by Sherie Keys
In almost no time, they were dropped at the door, and they went into the famed Fado location. It was a dark and cozy place, and they were lucky to find a seat near to the front of the audience who were all focused on the band and singer who were about to perform.
A server gave them menus, and Adrian explained that the food served there was more of a rustic style: cuisine dating back to ages before in the countryside, rather than updated modern foods served in other places in the city. Tasca do Chico was renowned for it. The drinks were also on the rustic side, and as they each enjoyed their beverages, she felt as if she was becoming fully immersed in the Portuguese culture.
The heartbreaking Fado music filled the air, and it filled her heart and soul. Though she could not fully understand the lyrics that were being sung, there was no way to miss the meaning behind the soulful emotion in the songs, and in the voice of the stunning singer. Delphine felt as if the woman singing before her was singing the song to her and only to her, as if she knew every secret of Delphine’s broken heart and all of her hopes and dreams. It was as if everything inside of her, every hidden thought and feeling was laid bare before her in a strange language that spoke truer to her than any words she had ever heard and known.
When the night was growing late, and Adrian finally took Delphine from the pub and back to her hotel, she felt as if she had somehow opened up, and as if a freedom had been released in her that she had never known. Adrian seemed to sense it somehow, and he was quiet on the way back to the hotel, giving her the time and space that she needed to sort through some of the powerful emotion that was flowing from her.
He walked her to her room and stopped there, finally speaking as he took her hands in his and drew them to his lips to kiss the back of them. “I had an amazing day with you today. It was a gift, and I have cherished it. You are a wonderful companion, and I’ve never had a day quite like this one. You are lovely, sweet Delphine.”
His lips pressed the back of her hands, each one in turn, and then he lowered her hands and hesitated only a moment as she gazed up into his eyes, before taking her cheeks in his palms and bringing his lips to hers. His kiss was slow and soft, his lips barely brushing hers at first, like a feather drifting over her. The heat from his mouth touched hers, and the feel of it began to warm her with a need for more of him.
Sliding her hands around his neck, she leaned closer to him and kissed him in return, moving her lips for firmly against his. In surprise he paused for a moment, not having expected her to return such a deep kiss, but then his hands moved from her face and he slid them around her back, bringing her body against his as he parted her lips, tasting her for the first time.
Her breath grew short, and her body felt as if it had begun to burn deep inside. It was a sensation that she had not felt in a long time and especially not so soon after meeting someone. She let herself go in his kiss, feeling as if the freedom that the Fado music had brought to her was coming to fruition in his arms, as if it was continuing in a more powerful way, and all that she knew as his mouth moved over hers with growing hunger, was that she wanted more. She wanted much more. In fact, she realized in astonishment, she wanted all of him, and she didn’t want to wait.
Breaking their kiss, she felt her heart pounding in her chest as she looked up at him. “Come in with me. Stay the night. I know it sounds forward but…” she trailed off, uncertain of what to say or how to say it.
His eyes were bright, and his cheeks were flushed. With parted lips he stared at her and then slowly he ran the pad of his thumb over her lower lip. “Are you sure you want that?” he asked breathily, looking as if he was barely containing himself from taking her up on her request.
“I’ve never been surer of something like this in my life,” she answered resolutely, her dark brown eyes locked on his.
“Then, there is no reason to wait,” he murmured as he closed his mouth over hers again and kissed her passionately. It was a deep kiss but swift, for neither of them wanted to stand in the hall when there was a spacious bed waiting for them just beyond the door.
In minutes, there was a trail of clothing that traced a pathway from the door to the bed. Their inhibitions gone, their hands and mouths had begun to travel all over one another until they were stripped of anything other than air and skin between them, and he laid her back in the bed, her dark skin contrasting breathtakingly against the light sheets. Moonlight streamed in through the open balcony shutters and he rested on his knees above her, gazing down at her body laid out before him.
“You are so beautiful. So very beautiful. You are a gift,” he said quietly, and she saw from his eyes that he meant every word. He set his hand upon her thigh and moved it upward toward her torso, tracing her curves and lines with his fingertips as if he was an artist creating a sculpture, and he did not miss even a centimeter of what was beneath his hands.
He took his time and gazed at her, watching her reactions as his fingers moved gently over the soft folds of skin between her thighs, and then tenderly dipped inside of her, massaging her flesh there and making her close her eyes and arch her back with intense pleasure.
With his other hand, he reached for her breast, taking it in his hand and fondling it as he pinched and kneaded her nipple between his fingers. Delphine moaned and looked back at him, seeing him gaze at her with a longing and hunger that no man had ever looked upon her with before. It took her breath away and she reached for him, running her fingertips down his chest and to his erection, touching him there and stroking him firmly, massaging him in return. He closed his eyes and gasped with pleasure at the feel of her hands around him.
“I can’t wait any longer. I need you,” he mumbled as he placed his hands on her knees and pushed her thighs apart. In moments he was above her, the head of him hot and throbbing as it pressed inwards against her core. He slid himself into her slowly, pressing his forehead against hers as the intensity of the feelings overwhelmed them both. Filling her with his thickness, he began to move, and she wrapped her legs around him, arching her back to bring him to her depths, and he met her there.
Holding her and moving with her, his mouth found hers as his hands carved their way over her breasts and hips. They rocked gently at first, getting a feel for one another, but the more they moved the more they needed one another with growing passion, and it wasn’t long before they gave in to their almost insatiable desires. Their bodies dewed with beads of sweat, their breath nearly gone as they panted and gasped, their muscles tensed and tightened as they wrestled with need and pleasure, they were finally both overtaken and in final lustful cries, they both climaxed.
Delphine’s orgasms sent shudders all through her body and she held tightly to Adrian as he buried himself all the way inside her, letting go of his own ecstasy and becoming one with her. His face pressed to her neck, his arms fast around her, they held on for a long moment before their hearts began to slow, and they gradually parted and rested side by side on her bed. He held her hand in his, his fingers entwined with hers, and he gazed at her, trying to catch his breath.
“You are an incredible lover. I have never known another woman like you. You love with total abandon and passion, and you let nothing hold you back. Your confidence is entrancing.” He smiled and laughed softly, reaching up to touch her face, trailing his finger over her cheek and her lips.
“You were amazing too.” She smiled at him. It had been an experience such as none that she had ever had before, and she was too stunned to speak much about it to him. “I can’t believe what just happened here. It was… it was amazing.” She said again, and then she leaned forward and kissed him softly.
“Come here to me,” he whispered, pulling her close against his chest and holding her in his arms. He kissed her neck and they let themselves go, falling asleep in the moonlight, barely covered by the sheet, wrapped up in one another.
Delphine had not been with any man except Mike in a long time, and though she knew that it should have felt strange to her, it felt anything but.
It was the most comfortable, the most pleased, the most satisfied that she had felt in longer than she could remember, and she drifted off to sleep cocooned in bliss and happiness.
Chapter3
She woke to the feel of fingers moving over her skin, of more than that, much more than that. A mouth was slowly moving up the inside of her thighs and she opened her eyes and looked down to see beautiful dark haired, blue eyed Adrian bring his lips and his tongue to her center. It was an astounding way to wake up.
A moment later, his tongue parted the folds of flesh there, and delved inside of her, moving back and forth, taunting her and teasing her one second only to move inside of her and draw out every bit of breath in her lungs as electricity shot through her.
With his hands closed over the back of her hips, squeezing firmly, he pressed his lips hard against her body and drove his tongue over her and into her in ways she had never experienced. It wasn’t but mere minutes before her back arched, and she was gripping the pillows beside her tightly, clenching them in her fingers as she moved her hips against his mouth in a swaying motion. She could not hold back her release, and she came hard, her body trembling as he drank her in until she was still and shivering, and it wasn’t until then that he moved between her legs and pushed the thickness of himself inside of her again.
Rolling to his back, he pulled her to a sitting position atop his groin, and she smiled wide as he tightened his fingers in her hips, drawing her back and forth over him. She began to sway, riding him slowly and deliberately at first, teasing him just a bit as he had teased her, but then she began to move faster, and he cried out, pushing his head back into the pillows behind him as the tension and passion built up between them.
She lifted his hands to her breasts, and he held them tight, drawing them down to his mouth to suck and bite hard at them, as he drove himself deep into her with every thrust. Her breath growing short, she rocked him harder and faster, loving the way that it made him crazy for her, loving the riot of pleasure that burned through her body, and wanting more of it; needing even more of him.
Adrian made sure that she had come several times before he finally let himself reach his orgasm, driving himself all the way inside of her as he gasped and held her tightly to him, flooding her with his release. She grinned, loving the way that it felt, loving the way that he felt with her, and feeling as if decadence had never known such boundaries as the ones she had set from the moment he came into her room, and into her body.
As they began to relax, and she lifted herself from him, he took her hands and kissed them, and then reached for her and pulled her close, kissing her mouth softly. “Good morning.” He laughed quietly.
“Good morning to you too! Actually, I can’t remember the last time that I had a morning this good!” She chuckled as she left the bed and headed for the bathroom.
“That’s a shame. I think you should have a morning like this anytime you wanted. Every morning, if that was your heart’s desire,” he called to her. She lifted a brow as she rolled the thought around in her head. It would certainly be a big change from what she was used to.
When she turned the shower on, he knocked on the door, and she told him that he could enter. He showered with her, taking great care in cleansing her and making love with her again in the hot water, steam, and bubbles.
It felt to her as if she was in some kind of dream, some fantasy world, and she couldn’t believe that any of it was real, but she wasn’t about to stop it or question it. When they left the bathroom, they redressed, and he gave her an interested look.
“If you’re up for it, I thought we might spend today together as well.” He gave her a hopeful look.
Something caught in her then, snagging her heart for a moment, and she shook her head. “I’m not so sure that’s a good idea. I mean, I know it’s been pretty fantastic being together as we have been since yesterday, but I came to Lisbon because of a bad breakup with my… well my now ex-boyfriend. I’m not sure that it’s a good idea to go jumping into anything so fast.”
Adrian considered her for a long moment and then walked up to her, wrapping his arms around her waist and looking into her eyes as he spoke softly. “I understand that. I really do, but I want you to consider this. You came to Lisbon with a broken heart, and I can make you feel so good. I can make you forget all about him, and I will.” He leaned forward and kissed her long and slow, reaching his hands to her hips and giving them a gentle squeeze. “If you want me to. I will be your friend, I will be your lover. I will be whatever you need while you are here. You can heal, you can smile, you can feel so very good, and will give you whatever you need until you leave.”
He kissed her even more deeply, moving his hands slowly over her hips. “Do you want that?” he asked huskily as he lifted his lips from hers and looked into her eyes.
She felt as if she was in a heated delirium, and she didn’t want out of it at all. “Yes,” she heard herself answering and wondered in the back of her thoughts if she really meant it. “Yes, I want that very much.” And then she realized that she was telling him the truth. She did want it. She wanted him to do everything that he had done with her over and over again, making her forget all about what she had left back in New York, and what she would be going back to when she left Lisbon. She thought about what he was offering her. A vacation with a hot lover in a foreign country for a week, and then back to reality.
“Yes.” She grinned and said it again, leaning up to kiss him long and sweetly. “Thank you.”
He chuckled and gave her one more soft kiss on her lips. “It is entirely my pleasure.” He winked at her and headed for the door with her hand in his.
“So, where are we going?” she asked curiously as they headed down the hallway toward the front of the hotel.
“I’m going to stop in a shop and buy a change of clothes, and then we’re going out to breakfast. After that I want to share more of this city with you, because there are things here that you should not miss,” he stated with certainty.
That was exactly what they did. There was a shop for men’s fine clothes not far from the hotel, and he was dressed and looking sharp in no time. She couldn’t believe how beautiful he looked coming out of the shop with a blue and white shirt and a pair of blue pants on, both of which brought out his eyes. He winked at her.
“They’re delivering it all to the hotel. I bought a few things in case I wind up staying with you as much as I want to.” He gave her a quick kiss, and then they walked down the street together hand in hand, and she laughed lightly with him. She had no objection to him staying, and in fact the idea of him being in her bed again with her that night made her body tingle with warmth and desire, but it would wait. They had a city to see and a day to spend out and about.
Adrian took her to a train stop and he pointed to an old yellow painted car that was coming toward them. “That’s the famous Tram 28. It’s a World War II era car and everyone loves to ride it up Alfama Hill. Alfama is quite steep, and the tram is really the best way to go. Plus, it’s a piece of active history, and that’s always fun. Come on!”
He took her hand and helped her into the car when it stopped. As the car moved through it, he told her about the Alfama neighborhood. “This area dates all the way back to the Moors. It has quite a rich and lively history. The best place to learn about that is coming up here.” He helped her off of the car, and she gave it a long last look as the car trundled away.
“Where are we now?” she asked, looking around. “Is that a castle?”
“In a way, yes. This is São Jorge Castle, or in English… Saint George’s Castle. As you can see, there’s a great view from here.” He indicated, sweeping his hand along the line of the horizon far out around them. “The Moors built it. There are eleven towers in it, but they’re not all the same. Torre de Menagem, which is the Tower of the Keep, is the best of them.”
He walked with her hand in hand to the massive structure that seemed to overlook the entire world beneath it. “This isn
’t quite a real castle, because it wasn’t a residence for royalty the way other castles are built to be. This was a military compound to house soldiers and troops in case there was ever a siege. It’s best to come here in the morning before the long lines of tourists arrive, but we’re lucky today.”
She raised an eyebrow at him and tilted her head slightly. “Are we? Any why is that?”
“Because I have a friend working here today and he’s giving us a private, guided tour, so there is no line for us.” Adrian chuckled and took his smartphone from his pocket, sending a quick text message. A few minutes later, a man came to meet them right where they were, and he led them into a side door of the famed castle. They did indeed skip the lines and miss the tour groups entirely as they were taken around the complex on their private tour. Delphine loved seeing the ancient place and walking through it, as well as hearing the history of it from a local.
After their tour, they bid their host farewell, and Adrian led her down the hill and into the Alfama neighborhood again. They walked through narrow cobblestoned streets that wound here and there all throughout the old homes and buildings. There were quaint shops, traditional Fado pubs, and cozy cafés tucked into this spot and that, and they stopped for coffee once before they reached what looked to be the beginning of a sort of flea market not too different from one that she had once seen on Portobello Road in London.
