17
Bea
I loved being back at the lake again; visiting for only a second time but feeling a real sense of belonging, even though I knew that Damon had made the water his own. If he was willing to share it with me, then I suppose I was free to think of it as my haven too, and he was certainly doing all he could to make me feel like that.
The evening was not an official date as such this time, with the offer having been voiced as an idea of a chance getaway circumstance might otherwise deny me for an unforeseeable amount of time. The lake was a respite for me, just as it had always been to Damon…but it was clearly serious respite. Not only had I gone to the effort of getting all dressed up, but Damon had obviously visited the lake recently, stocking the boat up for whatever comfort and nourishment we would need. There was some wine again, as well as snacks and blankets. This time he was going even further, however, and after we’d sailed out to the lake’s center once more, Damon got to work lighting several candles that would offer extra visibility by the time the light had truly faded from the sky. Though we weren’t far from the coast, the wind was only very light and so the lake’s surface was still enough not to disrupt the tiny flames that now surrounded us. The candles added a special air, as if to enter our little circle demanded permission.
The only slight interruption was when a bird of some kind happened to fly close to us, and that brought my attention to another source of delight. Last time it had been too dark to see, but there were numerous herons and egrets nesting about the lake’s verges. It was reassuring to see that nature could thrive so close to the big city, in spite of mankind’s environmental impact, and further endorsed the tranquility of the place. I didn’t imagine the lake could seem any more beautiful than it had on my first visit, but witnessing the location in a different light only enchanted my mind even more, and I was so grateful that Damon had shared the place with me.
“This is just like last time, only even better,” I said, sitting down next to Damon with a wine glass in hand. “How can that be? I must have been in a daze or something.”
“No,” he replied. “This is a clearer night; an astronomer’s dream. Every night sky looks different; every sunset too.”
“You really are made for a life on the water,” I said, giving him a playful nudge. “Maybe you should try writing poetry, after all.”
“Only if I wanted to embarrass myself. Anyway, all the poetry is up there without words, although there is one thing from last time which seems to be missing.”
“What’s that?”
His eyes glimmered with mischief. “A kiss.”
I turned to look him in the eyes, and reaching forward, our lips met for the second time, lingering longer than the last because the evening was still young and there was no pressure to decide how it should conclude yet. Damon must have felt similarly at ease, as the only further advance he made was to put his arm around me.
When we broke apart, which I found we had to do so as to hold off a growing case of wandering hands syndrome, I nuzzled up towards his chest instead, retrieved my glass of wine and sat looking out at the water.
“Do you need to talk about your problems at home?” Damon asked. “I wouldn’t pry, but I’ve almost become part of the furniture now, in a way. It might be useful to know how to respond to any tantrums your father might throw.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Tantrums? Do you seriously think my father would let his guard down and raise his voice in front of non-family members?”
“He’s reaching higher this time. Who knows? If the campaign goes bad…”
“Then he’ll store it up inside and wait for you all to be sent away before letting all the steam come out of his ears.”
“You were saying the other day he’s not the best man in the world. Aren’t you going to convince me he’s worth voting for?”
“Ha! That’s your call to make,” I replied, then, more thoughtfully, decided to try to and sum up my discontent while being more sympathetic than I really felt towards my father’s perspective. “I don’t know…he does what he thinks is best, but you know, we have our troubles. I haven’t always been treated in the best way. I usually feel like I’m nothing more than a doll that he wants to show off to the world; that I’m the one responsible for making him look good in the eyes of the public and when I’m not meeting that image, he abuses and rejects me.”
“You mean how he shouts at you and belittles you, right?”
I shook my head. “Not just that. He used to hit me when I was a child. He hadn’t done it for ages, but then the other night he tried to slap me. That was just before our first date.”
“What?” he said, his expression darkening. “Why didn’t you tell me? I knew he was a prick from what you’d told me, but I had no idea he was that bad.”
I shrugged. “It’s not like he seriously attacks me to the point where I’m in hospital, or anything like that. He grew up in a very strict, conservative household. He sees slapping me around a bit as him simply disciplining his child.”
“That doesn’t make it any better, Bea. If he ever touches you again…”
He didn’t finish the sentence, but I knew how it ended anyway.
“You don’t need to take care of me like that,” I said quietly. “But thanks.”
“Well, who else will stick up for you if I don’t?” he said. “You never really stick up for yourself against him.”
“I do,” I mumbled, but I knew it wasn’t true.
He tilted my chin up to look at him again. “No, you don’t, and it’s not your fault. I know why you turned out the way you are. Almost impossible not to with the kind of controlling father you have. But you need to stand up to him, Bea.”
“I know. I’m trying.”
He nodded. “Good. You deserve to know what it’s like to make your own decisions in life.”
He was right. Honestly, I was being a bit of a hypocrite—I worked at a legal aid office which helped women get out of abusive situations, and yet I couldn’t seem to escape my own by standing up to my overly-controlling father.
But having Damon here, telling me to stand up for myself…that made me feel a little stronger, as if I could actually do it when the time came.
“How about your family?” I said at last, feeling the matter of my father had been allowed to intrude too much on our wonderful evening already.
Damon sighed. “That isn’t a pleasant story,” he replied, after a pause, “and I wouldn’t discuss it with many people, but I’ll tell you, of course.”
“You don’t have to tell me if it’s too hard,” I said.
He shook his head. “No, I want you to know me,” he said. “Anyway, my father was an abusive alcoholic. My mother wasn’t perfect either, but she didn’t deserve what happened. He killed her one night and might have tried to kill us if we hadn’t escaped.”
“Us?”
“My sister and me. We were teenagers without a home and, though I tried to stay out of trouble at first, I can’t claim to have been a saint, Bea. I ended up getting involved in some pretty shitty things. I told myself it was the only way to earn a living, but I was just a kid, so I didn’t account for how difficult it would be to tear myself free of it. At the same time, I can’t make any excuses…Felicia managed to stay out of it and, looking back, I wish I had her strength.”
“Felicia?” I said, my forehead wrinkling as something began to dawn on me. I’d heard this story before.
“My sister. Someone who made the best out of a bad hand she was dealt.”
“And became a social worker?”
“What’s that?” Damon asked, and I thought I felt his body tense a little.
“I heard an almost identical story from my new manager at the office. Her name is Felicia. We had coffee and…”
“What did she tell you?” he asked abruptly.
“That her brother had fallen into a bit of a life of crime when he was a teenager, and he wanted to get out but found it dragging him back. That’s you, isn’t it? Felicia’s your sister? The head of the legal aid office I work at.”
“Yeah. She got promoted a few days ago,” he replied, his shoulders seemingly slumping with relief, which made me wonder if there was more to the story that he didn’t want me to know. “I can’t believe I didn’t realize you worked at the same place till now.”
“Oh, Damon, she’s brilliant. I’ve never known a member of management to be so popular. Of course it helps that she’s replaced a complete–”
“How much have you heard from her, Bea?” he asked again, cutting me off.
I put my hand on his shoulder. “Only a sad story, Damon; nothing in depth. I’m not about to judge you. I get it.”
“Bea, I couldn’t…”
“Couldn’t what?”
“I couldn’t just tell you all that when we’d only just met. I don’t want to keep things from you, but…well…”
I nodded. “I understand.”
“You’re not worried?”
I wasn’t. Just because he had done bad things in the past didn’t make him a bad person, and he’d never treated me with anything other than respect.
“Let me show you how not worried I am,” I said, leaning up to kiss him again, more firmly this time as I felt the passion growing in my chest, which was now pressed against his. We were so close that it would’ve been absurd for Damon to resist putting his hands on me, and I felt one of them on my left arm, the other on my right hip as we parted for a moment and held each other’s gaze. The kiss had answered his question, but I was also offering myself to him.
I was ready.
Encircled by candlelight in the middle of the lake, I kneeled on the blanket as Damon slipped off my dress. His lips were on my neck and my skin tingled wherever his fingers touched, blending with the thrill of feeling the breeze on my bare skin. I felt his hands on my breasts as his kisses moved down the curve of my back, and then I couldn’t hold back any longer.
Damon’s clothes and my underwear disappeared in a fevered sweep of hands. I was already wet at the thought of how bad I was being—sleeping with a man I not only deeply cared about, but someone who worked for my father—and I straddled him as he sat back on the boat, stroking myself over his cock in slow glides.
He grabbed my breasts and fondled them, tweaking my stiff nipples with his thumb and forefinger. Jolts of electricity shot through my system at his touch, and I moaned softly. “Oh…Damon…”
I heard the rip of a foil packet as he opened a condom and slid the protection down over himself, and I curved my body into his hands, moving myself closer to where I wanted to be the most. A heavy need ached in my chest, burning through my veins as I lifted my hips and grabbed his rock hard cock with one hand.
I placed him at my entrance, and he pulsed in my hand, hot and already slick with my arousal. Looking straight into his eyes, I pressed down, and I let out a gasp as he groaned. With every inch of him that slid into me, my body burned even hotter, and I dug my nails into his shoulders as I clung to him, using his strong body for leverage.
He matched my gaze, and a whole world of communication echoed between us without a single word. His hands slid down from my breasts to the curve of my hips, and he held me as I bounced up and down on him, crying out from the delicious fullness. The feeling of being stretched overwhelmed all my senses, and Damon’s thumb gently stroked my clit, driving me further and further towards a climax.
Suddenly I was on my back, stretched out along the bottom of the boat, and Damon was slamming deep into me from above. I gasped as he fucked me harder and harder, and he groaned and pressed his lips down to my neck, kissing and nibbling at my delicate skin before pulling back. The hard thrust that followed left me whimpering breathlessly, and I gripped his muscular arms, digging my nails in again. He nipped at my collarbone, grazing his hot mouth over my cool skin.
“God…yes,” I moaned. “More!”
He drove back in, deeper and deeper, harder and harder…faster and faster. With each movement, his body rubbed against my throbbing clit, and harsh, short breaths burst from my lips as I crept closer and closer to the edge.
Damon lowered his head to kiss me again, his tongue brushing over my lips before sliding into my mouth and entwining with mine. My whole body ached with a desperate need for release, and I moved my hips up and down as much as I could in the cramped boat, in tandem with each plunge of his thick cock inside me. A tiny part of me worried that we might actually sink the boat from our movements, but Damon didn’t seem worried, so I knew it would be fine.
I was even closer to the edge now, and Damon seemed to somehow know that; his pounding movements turning harsher and faster. I was lost in a hazy world of heated lust, and suddenly it was exploding out of me, making a white hot light seemingly flash through my mind as my orgasm slammed through me.
His hands moved to the side of my head, holding me and kissing me as I cried out with delight, and my muscles tightened around his cock, making him pull away and growl.
“Oh, fuck…you’re gonna make me come,” he groaned. Another loud moan rushed up my throat in response as the waves of pleasure flooded through me, and the whole world seemed to slow to a crawl around me as I rode out my orgasm.
His thrusts began to slow, and every muscle in his body tensed above mine. My eyes met his, and then he threw his head back and groaned as his cock pulsed deep inside me. Then he collapsed onto me, and we stayed that way for what seemed like an eternity, trying to catch our breath.
“I thought we might sink the boat with all that,” I said, glancing over at him a moment later.
“No, it’s sturdier than you’d think,” he said, before giving me a wolfish grin. “But how would you feel about trying to sink it again…?”
I grinned back at him.
Hell yes…