10,000 words of centaurs and mythology and romance and happily-ever-after sex. Enjoy!
* * *
The waves settled down near the island, which Henry was happy to see as the boat pulled up to the dock. He didn't appreciate the rocking; he was built for land, and the ginger tablets he'd taken before getting on the small charter boat had barely settled his unease. The sky was gray-blue, and the water away from shore looked dark and menacing as he clambered off the boat and onto the stability of a well-anchored wooden surface.
But it was worth it. He'd arrived.
She
was here.
How a remote Greek island had a solid Internet connection he had no idea, but this was her home, and finally,
finally
, he was going to see her in person. Cameras were fine. Microphones were fine. But after nearly a year of dating her and never once touching her, they were finally going to be together.
Or at least closer. After all, they were well past "Hi, how are you." He grimaced nervously, wondering what would happen now that he was here. Technically, they'd done far more than just see each other half-naked over the camera. Lots of times. But still, it wasn't the same. She was gorgeous -- and standing here in real life, he felt wholly inadequate to be with a girl that pretty. Or smart. Or funny. Or simply flat-out amazing. He'd needed purpose in life, and he'd found it in the most perfect girl he could imagine, but being with her online definitely wasn't the same as almost being with her in person.
He stared up at the hillside from the dock. There were a few old ruins of Greek temples on the island, their crumbling stone columns edging above the green hills. Nearby, a small, pretty fishing village lay nestled up against the rocky shore, with a modern-looking squat glass hotel perched just behind it.
She
lived in the village of Auros, past here, up in the hills near the old ruins. She'd shown him the view of the Mediterranean out her window a few times, and he recognized this fishing village from behind.
The captain loosed the lines from the dock, hopped back on board, tipped his hat to Henry, and the boat shoved off. It hadn't been easy to get this far into the Mediterranean, well over the horizon line from anything resembling civilization. There were no ferries, no planes, and now the only boat captain that was willing to come out here was leaving without so much as a glance into his rear-view mirror. Henry swallowed, watching the little charter boat pull away and shrink into the distance, its motors revving up as it entered open waters. There was a worrying feeling of finality as it grew too small to see: There was no going back now.
But Melissa was waiting.
* * *
She'd said that Auros wasn't that far from the dock, a quick one-hour jaunt, but two hours up into the hills, Henry had only reached the edge of her tiny village. A dozen wooden houses, small and neat, with red-tile roofs, were scattered around the main road and a single dirt cross-street. They looked well-kept, although several had vines or ivy climbing their walls. A little white stone fountain quietly frothed in the square in the middle of the village, fed from some unseen spring.
No-one was here.
The windows were dark or shuttered, and the brown wooden doors were closed, and no-one was walking on the narrow cobblestone streets or in the village square. A fruit-and-vegetable cart loitered at one side of the square, piled high with fresh fruits and vegetables, but no-one stood behind it: Anyone could have scooted off with breakfast if they were inclined to thievery. Henry wasn't sure what had happened, but it seemed like everyone had disappeared just before he arrived. He shrugged. Maybe the villagers here were just insular, like those of the fishing village too. He hadn't seen anyone since disembarking, after all. Maybe they just didn't go out much.
He continued past the square on the street north, and saw the sign for house #12. This was Melissa's house --
-- and the small shuttered window was open. And she was standing in it.
Without a shirt.
She was naked.
She didn't seem perturbed by it. He couldn't fathom why. She stood silently, biting her lip over a nervous smile, her hands and breasts resting comfortably on the wooden windowsill. He stared, trying not to boggle at her breasts, but they weren't small, and her pink nipples had perked up in the cool air, and as he approached, she smiled wider and they jiggled a little. He'd seen her without a shirt before -- but that was on a camera, which didn't do justice to how gorgeous she looked in person. She was wearing a little makeup, too: Had she done herself up to meet him? Her wavy hair, brown with reddish highlights in the sun, looped around behind her head to form a ponytail that danced over her left shoulder and down her chest, stopping just shy of her nipple. Her brown eyes, bright and shining, seemed like the deepest pools he'd ever stared into, and her lips were red and full.
"Hi," she said.
"Hi -- " The word was almost a choke. He couldn't imagine ever seeing her in a camera again after seeing her like this.
"You made it," she said.
"Um -- yeah -- "
She glanced down at herself and grinned. "It may -- take a little getting used to, but people here don't always wear clothing. We're not 'nudists.' We just -- we often don't wear anything. It makes more -- sense. It's -- appropriate. In this, uh, environment. Weather. Climate. I figured throwing you into the deep end was the best way to introduce you to it."
"You could've warned me," he said, his face pink.
She laughed softly. "Well, it's not like you haven't seen my tits before."
He swallowed hard at the word, failing not to stare. "Yeah."
She grinned wider, recognizing his stare. "I'm super-flattered, Henry. Tonight, after we share a lovely dinner on the balcony at sunset, you'll get to do a lot more than just look at them. And you're gorgeous and handsome too -- " She breathed deeply. "Gods alive, you're amazingly hot in person. I'm going to wine you and dine you, and I swear to you that I'm going to make tonight the best night of your life."
She paused.
"But -- but right now, there's something important you need to do. Something you have to do before we can do anything else."
Henry paused. "Uh, what's that?"
"I can't tell you exactly," she said. "You need to trust me and just do what I tell you to. I promise it's not a bad thing, and it won't take long, but it's -- important."
"I trust you." Henry reached into his pocket and pulled out the ring box.
Melissa took a deep breath, her hand over her chest. "Oh --!" She gasped. "That's -- that's -- is that -- that --?"
"I asked to marry you," said Henry. "I still want to."
"So amazing," she breathed. "Henry, I want to say yes so much. I do I do I do I
do!
I would take
forever
in a heartbeat. But -- you have to -- to do the other thing first. I -- it's really important. If you ask me after that, I promise on every religion ever that I'll say yes -- and then -- you can forget waiting until after dinner, I'll put that ring on my finger and make every sex message we ever sent to each other come true."
He turned a little pink. "I, uh -- um. All right, what's the thing?" he said.
She took a deep breath and bit her lip. Slowly, she pointed out the north end of town, up into the hill. "There's -- an old ruined temple up there. To the Greek goddess Hyla."
"Hyla?"
"You need -- to go up and into it. And then -- "
