The Endless Forest
Page 135

Martha pulled up short, treading water and turning one way and then the other.
“It’s a little cove.” Her voice echoed against the rock face. “How is it you’re standing and I can’t touch the bottom?”
“Boulders,” he said. “Come and see for yourself.”
For the moment she stayed where she was. “It’s quieter here.”
“That has to do with the angle of the water on the rock. You are as nervous as a cat. Come over here, girl.”
She made a doubtful face but came closer anyway. “Where does that opening go? Another cave?”
“Not much of one,” Daniel said. “Go look.”
She found her footing and walked toward the cleft in the rock wall, her chemise floating around her in the water. In the shallow opening she stopped, and Daniel, coming up behind her, stopped too. A shiver ran through her that had nothing to do with cold, he was sure of it.
“This isn’t a cave,” she said, a little breathlessly.
“I said it wasn’t.” He moved closer still until all that was between them was a thin layer of wet linen.
She turned and then stopped suddenly, as if the sight of him surprised her. He touched her face and she turned her cheek into his cupped palm.
“What?” he said.
She shook her head, and Daniel had the strong impression that she wanted something from him—that she wanted him—but was unsure of how to say so.
“Tell me,” he said.
She frowned. “I don’t remember what I wanted to say.”
“Ah,” Daniel said. “Then let me remind you.”
It was her own fault; Martha had to acknowledge that much. She had teased him and played games, and here was the price to pay. Or the reward to claim.
“It’s not seemly,” she said against his mouth, but then the kiss drew her down and down and she couldn’t hold on to the argument she had wanted to offer. Something to do with privacy and public places. Something to do with adults capable of self-control. Which at this moment was simply not true.
Daniel said, “I told you these silk drawers of yours would be in the way.”
She started to say that she did not want to part company with her undergarments, but his fingers were very clever and all that came out of her mouth was a sigh and a gasp.
The plain truth was that all her concerns about privacy could not stand up to the pleasure of kissing Daniel. He was slipping her chemise over her shoulders when she realized that her drawers were already gone, but for the moment at least she couldn’t remember why she had resisted in the first place. Daniel turned her until the rock face was at her back and her legs were hooked around his waist beneath the water, his good hand cupping her buttock, lifting her leg to position her for his thrust.
He made a sound deep in his throat as he entered her and then he was still. For two, four, six heartbeats he stayed just as he was, embedded to the very core of her while the water flowed around them. He pressed his brow to hers.
“My God,” he muttered.
Martha put her head back against the wall and made herself relax, drew in a deep breath and centered all her attention on the point where they were joined.
“Please,” she whispered, and he let out a short, sharp laugh as he surged into her, harder and deeper than she would have thought possible.
“Please,” she said. “Don’t stop.”
He worked over her, strained into her again and again, but it wasn’t enough, somehow it wasn’t enough; she shifted and spread herself and reached down to clutch at him, to bring him into her hard, harder, to touch that one spot that yearned toward him, tighter and tighter until every nerve in her body thrummed in the same rhythm.
When she thought she could bear the spiraling ache no longer, when she was sure she must die, it burst and she cried out. It came upon her in a rush that made her hips and legs jerk convulsively, a wave of feeling so intense that she was lost in it, defenseless. It washed over her once, twice, three times, and then left her, breathless and shaken.
Daniel thrust one last time hard into her and held her there, split open around him and filled, his whole body trembling.
He kissed her then. A soft kiss, slow and gentle, and she felt how his heart was racing, as her own raced.
Daniel shifted and drew away from her. It felt like a terrible loss, an inestimable loss, and there were tears on her face.
“Shhhh.” He pulled her closer and moved through the water with her just as she was, wrapped around him, until he found the place he was looking for. Then he sat on the outcropping of rock and held her until the tears and the trembling had passed.
He said, “You didn’t know about that, did you? What just happened to you.”
She sat up to look him in the face. “I may be naïve, Daniel Bonner, but I am not simple. I know what we just did. Or at least, I know what it’s called.”
“No,” he said, and he was trying not to smile. “Not the act, what happened to you toward the end. That rushing feeling.”
“Oh,” Martha said, pressing her forehead to his shoulder. “I didn’t think you would notice.”
Now he did laugh. “It was hard to miss. You reached a climax.”
After a moment’s silent contemplation Martha said, “I’m not sure I can talk about this.”
“Ever?”
She bit him, gently.
“No need to go after my good arm,” he said. “We can put off this discussion for a while. Or at least, until next time.”