FicWad

CHAPTER FOURTEEN


Con had a business trip to Toledo to make and I agreed to accompany him. When we went to speak to my aunt, she sat in a dainty chair in the conservatory having tea. The morning light diffused by the plants shone upon her and I admired the beauty of her facial structure, noting how the illumination haloed around her. I would have to paint her thusly someday.


“Good morning,” she greeted. The warmth in her eyes dimmed as she turned her attention to Con. He had made a very sincere and gentlemanly apology to her yesterday. However, Aunt Jasmine remained concerned for me. “Mr. MacCormack.”


“Please, call me ‘Con’,” he replied.


“I have agreed to travel with Con to Toledo.”


“Perhaps we ladies should speak of it alone.”


He went down before her on one knee. “Madam, I truly regret causing strife in your home. I am grateful for the considerable hospitality of yours given me out of love for your niece. And you have my word, I shall protect her life with my own.” He held out his big, dark hands, palms up.


Aunt Jasmine placed hers upon his. As he brought them to brush a kiss over each, she gazed at me and said, “This man has entirely too much charm when he so chooses.”


I laughed. Con smiled and rose.


#


Con had arranged a lovely room in a quiet inn that asked few questions, but provided much luxury. Footmen had fetched our things from the house I had borrowed, so they’d but to load them into the carriage Con commissioned and depart. I loved the big room filled with masculine, solid furniture. It made me think of Papa.


I missed him so much. Jacque and Luc as well. My uncles, I missed terribly. Maman, well, she made herself so much a part of me, I felt I carried her with me. And Roth, I did carry him with me in our shared flesh.


My lover and I ate in our room that evening and afterward he made love to me with such slow sweetness, I wept again after I climaxed.


The day after we arrived, Con attended his liaison and I luxuriated in the time alone. He seemed to care not a whit about such close quarters. I had begun to reluctantly accept our temporary status as a couple. Still, this very domestic arrangement had me edgy and thin-skinned. I reclined in a nice long bath, plied my depilatory, ate a plate of fruit and cheese brought up by the staff, then began pacing the big room, my internal dialogue becoming a poison litany.


Con returned and the moment he stepped inside, I saw on his face he knew the change on the wind. “Ivy, we have discussed this.”


Enraged he knew my mind so well already, I strode to face him. “I am no happier about it.”


Removing his hat and smoothing his clubbed hair, he replied, “You are spoiling for a fight to make yourself feel less vulnerable. I refuse to oblige you.” He hung the hat on a wall peg and I boiled.


“Why cannot you lose interest in me?” I thumped his hard chest with the back of my hand.


He caught it, turned it over and placed it over his heart. Staring down at me with those black eyes, he answered, “Assault me all you wish, pet. You have ensnared me and I’ve no wish to escape.”


“Damn you,” managed through my constricted throat.


He took me into his arms, and I reluctantly let him hold my head to his chest. The steady thumping of his heart calmed me a bit, and that infuriated me on a whole new matter of address.


“I would accept Lucifer’s fire to have you, Ivy.”


I returned his embrace and pondered how I might find peace with this.


#


Midday the following morrow, a delivery of flowers and Caribbean meal arrived. With it came an envelope bearing a bold seal. Con’s, no doubt. I allowed the delivery agent to arrange the food and flowers. After he departed, I opened the missive. On heavy paper, I saw verses written in a bold, harsh hand.


My lover, she sees the world with a different eye
From eye to hand does she paint on brushstroke ply
Light and shadow come alive at her touch
And to have that attention upon me, I rush
The beauty of her seems to fade away
When I see the profundity of what her gift has portrayed


I sat down and dissolved into weeping yet again. What had he done to me? My soul felt joined to his. I hated it. I loved it. He made me run mad with lust and want.


When he returned that evening, I laid in the bed, garbed in every garment I could stand in the warmth. Con closed the door. I heard him shed his outer raiment, then come to sit on the bed’s edge.


I rolled over, facing him. “You wrote me a poem.”


“My feelings for you make me wax poetic.”


Choked by emotion, I sniffed. “You understand my painting.”


“Nay. I understand what it is in you.”


“How can I fight you?” My heart lay bare to him.


“Please do not. Ivy, I want you so much. Though I have never loved a woman besides my dam, I believe I love you.”


“Do not,” I begged, shivering, “do not.”


Con stripped me bare, pulled me into his lap and gave me a very gentle shake. “Do not allow your fear to harm our relationship.”


Naked, I looked up at him. “Just fuck me.”


“I will,” he promised, all sovereign strength and masculinity. “First I shall have your confession. Tell me how you feel.”


I spewed everything out and crawled all over that Scot git.



CHAPTER FIFTEEN


During the first leg our journey back to Madrid, on a quiet stretch of road, our carriage slowed. Con opened the door, leaned out a bit.


“What is it?”


“A carriage has lost a wheel and partially blocks the road.” It sounded innocent. However, I heard the suspicion in his voice. He stared ahead and then instructed the driver. “Do not stop to assist. We have to turn around and go back to find a way round.”


“Why must we do that?”


The conveyance halted. As soon as it began the turnabout, a shot rang out. Con shoved me down in the floor and leaped out the door. Men, perhaps a score swarmed out from behind trees and shrubs. I stayed low. Although I possessed the skill, I knew Con possessed all the experience. I had no wish to hinder his efforts with fear for me. We had not hired outriders and I entrusted myself to his capabilities.


I watched him cut through the road bandits, taking pistols and swords as he went. The driver joined the fray and showed much skill in a tight spot. Very soon, the remaining two would-be robbers turned tail and fled. Con picked up a fallen short sword, gauged its weight, then threw it. It flipped end over end to spear one man. My lover then quickly recovered a similar weapon, gave it the same regard and repeated the feat a second time.


Con stood there a moment. He looked to see that I fared well, examined a cut across his belly, turned to the very winded coachman and said. “That was the easy part. Now we must move the carcasses in order to pass.”


#


We tied the horses from the bandits’ “disabled” carriage behind our own. That night, we stopped at a small inn. It proved rustic, clean and very cozy. Con offered to travel farther to find one of a better class. I declined. He smiled and I knew my lack of snobbery pleased him. He gave our names as man and wife and I bridled, even as I realized he did naught save protect my good name.


A meek little maid scurried about our small room, turning down the bed, overseeing the bringing up of a tub and water delivery. Con apologized to her for the inconvenience of our late arrival, gallantly helped her to carry a stack of drying cloths, and generally made an effort to put her at ease. It caused an ache in my chest. Like something my brothers or sire would do, he felt comfortable enough in his own skin to take an interest in reassuring a nervous servant most would find beneath contempt.


At last alone and soaking in a very accommodating tub, I sat between his muscular thighs and reclined against his belly and chest. His long arms rested along the tub’s rim. I finally asked, “What made you suspect villainy this afternoon?”


“It is a common enough ruse.”


I could not quite accept a modest response from him. “Cease evading and share.”

He chuckled and the sound raised gooseflesh over me. “The first thing that alerted me was the fresh saddle marks on the harness horses’ backs. Then, I saw the axle of the conveyance appeared undamaged despite the state of the broken wheel. The ‘coachmen’ wore three pistols and a blade, tracks led from the road to the covering points of ambush on either side, I did not spot passengers, and in this warmth they would have stepped out for air, no mark upon the carriage identified house or livery –“


“Aye, aye!” I cut him off, amused by his keen eye and my lack of it. “I see shadow, light and shapes. You see the important matters.”


He embraced me, kissing my nape below my upswept hair. His warm breath caused me to shiver as he murmured against my skin. “Your eyes see this world in beauty. No vision is more needful and precious than that.”


#


We arrived back in Madrid and returned to Aunt Jasmine’s. She greeted us, very affectionate even with Con. Smiling at him, she said, “It pleases me to report your offer accepted.”


“Is it a matter between solicitors now?”


I remained at a loss. “What?”

My aunt smiled wistfully. “Let your man tell you.”


When we reached my apartment, I asked, “What is going on, Con?”


He embraced me, kissed my forehead, cheeks and lips, then answered, “When we departed, I left a letter for your aunt, requesting she present an offer to her friend. He accepted. I own the cottage where we first made love.”


How could my heart not break at this knowledge? I threw my arms around him and pressed my body to his. “I love that little house dearly, Con.”


“It shall be signed over to you,” he replied, holding me tight. “It shall become your private little nook of the world.”


“You keep making me cry,” I wailed.


I could feel the tension in his big body, the subtle tremor. “So long as from joy, pet, I am happy for it.”


I began ripping his clothes off, and he assisted. Shoving him back to the bed, I toppled him. I did no more than straddle him, part my pantilettes and take his big erection into my very hot and hungry quim. The eroticism of having him inside me as I remained fully gowned, quickly had me approaching climax. I ground my pelvis down upon his, moving faster and making an effort to squeeze him with my internal muscles.


His deep groans and murmurs in that much-increased burr told me I had him. I peaked, shaking, and moving off him as he shot his semen against my clad backside. Even through the fabric I felt the heat and I collapsed upon his chest.



CHAPTER SIXTEEN


We returned to the house I had borrowed before and now owned. Con had a local solicitor transfer the deed to me. Tears had slipped down my cheeks as he signed all the papers without hesitation. Then, I seemed to do that often of late.


That evening, he sent a runner boy with an order to an inn where he favored the bill of fare. We made love, lingering over each other, taking our sweet time as we experimented and explored each other’s bodies. Con brought me to climax in that rather startling, very wet manner again, teaching me the secret to it lie with a strong erogenous spot on the forward wall of my body. After a little practice, I produced the same reaction and I thought the after-bliss might kill me.



We ate outside, sharing a plate of seared beef, lobster chunks in herbed butter, a loaf of fresh bread with butter, cheese, and olives. I could not keep my eyes from him. He wore only breeches, and with his hair drawn back from his harsh, compelling face, he seemed a god come to Earth. My heart would jerk when his gaze met mine. We spoke little and kissed much. I tasted the food and wine in his mouth as well as my own and could not recall why I had wished to flee him.


#


Two days passed in a lovers’ idyll. Mid morning I lounged in the very large tub he had bought first thing for the place, drowsy from the late hour sex the previous night, I dozed. Of a sudden I sat straight up, counting days in my head.


My menses should have arrived three days ago. Heart hammering, I conducted a second counting. Sure enough, I had gone overdue. It had never happened before, and I had never had reason to fear before. At times I had used the sponges, others only withdraw.


Panic seized me. Con had departed to remove the rest of his things from Don Aguiler’s residence. I thought only of my instinctual reaction to run from him to a place of safety. Leaping from the tub and sending water splashing, I dried off, dressed, packed only what I must, including money and made my second escape from our retreat. Halfway there, I realized a miniature of my parents I often wore had remained behind.


This time, when I reached Aunt Jasmine’s, I went to Diego. He met me in the hall, taking my hands in his and demanding, “Has he hurt you?”


“Nay.” Just having his strength to rely upon made me weak with relief. “I need to go home. Will you take me?”


“You know I will.”


“We must leave now,” I insisted, too filled with anxiety to even examine my desperation.


He pulled me along with him, shouting orders at servants, expression dark and determined. It required some doing to arrange guards and send forward notice to the harbor he used for his ship. Just as I believed we had made good an escape, a commotion rose outside and continued toward us.


“It’s him,” I whispered, riven with fear and almost animalistic angst. On some level I realized I behaved without logic, yet I could not care. I shook violently and began to sob.


Diego hugged me, brief and fierce. “I will protect you. Do not cry.”


Con turned the corner in the hall, pure red rage burning in his black eyes. I might have sworn I saw flames in their obsidian depths. His gaze moved from me to my cousin, back and then settled upon Diego. In that terrifying, glacial tone, he said, “I believe we two are about to have a serious disagreement.”


“Aye.”


Almost in unison, they commanded, “Ivy, step away.”


I moved back and their bodies met with a sickening thud of equally hard muscle and bone to muscle and bone. Frantic to prevent either receiving harm, I glanced about. A large pewter pitcher sat atop a lovely roman column, holding fresh flowers. I dumped the innocent blooms and the water onto the floor, waited for Con to swing my way and brought the vessel down atop his head with a powerful blow.


I had but intended to stun him. However, in attempting to adjust force and angle for his greater height, I miscalculated. He went limp at once and dropped like a stone.


Diego stood over his opponent’s limp body and said to me, “I hope you were done with him. Because no man will take kindly to having his woman strike him down from behind.”


I dropped the pitcher. “Let us away.”


My belly churned, but I had already chosen my path.


#


We rode until I could no longer. Then, rented a conveyance and began a series of non-stop changes for fresh horses until reaching the coast. Exhausted, I let Diego lead me along. I doubted Con remained more than a few hours behind us and every moment counted.


We boarded Diego’s ship at sunset, departing at full sail with a fortuitous strong wind. I settled into my small cabin, then sat upon the narrow bed and stared at nothing. My thoughts chased one another in disorderly frenzy and my lack of appetite had left me rather light-headed.


At some point, I realized the cabin had grown dark. Alone and frightened, I could not bear it. I stood, raced from the cramped quarters to my cousin’s and pounded upon the door.


Almost at once, he called from the other side of the portal, “What?”


“It’s me.”


“A moment.” With astonishing swiftness he opened the door, breeches buttoned just enough to preserve modesty. A lamp cast meager illumination. He stepped back, opening the door wider. “Come in.”


When he shut the portal behind me, I stood there, all stark panic and unreasonable hysteria. “Might I stay with you tonight?”


“Of course.” He gave me a visual examination. “Would you like for me to help you from that gown?”


I nodded. Hot tears seeped from my eyes, down my face. “I need a lot of help right now.”


“I shall give it.”


He undressed me to my stays and pantilettes, sat me in a chair and washed me from a basin, getting as much of me as he could without dipping beneath my garments, then put one of his shirts over me. Even in my current state, I appreciated finally having a clean body after days without a bath. He took down my hair, combed it and braided it. Then, picked me up like a parent might a fretful charge and took me to his big bed.


When I lie cradled upon his wide chest, I blurted, “I am with child.”


His sharp tone surprised me. “Ivy, that child is half his. You cannot leave him and not tell.”


“I know,” I confessed, sobbing.


His arms tightened around me. “Forgive me. I will do whatever you want, keep your secret and support you always.” Kissing my head, he murmured, “Sleep. I’ll guard your rest.”



CHAPTER SEVENTEEN


I spent most days on deck, at the far aft, watching for sign of a sail. Without a doubt he followed. More determined than a hunting wolf and twice as dangerous. I felt his presence. Yet, how could he even know which way to sail? Or find a ship ready to sail did he learn the location of my family’s island?


Diego approached me, taking my arm. “Come eat with me, Ivy. We must not let you lose any more weight.”

I walked with him to his cabin. The meal already waited, a roast chicken on a platter surrounded by carrots and potatoes. I smelled it, saw the herbs flecking the vegetables and my belly growled. He seated me at the table, then himself. He poured a goblet of water for us each, fixed me a plate, then a second for him. The chicken tasted of white wine and tarragon. We had stopped briefly down the coast after setting sail, and loaded the ship. I admired the extra expense Diego endured to assure his crew ate well. As a result, so did I.


After a few moments, he asked, “Can you speak of it yet?”


I knew what he meant. “I suppose you deserve an explanation.”


“Nay. Do you bid me bear you hence, I shall without question out of familial duty, Ivy. Love for you makes me want to share your pain.” He cut his chicken, then his brown eyes held mine. “I would hope love shall allow you to entrust me with the tale.”


It might help to talk of it. So, I organized my thoughts as I chewed a small bite of potato and carrot. “I had never even wanted a man before him. I let him become my lover and the emotional attachment frightened me. I did not want to lose my freedom, or see the life I love change. Temporarily I made peace with that fear, and him. Then, I realized I carried a child of our making and I panicked.” I told him what I had dared not speak to myself. “I needed to know I had the freedom to choose whether I carried it to term or not.”


“As a man, it horrifies that a father might lose a baby of his flesh without say or even knowledge. As a human,” he continued softly, “I empathize with how trapped and panicked you felt.” He reached over to touch my hand. “If you decide not to have the baby, I accept it as your right. Your secret would go with me to my grave.”


“You have no idea what that means to me.” I saw the warmth in his eyes, and knew he would honor his promise. “All the same, the child is blameless. I could not take an innocent life.” To my surprise, I said, “In truth, it was only having the choice I needed. I do not object to motherhood.”


“You are truly your mother’s daughter,” he smiled. “Fearless.”


I laughed, feeling lighter and happier than I had in weeks. “I had the shite scared from me.”


He chuckled and attacked his meal with the zeal of a big man with big appetite. “The look on your face unmanned me. I would have fought a brace of dragons rather than see that expression.”


“I accept how this must seem to you as a male. Know I shall tell him as soon as I have finished working through my personal issues.”


“By law, he could take the child.” Diego smiled. “Though to do so, he would have to live long enough to petition a judge. I rather doubt Uncle James or Aunt Lili would tolerate that.”


#


The following morrow, the heave and pitch of the ship woke me and my stomach seemed to echo the motion. I leapt from bed and became wretchedly ill in the chamber pot. It seemed the spasms would never cease. And just as they did, the world became a dark place and I slipped from it.


I woke to my cousin’s voice, thick and filled with concern. “Ivy? Sweetling?”


I opened my eyes, feeling shaky and hollow. “I believe morning sickness has set in.”


“I heard a thump in here and nearly wet myself.” Making light, to reassure me, I knew, he added, “Wouldn’t want those brothers of yours gunning for me for allowing some injury on my watch.”


I struggled to sit up and his strong arms helped me. “I have no ginger or peppermint. Weak tea must do.”


He propped me among the pillows. “Do not move. I shall bring tea and toast.”


I dozed a little. He returned with diluted tea and a few pieces of dry toast. I refused the latter at first, then at his urging nibbled one. The roil and heave in my belly ceased.


#


My cousin made my comfort and health his business. I suffered a bout of dizziness and he insisted we stop and take a few days on land at an island owned by a friend of his. Not a day after another ship arrived with Aunt Jasmine aboard. I knew this because, as I lie quite helpless in a clean, fresh linen-bedecked bed, she knocked twice then entered.


“Ivy,” she began, sounding angry, “a note and a fond farewell from my son and niece did no more than terrify me! Given what happened when that great, ruthless, bloody Scot came to, I knew something awful had befallen you.” She strode to sit on my bed’s edge.


“However did you find us?”

“I knew you would bolt for home and I make it my business to know my son’s routes and resources.”


“I am so sorry.” I reached for her hand and she held mine tightly. “I respect you too much to cause such concern. Forgive me.”


She shook her head as if she found that silly. “Are you well? What ails you?”


Stricken with guilt, I answered, “Anxiety and rough seas.”


To her credit, she accepted my fabricated response and replied, “Well, I shall sail with you now and tend you through any further complications.”


CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Courtesy our host, Don Rudolpho, I obtained the necessary ingredients for a tonic against the symptoms of early pregnancy. I dosed myself heavily and had begun sealing the rest of the large batch in jars, when I heard sudden weeping and then Diego entered the kitchen. His male presence sent servants scurrying. I smiled at their silly distress. My amusement vanished as I looked to his face. Stark grief marked it.

“What has happened?” I wiped my hands on a cloth, walking to meet him.

“Ivy, perhaps you should sit down-“

“I do not wish to sit, I want an answer.”

His strong throat worked as he swallowed several times. “The Relentless is reported down with,” his voice broke and he whispered, “all hands onboard. My God, forgive me for bearing this news to you.”

He well as might have struck me across the face. I reeled in shock, catching the work counter to steady myself. His strong arms then caught me. “When? How?” I struggled to absorb the enormity of losing my three brothers in one stroke. “How came you by this news?”

“Another ship has arrived to re-supply. They recognized my standards and sent a messenger with the news. They say it happened some time ago.”

I saw my twin’s face in my mind’s eye and the pain left me. “Nay, I cannot believe him dead. I yet feel him in me. He lives and I believe Jacque and Luc as well.”

Diego replied in a cautious tone, “False hope is a mechanism for coping with terrible grief.”

“Aye. What I feel is not hope.”

#

We resumed our sail. Aunt Jasmine and Diego grieved. I did not. My heart told me Roth lived. My soul would have felt his depart.

My brother lived.

#

When the herald cannons announced us, a wave of nostalgia swept me. No matter where I went in this world, this would always remain my home. I saw an unfamiliar ship amidst ours. A crowd already gathered. My eyes searched among it as the anchor splashed into the harbor. My heart felt trapped in my throat.

To my cousin, I said, “Get me to shore.”

We took two boats and halfway there I saw him. “It’s Roth,” I announced, an enormous weight lifted from me. My heart had known the truth.

Diego helped me out and into my brother’s arms. I wrapped my arms about his neck and held him with near desperation. Silently, I wept with relief. He held me to him with equal strength, eyes closed.

Finally, I released Roth enough to run my hands over him and give a visual examination. My happiness knew no bounds. “Word reached us the Relentless sank with all hands aboard. I could not believe. In my heart, you lived.”

Roth held out one arm our cousin, and our aunt joined the embrace.

Diego said, “I rejoice seeing you alive.”

Roth disengaged himself a bit, turned away and indicated three strangers. “Ivy, Diego, Aunt Jasmine, meet my fiancé, Braxton Langford, and our friends, Marcus Alstead and Corliss Drummond-Howard.”

“Oh my God.” The woman he introduced as his fiancé stunned me. She had the strongest, most compelling and yet feminine features I had ever seen. Her wild, dark beauty inspired me. No milk-white, overbred debutant, this fierce beauty.

She returned my regard, seeming at once a bit shy and curious. “Very pleased to meet you.”

I noted her height and admired her wealth of female muscle. “You are stunning.”

“I thought just that of you.”

I embraced her. “We’re sisters now.”

“It would honor me to call you such.”

Maman and Papa arrived. Many embraces followed. Papa spoke to Diego, then swept me up in his powerful, beloved arms. I held him tight, breathing in his scent, then wiggled until he set me upon the ground. Snuggled to Papa’s side, I asked, “Where are Jacque and Luc?”

Roth responded, “They have gone on a ship buying errand for me. It seems I am without.”

Papa added, “I thought they might arrive yesterday. Perhaps they shall return today.”
Etienne and Walks Softly rode through the milling crowd and I ran to them. I flung myself into Uncle Walks Softly’s embrace, then Uncle Etienne’s. “Is Roth’s Braxton not the most striking beauty? I hope she will let me paint her.”

Much hugging and kissing continued. In the thick of it, Papa managed to get me tucked back under his arm.

I had come home.

#
Cousin Henry, Jacque and Luc arrived in the night. I spent a long while funning and playing with them and King Louis in the courtyard as the servants prepared for a big, early family meal.

With even Aunt Eza and Great Aunt Delia here, the house felt very full and festive.

During the meal, I watched my brother fret attentively over his fiancé and it made me smile. His love for her shone like the sun and she clearly worshipped him. I rejoiced in his good fortune.

Herald cannons sounded. Stricken, I looked to my father.

Papa tensed, listened to the answering guns. “This is a stranger.”

Getting everyone quickly into carriages proved tricky. All the while I told myself he could not have found me with such swiftness, and that I needn’t worry.

During the ride, Roth made an uncomfortable observation. “Frequently did you wear that miniature of Maman and Papa. I have not seen it around your neck since your arrival.”

I felt heat flush my cheeks. “Things become lost.”

To my consternation, he asked softly, “Have you anything to tell me?”

I avoided his eyes. “Nay.”

As we stopped in the common, I gazed out the window of our conveyance. In my belly, down low in that place of animal instinct, I knew Con had found me. I leapt out and strode toward the dock. There he sat, the Scot git, rowing ashore looking more ferocious and godlike than ever.

Screeching in sudden almost mindless anger at his dogged determination and autocratic arrogance, I yanked the sword from a man’s scabbard and pushed my way through the crowd. He seemed to levitate onto the dock, graceful and light on his feet despite his size. It made my rage burn the brighter. “Blackguard! Son of two goats! Swivver of pigs!”

Con roared, “You caved in my skull. Perhaps it is I who should call names.” In an insultingly brief time he disarmed me and swung me over his shoulder. “Tell me where to finish the matter between us.”

“Nay.”
He drew his pistol, parted the throng with his big body, and held it to the driver of one of our carriages. “To the villa. I know she has a room there. I shall keep this aimed at you from inside, and believe me, I itch to kill something.”

To my shock, I heard Roth call, “Do as he says.”

Con loaded me unceremoniously into the conveyance and joined me before I could even right myself. “You self-rightous, self-serving Scottish bastard!” I scrambled to sit properly.

His black eyes blazed at me. “It would better serve you to adopt a manner something like contrition and apology for striking me down from behind.”

My body reacting to his nearness, I hurled, “Bugger off to the Devil!”

He leaned closer, all barely leashed violence and masculine prerogative, “I have been in Hell since you left me, pet.” He emphasized the endearment in a way that made it an epithet. “Now I plan to soothe the burns with the sweetness of your body.”

*

If you've read Unleashed, now you're getting the rest of the story.

~ K