Chapter Sixteen
Orson
Scarlett is wrapped around me completely, and I’m buried deep inside her. Oh man. That was amazing. She stares up at me, and I sigh. I don’t know what this girl does to me, but every time she looks into my eyes I feel as if I’ve stuck my fingers in a socket.
I lower my head and kiss her gently. “Are you okay? Sorry, I got carried away. I didn’t hurt you?”
“No,” she says. But when I withdraw, she winces, so I know she must be tender.
“I’m so sorry.” I move off her and dispose of the condom. “Poor baby girl.” I get up and pull the duvet over her as she curls onto her side. “Hold on.” I go through to the ensuite bathroom, retrieve a clean facecloth, run it under the cold tap and wring it out tightly, then take it out to her. “Here, this might help. Open your legs.”
Shyly, she does so, and I press it to where she’s sore, then close her legs gently.
“Thought you hadn’t been with a virgin before,” she says tartly.
“I haven’t. It’s standard sports practice. Cold compress for soreness. I’ll be back in a minute.”
I walk along the corridor and cross the living room to the kitchen. After retrieving a couple bottles of water from the fridge and a box of chocolates, I take them back to the bedroom. Then I climb onto the bed beside her.
I unscrew the top of one of the bottles and hand it to her. “Drink,” I instruct.
“Yes sir,” she says saucily.
I chuckle and watch as she downs a few mouthfuls while I unscrew my bottle. I drink a quarter of it in one go, then leave it on the bedside table and take the wrapper off the box of chocolates .
“Treats to Tempt You,” she says, reading the name of the shop on the box.
“I got them from Doubtless Bay. Best chocolates in the country.” I open the box and offer them to her. She chooses a kiwifruit truffle. I pop a caramel truffle in my mouth, then leave the box on the bed behind me and pull her into my arms. She snuggles up to me, and I hold her while I stroke her back.
“Mmm.” She nuzzles my neck. “You smell so good.”
“So do you.”
“I didn’t expect this.”
“What do you mean?”
She shrugs. “I thought you’d get up and call me an Uber afterward.”
“Jesus. You really don’t have a very good view of men, do you? Or is it just me you think of as a Neanderthal?”
“Kinda just you.”
“Well, thanks for being honest.”
She giggles. Then she kisses my chest. “I was wrong, Orson. I’m happy to admit it.”
I tuck a finger under her chin and lift it. “Me too.”
She looks into my eyes. “Don’t do that.”
“Do what?”
“Whatever you’re doing. You make my stomach flip.”
So she feels it, too? We study each other for a moment, lit by the light of the city and the soft silver glow of the rising moon.
She leans her chin on her hand, resting on my chest. “Tell me one line of your poetry.”
I narrow my eyes. “I told you, I don’t share.”
“Not even one line? For me?”
I purse my lips, thinking. I don’t want her to make fun of me. But equally she’s asked, which no other girl has done.
“Okay, I wrote this last June.
A midwinter toast
To the return of the sun
Marks lengthening days
And the first, sweet, fleeting glimpse
Of summer in my cold heart. ”
She surveys me with wide eyes. “You wrote that?”
“I did. It’s a tanka—an extended version of the Japanese haiku.”
“What were you feeling when you wrote it? ”
I play with a strand of her hair. “I’d broken up with my girlfriend a month before.”
“You were sad?”
“A little. The winter solstice felt like a turning point.”
She trails a finger through my chest hairs. “Do you see her much?”
“No. She moved to Dunedin.”
“Do you miss her?”
“No. Not now.”
She scowls. “I don’t like thinking about you with other women.”
“There are no other women, Scarlett. Every girl pales into insignificance next to you.”
She looks a little mollified—she likes that. I kiss her hair, and she smiles.
“Can I have another chocolate?” she asks.
“Of course.” I retrieve the box for her.
“I don’t know why I’m hungry,” she says, choosing one.
I pick a chocolate-covered cherry and hold it for a moment. “Don’t worry, it’s the sex. I could eat a whole box of fried chicken.”
“That’s terrible for your arteries.”
“I’ll get a side of kale for you.”
“Jeez, what is it with you and kale? That’s not all I eat.”
I chuckle and pop the truffle into my mouth. It’s left a circle of chocolate on my thumb and forefinger. I lower a hand to her breast and tease the end of her nipple, smearing it with chocolate.
“Hey,” she says, but before she can protest further, I push her onto her back, cover the nipple with my mouth, and suck the chocolate off.
“Ooh.” She tries to push me away, and then her fingers curl and clutch at my shoulders as she moans.
After making sure I’ve removed all the chocolate, I lift my head and kiss her, delving my tongue into her mouth. She tastes sweet, and I feel myself stir again, even though I’m pleasantly sated.
“Mmm.” She presses her lips together, her eyes flaring. “Naughty boy.”
“I haven’t been called a boy for about fifteen years.”
“Then I’m definitely going to call you that.” She rolls over. “Back in a sec.” She removes the cloth from between her legs, hesitates, then says, “thank you for this.”
“I hope you’re not too sore.”
“I’m okay.” Giving me a shy smile, she goes into the bathroom .
I lean back on the pillows, stretching out, and yawn. Then I look up at the ceiling. Will she want to stay the night? Maybe her sister will worry if she doesn’t go back this evening. I wonder whether the Elders are keeping tabs on her, too.
That makes me think of my father. He knows I’m out with Scarlett this evening. Frowning, I reach for my phone on the bedside table and touch the screen. Sure enough, there’s a message from him. Hope you’re being sensible.
I toss the phone onto the table crossly. Fucking hell. Sometimes I hate my father.
Scarlett comes out of the bathroom and gets back on the mattress. She pulls the duvet up to her waist, rolls onto her front, tugs a pillow down, and rests her head on it. “Tell me about your school and what it was like growing up for you.”
Surprised, because no girl has ever asked me that before, I stretch out beside her and offer her the chocolates again, me stretched out on my side, head propped on a hand, her on her stomach, hugging the pillow.
I tell her about going to boarding school. How I hated the first few weeks. I refused to cry like some of the boys in the dorm, but I lay awake for hours, eyes burning, hating my parents for sending me away when my sister was still at home in her bed. Then I describe how I met Kingi. We were in different classes but were brought together for a rugby match. At the time we were the same height and build and we played inside and outside center. We were both sprinters, and for some reason, even at that age, we were able to read each other, and we made enough good passes that we were chosen for the rugby team that year. Like me, he also excelled at mathematics, which meant we were put in the top class together, and I quickly grew to like the kind, funny, matter-of-fact Māori boy. We formed a firm friendship, decided to both take finance at the University of Auckland, and ended up going into business.
“His sporting career far surpassed mine,” I say. “He was so fast—he could easily have been an Olympic sprinter. But his first love was hiking, and he still loves taking off into the bush with a backpack and disappearing for days. He likes rock climbing, white-water rafting, spelunking, anything where he can grow a scruffy beard and not have to wash for days.”
“I’m guessing he does this activity by himself. ”
“He doesn’t take girls with him, if that’s what you’re asking. He’s six four with a thick beard. Sightings of Bigfoot rise monumentally every time he goes on a trek.”
She giggles and studies the truffles. “What’s he like? As a person, I mean? I’ve spoken to him briefly and he sounds nice.”
“He’s a great guy. Good sense of humor. Down to earth. Doesn’t take any nonsense.”
“Who’s the smartest?”
“His IQ is one above mine, and he never lets me forget it.”
She grins. “What is yours?”
“My IQ? One-six-one.”
Her eyes widen. “One hundred and sixty-one?”
“No. Sixteen-point-one.”
She doesn’t laugh. “That’s higher than Einstein’s.”
“Only just.”
“Orson, that puts you in the genius category.”
I put a dot of chocolate on her nose, then lean forward and lick it off.
“Maybe not,” she says, rolling her eyes. “Seriously, though. You said you weren’t as smart as your friends!”
“I’m not. I told you, his IQ is one point higher.” I grin at her huff. “Yeah okay, I know I’m pretty smart, and figures came easily, but I did have to work hard at all my other subjects.”
“So is Kingi married?”
“Nah. He lived with a girl for a few years. She cheated on him, and it broke his heart. Sincethen he’s not dated much, and nothing serious.”
She frowns. “Why did his girlfriend cheat on him?”
“Who knows why people do that?”
“Have you ever cheated on a girl?”
“Of course not.”
“Has Kingi?”
“No, and he never would.”
She pops a truffle in her mouth. “Okay,” she says softly.
I have a mouthful of water. “So you went to school in Kahukura?”
She nods. “Dani is our main teacher. She’ll probably retire soon.”
“She teaches all the kids at the commune? ”
“Yes. There are about twenty-two kids now, I think. We have the Te Whare Ako—it’s a small schoolhouse. It’s a beautiful little place, and it has a great vibe.”
“That’s quite a task, to be able to cater for all educational ages and levels.”
“Oh, other adults help out and teach practical skills like gardening and herbal medicine alongside the traditional subjects.” She stops at the look on my face, and her lips curve up. “Go on. Mock me if you want.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it.” I purse my lips. “All right, I can’t resist. Is it called the Waiora School of Forest Bathing and Fern Identification?”
“Yeah. We offer a major in Vegan Cheese Making with a minor in Moon Phases.”
We both laugh.
I reach out and take a strand of hair and play with it.
“You can ask,” she says.
“Ask what?”
“Whatever you want. About the commune. I know you’re puzzled. I won’t take it as a personal insult.”
I run the strand of hair through my fingers, thinking about it. “I think it’s idealistic, that’s all. It’s all well and good treating everyone as equals, having higher ideals, and using trust as a governing principle. But you must have seen what happened during COVID—people emptying the shelves of essentials even though the government had begged everyone not to stockpile. At heart, people are selfish.”
“I don’t believe that would happen in a tight community where everyone depended on everyone else. It happens where people are strangers. At Kahukura nobody would dream of taking something that belonged to another person.”
I let the strand of hair curl around my finger. Her eyes are wide and open, as innocent as a newborn baby’s.
I reach out and pretend to remove a pair of spectacles from her.
“What are you doing?” she asks, puzzled.
“Taking off your rose-tinted glasses.”
Her expression turns wry. Then she lifts a hand in the air and mimes moving something from left to right in front of me. When I lift my eyebrows, she says, “Just letting in some sunlight. It must be pretty dark in that hermit cave you live in. Why don’t you come out and join the rest of humanity? ”
“No thank you. I despise the rest of humanity.”
A frown flickers on her brow. “You might have nine zeroes in your bank account, but out of the two of us, I consider myself the wealthiest.”
“Is this where you give me a speech about love and not money filling the human heart? Because mine isn’t empty. I have family, and friends. I just happen to be rich as well.”
“Money is the root of all evil.”
“Actually, if we’re going to quote the Bible, Timothy says ‘For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evils.’ It’s a love of money that’s the problem, not the money itself. Money is like electricity—it’s a tool. Electricity can be used to power a respirator or an electric chair. Money is the same. It can be used to buy drugs or pay for hospitals. It’s the unhealthy pursuit of and craving for it that can lead to evil.”
She chews her bottom lip. “I suppose that’s true.”
“It’s why we formed the Midnight Circle. It’s a way for us to help those in need.”
“To make yourselves feel better about having more than everyone else?”
I look away, out of the window at the view of the city. If I’m honest with myself, she’s right, and that stings a bit.
“I’m sorry,” she says. “That was uncalled for. You’ve been so nice to me, taken me out for dinner, brought me here, made love to me in the gentlest way possible. I didn’t mean to sound ungrateful.
“It’s okay.”
“It’s not.” She moves toward me, slides her arm around my waist, and snuggles up to me. “I apologize.”
“Honestly, it’s okay. You were right. Part of the reason for setting up the Circle was to make ourselves feel better, even if it was unspoken.”
She kisses my chest, then my neck. “Don’t let’s talk about it anymore.”
My lips curve up. “All right.” I turn and put the almost-empty box of truffles on the bedside table, then come back and cuddle up to her, drawing the duvet over us. “Will you stay the night?” I murmur, nuzzling her hair.
“Would you like me to?”
“Yes.”
She nods. “Okay. ”
I stroke her back. “Do you think the Elders will be okay with it?”
“It’s none of their business.”
“No, I don’t think it is, but I don’t want you to get into trouble.”
“I won’t. Will you get in trouble with your father?”
“What he doesn’t know won’t hurt him.”
She gives a short laugh.
We lie there like that for a while, wrapped around each other, and it’s not long before her breathing deepens, her body releasing its tension, relaxing against me.
Tomorrow we’ll both have to face the music. My father will assume that I asked Scarlett back here, and he’ll be angry about it. He’ll say she only came here because the Elders asked her to seduce me for the extra two and a half million. And I’ll have to admit I’ve promised her I’ll pay it.
I wince. There was no other way to prove to her—or, rather, to myself—that she was sleeping with me because she wanted to. Even so, it makes me uncomfortable. I can find two and a half million down the back of the sofa. Kingi will say I’ve been an idiot, but he’ll sort it out for me. The money isn’t the issue.
The problem is that we come from worlds that are so far apart, we can’t even see the other from where we are. It’s as if she lives in the Arctic Circle and I live in Antarctica, and we’re separated by the curvature of the globe. She doesn’t even have penguins. Or is it me that doesn’t have penguins? I can’t remember—I’m getting tired. The point is that one of us doesn’t have penguins, and… fuck me, I can’t remember the point.
Right now, all that matters is that Scarlett’s hair smells of strawberries, and her breath is warm on my chest, and her skin is soft beneath my fingers. I’d like to make love to her again, but I don’t want to make her sore. And anyway, I need some sleep.
I close my eyes and let myself sink into darkness.
*
When I wake, the sun is just peeking above the horizon. I’ve slept right through—something I haven’t done in years. I usually wake around two or three, and sometimes I even get up and do some work. So to discover it’s morning is a pleasant surprise .
I yawn and blink, then focus on the person in the bed next to me. She’s lying on her stomach, hugging the pillow again, face turned away from me.
I move a little closer.
She smells warm and sweet. Her hair spills across the pillow like chocolate ribbons. I press my nose to it, then kiss her light-brown skin in the crook of her neck. She doesn’t stir, so I continue. I kiss her shoulder. Then duck under the covers and kiss down her arm. She moves then, bringing her arm forward, which leaves her ribs and waist exposed for me, so I continue to kiss down, shifting on the bed. I kiss over her hip, then press my lips to her beautiful ass, at which point she stirs and murmurs, “What are you doing?”
Without answering, I roll her onto her back and open her legs.
“Oh my God, Orson!”
“Just relax.”
“Oh… let me have a shower first…”
“Nope.” I move between her legs and lower down, and before she can complain or get up, I bury my mouth in her.
“Argh! Oh my God. You wicked man…” She covers her face with her hands.
She smells warm and intoxicating, and I slide my tongue down from her clit and tease her entrance gently. She moans and tilts her hips up, and so I stay there for a while, adding a couple of fingers, playing with her gently so she doesn’t get too sore. It doesn’t take long before she’s swollen, and we’re both covered in her moisture, my fingers sliding slickly through her, into her, while I tease her sensitive little button with my tongue.
“Aaahhh…” She begins to move her hips, so I know she’s close to coming. “Mmm… please…”
“Just relax,” I tell her, replacing my tongue with my fingers for a moment, not letting up the pace. “There’s a good girl.”
“Oh my God, don’t start.”
I stifle a laugh. “You’re doing so well, even though I know you must be sore. I don’t want to hurt you. So relax and let me take charge.”
“Mmm…”
“I just want to make you feel good.” I kiss around where my finger is circling over her clit. “I want to give you pleasure, Mahuika. My little fire goddess. My beautiful Scarlett woman. Open up for me. Give yourself to me. ”
“Oh… Orson…”
I replace my finger with my mouth, cover her clit, and suck gently. At the same time, very carefully, I slide two fingers inside her. She moans and tightens around them, and I murmur my approval as I stroke in and out of her.
“I’m so close,” she whispers, sliding a hand into my hair. “Aaahhh… Mmm… Don’t stop…”
I have no intention of stopping, and I suck a little harder, pushing her thighs open wider with my other hand to expose her completely to my mouth. Fuck, she’s so wet, and so smooth, and I’m so hard… I want to plunge my cock into her and ride her all the way to next week, but I have to restrain myself today.
Instead, I concentrate on her, and it’s not long before her chest is heaving with ragged breaths, and her fingers are tightening in my hair. I suck harder, and then she comes, clenching around my fingers, gasping with every pulse. I hold her tightly all the way through it, groaning at the thought of what she must be feeling, imagining that blissful sensation deep inside her.
And then she collapses back, and I withdraw my fingers, give her a last kiss, and move up to lie beside her.
“Mmm.” She gives me a lazy smile. “That was a nice way to wake up.”
I prop my head on a hand. “Better than an alarm clock.”
“Mmm, I’ll say.” She lifts the duvet and looks down, then gives me a mischievous smile. “Are you going to do anything with that?”
“Nope. Not today.”
She frowns. “Why?”
“I’m not going to make you sore.”
“I’m okay.”
“No, and you can’t talk me into it.”
She pouts. Then she lifts the duvet again and studies my erection. It gives an involuntary twitch, and her lips curve up.
She looks up at me. Then she lifts up and ducks beneath the covers.
“Ahhh… Scarlett…”
“Just relax.”
“You don’t have to do that…”
“I want to see what you taste like.”
“Let me have a shower first.”
“No. Lie down. ”
I flop onto my back and cover my face with my hands. I feel her move over me, then between my legs. She tosses the duvet back, and then she’s still for a moment. I think she’s studying it. Jesus.
“Mmm,” she says. “Anything I should know?”
“Just watch your teeth.”
She laughs. Then she takes me in her hand and lowers her mouth.
I groan as she kisses me. I’m a little tense at first, after all it’s not every day you loan your family jewels to someone who’s never seen them before. But she’s gentle, exploring me with her tongue, tracing the tip around the head and down the shaft. Then she says, “Show me how to touch you.”
I take her hand in mine, close it around my cock, and show her how to stroke me, and then I remove my hand and she continues, accompanying it with kisses, and then finally closing her mouth over the head. I hold my breath, then let out a long sigh as she brushes her tongue across me and sucks. Ahhh… fuck…
She carries on, and I let her know when I like what she’s doing with heartfelt sighs and grunts. She looks up at me with her big dark eyes, which is so sexy that it doesn’t take long before I feel my climax approaching like a bullet train.
“Ah, baby girl…” I do the same as she did and slide my hand into her hair. “I’m going to come…” I don’t want to do that when she’s never done it before—I’m sure that can put a girl off for life.
She doesn’t move, though, and it occurs to me that maybe she really is innocent and doesn’t understand what’s going to happen. “Honey…” I implore, “you need to stop, or I’ll come in your mouth…”
Instead, she slides her lips further down the shaft… oh fuck… there’s no coming back from that, I couldn’t stop if she begged me now. Heat rushes through me, everything contracts, and my climax washes over me like a tsunami. Aaahhh… I groan, long and loud as she strokes me, and feel her throat tighten as she swallows.
Holy fuck…
When I’m done, I lie there and press the heels of my hands into my eyeballs as she kisses up my chest and lies on top of me.
I move my hands and glare at her. “I tried to warn you.”
“Nom nom nom,” she says. She licks her lips. “Want a taste? ”
“Jesus…” There’s no time to protest as she crushes her lips to mine and delves her tongue into my mouth, so I go limp and let her, while the rising sun drapes gold blankets over us, warming us through.