They had a typical Maldivian dinner under the stars, taking them away to another world.

After dessert, two drummers and singers entered the deck, followed by an exotic couple of dancers. It was not a typical dance, but rather a special erotic treat offered by the hotel for honeymooners.

An arousing opportunity Alistair wouldn’t miss sharing with Sophia.

They had spent the whole day just lazing around in their private bungalow, watching the endless turquoise waters between bouts of just kissing and caressing.

The torches lit the deck, their light playing on Sophia’s face as she observed the exotic couple languorously contort and entwine their almost naked bodies to the rhythmic, hypnotizing song.

The artful performance in the universal erotic body language changed the dinner mood from relaxing to thrilling.

Alistair’s attention kept returning to Sophia as his sexual tension grew, until he couldn’t bear it anymore. He bent and whispered in her ear, “I want you to dance for me when they are gone.”

His breath, cooled by the chilled champagne they were drinking, fanned her neck and she shivered with desire. He laughed low, conscious of what he had done to her. His hand ran up and down the goose bumps that appeared on her arm.

“I can’t dance like that. Look,” she whispered as the woman seemed to melt as she knelt in front of the man and lowered her back to the ground and the man accompanied her movements without touching her. “They are exotic creatures with complete self-knowledge of their bodies and sexual power. They must have been dancing together like this for years.”

“Sophia.” He shook his head with a grin belying the stern way he’d spoken her name. The dancers had lost all interest to him as he remembered Sophia’s dance for him in the TV room. “You can dance. You arouse me and I can come just by looking at you.”

She gasped, thrilled with the idea.

“There’s this other Sophia you still don’t fully know who is under your skin. She’s the wild, feline part of you, your sensual alter-ego,” he breathed, and slowly drew her earlobe into his mouth.

“Later, Alistair Connor, later,” she murmured back to him and trapped his wandering hand in hers.

He bit her earlobe softly. Her sharp intake of breath made him smile and he softly released it. “I’d dare say that your inner erotic creature hasn’t seen enough daylight. I’ll open your cage and teach you to let the animal take control of you.”

The song grew in a crescendo and the dancers started to touch and sensually rub their glistening bodies against each other. Suddenly, with a loud rumple of drums, they fell to their knees and embraced. Sophia and Alistair applauded and the group bowed and left.

Alistair stretched out his hand to Sophia while his gaze traveled down and then up her body, slowly, seductively. He was so turned on that he stopped on her luscious mouth and licked his lips. His voice was husky when he asked, “Dance for me? Please.”

She stood up. He had transformed her from within, and she became all awareness when he was near. A secretive smile lightened her face. She hurried to the bedroom, ordering, “Wait here.”

In front of the mirror, Sophia studied her image. There was a slight flush on her cheeks and an excited light in her eyes. She threw all her shyness to the wind as she took off her clothes and grabbed her favorite body oil.

With a naughty smile, she whispered to herself, “I’m a free animal.”

* * *

On the terrace, Alistair’s lips curled up as he took off his T-shirt and dimmed the lights, leaving only the torches alight. His penis twitched and hardened as a myriad of ideas crossed his mind as he relaxed back on a reclining chair. He tilted his head to the side, listening for her steps. What is she planning?

A slow, sensuous song flowed through the air from the well-hidden speakers. He turned to the living room. The glass doors opened and Sophia appeared, glistening as if she had been dipped in gold.

Alistair nearly jumped up when he saw her wearing a long pearl necklace that snuck between her breasts to reach her navel. A white flimsy bra made do as a top, plastered and turned completely transparent by the oil she had liberally massaged on her body. On her low hips, she had loosely tied an embroidered transparent sarong as a make-shift skirt that didn’t hide her g-string. The torch fires outlined and illuminated her body, enhancing the shimmering even more.

Oh, fuck! “Dance,” he said, hoarsely, forcing himself to stay seated. His already tense state of half-arousal stirred with lust to torment him, when throwing her arms up in the air, she pivoted on one foot, one leg up and backward in the air, showing fully her buttocks. Her hair flew around her as a black veil contrasting with the clothes.

She finished her turn with her back to him and lowered her arms as her skirt floated down. She could feel the seductive music stirring her senses to a primal passion, and she looked boldly at him over her shoulder. Sparks flew between them as she undid her bra and turned, peeling it slowly off her breasts and letting it fall to the ground. Her hands cupped her breasts and she raised a leg until her toe was almost near his face. When his mouth opened, she snatched it back, whispering, “No touching.”

Sophia had never felt more empowered in her whole life.

Alistair was panting, his hands gripped behind his head and his shorts were tented with an impressive hard-on.

He was frozen in deep lust, his eyes widened in bewilderment.

The skirt followed the halter all the way to the floor and Alistair shot forward to better look at her, and groaned loudly.

She moved her hips in agonizingly slow circles, her hands running over her oiled body in a languid caress. She opened her legs, and tantalizingly, undulated to the floor and back up.

“Sophia.” His rumble told her he was on the edge. He wanted to grab her and impale her on his painful erection, listening to her cries of pleasure, and hammer inside her until she came shouting his name and he exploded, filling her. Instead, he gripped the edges of the reclining chair.

She knew she had his undivided attention. The pulse of desire was a throb inside her and a light breeze caressed her bare body, making her nipples harden more. Under Alistair’s scrutiny, Sophia lithely danced away, undoing the tiny buttons that held together the last piece of cloth that covered her. The g-string dangled a second on her fingers, before she threw it at him.

Alistair caught it and brought it to his nose; his chest rose and fell with each deep breath; sweat beading on his forehead.

She stood naked on the edge of the dock, just the subtle lighted blue sea and the torches made her body shimmer as if she were a nymph, wearing only the pearl necklace. She motioned for him to stand up.

In a heartbeat, he was out of his shorts, his arousal springing free of its restraints. He didn’t move, but his eyes blazed like an inferno as they roamed over her. She is delectable. Edible. Utterly Fuckable!

She ran one of her hands over her breasts, her navel; brushed the small patch of her curls and cupped herself. She saw him swallow, unsure of what she was doing.

When she moved her hips, feigning she was going to masturbate on her hand, he gripped his arousal utterly compliant.

She smiled—she couldn’t help herself. Her hand made its way back, lightly touching her body, ending on her lips. And she sucked her middle finger.

He heaved and stroked himself.

Then she pivoted and dove into the sea.

Alistair couldn’t believe his eyes. He crossed the deck in three long strides and jumped after her. He spotted her under the deck, the underwater lights playing on her body as her hands caressed her breasts, enticing him, driving him crazy with lust. Snaking his fingers in her hair, he grumbled, “Enough foreplay.”

She wound her legs around his waist and with a forceful thrust he plunged deep inside her.

“Ah.” Her hands tangled in his hair and she moaned as she took him into her body. “I want you to look into my eyes and tell me you love me as you move inside me. I want this memory to last forever.”

“I’ll keep reminding you, my enchantress,” he breathed and kissed her, plunging faster and harder until they were coming together, shouting each other’s name in a fast and fierce climax that sucked them into a vortex of pleasurable sensations.

* * *

Sophia smiled as she opened her eyes and saw Alistair sprawled on the bed, one of his arms a little bent over her stomach, with his fingers around her ribs and his thumb under her breast. The sheets were half covering his naked and firm butt and her eyes traveled over the broad expanse of his back.

She almost giggled at the white mark of his shorts contrasting with his tanned back, and feeling naughty, she lifted the sheet to admire him. He’s a fine specimen.

His hand tightened a little and fisted. His arm recoiled as he turned onto his side, still sleeping.

She sneaked away from the bed to work for a while before coming back to bed, as she had been doing since the start of their honeymoon.

Alistair shifted again as if he missed her warmth and knew what she was doing, but this time he moaned as if in pain.

Sophia stopped, concerned, as more low murmurings came from his lips. She leaned closer, trying to listen to what he was saying. But she couldn’t understand as he spoke in a mix of Gaelic and English.

“Alistair Connor?” She placed a gentle hand on his bare shoulder, shaking him, but he just mumbled her name, over and over again, his tone growing progressively more anguished.

All of a sudden, his head twisted from one side to the other and he let out a heart-wrenching shout, “NAE!”

Just as she turned to grab him with both hands, he bolted upright, sitting on the bed, gasping for air.

Sophia moved closer, touching his heaving back. “Alistair Connor…are you all right?”

He let out a rough breath as he lowered himself onto the pillows and gathered her to his chest, hugging her fiercely, his eyes closed tightly.

“Meu amor?”

After a tense moment, he opened his eyes. The green was almost gone, his pupils dilated, his face taut. He watched her as if reassuring himself she was there, she was real.

She saw his throat swallow his anguish down, and her fingers traced his face, softly caressing it.

“It was just a nightmare,” he whispered in her hair. Still shaken and unconvinced, he repeated, “It was just a nightmare.”

That, I know. But she waited. Sophia had learned that the silence was sometimes the best way to ask the question she wanted answered.

After a few minutes, he cleared his throat and said in a whisper, “I saw Nathalie die in the hospital. There was blood everywhere and her little body was contorted in a very weird shape. Her last word was, ‘Daddy’. She saw me and I was impotent to help; to even embrace her and give her any comfort. I was there when…there was nothing more to do. How they tried—” He went silent for a long time, the memories haunting him. “I just saw you die the same way, calling my name.”

“I’m here. Safe. In your arms,” she whispered. She could sense there were cracks in his dam and it was about to break. “Nothing will happen to me.”

He cursed and crushed her in his arms, his head bent forward and his face pressed against hers. His hands fisted on her back and a razor-edged growl of anger and anguish left his chest.

She could feel its force rumble through him and echo in her. The keen ferocity of his emotions surprised her. Her instinct was to soothe him, drive his pain away with all her love but she knew that nothing, not even time could do that. She flattened her hand on his shuddering shoulder as sobs shook him.

Even though she’d had many losses in her life, she knew nothing could compare. She couldn’t possibly understand the sheer agony that must have ripped his soul apart and left so many still mending scars.

Sophia had never seen him cry before and was shaken by the way he seemed so broken inside.

He’d been holding in the sorrow and guilt much too long. And alone.

“Christ.” His voice was muffled by her hair. “I miss her so fucking much.”

She wanted to wrap her arms around him but he held her so tight to his chest that she could barely move one arm up until her fingers dipped in his hair.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered, trying to put his emotions in order, but unable to do it.

“No. Don’t be. There is no shame in mourning.” She pressed a kiss on his wet cheek and said quietly, “Cry, Alistair Connor. Let out your tears.”

“They’ll never be enough,” he sobbed. “Not even when I’m old. Not even when I’m dry.” Only when I’m dead.

* * *

After Alistair had cried for a long time, they stayed in bed, in quiet silence broken only by an occasional shuddered breath of his.

“I’m sorry,” he croaked again, loosening his hold on her.

“Why?” she whispered.

He stifled a last shuddering breath. “I don’t usually cry like a child.”

“My silly husband.” She propped herself on her elbow and her hand tenderly dried his cheeks. “Tears aren’t childish, Alistair Connor. Neither are they reserved for women. How many times have you held me when I cried?”

We are on our honeymoon. His fingers traced the delicate line of her straight nose and her lips. “We were supposed to be laughing, not crying.”

You were wronged, you were hurt and lost your daughter. You suffered greatly. “You’re allowed to react, and I like that.”

“I’m a man—”

“You’re human,” she offered.

He gave her a sad smile. Sophia searched her mind for something to say and she remembered The Blood of the Lamb. She had come across it recently when she had gone to Rio to tidy up the loose ends of her life.

“Alistair, time may not heal everything, and there is grief beyond the reach of solace. You are not alone in your mourning. The mourners’ bench upon which we sit is what links ourselves, all of us, by friendship and love. I am with you.” She gave him a tender smile and sat up, her hands running over his shoulder until they cupped his face and she bent to kiss him lightly on the mouth.

Breaking the kiss, she studied his face, his long black lashes wet, his eyes a darker forest-green. “Not fair, you know? When I cry, my eyes get puffy, my nose gets red. I look horrible, but you...you still look handsome as always.”

You are distracting me, my dear Sophia. He offered her a slow, smug smile, “I know.”

“Then I take that back, Lord I’m-so-handsome-and-I-know-it,” she breathed on his lips.

“Sorry,” he smirked at her. “No take-backs, Beauty. But just for the record, your eyes don’t get puffy and your nose doesn’t get red. You are Lady Beauty. Always.”

She put her head on his chest and embraced him. “I love you.”