock nestled against her lower back only added to the swamp of feeling that made her knees quiver. Nipping her bottom lip, Faunus lifted his head.

  “There is no way for anything between us to be less than perfect.” Gently he turned her to face him. “When you look at me do you see something ugly?” Confused, she shook her head no. “What of my tail, mate?” She reached around feeling the sleek skin of his buttocks as the skin roughened and tapered into a wide downy tail.

  “Actually,” she smiled slowly into his chest, “I think it’s pretty kinky.” A finger directed her eyes to his.

  “Then we’ll learn to love each other.” Strong hands eased her jacket and blouse into a pile at her feet. Impatiently, he twisted the clasp on the bra and flung it away. “So you know,” he stepped in close, fingers kneading her hips as his thumbs cupped her pelvic bone, “I hate those things; they get stuck in my horns.”

  Laughing, she tipped her head back and he nuzzled the side of her neck, taking care not to rake her with his horns. Her hands found his upper arms. Fingers clenching as his mouth found a sensitive spot causing gooseflesh to rise. His hands dropped, easing the loose denim over her hips to her ankles. She stepped free of the material in a daze as his hands wound their way back up her legs to cup her butt as he fitted her against his chest. Flora parted her legs in anticipation, her hands sliding between them to milk him into readiness. Instead he moved, carrying her a few feet to the small picnic table at the center of her garden. Gently he placed her on the cold surface.

  “I want to see you.” He kissed the ticklish flesh on the inside of her ankle before placing her feet wide apart on the table. Flora felt opened and exposed, but it didn’t make her stomach cramp in nervousness, for the first time she felt wild and free. Heat poured through her body with every beat of her heart until she felt flushed, on fire, heavy with desire as her slick sex swelled under his hot gaze. Faunus gathered a small white hand and placed it on her bent knee.

  “Show me how to touch you, show me what you like.” His lips kissed the top of her opposite knee, watching the blush that flooded her face and spread over the tops of her breasts. “I know you wanted to touch yourself earlier, I wanted to watch knowing you were thinking of me.” Lifting her hand from her knee, he mocked her earlier caress, licking and sucking her fingers.

  When he settled her hand back on her knee, Flora watched him through hooded eyes. So he wanted to watch as she touched herself? A part of her wanted to faint from embarrassment, another part shivered in anticipation watching the way his burning brown eyes studied her body as she shifted on the table. Supporting herself on her free arm, she gently kneaded a breast, rolling the nipple to fullness then lightly pinched and tugged the soft pink tip. His hands roamed impatiently up and down the outside of her legs as he watched her hand trail slowly down her stomach, fingers tracing impish designs drawing his gaze back and forth along the soft plane of her lower belly.

  Impulsively, she lifted a leg and rested the arch of her foot on his shoulder with a casual, “So you can see better.”

  Faunus blew out and stamped. The little coquette had no idea how incredibly erotic her innocence was as she played at being the wanton. Her arousal was real, the flushed dusky skin of her nether lips begged to be kissed but he began the game and intended to play it out. He licked his lips as she warmed her fingers in her mouth, wetting them before parting the sparse nest of curls covering her mound. The small moue of concentration that formed as her fingers smoothed back the hood covering her clit, shattered as she moaned a low whimpering sound of excited confusion.

  “Slowly,” he coached, sliding closer, watching as her fingers slid inside her dripping sheath. A frustrated sound made him smile and pull her hand from her impatient flesh.

  Flora looked up through a haze of frustrated want as Faunus lifted her hand to his mouth, tasting her juices on her fingers. “My turn.” He smiled wickedly, lifting her other ankle to his shoulder as his head dipped, the wet probe of his tongue parting her folds, plumbing deep inside her core, as a finger slid deep massaging the ache that rose as his fingers found her hooded pearl ahead of his tongue. Her body felt wildly out of control, like it was burning from the inside out as his mouth brought her to the edge of insanity. All she knew was the long finger thrusting in and out just wasn’t enough.

  Her hands found his ears, plunged through his hair and tugged at the crown of horns as she begged hoarsely for him to stop. Lifting his head, he moved forward kissing her belly and breasts, before scooping Flora off of the table. “Put your legs around me,” he urged hoarsely. Blindly she followed his instructions, hooking her ankles behind his back. Lifting her hips, he settled his cock into the opening of her slit.

  “I claim you as my bride.” His gaze met hers as he slowly pushed inside her tight wet sheath.

  Her mouth opened with a guttural cry as he set the pace with his hands and hips, her body wracked with tremors as he felt her inner muscles pulling at his thrusting rod, milking him with gentle sucking motions that sent rippled friction burning from his knees to his neck. The same playfulness that had intrigued him the last two weeks enflamed his blood and wrapped around his heart like creeper vine. As she cried her need against his shoulder, he felt his own desire rise and tear through him. Lost to the sensation of her hot silk sheath tightening around his pumping cock he never noticed the sweat from their bodies turning to steam as the night warmed, wakened from the cold of winter in the face of their passion.

  Flora squirmed, wanting, needing, yet unable to do more than hold the slick skin of the man who awakened her heart and body to the tempest of emotions that had been long locked inside her body. Crying out, she dug her short nails into his back and convulsed as heat flooded her system in undulating waves. Faunus felt the spurting rain of his orgasm pouring deep inside her body and nearly collapsed as her hips rolled taking him fast and deep when his pace slowed.

  Flora felt an inch away from losing her mind as he slid in and out. Her body spasmed, light and heat in the back of her brain send her on autopilot that only redoubled the blindingly intense feeling of coming undone again and again. Dimly, she felt the hot jet of his orgasm spilling inside as her hips moved shockingly hard against his, demanding and receiving one last explosion of feeling behind her eyes that had her crying out as she bit his shoulder. As if from a distance, she felt them ease to the ground.

  The cold air burned her lungs as she fought to breathe normally again. Opening her eyes, she blinked back tears and found Faunus curved protectively against her back on a soft bed of winter burned moss. His tanned hand stood out against the pale white of her belly and she sleepily decided that she
rather liked the way they looked together, clothes be damned. She’s never been a big fan of them anyway.

  Reading her thoughts he nearly laughed out loud in joy, instead, he settled for licking the shell of her ear and whispering, “I think we need to do that again, you never did call my name, woman.”

  “Hush Faunus, I think you killed me.” She turned and burrowed her head into the hollow of his neck. “But I like having buck nekkid sex in the garden without freezing off my girly bits,” she teased sleepily.

  He watched in utter bemusement as she drifted off to sleep in his arms.

  Chapter Eleven

  Knot Sum

  Red steered his truck off the bumpy main road onto the graveled driveway watching for Butler and Prince. True to their nature, both Belgian geldings were making nuisances of themselves nibbling at Celena’s hair and hands looking for treats. He shut off the motor and slid out of the truck and let the sound of her excited laughter fill his heart. For too many years he held onto the memory of her voice to keep him sane. Listening to her talk nonsense to his aging geldings just proved how inadequate a memory was, he stopped to bask in her incredible vibrancy.

  “Oh Madden,” she beamed over her shoulder, “they’re wonderful.” Butler sidestepped and bumped Prince out of the way nosing his big head into the empty circle of her arms. Not to be outdone, Prince shook his mane and danced his forelegs in a false march that made Celena laugh and turn to pat his nose. From the far field came an agitated whinny. Gentleman George was anything but and Red was happy that the irritable stallion was in his own field tonight.

  “He’s so beautiful,” she looked wistfully at the stallion trotting up and down the fence line, “can’t I just pat his nose?”