Mortal Desire

by Alexander Bryn

  ‘I know … I wonder what the spirit or soul looks like?’ she asked.

  ‘Beautiful, spectacular I would imagine. With an endless energy and strong life force that reflects the love of our Creator,’ I suggested.

  ‘Did I paint your soul, your spirit Liam? Is that what kept me awake that night?’

  ‘Perhaps—I don’t know…’ I replied. I could never speak of what I knew of the spiritual world to any mortal human.

  I thanked the priest, and then we turned to walk away.

  ‘What did you say as you dropped the soil onto Albert’s coffin?’

  ‘I said, until we meet again Albert.’

  She breathed out audibly. ‘It is not the “halo effect”,’ she stated again.

  I smiled to myself as we got into the cab and headed to Café Ooh Laa Laaa!

  ‘Thank-you for coming to Albert’s funeral,’ I said to Sarah when we sat in the café with our cups of tea and tasty morsels.

  ‘I wanted to be there for you, and for Albert. I liked him from the moment that I met him you know, after I moved beyond his ugliness. Life must have been tough for him.’

  I looked down and smiled. ‘How could I have been so lucky to have met you Sarah?’ I said with affection, shaking my head filled with awe for her.

  ‘I don’t believe luck had anything to do with it Liam. Is it meant to be,’ she said.

  I reached over and grabbed her hand and kissed it.

  ‘Ti amo,’ I whispered to her.

  ‘Translation?’ she requested.

  ‘Je t’aime,’ I whispered and kissed her hand again.

  She sat back in her chair and sighed with a dreamy look on her face. She had no idea that I had just told her that I loved her in Italian and French. And I liked it that way.

  Darkness had grown when we walked out of the café. Sarah stepped ahead of me and started dragging me along like an anchor.

  We crossed the road and into the park where I caught sight of what had attracted her. It was our oak tree, lit up with fairy lights.

  I let go of her hand and started to run towards it. Sarah squealed in delight and chased me. She grabbed hold of my coat and tugged me back stalling my winning way.

  She arrived at the trunk of the ancient tree before me, turned and leaned back on the rough bark, huffing and puffing. I pulled up in front of her and placed my hands on the tree trunk on either side of her.

  ‘I win,’ Sarah exclaimed with a smile that lit up her face.

  ‘But I get the prize,’ I said in a low voice as I moved my lips to hers, teasing her, brushing my lips across hers but not kissing her.

  She moaned and put her hands on either side of my face and pulled me close and kissed me long and hard and deep. I moaned deep in my throat, and tightened my hands around her waist while waves of desire overcame me. I pulled away from her. ‘Ti amo,’ I whispered to her before I returned my lips to hers and hugged her closely to my body.

  She pressed herself into me even more than I thought possible.

  ‘Je t’aime,’ I whispered breathlessly, and stepped away from her again, running my hands through my hair while walking a little distance away from her.

  I wanted more of her than I could have.

  I turned around and faced her. ‘I love you,’ I finally said.

  She stood still, frozen like a statue, with her hand over her heart.

  I started to panic. She did not respond to my declaration of love. I was scared that she did not feel the same way about me, and that I had made an utter fool of myself.

  I blinked, inhaled deeply, lowered my head and turned away from her. I put my hands on top of my head, and lifted my chin as tears started to fill my eyes.

  Then she was there, behind me, wrapping her arms around me.

  ‘I love you too,’ she whispered.

  I lowered my head and let my tears fall at that moment.

  I turned around and pulled her against me, picked her up off the ground and buried my face next to her neck. I carried her back under the ancient tree, and kissed her. I didn’t ravish; I didn’t take. I coaxed, soothed and enticed. When she sagged against me, I pulled back slightly, and dropped my forehead against hers.

  Then I got down on one knee in front of her, and took her hand in mine.

  ‘Marry me Sarah. I know that we have only known each other for a blink in time, but I cannot be apart from you. I love you so deeply that it hurts when you are not near me. Will you marry me?’ I asked. My voice was husky, thick with emotion.

  There was a deafening silence. I watched a single tear roll down her face in slow motion. She looked from my eyes to her hand captured in mine, and then back to my eyes. I tried to control the butterflies that were flying about hyper-actively in my stomach, and waited for her answer with patience.

  She kneeled down in front of me and ran her finger along my jaw line to my lips.

  ‘Yes,’ she whispered, and moved her lips onto mine and kissed me with a tenderness that obliterated my butterflies.

  I pulled away for a breath. ‘Sarah,’ I whispered, before I kissed her with a depth of being that I never knew.

  She pulled away from me, and looked up into my eyes. ‘Make love to me Liam,’ she whispered against my lips.

  I moaned and kissed her again and pulled away. ‘I can’t, you are not my wife—old fashioned remember,’ I said with a lopsided smile and an apologetic expression.

  She kissed me hungrily. ‘Then let’s get married soon,’ she whispered, and moved her lips back to mine.

  The heavens opened up then, showering us with cool heavy rain.

  I picked Sarah up and put her over my shoulder and raced through the park to hail a cab. I was out of breath when we slid into the back seat together.

  I held Sarah’s hand and looked into her eyes. She was deliriously happy, reflecting what I felt. The red thread was shorter.

  We raced from the cab and into the foyer of Sarah’s apartment building. She pressed the button before I could and then stood back and smiled at me.

  ‘Something amusing Miss Flynn?’ I asked her.

  ‘Yes. But I can’t share it with you because we are not married,’ she said blushing.

  ‘Is that so?’ I questioned before we stepped into the elevator, accompanied by another couple.

  As soon as they stepped out, and the elevator started ascending again, I turned to Sarah and pulled her towards me seeking her lips on mine.

  She threaded her fingers through my hair as we kissed, and moved her hands to wander over my body. Desire flamed in my blood, hot and pure, driving me insane.

  I stepped back from her, trying to control my urge to undress her, when the elevator stopped, and a man joined us.

  I looked at Sarah, narrowed my eyes at her and shook my head before I looked to the floor of the elevator with a wry smile. At the ping of the opening elevator doors, I grabbed her hand and walked her to her apartment door, knocking on it before she had the chance to unravel me in the walkway.

  Sarah lifted her fingers to trace along my lips as the door was opened by her mother.

  ‘Hello you two, come in!’ Sarah’s mother said in an elated voice. ‘Why didn’t you use your key Sarah?’

  I looked at Sarah and smiled.

  ‘Liam is a knocker. He likes to knock—politely. Apparently he is old fashioned,’ Sarah said, tongue-in-cheek. She looked at me and raised her left eyebrow before she walked through the door.

  I followed her to the living room and sat in the single sofa away from her. It was safer that way. Especially with the visions of us together that scrambled my brain.

  ‘Liam, why are you sitting over there?’ Sarah asked.

  I placed my hand over my heart and then ran my fingers through my hair.

  She came and sat on the floor in front of me, and put her hands on my knees. ‘I’m sorry. I will behave … for now,’ she whispered out of earshot from her mother.

  ‘Thank-you,’ I mouthed to her.

  A pot of tea turned up with
three tea cups then, and Mrs. Flynn sat down to join us.

  ‘Liam, I am sorry about the loss of your Uncle,’ she offered in a solemn voice.

  ‘Thank-you Mrs. Flynn. I will miss him dearly. I have found it very difficult the last few nights alone in our home. Tonight will be quite unbearable I think,’ I said, and looked into my cup of tea.

  ‘You are welcome to stay the night here with us if you think that it will ease your burden a little,’ she offered.

  I looked at Sarah. Her eyes lit up like a Elliotttmas tree.

  ‘Thank-you for your kindness. I will consider your offer,’ I replied.

  ‘Liam, I must thank-you. My daughter has been so happy since she met you. It has been a very welcome and pleasant change,’ Mrs. Flynn commented.

  I looked at Sarah and smiled at her with closed lips.

  ‘Momma, Liam asked me to marry him tonight … and I said yes,’ Sarah said with a soft voice.

  Mrs. Flynn went silent. She stared at Sarah and her mouth gaped open.

  My heart started to beat faster. I know that we had only known each other for about a week. But Sarah was the one for me. I had absolutely no doubt in my mind.

  ‘No. Just no. It is too soon!’ Mrs Flynn said. She looked from Sarah to me, frowned and shook her head.

  ‘I love him,’ Sarah said with pleading eyes as she looked at her mother.

  Mrs Flynn stood then. She leaned forward and grabbed Sarah’s hand and dragged her away to the closest room and slammed the door shut.

  I let out the breath that I had unknowingly held. I closed my eyes and placed my hand over my lips. How could I tell Mrs Flynn that I had waited for four hundred years for her. And this is why I had no doubt that Sarah was the one.

  Muffled shouting came from behind the closed door.

  Perhaps I should not stay here for the night?

  But I had no choice. I was a marked man. I was safer here than in my own apartment.

  I carried the tray with the tea pot, tea cups and saucers to the kitchen. I placed it on the kitchen top and leaned against the bench, pausing with my mind and body. I sensed Sarah behind me then, and closed my eyes. She brushed her fingers lightly over the back of my neck, sending tingles down my spine.

  ‘Nothing that my mother can say will change my mind. I want you ... with me ... beside me ... together ... soon.’

  I opened my eyes, turned around and faced her. I looked into her eyes. Her pupils were large.

  I closed my eyes then and swallowed. ‘I don’t want to cause a rift between you and your mother Sarah ... I have waited for you for such a long time. I love you deeply, but you have to be sure about the way you feel about me. You have to be sure about us. I will wait for you.’

  She ran her finger along my bottom lip, and kissed me. ‘I am sure. I have never been so sure about anything in my entire life.’

  There was something gentle in her voice, winding through me, making it easier to breath.

  I placed my finger under her chin and lifted her lips back to mine. I deepened the kiss and our tongues tangled in frenzy. I pulled away breathless.

  ‘You can sleep in my bed,’ Sarah breathed with a soft and suggestive voice, her fingers now tracing the line of my jaw.

  I lowered my head, breathed out through my lips and gave her a coy smile. ‘Old fashioned remember,’ I said in a quiet voice. ‘I will sleep on the sofa,’ I added.

  ‘Mmmmm, even more romantic, in front of the fire,’ she added, looking up at me through her long eyelashes.

  ‘You are incorrigible Miss Flynn!’ I said to her with my hands on either side of her face before I kissed forehead. ‘I thought that you said that you would behave?’

  She made a sad face. ‘I did, didn’t I?’

  I shook my head at her, smiling.

  ‘Well then, while I am behaving, would you like to play cards? I’ve always wanted to play strip poker …’ she said with her head tilted to the side, her face deadpan.

  I looked at the floor and laughed to myself before I had visions of her sitting naked opposite me, and lunging across the table for her, with the playing cards scattering everywhere. I took a deep breath, looked up at her and shook my head.

  I took her hand in mine and led her back to the living room.

  Her mother was there. She looked at me and raised her chin at me. ‘Tell me what you have to give my daughter Liam.’

  ‘Everything ... and nothing,’ I replied.

  She frowned at me.

  ‘I will give her everything that I am, everything that I have and everything that I own. And then I will have nothing but my pure deep love for her, and that is everything,’ I explained.

  She frowned at me again, and closed her eyes. When she opened them a smile spread across her face and her eyes softened. She nodded at me and blinked. ‘Welcome to our family!’

  Sleep was not my friend tonight.

  Was it the unfamiliar sofa that kept me awake, or Albert’s funeral? Perhaps it was the knitting needle on my bedside table, or my intense love for Sarah that I wanted to act upon. Maybe it was the exchange of envelopes between Mr. Bellini and the immortal one, or the vulnerability that I now felt that I was mortal?

  During the night I had a visitor of the mortal kind.

  Sarah kneeled beside me dressed in her satin pyjamas. She wore a white chemise that was almost see through. It pulled tightly over her generous breasts and the length of her nightwear barely covered to the top of her thighs.

  ‘Hi,’ I said.

  ‘Couldn’t sleep Mr. O’Connell,’ she whispered.

  ‘Me neither.’

  She moved closer to me and placed her lips upon mine, gentle and teasing. She pressed her breasts to my bare chest and ran her hand down my stomach. I placed my hand over hers and stopped her from exploring further, and pulled away from her kiss.

  ‘Old fashioned remember,’ I whispered into her ear. She was torturing me. I was on fire and was battling to put out the flames of my desire.

  She sighed. ‘I was hoping to find your weak spot,’ she whispered back.

  ‘You are my weak spot Sarah. You have no idea what I want to do with you right now,’ I said in a whisper. ‘Please go back to bed.’

  ‘Will you let me sleep next to you if I promise to be good?’ she asked, looking into my eyes seriously.

  ‘You know that if you make a promise, you must never break it don’t you?’ I said, trying to make sure that she was as good as her word.

  ‘Pinky promise,’ she replied. She nodded her head just a little and held up her pinky finger.

  I smiled at her response before I kissed her, and pulled her up into my arms. She settled with her head on my chest and her fingers threaded through mine. I wrapped my free arm around her.

  I kissed her head as she stilled, partly laying on top of me on the sofa, then closed my eyes relishing in the feel of her warm soft body against mine.

  I had never slept an entire night with a human being before. I had always been alone in my bed.

  ‘Je t’aime Sarah,’ I whispered to her as I felt sleep descending upon me.

  ‘Je t’aime too Liam,’ she replied, making me chuckle at her attempt of I love you in French.

  ‘That would be—Je vous aime trop Liam,’ I said gently.

  ‘Je vous aime trop Liam. Thank-you for my first French lesson,’ she said.

  ‘Oh, I have many French lessons that I could teach you Miss Flynn,’ I replied.

  ‘Hmmmm, I promised to be good Liam. But you are making it very difficult for me. I am old fashioned you know, and I need to get my beauty sleep,’ she replied.

  ‘Sarah, have you ever made love before?’ I asked, my curiosity getting the better of me.

  ‘No. I am waiting for my husband,’ she replied. ‘You?’ she asked.

  ‘No. I am waiting for my wife,’ I answered before I kissed her with tenderness, enjoying her moan in pleasure at the sensation of my tongue caressing hers.

  ‘Now sleep my sweet,’ I whispered to
her.

  ‘I love you Liam O’Connell,’ she replied.

  ‘I love you more Sarah Flynn,’ I said while she kissed my chest.

  I had never known that I could sleep so deeply. It must have been the effect of holding my soul mate in my arms during my unconsciousness …

  CHAPTER THREE

  A single finger drew a line of swirls and zigzags on my bare chest. It left a trail of fire on my skin, waking me from my sleep. I placed my hand over Sarah’s in a gentle touch, and smiled with my eyes closed.

  ‘Hi,’ she said in a voice that was soft and content.

  ‘Hi,’ I replied, and opened my eyes to look at her. I took in a sharp breath when I looked into her beautiful green eyes. Looking into her heart and soul caused my heart to skip a beat. I took a deep breath and moved her hand to my lips and kissed it with tenderness.

  I closed my eyes when she moved her lips to mine in a long slow kiss, tasting me, caressing me. I soared to heights unknown to me for waking in the morning, and my desire ignited, deep and strong.

  ‘Morning!’

  My eyes flew open. Sarah’s mother’s voice came from the kitchen.

  I stood immediately and covered my nakedness. After I had zipped up my trousers and pulled on my long sleeved shirt, I turned to face Sarah.

  She held an amused smile on her face, her finger stroking her bottom lip.

  ‘Enjoying the view?’ I asked, while I buttoned my shirt.

  ‘Mmmmm,’ she responded, before she stood and walked away.

  I looked down and smiled to myself, and shook my head.

  I made my way into the kitchen and apologized to Mrs. Flynn for being unable to stay for breakfast, before I knocked on Sarah’s closed bedroom door. ‘Hey ... je dois aller mon amour ... I have to go my love,’ I spoke with my forehead pressed again her oak door.

  A moment later there was a faint click. The door opened and a hand reached out, grabbed me and pulled me in. Sarah stood before me wrapped in a towel. ‘Do you really think that I am going to let you go after you spoke to me in French ... my love?’ She released her white towel. It fell to the floor and she stood naked before me. I swallowed, and tried to control the yearning inside of me. She hooked her hand around my belt and pulled me to her. I lowered my lips to hers and she pressed into me, her warmth, her softness, her floral scent.