Daniel

On Saturday mornings, typically I like to get up at dawn and go for a run. As the sun comes up over our small city, I like to listen to the world waking up. Dogs barking far off, train whistles blaring low and steady. The occasional car or delivery truck. Semi trucks rumbling on the far off highway.

But today, there's a surprise. As I slip my trainers on by the door, I hear Kita's feet padding across the tiles. She appears in the silvery morning of predawn, pushing her hair behind her ears and arching her back, stretching.

“Did I wake you?” I smirk, stupidly happy to see her just like every time.

“Are you running?”

“I'm not running away, if that's what you're asking,” I reply jokingly.

“Well… can I come with?”

I lift my head and stare at her. “Really? You run?”

She shrugs humbly. “Well, I used to. I'd like to, if you don't mind.”

“Yes, I'd like that very much.”

She smiles broadly. “Be right back.”

She dashes off, presumably to change into clothes. I stand there stretching my hamstrings and grinning to myself. Is this a dream? Could she be any more perfect? A running partner would just be so amazing on top of all the other amazing things that she is.

She reappears in a couple minutes wearing a tank top and cute little jogging shorts that hug every curve.

“I'm not really sure I can concentrate with you wearing that,” I admit.

She chuckles, slapping me playfully on the arm. “Oh, Daniel,” she chides me. “You're so bad!”

“You have no idea,” I tell her, and I am more serious than she knows. It takes all my self-control to be with her in any way other than physical. “Let's give it a shot. I can always take you into one of my buildings if I can't stand the pressure anymore.”

“You have to catch me first,” she teases, then she's off. She dashes out the door, sprinting halfway down the block before I even get the deadbolt locked behind me. Her tease triggers the hunter deep inside my animal brain and I set off quickly, dashing up behind her as fast as I can.

But not too close behind her. I want to watch her run. The grace and strength of her undulating muscles is almost too much to bear and I am practically lightheaded. I've never run with a hard-on before, so this is new. I hope I don’t pass out from lack of blood to the brain. She's so gorgeous I'm temporarily blinded by fantasies of dragging her back home and plowing her on the stairs.

Patience, I tell myself. Patience, Daniel!

Finally she lets me catch up to her, laughing. She's not even a little bit out of breath. She's like a gazelle or something, full of joy as her body works magnificently.

“I forgot how good this feels!” she exclaims. “We should do this all the time!”

“We should,” I agree, and I mean it.

We settle easily into a rhythm, laying out a couple of miles with barely any effort. We even hold an easygoing conversation about different buildings that I've bought or sold, small plans that I have for the future. When we get to the incubator, I almost ask her to stop.

“Kita, I want to ask you something,” I start.

“Ask away.”

“That app you developed… do you think it can be put into production?”

She shrugs, continuing to piston confidently across the cracked sidewalks.

“Well, sure. I guess so. Eventually. Why do you ask?”

“Have you ever written a business plan before?”

She looks at me sidelong without slowing down. “What do you mean?”

“Well, if you're going to have a business, you have to have a business plan. If you are going to have a partner… investors…”

“Daniel, what are you saying?”

“I'm saying that this is something you should consider. If you have something that you can bring to market, why wait? We should do it.”

She slows down dramatically, then stops in the middle of the sidewalk. I circle back and find her staring at me, her hands on her hips, her head cocked to one side.

“What are you talking about?”

I jog in place, not wanting to lose my target heart rate.

“If you are ready, let's do it,” I explain simply. She scowls at me, pressing her lips together and shaking your head.

“That's not…”

“Kita, you have nothing to lose. I'm excited about your project. Let's do it.”

She tilts her head back, staring at the sky which is now a pale yellow, the color right before it turns blue.

“Daniel, you don't understand… I don’t think I want to go back to school.”

My feet stop. I stand there, suddenly winded and panting.

“What are you talking about?” I bark, way too sharply.

She raises her hands and then lets them fall helplessly against her thighs. “It's just… after Lizzie and all that, I don't want to. It's like you said, I could do anything I want. Which means I don't have to do anything I don't want, right?”

“Well, I guess…” I admit, not wanting to acknowledge that she has a point. Yes, I might've said that, but this not what I meant.

“And didn’t you tell me that after the semester was over, I could do what I wanted?”

“Um…”

“The semester is over,” she says quietly.

“So… what does this mean?”

She shrugs one shoulder. “It means… well, it could mean a lot of things. But I don't think that you want to be going into business with somebody who dropped out of college, would you?”

“Actually, not really. Isn't there anything else you can do? What about the online classes?”

She looks around, squinting into the middle distance. “Well, the course schedule isn’t really complete. I mean, you can't get a whole degree with those kinds of classes.”

“Well, can you do at least a couple years? Because by then, you know Lizzie will have graduated. Or gone to work for her mother or something.”

“Hm.”

I sense that she hadn’t considered that. A ray of light cuts across the open field and shines on her golden hair.

“And that might free up some time… for you to go into business.”

“I don’t know how to do that,” she counters.

I grin. “I do. I can show you.”

She squints at me. “Are you serious? Like, really serious?”

“Kita, if there's one thing I figured out, it's that there is always a way. If you're willing to work hard enough, to take the tough chances, there is always a way.”

She smiles again, her expression changing like the sun breaking through clouds. “Really?”

“Really! Now, get your ass in gear, we're not done yet!”

“Catch me!”

And she's off like a shot. Her speed is startling. She's practically to the end of the block before I have even had time to realize that I'm eating her dust. I try to keep up, but she's already at the front door before I get close.

Finally I reach her, sliding my arm around her middle and picking her up off her feet just before she reaches the door. She giggles and squirms, kicking her heels into the air.

Laughing, we tumble together through the front door. She twists loose, skipping away from me again as she dances into the living room, kicking her shoes off playfully and batting those big green eyes. I know what she wants. And I want her too, so much.

She holds her hands out, dragging me down onto the sofa and then leaping astride me, still in those tight little pants.

“I need these off you,” I tell her, sliding her tank top over shoulders and taking her sweet, taut nipple between my teeth. She gasps and arches her back, digging her fingers into my shoulders. The crotch of her little shorts scrapes slightly across the head of my cock, sending shudders through my body.

“I said, take these off!”

Without a sound, she slides off of me, then bites her lip and pushes the thin fabric down her thighs, to the floor. When she stands back up my mouth starts to water, looking at that pretty shaved pussy, tiny pink lips peeking out, already glistening.

“Come here.”

She straddles me again, holding her weight on her knees so that we don't touch yet. Her deft fingers find the waistband of my track pants to pull them down over my hips. My cock springs free, hard as a rock and already dripping, throbbing for her.

“Say it,” I tell her.

Her little pink tongue slides over her upper lip, wetting it. She won’t say anything yet, the little tease.

I grip her hips, holding her as firmly as I dare to without bruising her beautiful, delicate skin. She is still like a doll, to be handled as gently as I'm able.

“Say it,” I tell her again, but now it sounds like I'm begging.

She lowers herself just a half an inch, circling her hips so that her wet lips grasp lightly at the head of my cock. I want her so much, I think I'm going to explode.

When I just can't take it anymore, she leans in, swiping her tongue over my upper lip, her green eyes never even blinking as she teases me, torturing me.

“Fuck me,” she whispers slowly, desperation rising in her voice.

“No… say it."

She smiles broadly, drawing the exquisite pain out just a little bit further. It's like torture, but the best kind.

“Fuck me… Daddy.”

“Yes!”

I thrust up, taking her all at once in a smooth motion that impales her sweet, lithe body on my cock. She throws her head back in ecstasy, a guttural cry exploding from her throat. Submitting to me completely, her body welcomes me and I hold her desperately, thrusting into her and watching her face change as she moans with joy and satisfaction.

I want her to come first, so I lick my thumb and strum it across her sweet pink candy button until she begins to swivel her hips desperately, trying to find that bliss. She breaks out in a fine sweat just before she comes and I know this is it, this is the moment. I drive to the center of her, exploding at the same time, pinning her to me so she can accept every inch of me, every ounce of my cum.

We are locked like this for a long time, panting and grasping each other tightly. I love how she fits me, how she feels like a part of me I was always missing. And she is so tight and wet, always ready for me.

But we can't stay on the sofa forever. I wrap my right arm around the small of her back and stand. She giggles and locks her ankles behind me as I climb the stairs to the bedroom… now our room. The guest room, where she used to sleep, is now her personal library and study.

“You don’t have to carry me… I can walk!” she smirks against my neck. But I notice she doesn't make any attempt to climb down.

“Walking is too good for my little princess,” I inform her.

“I'm not a princess!”

“Yes, you are,” I tell her as I set her on her feet, pushing her hair back behind her ears. She stands at the corner of the bed, beautiful and graceful, a humid sheen of sweat between her small, heaving breasts.

“Actually, maybe princess is not quite the right word,” I suggest, swiping the box from the top of my dresser.

“Is there a better word?”

I drop to my knees in front of her, drawing my face along the smooth under curve of her belly, back and forth, drinking in her deliriously intoxicating scent. When I pull back, I hold the box out in front of me. She looks down at me with curiosity that quickly turns into something like alarm.

“What is that?” she whispers, eyeing the box suspiciously.

“Oh, this?” I ask, shrugging.

She nods urgently. I can tell she's afraid to touch it, so I open it for her, watching her intently as her eyes widen even further, the faint glow from the shimmering rock reflected on each iris.

Her fingers fly up to cover her mouth... that sweet, shy gesture surprise.

“Kita… my beautiful Nikita, will you marry me? Would you be my bride?”

She bounces slightly, stretching her ankles like when I saw her the first day. A huge bubble of love rises in my chest and bursts, turning to fireworks that warm me from the inside. She doesn't even know what she does to me.

“Are you serious?”

I tug her hand down, pulling the ring from the box and sliding it over her knuckle. It fits perfectly, just like I knew it would. Then I switch the antique Russian ring to her other hand.

“There, I think that's a double omen, don't you?”

“Daniel… I don't know what to say!” she whispers. Her eyes are glimmering with wetness, her cheeks flushed to a candy pink tint.

“Just answer the question, Kita. Will you be my bride?”

“Yes!” she yelps. She drops to her knees in front of me and throws her arms around my neck, dragging me close as she is shaking with laughter or tears, I can't tell which.

I have to admit, some part of me was afraid she wouldn't say yes. Some part of me was terrified that asking her would frighten her away. And as soon as I felt that terror, as soon as I knew that losing her would propel me back to a life with no song in it again, that's when I knew I had no choice. I had to ask her.

And now we’re going to be all songs, from here on out. Our new song, together.