Chapter 6 - Rhea
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Rhea
“Uh, I was expecting—” I started, wondering whether I had the dates mixed up.
“Beck?” Ash completed my question, and I nodded silently. He shook his head somewhat flippantly, his longer hair flashing over his eyes in a way that made me want to swoon. Not that I entirely knew what swooning was; it was only ever something that I read about.
When he continued, it was flippant. “He’s got a thing. So, I’m here instead.”
Ash reached his left hand out to me. He wore a single black band around his middle finger that made me curious. But I didn’t ask questions. I simply took his hand and let him lead me off the porch and toward the giant black motorcycle that was parked out in the road.
I paused on the sidewalk as he offered me a second helmet. He had a smirk on his face, one that seemed both mysterious and amused.
“Safety first,” he said, and my eyes grew wider.
“You’re joking,” I almost laughed. “You want me to get on that thing?”
“Afraid?” he asked with a slight bite to his lip. There was something dangerous in the way he spoke, in the way he stood; the promise of the adrenaline high of a lifetime. Maybe that was the dragon he chased, and maybe that was why he’d become a firefighter. So that he could face danger every day.
At the same time, I had the feeling that he would do everything in his power to keep me safe. Being with him might feel dangerous, but he wouldn’t put me in harm’s way. At least, that’s what I thought at that moment.
“No,” I said, and it was mostly true. “I trust you.”
“You shouldn’t,” he winked, but handed the helmet over to me anyway. “Hold on tight. I’m not a slow driver.”
I swallowed, nodded, and pulled the helmet over my head.
It muffled the sound of the world, and I could hear my breathing as I got onto the bike behind Ash.
With no other choice, I wrapped my arms around him, and I was immediately caught off guard by his body.
It was lean, but powerful, solid and agile all at the same time.
He reminded me of a panther moving through the deep forests. A beautiful danger hidden in the trees.
The bike roared to life and my heart skipped a beat.
Ash hadn’t been lying. The bike moved sleekly, but with impressive power and speed, though he was careful to at least hold to the speed limit for the most part.
We weaved through traffic as if we were flying, and I quickly realized that we were heading out of the city.
This wasn’t a night out bowling or at a fancy restaurant. Ash was a completely different beast.
And it felt as if something inside me had awoken because of it. There was a fire building in my stomach, an unfamiliar excitement in my soul. I could fall into that sensation easily, and I never wanted it to end.
As I had thought, we flew past the city limits.
Eventually, Ash pulled off at some point, and parked his bike in a small open clearing by the side of the road.
He waited for me to get off first, before he followed.
I pulled my helmet off and gulped in the open air, realizing that I was breathing hard due to the adrenaline of the ride.
Ash took his helmet off with more of a flourish, shaking his hair into place before placing the helmet on the bike seat.
“We’re here,” he announced, nodding toward a path that headed into the woods. “A secret spot where nobody will bother us.”
“We’re walking?” I asked, and Ash grinned.
“No.” He pulled his helmet back on, and got back onto the bike. He waited for me to take my seat again, and drove onto the path.
Under normal circumstances, I never would have gone with a man off the beaten path and into any kind of secret spot, but with Ash, I found I couldn’t help myself.
It was narrow and surrounded by trees, and within fifty feet, the road had disappeared behind us entirely.
I hoped that Ash could find his way back, because I wasn’t entirely sure that I would be able to.
I wondered if he’d brought other women here, or if I was the first. I didn’t think it mattered that much either way, but I was a curious creature.
The bike made quick work of the small dirt path, maneuvering through it as if it were nothing. Any small mistake, though, and we’d probably be sent flying into the trees. But Ash drove with confidence and purpose, as if he’d taken this path many times.
When he slowed down, the sun had almost disappeared, with streaks of orange and purple flush across the sky.
Ash pulled through one last set of trees and into a large glade.
At one end was a small waterfall, creating a small stream at its base that went deeper into the woods.
Ash parked the bike beside the stream in a patch of dirt that seemed to exist solely for that purpose.
Around us was a small area of grass, swallowed by the trees in the distance. For a moment, I could simply stare.
This was a magical place, one that it was difficult to believe could even exist in reality. Ash helped me down from the bike this time, and we removed our helmets.
“Nice, isn’t it?” Ash asked, and I nodded speechlessly. “I like coming here to clear my head.”
In the cool evening air, I could somehow feel the heat from Ash’s body.
He was standing so close to me that my arm was brushing against his, and it was like I was being pulled toward him with a powerful magnetic energy.
My breath caught in my throat when he moved to stand in front of me, and the last light of the sun drifted across his face.
It felt as if we were alone in the universe, just Ash and his bike and I, in this fantasy of a place. Then, Ash stepped forward, and put his hands on either side of my face. I felt my heart racing and my face turning red.
Instinctively, I closed my eyes as Ash’s lips met mine, and the kiss was immediately explosive.
I pushed my body against Ash’s, and he wrapped one arm around my waist, pulling me even tighter to him.
His tongue found mine and fairly quickly I was breathing hard, falling into the ecstasy of the moment.
I lifted my own arms to put them around Ash’s neck as the heat between us began to grow. I could feel it at the very pit of my stomach, like a hunger that would never be satiated.
Ash moved his arms again, this time picking me up and placing me on the bike, sending a sliver of electricity rushing through my body.
I had never done anything like this before, not even close.
It felt as if I needed to pinch myself to check if I was dreaming.
As if I had fallen onto the set of a movie and I was the only one who didn’t know this wasn’t real.
Even if there was the slightest possibility that it wasn’t, that I might wake up to a screeching alarm, I didn’t care. All I wanted was Ash.
I made the next move, changing the position of my hands so that I could tug at his jacket.
He took the hint quickly and shook it off, mostly with his shoulders, and dropped it by the side of the bike.
Beneath it, he was wearing a white shirt made of thin material, which made it easy for me to trail my fingers over the muscles in his arms.
The feeling of his skin sent the fire in my chest into overdrive.
I cared about nothing aside from getting more of Ash.
As he kissed me, I gripped onto his shirt, the fabric curling tightly in my hands.
He seemed to catch the hint easily, and released me from the kiss, before moving his lips to my neck.
Goosebumps followed the trail, and I threw my head back to truly savor the feeling.
Ash used one finger to move my blouse to expose my collarbone, and lay a line of kisses across it that made my toes curl.
Slowly, his free hand moved down, dancing over my clothes and to the edge of my jeans, slightly lifting the blouse to touch my stomach. It was a question, one that I already had the answer to.
“Please,” I whispered, and Ash complied. He used both hands to lift my blouse over my head, dropping it onto his jacket on the ground. The breeze fluttered over my skin and made me shiver. Ash smiled at me as he reached around my body to unclasp my bra.
“Don’t worry, I’ll keep you warm,” he said in a low, almost growling tone, and I could feel the flames being set alight within me.
Once my bra was gone, Ash went to work again; another line of kisses, this time tracing their way down my chest and my stomach, until he reached the lining of my jeans.
He ran a finger across it before grasping the button and releasing it with some force, which made me gasp.
The zip soon followed, and I lifted my legs to allow Ash to pull both my pants and underwear down.
Somehow, he did this with both precision and speed, in a way that made me want to climb him like a tree.
He stayed at ground level as he took off his own shirt, and slowly let his mouth play its way up my legs.
First on one side, then the other. It wasn’t a slow dance or a sensual one, but a wild, almost thrashing set of movements designed to awaken my animal soul.
I found myself threading my fingers through his hair as he moved ever upward. He reached my thighs and paused for a moment as if he were savoring them especially. Then, his hands pushed my knees apart, and I had to lean back on the bike, my heart threatening to beat right out of my chest.
When his tongue brushed against my labia, my body responded with vigor, and a small moan escaped me. This seemed to urge Ash to continue, and he placed his hands on my thighs to hold me in place while he satisfied his cravings for my taste.
His tongue moved with such knowledge that, for a fleeting second, I wondered how many times he had done this before.
But that thought was quickly washed away into nothingness by the sheer sensation of it.
The teasing circle, slow, methodical, and promising so much more was sending waves of pleasure through my body.
I leaned back, one hand in Ash’s hair, the other holding his wrist as he continued to grip my thigh. I allowed myself to fall into the experience fully, focusing only on the feelings that Ash was bringing forth in me.
“Oh, please,” I begged at one point, when he slowed just enough to keep me away from that tempting edge. “Please, Ash, let me come.”
I could almost feel him smiling against me, and he tightened his grip on my legs, before he returned to that rhythm that had me almost reeling under his power.
This time, he kept it going, and the teasing had passed.
He was taking me to the end now, all the way, and I could feel it building at my core.
Then, like a cascading waterfall, something burst; the walls of a dam, the drop off the edge of a cliff. For a moment, it felt as if my vision had disappeared into a world of pure color, and my entire body shuddered, my legs closing tightly around Ash’s face.
When he came up for air, facing me with that same mysterious glint in his eye, I could barely catch my breath. But I wasn’t done. There was more that I wanted. That I needed, right there and then.
“I want to be inside you,” Ash said, and I was already undoing his belt.
“Yes, please,” I answered eagerly as his pants fell to the floor. My hand brushed over his hard cock, and I was surprised at the size of it.
The corner of Ash’s mouth lifted slightly as he stood closer to me, and I could feel him between my thighs.
“Are you sure?” he asked, leaning closer until I could feel the heat of his breath on my face.
As an answer, I wrapped my legs around his hips, and pulled him against me, throwing my hands over his shoulders.
I felt him sliding into me with some force, and it was as if my life’s fate had brought me to this moment. I could feel every inch with the friction created between us, and we moved in a rhythm that seemed as old as time itself.
Ash balanced me on the bike with expert care, and his gaze captured me in a prison that I never wanted to escape from.
Every movement was a new spell cast over me, and I knew that, if it were possible, I would want all of this to last forever.
Ecstasy like this was rare to find, and I wasn’t sure that I ever would again.
But then, Ash pulled away from me with a groan, and finished in the grass, leaving me both satisfied and wanting so much more.
“Wow,” I breathed, slowly letting my legs lower so that I could get off the bike. “That was… wow.”
Ash glanced over his shoulder at me. “Yeah. Wow.”
We got dressed slowly before Ash let me get back on the bike, and he drove me home with the same perfect confidence.
By the time we were standing on the porch, on that same floorboard that they had fixed for me, I was still somewhat dazed. It felt as if the whole thing had been a dream.
“I don’t usually do that on a first date,” I admitted shyly.
“Well, I’m no usual guy.” Ash’s tone was nonchalant. He wasn’t joking.
“Definitely not. Uhm… Would you like to come in for a coffee?” I asked, though I was hoping for more than that. I was not going to say no to a second round.
Ash shook his head, and I was instantly disappointed.
“Sorry, not tonight,” he said, giving me a quick kiss on the cheek before taking a step back. “We’ll see what happens after your date with Beck.”
Without hesitation, he put his helmet over his head, turned, and left the porch. I stayed outside long enough to watch him drive off into the night.