SALT
Two days later, the moment arrives. Eliano is coming back.
I know the ferry docks at seven o’clock in the morning. I wake up at five.
I take a long bath and spend twenty minutes shaving my groin, then choosing my clothes, something that clearly says, fuck me as fast as you can.
A thin top with loose straps, the kind where, if I lean forward, my nipples are visible from the side.
Leggings so tight you could practically estimate the size of my balls.
Of course, I spent the night with an expandable dildo inside me, yes, to make things faster and more enjoyable.
I feel high. Seriously, what is happening to me? I’m getting turned on like a teenager.
Where’s my anger now? My hurt, my grudge? Hidden, taking a break.
I know I cannot show up at the ferry port. The damn ankle monitor will not allow it. So I wait. I station myself by the window, staring at the promenade, constantly glancing at my laptop screen, which I have turned toward myself with a huge digital clock filling it.
7:10. I press my forehead against the glass.
7:15. 7:20.
Where the hell is he? What is holding him up? Did he have to report to the warden? Is that possible?
7:30. I am already giving up. They must have taken him to the warden for a talk. After all, he is coming back after twenty-five days.
Suddenly, movement.
A lone figure is walking from the direction of the cafeteria building.
My heart goes insane, pounding so hard I can barely hear my thoughts.
Tall. Alone. Relaxed stride. Broad shoulders. A backpack slung over one shoulder.
Oh fuck. That is him.
Eliano.
My heart is going wild as I rush toward the door, ready to run out to meet him.
No. No, Salt, you idiot.
Calm down. Breathe. He cannot see how much you care.
Relax. Act like nothing is happening. Easy. Totally easy.
I position myself by the window, leaning back against it, facing the door.
I stare at the panel. A flash of green. The lights come on. He has scanned his card.
The door opens.
I am almost hyperventilating.
He steps inside. The door closes.
Our eyes meet. Fuck. Please do not let me faint. Black spots dance at the edges of my vision. The emotions are overwhelming.
"Hello, Salt."
That low voice, with that faint, barely noticeable Italian accent, I have learned to dig so much.
To my surprise, I notice a red, slightly slanted mark on his face, like a fresh wound just starting to scab over. I swallow hard, but I stay silent. I want to speak, badly, but my throat is locked tight.
My body is fighting me, demanding closeness, demanding I fall into his arms.
I notice his gaze on me, attentive, sliding downward. I see his eyes catch on my nipples, standing out under the thin fabric. On my shameless bulge, already tenting and painfully obvious, betraying me just as much as my pounding heart is.
I cannot take it anymore.
I take a step toward him, but still fight myself.
Eliano takes one step as well. His eyes search for mine.
I take another step.
He does the same.
Three steps separate us now.
I take mine.
He takes his.
One left. I can smell him. It surprises me how clearly I can sense it. Lemon basil… but it is not his shower gel. It is… is that his natural scent? How is it possible that I can smell it so well?
I swallow hard.
We are so close. I see his nostrils flare slightly. Something shifts on his face, surprise, maybe.
"Hello, Eliano," I say quietly.
"How are you, Salt?" he asks, seemingly calm.
"Right now? Better."
Our eyes are glued together. Neither of us looks away.
"I’m sorry," I blurt out, using a word I rarely ever say. But I say it. Me. Because I have changed, no denying it. "It should not have gone the way it did. I should have handled it differently. My words were spoken in anger."
Shock flashes across Eliano’s face, followed by something softer, as he looks deeply moved before glancing aside.
"I didn’t really want you to go," I whisper.
Then he takes that final step and wraps his arms tightly around me.
"Oh, Salt."
Dear Fate, it feels so good, so perfect. I melt into him, clinging to him as a sob tears out of my throat.
"Shh, baby," he whispers, his hands lifting to cup my face. "I've missed you so much," he murmurs.
"I need you, please," I gasp, as my body ignites. My fingers clutch his T-shirt, tugging at it nervously. "Please, I… we…" I start pulling him toward the bed, and Eliano does not resist.
We fall onto it, and after twenty-five days our mouths finally meet. It is wild. Our teeth clack together, we almost bite each other lips, it’s clumsy and desperate.
His fingers tear at my clothes. My T-shirt practically flies off as he yanks it away.
His mouth immediately drops to my nipples, but I notice a brief pause before he latches on, like he studies it for a second.
I do not know why, but nothing can stop me.
My desire to merge with him overwhelms everything.
"Take me. I’m ready for you," I moan as he strips off my leggings.
His hands spread my thighs, and his eyes drop to my entrance. The tip of the dildo peeks out there.
A smirk curls onto Eliano’s lips. "Oh, hello," he says, then pulls it out in one smooth, slick motion. "Why wear it?" he murmurs.
"My little star closed up again because you were not visiting," I mutter. "It needed a prep."
Eliano’s smile darkens, turning wicked.
He leans down and, lifting my hips by sliding his hand under my ass, presses a kiss to my spread folds.
His tongue strokes me gently, teasing and massaging, making my hunger grow.
He takes his time there, a long, intentional time, while I thrash against the sheets, tossing my head on the pillow, murmuring pleas for him to finally penetrate me with more than just his tongue.
But I have to wait for it, while his hands roam over my chest, brushing my nipples and catching on my painfully hard cock, standing nearly straight up, lightly throbbing. My nipples are stiff too, sensitive and aching with pleasure. Even the lightest touch makes me whimper and beg more fervently.
"Please, Eliano, do not wait, I’m begging you," I whisper.
Eventually I manage to coax him into pulling himself up and lifting his weight, his body pressing me down, pinning me in place. His mouth finds my marked neck gland, sucking and lightly biting at it.
My fingers slide over his muscular back, then drift lower to his ass, squeezing firmly so there is no doubt about what I want.
"Please, Eliano…"
"No condoms this time," he murmurs. "This ends here."
"Yes, yes…" I am absolutely on board. With his words comes a rush of excitement at the thought that all this confusion is finally about to end. Either it will be confirmed or it will not, but I need to know.
I feel the tip of his cock searching for my entrance, sliding slightly left and right before pressing against my ring, which has gone unused for weeks, no longer accustomed to being stretched.
But the moment he starts to push inside, something flares in me. I feel his body so intensely against mine, cell to cell, energy to energy.
And then I sense it.
An unbelievably strange kind of arousal arises, unlike anything I have ever experienced before, as if a current of electricity shoots through me, opening something deep inside and then binding it together. Shocked and feeling it build, I lift my eyes to Eliano.
They lit up with liquid gold. Eliano lets out a low groan, his hips tensing as if he is trying to stop himself from plunging too hard into my long-neglected fuck tunnel, but he cannot. A powerful thrust breaks free, and he drives into me in one motion!
It hits us like a torrent of fire, and the room goes up in flames.
At least that is how it looks to me. The air around us crackles with electrical charges swirling in a colorful circle.
Sparkly, bright, magical!
In that instant, I know something has sealed itself between him and me. This is it; the legendary electric coil that binds True Mates.
It feels as if my body is expanding inside this endless orgasm, leaving not a single cell unchanged, untouched. It is like being blasted by a high-pressure stream that slams into my nervous system, then boils and surges like raging floodwater.
A cry tears from my throat, half pleasure, half pure joy, because there is no doubt left now.
Eliano and I really are True Mates.
That bastard Storm was right all along, and I was living in complete denial.
Colorful discharges in shades of turquoise, blue, and sapphire spin around us like a massive vortex, rattling with that sharp electric sound. I stare at it as it slowly fades and disappears. A once-in-a-lifetime experience, and I want to see every single second of it.
"So it is true," I blurt out, breathless.
It shocks me how close I came to ruining my chance at a life with my True Mate, when I pushed him away. An unbelievable gift from Fate, and I ran from it.
And as we are connected like this, one more truth emerges, one from deep inside him, one I can almost read in his mind through a strange kind of telepathy, and the understanding hits me of what really happened between us.
I realize that what I took for pride was something else entirely. I was shocked that he simply left and did not contact me for twenty-five days, but that was, in fact, a classic case of…
Rejected Mate Syndrome.
Only now can I sense the energetic wound in him closing as we wallow in the Joining.
"Oh, Eliano… I’m sorry for rejecting you! Fuck, we really are fated!"
Eliano slowly turns his face toward me. He was watching the fading lights too, but now he looks at me. His skin is flushed, but a smile spreads across his lips.
"Did you still have doubts? Because I stopped doubting a long time ago."
I blink in surprise.
"Seriously, not even a shadow of a doubt?"
"Salt, I was able to track you by instinct when you ran into that swamp. That would not have been possible if we were not True Mates."
"Then why did you even leave?" I almost regret asking.