City of the Sun (43 page)

“I’m sorry,” she repeated, before losing herself in a deep and luxurious kiss.

Her hand moved to the knotted belt of his robe and rested hesitantly there for an instant. She looked up, her eyes revealing modesty, yet they were full of promises.

He smiled at her and took her hand, kissing it gently, but she brought it back to his belt and undid it, as their eyes remained locked. Her expression was now more determined. He was naked underneath. She reached down, groping for him, but once she had his erect member in her hand she became tentative, squeezing it perhaps too lightly while she stroked it awkwardly. She blushed when he gazed down to look at her and lowered his head the short distance to meet her lips to reassure her that everything she did was perfect. He lifted her to carry her to the bedroom, but not wanting to rush things, he carefully seated her on the dining table.

She raised her skirt and pulled him close to her with her legs wrapped around him. She planted kisses all over his chest. “You have just the right amount of chest hair,” she murmured, playfully trapping a few of them between her lips and pulling gently.

He started opening the buttons of her blouse, but there were too many of them and he was overeager. He slipped his hand underneath and reached for her breast. It was firm and warm. He squeezed it, gently fondling her nipple and drawing a sigh from her. She hurriedly opened the rest of the buttons. She looked pale and vulnerable as she invited him to look at her bare breasts. They were modest in size, but perfectly shaped. He smiled tenderly and cupped her face in his hands, smothering it with kisses and meeting her tongue again. When he came up for air, he felt her tugging him down toward her bosom. He bent down and found her nipple. He captured it with his mouth and squeezed the other one between his two fingers. She threw her head back and clasped her hands behind her neck, her body feverish.

“I’m so happy you’re with me,” he said, returning to her lips
after messing her hair by running his fingers through it. “I’ve been going insane. She loves me, she loves me not. She loves me, she loves me not.”

She answered him by circling her arms tightly around him and pressing her head against his chest. His robe was fully open and she slowly removed it, one arm at a time. When he stood fully naked in front of her, she ran her hands up and down his chest and back, then around his hips, and bravely dared to glance down at his genitals as she quickly passed her hands over them. She planted a kiss on his belly button and began to hike up her skirt. She would give herself to him right here on the table.

“Let’s go to the bedroom,” he suggested.

He lifted her in his arms again, and after carrying her to the bed, he turned off the light. The window was open and the full moon threw off just the right amount of brightness. He knelt on the floor next to the bed and started undressing her, taking delight in each new discovery. She tensed as he began to remove her underwear, so he left it on. He told her that he wanted to make love to every single inch of her, from her feet to the top of her head, slowly. Still on his knees, he began with her toes. Nervous, she sat up a few times, begging him to join her on the bed. She missed him too much, she said. But he wouldn’t and asked her to relax. She finally closed her eyes and entrusted herself to her lover.

He lightly kissed the wound on her ankle. “Does it hurt?” he asked.

She sat up and shook her head. “How can anything hurt right now?” she said. Then she slid off the end of the bed and joined him on the floor. He reclined against the bed frame. She removed her underwear and climbed into his lap, straddling him. And here they were again … lost in their intimacy, breathless and intoxicated in the sheer joy of being together. They both knew where this was heading, and though they could have prolonged the foreplay indefinitely, it
seemed that she was starting to feel other emotions, becoming curious and maybe scared. There could be more play later.

“Now,” she said.

He didn’t dare ask if he was her first lover, but he knew that he wanted to be gentle and careful. “Come, let’s go to the bed,” he whispered.

She shook her head, though a shy grin belied her bravado. She did not need a bed.

That’s when he understood how much she wanted to give herself completely to him tonight, that she was ready to overcome her inhibitions and break down every barrier and taboo between them, wanting them to be connected skin to skin, soul to soul. There was so much he didn’t know about this girl, but he knew that there was nothing in the innermost recesses of her heart that would not be given to him tonight. He felt humbled by the vastness of her gift.

“I love you,” he whispered.

“Would you mind repeating that?”

“I love you,” he shouted.

She threw her head back and shouted back, “
Moi aussi, je t’aime
.”

She kissed him savagely and reached for his penis. She rubbed it against her mound, squeezing it harder this time.

“One track mind,” he joked.

He positioned her on top of him, her buttocks in his hands. With their eyes glued to each other, he penetrated her. Just a little. She closed her eyes and sat down further, but she grimaced and bit her lip. Then a smile peeked through and she settled down deeper. They did not move their bodies but softly inhaled each other’s breaths for a long moment. Finally, they were there.

“Maya,” he whispered.

“It’s you,” she whispered back. “You’re the man I’ve been waiting for.” She flipped her hair back and pressed her forehead against his.

He rolled her over so that he could be on top of her, careful not to slip out of her. He grabbed her skirt from the floor and folded it under her head as a pillow. Their limbs were intertwined, fitting perfectly together. He was slow and careful, every thrust counting and bringing them closer until the boundaries between them began to blur and there was no telling where her body ended and his began. Nothing else existed but the two of them. She turned her head, and he saw tears rolling down her cheeks. He stopped moving.

“Maya?” he whispered.

Her hand flew to her face to hide them.

“There are no more secrets between us.” He gently pulled her hand back down.

“It’s you,” she whispered back. “I never thought I would have this.” She smiled through her tears and engaged him in a wet kiss, her body writhing under him. “Come to me,” she said.

He rose on his elbow and began thrusting harder, deeper, faster. Making love with her brought him to such ecstatic heights of sexual and sensual pleasure that it was almost painful. He wanted this to last all night, and he slowed whenever he felt he was approaching the precipice. She was breathing hard and moaning with pleasure, her nails clinging to his back, her head rolling from side to side as if to grab some moments of privacy to regain her strength. Finally, after a long and steady climb, they knew they were at the peak. He held her hands above her head, and with their eyes boring deeply into each other, they released themselves into an endless rollercoaster of waves.

Utterly spent, physically as well as emotionally, but deeply satisfied, he rolled over. A sense of completion, like nothing he’d ever known, washed over him. He had been aroused beyond mercy, her hesitant ways having excited him more than he ever imagined possible. She was panting hard, too, and started to laugh.

“We did it!” she said triumphantly.

He rose up and pulled the bedcover down off the bed and onto the floor to cover them. “Yes we did, my love,” he answered, surprised at how naturally that word fell from his lips. “But I can’t even begin to describe what I just experienced.”

She smiled and snuggled up to him, putting one leg over his as he extended his arm under her head, offering it as a pillow. “I’ll never forget this night,” she said, burying her face in his neck.

“The night is still young,” he said, softly kissing the top of her head.

“I wish it were,” she said, her tone turning sober. “I’m going to have to leave.”

He pushed himself up so he could see her face.

“My family thinks that I went back to help the wounded,” she explained. “I took a shower and started crying hysterically. I called my uncle and made him take me to the hospital. From there I took a cab. I had to see you. I told the taxi to pick me up at four.”

He caressed her cheek. “That means that we have another hour.”

“I was counting on that.” She buried her face into his neck again. “I love your smell.”

“And I love everything about you. Everything. Tell me, do you really have to leave in two days?”

“Less than that,” she responded. “So this time is precious.”

“When am I going to see you again?”

“I don’t know.”

“Maya, please let me help you,” he said, pushing her away again so that she could read his eyes. “I have lots of friends. What do you need? Money? Papers? Shelter? Anything. Just ask. I’ll move mountains for you.”

“We are okay, thank you.” She smiled.

“Things are very unstable in the Sudan right now. The Italians can easily invade from Ethiopia. Why don’t you go to Port Said like most refugees are doing?”

She rose on her side, one elbow on the floor, the palm of her hand supporting her head. “I can’t tell you any more right now. Please accept that.”

He started to formulate a series of questions in his mind, but as soon as he did, he knew in his heart of hearts that he didn’t need to ask them. She had already answered his most basic question—she loved him. The rest was just logistics, and he knew that no matter what, he would make it happen.

“I’ll write to you as soon as I can,” she said. “But I can’t promise anything.”

“I understand,” he said. “I’ll wait as long as it takes. The American ambassador will always know how to contact me.”

She nodded and smiled happily.

“Hi, beautiful,” he whispered, stroking her cheek and neck, his eyes memorizing every detail of her face.

“Hi, handsome,” she purred back, lying down next to him again.

“Come,” he said, as he patted the bed and rose to his feet.

“I thought you’d never ask.”

She slipped inside the sheets, and lying on her stomach, she ran her hands over them, her head on the pillow. “Mmm,” she sighed. “They feel good. I wish I could spend the whole night with you.”

“If I knew you were coming I would have changed the sheets,” he laughed, joining her under the cover.

“No, I like them. They smell of you,” she said, pressing her body close to his, her hand stroking the back of his neck. “Do you like the way I touch you?” she asked timidly.

“Everything you do is perfect,” he answered, reassuring her and caressing her back with slow, circular, strokes, making his way down to the curvy small of her spine.

She took it as a challenge, and after nibbling gently on his neck,
she had him lie on his back while she leaned over him, running her mouth over his chest, circling his nipples with her tongue while her hand stroked his thigh. She slowly kissed his stomach before continuing south. By then he was mercilessly aroused and tried to take her in his arms. “Tsk, tsk.” She was not finished. He didn’t want her to be uncomfortable and do anything she didn’t really want to, but Maya had a mind of her own and had a growing confidence in her instincts. She started placing kisses up and down his thighs until the excitement became too much for him, and he scooped her up and spread her on the bed. Holding her arms above her head, he carefully pushed himself inside her. She responded with a cry of pleasure, biting his chest and thrusting her hips toward him. No foreplay this time. Now the lovemaking was desperate and selfish. They alternated between giving and taking, rolling into ever changing positions. Then suddenly, she threw her head back and quivered as she gasped for air, her body soaked in perspiration. She was done. His pleasure was now his to take; he could be as selfish as he wanted. Elevating her hips with his hands, he drove at her until he came, with a long, steady moan.

They collapsed, exhausted, but they could not bear to be pulled apart and their sweaty, slippery limbs remained intertwined.

Maya looked at the clock on the night table. It was a quarter to four. Time had passed much too rapidly. She was thirsty, and the time it took for him to fetch her a glass of water seemed insufferably long. When he returned to the bedroom, she was sitting up, looking at the picture of the two of them at the ball. She was lamenting the fact that he had a photo of them, while she had none. He promised to make her a copy and send it to her.

Now, with only a few minutes left, he put his robe back on, while she slipped back into her skirt. They stole kisses in between, unable to let go of each other. He wasn’t sure how it started, but
before long they found themselves in a passionate embrace on the bed. They couldn’t possibly make love one more time, but they did. This time it was out of greediness, their bodies demanded it, and somehow they managed to ascend to those same indescribable heights and dive off the cliff together one last time.

He was aching at the thought of separating from her, but she did not let him walk her to the taxi. “It’s already hard enough,” she said.