wall by Nimue
Chapter 6 He’d been up and down like a jack rabbit all afternoon, sometimes he thought he might read a book, sure that would pass the time and he would sit in his chair and open what would normally be a door to an adventure, only his eyes didn’t seem to work too well, like they couldn’t connect up with his brain, the words just flat on the page and he was struggling to follow their pattern. He had seen a hole in the barn roof, aye, that would be good, and she would appreciate him fixin’ that. Christ what time was it? Way past time already. He had removed the stew from the fire, tender meat being what he wanted her to have and if she didn’t come soon it would be like string, and then put it back on again so it wouldn’t be cold. His hands it seemed couldn’t stand to be still.’ My calm friend Joe’, aye well that was a laugh. Yet another cigarette and the change in the wind made him look up, and it all flowed out of him, she was there and riding almost as fast as he had done, and for the first time that day, well since he left her, he let out a breath. She was smiling and her eyes never left his face as she slid to the ground, Joe’s hands automatically reaching for the reins as they both just looked a moment. She wondered if her face looked like his. Sort of a smile over such undisguised longing her whole body was hot in an instant and she had to think about breathing to do it. He licked his lips. Sarah was sure he didn’t know that he had and her smile broadened making Joe grin back. “Had to work late?” from him answered by a nod and a “you too, I guess,” and her smile didn’t waver but he still wanted to explain, “You shoulda seen the lightening Sarah, it was like…” and then he had no idea what it as like, could just feel her fingers on his lips. He breathed in tomato and onion and the tip of his tongue touched vinegar - barbecue sauce, some part of his mind acknowledged, then he was trying to talk again, “they went everywhere…” and she slid her hand down to his chest and covered his mouth with hers. He seemed to want to finish his sentence in fact until she let her teeth drag over, almost biting, his bottom lip and then it was as if he’d thrown something heavy off him, his hands in her hair and his tongue plunging into her mouth and trying to taste everything at once and she staggered back a step only to have her eyes fly open at Saji’s noise of impatience as she butted Joe with her nose. He still had the reins in his hands. They almost laughed though they couldn’t quite manage it panting that hard, Joe’s other hand still on her face as he touched that soft, soft skin and Jesus they would both be on the ground in a minute, horse or no, if he didn’t let go.“ I’ll go take Saji to the stable” hardly a whisper in the inch between their mouths and he let his hand trail down over her breast, his eyes on hers watching her lose her sight for a second or two. “I will be back with yer ...” and without being able to feel his feet he led Saji back into he stable, his fingers for once fumbling with buckles. One foot in front of the other to get to her own door, that’s all it needed, pulling it open with slightly shaking hands and thinking only to sit down before the sight before her brought her up short. It was the same house but not the same. Everything had that fresh swept look like her Oba used to get, like she swept so hard it was amazing she hadn’t worn down the floor. She peered at the scrubbed boards under her feet and then raised her eyes to the brightly colored cloth she’d gotten at the swap she had thought to find a use for, draped over her table with a jug of flowers, early spring brilliance of bottle brush and the first blue columbines. All for her. He’d done it all for her. She just had time to take a deep breath and realize that the food that she could smell didn’t come from her clothes, when her next step was stilled by the feel of him behind her, waves of heat washing over her before he ever touched her. His fingers pulled down the collar of her shirt and soft lips kissed at that place that shoulder and neck met “She is all settled…” It took a moment before Sarah realized what he was talking about, ah right Saji, she had a horse- that’s right. It was just a fleeting memory. He wasn’t going to stop now and she knew it - extending her neck for more suckling kisses that had her gasping his name under her breath while hands held her body hard against his. Rough hands slipped under her shirt, a soft “Sarah” in that voice that sounded more Irish when he spoke quiet and his palms touched the skin of her breasts, a graze over her nipples that had her cry out and him do it again “I want to see you”. Her fingers were there in an instant, pulling at buttons while he stroked and caressed the skin he had dreamed of. Already undone she was in his arms as he carried her back over to the bed he wanted to live in, a flurry now of kisses and sucks and groans as he struggled to remove his own shirt too, Sarah would have helped him, she wanted to see and feel his skin against hers, but she was all caught up by the sight of his mouth at her breast, the tan of his shoulders and the swell of his muscles as he overwhelmed her with his desire. She let herself fall back onto the bed and feel herself slide along the glossy softness of the pelt beneath her. She wanted to talk. To tell him she hadn’t stopped thinking of him either, as he had told her that night. But she couldn’t do it. Couldn’t find words at all. Couldn’t do anything but feel his hands on her and the ache in her body. Christ, he was gonna come before he got her pants off at this rate, he suppressed a laugh between harsh breaths at the irony of that and Joe pulled his head back from her kiss and lifted himself up off her with arms that just flexed, the cold air that flowed between them chilled her moist skin and she could have cried out at the loss of him until she felt his hands circling her, stroking and covering and wondering at the curve of her body, all his at last, he smiled. “Jesus Sarah, you don’t know how many times I thought about your ass and these pants- ah perhaps you do” he smiled a bit but his voice was dark thickness itself. There was but a fraction of a second when they left her body before thumbs ran up the up the inside of her legs and Sarah cried out as her hips rose to meet them. She rode a horse everyday, she went about the business of sitting on chairs, but here he was with just the tips of his thumbs running the seams of her pants and she might just die of want, there was nothing he could do that didn’t send waves of pleading through her. Her head went back on the pillow, she didn’t think she would watch him any more, his eyes intent on his thumbs while they touched her, on his fingers as they brushed over buttons. Joe’s hands were in her pants, on her hips and she heard him curse as he took the soft material down her legs. . Well he was here now- between her legs, kneeling between her legs and she was naked, her legs open and he bent to kiss her belly, a soft mouth on her soft belly, he wanted everything at the same time, he had been here and beyond in his thoughts, physical memories that just came true - here she was, her trembling only matched by his if he was to be truthful and his fingers found what he was looking for “Sweet Jesus...Sarah…” She could hardly stand it, but whatever he was doing she was going to take him with her and she took the sort of breath that would be reserved for those jumping off the highest peaks and struggled to sit up. Sarah reached for his neck to hold his mouth to hers, anything to hold on to while she did this and she felt him draw breath. Her fingers flat against his skin, she slipped under the band of his pants, they were hardly covering him anymore, hot wet silk already on the skin of his belly and her fingers worked to undo buttons, his breath ragged and full of quiet moans. Undone at last she slid heavy cloth over the most perfect angles of hips, thighs that were wire and muscle, down over defined calves and on to the floor. “Joe...” her small dark hands folded round him, he was struggling now, his fingers tangled in the black strands of her hair as he tried to stop himself coming right then into her palm. Oh he was so soft and hard and smooth and heavy and she slid down to feel just once, a glance at his face and she thought he might draw blood from his own lip if she didn’t stop. Holy Mary he wanted to move, his hips swayed a little and he could feel it all, what it would be to have her fingers circling and rubbing him, the gentleness of her hands sliding over his skin and he very nearly lost the battle right then, a glance down at her holding him that he really shouldn’t have taken and he squeezed his eyes shut. Ol’ Ma Morgan’s soup- that would do it. Only it didn’t really, not for more than one second, and Joe took a breath. His hands were on her shoulders now and it was just time and in what was left of the afternoon she couldn’t help but smile at him “I want you” “Aye well thank Christ fer that..” he was grinning as much with his eyes as his mouth, his body’s answer was the draw of his hand to part her, fingers carried silk up over her belly and his hips were moving now, pressing himself up against and into her. He pulled back to look at her face, beautiful eyes that said ‘I can’t stop’ and he hit her hard, she didn’t think she ever felt it like that, the bones of his hips indenting her thighs and his cock hardly out of her before he was back. He wanted to be slow, wanted to stop and see her body under his, but next time. Now…it had to be now He couldn’t quite believe he was here when he stopped gasping, not wanting to move, couldn’t he just stay right there? But it was as if his senses came back to him, just gradual but they did, the cold air on his back, the smell of the stew and the sound of the night coming down. So he was in the world after all. Joe lifted his head from where it was buried in her hair and breathed in something other than just her before his eyes opened and he looked in her face. “Hello” just a soft whisper to prove he could speak really and he touched his lips onto hers, her tongue teased his and he smiled, there would be more and longer and he couldn’t quite imagine how it would feel better, but they would find out. She squeezed him from the inside out, a tight hug and relishing kiss before a quiet, “I need to get up just a minute,” and it was so hard to leave her even for a few minutes now, his body demanding he keep that skin within touching distance. She padded silently across the wood floor in the almost black room now and he heard the sound of water being poured and then poured again. “All that gasping” she smiled as she kissed him handing over a cup and deftly sliding out of a grasp that sought to pull her back. “One minute” she laughed and he wished he could see her as she moved, carefully placing three logs on the grate and crouching to blow on the embers. The papery bark of the wood caught and burned and with a whoosh the cabin flooded with light, her coppery skin fairly glowing and Joe hardly hearing for the blood rushing through his veins. “I’d have done that, lass….” She stood next to the bed now and looked at him, gesturing at the room behind her as she looked, “Seems to me you already did.” She smiled a huge smile that had him beaming too, “And what’s in that stew, anyway?” It didn’t seem that Joe was of a mind to discuss culinary matters, his eyes not knowing where to settle as his hand reached up to take hers, an insistent pull “Rabbit, I caught one this afternoon. Sometime, whenever that was” and it did seem like in some other life right now “Ah will yer come here?” Sarah grinned and lifted one leg to slide over the top of him, there was a pause his breath before she sat and then she sank down on top of him, soft sticky sweetness. “Had to find something to do while I waited” but he could have been reciting the Bible for all he knew rather than having a conversation, all those dreams and blurry images now sharp and he could feel her. Feel her thighs and her ass and see those breasts, her dark nipples right there, and Joe moved her hips. As much as he wanted to look at her, there was something else he was dying to feel and he sat up, his hands at the small of her back holding her close while he kissed her, long tasting tongue sliding kisses that made him forget for a minute what he was after. One hand slid to find the back of her head and he remembered, slipping his fingers inside silken knots and tugging a little, dragging himself away from her mouth to ask, “can I?” Her smile was all he needed, Jesus he couldn’t keep away from that mouth even while he slid leather thongs out of knots that rested at the base of her back, gentle searching kisses that had him forget all over again for seconds at a time. Her thick hair though it seemed was in no hurry to be loosened and Joe moved to look over her shoulder, to watch his hands work the threads unwinding them as much as her. Oh they were just little pulls, soft tugs as he let strands of black tangle through his fingers but her head went back, this man could make any part of her feel like new born skin and her scalp no exception. He was intent now, working in rhythm through her braid, fuck he wanted to feel that hair touch his chest, wanted to feel it skim over his skin while she rocked on top of him, and he sucked hard on the skin of her shoulder, she knew he was ready again, he was right there between her skin, she could slide over him in a second and she would, she would soon. The last twist undone, blunt fingers let themselves run through silk, separating and combing, pulling strands to fall over her breasts, and Joe couldn’t stop looking at her as he lay back , lingering fingers touching and teasing at her. She thought he looked at her as though he’d never seen a woman before, as if he still marvelled that she had curves and softness where he did not. But he touched her as if he’d known 1,000 and the knowledge in his hands made her sink into him as he did her, lovers bronzed by firelight, tenderness and heat. * She complemented him on his stew and if he felt rather like a boy praised by his mum, inordinately pleased she had liked it. “I’m quite serious Joe, it’s really good. What’s your secret ingredient?” He grinned back at her shaking head and shrugged. “I just opened up your little tins there and breathed in to see what it would taste like…like you in that blanket the other morning. Only I didn’t get to open that up, Christ Sarah I didn’t think I’d make it to the week’s end” “Oh, that reminds me…” she was quick as a rabbit herself, jumping up to retrieve the book by the fire and sliding back on to the bed, one more drink of savoury broth before he took the warm stone bowl from her hands and set both of theirs on the floor, Cheetie appearing as if from nowhere to search for her evening treat. Joe smiled fondly at the book she held, never did tell her about where he had been in Venice on his own that night, but now he wasn’t alone, she was between his legs and against his chest and he wasn’t even sure they weren’t inside the same skin. “See where your fingers land Joe” she chuckled at the thought of it all, pressing the flat of the book into his hands He laughed back “Aye Byrne Expedition’s around the world, but all from your bed. I reckon not to bother with selling tickets then” and the tenderness of his kiss made her wriggle back into him searching for another inch of contact if any was to be had. He cleared his throat and allowed his fingers to flick over the pages. Venice, Rome, Pompeii all passing under them until he was nearing the end of the book, going further than he had thought to and quickly opening a page before leaning his head back against the wall. “Your turn Lass..” and she opened the book wide to take in the print all before her. At 6 o'clock P.M., we came to a halt here on the breezy summit of a shapely mountain overlooking the sea, and the handsome valley where dwelt some of those enterprising Phoenicians of ancient times we read so much about; all around us are what were once the dominions of Hiram, King of Tyre, who furnished timber from the cedars of these Lebanon hills to build portions of King Solomon's Temple with. They might have just stepped out onto the moon, a smile on both their lips and a heartbeat of anticipation of what they dimly knew to be the Holy Lands to some. Shortly after six, our pack train arrived. I had not seen it before, and a good right I had to be astonished. We had nineteen serving men and twenty-six pack mules! It was a perfect caravan. It looked like one, too, as it wound among the rocks… Sarah told him in hushed soft tones of the crimson gold and blue tents and the iron beds, the soft white towels and velvet opulence of this camp in the desert, all the while Joe listened, his fingers touching her skin or her hair, waking from his dream to kiss her shoulder and remind himself that whilst they were now flying on magic carpets to the place where the spices of life crumbled different colours, he was here with her on the fur of her bed. Sarah’s eyes flew faster than her lips “Joe! Oh will yer listen to this!” It grew dark, and they put candles on the tables -- candles set in bright, new, brazen candlesticks. And soon the bell -- a genuine, simon-pure bell -- rang, and we were invited to " the saloon." I had thought before that we had a tent or so too many, but now here was one, at least, provided for; it was to be used for nothing but an eating-saloon. Like the others, it was high enough for a family of giraffes to live in He frowned as deep as her “Giraffes? I can’t say that I know what one of them looks like.” Sarah was shaking her head too, “Giants you think? A family of giants?” wonder and imagination all sparkling as she pictured those billowing canvases home to enormous beings. “Well I think we should make it our business to find out about 'Giraffes' wouldn’t you say?” his mouth touching her ear sending streaks of pleasure all through her “what next? The giants eat the banquet?” a little giggle and he laid his head back as she read on. Those stately fellows in baggy trowsers and turbaned fezzes brought in a dinner which consisted of roast mutton, roast chicken, roast potatoes, bread, tea, pudding, apples, and delicious grapes; the viands were better cooked than any we had eaten for weeks, and the table made a finer appearance, with its large German silver candlesticks and other finery, than any table we had sat down to for a good while, and yet that polite dragoman, Abraham, came bowing in and apologizing for the whole affair, on account of the unavoidable confusion of getting under way for a very long trip, and promising to do a great deal better in future ! “Ah see he should have served up rabbit stew, yer can’t get better than that” and Sarah smiled as she turned to brush over his lips with her own, the whisper of the start of their own very long trip. The End |