The intensity of his concentration on her pleasure centers transcended the physical and a part of her felt like she was floating in an ocean of moonlight. The craving to carpet the floor with their clothing and make him part of her was driving Hero mad. The first true moan escaped her as his teeth sank gently into the lobe of her left ear.
His hands began to trace her contours against as his lips rediscovered hers. His fingers stopped just above her knee. The hem of her dress draped over his wrist. The pause was tentative, as if he was asking if she was certain she was willing. Her answer was short and almost irritated as she grabbed his wrist and yanked it up to her thigh. At the same time she expressed her irritation by biting his lower lip, firmly, but not painfully. She felt him smile and kissed him hard. His fingers continued their journey upward, the tips of his fingers sliding up under the lace trimmed boycut bloomers where the cloth covered the rise of her pelvic bone. He slid them down the inside edge, touching her so lightly it was maddening. When they slipped down between her thighs and encountered the dampness that had soaked through the cloth, his eyebrows shot up and he paused mid-kiss.
“Wow,” he murmured, then leaned to kiss her neck again.
“What did you expect?” Hero said in a husky voice in his ear. “The entire day has been one giant fucking round of foreplay.” She rocked her hips against his hand, eager to feel his fingers on her. It was pleasantly frustrating when he slipped them away. Xander gathered her undergarments in one hand on each side, her skirts baring long stretches of leg, and dropped to her ankles. One foot, then the other lifted out of them and she kicked off to the side. She had to kick a few times, as they caught on a heel before flying off into the half-light.
“I want you,” she growled into a fierce kiss.
“Good things come to those who wait,” he murmured playfully.
Hero wasn’t certain how someone could be so obnoxious and so damned sexy at the same time. Her train of thought derailed completely, however, as his hand found its way back up her skirt, and fingertips trailed over the smooth skin of her pelvis and found what they were looking for.
A sudden intake of breath told Xander he had found the right spot. Hero quickly found it harder to stand as his fingers shifted and rolled against her. A thrill like lightning ran through her body as a fingertip came into direct contact with the bundle of nerves tied directly to the pleasure centers in her brain. Her legs started to shake. The feeling grew more and more intense as the lightning struck once, then twice, then a third time. Her lover grinned as her hands clutched his shoulders for stability and her forearms pressed against his chest. Soft cries escaped from her throat as the storm gathered inside of her and he bent to find the sensitive skin of her neck again. Hero’s whole body began to quiver as her muscles fought to stay upright and give into the mounting pressure at the same time. Just when she thought she could bear the intensity no longer, the storm broke, like a supernova. A rain of stars exploded through every cell. For a moment she thought she could taste them as they danced over her tongue and rushed down to her toes. The rain beat without pause for a few moments, coursing through her as her heart thundered in her chest.
Her arms wrapped around Xander’s neck and she leaned against him to keep upright, breathing deep and heavy to catch her breath. He slowly, tenderly, unzipped her dress and slipped it to the floor. Every brush of satin against her skin felt suddenly like a light wind blowing through the room. She closed her eyes and felt the trail of his fingertips on her skin long after they had slid the dress from one curve to another. Touch had always been something that had brought hands, fingertips, and the careful dipping of a toe into water to mind before. Now, every inch of her seemed to be as alive and sensitive as the pad of one of her fingertips. All her nerves were awake, bright and eager for Xander’s touch.
He easily undid the clasp of her strapless bra with a slow snapping motion of the fingers of one hand and pulled it from between them. He cast it aside with a flick of his wrist. Hero reached for his pants to undo them and strip him down to match her. Before she could, he swept her into his arms and lay her back on his bed.
“I’m not done with you,” he whispered in her ear.
The resulting rush of warmth surprised her. She had not thought it was possible to get more turned on than she already was. Who was this man? How did he see horizons in her she’d never imagined and push her body past limits she didn’t even know she had?
Xander traced kisses down the center of her chest, passing between the rise of her breasts and lingering along her ribs. When a kiss made her gasp and her back arch, he dwelt there for a while, testing her reactions. His lips created a trail of sensation to the base of her ribs, then followed the line of them up to her sternum and back down the other side. For Hero the experience began to transcend the physical as her lover made an altar of her self and worshipped there. Every kiss on her still tingling skin rippled through her entire body, sustaining the effects of the supernova rain he had set off inside her. Yet it was his care and devotion that truly enhanced and intensified his touch. Not for the first time she felt like the only woman in the world in his arms. She was the complete focus and intention in a way that made her feel more than real. Pressure began to rebuild against the already weakened dam that held back the cascade of ecstasy that had already flooded through her once.
By the time his tongue found the hollow of her hip bone, the pressure had become an ocean that lapped against the top of the dam. Xander could feeling it in the tension of her muscles and intentionally skirted along the inside of thigh, though her breath came quick and hard all the same. Her hips lifted toward him in anticipation. His trailing stopped, and he paused, planting kisses at what seemed like random, maddening intervals to Hero. With each pause, the floodwaters receded from the edge of the dam. With each kiss, they rushed back to the top faster and faster.
When his kisses finally found their way, he was rewarded by a deep moan and an arched back that pressed her hips hard against his open mouth. A flick of his tongue deepened that arch. He traced small circles that dashed heavy, stormswept waves of pleasure against the barrier that kept them from spilling through her veins. As he continued, the waves crashed harder and faster until finally her back rose and her shoulders and feet became a bridge over the sheets. He supported her with his hands on the small of her back. Her cries of pleasure broke the night so loudly that Xander was glad they were high in the tower, away from the rest of the house. With a final, deep caress, she lifted away from his hands.
“Oh my god, oh, god, Xander. . .” Hero called out, slapping one hand over her mouth to muffle the sound before collapsing back onto the bed. She grabbed his shoulders as he started to taste her again and pulled him up to kiss her, ignoring the tang on his tongue.
“Stop. I need a break,” she said to him. “It’s too much.”
She felt him grin proudly as he kissed her again. “You’re incredible,” she told him.
“I’m a little rusty, actually. Sorry,” he joked. At least, Hero thought he was joking. The way she felt at the moment, she couldn’t really imagine what it would be like if he wasn’t.
Hero lay against him with her head on his chest and a leg wrapped through his. A thought occurred to her.
“I have a question,” she told him, her tone serious.
“What’s that?” he asked.
“Why are you still wearing pants?” she asked, making it sound like the most offensive thing in the world.
He laughed. “I was a little distracted,” he answered.
“Take them off. Now,” she demanded, untangling herself.
He obeyed. Shoes, socks, and pants followed one after the other to the floor. In the moonlight he appeared to be carved of marble. Adonis indeed, she thought. She found herself wondering if Michaelangelo had ever carved an Adonis, or if he’d only stuck with Davids.
When Xander lay back down with her she took him in hand and was not disappointed by the way he filled her grip. As hard as he was
, she was impressed with his self-control. Even Brian, when he and Hero had discovered together that he really was gay, was more eager to skip straight to having sex than Xander seemed to be.
“I want you,” he whispered in her ear as he kissed her neck lightly.
“What, only now?” she teased, flexing her hand as she did.
He laughed that quiet laugh of his, though his pelvis responded. “Since we first danced,” he breathed. Hero smiled as he lay her back and took her with careful, easy strokes. With an explosive exhalation as he filled her, she discovered she had been holding her breath in anticipation.
“You’re perfect,” he murmured as she held him tight inside her.
“We are,” she responded.
* * *
Xander lay awake in the sweaty aftermath of their lovemaking, the sheets and covers of his bed spilling over their feet and pouring off the bed to the floor in a waterfall of cloth. Hero cuddled up against him, asleep on his shoulder. He reveled in the warmth of her bare skin and the feeling of her legs laced through his. She wasn’t his first, but he had never experienced what it meant to make love before. It wasn’t so much that the actions were different, but the emotions he and Hero shared left him satisfied in a way he’d never felt. His past experiences seemed empty in comparison.
“I love you,” he said to her softly, lifting his head to kiss the top of hers. She stirred in her sleep and cuddled closer, but did not wake. He smiled and lay back, at ease. Thoughts and fantasies of the future, intimate and otherwise, ran through his head. He wasn’t particularly tired, in spite of the late hour. As long as he made it through the first five to ten minutes after, he usually found he had more energy than before. Normally it made him rather playful, but with Hero asleep and snuggled up against him, he was content to let his mind play while his body rested.
Eventually false dawn begin to break through the night and Xander’s eyelids grew heavy. He forced himself out of the warmth and comfort of lying with Hero and gently roused her.
“What?” she asked, not really awake.
“Morning is coming, you should go to the guest room.”
“Something, something nightingale,” she grumbled, trying to pull him back down to become her pillow once more.
“I thought it was my job to quote Shakespeare,” he laughed.
“Stupid lark,” she replied, pushing herself up with a feline languidness that sent a thrill through Xander. He ignored it and helped her collect her clothes. She slipped into her dress and clutched the rest in one hand.
“Isn’t Romeo supposed to be the one slipping out of Juliet’s room? Wherefore am I Romeo?” she muttered, still grouchy.
Xander’s eyebrows raised, impressed. Most people thought Juliet was actually wondering about Romeo’s whereabouts and were not aware the word meant “why”.
“Because I don’t think we want the same ending they had,” he replied.
Hero stood up on her toes and kissed him. She kept her lips closed. Love him or not, she was not going to share her dragonbreath with him.
“Good point. I love you, Xander.”
“I love you too, Hero. I’ll see you at breakfast.”
“Oh, god. I forgot about that.”
“Yeah, we have to meet your parents at 9:30, remember?”
“That’s a terrible idea. Whose idea was that?”
“Yours, actually.”
She muttered something Xander couldn’t make out. She kissed him again and said goodnight, then snuck downstairs. He went back to bed and fell asleep quickly.
* * *
Jaimie and Leana were asleep in the queen bed in the guest room when Hero quietly slipped into the room and closed the door behind her. The click of the latch sounded like a gunshot to her, and she winced, but neither of her friends moved. Hero crawled into the bed next to Jaimie and Jaimie scooted over to make room.
“Well, how was it?” Jaimie asked, determined to make Hero pay for waking her up.
“Mrrm,” Hero answered.
“Hero?” Jaimie demanded.
“Mmm,” Hero said and pretended to fall asleep, not reacting when Jaimie jostled her shoulder in an attempt to get an answer. It did not take long before pretense became reality.
Pacific
It was one of those rare perfect days that gave the Pacific Ocean its name. The sun shone down fiercely on the placid water as it rippled gently to the shore. The waves, if one wanted to call them that, barely broke an inch above the surface as they splashed gently against the pylons of the Brighton House dock. It was Thursday, and Xander had taken the day off between projects to have an early dinner with Hero and her friends at La Hacienda Noble. Afterward The Coven would go dancing at Hellespont as was their habit on Thursday nights. Hep Catz Alive was playing for the second time this summer and Xander was looking forward to seeing his friends again.
Life was just about perfect. Or at least it seemed that way to Xander as he rowed across the bay. Sweat poured off his brow and the muscles of his chest as the oars dipped and dived. The trip had been smooth, only jarred by the occasional ripple of a passing motorboat. His shirt lay folded on the empty seat in front of him.
About three quarters of the way to Hero’s dock, Xander’s attention was drawn to three jet skis as they roared straight in his direction. He had a pretty good idea who was piloting the machines, and stopped rowing to tuck his shirt up underneath the seat in case Jeremy decided to be clever. Sure enough, while two of the watercraft slowed down as they approached, the third sped up. Xander sighed a little, then laughed. It was hot enough that he would probably be dry again by the time he got to Hero’s and after the workout of rowing, he had planned to swim before going inside anyway.
As Jeremy sped toward him, Xander started to wonder if the kid was going to be able to stop in time. The jet ski was barreling forward at breakneck speed. Just in case, he braced himself to jump. At the last possible moment, Jeremy turned the machine and braked, much as he had with Hero at the beginning of summer. The resulting wake crashed against Xander’s tiny rowboat, rocking it dangerously. An idea quickly formed in Xander’s mind and as it rocked he grabbed the edge as if to stabilize himself and pulled it over.
The little boat floated upside down on the once again calm water, no sign of Xander anywhere. He popped up into the air pocket after falling into the bay and pulled his body up so his legs wouldn’t be visible in the water. He could hear as the other two jet skis pulled up and Jaimie and Leana started to yell at Jeremy.
“Umm, guys, where’s Xander?” he heard Brian’s voice ask.
“Oh shit,” Jeremy’s voice said.
The girls began to call his name and Xander imagined them scanning the water for him. He smirked to himself and waited. He felt a little bad about making the rest worry, but Jeremy deserved a lesson.
He held on in the semi-dark of the upturned boat and waited. Not long after the others arrived he heard the splash he was waiting for. He craned his neck around to get a look in the water. A man’s form dove underneath him and as it passed, he let go and dropped into the water on top of it. A flurry of bubbles shot to the surface as a panicked Jeremy struggled and cried out. Xander popped up to the surface and with one hand on the boat and the other around Jeremy’s arm, pulled him up.
Jeremy sputtered and coughed and held on to the rowboat as fiercely as he would have if they’d been shipwrecked in a storm. Xander swam over to Jeremy’s jet ski and climbed on. Evan and Brian laughed.
“Oh man, that was pretty good,” Evan said to Xander.
“Thanks,” Xander said with a smile.
“I was worried about you!” Leana protested from where she sat behind Jaimie on one of the jet skis.
“I know, I’m sorry. I just figured one dick move deserved another.” He paused. “Jeremy, are you alright?” he asked the still sputtering teen.
“Jesus Christ, dude. I thought you were a fucking shark!”
“Jeremy!” Leana protested, for a very different reason this time.
“Uh, sorry, babe,” he said bashfully.
Xander looked at Jaimie.
“Men,” Jaimie said, rolling her eyes and gunning her jet ski. She and Leana sped off toward La Hacienda.
“I think she was waiting for her cue,” Xander said to no one in particular.
“That’s my girl,” Evan replied with a peculiar smile.
Brian nodded once in response to both comments.
“Can I have my jet ski back?” Jeremy asked from where he was treading water while holding on to the rowboat.
“Sure, as soon as we find my oars. In the meantime, why don’t you flip the boat back over so I can use it for something other than a life preserver.”
* * *
The boys all walked up the stairs to the patio of La Hacienda together, talking and laughing. The girls were putting the food on a glass table already set with summer plates and glasses. Hero paused and gave Xander a quick kiss as he walked up to greet her.
“Can you and Brian get the lemonade and tea from the kitchen?” she asked. “Brian knows the way.”
“Sure,” Xander accepted with a shrug. He gestured for Brian to lead the way.
“That was pretty smooth,” Brian said as they stepped inside.
“What’s that?” Xander asked.
“Oh, the whole thing with Jeremy. That boat of yours is so tiny, I thought he’d really knocked you over.”
“Oh, yeah. I think it’s a little sturdier than that. I just wanted him to think that maybe the stupid shit he does might have consequences.”
“He’s a good guy, just doesn’t think things through all the time.”
The West Wind Page 14
