Chapter Four

 

It took Ignacio a few minutes to shake off the strange feeling he had gotten from Camilla. She had been way too nice… and had she been flirting with him? Honestly, if he thought about it he really wouldn’t have been so surprised. But he shook all thoughts of it from his head and instead went back to focusing on his search for Maia. He didn’t like the idea of leaving her alone in this house any longer than he had to.

When he finally found her, it was in the kitchen and he knew he should have just started there to begin with. Not only was she starving, but Ignacio knew for a fact that it was the only place in the house that actually felt like a home. Probably because you would be hard-pressed to find a DeLeon anywhere in there. He also should have gone there first because it was the only place that really made sense. Rafael had told Manuel and Lucia to keep Maia busy… and the easiest way for them to do that was to keep her with them as they worked.

He was a dozen or so steps from the doorway when he heard Maia’s laughter ring out like the bright, vibrant bell that it was. He paused, a smile taking over his face as he just listened to her laugh for a moment. A wave of relief washed over him as he listened to her, her laugh a balm to soothe his soul every single time. That relief was short-lived, though, when he heard Lucia saying his name. Oh God, they were talking about him.

He cringed, took a breath, and pushed through the door so he could walk into the kitchen. What he saw was something that brought him more joy than he honestly expected. So much so that he had to stop and just take it all in for a moment, a silly little smile on his face all the while.

Manuel and Lucia stood on one side of the island table in the middle of the room. Lucia was chopping up something, carrots it looked like, as Manuel prepared a snack tray of cheese, meats, and olives. Maia, a sight he had ached to see, was a vision in white as she sat opposite the other two, picking playfully at the snack plate that Manuel was preparing. She looked freshly showered and like she was feeling far better than when they had first arrived. It was difficult for him to keep from taking her into his arms right then and there to kiss her. Instead, he broke his trance and crossed the room to join them.

“Alright, alright,” he said, interrupting Lucia as she was about to continue whatever story she was telling about him. “Enough of the Ignacio history lesson.”

“Aww. But it was such a fun story!” Maia said with a broad smile as he approached her. “Lucia was just telling me about when you were nine…”

She popped an olive into her mouth and quirked an eyebrow at him for emphasis. The way she said it made it very clear to him exactly what story Lucia was telling, and he groaned, rolling his eyes towards the ceiling.

“Yes! When he was trying to hide the family of bunny rabbits in his room…” Lucia said.

“Annnd… Father found out and demanded I toss them into the woods but instead, you let me hide them in the mudroom and helped me take care of them until they were big enough,” Ignacio interrupted and finished off the story for her. By the smug look on Maia’s face, he was pretty sure she had already been told that story and quite a few more.

“You were such a little softy, huh?” Maia asked, sliding from her seat to stand and step towards him. “Saving baby bunnies and stuff. Too cute.”

He smirked and took the opportunity to slip his arms around her waist in a long overdue embrace. He loved the way she poked fun at him because he could tell she really found it all charming. He leaned in and gave her a small kiss, keeping it fairly chaste considering their company at the moment. She smiled at him in response.

“Manuel is making us some snacks if you are hungry. I guess there is some big dinner planned for later, so we aren’t allowed to fill up just yet,” Maia said. “But at least they are being nice enough to not totally starve us until then…”

Maia glanced back towards Lucia and Manuel, flashing them a playful smile and a bit of a wink. It was refreshing for Ignacio to hear Maia acting like her old self again. It bothered him and told him something was wrong if she wasn’t needling the people around her.

“Starving,” he said, though the look he gave Maia made it clear he wasn’t hungry for food.

“Well, then, why don’t we take them somewhere else and leave Manuel and Lucia alone for a while?” Maia suggested, getting the hint. “I’ve annoyed them enough for one afternoon.”

“Oh, Cariño, you could never annoy us!” Lucia chirped happily as she continued to cut up carrots.

Maia smiled and winked at Lucia as she slipped out of Ignacio’s arms and went to pick up the plate Manuel had just finished putting together. She murmured a soft thank you to the older man before returning to Ignacio’s side.

“Shall we, then?” She asked with a playful smile.

“We shall,” he answered, turning to look at Lucia and Manuel. “Thank you, both of you.”

“Go eat, Mijo. Enjoy,” Manuel said, with a soft smile.

The young couple left with a load of smiles to go along with their plate of snacks. Ignacio finally felt a sense of ease since before they had set foot in this house and Maia had just spent the early afternoon with the two people who were really responsible for raising Ignacio. It made sense to her, now, why Ignacio just didn’t seem to fit in with the rest of his family (even if she had only met them for a brief second). He was far too kind and sweet to have been raised by the same people who raised Rafael. After her conversation with Lucia and Manuel, it was clear to Maia why Ignacio was the way he was.

Ignacio lead the way upstairs to the small suite of rooms that had been his, growing up, and still were, so that he and Maia could have a little bit of peace and quiet together. They got settled together on his couch in the little lounge room and started to pick and nibble at their snacks, though it wasn’t long before Maia started to badger him with questions.

“So, Lucia sort of explained what the hell happened this morning with that other woman, Elena,” Maia started, her words causing Ignacio’s heart to seize. “You two are engaged?”

He sat there a moment, thankful for the fact that he had just put food into his mouth and could stall time by chewing. He had dreaded this moment from the instant Elena burst through the front doors and threw herself around him upon their arrival. His fight with Rafael, and then his following conversation with Camilla, had caused him to forget about this inevitable explanation she wanted out of him and his heart started pounding at the question. He swallowed it down, however, and answered.

“We were, yes. But I refused it and that’s why I wound up leaving five years ago and went to live in the desert where we met,” he said, starting to ramble right out of the gate. “I figured that would be the end of it and I never expected her to still be here. Rafael insists that the engagement is still on and that I should just give in and marry her… but I would never do that. I refuse to become like my brother and just… marry for money or status. He is just like our parents…. which is a big reason why I spent so much time with Lucia and Manuel. They…”

“Ignacio, stop,” Maia said, interrupting him. “What do you mean the engagement is still on? Are you telling me that you actually do have a fiancée who has been waiting these past five years for you to show back up and marry her? That’s insane!”

He could tell by her voice that she wasn’t happy about any of this, the way it seemed to tighten and get higher in pitch with every word she spoke. He drew in a breath, holding it a moment as his eyes closed and he tried to explain things as best he could.

“She waited for me, yes. But I am NOT going to marry her, Maia,” he said, opening his eyes to look at her once more. “Rafael must have lied to get her to stay and wait all of this time. It’s the only thing I can think of to explain it. I mean, her and I only ever met once before I left.”

Maia shook her head, folding her arms as she leaned back into the couch. He could tell she wasn’t happy but he couldn’t understand exactly why. He had just told her, repeatedly, that he had no intentions of ever marrying Elena and that he was just as unhappy as she was that Elena was still here. What else could it be?

“Ignacio. This woman has spent the past five years waiting for you,” Maia said, not looking at him as she spoke. “Five years. She has been clinging to the hope that you and her will be getting married… and now that you are back? Do you really think she is going to take no for an answer? Tsk… I sure as hell wouldn’t…”

“Maia… it doesn’t matter! I never agreed to this marriage and I never will. She could stay here for the rest of her life and it wouldn’t make any difference to me.” He felt callous saying it, but it was true.

“This is ridiculous, Ignacio, and you know it,” she snapped, finally looking at him. “For shit’s sake… I feel like we’ve gone from the frying pan and into the fire here. No matter what we do, something is always in our way trying to fuck things up. Maybe we just aren’t supposed to be together and this is all pointless.”

He could hear the strain in her voice as she said it and he knew she didn’t believe a word she was saying. The fact that she said it, though, upset him more than anything and he reached out for her, pulling her closer against him. He was relieved when she didn’t fight him on it.

“Maia…” He murmured into her thick, dark curls. “Elena was and never will be the future that I want for myself. You are. Please believe me when I say it… you are all I have ever wanted. From the first moment I saw you.”

She looked up at him, her eyes glistening with a hint of tears even as she smiled. He didn’t want her to say anything… so he just leaned in and pressed his lips against hers. Softly at first, but then deeper as his one had rose up to brush against her cheek. They both fell into that kiss head-first, filling up on one another for the first time in what felt like ages, and when they finally broke free of one another, they were both at a loss for breath.

Ignacio moved, scooping his lover into his arms as he stood from the couch and took her up with him. He spoke not a word and just carried her into the bedroom where he placed her gently on the bed. Again, he pressed his lips against hers as he climbed onto the bed with her, his knee gently pushing her legs apart, so he could nestle himself between them. With his weight propped on one elbow, he let his other hand roam freely across the woman he loved, feeling the downy-soft fabric of her white dress as he pulled it up along her body.

Maia broke their kiss, gasped, and sighed softly with pleasure against his ear. It was a sound that sent a thrill down his spine and led him to kissing the sensitive curve of her neck. His hand abandoned her dress, leaving it bunched up around her hips, and traveled south along the length of her hip and thigh. The warmth of her skin against his hand caused a pleasant little rumble to bubble up in his throat and he slid his hand up to her hip to grip it tightly.

“I love you Maia…” He murmured against her neck, drawing in a deep breath of her sweet scent.

“I love you too, Ignacio,” she answered, just as softly.

He smiled, lifting his head so his eyes might find hers for a moment before he pressed his lips down against hers once more. He could never seem to get enough of her, though for the first time he felt like there was no reason to hold himself back. After all they had been through, everything they had survived and all the distance they had traveled… even in this house… he felt that they were finally safe.

That feeling of security gave him the freedom to enjoy every inch of Maia just as she was. The rest of the world faded away into a blur around them. All he cared about and all he could focus on, was her. Their kiss deepened and seemed to go on for forever and yet not long enough all at the same time. His hand at her hip began to creep its way northbound along her body as their lips danced. His fingertips teased with a gentle touch across the line of her hipbone, taking note that she wore nothing under her dress.

Knowing this gave him goosebumps and he moaned softly into their kiss. He shifted his position, reluctantly breaking that delicious kiss, and let his lips flutter down across her neck. He felt her squirm gently in his grasp and he smiled, both of his hands now at her hips. They didn’t remain there long, however, and instead began to move up along her sides… taking her dress up further in the process.

He sat up from her, just a bit, so he could enjoy the sight of her the way she was. Dark curls splashed across the pillow under her head, simple white dress pushed up passed her hips leaving her bare and beautiful before him. She wore a smile that both warmed his heart and sent a throbbing need between his legs, a smile that begged him for whatever it was he had in mind. He couldn’t help himself as he licked his lips, sitting up enough to pull his shirt free and toss it aside before he leaned down towards her once again.

He bought his lips down against her exposed stomach, his hands running along her sides and then down to her hips and knees before trailing back up again. He heard her gasp softly, felt the wash of goosebumps across her skin and he smiled. Again he kissed her, though lower this time. Again and again… until he brought his lips down slow and soft between her thighs.

As he kissed her, he let his tongue slip free to dance across whatever tender flesh it could find, searching for that little pink mound that he knew would make her moan. Maia squirmed and writhed at his touch all the while, though when his tongue found her she couldn’t help the moan that slipped from her. A moan that caused Ignacio to smile. He looked up towards her, watching her face as his tongue pressed firm against her warm slit, slipping between her folds where it found that sweet mound he had been searching for.

Maia threw her head back, her own eyes falling shut as every nerve ending in her body fired off with pleasure. Ignacio always knew just where, and how, to touch her and she loved every moment of it. Her reaction pleased Ignacio and he closed his own eyes, focusing on the adventures of his tongue as it rubbed and caressed her clit.

His tongue worked against her warm, wet pussy for some time and he could tell from both her reaction as well as her taste that she had cum for him at least twice. Her ragged breathing and near whimpered moans only pleased him all the more, though it was her breathy words that pushed him over the edge.

“Oh God, Ignacio…” Maia whimpered. “I need you inside of me…”

That was all she had to say. He pulled away from her, leaving one last kiss to her glistening pussy, and stood on his knees. With a swift motion he undid his pants, pulling free his already hard member. He knelt there a moment, looking down at her half-naked and freshly licked body before him, his cock in his hand as he stroked it gently. When she chewed softly at her lower lip, her eyes falling to watch as he fondled himself, he grinned.

His dick throbbed, and he couldn’t deprive either of them of what they wanted, any longer. He brought himself down over her, settling between her already spread legs. He braced himself with one hand pressed into the bed, while the other left his dick and moved to grab hold of Maia’s hip. Throbbing and hard for her, he pushed his cock against her, that swollen tip slipping between those wet and welcome lips of hers, with a surge of pleasure.

For a moment, he paused, enjoying the look of agonizing lust that passed across Maia’s face. He grinned, finding that teasing her was nearly as good as indulging her. He couldn’t hold out long, however, and as she reached up to grab hold of his waist and shoulder, he thrust his hips and buried his cock to the hilt inside of her.

“Oh, God!” Maia groaned in both shock and pleasure.

“Your pussy feels so good, Maia,” he groaned in response.

His hips began to rock, and they fell into a blissful rhythm with one another. All of the tension, confusion and fear that had dogged them from nearly the moment they had first met, melted away, and they were finally allowed to consume one another as lovers.

For the first time, neither of them worried. They no longer worried about the US Government tracking them because Ignacio had slipped up with his dragon fire and turned miles of the Mojave to glass. They no longer worried about who might be tracking them and if they were actually safe where they were. It was such a feeling of liberation that the two of them quickly became lost within one another, everything else just fading into the background.

Lost in their own little world of love, neither expected their antics to be overheard by another. Yet, pressed against the wall just outside of Ignacio’s door, Elena stood frozen in heartbreak. She had simply been passing through the hall when she heard their voices and couldn’t help herself but to listen. Their conversation had been painful enough to hear, what with Ignacio denouncing any feelings for her whatsoever. But when the first sounds of their love making wafted through the door, Elena felt her heart seize in her chest.

Frozen against the wall, she cried. Her body ached with the need to run, to put as much distance between herself and that door as possible. Yet, she found that at first, she couldn’t move a muscle. Anger, pain, and sadness paralyzed her for what felt like forever, punishing her and forcing her to listen to them together. Finally, her body surged with adrenaline and she managed to push herself away from the wall. With tears streaming down her face, she ran. Only one person in this house would understand how she felt, and comfort her. She had to find Camilla.

*

Camilla was never a difficult woman to find. Her days were often spent lounging around the massive estate, usually in the salon or in her private rooms, trying to find some way to alleviate the boredom that plagued her. Thus, when Elena burst into the salon, tears in her eyes, she found Camilla draped across a chaise lounge with a book in her lap and a glass of wine in her hand. A typical sight, to be quite honest.

When Elena came into the room, a crying mess, she went straight to Camilla in hopes that the woman would give her some of the comfort she needed in that moment. When Camilla saw her, she sat up and set her book aside, a look of concern passing across her face.

“Elena? Are you alright?” She asked, more curious as to why she was crying than actually concerned about it.

“No!” Cried Elena, coming to drop beside Camilla onto the chaise.

That was the only answer she gave as she dropped like a stone beside Camilla on the lounge. Her tears intensified, and her sobbing became heavier. Camilla, not quite sure what was going on, played her part and put an arm around the crying Elena.

“Elena, calm down and tell me what’s wrong,” Camilla said, in a soft voice.

It took a few moments, but eventually Elena calmed herself. Her face was stained with tears, her eyes red and puffy from her efforts. Slowly, her sobbing breath relaxed and with a soft stutter in her throat, she did her best to tell Camilla what had made her cry in the first place.

“Ignacio doesn’t care for me at all,” Elena squeaked. The words nearly not making it out. “I… I overheard him with that other woman…”

“Overheard him? What on earth did he say?” Camilla asked, wildly curious but trying her best to temper it.

Elena lifted her eyes to the ceiling and sighed heavily, her breath still shaking as her body tried to recover from her brief, yet, near hysterical crying fit. She brought her hands to her face, pressing them against her cheeks before moving to wipe away what tears still remained in her eyes.

“That I am not the future he wants. She is,” she forced the words out, a heavy sigh coming with them. What she said next, however, threatened to choke her up even as she said it. “…and then I hear them… together…”

“Oh, poor thing…” Camilla knew what Elena was getting at and pulled the girl in close for a reassuring embrace.

For a moment, the two women just sat there, Camilla holding Elena as she slowly got herself back under control. Stroking the younger woman’s dark hair, Camilla thought about the situation. When she spoke, she chose her words and her tone carefully.

“It’s alright, Elena.” She soothed. “I know it hurts… but deep down you knew that woman had her claws in him deep. How else could a woman like that keep a man like Ignacio’s attention?”

Elena sniffled, looking towards Camilla with an innocent look of confusion before she realized that Camilla was calling Maia a whore. She nodded, again wiping her eyes with a soft sigh. Her stomach still felt as though it was in knots, her chest ached.

“I… suppose you are right.” She softly agreed. “But what am I to do? Ignacio doesn’t seem to care for me at all. I feel like he would rather I wasn’t around at all…”

Camilla could tell the girl was already losing faith in Ignacio and her betrothal to him. She decided to seize the moment for herself. If she played her cards right, she could have Ignacio as her own personal plaything without need for worry about Elena snatching him up. Of course, it would be unfortunate to lose such a well-groomed handmaid, but she would get by.

“I fear Ignacio may have changed during his time away…” Camilla mused with faux innocence in her voice.

“But where did he go? No one has told me where he has been all of this time…” Elena questioned. It was true, she had been kept fairly in the dark about the entire situation. All she knew was that he had needed time away.

“I’m not sure, to be quite honest,” Camilla said, a small nugget of truth for once. “But wherever it was, it seems to have turned him, though I am sure that woman is no help either.”

She gave a soft squeeze to Elena’s shoulder and gently stood up from the chaise, taking her book and setting it on the small nearby table. She gave a glance towards Elena, trying to read the girl’s face before she continued.

“The question I have always wondered, and please forgive me, is why Ignacio chose to leave a woman like you behind in the first place,” Camilla said the words so casually, though they were barbed, and by the look on Elena’s face, they were right on target.

“You are such a lovely woman, so beautiful and sweet…” She continued, taking a few steps to the small bar along the wall of the salon to fix herself a drink. “When your engagement was first announced, I thought you were the perfect fit for one another, though now… I am not so sure…”

“What do you mean?” Asked Elena, right on cue like a good girl.

“What I mean… is I am no longer sure that you would be happy with Ignacio…” She turned to face Elena, drink in hand and a casual lean against the bar. “You are still such a sweet and loving woman…. but he has changed.”

Camilla took a sip of her drink, daring a glance at Elena to watch her reaction. The woman was far too easy to manipulate, and she reacted just as Camilla had expected. Elena lowered her eyes, thinking over Camilla’s words as if they were some parable or gospel to dwell upon. Camilla took the moment to smirk and silently praise herself before putting her mask back on and opening her mouth once more.

“I don’t mean to make you worry or to upset you, Elena. I only want what is best for you,” Camilla said, returning to sit beside Elena and place a gentle hand against her knee. “I think of you like a sister, after all these years together.”

Boom. There it was. The words she knew Elena wanted to hear from her. A soft smile came to the young woman’s face and she nodded gently. Everything Camilla had said would stick with her and Camilla knew exactly where her mind would go. Not wanting to spoil it, she decided to send Elena off to be alone and think on it for a while.

“Why don’t you go and enjoy a nice, hot bath to try and relax. Hm?” She suggested to Elena. “I’ll send Lucia up to draw it for you right now.”

Elena nodded, and the two women stood up. Drink still in hand, Camilla gave the younger woman a light hug and then shooed her out of the salon. Once she was gone, Camilla sighed heavily and rolled her eyes. Life would be far less annoying once that girl was gone and all Camilla had to worry about was the boys. Tossing back what was left of her drink, she went to find Lucia and sent her off to tend to Elena and her bath.