Chapter Five
Diana
W ho are these clowns?
I didn’t like them on sight, but as I approached the stream looking for Ike, I heard the rude way they spoke to him. And I really didn’t like it.
That being said, I’m pretty sure I’ve made a tactical error making my presence known because the clowns have their jaws on the ground, and Ike?
His back is bristling like the lion he resembles.
His back is flexed, hands in lethal fists at his sides and I really, really shouldn’t be so attracted to the whole demeanor.
Oops.
“Well hell,” Clown Number One says. “Who is that ?”
“Mmmm. Yeah,” says the second clown, licking his lips in an obscene way. “Look at that sweet, young thing. I’d be beating my meat, too, Ike. Who could blame you?” He winks at me. “Maybe if I ask nicely, she’ll beat it for me.”
Ike’s roar is deafening. I fall into a crouch with my hands over my ears to avoid permanent deafness. Here is the beast. He’s on full display. But in my eyes, the two men across the stream are the monsters. Why would they antagonize him like this? Ike could smash them to smithereens.
Because he’s gentle.
He’s good.
There’s an intuition whispering these things to me and I’m beginning to believe them.
How can I not? He left the cave to touch himself instead of using me for relief.
Sure, he might not know exactly how to use me, but he clearly has sexual impulses where I’m concerned that he’s keeping under control.
Then there’s the fact that he held me through the night like I was made of the finest china.
My heart flops over thinking of it.
Ike steps into the stream, preparing to cross and probably squeeze these two clowns’ heads off…
and I react. I don’t want to witness violence from Ike.
Based on the shock on the faces of the men, they don’t usually get a rise out of him.
I don’t want to be the reason he inflicts pain on other people.
Before I can stop myself, I fall to the ground and grab my ankle, howling in pain. “Ouch! Oh God, my ankle. My ankle. It’s twisted or something. Ow!”
Ike spins around and lunges for me, his big hands running over every inch of my body, his face a mask of horror. “Diana. No. How did this happen?” He starts to scoop me up in his arms and stops. “Will I make it worse if I carry you? How easily you break, tiny human.”
“I just stepped on it wrong,” I say, fanning my face dramatically. “You can carry me.”
I’m against his strong chest in a heartbeat and his long strides eat up the distance to the cave, the men forgotten at the stream. “Poor Diana,” Ike croons, his brow creased with worry. “Poor little ankle.”
“It’s already starting to feel better,” I say, his distress beginning to make me feel guilty. “I’m sure it’ll be back in ship shape real soon, fire log.”
His jaw is in a permanent flex and he keeps stomping along as if he didn’t hear me. “I should never have left you.”
“Ike. I lied.” I cover my face with my hands. “I just didn’t want you to murder those two yokels over me, so I created a diversion.”
He comes to an abrupt stop at the mouth of the cave.
For a moment he stares at me in surprise and then I’m presented with another one of those lopsided smiles that sends my heart skittering in my chest. “You will keep me on my toes, tiny person. Won’t you?
” Cradling me with one arm, he boops me in the belly button.
I squeal and bat his hand away. “Do you not think they deserved to die for speaking to my girl that way?”
“I’m not your girl,” I say, but I’m blushing.
“You are. I held you while you slept.” He continues into the cave. “I will study your behavior very closely so I know when you’re lying.”
“You say that like I lie all the time!”
He raises an eyebrow at me. “Don’t you?”
I replay the last twelve hours and admit silently that Ike has a point. “Maybe lying is my marketable skill,” I mumble. “Wait, what other lies are you referring to?”
“If you have to ask, there must have been too many.” He sets me down carefully and leaves a hard kiss on my forehead. “What do you mean by ‘marketable skill’?”
“It’s something you’re good at that makes you useful.” A lump rises in my throat. “Last night, when my father helped tie me up like a sacrifice, he told me he wouldn’t…miss my help on the farm…because…”
I have to stop talking because my voice is getting wobbly.
Ike tips my chin up, looking horrified all over again. “How many men do I have to kill for hurting your feelings, Diana?”
“None.” I wipe the moisture away quickly. “None, because you’re not a killer.” I pause. “Those men at the stream are the real monsters, aren’t they? They’re the ones who have been killing and stealing animals in the village.”
Ike grunts and turns away, but I see the answer in his eyes.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
He tugs up the ill-fitting sweatpants that are way too small to contain his bulk. “Would you have believed me?”
No. I wouldn’t have. But in just one day, I’ve witnessed how honorable this giant of a man is. Just now, those men only needled him because they were secure in the fact that he wouldn’t use his size against them. Ike is no beast.
He’s a man. A huge one.
I’m starting to suspect he was made extra large to house his big heart.
Slowly, other pieces begin clicking into place. “They sacrificed another girl. Long before me. You wouldn’t have been alive, either, but…”
He’s quiet for a moment. “My grandfather used to call my grandmother his lamb. They would laugh about it. Perhaps because she was the sacrificial lamb?” He shakes his head.
“I don’t know. But they were happy. In their old age, they needed medicine and so they left the hills.
I haven’t seen them since I was a child. ”
All this time, the villagers thought her dead, when really…she was happy.
Could I be happy here, too?
My eyes roam over his bare, muscular back and travel down to his thick butt and the hard thighs beneath.
If he turned around, I would see the outline of his manhood because those pants hide nothing—and I want to see all of him, I realize.
I want to touch him and be touched in return.
Ike needs my touch. That much is made obvious by the tension in his frame and the way he spears me with hungry looks over his shoulder.
My nipples harden in response and a funny feeling curls in my belly, making my thighs tighten and squeeze together.
Just like last night, when I slept with my female flesh pressed up against his steel abdomen, slickness coats my folds and dampens my panties.
I move closer to him because I have to, running my hands over the rigid planes of his back.
His head falls back on a groan.
“You’re so warm,” I breathe, tracing my hands down to his waist, my fingertips delving into the waistband of his pants and curling in the material.
I want them off. I want him naked and lying on top of me, the way I’ve seen—mostly be accident—in R-rated movies and that one time I got curious and clicked on an adult website.
I remained there for all of fifteen seconds, but it was enough to learn the mechanics of sex, and while I’m highly doubtful Ike’s body will fit with mine, I’m suddenly desperate to try.
To not only reward this man for being… him , but also give my body what it seems to be yearning for.
“Will you, um…” I whisper. “Will you take off these pants and lie down with me, Ike?”
His big chest is heaving as he turns, walking me backward toward his pallet. “You want to lie with me?”
“Yes.”
Rounding up my courage, I reach back and unzip my dress, peeling it off my body and letting it fall in a heap at my feet, leaving me in nothing but white panties.
A whimper leaves my mouth when Ike stops, stunned, then falls to his knees in front of me, his hands hovering over my breasts, eyes reverent.
“ Diana .” His fingertips brush me and my nipples tighten further, causing him to suck in a breath. “You are magnificent.”
I slide my fingers into his mass of hair. “So are you.”
He takes my hips in his hands and tugs me forward, his open mouth taking over my belly. “I cannot. I cannot lie with you, Diana.”
Now there’s an unexpected twist. “Why not?”
His eyes are miserable when he trains them on me. “I peeked this morning. I looked under the skirt of your dress without permission.” He falls back on his haunches, throwing a forearm across his eyes as if it pains him to look at me. “I am sorry, tiny person. I was weak.”
Instead of indignation, I’m caught up in another wave of heat. “I-is that why you left the cave to, um…touch yourself?”
“ Yes ,” he growls. “I had to leave before I filled that place between your thighs with my cock. Your soft girl part is where my come goes. Not the ground or into my hand. I had to leave before I put it there without permission.” He drops his arm away to reveal blazing eyes.
“I don’t know how much longer I can control myself, Diana.
Maybe I am a beast. The things I think of doing to your little body… ”
His honesty has rocked me back on my heels and sent a new, shivering awareness coursing through me.
I’m hot everywhere. So hot. “You are not a beast, Ike,” I manage.
“A beast would have taken what he wanted without thinking of the consequences.” I hook my fingers in the material of my panties and drag them down my legs.
“I forgive you for peeking. I’m giving myself to you. I want you.”
Ike
Am I dreaming?
This beautiful female is giving herself to me. Freely.
Even though I peeked. Even though I admitted I’m losing control.
She is the bravest, sweetest, most perfect girl on this earth. I don’t need to meet a single other person to know that’s the truth. I only need her.
I need her forever.
And God, I need her so bad .