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Day 69 – Juliet
We awoke slowly and made love a second time in the night, ignoring the potential danger outside the cave. There seemed to be a sense of urgency to our love making. His plea had snapped me out of my shock. His apology unleashed my emotions. His love made each touch that much more special. We explored with frenzied hands and hungry mouths during the second round, and just when I thought I was satisfied, I’d find I was starving for him again. It was as if we knew the time in the cave was limited, and we didn’t wish to rest. While we both wanted to stay forever, the storm would subside, the day would break, and reality would return. Only we couldn’t have predicted how quickly.
Tack scoped out the damage, returning to inform me the sun was shining. While the sky still looked angry in the distance, we were surrounded in blue calm.
“I think we need to go down and assess what remains.” He said the words in a business manner, and I had a brief glimpse of the tycoon he was, but then his mouth took mine again. We kissed, a desperate work of his lips molding and sculpting mine. His hand cupped my jaw in that tender, protective way he had, and I savored his touch, his kiss, and the way his body connected with mine.
“I just can’t get enough of you,” he added, whispering the words close to my lips so I could taste them, inhale them. I was high on him, intoxicated by what we’d done the night before. The thought of him filling me made me wet and longing.
“How’s your head?” I hadn’t given it a thought. A thick scab formed to protect my skin from the nasty gash I’d felt with my fingers the night before. Tracing over it with his finger, he reached forward and tenderly kissed a path over it. “You’re beautiful,” he assured me, in spite of the fact we both knew it might scar.
He rolled away from me, taking his warmth and his nakedness. I stared after him, admiring his body that fit with mine in a way I didn’t think any man’s body ever would. He’d been gentle while eager, passionate while savage. He nipped, and sucked, and licked me everywhere. I shivered at the thought. I watched him dress, and then took the hint to cover myself, thankful we each had a clean, dry set of clothing. We packed up our belongings. With each motion, each item, a slow sadness sank within me. Disappointment wasn’t the word. Grief, possibly. Something big, monumental, seemed over, and I couldn’t shake the growing dread. It’s nothing, I told myself. We still had months together, but as we crossed the entrance to the cave and slowly descended the rocks, the sensation pressed heavier than the wind from the storm.
Trees were scattered—some broken while others remained unscathed. We had to climb over a few fallen ones, and skate carefully down muddy paths using loose limbs to guide us.
We’d just reached another large trunk crossing our path when a call came up the mountain.
“Juliet.” My name rose distant and weak, but definite. Tack and I both froze before the fallen tree.
“Lillian?” I questioned softly, my heart suddenly racing. They’d come for me, but they were early. I turned to Tack, his eyes wide, worried, and questioning. He stepped toward me and cupped my chin.
“They’ve come because of the storm,” I said to assure both him and me. Our fifteen-day visit wasn’t due for a few more days.
“I’m not ready,” he said, his eyes searching mine before his mouth crushed my lips. Our teeth actually clashed as the force was so intense. I struggled under his hold, groaning his name against his mouth.
“Just one,” he whispered, pulling back briefly and then returning to my mouth with his, gentler this time. Tears sprang behind my closed lids. Just one what? I thought.
He answered me with his manner. His hands began to fumble with the buttons at my shirt. His other hand reached for my shorts.
“My way,” he muttered against my lips. “Just once.” The words were aggressive, said through clenched teeth, but I didn’t fear him. I swallowed his fear instead. Something bothered him, and his body vibrated with the same tension I’d felt while packing our things. My hands covered his cheeks, and I tugged his mouth to mine. He pulled back and spun me.
“Hands on the log,” he demanded, and I did as he said, letting him command me with his need. My shorts were tugged to the ground and his hand slipped inside my open shirt, digging under tank and bra for skin. His fingers found my nipple and pinched while he fumbled with his own shorts behind me. The clank of a belt. The rip of a zipper. Warm length pressed against my cool ass.
“I love you,” he murmured into my neck, and I was overcome with sensation. Two fingers rolled my nipple, one finger parted my folds, and suddenly he entered me without warning. I lunged forward a bit, my elbows breaking my balance.
“Sweet Jesus,” he muttered as his hands gripped my hips, and he tugged me back while he pushed forward, pressing deeper into me than I’d ever felt someone before. “You have no idea how beautiful you look like this. Drawing me in. You’ve opened for me, let me in, and I can’t let you go.” His voice cracked and I tried to look over my shoulder, but the insistent hammering distracted me, forcing me to face forward. A hand slipped between my thighs, then traveled upward for the pearl of flesh he liked to circle.
“Don’t scream,” he warned, knowing I could be loud, and they’d hear me from below. They were here. The thought seemed to come to us collectively as he thrust faster, harder, deeper, and I pressed back, drawing him in, clutching at his length, begging him with my body to stay attached to me. Don’t let me go, I whispered through sharp exhalations, but no sound escaped my lips.
“Mouse,” he warned, as he increased the pace, thrusting into me while his thumb played with me. I crashed, my knees buckling, as the release came from deep inside me. He pressed me forward and my arms draped over the thick trunk. The angle shifted the depth of him and he slid through heavy wetness before forcing me forward with the thrust of his stillness. He leaned over my back, pressing his forehead to my shoulder blade as he pulsed inside me and I reveled in the aftershocks of his release.
“I love you,” he kissed over my back.
“I love you,” I said through harried breaths. The words seemed a farewell.
+ +
“Let me go with you,” he said, as we descended the mountain. We drew closer to the tree house, but still distant enough we couldn’t be seen yet. The cries of my name grew louder, more insistent, and spreading as Lillian seemed to travel in one direction and Franco in the other.
“I haven’t ever mentioned you to Lillian. I don’t think she would receive it well if you suddenly showed up with me. I’ll be okay. Let me go down to them and then I’ll come find you after they leave.” We had stopped walking as he paused us with his hand on my arm. He stepped closer to me.
“I don’t like this.”
I shrugged. “They’ve only come to check on me. Make sure I survived the storm.” I tipped up on my toes and kissed him briefly.
“I’ll find you,” I said, pushing back on his chest as I took a step backward. In that moment, I memorized his face for some reason. Moss green eyes alight with concern, sparkled with something I hadn’t noticed before in them. His skin was tan, and his lips full from our kissing. He licked at the bottom one and sucked it in, exposing a hint of his white teeth. He reached out for me again, catching my arm and tugging me back to him for another soul-rocking kiss. His mouth was my heaven, and I smiled at the thought, with my lips over his. He let me go, joining my smile, his expression confirming we shared a secret.
“I’ll find you,” I said again, waved once and turned for the brush.
“I’ll be waiting,” he whispered. His eyes pressed on my back until I disappeared. It was as if I felt the exact moment he could no longer see me. I took a deep breath.
“Lillian,” I called out, feeling my heart collapse with grief.