Taking Flight (11 page)

“Oh, just a traveler needed a place to lie down. That’s all.”

“Where’s he headed?”

“She,” Birch corrected, “didn’t say.”

Though she was paralyzed with fear, Deborah inwardly applauded Birch’s sleight of mouth.

“Really? Didn’t smell female.” Denva’s lip curled into a thick sneer that repulsed Deborah. Birch would have to act fast.

“Well—” Birch yawned and stretched skyward in a macho pose. “She wouldn’t now, would she?” He smiled wickedly at Denva, who winked and smiled back.

“Ahh, you old dog,” he said, licking his lips and looking over at the tent while Deborah cringed.

“Don’t even think about it, Den.” Birch flashed him a warning look, and the creepy stranger shrugged and laughed.

“Okay, okay, I get it. Does the lady of the house know?”

“What do you think?”

“Always was a charitable lass, that one.” He peered around the clearing again, taking in everything he saw.

Deborah squeezed herself as small as she could while her muscles ached and perspiration slid from her forehead and nose.

“So, my man, down to business,” said Denva while he dragged a scruffy pack from his shoulders. “Three we agreed on, was it?” He passed a package to Birch who lifted it to his face, inhaling.

“I paid for four, Denva,” Birch replied, peering over the parcel.

“I know, I know, I’m just toying with you.” His smile was playful but Deborah could see that Birch was on his guard, clearly knowing the trader’s habits. “It’s all there.”

Deborah strained to see what might be inside the fraying rags, but Birch held them close to his chest as he peered inside. Curiosity was killing her. She did not trust Denva one bit and wished the men would finish their business before Marcus woke up and blew his cover.

“Well, I’d better not keep you, Denva,” said Birch, rising to shake the man’s hand and send him on his way.

“Oh, come on, Birch, no sharing?” For one hideous moment, Deborah thought Denva was talking about the phantom woman in the tent but instead he looked wistfully at the package, licking his lips.

“Denva, at the prices you charge, you do not need my charity.” Birch’s voice was light and jokey but his eyes were dark and flashed hate at the trader when he glanced away.

“Fine, fine, I can take a hint. Wouldn’t want to overstay my welcome.” He picked up his pack and slung it over his shoulder. “See you in a fortnight then. Will you be needing anything else?”

“No, just the usual end of the month candles and coffee,” said Birch with a cold edge to his voice and crammed something—Deborah assumed it must be money—into Denva’s dirty fist. He ushered the trader away through the undergrowth, and Deborah sank to the forest floor as she watched the stranger skulk off between the trees.

Birch returned and looked straight at her from the middle of the clearing. “You can come out now,” he said with a reassuring smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes.

The logs by the fireside seemed unusually rough as Deborah sat down beside Birch.

“Who was that?” she asked, rubbing her arms as the chill from watching Denva hadn’t quite left.

“Who, Denva?” Birch poked nonchalantly at the smoldering ashes but his cold stare belied the action. “Don’t worry about him, he’s our rogue trader. Brings supplies every couple of weeks.”

“What supplies?” Deborah’s gaze slid over to the scruffy, frayed parcel Birch had tucked next to his feet.

He looked at her slyly as if trying to work out whether to trust her or not. Deborah was suddenly excited and nervous at what might be lurking within the worn fabric. Drugs? Tobacco? Poison? Maybe this whole thing had been an elaborate plan to drug and capture her and Marcus and hand them over to the authorities. In a split second, she’d conjured up a whole story of images of the two of them being carted away by thickset, burly women in combats with rifles and dogs, and taken to separate prisons. She shivered again as Birch reached for the package.

“Can you keep a secret?”

“What kind of secret?” Deborah shuddered, feeling vulnerable. She didn’t like to keep anything from Marcus, but surely Birch knew that. She relaxed a little as the smile he’d been holding on to at last crinkled to the outer corners of his eyes.

“The biggest secret of your life.”

“Yes.” She’d made the decision. She would take the consequences.

“All right, if you’re sure.” He held out the parcel and lifted the edges of the dirty cloth. She couldn’t breathe with worry and excitement. “This is our little secret. You can’t tell another living soul. Close your eyes.”

She did. Suddenly, an image of a gun flashed into her imagination. She shook it away as Birch spoke again.

“Now inhale. Take a long sniff of this and tell me what you can smell.”

At once her senses were flooded with the rich, seductive sent of expensive dark cocoa. Her mouth watered and her eyelids fluttered as she let them fall open to see four blocks of thick, handmade chocolate. Nerves dissipated into laughter and she giggled uncontrollably over the bounty. Birch quickly snatched it away, looking offended.

“Do you know how hard it is to get hold of this stuff?” he said, hurt, and she had to remind herself how long the couple had been away from civilization.

“Sorry.” She struggled to regain composure but tried her best to seem sincere. “It’s just...I was worried it might be a gun or something the way you were going on.”

It was Birch’s turn to laugh now and he had to clamp his hands to his face to keep the sound low. “Yes, I can see that now. You thought I was going to murder you and feast on your still beating heart.” He spoke with a mock horror voice and lunged at her with a throaty “
Mwoah-ha-ha-ha!
”

She was startled as he gripped her by the shoulders and leaned in as if to bite into her neck, vampire style. Endorphins flooded her bloodstream at the contact and her nipples rose as his breath gently grazed the skin just behind her ear. Everything went silent and Deborah froze.

Birch must have felt her tension and pulled away as quickly as he’d started. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to…”

“It’s okay, really, I just…” An awkward silence sat squarely between them. Deborah racked her brains, trying to pick some words to string together, but she was stuck.

Electricity buzzed as they sat not looking at each other until Birch snapped off a chunk of chocolate and passed it to her. “Here, it’s the finest black market confectionery money can buy.”

“Thanks,” she said, ignoring the spark that leaped from his hand to hers as they made contact.

It was strange, she realized, how she hadn’t really thought of missing any of life’s little luxuries until this moment. She put the chocolate to her lips and inhaled deeply, visualizing a hot bubble bath with candles flickering around her, chocolate melting in her mouth as her pussy melted into the silky water. She was trembling as she let a corner slip between her lips and bit off a morsel, letting it fall into her needy mouth. It was as though she’d tasted an orgasm. Flavor built and released into her cheeks and over her tongue, and she let the softening sweet slide over every part of her mouth, tasting and experiencing as if for the first time. She began to swim with it, gliding over her taste buds, tasting herself mixed in with the treat, feeling herself and her tongue become one with want for the chocolate. Saliva oozed from every gland of her mouth and she held it there until she was full and spluttering. At last, she swallowed, letting the liquid rush down her throat in a wave of bliss.

As the last drop left her tongue she became aware of hands gripped around face, shaking her. She opened her eyes, blinking into Birch’s.

“Where are you? Where are you?” His voice was excitable and concerned, and he held on to her, trying to make her focus.

“I’m here, I’m here!” Deborah snapped back into the moment, feeling slightly euphoric and drained. “What’s wrong? What happened?”

“You were gone again. I can’t believe it. You went into ultimate unity over a piece of chocolate! You looked like the stars themselves, you were so lost in sensation. It was incredible.”

“So why did you pull me out then?”

“I don’t know. I was scared, I guess. I’ve never heard of anyone reaching it so quickly. It’s only been a few days.”

Deborah was suddenly defensive. The conclusions she’d drawn about Marcus preparing her for this for years now seemed absolutely true. She didn’t want Birch thinking her ability to transcend was solely down to meeting him and Hazel. Calming her anger, she began to tell him all about her relationship with Marcus. He sat nodding and glancing in wonder over at the tent where her lover slept.

“Yes, you’re right. Neither of you knew what it was, but you were training naturally by yourselves. You’re amazing. Your bodies and minds fit. It’s taken Hazel and I years to get to where we are, and that was with knowledge. You are blessed indeed.” As he cupped her face once more, Deborah’s chest swelled with pride and her spirit soared. His expression was joyful as he spoke again. “You looked celestial when you were there. Celeste. That’s what we’ll call you. I knew we’d find the perfect name eventually.”

Deborah frowned and tried to think back over the conversations they’d all had. Surely they’d called her something when they’d addressed her before? But strangely, as she racked her brain, she realized she’d survived here among these people with no identity. She suddenly felt at home. Celeste. She liked it.

“Listen, Celeste…”

“Yes?” She responded naturally to her new name.

“Here,” Birch said quietly, breaking off a little more chocolate and handing it to her. “Go and share it with Thorn. But don’t let on you know there’s more, please.” His eyes were desperately pleading.

Deborah stroked his jaw. “Thank you,” she whispered, and leaned in to kiss his forehead.

Chapter 12

Marcus was stirring as Deborah crawled in beside him and found a space tucked up under his arm. It smelled so thickly of him that her mouth watered once more, sending twitching bolts of excitement to her pussy. She was wet and sleepy and horny, the best state to be making love in, and she tucked the chocolate safely at the side of the bed and let her hand wander to her lover’s cock. Massaging his shaft in one hand and toying with her own nipples in the other, Deborah wondered whether she could take him inside her without waking him up. She lifted herself up as silently as she could, sliding her skirt up over her naked buttocks. He shuffled slightly as she straddled him, and she paused, holding her breath, her heart beating furiously. Pain built in her thighs as she crouched, waiting for him to sink back into deep sleep.

When she was sure he was gone, she lifted the tip of his cock and placed it at the entrance of her pussy. She was so wet now; she slicked his head with her juices before he’d even touched her. It turned her on to be so ripe and ready for him, taking control like this, when it was usually him dominating her. Her pussy walls were contracting in desperation, and she grasped his thick shaft and speared herself with it, swallowing him up entirely until their pelvises met and she ground her clit onto his fuzzy mound. Her hips undulated back and forth, pinning him and fucking him with all her might. Love juice poured from her, soaking their pubic hair and filling the shelter with their mingled scent. It was glorious, and as the bucking and spasming of her pussy pulled her awareness to that other place, Deborah forced her eyes open to try and take Marcus with her this time. To her surprise, he was staring at her, smiling, and she knew instantly that he’d been awake all along. He grabbed her bouncing tits and thumbed her nipples roughly as she started to come from deep within. His gaze held hers as if trying to keep her attention on him and not fly off. She felt tethered.

Come with me, Marcus
, she silently implored as her orgasm broke free and surged through her body and out over him. As he held her, she was amazed as part of herself tore off and rode the wave of her climax, following it all the way down to meet his, where they roared together, meeting at that point. He stared into her eyes and she knew he was with her here and in that other place.
Let go, let go
, she told him without words.
I’ll be there, waiting…

Light.

They were absorbed by the light they created and stormed around in it, coming again and again, around in and through each other. She laughed and danced in him and he in her.

He’d made it.

Later, in the blissful afterglow, Deborah reached over to her secret stash. “Now taste this,” she said huskily, pressing a shard of chocolate between his lips.

They were both soaked with sweat and sex and Deborah felt utterly depleted of energy. Of all the things in the world her body might need after that, chocolate was it. Rich, thick, sublime. As the sweat dried, drawing a chill to her flesh, the chocolate warmed and replenished.

She floated in and out of a dream, letting herself fall and rise with Marcus’s breathing, and all the while chocolate melted into her tongue.

“Well, that was a wonderful way to be woken up,” said Marcus, lifting himself onto his elbow and staring at Deborah. He lifted strands of hair from her sticky, sweat-smeared face and kissed her. “You taste divine.”

“You too,” she said, licking a smudge of chocolate from the corner of his mouth.

“Did that really just happen? Is that what it feels like?”

Emotion bubbled in Deborah’s chest and she could only nod as her eyes smarted with tears. “We were one, Marcus,” she stuttered in broken whispers. “We were one.”

He cradled her back to the safety of his embrace and she could feel his heart hammering in his chest.

“I love you,” he whispered and pulled her tighter.

At that moment, Deborah felt complete.

* * * *

They must have dozed off and were awoken as the noon sun pierced through the canvas roofing, heating and charging the tent with light.

“I’m so thirsty.” Deborah yawned and reached to Marcus’s side of the bed. He was gone. She panicked. It was more than a panic—it was terror. They’d been so close, they’d touched each other’s soul, and now that he wasn’t physically next to her, she felt halved.