Follow the white pebbles

by Lillian Summers

  “No,” she shook her head. “A neighbor of hers. He dragged her to his bed and raped her there.”

  Justin covered his face with the palms of his hands and stayed like that for a long time. An image of Jimmy curling up on the very end of the bed as far away from him as she possibly could flooded his mind. Then again, the desire he’d felt oozing out of her every pore when he’d kissed her was undeniable. He was going to make her forget every wrong that had been ever done to her. She will learn for the first time what gentle love felt like. But not tonight. It was much too early. And when the time came, it would not happen in a bed.

  Justin’s hands dropped from his face. “Tell mom and dad that Jimmy and I won’t be coming back to rejoin the party. Find an excuse…whatever.” He gave his sister a curt nod then went inside, leaving behind a long trail of water.

  The light in their apartment was still on, but Jimmy was nowhere to be seen. He went straight for his en-suite and shook off his wet clothes. Cold shivers kept shaking him long after he stepped under the hot spray of the shower. He finally turned the water off at the tap and dried himself.

  The bedroom was still deserted, but light was spilling from underneath her walk-in-robe door. Then the door opened and she walked in keeping her gaze averted. Her lustrous mahogany hair fell over her shoulders, framing her delicate features and her beautiful mouth. She wore a silk negligee that hugged her body, showing curves he never thought she could have. Curves that sent his pulse into overdrive.

  He slipped under the covers on his side of the bed as close as possible to the edge, and waited for her to take her place. She dropped the negligee off her shoulders and threw it on the bedside table, before rushing under the shelter of the sheets. He almost gasped at the sight of her body covered in a satin nightie so thin, her nipples pebbled through the flimsy material. But a vow was a vow, and he was going to keep it, as painful as it was becoming. Just the brief glimpse he had seen of her in the night dress was enough to make his imagination take fire. The soft curvature of her neck and the deliciously undulating line of her hip under the sheet aiding it.

  “Good night, Jimmy,” he murmured, and hit the light switch above the headboard with the palm of his hand.

  He wanted her. He wanted her so bad, like he couldn’t remember ever having wanted a woman. Because it wasn’t only her body he craved, it was the whole of her. He didn’t want to have sex. He wanted to make love and to receive in return. If he thought of it, he just wanted her love.

  “Good night,” she whispered over her shoulder. Her eyes filled with burning tears. Krissie had been so wrong all along. Even now when she’d changed so much, he still didn’t want her.

  The surface of Lake Ontario was never placid. Small ripples danced over it even on a windless day, shimmering as they mirrored the sun’s radiant face. Somewhere in the distance, fishing boats slid along the horizon and flocks of birds glided by, cloaking soft shadows onto the water.

  Lizzie kneeled on the blanket, scrutinizing her artwork for the hundredth time.

  She had woken up to an empty bed, with a handwritten note on Justin’s pillow. ‘Picnic at 8 p.m., supplies provided by Lance, go to the back entrance, follow the white pebbles.’

  “The white pebbles?” she questioned the walls, not really thinking they would respond. They didn’t.

  Curiosity started to eat at her, munching bit by bit until she decided to skip breakfast and to head for the back door. A white pebble lay on the ground a couple of feet away. Another one just a little farther. Her gaze followed the track that disappeared into the bushes then her feet started to follow, only to stop on the tip of a pebbled arrow on the shore of Lake Ontario. There was a clearing large enough to lay a blanket on it. The rest was covered in rocky land, bushes and wild flowers.

  She then diligently followed the pebbles back home, her heart singing, dancing, doing Fred Astaire. The message was clear: Justin was going to spend time with her tonight.

  Then she spent forever waiting for tonight to come, silently cursing the clocks in the house for ticking so slow. She could even swear that they even stopped for a good quarter of an hour when she wasn’t looking. When seven p.m. finally came, she put down the twentieth skirt she was trying on, glanced one more time in the mirror and shook her head. In just a matter of days she had turned from Jimmy Wallace into Julia Bates, obsessed about the depth of her décolletage and the shortness of her dress. She dressed then rushed out of the room boiling with irritation, and almost collided with Lance in the corridor.

  “Where’s the thing?” she snapped at him.

  “Right here, Madam.” He held out a picnic basket and a thick, soft blanket, staring bewildered. Mrs. Winters never behaved like this. She was always all smiles and laughter with the servants, and all staff members simply adored her.

  She arrived at the end of the pebbled arrow in a few heartbeats, panting with emotion. Justin was going to be here very soon. Then she worked for a good twenty minutes to make an elaborate arrangement on the makeshift dinner table, only to start all over again. It didn’t look cool in the first place. Neither did the second arrangement.

  “Need any help?” Justin’s voice whispered next to her ear, making her push out a small shriek.

  He kneeled behind her and brushed her hair aside from her face to place a soft kiss on her cheek.

  Her knees turned instantly to jelly.

  “Uhhhmm… I’m okay,” she said, not daring to turn her head.

  He shifted his body to sit down next to her, stretching his legs, leaving her no choice but to do the same, only that her legs stretched in the opposite direction as she faced him. His gaze swept over her from head to toe, lingering a little over the smoothness of her calves.

  She felt the urge to draw her knees up. But that would have given him a generous view up her skirt right to the apex of her thighs.

  “Let’s eat,” she said hastily, filling a plate with a few sandwiches for him.

  They ate without talking to each other, just as they had done each and every time at the dinner table. Tonight though, the silence felt heavy and awkward. The birds chirping their way to sleep were doing conversation for them. Quite unsatisfying.

  Then the dinner was over and she started packing. He sat in a corner watching her hair spill over her shoulders and sweep over her exposed cleavage, while she bent down to brush bread crumbles from the blanket with her knuckles.

  The sun had sunk below the horizon and had left behind streaks of orange and pink. The canvas of the sky looked like the supple skin of a perfectly ripened peach, captured to perfection on the lake’s reflection.

  Lizzie sat down again, staring quietly in the distance.

  “So, how was your day?” Justin finally decided to break the silence.

  “Damn boring,” she answered. “Except for the pebble thing excursion. It felt like you wanted to get rid of me like in that story… what was it called?” She squinted.

  “Hansel and Gretel,” he supplied.

  “Yeah, that.” She nodded.

  “Only that you were smart enough not to pick up the pebbles, so here I am, stuck with you for eternity.” Justin looked at her straight faced, but with amusement twinkling in his eyes.

  Lizzie searched his face with inquisitive eyes. “Yeah, I guess I can be a stubborn thorn stuck in the sole of your foot. Damn if it doesn’t take forever to pull me out,” she drawled.

  He stared at her open-mouthed. The little hellcat had turned his words around, reminding him of his nastiness on the day of their wedding.

  “Just as much as it will take you to pluck me out of your sole,” he countered. “So, why don’t we make the best of it until then? Because, you see, I don’t mind waiting all my life for you to do it.”

  He reached out to wrap her in his arms before her mind stopped reeling from his words. His mouth descended on hers in a gentle caress as he laid her down on the blanket and leaned over her. Her heart skipped a beat.

  “Kiss me back,” he murmured aga
inst her lips, reminding her how susceptible she was to that pitch of his voice.

  He slid his fingers behind her nape, softly digging into her flesh to bring her closer to him. The tip of his tongue coaxed her lips to part, and invaded her in a wildly arousing rhythm that mimicked the primal act of love between man and woman. Every nerve in her body fired up, alive and pulsing with fire.

  His lips left hers and traced a slow path along her cheek to the sensitive spot behind her ear before slowly descending along the column of her neck, inching their way down her collarbone. He gently brought her arms up on the sides of her head and started to place soft kisses on the insides of her elbows and her wrists, savoring every inch of her skin. The tip of his tongue drew a scorching circle on the hollow of her hand, sending a whip of lighting through her womb. His lips slid across her palm and wrapped around her little finger, sucking it in. The feeling sent ripples of fire through her bloodstream, making her moan with unspoken desire. He lifted his head to take her mouth once again in a hungry, yet contained kiss, lingering to explore the warm recesses of her mouth, enticing her to respond in kind. His hand slid softly along the line of her hip and up her waist until it lightly brushed the side of her breast. He didn’t feel the bulk of a bra underneath the silk of her blouse. He deepened his kiss as he let his fingers roam up and down her cleavage, barely touching. His thumb ventured over the swell of her breast, gently grazing her nipple as it slid over it. She stiffened in his arms, her breathing rapid and shallow.

  He broke the kiss and looked down at her, threading his fingers through her hair.

  “I’m never going to hurt you, Jimmy, I promise,” he said, his voice charged with emotion.

  Relief flooded her features as if she’d just been granted a last-minute reprieve from the guillotine.

  Her trust wedged a lump of tenderness in his throat. He dipped his head down to kiss her softly, until his kiss turned delirious once more, sending her head into a whirl.

  “I want you to trust me,” he murmured against her lips.

  “I do,” she whispered back and wrapped her arms around his neck to pull him closer.

  Her voice was breathless and alluring, as if she was once again thirsty for his touch.

  He pulled away slightly and drank her in through half-closed eyes, his lids heavy with desire. His fingers ran once more down her cleavage, this time slowly undoing the buttons of her top. Smoldering passion welled up in him, setting his body on fire and forcing him to remind himself that tonight it wasn’t about his needs. It was all about her. He ran his lips over the hem of her bodice, meeting thin fabric and creamy skin, then made his way down over the swell of her breast circling until he reached its peak. She flinched. He drew the nipple in his mouth through the silk, teasing. The wetness of the material rubbed against her skin making her shiver. Every pull of his lips sent wet heat pulsating in the pit of her stomach. She badly wanted the fragile barrier to disappear, to feel his touch against her skin. As if he’d read her mind, he slid his fingers under the fabric and pushed it away, cupping her breast. His mouth engulfed her naked nipple, making it pebble with unbearable need as she felt his teeth gently nip at its peak. She strained against him, sobbing in pleasure.

  He tasted her with passion and reverence all at once, as if he worshiped her body. Her scent had an allure of its own, delicate and feminine, but beyond that she carried the heady aroma of a woman ready to give herself to a man in wild abandon. Musky and intoxicating. She only realized she was naked beside him when a cool breeze brushed over her skin.

  “Justin.” She looked imploringly at him, once again panicking.

  He stroked her hair and took her hand to place a soft kiss on its palm.

  “It’s okay,” he murmured.

  She relaxed once more, abandoning herself to the feel of his lips tracing scorching lines down her abdomen until the tip of his tongue delved inside her navel. His hand slid between her knees parting them a little. She clamped them hard, bolting up in a sitting position.

  “Jimmy, look at me.”

  She turned her head to look over her shoulder, trembling violently.

  He sat up next to her and gently enfolded her in his arms, pulling her to his chest until her head rested in the crook of his neck.

  “It’s okay,” he said soothingly, stroking her face. “We will wait until you’re ready for it. I will never hurt you. Not now, not ever.”

  She sighed softly in the cradle of his arms. He had never wanted her before.

  “No, I don’t want to wait,” she whispered.

  He nudged her chin up to look into her eyes, his gaze incredulous and confused all at once.

  “Are you sure?” he asked.

  She nodded.

  Justin kept staring at her for a while but all he could see was warmth and a candid determination that melted his heart. He helped her lie down.

  Raging storms of passion lashed every one of her nerve endings into a frenzy as his mouth roamed over her body tasting, nibbling, teasing, caressing, until she wanted to scream from too much pleasure. His hand slid once again down her knees and this time she didn’t flinch. Just squeezed her eyes shut as his fingers commenced a slow ascent, gently drawing on the soft skin of the inside of her thighs.

  He lifted his head and stared down at her tortured face.

  “Tell me to stop and I will,” he reassured her.

  She shook her head forcefully.

  He started stroking gentle caresses with his fingers, not once peeling his gaze off her face. She gasped and opened her eyes wide, straining against his hand. His touch was soft and lingering, teasing and dancing over her most sensitive places so erotically, she sobbed with delirious pleasure. Then he pushed into her, probing her warmth with his fingers until her muscles started to clench and tighten around him. He slowly shifted his body over hers, slipping down until his lips replaced his hand. She went limp, unable to breathe, just twisting mindlessly beneath his mouth while he pinned her hips down with his hands. When he moved up again, her whole body shivered at the feel of him molding to her, skin against skin. He was iron-hard and shaking with need when he slipped his hands underneath her knees to bend them, and positioned himself at her entrance.

  Insane sensations whirled in wild disarray inside her mind and body, sensations she’d never dreamed existed. She took in the feel of him inching his way inside her excruciatingly slow, deliciously filling her. There was no pain, just pressure from being impossibly stretched. And then he started to move, cautiously at first with long, gentle thrusts that grew deeper and more intense as he braced his arms on the sides of her head and held her gaze, drinking in her desire through heavy-lidded eyes. Wild blazes ran rampant throughout her body, raging through her core, begging for a peak that she didn’t know how to reach. She clung to him, trying to bring him closer.

  “Justin,” she begged.

  He lowered his body over hers, propping the length of his lower arms on the blanket.

  “Let go, Jimmy,” he murmured at her ear. “Let go for me.”

  “I can’t,” she panicked. “I don’t know what to do.”

  He increased the pace of his thrusts, fighting hard for sanity.

  “You don’t have to know it. Don’t think about it. Just let it go,” he whispered back. “Do it for me. Do it now.”

  He drew the lobe of her ear between his lips and started nipping it, slowly swirling the tip of his tongue around it to soothe the sweet pain he was causing her.

  She strained against him.

  “Let go, Jimmy,” he whispered once more. “Now!”

  Then he delved inside the delicate crevices of her ear.

  A shattering explosion blistered through her body, shaking her in bursting waves of delirious pleasure. It was too much for him to withstand. He tensed and threw his head back, and with one deep thrust he released his fire at the mouth of her womb. Seconds went by without them being able to do anything other than breathe harshly in a tight embrace, their chests rapidly rising and falli
ng. Then the fading exhaustion gave way to a slumberous ecstasy that saw him lie on his back, his arms wrapped around her while her head rested on his chest.

  He held her close, his fingers threading through her hair. Only minutes after they’d made love, he wanted her again with a passion that consumed him to the bone.

  “Why don’t we go home?” he asked.

  “Why?” She looked up at him.

  He let his fingers run over her naked shoulder and kissed the top of her head.

  “Because the bed is a better place for what I have in mind.”

  A subtle light crept into the bedroom through the heavy curtains, making her wonder if it was morning or late afternoon. Lizzie stretched lazily under the covers then turned her head to look at Justin’s side of the bed. He wasn’t there. She sighed and closed her eyes again. Maybe it had been just a dream, the most beautiful dream of her life. Yesterday she had followed the white pebbles toward something magic. The image of him making love to her for the first time sent ripples of fire through her veins. He had then lingered over her body for hours, branding every inch of it with his lips, now gentle and tender then a passionate and dominant lover.

  The mattress sank under the weight of his body. She opened her eyes again and saw him in his glorious nakedness. No, she hadn’t been dreaming.

  “Good morning.” Justin leaned down to murmur against her lips.

  She slipped her hands behind his nape, afraid that he could disappear in a puff of smoke if she let go.

  His blood started boiling in his veins as soon as he felt her touch. He pushed the covers away and wrapped her in his arms, taking her mouth in a kiss so hungry he left her out of breath, her lips swollen and red. Her body was soft and pliant in his grip, molding to his hard contours in an irresistible invite. He rolled on his back and pulled her on top of him, running his fingers along the length of her spine.

  She gasped, suddenly feeling painfully exposed and vulnerable.

  “What are you doin’?” she asked, staring down at him.