Chapter Fifteen
It was four o’clock. Their SKYPE call was supposed to have taken place between one and four o’clock. Please say he would still be calling. This would be her seventh chance to see him since he’d left last month, and she needed these calls like she needed air to breathe.
Aliana refused to leave the new computer that was on top of the new desk in her new apartment. That was just one more bit of information she wanted to share with Hunter, she’d taken a lease on an apartment. It was month-to-month. It was a little more money that way, but it allowed her the flexibility to easily leave when she found the right place.
She checked her internet connection for the sixty-third time and then sat back in her office chair.
“Come on, please call.”
Sakra! She was getting on her own damn nerves. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath and blew it out for a count of three. She did it five more times before checking her internet connection for the sixty-fourth time.
“Get it together,” she said out loud in Czech. She reached for her purse and pulled out her wallet. She rifled through it until she found what she was looking for. She unfolded the old lined piece of paper and stopped for a moment to admire Hunter’s bold printing.
Dear Aliana,
This letter closes one chapter for us, but starts another. For ten years you have given me your smiles. You made me feel better about myself, and whenever I wavered, I always chose a righteous path because I wanted you to be proud of me. Your friendship saved me.
I know you’re sad I’m leaving. I know you’re probably even angry, but you won’t show it because you’re too kind. There is no way I would ever leave you behind. You are always part of my heart. Always. But I want more. I know we each have lives to live, but I want our futures to always be connected.
Alia, I know how hellish it can be in school, but you are the strongest girl I know. Please hold on. Please continue to be my friend as our next chapter starts.
Now I’ll tell you a secret, I’ve always needed you more than you ever needed me.
-Love
Hunter Diaz
She checked the internet connection…again. Aliana wiped away a tear. She wasn’t going to get to talk to Hunter today, and she’d had so much to tell him. She folded up the letter and carefully put it back into her wallet. She thought about all of her news.
Shorinda had gotten Ana Garcia a job at the nursing home, and now, the woman only needed to work one job instead of two and a half. She had been doing a great job with Aliana’s mother. As a result, the last two times she had visited, Maminka had recognized her.
Ana was also acting like a lioness around her two children, and she made it absolutely clear to Nicolas she considered him hers. Darla’s pregnancy was progressing well, and Lottie was her birth coach. It seemed to be helping both of them heal.
But the thing that she knew would tickle the hell out of Hunter was last Saturday’s upset. She’d been dying to tell him about that. Hunter had been looking kind of ragged the last time they talked. He couldn’t really say anything about what was going on in his world, so she worked hard to try to be entertaining, and by God, she’d struck gold with this latest event.
They’d had to postpone the book club meeting for a month, which was just as well since Aliana had so much to get done. But when they did have it, it was a doozy. They were due to discuss Fifty Shades of Gray. Everybody was gathered, except for the lady in pink. Florence showed up to the book club fifteen minutes late. This time she wasn’t wearing pink, she was wearing a black trench coat and red lipstick. Her hair was no longer pink, it was blonde.
“I can’t stay long,” she said. “I did want to talk about the book, though. It was transformative.”
Esther gave her a long considering look.
“How so?” Velma asked.
“It occurred to me that I wasn’t living my life to its fullest.”
Aliana’s grandmother nudged her and gave her a questioning glance. “I’ll explain later,” Aliana said in Czech. She was just thankful she hadn’t been able to find a translation of the book in Czech for Babička like she had wanted. Aliana didn’t think she could have handled having those discussions.
“Are you living your life better now?” Velma asked.
“Oh yes.”
The doorbell to Mamie’s apartment rang.
“That’s probably my ride. Raoul is very punctual.” Florence got up from the couch and swayed across the room. That was when Aliana noticed that the woman’s stockings had seams running up the back.
Florence let in a man who had to be twenty years younger. “Everyone, this is Raoul Delacroix, he and I have a lunch and dinner date.”
“My dear, it’s going to last much longer than that,” the man said as he kissed the side of her neck. “It was lovely meeting you.” He gave a wave to the crowd and escorted Florence out the door.
“She’s paying for that,” Esther said.
“I don’t think so,” Mamie disagreed.
“Who gives a damn. If she is, he’s worth every dime,” Velma said.
“I need a drink,” another woman chimed in.
She had been holding onto this nugget for a week, picturing Hunter’s face when she told him. Why wasn’t he calling?
“Dammit, I just wanted to see him, was that too much to ask?” she yelled in Czech. She went to the closet and pulled out her yoga mat and guitar and sat down so she could calm herself in music. For just the slightest moment as she looked at her guitar pick, she thought of using it for other things, but then she gave a relieved grin as the feeling passed.
She was in the middle of her fourth song when there was a knock on the door. She looked through the peephole and all she saw were sunflowers and daisies. It couldn’t be.
“Who is it?”
“Open the door, Alia.”
She’d only been in the apartment for a week, so she fumbled with the lock. She kept twisting it the wrong way. Her hands were getting sweaty.
“Cariña, if you don’t hurry, I’m just going to break down the door,” Hunter laughed.
She yanked the door open and looked up into a mound of flowers. She wanted them gone. She wanted to see him.
“Easy,” he said as she shoved the flowers out of her way.
There he was. He had dimples. “Hunter, thank God you’re home.” He swept them both inside the apartment.
“Cariña, this is really nice,” he said as he made his way straight to the kitchen. What was he doing? She watched him dump the flowers in the sink. Then he turned back to her, and the smile changed from happy to hungry. She thanked God again.
He pulled her into his arms. Fire exploded as their lips collided. Every pent-up feeling, every unsaid word, every lost day was set free. The lush burst of passion sent her reeling, Aliana felt like she was on a merry-go-round. The world was literally spinning around her. When she realized Hunter was carrying her, she broke free of their kiss and laughed out loud.
“Having fun?”
“I’d have more if you aimed for the bedroom, and not the couch.” She swung her left arm out wide like she was literally on a carnival ride and wanted to wave it in the wind as she was whisked through the air.
Happiness radiated through her yellow bedroom as Hunter laid down beside her on top of her sunflower comforter. “I’m picking up on a theme here, mi Amor.”
“The theme is centered around you. It always has been, it just took me a decade to realize it.”
He frowned. “Seriously Aliana, I don’t want to rush you.”
She shoved at his shoulders so that she was leaning over him. For just a moment her brain went a little fuzzy as she took in his broad shoulders in his white t-shirt and those dimples with just the right amount of scruff. When she looked into his eyes, they were dancing. Dammit, she was so busted.
She bit her lip. He picked up the end of her braid and undid the rubber band. He started to unwind her hair. “Same thing happens to me, Chaquita. I start to say something, then I look into your blue eyes, or I see your hair, or I look at your breasts, and I have trouble remembering my own name.”
“You do?” He spread her hair out so that it covered both of them.
“Oh yeah. You leave me tongue tied quite often, Ms. Novak. Now I want to make sure we’re on the same page,” he began.
“Now I remember what I was going to say.” Aliana bit her fingernails into the resilient muscles of his chest. She was rewarded when he sucked in a deep breath of air. She felt his body go hard. She was so glad she was wearing yoga gear, it allowed for so much more tactile stimulation than jeans.
“What? What were you going to say?”
“You are not rushing me. I want this. I want you.” She saw him hesitate. “Goddammit, Hunter. One girl in college had this poster that said, ‘She wasn’t looking for a knight, she was looking for a sword.’ Dammit, I want both! And I want them now!”
He did an ab crunch while laughing and hugging her tight.
“God, I’m in love with you Aliana. I’ve loved you all of my life it seems, but over the last two months I have totally, ass over teakettle, fallen in love with you.”
“Does that mean this virgin gets her sword?”
He pulled her legs apart and centered her heat above the crotch of his jeans. His brown eyes glittered with desire. “What do you think?”
She saw him consider asking her one more time. She guessed that was what made him a knight. Well, she had an idea on how to fix that. Aliana reached down and pulled off her loose over shirt and cotton sports bra in one swift move. Hunter shut his mouth, then a slow smile showed off the creases in his cheeks.
***
His Alia’s breasts were beautiful, but by far, it was the radiance in her eyes that held him spellbound. He searched her blue eyes for any hint of hesitancy, but all he found was delight in the moment. It was finally their time.
He wrapped his arm tighter around her waist and tilted her chin up for another kiss. Something sweeter this time, something that could have been a kiss shared between teenagers on a swing set. He savored her pretty pink mouth and licked her full bottom lip until she opened up and invited him in to weave his tongue with hers.
Aliana squirmed against him, her body telling him she needed more. God knows, his body was telling him the same damn thing. But this wasn’t about him, this was all about her. He moved his hand down her throat, touching a chain. He traced it downwards to where it rested between her breasts and felt the warm medallion between his fingers. Hunter lifted his mouth and looked down.
“You kept it?”
“I’ve never taken it off. Well, except to get a longer chain, or when the chain broke once.”
“You undo me, Alia.”
“You came for me when I needed you, Hunter.”
She cupped his hand in both of hers and broke his grip on the medal. She then brought it up to encompass her breast. “Ah God, it feels so much better than I ever imagined.” He heard the catch in her voice.
He tried to look up into her eyes, but he couldn’t. Not this time, he was entranced by the silken beauty he held. He circled one delicate tip with his thumb, and she moaned as her nipple pebbled. He brought his other hand around so he could cup both breasts and continued on with the intimate caresses. She thrust herself harder into his hold, her breath sawing in and out, and she was trembling. His gaze shot to her face, her eyes were closed, and she was smiling.
“Hunter.”
“I’m here, mi Amor. Are you ready for more?”
Her eyes opened, and they glittered with delight. “I’m ready for everything.”
He threw back his head and laughed. He turned them over, so she was lying on the bed, then he got up and took off his shirt. No other woman had made him feel more desired than this moment with his Alia. He hesitated with his belt.
“Off. We can’t do this with your clothes still on.”
“We have time,” he said as he put a knee on the bed. Aliana sat up and startled him when she stroked his cock through the front of his jeans.
“I said take the jeans off, Boy.”
Shit, she was doing her Ms. Novak voice. He grinned. He took off his belt and unbuttoned his jeans.
“You don’t wear underwear?”
“Well, sometimes I do. I was in a hurry to get over here.” He sat down on the side of the bed and got rid of his boots and socks. He pulled out his wallet and grabbed the condoms, leaving them on the nightstand.
He watched as she swallowed. A little of her bravado had deserted her.
“Aliana, are―”
With horror, he saw her eyes well up with tears.
“Dammit, Hunter, no teasing, no talk about swords, no nothing. This is the truth, okay?”
She had her hands clenched into fists, digging into the bedspread as she leaned forward. She was glaring at him. What had he done?
“Okay, Aliana, what’s the truth?”
“You’re the breath I breathe. You absolutely are, Hunter. Now can I live without you? Absolutely. I can live in the dark, somewhere near hell. I’ve done it for years. But I don’t want to. I want to live in the light with you. Reaching for my dream scares the hell out of me, but I’ve finally realized it’s better to reach for the dream and lose it, then to have never reached for it at all.” She let go of the comforter and flung her arms around him. “So, Hunter, even if this lasts just for today, I’m going to be happy because you’re my everything. I love you more than you can ever imagine.”
He sat there stunned. Here he was, Hunter Diaz, the boy who ate out of dumpsters, and he had a woman who said he was her dream. He had trouble focusing as tears clouded his vision. He needed to hug this woman. Kiss this woman. Love this woman.
This time when he bared her thigh, there was no shame, his Alia knew the truth, there was nothing about her that he didn’t adore. But as other parts of her body came into view, his woman was shy. He wrapped her close to him, and she buried her head into his chest.
“I can’t believe I’m blushing,” she grumbled.
Hunter laughed.
“And now I can’t believe you’re laughing.”
“Cariña, be happy I chose laughter.”
“What do you mean?”
“I could be drooling. My God, you’re gorgeous.” Hunter slid his hand all the way from her shoulder, down the sleek line of her back to cup her ass. She arched into his caress, pushing them closer together. Her color was still high, but Hunter was pretty sure it was from excitement. He parted her leg so he could slide his in between hers. Without any coaxing, she slid her core against his thigh.
“That feels so good.”
He lowered his head and took a pink nipple into his mouth, loving her gasp of pleasure as he worried the tip with his lips and tongue. He plucked the other tip with his fingers.
“Harder.”
He increased his efforts, and she moaned his name.
Hunter kept his hand on her breast, and kissed his way down her torso, along the line of her tummy, until he could get to the heart of her. Aliana resisted when he tried to coax her legs apart until he started licking her scars. It seemed that knowing she had his entire acceptance, unlocked all aspects of her.
He was fascinated by the silky golden curls that barely covered her glistening, pink folds. She was exquisite. Hunter breathed in her spicy, sweet scent and covered her with his mouth. No gasp this time. No moan. She let out a wail of pleasure as he continued to torture her. He wanted this rare moment in time to be something she could treasure.
Her liquid response made it easy for him to magnify her pleasure by slowly inching one finger inside her fiery depths. She slammed her hips upwards, silently begging for more. Hunter kept going at a pace he felt she could handle until finally he redoubled his presence inside her and spread her silken channel. Sweat dotted his forehead. He thought his cock was going to pound its way through the bed and drill a hole to China. He needed to go slow.
“Hunter, I need more. Harder or slower. Faster or Softer. Something. I need something.”
Glad she straightened that out. Hunter continued to curl his tongue around her clit, around and around, while his fingers sought and found that spot inside her body that made her jolt.
“Yes. Hunter, I like that. I like that a lot.”
He grinned right before he sucked her engorged flesh into his mouth, and laved it over and over again with his tongue, doing it in time with the internal caresses.
Aliana, finding pleasure, was the most beautiful sound he had ever heard in his life.
***
Hunter was holding her in his arms. He was always holding her. He kissed her temple.
“I love you,” she whispered.
“I got that.”
She pushed up on her elbows. “You’re really good at that.”
Apprehension flashed across Hunter’s face. “Hey, I didn’t mean that in a bad way. That was nothing but pure compliment.”
He relaxed and dimples appeared. She slid her hand down his torso to tentatively touch his penis. As soon as she did, she smiled. He felt so good, smooth heat, over strength. She curled her hand around him and stroked.
“Honey, you keep that up and we’re never going to get you your sword.”
“Huh?”
He pulled her hands away from his cock and grabbed a condom off the nightstand.
“Can I put it on you?”
“Maybe next time. Or sometime next week. For now, I’m taking care of it so I can take care of you.”
Aliana tried to be sneaky about it, but she took a couple of calming breaths. She knew this was going to hurt. Hunter, God love him, was not built on the small side. She rested back down on the pillows.
White teeth gleamed in the afternoon light. “Cariña, I have you. It’s going to be fine.”
“I know,” she lied.
“We’re not doing anything until I’ve had at least five kisses.” His fingers trailed down from her breast to the indent at her waist, toying with the tips of her hair.
“Five kisses? I don’t understand.”
“You will.” His head lowered, and he kissed the tip of her nose. Aliana giggle snorted. Then because that was so funny, she ended up doing it again. Hunter laughed right along with her.
“That was number one.” He then swept back her hair and kissed her right behind her left ear. She felt it in every part of her body. As he moved, he accidentally blew warm air into her ear. She shivered.
“That was number two.” Hunter slid his hand down the length of her arm and entwined their fingers. He brought her hand to his mouth and brushed the softest kiss to the back of her knuckles, just like a Knight of Olde. “That’s three.”
He looked deep into her eyes, and then melded their lips together, in a sublime moment where the world fell away. Finally, he pulled away. “That’s four.”
He pushed downward, parted her legs, and found her patchwork quilt of cuts, kissing along every slice. Aliana didn’t even realize she was crying until she tasted her tears. “That’s five,” he whispered.
“Be part of me,” she begged.
“I already am, mi Amor, I already am,” he said as he pushed his cock slowly inside of her.
If there was pain, she never realized it. How could so much heat and power be so gentle? She wrapped her arms and legs around Hunter as she tilted her body upwards to meet his tender thrusts.
“Are you okay?”
“You have to ask?”
She looked into his warm brown eyes and saw his love and concern. Her body melted even more. Drawing him in even deeper.
He kissed her, and she felt her world shift.
They moved as one. Their eyes open, they fell into one another’s arms, hearts and souls. Aliana had been to hell, and now, she had found heaven in the arms of a knight. They soared into bliss together.
THE END