The Masquerade

I'm sorry, I know it's been a long time. What can I say, life gets in the way sometimes. But here is the next installment and I hope you find it worth the wait and read! As always, comments and voting are encouraged. Enjoy!

~Eskimo_Kiss xxoo

***************

Chapter 7

Alex ended her adult class a few minutes early and the after class catching up was kept to a minimum. She was home by eight and walked into her closet to lay the clothes she had picked out for the evening on the bed. Alex started the shower, and while she let it warm up she went out to her DVDs and picked out a couple of her favorites. "Forbidden Kingdom", because how can you not love Jackie Chan and Jet Li, and as a karate person, she loved kung-fu, martial arts movies. She also picked up her favorite 'chick flick', Sabrina, the old one with Audrey Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart. Then she quickly shucked her clothes and slipped into the hot water.

The water cascaded down her body and she dipped her head back, letting her hair soak and feeling the weight of it pull her head back more. Dry, her dark hair almost came to her waist. Wet, it hit the small of her back, usually tickling her when she was naked. She quickly washed it, pulling her hands through the strands, fingering out knots as she rinsed. She squeezed a 'tahitian blend' body scrub onto a sponge and then slid it over her shoulders, and sides. She could feel the slightly rough surface skip over her skin, and she shivered, remembering Mark's callused fingertips on her skin. She would have to ask him about the calluses. She couldn't think of what a teacher would be doing to get calluses on his fingers. Alex rinsed the soap from her body and stepped out of the shower, the cooler air making her nipples pearl. She wrapped her hair in a towel and dried off with another.

She quickly went into the bedroom and slipped into her matching black lace panty and bra set that nicely showed off her womanly curves. She dressed in her nicest pair of jeans, that hugged her hips and thighs. Then she put on a black lacy low cut top that nicely showed off her décolletage. She finished, putting on a celtic knot necklace and Native American jade earrings. Alex looked at the clock, eight fifteen, and she let her hair fall free, hoping it would be somewhat dry by the time she got to Mark's. She called Mark to let him know she was leaving as she made her way to the door, grabbing her movies on the way.

Alex drove as quickly as possible, slowing down in the areas she knew there were speed traps. The thirty minute drive seemed to take for ever. She shook her head at herself. She had just seen him this morning, but it still seemed like a long time ago. She had never quite felt like this with anyone else. When she was with him, she was happy, carefree, felt sexy and desired. Their silences were as comfortable as their conversation. She had only known him a few days now, but it felt like they had known each other for ages. When she wasn't with him, she was thinking about him, and even that made her happy. Alex shook her head again. She was certainly smitten.

She heard a bark as she pulled up to Mark's house, and got out to be greeted enthusiastically by Ciara. She squatted down and petted the newfie, rubbing her ears.

"You keep that up and you have a friend for life," Mark said, laughter in his voice. She looked up to see him, the security light on his front porch shining down on his head, making his dark hair glow and casting his features sharper in the contrasted light. Alex continued petting Ciara as she watched Mark make his slow graceful walk down his steps and towards her. Ciara back away from Alex and rubbed against Mark's legs. He petted her head, a bit absent-mindedly as he took the last few steps to Alex, as she stood back up.

Mark's eyes slid down her body, and even in the darkness, she could see his eyes darken. In the evening light, his eyes dark and his features sharpened, he looked dangerous, and sexy enough to weaken her knees. Mark's eyes slid back to hers and holding her gaze he stepped closer to her, wrapping his arms around her. They stood that way for a moment, arms around each other and looking into each other's eyes. Mark raised a brow and Alex smiled.

"Hi!" Alex said.

"Hi, back, darlin'. You look beautiful." He replied, his voice deep and a little gruff.

"Thank you. You're not looking so bad yourself." Alex smiled and she raised onto her tip-toes, kissing Mark's chin. He chuckled, before leaning down to capture her mouth with his. Alex pushed her body into his, as his lips and tongue played over hers. She felt his hands tighten around her back, before he brought one to her hair, moving her head to bring her mouth more fully into his. As they kissed, Alex felt Ciara start to push her head against her legs, circling them both, before pushing her head between them. Alex laughed as Mark made a sound of irritation, and she petted Ciara's head.

"Now that we've had a proper 'hello', maybe it's time to go inside?" Alex asked.

"Are you hungry?" Mark asked as they walked up his stairs, Ciara bounding in front of them. "I thought you might not have had time to eat before or after class."

"I am. I hope you didn't wait for me though!" Alex exclaimed as they shucked their shoes into his entry way closet.

"Oh I had a snack, but here, come on." Mark grabbed Alex's hand and wound through his living room to his dining room. The table had been set, there was a rose in a small vase and two candles lit. Mark pulled out a chair, and Alex sat in the comfortably cushioned dark chair. "This is beautiful. You really didn't have to go to all this trouble though." She looked up at him, and he leaned down and kissed her gently on the lips.

"I wanted to. Wait here, I'll be right back." He said as he disappeared into the kitchen. She felt happiness bubble up inside. She was dating someone who wanted to do things for her. And apparently did it well, according to the aromas coming from the kitchen. She waited, petting Ciara's head, with Ciara under the rest of the table.

Mark came out, carrying two plates. Steak, potatoes, broccoli, and a little bit of pasta. He set the plate down in front of her, "Go lay down, Ciara. No begging." Mark pointed with his hand. Ciara gave a little huff, looked up at he with puppy dog eyes, before making her way out of the dining room. He shook his head with a smile.

"This looks wonderful." Alex said as he sat down across from her.

"Thank you." He said. "Go ahead, you must be starving."

They dug into their food, Alex with a groan of approval at the peppered steak. She told him about her kids class, laughing as she told him about one little boy who always went the wrong way when told to go left or right. She told him about how eager they were to learn, and how proud their parents were, especially the parents that stayed to watch. Mark told her about teaching college. How some of the classes were tough to get through as students were there because they had to be, and how the higher level classes were so much more fun because the students were actually interested in what they were learning.

Alex told him about her brothers and growing up on a farm. He told her about his sister and growing up in New England. He told her about his niece and how his sister was always trying to get him to move back to the area. He told her about finding his home, the five acres that let him have privacy, something he never had in New England and how he didn't think he could ever go back to that.

"So," Alex started after a lull in conversation. They had finished their meal, and sat finishing their wine. "How does a history teacher get calluses on his fingers?" She asked, her eyes dancing merrily.

Mark chuckled, his deep bass gliding over the sound. "Do you want me to show you?"

She tilted her head at him, studying for a moment, and smiled. "Yes."

He stood up, setting his wine glass down, he held out his hand and waited. She slipped to her feet, walked around the table and slid her hand in his. Even the feel of his hand intertwined with hers sent shivers down her back. He led her to the back door of the kitchen, slipping on slippers. She looked out the door and then laughed. "I'll go grab my shoes."

She ran to the entry closet and found her shoes, carrying them back to the kitchen, Ciara following her as Alex passed her dog bed. When she returned to Mark's side, she donned her shoes as he petted Ciara. Then he took her hand, again intertwining his long fingers with hers and led her outside. Ciara bounded ahead of them and running around the backyard.

Mark led her to a small barn-like structure that she had seen out his bedroom window before. It was impossible to tell in the moon-light, but she knew it to be red with white trim. "I have a workroom out here." Mark slid to the door to the side, letting go of her hand to open the heavy barn door. He leaned around the wall and flipped on the light switch. Then he gestured for her to enter. Alex walked into the barn, immediately seeing wood, lots of wood. There were cut boards, small logs, and even branches stacked along one wall. Along the other wall there was a peg board filled with all kinds of tools.

"My grandfather was a carpenter. He had wanted my dad to do something that he didn't have to work with his hands, so my dad became a lawyer. But he learned from his dad how to work wood. He had made all the cabinets in the old house for my mother when they got married." Mark led her to the other end of the barn, to where there were a few finished pieces. He continued as he slid a hand over the back of glowing dark cherry finished rocking chair. "He taught me woodworking from the time I could toddle after him. I learned so much from him. He taught me how to look at a piece of wood and see the possibilities, and if it had a flaw in it, what possibilities there were either around the flaw or incorporating it."

Alex saw the far away look in his eye, and let him talk. "When I was fifteen he brought me out to the shed and gave me a log. He told me to look at it and tell him what I saw. I told him I saw a log." Mark chuckled and looked up at Alex, who smiled, running her hand over a dark burnished table. "He shook his head at me and told me to look again. I told him a maple tree log." He chuckled again, taking Alex's hand and leading her to sit in the rocking chair. "He told me to stop being obtuse." He started the chair rocking as she let her hands glide over the smooth wood of the chair, impressed with the workmanship.

"I was fifteen and I had no idea what he wanted. I told him so. He shook his head and told me to listen. He took the log out of my hands and ran his hands over the rivulets in the bark and the slightly rough edge of the cut. This isn't just a maple tree log, son. This could be the back of a violin, it could be the leg to a night stand, it could be a cabinet door." Mark smiled as he knelt in front of Alex. "He said the possibilities were only limited by my imagination and if all I could see was a maple log then the possibilities that he saw were going to end in nothing. He gave me the log and walked out."

Mark laid his hands on her knees, squeezing gently. "What did you do?" Alex asked.

"I rolled my eyes and went to my room. But, I brought the log with me. He didn't bring up the conversation again. It wasn't until I was in college that I finally figured out what he meant. One vacation I was at home and saw the old log. It was my sophomore year. I brought the log back with me." He slid his hands up the side of her legs, resting his hands on her hips. She played with the hair at one of his temples.

"I looked at that damn log for a good six months before I found what I wanted. In my spare time, between classes, part time work and partying with my friends of course, I worked on that log, trimming it down, shaping it the way I wanted it." He grazed her sides as his hands wrapped around her waist, pulling her forward in the chair, it rocking her toward him. Her hands glided over his shoulders and down to grasp his forearms. "It took a long time, and then, since I only had a few months until graduation when I finally finished it, I waited until graduation day."

Mark was kneeling between her knees now, his hands caressing her her waist, running up and down her thighs slowly. "I wrapped it up and gave it to him afterwards."

"When he opened it, he saw a carved book on a pedestal, it had the ancient style of binding and opened to a page in the middle. On one side, the Robert Frost poem, The Road Not Taken was etched into the page. On the other side a list was etched, of everything I had ever wanted to be." Alex stopped his hands from moving and leaned her forehead against his.

"What did he say?"

He gazed into her eyes, "All the possibilities I saw, came true."

"You're incredibly sweet, you know that right?" She said, caressing his cheek with her hand. "What happened to the book?"

"It's in the china cabinet in the dining room. After Dad died, I kept it. It helps me remember the lesson." Mark said, kissing the palm of her hand. "There are always so many possibilities." He twined a hand into the hair at the nape of her neck and brought her mouth to his. Alex moaned rocking forward in the chair to press her body harder against him. His tongue danced with hers as his other hand wrapped around her waist pulling her fulling against him.

Alex felt the shivers in her spine from the moment he had slid his hands up to her waist in the rocking chair, now the shivers were pulls in her lower abdomen. He groaned against her mouth as she played with the hair at his nape, her other hand feeling the breadth of his shoulders.

She couldn't get enough of the taste of his mouth on hers. She kissed him with all the new emotions running through her, kissed him with everything she had in her. She moaned when his hands slid under her shirt to wrap around her waist. The feel of his woodworking hands grazing her skin caused a shudder down her spine. He groaned against her mouth as her body responded to him.

He lightened his kiss, kissing the side of her mouth, then raining his kisses down her neck. She whimpered when his kisses landed where her neck met her shoulder. She ran her hands down his shoulders and over his sides, feeling the breadth of his chest and the trim of his waist. He lifted her blouse up, and she let her hands leave his sides long enough to get the blouse over her head. His eyes glinted when he saw her breasts encased in her lacy bra.

"God, your beautiful," she heard. Then her senses were overwhelmed as he kissed the tops of her breasts above the bra and his hands cupped them, his thumbs brushing over her nipples. She moaned, arching her back and holding onto his shoulders. "So responsive." He chuckled, then slid his tongue between bra and breast. She felt his tongue against the top of her nipple and shuddered in his arms. He chuckled again as she moaned. "You could make me come just by the way you respond, love."

She looked down at him, her eyes a dark amber, her gaze a bit unfocused. "God, Mark," she whispered. He looked up at her, and slid his tongue under the bra and over her nipple again. She gripped his shoulders tighter. She felt him undo the front clasp of her bra. She let him slip it down her arms, staring into his eyes, until he let them fall. He cupped her heavy breasts in his hand, kissing slowly around one and then the other, never letting his mouth or thumb touch the sensitive nipple.

"Please!" She whimpered, grasping his shoulders and pulling him toward her.

He smiled up at her, "Please what, love?" He kissed the side of her breast, one hand cupping and the other wrapping around her waist.

Alex couldn't speak, his mouth on her breast and the feel of him under her hands was getting to be too much. She was so aroused, her cleft damp, and her nipples pearling hard, needing to be kissed. "Pl...please." She stuttered out.

"Please this?" He asked, as his kissed her other breast, still avoiding the nipple. He chuckled when she shook her head frantically.

"Please this?" He asked, swiping his tongue over her nipple. She shivered in his arms and moaned, the feeling of his warm tongue gone too quickly. Then she felt his lips surround her nipple and she cried out when he sucked gently. His mouth on her breast sent the lightning straight to her dampening mound. He brought her tighter against him, her legs around him as he knelt before her. She arched her back, holding his shoulders to her as his mouth suckled first one breast and then the other. She felt his other hand slide around her waist, caressing her sides, the gentle swell of her tummy and then it fiddled with the button of her jeans.

He let the rocking chair rock back once he had the button of her jeans undone. Alex moaned to feel the loss of his mouth, but helped him wiggle her out of her jeans and panties. He kissed her mouth again, and she slid her tongue against his, holding him tight to her. She unbuttoned his shirt and slid it off his shoulders and arms, looking at his broad muscular chest and strong arms. She slid her mouth to his neck, pulling him against her to feel his skin against hers. He moved his mouth to her neck, kissing her collarbone, kissing both breasts, sucking at the nipple for a moment before working his mouth over her stomach.

She leaned back against the rocking chair, and felt him pull the rocking chair forward as his mouth slipped to her thigh. He kissed the top of each thigh, before letting his kisses fall on her mound. She felt his tongue slide between her folds and whimpered. He let his tongue slide along her slit, back and forth. Alex felt the lightning in her abdomen start to tighten into a ball. She cried out when his tongue found her clit. His talented tongue circled it slowly a few times before sliding between her folds again to taste her flowing juices.

Alex shuddered under him as he brought her close and then back down, each time bringing her higher and higher. She finally closed her eyes, unable to focus on anything but the feel of his tongue, circling her clit, sliding into her and circling her clit again. She writhed against his mouth, the rocking chair moving back and forth in a small pendulum as Mark held her to his mouth.

She thought she was as high as she could be without shattering, and then he slid a finger into her, his tongue finding her clit. He still circled it lazily, his finger slowly pushing in and out. She was moaning against the sensations that built inside her, sure she was going to explode when he finally let her orgasm. She whimpered, "Please, oh god, please Mark."

He slid another finger into her, and she felt his fingers stretch her. The ball in her abdomen coalesced tighter. Then he found her clit again and sucked. Lightning flashed in her body as she shattered. She cried out as wave upon wave of pleasure crashed over her. She felt his mouth hold against her until her shuddering stopped as the waves slowed. She finally opened her eyes to see his dark dark eyes gazing up at her, a smile on his lips. He let the chair rock her back from him, "You're gorgeous when you do that, darlin'."

"That," She started, breathless, "that was amazing." She watched as he kissed her tummy, between her breasts. She closed her eyes as he kissed her neck, the side of her jaw and the corner of her mouth. "You're amazing," she whispered into his lips as finally he kissed her.

She sat up, bringing her body to his and kissed him, her taste mixed with his. She slid her mouth over his jaw, kissed along his collarbone. He shifted to his feet, pulling her up with him out of the rocking chair. He wrapped his arms around her, and she felt her skin against his as he kissed her deeply. She brought her hands to the front of his jeans and worked the button open and the zipper down. He shifted back from her a little, keeping his mouth dancing with hers as she helped him out of his clothes. Then he pulled her to him again, their legs entwining as he buried one hand in her hair and the other clasping her waist. She wrapped her arms around his back, reveling in his mouth pressed to hers.