by elda lore
I stretched like a happy cat waking in the sunshine of a new day, and then realized I was alone. Warmth surrounded me, and a thin ray of sunshine slipped through the heavy shades. I sat up, covering myself with the comforter we slept under. I didn’t know how I’d get back to my room without making another spectacle of myself, but I suddenly sensed I needed to leave. I didn’t want him to return to find me waiting for him, like some lovesick girl or one of his other lovers. The thought of additional lovers sickened me and I reached for the paint smock, opting for it versus my dress as attire to return to my room. I stood on shaky legs with a heavy heart. Reaching the door, I jumped back when it opened. A slow smile greeted me at first, and without thought, I smiled in return.
“Good morning, Peacock.” Solis’ face beamed as he closed the door behind him. A large basket in his hand grabbed my attention. He walked toward me, and covered my hand in his. Guiding me to the makeshift bed, he lowered us to sit. Slowly, his expression fell. “What’s going on here?”
“I was…I was just leaving.” I looked away, embarrassed as thoughts of the night before raced through my head.
“Why?”
“Well, you were gone and I thought I should get back to my room.” I moved to stand but he blocked me.
“I came back. I left you a note.” He reached to a slip of paper I hadn’t even seen. A line drawn sunshine covered the paper with a lightning bolt through the orb. The paper read: You own me. Be back soon. My shoulders fell in relief as I read.
“I went to get breakfast.” He patted the basket. “And a change of clothes for you.”
I nodded slowly. “I should change,” I suggested, reaching out for the basket, but Solis pushed it aside.
“I want you to stay.” He read my mind, knowing if I changed clothes, I would still attempt to leave. We stared at one another for a moment: myself shy, him confident.
“And yes, you should change.” His voice dropped lower, and his eyes sparkled mischievously. “I wanted to give you breakfast in bed, and you’re overdressed.” Thick fingers with tiny specks of paint reached for the messy smock and unbuttoned it. His eyes remained trained on mine.
“Slip back under the blanket,” he ordered, the command tender despite the rugged sound from his throat. Like being blinded from glancing at the sun, I followed each delicate demand. Naked once again, I pulled the cover to my chest. His mouth curled, pleased with himself, before he opened the basket and removed bread, so freshly baked it steamed, a jar of olive oil, and a bowl of mixed fruit. He unscrewed a thermos and poured me a cup of tea. The aroma undistinguishable, the taste divine, I let the warm liquid fill me like his presence. I sipped slowly, and silence danced lightly around us.
“I’m sorry again about last night,” I began, but he gave me a look that stopped my apology.
“We don’t need to talk about it, Vee. Today’s a new day. Let’s enjoy it.” His smile grew larger as he drank me in. “But I do want to ask about the leaving thing. I’m not going anywhere, so why do you keep pushing me away?”
My head dipped in response as I collected my thoughts. The answer would be raw, but I already sat before him naked.
“My mother. She always spoke as if men only wanted one thing and then they’d leave. Once they got it, they were gone. It must have been how things happened for her and my father. He disappeared shortly after I was born. On the other hand, it could be lingering effects of a failed relationship with Zeke.” My eyes flicked nervously up to his. It was still so new to digest the facts. He and I were not related, but we shared a common brother: Heph.
“I still can’t get over that she abandoned Heph,” I whispered. It was so contradictory—her attitude of being abandoned, yet she abandoned a child.
“I don’t know the full story, but I’m certain she had her reasons. Spiting Zeke could have been number one. Heph would be a reminder of all she had lost. Rather than keep him, she rejected him.”
It made sense, in a sick sort of way. I couldn’t reconcile my mother being so cold-hearted, but then again, she’d never been warmly affectionate either. The irony was, I craved affection, and often took it under false pretenses. I trusted limitlessly until proven otherwise, much to my own downfall. I’d been burned too many times by the attention of men, and while I usually blew off the afterburn, the flames of betrayal and the sparks of hurt still stung.
Solis dipped a warm piece of bread into a small dish of olive oil and handed it to me. I reached for it, but he pulled it back.
“Open,” he demanded. His beautiful, chiseled face lit up as he teased me, and I leaned forward to bite. Drawing in the savory warmth coated with oil, a drop slipped over my lips and dripped to my chin. Solis’ fingers swiped up the oily liquid and coated my lips with it. My mouth covered the pad of his finger and lingered. He pulled back slowly, his eyes locked on mine.
“Your mouth is heaven, and I want to live there.” He leaned forward and kissed me, only briefly, relieving my lips of their oily sheen. Pulling back, he caught me scratching at my arm, flicking chips of paint from the crease of my elbow.
“We should shower.” He held out a hand for me, helping me stand. He removed his T-shirt, and I noticed the cracked paint on his skin. He swiped a hand over his chest and the flakes flittered to the floor. I followed him to the bathroom, which seemed small, but held a shower stall big enough for two and a bear skin rug before the sink. He shrugged his shoulder as I raised a brow at the fuzzy floor covering.
“I like soft things under my feet after I shower, not a cold tile floor.”
I giggled in response as he turned on the shower. A thick stream of water fell like rain from a dinner plate-sized shower head. The spray would easily cover two people. He guided me toward the shower, giving me a moment alone as the water caressed my body in a loving spray of warmth. Solis’ eyes were on me, but I was distracted by the decadence of such a shower experience. Only a minute passed before Solis removed his jeans to join me.
He tenderly washed me, cupping soap in his hands and massaging it over my body. The scent revived my skin while relaxing my body. I melted under his touch and the heated water. He soaped my neck and shoulders, moving in circles down my spine. At the base of my spine, his hands spread and worked toward my sides. Covering my hips, he pressed against me, the hard length of him brushing lightly over my ass. I purred. My hands covered his, and I leaned into him. My head rested on his shoulder as his mouth sucked at my shoulder and neck. He reached around me, lathering up more soap, and stroking over my stomach, washing away the crusty paint. Moving upward, he circled the golden designs around my breasts.
“You are luscious,” he whispered as soapy fingers encased heavy, achy orbs. My eyes fluttered shut and I sighed. His fingers pinched my nipples at the same time, and the double shot of pleasure sent a bolt of electricity straight to my core. Always aware of my desire, he rinsed his hands before slipping downward to an area ripe for more than a cleansing. My hips jolted at his tender touch. The caress of the water and the steam of the heat heightened my sensitivity, my body pliant to his lead. He stroked me, fingertips tenderly teasing, before entering me. I gasped, and my head fell forward, my hands braced over his wrists.
“I’ve got you,” he murmured to my neck. “I’d never let you fall.”
Fall from grace, fall from the sky, fall in love. He’d protected me from all these things, and at the same time, made each one happen. He flew me across the heavens. He made me fall in love with him. The only thing left to take was my virginity.
He was hard behind me, but the distraction of his fingers vibrated through me, and I lit like the night sky before a thunderstorm.
“Vee.” He bucked behind me. “Sweet gods, you’re a goddess.” His typically booming voice lowered, and his hips rocked against my backside. I didn’t want to disappoint either one of us again, so I spun to face him and took his mouth with a force I didn’t know I possessed. Empowered by the morning, I claimed his lips, and he let me devour them. I tugged at the bottom, re
leasing it only long enough to lick the seams of his lips, which opened, allowing me entrance. Sweeping the inside of his mouth, our tongues tangled as he twisted us so his back rested on the shower wall. He lowered us as we kissed until I straddled him, water gently pelting my back like a summer rainstorm, the length of him trapped under me like a lightning bolt. I brushed forward, letting my naked core slide along his solidness.
I released his mouth to bend forward and taste his neck. I nipped and soothed a trail of kisses down his chest, and then bit his nipple. He yelped quietly.
“Sorry,” I muttered.
“Don’t be.” The words sparked me onward, and I scooted back to continue my trail. As I neared the length of him, he pulled me up to face him.
“If you go there, I’ll lose it faster than a thunder clap. Stay up here with me.” His mouth took mine as he returned me to straddle over him, our most intimate parts resting against one another. My hips rolled. His hands stilled. I rocked forward. His fingers pinched. Our mouths increased the pressure. A thundering collision of emotion crashed and coiled between my thighs. My pace increased, thirsting for friction.
“Vee,” he mumbled, his lips still attached to mine.
“Just do it,” I commanded with a whisper. “I trust you.” My voice lowered and his mouth found mine, increasing the intensity of his kisses. An urgency arose between us and he twisted us sideways, fumbling for his jeans outside the shower.
“I need a condom.” Then he sat us upward, with a puzzled look on his face. “Actually, I don’t. You’re the last girl I plan to be with, Veva.” The words surprised me, their meaning too deep, too raw for us.
“Well, you’re going to be my first,” I admitted shyly, letting my eyes fall from his. My fingers traced a random pattern over his wet chest.
“And I’m going to be your last, also.” The intensity with which he said those words made me believe him. In that moment, there was nothing more I wanted. Nothing more I wished to trust, and I fell. Fell from grace, fell from the sky, fell in love. Right there on the shower stall floor. I leaned forward, positioning him between me, letting myself balance on a precipice.
“You’re sure?” He whispered, his voice shaking, almost frightened in his own right, which was ridiculous, as he was no virgin. I nodded, gripping his shoulders for strength. Uncertain of the pain, a touch of fear slithered through me. This is Solis, I reminded myself, and whatever that meant, comforted me as he eventually plunged upward. I clawed his shoulders. He pinched my hips.
“Hold still.” His words went right in my ear as his teeth nipped the lobe. “Get used to me.”
I sat perfectly still, breathing slowly as I held him deep inside me, so deep, it was more than physical. He touched my soul. Our eyes locked and the connection was profound. I felt electrified, like a current conducted by water, as I sat under the warm spray, straddling the heat of him. My eyes hesitantly looked where we joined in the most intimate way.
“You’re the other half of me.” He kissed my cheek. “Now, I’m whole.”
My throat caught and I blinked away the silly tears. I took several deep breaths and then I felt him flinch inside me. It sparked a pleasurable prickle, a different kind of current, and I wanted to feel the sharp crackle again. I leaned back and he moaned. Bracing on his chest, I dragged my hips upward, then lowered down. He filled me completely and I groaned at the fullness. He completed me. The strangest calm entered me.
“Solis?” I questioned the sensation.
“Move, love. Or let me move you. It will get better.” His voice strained. He needed more. Raising my hips, I dragged to the tip of him then lowered to be filled again. I grunted at the feeling. Repeating it leisurely at first, my pace quickened until I found a rhythm, a friction that ignited me. Solis’ moans of encouragement spurred me onward.
“Slow down, Vee, or you’re gonna lose me too quickly, and I don’t want to lose you. Not yet.” His arms tightened to wrap around my lower back. I continued, rolling like clouds in the sky, gathering speed as they collided, our bodies crashed together. I climbed, cresting, and all the while Solis rumbled under me. My heart raced and matched the galloping movement of my hips.
“That’s my girl, Peacock.”
The thought of being his pressed me harder. I rode faster, and an eruption struck. The lightning began, crawling from my toes up to my knees. I raced onward, and the thundering sensation built, gathering between my thighs and rumbling low in my belly.
“Solis,” I screamed as the heat burst into bolts of light, striking and igniting me. I saw stars, sparkling and speckling, as I rained over him. He stilled beneath me, holding my hips hard, locking me to him, while groaning my name. He was my other half, and joined in this manner, we were one. My eyes stared at where he curled inside me, and I marveled at the wonder of feeling so complete. His own release reached its pinnacle and I shivered at the sensation of him showering within me. The control I’d had over this man empowered me. I felt alive and energized, but my shaky arms collapsed, and I fell on top of him. We weathered the storm of one another and the afterglow misted down my spine, as tender fingers and soothing water fell along my back.
“Veva, I…”
I love you, I wanted to interrupt. I love you, I wanted to hear.
“I…” His hesitation ripped my heart in two, but the rest of me was too replete to care. “I’ve never felt anything like this before. Is it strange that from the first moment I met you, there was a familiarity with you, as if I knew you? You complete me, and this isn’t some cheesy movie line. You are my other half. My destiny. My sunshine on a cloudy day.”
My eyes closed as I pressed a kiss to his chest, the racing of his heart kissing me back under his skin. He’d bared his soul to me, but I remained quiet in my fear. Absorbing the words, I let them caress me, and hoped beyond hope they were true.
SOLIS
“Today’s the final day of festivities,” I said as I rubbed over her body with a lush towel to dry her beautiful skin. Looking up at her face reflected in the mirror, I wanted to capture the glow of her cheeks forever. I couldn’t imagine a color so pure, so satiated, so stunning.
“It’s Sunday. Zeke’s last call to worship him,” I snorted. “He’ll expect everyone to be present.”
“Hades can’t be, though, can he?”
My eyes found hers in the reflecting glass.
“He could. But he won’t let me give him my powers again.” She nodded like she understood, but I didn’t know how much of the story Veva believed.
“And those powers are?” Her teasing tone brightened her face.
“The only power you need be concerned with is letting me please you.” Her mouth opened forming a subtle O, and I imagined all the ways I’d like those lips to take me, but we had to be on the field soon.
+ + +
Baskets large enough to hold humans filled the grassy space, presently empty of all tents and Olympic games. The hefty puff of air and burst of fire filled the gigantic balloons with the necessary propane gas to lift a dozen gondolas, or baskets, into the sky. The colorful, nylon balloons represented any series of twelve: twelve zodiac signs, twelve months, twelve important people to Zeke. My place was number thirteen. I led Veva to one reserved just for us. Zeke pulled out all the stops to make sure we were alone, but I no longer felt his obligatory babysitting. I wanted to be with Veva night and day, in every way.
“This is frightening, but exciting.” Her voice shook, as I helped her into the gondola. Her delicate hands gripped the basket edge and I recalled Veva’s continued fear of heights. My girl was a brave goddess, though, and she’d temper through this ride to prove to herself, and me, that she could handle the heights to which I’d take her. I looped my arms around her, after setting my camera bag on the floor. Not as proficient with the camera as I was with the paint brush, I still loved to capture images for inspiration. I wanted to capture Veva, but I’d never be able to recreate an image that would do her beauty justice.
I tugged her h
air, twisting it into my fist and lifting it to the top of her head. Placing a kiss on her bare neck, my nose followed, rubbing over the sensitive skin.
“You have the most gorgeous neck.” I kissed her again. “You might want to pin this up or it will blow all over the place.” She twisted to smile back at me, grateful for the suggestion and produced a band to wrap around her hair. The basket jostled and a burst of air into the envelope lifted the gondola off the ground. Her hands tightened on the woven rim, but I pressed her against me with a palm over her stomach, forcing her back to my chest.
“I like you in my sweatshirt.” I rubbed a hand up and down the too-long sleeves covering her arms. It would be colder where we traveled. She shivered, but I didn’t think it was the air temperature.
“I’ll never let you fall. I promise.” I meant the words. I’d never let her go.
“What if I did fall, though?” Her voice shook as she tried to tease me. “What if something tripped me up, and I fell? What if I can’t handle all of this?” She waved a hand at the elaborate estate below us, slipping further and further away. Her question wasn’t literally. She still questioned me and all that she’d learned.
“I’d follow you. Wherever you went, I’d go too.” Her neck twisted, and she looked at me over her shoulder. I leaned forward to kiss her lightly. It wasn’t enough to reassure her, but we had an audience with our pilot, who I hoped was too busy conducting his business to care what I did to Veva.
“I want to make love to you in the sky, Veva,” I groaned, allowing the truth of my thoughts to escape. She sighed, pressing her behind against the solid length straining my zipper. “Not fair, Peacock.” I nipped at her neck, and she giggled.
We floated over the estate, a sprawling ranch shaped like a giant V. The pool reflected upward, centering the outdoor space. For miles, the olive groves stood in rows, stretching out to the ends of the earth. The small wooded area on the property hid my cottage.
