Love Note Pt 02

*** V ***

I look to the skies for signs

When her hand is in mine

all I see is gold and fire

Blazing so much higher

than I can lift her

I have a gift here

This I whisper to her

I have a gift here

Borne of ancient secrets

Her presence was going to be a problem.

His pillows smelled of vanilla, ginger... apricots. And he remembered how difficult it had been to shake the scent of her after their first kiss. Leo rolled onto his back, propping one leg up -- but that only made matters worse. Not only could he still smell Anaïs, but he was now in the perfect position to watch her as well.

I have a gift here

Borne of ancient secrets...

The hardest part of the day they'd met and kissed had been when she'd walked out right afterwards. Just as she was preparing to do now.

"It's not the end of the world, Thandi -- you just couldn't reach me for a few hours." Her voice drifted in from the balcony, husky and decadent. "Of course everything's fine -- I'll brief you on our progress when I get back to the flat. Stay right where you are. Don't move."

No. It was best that she was leaving, come to think of it. He'd built his life around what he'd thought was the real deal once before... and Melissa had fucked him up royally.

Blindly going that route again would be stupid.

"No, I don't understand your panic, actually. Why would you think I'd be home when we have so much to get done?" She was looking out over the private back garden; her shoulders were tense, but hints of amusement coloured her tone. "You weren't even supposed to be back for another two days, let alone suffering mad visions of me in an apron, waiting for you with your slippers and dinner in hand."

Leo got up and silently padded to the open sliding door.

The distant clouds had neared, but weren't close enough cut off the sunlight bathing her. Her skin gleamed as if

she

were the source of rain, not the skies. The image of sweat beads trickling into her hair as she arched up at him came to mind.

"Oh. Yes, I see." One arm was wrapped around her chest, barely managing to hold in place the sheet that dragged with each step she took. "Yes, I

was

sick; and I

did

let everyone know that I couldn't come in today... I'm sorry I worried you, but I really am okay now."

He leaned against the door jamb. Heat rose from the stone tiles and flowed over the balustrade. Anaïs glowed.

Then she turned and looked right at him. "I was very well taken care of."

Arms folded, Leo watched as she took in his nudity. She leaned against the balustrade, a fist clutching her sheet, and let her eyes drift from his biceps to his abs. On a slow blink, they flitted down to his feet then traced up, lingering this time when they got to his stirring penis.

He felt himself grow more rapidly under her dark inspection. He gripped his erection and held eye contact as he squeezed it then pulled. He watched her closely as he stroked himself.

Her friend laughed on the line and seemed to ask a question, but he was sure she didn't hear it. And fairly positive she wasn't aware of biting her lip either.

Just twenty minutes ago she'd driven him clear out of his mind in that bed and cried out his name as he'd climaxed inside her. Yet here he was again, hungry for her. Again.

She turned her back to him. "I have to go. There's stuff to do and you'll be needing the car back."

The sheet was slipping, the musical birds on her back suddenly freed.

He stepped up behind her and put his hands on her hips. Out in the sunlight their skin tones were in sharper contrast and he couldn't take his eyes off the play of colours. It made his grip on her tighten reflexively. In just a few minutes outdoors she had absorbed the sun's heat; he pressed himself to the warmth of her back.

"No, really, it's okay. I'll meet you at the flat then catch a cab to Karma for the rest of the day."

He pulled at the luxurious cotton, but her grip on it tightened. This made the corner of his mouth lift.

He swept her twists across one shoulder and put his lips to the bared one. Within moments she was leaning back against him.

"No... I have no idea what Leo might be up to."

His small smile was now a predatory grin. With slow strokes he worked his hands up from her hips to her covered breasts, cupping them from behind. At the same time his teeth grazed a line along her shoulder up to her neck. He pressed his lips there.

She trembled.

"I'm sure he has a good reason for not answering his phone either."

A harder tug produced better results -- the sheet slipped halfway down before she caught it at her waist.

"I really have to go now, geeko." Her voice was still steady, but her breathing wasn't. "Yep, I'll try find him and let him know. Cheers."

Anaïs turned on him the instant the call disconnected. Her lips were still kiss-swollen and did little to support the stern outrage in her eyes.

Leo took in her glare with subdued amusement. "Have a message for me, do you?"

"Didn't your mother teach not to go gallivanting around naked?"

"That's what Thandi told you to ask me?" he chuckled. "Tell her no one can see into the back part of my property -- which is good because I wouldn't want anyone else falling for the dark temptress on my balcony... I have plans for her still."

"Leo."

She was resisting -- or trying to. Saying his name like that was a big mistake on her part, though.

He pulled her closer, tightening his arms around her and forcing her onto her toes as he kissed her deeply. He never tired of the taste of her and her undisguised responses. Her arms went around his neck, crushing her breasts to his chest. She passed the sun's heat from her flesh to his.

"I have to go, Leo."

He shifted a little and the sheet dropped to their feet. Anaïs glanced around self-consciously, but he lifted her up in his arms and kissed her again until her legs wrapped around him and she moaned into his mouth. His hands lowered to cup the curve of her behind, squeezing at the firm fullness.

"Ah, shit..." He broke the kiss to look into her eyes. "You're not going anywhere, baby."

"But I have to --"

"I don't care." He was already heading back to the bed.

She shook her head. "And what the hell am I supposed to tell your manager?"

He laid her amongst the plush pillows and pecked her lips. "You're my manager."

"I'm Thandi's

assistant

." She looked cute trying to remain serious despite her lips curling.

"

You're

my manager." He rolled onto his back, whipping her up over him. "Tell Thandi I wanted to be inside you again, needed to make you scream some more."

Hair everywhere as she was swung up into straddling his hips, a dancing cloud of elegance above him. When it settled back down, she combed her fingers through it, pulling it to one side again so she could work on scowling at him some more. He'd been in a playful mood until that moment -- but lying there with his erection tucked beneath her and watching her breasts lift as she calmed the storm that was her hair... It cut into him.

Something tender and alive bled within.

He couldn't smile anymore. And he couldn't take his eyes off her.

She was shaking her head at his suggestion. "I am

not

saying that to her. No way."

He put his hands on her hips and rocked up into her heat.

Her eyelids fluttered. "I have to go..."

"Why?" He sat up, forcing her legs wider. "Why are you trying so hard to run away?"

Her nose nuzzled the side of his. "I find that question ironic considering you're the same man who wanted nothing to do with me a few days ago."

"You shouldn't have come after me, temptress." His hands were on her thighs, his thumbs stroking at the insides.

"I, uh... needed to get you out my system."

The music had stopped downstairs and all he could hear now was the longing in her sighs.

"Then you should never have admitted that I'm under your skin." His teeth caught light hold of her lower lip and her tongue immediately darted out at him. "I'm starting to like being... in your system."

Anaïs' fingers curled around the back of his neck even as she claimed to want to get away.

He pressed his thumbs into her flesh with each outward stroke, making her pussy stretch open a little wider each time before releasing to feel her wetness cover the length of his cock. He was hard and hungry for her.

The rocking of her hips took on long, deliberate strokes, running her wetness up and down the length of him. A primal possessiveness was stirred up by the way her sighs now had a voice, ending in whimpers and moans she tried to bite back. He wanted to take that control from her, shatter her resistance.

Rumbling rolled in from the distance. Passion had shattered the peace within their haven, and now the thick clouds threatened the rest of world out there. Leo looked into Ana's eyes and saw a storm already warring there.

Her dark eyes widened at the first touch of his hard dick to her entrance. Her rocking stilled and it felt as if he could feel her heartbeat pulsating from her entire being, reverberating through the tip of his cock. As he nudged at her, he snapped back thoughts about getting to enter her pussy

and

heart.

She was straddling him, her chest pressed to his. He couldn't push up into her and she wasn't coming to him, wasn't letting him inside yet.

"Take it."

She stared into his eyes. He watched the sparks and furies blazing in her eyes: desires, doubts, defiance.

He held his ground. "Take me in."

Her nails dug into his shoulders as she began to move. He cupped her to him as she enveloped him in her heat, his teeth gritting as the storm calling from outside and the tempests flaring in her eyes clashed in his chest.

"Uuhhh, Gods..." Her eyelids were half-lowered.

"Take it, sweetheart."

The softness, the wet glide of her searing passion. Leo's hands roamed up to her shoulders where he gripped her brutally and steadily pulled her closer. Ana's lips rounded, her moan drawn out as short, instinctive thrusts took over. It was the way that she could take anything he did to her -- and so sweetly, too -- that drove him most crazy.

Each lift of her hips made him want to growl; he wanted to be inside her and never leave.

"Leo..." Her skin was glistening again. "Baby, I need --"

He pulled her down the rest of the way. She grunted -- it sounded like his name again, but guttural, raw. She'd never used any endearments on him before and hearing this one set off the feral compulsions he'd been feeling since meeting her. He couldn't help himself.

Ana was grinding against him as if she wanted all she could get of him; all the while her brows were drawn together as if the ecstasy hurt. He knew how she felt -- how quickly the craving took over only to overwhelm in its magnitude.

Her hips were in full swing now, her lips on his. His tongue found hers, claimed her as his hands slid up her back reading her rhythm and urging her on. When he cupped her breasts, she broke the kiss and threw her head back.

He needed more. She was almost too much to take in -- but he needed even more.

Leo lay back against the pile of pillows. And Ana held on just as he knew she would.

She was braced over him, working herself along the length of him, moaning as her stretched pussy clenched each time he thrust up into the deepest parts of her. He pinched her nipples, watching her back arch; those tender peaks tight as she pushed them into the pleasurable pain.

He thrust up into her. The muscles in his thighs and calves, his abs and arms, locked in tense definition as he drove himself deeper, forcing gasps and pleas from her.

And then there it was.

"Leo... Oh, shit."

In the middle of being consumed by her, in the middle of filling her, he got her to say his name in tones heard nowhere else.

"Ah, Gods... Leo, I --" Tremors washed through her in layered waves. "I'm going to... Please, come with me, baby..."

Fuck.

He pulled her down, made her curve over him. Embraced her tightly as her rapid breaths seared his lips; thrust up into her with all he had; whispered to her even when he knew she could no longer hear anything but their primal heartbeats echoing through the room.

Her orgasm was a thing of beauty.

She sat back up, her spine curved and elegant, her hair flowing down to her buttocks. Leo cursed as he felt her tighten around him, rhythmically milking him; compelling him to pump faster. His grunts matched her cries as he lost himself inside her. Their climax expanded until it was all that existed, all that was conceivable.

Tangible. Authentic.

Ana collapsed onto his chest.

The light outside was summer-gold and cloud-silver. The thunder louder.

Leo felt the cool breeze from outside swirl with the warmth of her dying gasps across his skin. How could one woman bring so many contrasts into his life in a matter of days? All he could see anymore was how different they were, how different many things around them were -- and how it all fit together so perfectly that it hurt.

The pains of pieced perfection.

Like now. His heart still raced -- yet, with each steadying breath, she was reassembling herself.

So, it was no real shock when she lifted her head and blinked languidly down at him before turning to take in the greens and rustling call of the trees outside. She looked at him again, her eyes the most serene he'd ever seen them. There was also a clear satisfaction in them that made his chest expand with pride.

The peace on her face as he'd cared for her over the weekend. The calm in her eyes after tearing the world apart with their lovemaking. It made him feel like a man who just might deserve her. Knowing he was able to do that for her made him feel worthy.

He held onto the impossible curve of her wide hips when he felt himself starting to slip from inside her. It was too soon. The connection was still needed.

Her skin was dewy.

He watched her rise then search for her scattered clothes. Efficient Ana ignored her own glow and the come now trickling down her thigh. Once dressed, she plaited her mane and the way it neatly flowed over her shoulder reminded him of their first night together.

She allowed herself a moment to grimace at her reflection in the full length mirror beyond his dresser. He stood and went to her, knowing even before he reached her that he wouldn't agree with her reaction to whatever it was

she

saw there.

Ana raised an eyebrow at having a nude companion suddenly behind her. But she also sported a faint smile.

Their world was still shaking, still rumbling. Darkening, swelling -- highlighted by emotional lightning.

She turned and pulled his head down so she could press her lips to his.

"How on earth did I just survive that?" Her lips were still on his. "

Uzondibulala, mlungu ndini

."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"You, you impossible White man, will be the death of me."

"Little deaths never killed anybody," he smiled.

"I need to get to Thandi before she gets suspicious."

The moment she moved away from him, he wanted her back. It was ridiculous.

She slipped her feet into her pumps; then arched her back fluidly as she lifted each behind her and reached back to tug the backs over her heels with a finger. The notes flying up her hip, waist and shoulder blade spun musical sorcery for her alone.

There'd never been so much beauty in watching a woman leave -- he leaned against the dresser and took in the elegance of her movements. Running her palms across her face, swatting her plait away then swinging it back again with a resigned sigh, turning to check her reflection over her shoulder.

Every motion was part of Ana's own unscripted dance.

She scrunched her nose at her mirrored self again then went to check her bag.

"I wish I had time to take a shower," she huffed.

The thought of water cascading down her dark skin made him roll his shoulders. Damn.

"You look fine," he told her.

Fine. What an understatement.

"It's not that." She headed for the door without checking if he would follow.

"What then?"

"I smell like you." She shook her head, making the tip of her plait dance. "I've got your damn scent all over me."

They parted ways downstairs -- she walked out the front door, he walked through to the immaculate music room. Her words curled up into a knot and thudded through his chest --

fuck

, that was hot. By the time he heard the muted hum of the Mercedes leaving, her words were louder, echoing through him.

He sat down at his piano.

As he knew would happen, his fingers started on the familiar then moved on to something unplanned. Chopin's

Ballade No. 2

started; somewhere along the way,

Allegro de concert, Op 46

took over. He wasn't free of the image of water raining down on her, streaming over the rich brownness of her. Debussy emerged -

Reflets dans l'eau

, of course.

And then it happened.

His fingers flitted across the keys to a song he'd never played before.

This part always made his heart feel like it was too big for his body. The song took shape, came to life -- it lifted through the ceilings and saturated the clouds.

The room filled with vanilla and ginger. Apricots on his tongue.

God damn it.

***

"We're ahead of schedule -- that

never

happens! Almost never."

The good thing about Thandi's excitement was that it kept her from querying Ana's decision to strip as soon as she entered the apartment. There was now a cone-shaped traditional hat on the kitchen counter in place of any evidence of opened chocolate milk.

Ana's brow lifted at Thandi's souvenir, but she marched on to her room. Her jeans and shoes came off in time to be tossed about the room.

"Lesego reckons we can move one of our smaller Botswana projects forward and push to capitalise on the festive season market." Thandi was gingerly sidestepping Ana's clothes. "I only came back because of a call I got from

Purpose

. They want to interview me tomorrow! Which is partly why I need to find Leo."

Ana was in the shower and Thandi perched on the bathroom counter as she made her announcement. The opaque shower walls between them were a good thing for multiple reasons.

For one, hearing Leo's name now took on a significantly new meaning, one with dismantling effects. Effects Ana would rather not have witnessed by her giddy friend. For another, she needed just a little more time to list reasons why she held no interest in falling for a man who could ask her to stay the way that Leo Boreas had in his invitingly rumpled bed.

The suds drifting down her skin felt like they were scraping her of all that mattered.

She felt

too clean.

And, finally... she needed a veiled moment to convince herself she was okay with his scent leaving her. A moment to let him separate from her and let herself feel about for the parts that were hers alone so that she may reassemble them and move on.

"I'll keep trying Leo, but I need you to get over to Karma to meet Sindi and update everyone on this week's rehearsals and interviews. Take the car."

Ana turned. "Sindi?"

"Eric's idea." Thandi hopped off the counter. "You'll see."

***

Karma was huge.

A spread-out monolith tucked into the western corner of a major holiday resort just an hour's drive from the city, a monolith perfectly positioned for great sunset views. Not that Karma patrons ever got to see the sun from inside.

Ana flicked a glance up at the thick clouds above as the weatherman cautioned her about veld fire temperatures. She raised an eyebrow at the resilient breeze as the man stammered on about heat warnings and hydration advice.