birdbath in the center of the patio. The small bird fluffed out its wings and jumped into the crystal clear water.
“Look at me, Anna.” The sound of Luca’s voice so close should have startled her, but instead she turned slowly to face him. He knelt in front of her, his hands on the armrest of her chair and his expression relaxed. “We may have never spoken, but those years I was gone you were all I thought about.” His voice was soft. Luca took her hand in his and brought it to his mouth to lay a gentle kiss in the center of her palm. “I missed you, Anna, and even if I wasn’t there physically I was there with you in here.” He took her hand and placed it over her heart and then his. “As strange as this may sound, I fell in love with you in those two years I was away.”
How did she respond to something like that? She had loved Luca Graison for as long as she could remember, and hearing that he cared for her as much as she did him had her crying like a fool.
“My sweet Anna. Please don’t cry.” He brushed his thumbs under her eyes and wiped the tears away. For several long moments they stared at each other, and as he slowly moved in Anna felt her heart stop. The feel of his breath brushing along her lips had her eyes closing on their own. “I want to kiss you, Anna. Will you let me?”
Did he even have to ask? With her eyes still closed and her heart stalled in her chest, she nodded. He pressed his lips to hers, and electricity slammed into her body. She jerked and moaned against his mouth. The kiss was soft, gentle, but something inside of her cracked, and she wanted more, needed more. He speared his hand in her hair and brought her closer. At the first touch of his tongue to her bottom lip she opened her mouth and let him inside. The flavor of him washed along her taste buds, and she made a small noise in the back of her throat.
“Touch me, Anna. Please.” His lips moved against hers when he spoke. Her fingers itched to touch his hard, muscular body, and instead of feeling nervous about her wants, she lifted her hands and gripped his shoulders. Their mouths moved together, and their tongues pressed against one another in what reminded her of a sexual act she wanted desperately to experience with him. Her chair scraped along the tiled floor when he turned it so she faced him fully. In the next second he moved his big body between her thighs. Anna should have pushed him away, told him this was too much and too fast, but she couldn’t, wouldn’t. She wanted this too badly, and had ached for it since she knew what these emotions inside of her were.
Luca’s chest was broad and hard, and when it pressed against hers she instantly felt her nipples bead. Wetness spilled from between her thighs, and a tingling started in the bundle of nerves at the top of her mound. With both of his hands on the sides of her head, and his fingers curling into her hair, Anna got lost in the feelings and sensations of Luca having sex with her mouth. He broke the kiss far too soon and wrapped his arms around her shoulders.
“God, Anna.” His breath teased the shell of her ear. Then his lips found the side of her neck, and he laid a gentle kiss upon her sensitive flesh. “I have been thinking of doing that since I left you.” He held her tighter, and she let herself experience every single emotion she wasn’t allowed to feel. “Things will be better for you, Anna. I promise. I won’t let anyone hurt you ever again. I love you.”
Those three words were like a hot poker of realization inside of her. “I love you, too, Luca.”
He tensed around her but soon relaxed, and a deep sigh left him. She wrapped her arms around him and held him as tightly as he held her. When she lifted her gaze after several long euphoric moments of being wrapped around Luca it was to see Arik standing in the shadowed hallway. Even with the grayness partially covering him she could see his emerald cut eyes. He watched her with curiosity and
Robert J. Sawyer, Stefan Bolz, Ann Christy, Samuel Peralta, Rysa Walker, Lucas Bale, Anthony Vicino, Ernie Lindsey, Carol Davis, Tracy Banghart, Michael Holden, Daniel Arthur Smith, Ernie Luis, Erik Wecks