KIERA.
Glittering lights shaped the ghost of the mansion on the lonely winding road. I was slithering through the back door opened ajar, touched and angry, flicking my wet hair tickling my nose, reasoning that he was concerned about my whereabouts. He didn't have the right to care.
Startled when the door slammed shut up above, I was pulled into a caressing bulwark encompassing me round about. The feel of his body wakened mine, smooth and hairy, as the dawn of twilight. I was not sure if he said something or moved his lips, deafened to sound, save that of his silent song susurrating from my ears to my quavering stomach. Dylan brought the waves crashing on the shore unabated as he kissed and kissed and kissed me until I didn't know where my lips were. He slashed me in half from my waist upwards. I moaned sinfully, cleaved to him whole like a penitent before her priest for ages wrapped in seconds, budded like a lily at the first fragrance of spring. I hadn't felt this desired before, so much that I saw double.
But of all men, why did Cupid punish me with this devil?
We stared at each other, winging our flights in our separate minds, I thinking about our unguarded attraction to each other. I warmed myself in the hearth of his chest, bitter about where we stood at the edge of the cliff.
"Don't ever run off like that, please. I was scared of losing you forever," he planted a firm strong kiss on my blossoming pink lips high strung and fazed. I realized the sincerity of his admittance, laying himself out there for me to believe or doubt, accept or reject. He had rejected me before, because he was far above my puny scarred sense of self.
"Please stop. Whatever game it is you're playing, I don't like it. I might be vulnerable but I'm not a fool."
"I'm__"
"Sorry?"
"I was going to say that I'm falling for you."
He followed through, profoundly earnest, "I'm not sure I know what I'm talking about. I've never had this connection with anyone before you but for two months, I've lived and woken up with you next door. You gave me a reason to return from work everyday because you always had a smile ready for me. You forgave me for not being there when you needed me most." His voice broke.
Holding my gaze, he took my white knuckle and kissed it, held onto it, thawing my initial resistance. "I understand if you don't feel the same way about me. I understand if you want me to let you go. You're at liberty to hate me as much as you want, but you can't deny that we have something going on here. I know you like me, or at least treasure my kisses as fresh undiluted wine."
"When were you gonna tell me that you're wedding Oh God, yes. Right there babe?"
"Pardon?"
"The night you two almost burst my eardrums with your smoking hot sex noises? Joanna?"
"Joanne."
"You don't care that I'm referring to sex?"
"We're both adults and you weren't exactly a virgin."
He was sushi, raw fish wrapped in vinegar rice and seaweed, dripping with mockery on one hand. He did it innocently, insulting me without intending so. Given his sappy lopsided grin, I knew he had no idea that he might have succeeded in lighting my short fuse. So I dropped it.
"To answer your question, I would never tell you. I felt I could keep it secret until after our break-up."
The whirring fan blew more heat than cold, blasting the smothering temperature, by five thousand degrees. I saw layers of curly truths interlocked in his hair that was unabashedly longer and fuller. It has always fascinated me, like the scar near his penis, the miniscule birthmark on his proud exquisite eyebrows.
"She's a bitch but even dogs are loyal to their masters."
"I'll break up with her tomorrow. It's an oath."
"A promise unmade is better than one unkept. I wish I could trust you, Dylan. I really do. But every time I try, you disappoint me badly. We may be rivals but I read her eyes because I'm a woman too. I know what it's like to have your heart smashed apart and left to be eaten by birds of the air, or trodden under foot by fake friends saying I told you so."
Dylan seemed distant, his nuance complex, confusing. Had I gone too far this time?
"Your lips are the most beautiful things I know. Can kiss them? If you say no, I'll walk away. It'll suck but I'll refrain from being intimate with you. I won't do this, " he resumed his one-sided chess game on my face, planting a wet divine series of kisses, "Or this," he thumbed my lower back, striking my chords like a sensational pianist, toying with the few tendrils that his nimble fingers could reach, gently lowering me backwards as he kissed my exposed skin now madly flared and wild, pining for him to pursue his conquest.
"Or this," he dipped one finger in my pants, fisted and twirled bits of my pubic hair.
I bucked as he withdrew mercilessly, licking his lips smugly, delighting in creating an artwork of a horny woman with messed up feelings.
Crazy yet wanting.
"Please kiss me," I whispered as my knees surrendered and I cupped his deadly handsome face in my half-alive hands, and he taught me how to righteously give my mouth to his supple wiry will.
"Tomorrow, I'm taking you on that second date," he said, aquiver.
My escape plan catapulted to the forefront of my memories. I did a quick calculation of the duration of the date on the kitchen floor, my legs splayed out as Dylan assumed territorial control. No, revealing Thad's foolproof plan, whatever it was, would be treading barefoot on hot coals.
A servant could walk in on us any minute though neither of us seemed eager to depart. I knew he would be my destruction.
"Come on," he straightened up listlessly. "Bedtime. Yes, you're sleeping with me."
"Do I have a choice?"
"Not really. Other than falling for me. Soon."
**
Man to woman. Dylan closed the window blinds slats down to thwart prying outsiders.
"I can't share my pyjamas with you." He whetted his appetite on me. "Unless you want to sleep in those tight and uncomfortable pants that I desperately need off, won't you change?"
I remembered the money in my bra. My original plan was to hide it under the drinks in the fridge, but Dylan disrupted everything, thanks for nothing.
"Uh__"
"You know what's not fair?"
"Huh?"
"That I stopped chasing beauty when I found you. I'll look away if that'll make you more at home. But you're not going anywhere."
I didn't deserve this creamy chocolatey sweetness.
"I…"
"Yeah Kiki?"
"I… "
"What? Is something bothering you?" He left the bed, reaching out for me, as the uneven rhythms of the atmosphere pulsated, almost crumbling beneath the sensitive moment.
How could I explain that I'd stolen from him?
He trusted me, came clean when I was still on the fence, poured out his heart to me. Staring at his innocent face, I knew I couldn't lie to him. I had to leave before he discovered the money on me. I wouldn't stand there and give him reasons to distrust the rest of mankind.