“Everyone! Everyone!” Lucia hollered to get their attention. “Manuel and I have prepared a special family dinner for everyone. I want you all washed up and changed into something nice in half an hour! We are welcoming Isidora home and we will do it proper!”
Manuel nodded and then the two of them broke away from the group and headed off towards what Isidora assumed were the kitchens. She liked them already. Manuel, though he had said so little, struck her as a wise and protective father figure. She wondered if he had watched her brothers grow up. Lucia was a sweet and wonderful woman who, already, had exhibited motherly qualities towards all of them. She was warm, joyful and genuinely seemed to care about everyone in the house. Isidora wondered how long she had been with the DeLeons. Then she wondered… would she change her own last name to DeLeon? It was, after all, her birth name.
“Isidora!” Came the sound of her name on a woman’s voice. She turned to find it was Maia.
“Ignacio and I can show you around the house, if you like,” Maia added with a smile. “While we wait for dinner, of course.”
“Oh, that would be amazing!” Isidora responded, truly excited by the idea.
“Might I join you?” Ladon said, speaking for the first time since they had gotten out of the car.
She turned and nodded to him, smiling brightly as she reached out to slip her hand into his. She could feel her heart growing for him with each passing moment. He had stolen it from her that day in the gardens back in Romania and since then his every action, his every word, had been enough to send her into the clouds. She knew what she felt, and she wasn’t going to deny its name any longer. She loved him.
“Of course!” She answered, knowing anything else would catch in her throat if she tried it.
Ignacio and Maia lead the way off into the house as Isidora and Ladon followed behind hand-in-hand. They were taken up the main staircase first and Isidora found herself giddy as they pointed out whose room was whose, Rafael’s office, and the bathrooms. She made a mental note to enjoy the large, marble garden-tub and the jacuzzi jets she thought she spied. Then, they showed her the room that would be hers.
She felt like a child. A wave of excitement hit her as she stepped into the space she was going to call her own. It was actually a small suite of rooms rather than a single bedroom. A bedroom, lounging area and a private half-bath tucked off in the corner. Her mouth gaped in joyful awe at the thought of being able to claim all of this space for herself. She had never had a room of her own like this, as she had always shared her space with the woman who had raised her back in Romania. No longer her mother… no. Sorinah was her auntie now. An awkward change that would take time to get used to.
“We know you weren’t able to bring any of your things with you…” Maia said, stepping towards Isidora. “So, if you’d like, I would love to take you out shopping within the next few days.”
It wasn’t so much the idea of shopping that hit Isidora like a ton of bricks, but rather the sincerity and kindness with which Maia made the offer. Isidora had, really, never had any friends outside of the Balaurescu family and their staff members. She had never gone to school or gotten to know any other people her age until the suitor selection process had begun when she was twenty-four. To hear Maia offer something so simple as to spend a day together doing simple friend things… it hit Isidora hard. She threw her arms around Maia and hugged her tightly, drawing in a tight breath as she held her future sister-in-law.
“I would love that,” she said, softly. “Thank you.”
Maia was a bit shocked, to say the least. She sported a surprised, wide-eyed look and gave a glance towards Ignacio as she hugged Isidora. Maia had been living with this family for over six months already and she still wasn’t sure what to quite make of this family yet. All in all, though, she liked them.
“Good,” Maia said. “Um… you’re welcome.”
Ignacio and Ladon shared a laugh in response to Maia’s face, but it was good natured and the lot of them eventually moved on with their little tour of the DeLeon homestead. It was a beautiful home, top to bottom, inside and out. Through a number of windows Isidora could see the large, walled-in gardens on the grounds and she was eager to go and explore them. Hopefully, with Ladon at her side.
Dinner came and went, leaving Isidora full of both delicious food and the love of her family. The meal had been spent telling stories, laughing and filling in the pieces they had missed in one another’s lives. She learned about the arranged marriage between Rafael and Camilla, and about the prominent family Camilla was born into. She heard hilarious stories from Lucia and Manuel about the three brothers when they were little boys. Her absolute favorite, she decided, was the one about when Mateo had been going through a ‘pranking’ phase. The list of things he had done or pulled on the rest of his family was impressive, not to mention had her cracking up and in tears. The entire day couldn’t have been better.
*
Night had fallen over the happy household and Isidora found that things could, in fact, get much better. She lay in her new, soft bed with Ladon’s arms wrapped snuggly around her. The comfort she felt in his warmth somehow managed to wash away all of the bad that had happened, making it feel more like a dream than the reality that it was.
Even as she nestled against him and felt that calming comfort of having him near, she was nervous as all hell. It was a strange and contradictory feeling, but that seemed to be how her heart and head wanted to combine in that moment. Deep down, she knew exactly what was making her feel those butterflies. It was simple. There was a man in her bed.
“Thank you,” she murmured softy against his chest.
“For what?” He responded, softly.
“Everything,” she said. “I know that, without you, I would still be a prisoner…”
“I doubt that,” he said, giving her a bit of a squeeze. “You are far stronger than you give yourself credit for.”
She just smiled… and then she threw caution to the wind. She had no idea what she was doing, but she let her body take control and tried not to think about it too much. She turned and propped herself up on an elbow, her other hand still resting against his chest, and looked down at him. He was a true Adonis and he was all hers now. The way he looked at her with those hazel eyes made her swoon deep in her soul and she felt a desire for him hit her full force.
Leaning down, she pressed her lips against his and it was as if the world exploded around her. He suddenly filled her senses. Every inch of her skin tingled where it came into contact with him. The scent of him overwhelmed her and set her body on fire. She fell head over heels into his lips and never wanted to come up for air.
Her initiation of their kiss prompted him to action and he brought his other arm around to pull her close, sliding a hand into her thick hair just as he had done during their first kiss. Things deepened this time around and their lips parted, tongues snaking out to dance and tease against one another. He tasted delicious and she found herself quickly addicted to him.
She could have kissed him for days on end, but he knew better and gently broke their kiss. He did it slowly, showing her mercy as he denied her the only think she wanted in that moment. Their kiss went from deep and passionate to soft, tender and almost chaste.
“Isidora…” He whispered, her name dripping in his accent. “I believe I’ve fallen in love with you.”
“I believe I feel the same,” she whispered back, a bit playfully at first before her voice became dusky and sincere. “I love you too, Ladon.”
He smiled softly at her before leaning up to kiss her once more, though this time he took more control of the situation. Goosebumps washed over her as he pushed himself up and, in the process, pushed her down onto her back. Their lips locked as he propped himself over her with one arm, the other letting its hand caress along the curve of her waist. Her own hands found the flesh of his chest and began to wander, touching every inch of him that she could find to touch. She felt his
hand slide down over her hip and to her upper thigh. She was not wearing the billowy white nightgown she had once daydreamed about, but rather a pair of cute blue shorts and a white tank top loaned to her by Maia. The way Ladon’s fingers seemed to curl under the hem of those shorts, nearly made her whimper.
Bending her knee, she brought her leg up against his side, feeling a shock of carnal need run through her body at the feel of his warm, solid body against her inner thigh. Without realizing what she was doing, she pulled him fully on top of her and reveled in the feel of him.
They lost track of time as they lost themselves in one another. After what felt like eternity and the blink of an eye all at once, their lips finally disengaged and the two of them were left breathless. As his lips began to explore along the slope of her jawline down to the curve of her neck, her own lips offered up something of their own.
“I want you, Ladon,” she said in a breathy voice as her hands drank in every inch of him. “All of you.”
“As you wish,” he said with a smile she could feel against her neck as he kissed her.
She let herself get lost in the moment completely. Every nerve ending in her body was on fire with the desire to feel more and more of him. To know how every inch of him felt against her. To taste him. Her eyes fluttered shut as his lips continued their journey down her neck to her collar bone.
His lips were not the only thing on a journey of exploration. His hands moved across her body, gripping the narrow curve of her waist before sliding down to hold gently at her hips. His lips moved to her chest, fluttering soft as feathers against the flesh between her breast. She felt her nipples grow tight and hard at the tease of his lips so close. In that moment, she felt his fingertips hook into the waistband of her shorts and she gasped.
He paused, lifting his eyes to glance at her for reassurance in what she wanted before he continued. She looked to him and smiled. It was a smile of happiness… and nervous excitement. He smiled against her chest, kissing her again as he went back to what he had been doing. As his lips moved further south, so did his hands follow suit and took her shorts along with them. She bit her lower lip, watching as he slid those shorts from her body and tossed them aside.
Ladon wasted no time and yet seemed to be slow, sweet and gentle all at once. Isidora found herself more and more enthralled with every word and every move he made. Left in nothing more than panties and a tank top, she felt quite the vulnerable young woman in the hands of a lustful man… and she found that she loved it. A throbbing of desire began to pulse between her legs as he slid his hands up along them from the ankles to her knees, where he gently pushed her legs apart and came up between them. He brought a hand up to slide along her stomach, pushing up her tank top to expose more of her caramel skin. As the cooler air of the room kissed her warm stomach, she felt his other hand press warm and firm against her somewhere else.
A whimpering moan slipped out of her and her eyes fell shut. His hand pressed with firm desire between her legs, beginning to rub slowly against the soft cotton of her panties. She felt herself glowing hot and wet at his touch. Yet another moan slipped out of her.
Suddenly his lips were against her stomach, kissing her softly as his fingers teased and stroked her hidden womanhood. She squirmed under his touch. Her hips rolling slowly and without her control, trying desperately to grind herself against his hand to eek all the more pleasure out of it. Ladon responded, reading her like a book.
He inched himself down, kissing all along her stomach and hip bones as he went. She then felt his lips press against her through her panties, just above where his hand played and toyed with her. Again, she whimpered with a soft gasp. For a moment, she opened her eyes and looked down towards him. The sight she saw sent its own wave of pleasure through her.
Ladon, with his chiseled and dark features, had his face nearly buried between her legs. His eyes had fallen shut and the look on his face as he kissed and caressed her took her breath away. That, of course, and the antics of his mouth and hands.
As if he lived to shock her time and time again, she felt his fingers slip under the edge of her panties. The feel of his skin directly against her like that had her biting her lip once again. But it was when he tugged those panties aside to reveal her wet, virgin self that she felt a shudder rock through her.
Slowly, he kissed her. Gently pressing his lips against her tender slit once, twice, three times… before his tongue slipped out to tease her with its tip. It was a sensation of pleasure she had never felt before and the moan that left her was not something she could control.
Ladon took that as his cue to continue. His tongue ran along that sweet, slick slit of hers over and over again, sending her body squirming at his every touch. Without warning, his tongue changed tactic, rubbing flat and firm against that throbbing and swollen mound of her clit. Her eyes rolled back and fell shut as she collapsed into the bed and let the pleasure take over her body.
As his tongue worked her into a frenzy, his fingers decided to join the party and began to rub and tease, dipping just barely within her before leaving her once more. She moaned, her hips rolled and she felt more pleasure than she had ever known possible… until he did something even better.
Slowly, as her body rocked from pleasure, he disengaged from her nether regions and instead gave gentle kisses to her trembling inner thighs. Gently, his hands moved to grip the waistband of her panties, tugging them down slowly before tossing them off just as he had with her shorts.
When she didn’t feel him against her right away she opened her eyes. What she saw was a gorgeous man whose body looked like it was chiseled from stone, taking off his borrowed pair of gym shorts. What sprang free had her eyes going wide. She felt her body ache for it.
He smiled at her climbing back up along the bed, and along her. He reached a hand up to slide along her cheek as he kissed her again. She brought her arms up, wrapping them around his shoulders as she once again fell into his kiss. They pressed against one another once again, though now there was nearly nothing between them. Nothing to keep them apart.
She felt his manhood throbbing and pulsing against her as it nestled between her legs. She whimpered into his kiss, her hips rolling as she silently begged for what only he could give to her. His other hand reached down to slip under her ass, gripping a handful of her as their kiss deepened and their tongues began to dance again.
Ladon shifted his hip, bringing himself against her firmly enough to press the tip of his manhood against her. He hesitated, but only for a moment. Their kiss broke, their eyes locked and a loving smile was shared between the two of them. The look in Isidora’s eyes spoke all of the words that needed to be said. Pressing his lips against hers once again, he pressed his hip against hers. His manhood slid slowly into her wet and welcoming body. She tensed at first, having never had a man inside of her before, but her body craved it and quickly relaxed as a wave of pleasure washed over her.
He pulled himself slowly from her… and then slowly pressed in once more. Her body writhed with pleasure, her hips rolling up against him with each of his thrusts. They began slowly, at first, enjoying and reveling the feel over every little bit of one another. But as they fell into a rhythm, their carnal minds took over and the desperate need for pleasure overtook them both.
Panting and breathless, they ravaged one another as if it was the first and last time either of them would spend a night with each other. They kissed, touched, caressed, and gasped for one another… never fully satisfied that they’d had enough of one another.
Their night was filled with one another. Over and over again, they brought one another more pleasure than either expected. They explored one another’s bodies, gave up pleasures and learned new things about one another that only served to bring them closer together. By the late hours in the morning, both fully spent and fully satisfied, they lay nude in one another’s arms and let sleep take them.
Chapter Ten
Everything was perfect.
It was the only thought going through her mind as she lay there wrapped naked in Ladon’s arms. In that moment, she felt what she could only describe as pure serenity for the first time since childhood. The safety and comfort of Ladon’s embrace was all she would ever need to feel at peace in this world. She only hoped she would never lose it.
The sun filtered slowly through the windows of her bedroom, casting shimmering and magical light across the floorboards and walls to make it seem as if they were underwater on a sunny afternoon. A gentle breeze blew outside, ushering in the scent of spring and summer flowers to sweeten the air around them. Drawing in a deep breath, she sighed a long and content sigh with a smile on her face and a hand against his bare chest.
Even during the process of choosing a suitor, when she was still excited about the idea of finding a husband, she had never imagined anything close to what she had found with Ladon. In him, she had found a man that she could love, that she could lust after… and whom she felt safe with. It meant the world to her.
“I love you, Ladon Drayce,” she whispered ever so softly, trying her best not to wake him.
Little did she know, Ladon had been awake for a handful of minutes now and knew she was as well. He had remained quiet, simply enjoying their morning together in peace and happiness… but something weighed on his mind and he could no longer remain quiet. With a gentle squeeze to her shoulder, he let it out.
“Isidora…” He said, his tone soft and full of love. “Will you have me as your husband?”
-END-
The End
About The Author
Selene Griffin is from Forest Hills, NY. She lives there today, alone, for no other reason than she likes it that way.
Following college, Selene went on to have a variety of jobs, but it is for writing that she has always held a passion.
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