Forget Me Knot

by Melissa Glisan

  “Of course, being the most important part of my life and up until today, the biggest missing part of my life,” he kissed the bridge of her nose, “I think I should be allowed to be distracted.” Cuddling her close he sneezed. “Goodness Lena, you must have a pound of chaff in your hair. Let’s take a quick shower and spoon.” The look she gave him spoke volumes.

  He rolled away and got to his feet, dragging her after him. “C’mon, I’ll be good, time to get clean.”

  True to his words, getting clean seemed the main focus of sharing a shower. At first it felt weird standing there naked as he fussily adjusted the water, but as she eased into the water and watched him adjust the spray nozzle so it didn’t hit her in the face; it felt, different, more companionable. He waited patiently as she soaked her hair then stood to the side taking the brunt of the spray as she worked shampoo into the long hanks of hair. Secretly she wanted to do nothing more than watch the lathered soap slide over the muscles of his chest and stomach, but there laid too much temptation as her eyes kept drifting south.

  Turning them again, she almost sputtered as the soap rinsed out, she hadn’t turned to face the spray, electing to keep facing the incredible naked body in front of her. For her greed, the water washed a mass of bubbles into her eyes. To Madden’s credit, he didn’t laugh as he pushed the hair out of her eyes and wiped her face with a washrag. Opening her stinging eyes, she looked up and caught the gentle, relaxed expression on his face.

  “I missed the way you always found a reason to touch me,” she blurted out as his hands fanned her hair letting the water rinse it clean. “Tugging my hair, poking me, those little hugs. Other people would shake my hand or try to touch me and it felt wrong. I kept apart and got a new nickname, Black Ice. You know, I think I liked Celery Stick better.” She gave him a lopsided smile and grabbed the rag, ducking under his arm. “You put conditioner in my hair.” She passed him the bottle. “I want to touch you.”

  Red’s eyes nearly crossed. He went from wanting to hunt down and kill the son of a bitch responsible for the Black Ice name to dropping about twenty IQ points when she looked at him like he was an all day sucker. Mutely he nodded his agreement. This was going to be a challenge, letting her explore without falling in the slippery tub.

  “Wow,” she breathed staring up at him. He gave her a look and she smiled so pretty his heart nearly stopped. “When you don’t look like you want to bite someone’s head off your eyes turn the most gorgeous color of sky blue.” Biting her full lower lip she bent to add soap to the rag and slowly moving her hands over his arms, shoulders and lower.

  Forgetting about the conditioner bottle, Red nearly emptied half of it into his hand. Thank goodness she has a lot of hair, he thought trying to slick it over the long thick tresses. Fiddling with her hair for a moment prevented him from noticing how close she’d gotten. Steam boiled around them, the water hissing past unnoticed, as he concentrated on the shell of her ear, the arch of her neck, the delicate bones in her chest and shoulders. Everything was reduced to the scent of soap, the slick soft glide of the rag from chest to stomach and lower as she almost knelt before him in the stall, her hands framing his thighs, then lower, moving from one leg to the other and standing again. Celena leaned against him, dropping the rag on the shelf, her hands on his hips.

  If he lived to be a hundred he’d never forget how she looked, storm tossed eyes, an impish grin hinted at in the dimples of her cheeks, or the feel of her sleek soapy hide sliding sinuously against him. Cheekily, she pushed, turning him and dousing both of them with the spray of water. Not wanting to lose the moment he lifted her the few inches and turned kissing her parted lips, meeting every thrust and parry of her tongue with his own as the water flowed over her, sending her hair to cascade wetly over him, coating both of them in a thin layer of conditioner.

  “You used too much,” she teased, her voice husky.

  “No worries,” he captured her lower lip for one last lingering kiss, “I’ll get it right tomorrow.” His words ringing in her ears, Celena never noticed the small details of him switching off the water or moving them first outside the enclosure then to the bed. It seemed a flurry of unnecessary time spent not touching.

  Red easily picked her up and swung her on the bed, crawling in behind her, one hand on her hip. It still seemed like a dream, having her here in McClellan let alone his bed. Playfully she grabbed a fat pillow and pretended to collapse in exhaustion. The tiny smile and dimple gave her away.

  “So, you’re too tired to play a little more? I thought you said you wanted to do what we did earlier today at least twice each day for the rest of our lives,” Red teased, licking her shoulder. Celena feigned a sleepy squirm that just managed to rub her delectable bottom against his growing erection. “That’s the game is it,” he crouched over her supine form, “you just lay there then, but in order to keep my attention, you’ve got to talk to me.” Proving his point he slowly backed off until his head was at her hip and dropped a line of kisses from left to right, taking note of a sweet spot in her lower back where the flesh dimpled under his mouth. Then he stopped and rubbed his chin lightly over her skin.

  “Jonathan Foster,” her voice sounded as sweet as warm molasses to his ears. “He was a brilliant scientist,” her voice hitched in time with the delicious shiver that rippled down her spine under his mouth as he slowly tasted his way up each vertebra. “Worked on building clean rooms for extraterrestrial habitats, a pioneer in his field,” she moaned as his hands followed the route of his lips, kneading the tight muscles of her back. “He extrapolated known data… Madden,” she clutched his hand and brought it around to her belly, “you make me ache deep inside when you do that.” Her words shot through him making his cock harden to the point of pain. Lifting her hand he placed it on his shaft.

  “When you talk like that, you make me ache,” he kissed her shoulder then bit down when her hand lightly slid up and down the aroused flesh, “so keep talking.” She shifted trying to turn and he lifted her leg, bending the knee and laying it over his. “Spoons, remember? Talk to me, Lena,” he growled.

  “Extrapolated…he took what was known about potential alien life forms and built habitats to keep them viable even through autopsy.” It wasn’t easy putting her mouth on autopilot as his sun-browned fingers slowly walked along her inner thigh. She wanted those fingers elsewhere and moved restlessly. “Then one day he just quit his work and went myth hunting. Madden, please.”

  “Please what?” His lips hovered just below her ear stirring the hairs there, Celena shivered in reaction.

  “Make love to me.” She turned her head hoping to catch his mouth, but he kissed the side of her jaw and shifted her back against him. His hands met on her lower belly, lacing fingers.

  “For years Lena, I laid in bed at night replaying the sound of your voice in my head as I dreamed of you. It only took me two years to figure out that the reason I woke up hard as wood every morning was because of the sweet little tutor I had.” His hips shifted under hers and she felt the length of him settle in the crease of her ass. “And that was before we graduated.” He traced the shell of her ear with the tip of his tongue, nibbling her earlobe.

  “Touch me,” Celena tugged at his hands, “When you sleep at night, I feel you and hear you whispering to me across the miles. Because of that I learned remote viewing so I could ‘see’ that you were safe.”

  Reclining against the pillows, Red centered her against his chest. “Love your legs,” he murmured against her ear, moving his hands along the inside of her thighs propping them wide apart.

  “I want to watch you touch me, Madden, please.” Celena hated to beg but he was moving so slowly she wanted to weep. Her inner muscles stretched and clenched wanting the feel of him stretching her again. His hands slid slowly up the sides of her abdomen and cupped her breasts, squeezing them lightly until they swelled, nipples peaking to firm points between his fingers. The kneading caress continued and she felt a wave of hot blood roll through her stomac
h, moisture gathered and wetted her lower lips.

  With broken half words and nonsensical moans she begged for more, slowly he delivered, gathering her nipples between thumb and forefinger, tugging the erect flesh. Each tug arrowed to her core and the muscles there ached with want.

  “Please,” she begged, lifting her hips and rocking hungrily against his swollen cock. Again his hands slid down her body, one hand supported her hip, balancing her just above him the other dipped between the damp feathery curls of her mound parting her folds, his middle finger finding a rhythm on her clit that drove the air out of her lungs. “In me, Madden, I want you in me.”

  As if he had been merely waiting for the words, he pushed the thick tip into her slick sheath and gingerly slid inside. Impatient, Celena reached above her head to the spindled headboard for leverage. Her skin was still sore from earlier but it was offset but the need pounding through her body with every slick passage of his finger over her mound. Red felt her inner muscles contracting, pulling him in, and he wanted nothing more than to make it last forever. When she started rocking against him erratically, he rolled to the side, pinning one leg and lifting the other, setting a slow pace thrusting in and out in time to his hand working her slit. The sounds of her cries and moans made him redouble his speed, she was so tight he didn’t want to hurt her but the warm wetness of her orgasm gripped his cock, fisting it in a velvet vise bringing him over the edge with a guttural cry.

  Celena felt the world come apart as her body locked in waves of thrumming pleasure. The fullness of having Madden inside her felt alien and wonderful, he thrust again and again, and her legs trembled as another wave built inside, cresting in a kaleidoscope of colors against the backs of her eyes. A curious warmth spread deep inside, soothing the aftershocks as he called her name. Gasping, she felt into the waiting arms of slumber.

  Red watched her eyes flutter closed as her heart rate slowed but she still gripped him deep inside. For long minutes he watched her breasts rise and fall. She had looked so tired all day, but he’d forgotten watching her laugh and pet the horses. He felt guilty, yet so incredibly at peace that the guilt was almost a memory by the time she relaxed and he could ease them both beneath the sheets.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Knot Tamed

  The sun streamed through the large stained glass window, painting the room in purples, greens, and varicolored glints. Celena lay in the circle of Madden’s arms and lifted a hand to the light, letting the colors filter over her pale fingers. Light was a wave splashing through the liquid panes of glass to paint her skin in unnatural hues. Watching the shifting colors had always put her mind to ease. Errantly her finger created the different triangles involved in the problem. Love triangles, hate triangles, lines of deceit and lines of malice.

  “What are you drawing Lena?” Madden’s voice was warm and alert. He must have laid there watching her fingers dance in the jeweled toned light for some time.

  “Have you ever heard of Knot Theory?” She heard his dissent in the basso rumbling chest under her ear and smiled. “It’s the embedding of one topological space into another. Think back to the beginning, the love triangle of Lupercus, Laurentia and Faustulus, and then look to today. Lupercus finds a mate, Ashley, as Laura Faust enters the scene. But Laura’s wrong, she doesn’t fit the equation. Faustulus loved them both. Laura doesn’t fit but Jonathan Foster does.”

  Sitting up, Celena pulled the sheet to her chest as she excitedly caught his gaze. “The Sabine Group has been offering huge rewards for years for proof of mythological creatures. I’ve always thought of his group as exploitive knowing that you and your family exist. But what if he isn’t?

  “Laurentia had a sister Acca who later married Faustulus. Acca’s mind was damaged by the degree of her jealousy--that is the equation where Laura fits in.” Sketching in the air she formed the three triangles and indicated where they overlapped. “Everything is interconnected through a central string or loop. All we need to do is find what one thread is currently binding all of the triangles. Break that link and they’ll all separate out so we can resolve them.”

  Red shook his head. “I think I was about an inch away from understanding…until Tomas. Where does he fit in?” Intrigued, he slid out of bed and watched Celena think. Her fingers danced in the air looking like a little girl conducting music, only she was conducting trains of thought.

  “Very good, Madden.” She bounced on the mattress. “That is exactly where the third person is missing--we need the bridge between Laura’s use of old world magic and the disease afflicting your friend. Someone delivered both.”

  “Wait, magic, and disease?” He wanted to know more but Celena was out of bed and digging around for clothes.

  “We’ve got to get to your brother’s and talk to Flora and Fau-I mean Frank.”

  Red reached out and grabbed her to him. “What did you almost call him?”

  She squirmed and mumbled the name.

  “How did you know his true name?” he asked, reaching into his closet and pulling out her travel case.

  She looked at him oddly. “I’ve always been able to see through to the truth of things. When I watch you, if I look hard enough when you’re angry, I can see the wolf waiting, he comes through your eyes, and your eyes never change.”

  Red was unconvinced, there were way too many things that didn’t make sense. Like the wolfbane flowers, Frank’s mysterious deer hides, and why Foster and Faust would work for the same group but with different purposes. He had a bad feeling about where things were leading.

  ****

  Sunlight filtered through the sheer curtains as Flora cracked open an eye. It was going to be a beautiful day but bed felt so warm and comfy. Stretching seemed far too much like work as she snuggled deeper into Frank’s arms.

  Frank? In her bed? Her eyes popped open staring at the very nice, very bare male chest under her nose. As much as her mind howled for her to get up her body disagreed. The warm sluggish feeling permeating her bones shifted a bit as she became aware of his very skilled fingers lightly brushing her labia and delving the opening of her damp slit. The need for more prompted her to hook a leg around his hips.

  “I see you’re finally awake.” Warm brown eyes smiled down into hers. He looked incredible with his hair all rumpled. Anything she would have said was lost to a whimper and moan as a slick fingertip slowly circled her clit. Taunting her, the deft probe flicked against the sensitive skin a time or two before tracing the folds of her sex.

  “Oh God,” she gasped as a second finger joined the first, plumbing her depths but not quite deep enough. Unconsciously she shifted closer, riding his hand.

  “Not quite,” he whispered against her ear, rolling her onto her back, pinning her to the mattress. Faunus watched as her clouded eyes blinked in confusion. He felt her shift, a wonderfully erotic movement brushing the lush lips of her sex against the tip of his cock and nearly slid in giving both what they wanted. “Who am I, Flora?” The smile that curved across her mouth was pure sated woman, no sign of the panicked failure he sensed rising in her mind on waking.

  Looking into his warm tawny eyes, Flora saw his fear of rejection and smiled, she had no intention of letting him get away, ever. She just needed to show him he felt the same way before taking the plunge. Gripping his waist she tried again to deepen the position, failing that her hands skimmed the muscled plane of his back and gripped his hair.

  “Hmm…no horns, guess you must be Frank,” she teased. He looked affronted as she slid a foot along the outside of a warm thigh, following the curve of a strong calf and back to hook below his knee. “But my bed does thank you for leaving the pointy ends off this morning.” The wicked leer that crossed his face was enough to make moisture limn her core.

  “So, no pointy ends this morning?” he mocked, pushing the head of his rod into her sheath. The sultry plush walls of her sheath contracted, almost pulling him in deeper. It was a heady feeling, drowning in the well of her eyes as he disappeared inside her c
ore.

  Pouting playfully, she rolled her hips a small bit and basked in the small pleasure of feeling him rubbing enough to make her pulse race. “Faunus, stop, you’re torturing me.” Flora braced her feet on the bed and tried to force him a little deeper, her body throbbed, aching for more than the tantalizing taste offered.

  “Stop?” He loved teasing her, as her moods shifted different shards of color glimmered in her eyes. He withdrew, seating the head of his rod just out side the lovely warmth it had enjoyed. Panic glazed her eyes and sharp veins of blue flared from the centers as she bucked trying to regain his attention.

  “Love me please, Faunus?” Flora begged and his nostrils flared, reading the double meaning of her words. Sliding forward he watched her eyes go vacant and dreamy then drift closed as he filled her. It pained him that she felt she was so unworthy of love that she was willing to settle for simple sex.

  “Look at me, Flora.” She opened her eyes at the rough command. It was safer to keep her eyes closed during sex, to lose herself to the feeling without seeing the emotionless straining face of her lover working over or under her. The intensity in his gaze frightened her for a moment but the gentle way he cupped her shoulders reassured her. “I do love you, why do you think you drove me so crazy?” Not looking away, he rubbed his nose against hers. “I would fantasize about making you suit Frank, and that was impossible, you suit me. Don’t look away.”

  Astounded, Flora held his gaze, reading all the love and joy he felt at being deep inside her body as he gently rocked his thickness in and out in slow rolling strokes that brushed fire through her veins from her toes to her scalp. Fingers entwined in his hair, she felt her body clamping, flexing around his pumping rod as the world narrowed to just them and the pleasure found as she held him against her heart as he touched her soul. Gasping, her body spasmed, convulsing under his, but she never looked away from the drowning love in his eyes as he panted, spilling his release deep inside.