Burnt Road: Dante

by Neal, Toby

  Dante’s fingers relaxed and his hand fell away and left her. Melody glanced at him, and of course, he was looking away, across the water. The line of his profile was perfectly proportioned. The artist in her loved every inch of it.

  How to approach this man, so different, so lovely?

  “Kiss me, Dante.”

  His amber gaze flicked to her face. “You want me to kiss you?”

  “Very much.”

  His powerful, immediate response startled her as he reached out, his movement quick, direct, assertive. Wrapping his hand into her hair he raised to his knees, rising above her, dark curls falling around his face, the sun bright behind him. Dante kissed her boldly, bearing down so that Melody lay back and he followed, his weight heavy on her chest, cutting off her breath, obliterating everything but his touch, helping her find that peace she’d been searching for.

  Their mouths tasted, explored, and caressed.

  Melody wrapped her legs around Dante’s hips and felt his erection between them. He moaned, a sound of longing and anguish. She relished the feel of him against her: powerful, rigid and hard, starving for her.

  She’d never felt so desired in her life.

  Dante rocked and Melody moved with him, lacing her fingers into his long curls, holding him as tightly as he held her, wanting him as much as he wanted her, matching his passion, his hunger, and his strength.

  It was like jumping off a cliff. The power of the wind as she moved through space suffocating, the drop terrifying, and yet the beauty of free falling inspiring.

  Dante groaned and convulsed on top of her, his eyes screwing shut, his mouth open.

  Oh no! He just came in his pants!

  Melody stifled a giggle as Dante arched away, his hands leaving her, his body surging back, an almost comic look of horror on his face.

  “I’m sorry!” Dante breathed rapidly, his eyes darting everywhere but at her as he crab-walked away backwards. Melody followed him, rising onto her knees, chasing him, and caught his ankle.

  “It’s okay. It’s okay. Dante, look at me.” His gaze flickered around and finally found hers. She smiled at him. “Hey, everything is okay.”

  “I’ve never done that before.”

  “Which part?” Melody tried to keep the humor out of her voice. He looked so damn cute, all ruffled and confused, his lips plump from their kissing. And he was still hard. She could see the outline of him through his jeans.

  “Any of it. I’ve never been with anyone. I just couldn’t, before.” He looked down at himself, his face pink with that blush Melody loved so much.

  “Hey. Are you saying that you’re a virgin?”

  Dante nodded. His face burned the brightest she’d ever seen it. His gaze stayed cast down, those thick lashes hiding his golden eyes. He was so innocent. A wave of lust melted her core, shocking her with its power.

  Melody let go of Dante’s ankle and sat back, surprised by her reaction. His virginity made her so hot. She wanted to dirty him up, to make him hers.

  A selfish, possessive thread curled through her gut. Being his first was the sexiest thing she could imagine.

  “I’ve watched videos, though, on how to be a good lover. Not pornography. I hate that ugliness. Tantra. Like that. I hoped I could do it right if I ever liked someone enough. But, I didn’t know you would make me lose control.”

  Melody’s center was throbbing, her nipples aching points. “This all takes practice. Are you willing to learn?”

  Dante looked up and met her gaze. His eyes burned her like the sun at noon. “Teach me to give you pleasure like you give me pleasure.”

  Chapter Nine

  Dante

  Dante was hard again already, even though his body still tingled from the surprise of his untimely accident.

  “I want to go somewhere totally private.” Melody gestured toward the Bronco and the open area with its picnic table. “Because we should be all alone for this.”

  “Yes. Of course. I know a place.” He scooped up the puppies under one arm, and the towel. He grabbed the Walther, too, sliding it into his pocket. “Come with me.”

  Dante took her hand, and led Melody back up the stream to the spot he’d found for bathing. A grotto formed by an overhanging mesquite tree with a small waterfall cascading into a waist-deep pool. “This is where I took a bath.”

  “Beautiful.”

  He spread the towel under the tree on the bank of smooth pebbles and sand, then settled the puppies in a cool little hollow where they curled up.

  “You should rinse off. From, you know.” Melody made a gesture to Dante’s pants.

  Heat flooded his neck. “I will do better next time.”

  “Oh, yes, you will.” Melody smiled at him in that way she had: direct, blinding, confident, as if she were so sure of him. “Undress me. I want us to go into the water together.”

  Dante’s erection pulsed in his jeans and blood thundered in his veins, matching the thrumming of the waterfall. He took hold of the hem of Melody’s tight-fitting T-shirt, the material soft but nothing compared to the silk of her skin underneath it. Sliding the shirt slowly up her body, he lifted it off to drop beside her. He was mesmerized by her round breasts covered in a black lacy bra, her pinkish-brown nipples just visible through the dark material.

  “Touch me,” Melody’s voice was husky. Dante cupped her breasts and bent his head to bite her gently through the lacy cups. He was doing it right, if her moan, or the way she grasped his hair and pulled him closer, was any indication.

  “Take my bra off,” Melody commanded, and he found the little clasp in front and undid it, sighing as her perfect breasts sprang loose into his hands, their nipples hard as currants. He drew one into his mouth, sucking deep. Her breathing was rapid, and she pushed her pelvis toward him. Dante understood and peeled down her pants and panties, switching from one breast to the other with nips, sucks, and tongue swirls like the video Giving Breast Pleasure had shown.

  Melody clutched Dante’s shoulders, his hair, and grabbed his crotch suddenly through his jeans. He jolted back upright with a groan as sensation rocketed through him.

  Melody unzipped his jeans, the sound harsh in the grotto. She tugged them down, and Dante bent forward again, his hands and mouth returning to her breasts, her waist, her collarbones, her neck, her lips. He could not get enough of the sensation of her skin, like sweet satin over the supple pliancy of her strong muscles.

  She clasped him in her hand.

  Dante moaned. “No. I will come again. You, please.”

  “I know how to slow things down.”

  He kicked his jeans off and followed Melody into the pool. The water was chilly and clear, the bottom a colorful tapestry of pebbles that massaged his feet.

  “I found something you will like when I was here before, and I thought of you there.” Dante took Melody’s hand, sighing with relief as the cold water temporarily softened his painful erection, and led her to a smooth rock beside the waterfall, covered by only an inch or so of water. “Sit here.”

  Dante lifted her onto the rock. The waterfall’s song was nowhere near as enticing as her gasp of encouragement and surprise as he dropped to his knees in the water in front of her, spreading her thighs to gaze at her feminine treasures. Because that’s what Melody was like to him in all her glory, precious spicy treasure: gold, frankincense and myrrh.

  Melody clasped Dante’s head and his hair, encouraging him as he explored and tasted her, instructing him with little panting commands and touches of her hands as he licked, sucked, blew and stroked her.

  Dante hadn’t known if he would like the taste, the sensations, but Melody was sweet and delicious. He loved the sounds she made when she lost control, bucking on the rock, tugging at his hair. Oh, he could do this all day.

  Finally Melody slid down into the water with him, kissing him, floating against him. Light touches, silky little pats, not tactile sensations he usually enjoyed. But when she was doing it to him, aah, he loved it. She took hold of him
and her green eyes smiled as she floated over him.

  “I’m going to touch you all over because it gives me pleasure to touch your beautiful body,” she whispered huskily in his ear, and in spite of the cold water, heat surged within Dante. She gave a little tug. “To the towel with you, my young apprentice.”

  He followed her out of the water, admiring everything about her: the elegant line of her back, the sun on the top of her shimmering hair, and the strong, graceful contours of her legs and butt.

  “You are beautiful, Obi-Wan Mistress. I want to learn the ways of the force.”

  Melody laughed. Oh, her laugh was good. “I like it that you know your place, my young Padawan. Now lie on your back. The Mistress wants to see what we have here.”

  She stroked him lightly with her fingertips, touching his pecs, his abs. “God. This body. All mine.” Her hot mouth caressed his nipple. His skin shivered and his nerves jangled. It was like being brushed with static electricity. Goose bumps chased over him as he shuddered, not sure if the feeling was pleasure or pain.

  “I like to be touched harder, firmer. I can learn to like soft touching. With you I can do anything. But I need to get used to it.” Dante’s voice was tight, his breath coming in harsh pants.

  Melody circled his painfully swollen shaft with her warm palm. “I think someone here likes it.”

  She put her mouth on him.

  He bucked upward, groaning, his eyes rolling back. Melody used her hands to hold him down and her mouth to play him like an instrument of torturous, wonderful pleasure.

  Dante lost control, surging up into her mouth. A strangled cry ripped from his throat as his hands clenched in her hair.

  Melody drank him in, making sounds he loved, soft against his ears, like a caress, a pleasure. And finally he collapsed.

  Melody moved up alongside Dante and fitted herself against him, her damp head on his shoulder.

  “That made me hot. Giving you pleasure arouses me. I want you to stroke me. Right here, alongside you. Use your fingers.”

  Dante was dizzy and empty and there was a white buzz in his head, but he tucked Melody against him and rolled up onto his side, sliding his hand between her legs into slick heat.

  She jerked, and he loved making her move and twitch and moan. She was right; it didn’t take long for her to shatter in his arms, arching and crying out his name. It was the sweetest music he’d ever heard.

  Melody tucked her face into the place between his neck and shoulder and clasped him close: firmly, strongly, a real hug that was just right. “Very good first effort.”

  Dante lifted his head to smile down at her. “I have a good teacher.”

  She stroked his face and drew him down to kiss her lips, lazy, leisurely. Satiated.

  Satiated. A new feeling for Dante. He hadn’t realized how wound up he was until he wasn’t anymore. He masturbated, of course, when he had to. Sometimes he came at night, in his sleep. But he had never felt like this before.

  Like Superman.

  Only, ready to take a nap.

  * * *

  A cold breeze off the water woke Dante, along with the snuffling of one of the puppies against his backside. He squeezed Melody. “We should get back to the truck. Set up camp. Get some food.”

  They dressed and walked back, holding hands. Dante wanted to be touching her all the time. He held her hand even when it didn’t make sense, like climbing over boulders. She laughed as he caught hold of a dangling skein of her hair when she let go of his hand to push aside some branches. “What? Afraid I’m going to disappear?”

  “Yes.” His voice was stark.

  Melody turned into him, embracing him, letting him fold her close.

  “Oh, Dante.” Her voice was rich with meaning he couldn’t discern. “You won’t get rid of me that easily.”

  “I can’t lose you.” Dante cleared his throat. Telling the truth too baldly, too soon, was something that had driven would-be friends away. He didn’t want to scare her with his intensity. “Some have said I don’t feel things like other people. It’s true, I don’t. But I feel something now. For you.” He looked out at the site where the truck was parked so he couldn’t see her eyes. It was too much for him to look at her. “I hope you will not be angry at me for being different, and leave me.”

  There. He’d told her his deepest fear.

  Melody slid her hands around his shoulders and up his neck. She filled her fists with his curls and tugged his head down so he had to look into her eyes. They were dark green, which was a good sign to him. Dark green meant satisfied, feeling good. “Oh, my sweet boy, I will try my best to understand you. If you will try to understand me.”

  “I will study you and learn everything there is to know about you,” Dante promised.

  Melody laughed, and smacked his chest. “I’ve never been someone’s lab project before. Let’s find some firewood.”

  Evening came quickly in the high desert. One moment the air was warm, the sunset casting a red glow over everything, and the next, stars poked holes through the black ceiling of sky as their little fire burned down. Dante pulled Melody closer, tucking in the sleeping bag he’d put around her and the puppies, snoring in her lap. Their bellies were full of reconstituted veggies and meat with a few handfuls of trail mix for dessert.

  Looking out across the starlit water, Dante felt something totally unfamiliar. It was a sense of rightness, a buoyant feeling, like anything was possible—but that this moment, in all of time, was perfect. A glow filled his brain.

  Was this happiness?

  Like satiety, he had never known it quite this way.

  He’d had moments, growing up: singing on his birthday with his whole family there. His godlike oldest brother Luca swinging him around and around, laughing. But this was deeper, more profound. Putting a name to it was challenging.

  Dante suspected it was happiness.

  He tipped Melody’s chin up to kiss her some more. He could kiss her and worship her body all day. In fact, that’s what he planned to do tonight, and tomorrow, too, if he could convince her they needed another day of “rest” here in the canyon.

  Melody pulled away from the kiss at last, touching his lips with a finger. “Your lips are getting raw. And my neck, too.” She showed him the redness where his emerging beard had irritated her skin.

  “I will shave. I have a razor.” Dante started to rise, instantly contrite. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

  “No.” She laughed, tugging him down again. “It feels good, in moderation. Let’s just take a little time out until morning, okay? Anticipation is the spice of life.”

  “That is what tantra is about. Anticipation. Unfolding.”

  “I like that you know that.” Melody’s eyes shone with that expression he was realizing meant she was turned on by something he said. “I’m beginning to think that you are going to be a truly star pupil.” She looked down, fiddling with Abigail’s ear. Silence passed between them, comfortable, allowing the whisper of the wind in the canyon and the stirring of the river.

  “When did you know you were different?” Melody’s voice was quiet, almost like she was an extension of the canyon’s beauty and peace.

  “First grade. When I got my diagnosis.” Dante told her the story of the doctor’s office. “Mama explained it to me as best she could then, that my body and mind processed information differently than other people did, that I had a condition. It made more sense as I got older. But I studied people. I was able to do well in school academically. And when I found computers…” He shrugged. “It is my language.”

  “Did you ever have a girlfriend?” Melody softly stroked his hand and arm.

  Dante’s skin shuddered and his nipples tightened. She was getting him used to light touching. She was a quick learner, too. Dante fought the urge to move away or grab her tightly, choosing to be still. “I have had many girls approach me, acting interested. I have liked some, too. I didn’t want to get to be this age and still be a virgin, but I couldn’t han
dle the touching and left at the critical time.”

  “I bet you broke a lot of hearts.”

  He frowned. “I would never do that on purpose.”

  Melody continued stroking his arms, his side, his abs and his thighs. Gradually his tiny body hairs settled, the alarm bells set off by the brushing sensation calming and quieting.

  Dante remembered to ask Melody about herself. “And you?” He usually didn’t care enough, or forgot to ask other people about themselves. “Did you have a boyfriend?”

  Melody laughed, but it wasn’t a happy sound. It came out metallic and hard, like a pebble rattling in a tin pot. “Yes, I’ve had boyfriends.” She sighed, her voice growing quieter. “I had a bad experience.” She turned in his arms, shying away from him. “I’ve never really been serious with anyone. I was raped in high school and that has made relationships hard for me.”

  Dante tightened his arms around her, drawing the sleeping bag over her protectively as his mind filled with awful images from movies. He had to be careful what he watched; it was in his mind forever once he’d seen it.

  Someone had done a terrible thing to Melody. It was unacceptable.

  “I will find him and kill him,” Dante vowed quietly. “What’s his name? Where does he live?”

  She laughed again. There was a tremble of tears in the sound, but it was more genuine. “I somehow knew you would say that. Thankfully, someone else killed him already. But it’s made things tough for me with men. I value my independence and that’s hard for a lot of guys.”

  Dante wasn’t sure what to say. Should he ask her more? Maybe she didn’t want to talk about it. She was stiff in his arms, like she wasn’t there at all, like memories were holding her hostage. When Dante was a child and had a bad dream his mother would always ask him about it. She said that once you spoke it out loud, it lost its power. Maybe Melody wanted to talk about it.