Arioso
Soothing the Soul
- Joined
- May 18, 2003
- Posts
- 1,640
It was like waking up from a long, soul-numbing nightmare. Ella felt the weight lifting from her heart at the visible relief and longing in Eric's eyes when she told him how she'd missed him.
His kiss had been a salve to the inner wounds that had pained her for so long.
She wanted nothing more than to draw him to her, feel his body against hers and love him until they were both exhausted. But when he begged her to listen to his confession, Ella did her best to keep her desires in check and listen.
What he said was troubling. Although he had refused to be involved in the slave ring...his actions had contributed to it indirectly, before he knew the truth about what Phoenix and Senator Atcheson had set up. It did pain Ella to think of her Eric being tangled in that web -- but not for the reasons he seemed to think.
And she was unprepared for his fervent belief that she would no longer love him after hearing the truth. Did he really not know how much she needed him now? How much he had become a part of her very being?
When he rose to leave her, Ella's instincts spoke for her.
"No," she insisted emphatically. "Not without me Eric. Right or wrong, better or worse, I love you. And this time? We do this…together."
Couldn't he understand that what had hurt her the most was being separated from him? Whether it was during her investigation in Dante's Circle, when she'd feared she'd never make it back out to see him again...or whether it was during these past few weeks when he had shunned her...being alone, away from him was the only true hell she'd ever known. She'd be damned before she let him put her right back in that hell -- by getting himself killed on his solitary quest for vengeance.
"Eric, don't you see? The only thing you can do to hurt me is take yourself away from me," Ella explained gently, but with a hint of urgency in her trembling voice that betrayed her anguish at the thought that he would storm off on a dangerous, self-appointed mission without her. "If you're going after those criminals, then I've got your back. You're not the only one who wasn't whole...wasn't complete...before we met. I. Love. You. We're a team. And if you make me, I will handcuff you to me, and then you'll have no choice but to take me with you."
Ella's eyes glimmered hotly by the time she was finished. As if to illustrate her last threat, she pressed her body flush against Eric's and circled her hands tightly around his wrists...chaining him to her with her own stubbornness and passion.
"So when do we leave?" Ella purred, arching an eyebrow in challenge.
As she gazed steadily into Eric's eyes, Ella felt a flicker of Diana stir within her. Without pausing long enough to give her beloved a chance to answer, Ella leaned in and crushed her mouth against his. Her lips nibbled and sucked at his ravenously, devouring him in a kiss that sizzled with the weeks of hunger she'd felt as she starved for him.
The core of her pleasure swelled almost painfully between her thighs at the ragged groan that rattled up from Eric's chest and poured into her mouth. Ella shuddered in reply when Eric squeezed her tightly against himself and began mauling her flesh with frantic, demanding hands.
She was glad for the privacy of the alcove he had just finished building when their clothes came off in a frenzy and they ravished each other right there at the lake's edge. And after their weeks of solitary anguish, it was just the beginning.
They made love barely two steps inside their cabin after Eric drove them back home so Ella could pack.
They clasped each other in a sensual embrace and made love again in the shower.
Eric drew up behind Ella as she was packing her suitcase and drove her wild with kisses and tender caresses, until they surrendered to their need and made love yet again.
In the end, they postponed their departure until the following morning.
As Ella lay sated and at peace in Eric's arms, her thoughts dwelled on their journey. He had suggested she pack a few things that surprised her...and others that had made her shiver a little with excitement. But, for better or for worse, they would set out in the morning....together.
Back into the shadowy circle of dark delights that just seemed to keep expanding and expanding...swallowing her up in its sensual snare...
FIN pt. 2
@>--`--,----
And thank you, Bart, for the delight...and the challenge...
His kiss had been a salve to the inner wounds that had pained her for so long.
She wanted nothing more than to draw him to her, feel his body against hers and love him until they were both exhausted. But when he begged her to listen to his confession, Ella did her best to keep her desires in check and listen.
What he said was troubling. Although he had refused to be involved in the slave ring...his actions had contributed to it indirectly, before he knew the truth about what Phoenix and Senator Atcheson had set up. It did pain Ella to think of her Eric being tangled in that web -- but not for the reasons he seemed to think.
And she was unprepared for his fervent belief that she would no longer love him after hearing the truth. Did he really not know how much she needed him now? How much he had become a part of her very being?
When he rose to leave her, Ella's instincts spoke for her.
"No," she insisted emphatically. "Not without me Eric. Right or wrong, better or worse, I love you. And this time? We do this…together."
Couldn't he understand that what had hurt her the most was being separated from him? Whether it was during her investigation in Dante's Circle, when she'd feared she'd never make it back out to see him again...or whether it was during these past few weeks when he had shunned her...being alone, away from him was the only true hell she'd ever known. She'd be damned before she let him put her right back in that hell -- by getting himself killed on his solitary quest for vengeance.
"Eric, don't you see? The only thing you can do to hurt me is take yourself away from me," Ella explained gently, but with a hint of urgency in her trembling voice that betrayed her anguish at the thought that he would storm off on a dangerous, self-appointed mission without her. "If you're going after those criminals, then I've got your back. You're not the only one who wasn't whole...wasn't complete...before we met. I. Love. You. We're a team. And if you make me, I will handcuff you to me, and then you'll have no choice but to take me with you."
Ella's eyes glimmered hotly by the time she was finished. As if to illustrate her last threat, she pressed her body flush against Eric's and circled her hands tightly around his wrists...chaining him to her with her own stubbornness and passion.
"So when do we leave?" Ella purred, arching an eyebrow in challenge.
As she gazed steadily into Eric's eyes, Ella felt a flicker of Diana stir within her. Without pausing long enough to give her beloved a chance to answer, Ella leaned in and crushed her mouth against his. Her lips nibbled and sucked at his ravenously, devouring him in a kiss that sizzled with the weeks of hunger she'd felt as she starved for him.
The core of her pleasure swelled almost painfully between her thighs at the ragged groan that rattled up from Eric's chest and poured into her mouth. Ella shuddered in reply when Eric squeezed her tightly against himself and began mauling her flesh with frantic, demanding hands.
She was glad for the privacy of the alcove he had just finished building when their clothes came off in a frenzy and they ravished each other right there at the lake's edge. And after their weeks of solitary anguish, it was just the beginning.
They made love barely two steps inside their cabin after Eric drove them back home so Ella could pack.
They clasped each other in a sensual embrace and made love again in the shower.
Eric drew up behind Ella as she was packing her suitcase and drove her wild with kisses and tender caresses, until they surrendered to their need and made love yet again.
In the end, they postponed their departure until the following morning.
As Ella lay sated and at peace in Eric's arms, her thoughts dwelled on their journey. He had suggested she pack a few things that surprised her...and others that had made her shiver a little with excitement. But, for better or for worse, they would set out in the morning....together.
Back into the shadowy circle of dark delights that just seemed to keep expanding and expanding...swallowing her up in its sensual snare...
FIN pt. 2
@>--`--,----
And thank you, Bart, for the delight...and the challenge...
