FicWad

Hmmm… Soooo sweeeet… sooo gooooood…

Whoa, WHAT?!

What was that?/ Diego's mind suddenly wondered when he felt something worm its way below his waist, between his belt and his skin.

He started and bolted upright, and in doing so his chest bumped into something that turned out to be Victoria's jaw.

"Ow!" she let out, sitting up.

Diego snapped out of the daze he had been in and took in his surroundings: Victoria's bedroom, night... Realisation dawned on his mind, as well as the circumstances: it was not Diego here but Zorro, he had come to see Victoria, they had talked, then quarrelled a bit, then made up, then kissed... with a rather substantial part of making out and groping. Mainly from her part, he finally reckoned.

But his mind seemed to have totally obliterated how he ended up lying on his back on Victoria's bedcover, with her all over him, straddling him, her hand flat against the skin of his chest.

Wait wait wait, when did his black shirt come unbuttoned?

Alarmed, he quickly assessed the rest of his outfit: thank God it was still where it belonged, and with all the buttons and straps done. [/Phew.

Then he took a look at Victoria's state of dress: she too was still fully clothed, even though her skirts had been bunched up to her thighs – undoubtly in the heat of the moment – and her blouse was in total disarray, revealing a shoulder and a good part of cleavage. But what struck Zorro was that his own gloved hand was shamelessly cupping one of her breasts through the white fabric.

He immediately removed his hand as though he had burnt himself. Santa Madre de Dios!

Her hand, for its part, was still trapped under his belt and had clearly been in the process of unfastening its clasp when he had bolted up. That's even precisely what made him snap out of this sweet folly with a jolt.

But she hardly left him time to recover; she had been surprised and slightly worried by his sudden move:

"Zorro?! What's wrong?"

What's wrong?! She was asking what was wrong?! They were shamelessly making out lying on her bed in the middle of the night and in the process of disrobing each other, and she was asking what was wrong?!

In front of his lack of answer she asked again:

"What's happening? Did..." she glanced down at her hand, "did I hurt you?"

With two trembling fingers he grabbed her wrist and pulled her hand away from his nether regions.

"No mi querida, no."

Then he took her other hand and tore it away from his naked chest.

"I apologise for this madness, mi querida," he told her, "I shouldn't have taken advantage..."

He gently grabbed her hips and lifted her from him, so that he could get away from under her and leave her bed. He took a step back and turned his back to her in order to fix his state of dress. Where was his cape?

Victoria, as for her, was puzzled:

"Advantage? How on earth could you believe you took advantage?"

She knew deep down that if one of them took advantage of the other, it was her. And she must have been very good at it if he didn't even notice her foxy manoeuvre! She had managed to trap him between her mattress and her own body, and he still believed he had been the one in charge! Men, really!

She got up and walked to him or rather to his back, since he was still facing the wall, then she snaked her arms around his waist to link her hands on his stomach, kissing his neck.

"Victoria..." he began, growling a bit.

He paused in buttoning up his shirt to gently grab her hands and unclasp her hold on him. She freed herself and gave a playful tap on his fingers before raising her hands and undoing again his shirt from behind him. He didn't let her carry on with that and turned to face her:

"Victoria, please, stop that."

"Shhh," she replied, seductively snuggling against his chest. "Everything's all right," she said in a murmur. "Come back to bed," she added, trailing her hands down his stomach to his belt, and then... lower.

He reacted by reflex and instinctively took a step back.

"Whoa, whoa, private parts here; I love you with all my heart but don't go there uninvited, mi preciosa!"

A bit miffed at his reaction, she gave a pointed look in the general direction of said parts.

"Forgive me if I mistook this for an invitation, my love!"

He looked down. Oh no!

How embarrassing! He closed his eyes and took a deep breath in, then out, then in again, to try to bring back under control this traitorous body of his. He knew he had certainly blushed scarlet under the mask.

She, on the other hand, didn't seem embarrassed at all by the very awkward situation or by his current predicament. Yet she was rather flushed herself, he noted. But according to the shine in her suddenly darkened eyes and to the swell of her now crimson lips, it was not out of embarrassment!

Oh Dios!

He suddenly felt like... a prey.

"My dear," he finally said, trying to sound detached and humorous despite the state he was in, "you still have much to learn about men if you think that our will alone has any control over this phenomenon..."

"It is certainly true that I still have much to know about you men..." she agreed. "So that's a good thing that I'm more than willing to learn..."

She cuddled against him, but in order not to scare him away she carefully avoided his 'very personal' parts.

"Mi querida..." he sighed, "Mi amor, we shouldn't... we mustn't..."

She stood on tiptoe and gently kissed his cheek. Then she said:

"You told me two minutes ago that you love me with all your heart..."

"And I mean it, Victoria."

"And I believe you," she replied. "But did it ever occur to you that I could also want you to love me with other parts of yourself than your heart...?"

He gasped. She had never been that bold with him before

"Of course..." he lied, "of course... But we mustn't. We shouldn't. Not like that."

"What do you mean, 'not like that'? And how else?" she looked at him. "There's only so many ways to do it, after all!"

Much to learn indeed... Anyway, that was not the point right now.

"I meant... the fight is not over," he explained. "I'm still an outlaw. I'm still promised to the gallows. I'm still wanted."

"Yes you are wanted. By me. Here and now!" she retorted. "And my bed is far more welcoming than the gallows, isn't it?" she added in a mellowed voice.

She kissed him and after a short hesitation, he responded.

Good... she thought, slowly dragging him to the bed.

"Come..." she breathed in his ear. "Come to my bed, and love me..."

No! his mind suddenly objected. He gently grabbed her elbows and pushed her away from him, taking a step back.

"Come on..." she insisted, "we've waited long enough. We are entitled to each other... we have the right to know love as man and woman..."

"We can't..." he protested weakly, in a pleading voice.

"Of course we can... You won't even have to take off the mask if you don't want to... I promise I won't try to remove it."

But apparently it was the wrong thing to say, because he tensed even more and took several steps back.

"I can't! I can't share a bed with you if you don't know who I am, if you don't know my name! Not if I still conceal my face from you behind this mask!"

"Then just take it off!" she said matter-of-factly with a shrug and a small smile.

"Mi querida, you know fairly well that the time for that has not come yet! I know I have promised to let you know who I am when the fight is over, but it's not yet... So we can't yet..."

She raised her hand to stop him.

"Right now I'm not asking for marriage! I'm not asking for your hand tonight! I'm not even asking for your identity! I just want what other women have without even having to beg for it. Lord knows I've waited long enough for that! It wouldn't change anything to your fight, or to your safety; or to mine, for that matter!"

"B-b-but I can't– I won't! You don't even know who I am!"

Victoria had a very exasperated sigh.

"We've had this conversation a hundred times! I love you for what you do, for what you fight for, for your ideals, so I'll love the man who does all this even if I don't know his face or his name! I won't have that argument with you once more tonight. Tonight I want you. Simply that. Is that so hard to understand?"

"I want that too, Victoria, but not like that! What I want is... is... I want you to make love to the man I am, knowing fully who you are making love with, and accepting it, and even wanting it! Wanting me– me as him... as myself, I mean... Oh this is all so confusing!"

"Then just take this damn mask off!" she shouted.

"Shhh!" he said, trying to get her to quiet her voice to prevent her from waking half the garrison. "You know I can't do that now."

She eyed him scrutinisingly.

"You're just hiding," she told him bitterly. "Not behind this mask, but behind all these words and fallacious arguments. I'll tell you that: you have trouble accepting that I'm a woman, that I'm just any woman, with the needs of a woman. But you know what? I'm tired of being your chivalrous ideal of the fair lady eternally waiting for her hero. You just want a chaste and eternally pure ladylove. You're just afraid to realise that I'm not purer than just anyone else, that I have the same needs and wishes for the pleasures of the flesh as any other. And that I have every right to it!"

After this outburst, Zorro didn't know what to say. But she wasn't done with him yet:

"You keep reproaching me for not seeing the ordinary man behind this mask and under this costume, but you're absolutely incapable of accepting that I'm an ordinary woman. Stop seeing me as above any other, stop worshipping me if that's what prevents you from worshipping my body!"

He gaped at her. She was totally missing the point, wasn't she?

"I assure you mi querida, I'm fully aware of how much a real woman you are..."

"Really?" she asked. "Good, then," she added.

And with that, in one swift move she grabbed the bottom hem of her blouse and quickly pulled it over her head before tossing it on the floor.

He only had the time to gape when he realised that she wasn't wearing anything under it, and before his brain had the time to fully take in what his eyes were seeing, he immediately turned to face the wall.

Victoria felt insulted by his reaction. Wouldn't he even look at her?

She walked to him and murmured in his ear through the black silk of the mask:

"Or perhaps I was totally wrong...? Perhaps you do see me as a woman...? And perhaps you just fear I'm too much of a woman for you...?"

"Victoria..." he growled again, "don't play that game!"

"Or what? Or you might give in? Hardly a threat, my love, since it's exactly what I want from you..."

She kissed his neck from behind and he tensed. She insisted and against his better judgment he tilted his head to the other side to give her better access.

"So..." she asked seductively, "do you surrender, Zorro?"

He breathed in, straightening his head:

"Never..." he answered, stepping away from her and closer to the window. "Zorro never surrenders, mi preciosa."

"Never say never, mi querido. I'll just try harder."

Surprisingly, he gave an unexpected and amused small laugh.

"Then you ought to be careful, mi amor, because I might defend my virtue with weapons in arms..."

And matching his words with action, in the same move he quickly drew his sword, turned around and with the tip of his blade he caught a corner of the curtain, lifting it high enough so that it hid her chest from his view.

He flashed at her the most charming and maddening smile ever, looking very pleased with himself.

Argh... she thought, the man was really the most confusing and infuriating person she had ever met! And, she admitted, a real master at turning the table on someone!

Still holding the curtain between them as a veil of decency, he took a step to her, leaned down to her mouth and kissed her soundly to show her his appreciation. Then he pulled back less than one inch from her lips to murmur to her:

"I assure you that I'm looking forward to the day you and the man behind this mask will be joined in your bed. And that day, I'll show you how not chastely I've been thinking of you all these years," he added before dropping a light kiss on her lips. "But just not tonight."

He kissed her again, still holding his sword between them. Then when he felt her ready to take control he pulled back, saluted and turned to the window, releasing the curtain. Before sheathing his blade he used it to retrieve his cape from the floor with a flick of his wrist and wrapped it over his shoulder.

She had barely recovered from his burning kiss when he climbed on the windowsill. She then remembered his last words.

"Promises, always promises!" she snapped at his retreating back.

She sighed heavily. What a fiasco! A spectacular flop. She wasn't any nearer to have him in her bed, or to become a mother for that matter; and to top it all, the make-out session with him had made her horny as hell, to say things crudely.

She was burning and tingling everywhere, and he had just left her standing there, hot and aroused, and very much frustrated.

Very much alone, too.

Yes, his visit had left her all hot and bothered, in every sense of the words. Really, he was the most frustrating and infuriating man in the world! She grabbed the first thing that came to her hand and threw it with rage across the room. It happened to be her vase, the one in which she usually put the roses he occasionally brought her.

Fine, she thought, she was tired of his perpetual chivalry and never-ending courtship, anyway!

z ~ z ~ z ~ z ~ z ~ z ~ z ~ z ~ z

Zorro was galloping through the dark night as though the devil himself were after him. Usually, he was fleeing from the lancers, but this time he was fleeing from Victoria. And he was beginning to think that she was more dangerous than a whole company of soldiers. Perhaps she was more dangerous for him than the devil himself!

Tonight he had almost lost it. Tonight he had almost ended up in her bed.

Well, technically, he did end up in her bed... Fortunately, he regained his wits in time.

Or unfortunately, he mused... Right now, instead of riding for dear life through the desert and toward his cold and empty bed, he could be lying with Victoria, warming his heart to her body, plunging with her in the delights of–

STOP!

Stop that, he ordered his wandering and wanton mind.

His earlier... bodily predicament... was finally over – fortunately, considering the horse riding he had to do – so he'd rather have it not to return! He really should think of something else.

But honestly! What had suddenly gotten into Victoria? What had suddenly made her so... forward?

He realised he had had a narrow escape tonight, and had she been a bit more cautious and less hasty, he might have never roused from the madness that had taken them when they were on that bed until all was said and done. Well, mainly done, he was quite sure they hadn't been making much talking at that precise moment.

What possessed her, to suddenly want to shift up a gear in their relationship? Well, deep down he knew the answer to that question of course.

Nothing. Nothing is precisely what happened, and she clearly was frustrated at the status quo in their relationship: she wasn't seeing any end to their current situation and it was making her impatient and desperate, she had been crystal clear about that. Not to mention that the... 'lack of action' was apparently frustrating her to no end. And here he thought only men felt that!

She might have much to learn about men, but he really shouldn't brag about that because he apparently had still much to learn about women himself!

Or perhaps many misconceptions to 'unlearn', he reflected.

He sighed, slowing Tornado to a quiet walk as they got closer to the de la Vega hacienda. Home, finally! He'd just have to silently ride around it and then to reach the secret entrance of the cave, and he could finally go to bed.

But just as he was passing by, he heard... groans? Whimpers? Muffled cries? Someone was in distress around here. He looked right and left, but in the dark of the night, he couldn't see anything. He tried to focus on the sound to assess where it was coming from, so that he could come to that person's help. Here, he heard it again. A woman's voice.

And... Oh... Oooh!

Oww...

Moans...

The kind of moans whose nature he finally identified as coming from a woman who was definitely NOT in distress! Quite the contrary, even.

Or if she was, then well... clearly somebody was already 'taking care' of her kind of distress.

And considering that he had located the source of these sounds as coming from the broken window of his father's bedroom, he had a very clear and disturbing notion of exactly who that someone was.

Eww! No, couldn't be!

And with all these elements, it wasn't difficult to guess who the woman was either!

Under his mask, Zorro's face scrunched up into a disgusted grimace. For no love or money in the world he would have taken a look through the broken glass of the window to confirm his guess. The sound was enough to traumatise him for the rest of his life, thank you very much, and it was already bringing far too vivid images to his mind.

Eww!

He would have been perfectly happy to live the rest of his life without these pictures floating before his mind's eye.

He squeezed his eyes shut to try to dispel those visions and then, in order not to hear those disturbing sounds anymore, he urged Tornado into a gallop to reach the cave as soon as possible, and to hell with discretion and caution!

Oh, no, he really, really, really didn't need that tonight.

But the only good thing in all this was that now, he clearly didn't have to worry about the state of his groin. No chance of anything uncomfortable and embarrassing happening down there for the rest of the night! Absolutely none!

His own father! That was the icing on the cake of this nightmarish evening.

Victoria, his father, Doña Araceli... Oww, what on earth was in the air tonight?