“Dad!” Jared said forcefully.
Tom’s head jerked up; he was lost in his own world. “Hmm?”
His eyebrows shot up expectantly. “The other horses?”
“Oh they’re fine, Shiye,” he smiled. “The others in the herd weren’t affected.”
Jared embraced Sara. “Thank goodness. I didn’t know if I could put ’em down.”
“Me either,” Tom exhaled.
Sara stood. “Well, I’m gonna wash off some of this dust.”
Jared took her hand. “I’ll join you,” he smiled, a familiar twinkle in his eyes.
“Would you like me to call you when dinner’s ready?” Nadine grinned.
He kissed the top of her head. “Thanks, Mother.”
~ ~ ~
Jared led Sara to their bedroom, locked the door and draped their bathrobes over his arm. With eyes full of fire, he led her to the bathroom. She reached to turn on the shower. He approached her from behind, wrapped an arm around her waist and placed a hand on hers. From the look in his glowing amber eyes, Sara knew this wouldn’t be a five-minute shower.
He stood her by the garden tub. “Let’s do this a little different this time,” he breathed and kissed the side of her neck. He adjusted the temperature, poured a capful of shimmering greenish liquid under the running water and swirled it a few times. Sara expected mountains of bubbles, but none formed on the surface.
An exotic floral fragrance filled the room, spicy and pleasant to the senses. It made her feel comfortable and drowsy as if she were drifting. Any other time, she would’ve asked questions, but she was too enthralled to speak. Silently she watched him with curious eyes. He opened a little door beside him. Romantic Native American flutes softly played. He adjusted the volume until it was barely audible. He smiled and caressed her face, his touch almost ethereal.
From a medicine cabinet over the vanity, Jared brought out some scented tea light candles and dropped them in what appeared to be ordinary glass holders. He spaced them along the rim of the bathtub, seven different holders, seven different candles, seven different positions. Whispering words in Navajo, he lit them, one by one. Scents of roses, wildflowers, cinnamon, cranberry, and fresh rainfall blended with the fragrance already in the air.
Sara was amazed, how he’d used the different scents; each one affected her in a different way. Strange and exciting, yet natural and delicate as the atmosphere he’d created around them. The fragrances and effects blended in perfect harmony.
After he’d lit the candles, he closed his eyes and breathed deeply as if pulling invisible life force into his lungs. He dimmed the lights until there was barely enough to see by. The candle holders projected hundreds of rainbows over their bodies, like quartz crystals kissed by the morning sun. The room transformed into a masterpiece of light and color.
Jared opened his eyes of darkest crimson, so deeply shaded they were almost black. Sara’s eyes glossed as he lovingly gazed at her. Rainbow spectrums danced in his eyes like sunlight on the water. He turned off the faucet and swirled his hand through the water again, checking its temperature; hot and steaming, but not unpleasant.
He studied her eyes as he eased the clip from her hair. Like silk, it cascaded down and over her shoulders. He picked up a handful and brought it to his nose. He inhaled deeply as if consuming her essence. His eyes burned, mimicking the raging fire inside him; a fire which water couldn’t quench.
He slid his hands up her arms to her shoulders and lingered on her neck. He kissed it and teased it with his teeth. He craved her response as though his life’s goal were to bring her incomprehensible pleasure. He kissed her, softly and gently, working his way across her face until his lips claimed hers.
~ ~ ~
What is he doing to me?
Sara felt as if she were floating outside her body. Her reason dissolved and fell like glittering grains of stardust. Her spirit bonded with the elements, so utterly a part of Jared, but connected to everything in existence. She wondered if making love was like this for everyone or was it another of his inimitable talents, only she would enjoy. Was her body the only canvas he’d used to paint his masterpieces or had he done it before with someone else? Would he ever do it again or would he lock these special moments away in the secret chambers of his heart? If he had loved someone this way, she couldn’t imagine them ever giving this sensation up. His love was unique, almost magical.
She stared into his eyes; her mind couldn’t comprehend.
Are you real? Is this real?
Could it be another elaborately-woven dream she’d forgotten? Like the beautifully handwoven blankets, his grandmother had made? Did Jared have this memory locked in his secret vault, tucked among the other things he’d kept hidden from her?
What had she done to deserve his transcending love? Would she ever feel worthy of him? Would she ever grasp that he’d chosen her to give this matchless love to? Had they meet by mere chance or was it something stronger which had drawn them together that day, fate, destiny?
Sara contemplated the question she’d asked Jared, when he’d surrendered and proclaimed his love to her, high on Mother’s Mountain. Had they made love in his dreams? He never answered. She couldn’t help but wonder. Had they?
Was it the foreknowledge he drew upon, to play her body like a symphony and achieve his desired response? Did she know this, deep in her subconscious? Was it the reason she’d trusted him from the moment their eyes had met? Was this what it felt like to find your perfect match? Your soul mate?
She had never been this close to anyone, not even Jeff, her former boyfriend. She’d cared for him, but their relationship had never reached this level of intimacy. Jared had woven himself into her soul. Heaven help her if anything happened to him – it couldn’t! She would die! For the short time they’d known each other, she shouldn’t be able to say this, but she knew it, as well as she knew her name. If she lost him, she would cease to exist. She wouldn’t want to exist.
~ ~ ~
Sara was yanked from her silent reverie when Jared slowly pushed his hands up the back of her neck and threaded his fingers through her hair. He pulled them through its length several times, sending fiery currents charging throughout her body. She responded to his soft sensual touch so easily. He knew her. He read her like a book, memorized where and how to touch her to leave her breathless. Her heart pounded so fast and so hard, it was almost a single sound, blending in with their surroundings.
He locked eyes with her as she removed the tie from his hair and unbraided it. She marveled at the way it poured over his bronze shoulders like an obsidian waterfall. She was new to this depth of feeling. She knew nothing of love but what he’d taught her. She feathered her fingers over his body, beginning at his groin. She slowly slid her hands under his shirt, and across his chest; teasing and raking her nails up and down the skin of his back.
Jared groaned inwardly.
Sara wondered if she was doing her part right. She must be. His breathing was fast and shallow. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes, savoring the moment, tasting it like sweet nectar on the tip of his tongue.
She slowly lifted the bottom of his T-shirt, eased it over his head and tossed it on the floor. She pressed into him with the full length of her body and wrapped a leg around the back of his, melding their bodies with nothing but a whisper between them. She kissed him on the sides of his neck and teased his earlobes with her teeth.
His eyes were a lake of smoldering lava as he watched her. His body throbbed and trembled, hungry for hers. With all his strength, his arms were warm and gentle as a dove. Unable to control his need any longer, he groaned and tilted her face up, teasingly moving his lips close to hers, and breathing on them. Sara felt faint. When she thought she would fade away, Jared leisurely kissed her as he continued to fuel the fire soaring inside her, threatening to consume her.
Something new was happening, something wild and strange and marvelous. She didn’t know how much more her body could take. When he’d made love to her before, she thought she’d felt all there was to feel. There was nothing he could do to her that he hadn’t already done. She was wrong. Whatever he was doing now, was indescribable.
He brought his lips back to hers, possessive and demanding, kissing her so hard it felt as if he were drawing the life and essence from her. He sleeved her T-shirt over her head, loosened her bra and let it fall to the floor. He gazed at her near naked body painted with hundreds of tiny spectrums. He drank her with his eyes, trailing his burning gaze back up her body until their eyes met. He smiled when she placed his hands on her belt buckle.
Jared was stalwart as stone. His hands as sure of their path as the blood which flowed through his veins, he unfastened her jeans and slid them down, along with her satin panties, to her ankles in one slow sensual movement. She rested her hands on his shoulders and stepped out. He swiped her crumpled clothes aside with his foot.
With trembling fingers, she unfastened the button on his jeans. She kissed him, slowly slid the zipper down and pushed his jeans and underwear over his hips. Unhesitatingly, he stepped out of his clothes and stood totally naked in front of her in all his magnificent, unabashed glory. Sara couldn’t help but marvel at his body as she swept her eyes over it. With every breath she took, with every beat of her heart, she loved him. Every fiber of her being was hopelessly consumed by him.
He smiled and patiently waited for her eyes to drink their fill. Standing there, looking into liquid fire, Sara knew how it felt to be loved. She was a woman in love, totally devoted, to the point of obsession. He lifted her to such heights, she could reach out and touch the stars.
Jared pulled her closer and rubbed his hands over her body, using his fingertips as brushes as though he were painting an eternal masterpiece. That’s how he made her feel. As if her body were the blank canvas he’d colored with shades of his love, bringing her to life.
He took her hand and steadied her while she stepped into the steaming floral lake. She slid down to one end and made room for him. She looked up at him as he settled in behind her. He pulled her into his hot embrace and kissed the sides of her neck, across her shoulders and her back.
Sara turned in his arms and crushed her lips to his, eager and hungry, devouring him as she acted on pure instinct.
Jared opened his mouth and drank her in like fresh morning dew, pulling her hard against his chest, softly breathing in her ear, “Ayóó'ánííníshní yishdlį´į´h, Sara.” He repeated the words, so she was certain to understand. “I love you always, Sara, always, forever.”
The Navajo words had moved her, but when he’d repeated them in English her heart burned. Her eyes filled with tears. He cradled her face in his palms and kissed them away. He traced kisses over her face again, to her ear, down the sides of her neck and lower to her breasts. He gently flicked the tip of his tongue over her erect nipples, kissing and teasing them until she thought she would explode.
He guided her into position and slowly joined his body to hers. He moved deep inside her, touching parts he’d never touched before. He held his passion at bay until she was panting and groaning, pulling him tightly against her, moving her body in perfect rhythm with his, begging for the sweet release. Each moan or sigh she made, he intensified her pleasure. With each fevered thrust, he pushed them closer to the edge. He laced their fingers and pressed the stone in her ring.
~ ~ ~
Sara had never felt such ecstasy, and such pleasure. She arched her back, her body convulsed as her insides imploded with such force, if not for the fact that her heart was still beating, she truly would have believed she’d died. Not looking at the face of God but beyond it, to the infinite ages - past, present and future, all at once.
Jared pulled her against his body. Tears rained down her cheeks like minuscule mountain streams. He led her through the blazing pits of hell, and gently bathed her with drifting snow as she hovered in the clouds. A pale blue glow surrounded them. The same glow she’d seen in her dream. She fought, desperately, to catch her breath. Wave after wave of endless sensation crashed over her.
His breath caught, his body trembled against hers as he reached his peak, filling her with warmth and life. “Now we’ve got it right. This is forever,” he whispered.
Sara couldn’t speak. There were no suitable words to describe how she felt. She was beyond words. All she could do was stare back at him, hopelessly lost in his eyes. What was left of her spent body continued to drift, floating, gently soaring on the edge of reality. It couldn’t be possible for her to be more in love with him than she was at that extremely special moment in their lives. She never wanted it to end. He kept her there for a long time, their bodies still joined as their spirits whispered words of everlasting love to one another.
Isn’t it always at the greatest moments of pleasure, one is faced with the unhappiest of thoughts? She remembered she’d forgotten to do something, which could have lasting consequences, for both of them. She felt as though she’d betrayed him, but the time for regret had passed. She pushed the thought from her mind. She didn’t want anything to spoil this perfect moment.
When they finally glided back to earth, they bathed each other.
She was convinced it wasn’t possible for another man to love another woman as he’d loved her; as he’d promised to love her ’til the day she died, and beyond. She wondered if it were God’s gift to Jared to be able to give of himself so perfectly, mind, body, and soul as he’d given himself to her. Sara silently prayed she hadn’t betrayed his trust.
~ ~ ~
His phone rang. He groaned, reluctantly leaned over and retrieved it from his jeans pocket. He took a long steadying breath and pressed speaker. “Hello, Mother.”
“Sorry to disturb you, but dinner is almost ready.”
“We’ll be right down.” He took a slow breath and smiled at her. “Well, I suppose we’ll have to get out now, but not before I have one last kiss.” He crushed his lips to hers again, tempting another volcanic eruption. “I don’t know about you, but I’ve worked up one hell of an appetite. I could eat a bear. I hope Mother’s serving one.” He grinned. Sara made a face. He laughed. “I was kidding, sweetheart. You didn’t honestly think I could eat the whole bear - did you?”
Sara gave Jared a strange look, unwilling to accept the possibility of eating bear meat.
He laughed again and kissed her forehead. “I love you. You’re so innocent and naive.” He held out a hand.
Sara narrowed her eyes as he helped her out of the tub. They quickly dressed and hurried downstairs.
~ ~ ~
She fought to keep a straight face, sure their lovemaking had been more audible than they’d expected. With what they’d done, it must have been!
Jared held a chair for her and sat beside her, showing no sign of embarrassment. She envied him and fought to keep the color from her cheeks. For some reason, she sensed they knew everything.
Tom looked at them, grinned and passed Jared, the fried chicken. He nervously cleared his throat and prepared his plate, pretending not to notice his father’s knowing glance.
~ ~ ~
As soon as they were finished eating, Sara helped Nadine clear away the dishes. While she put them in the dishwasher, she discreetly popped her little white pill into her mouth. She crossed her fingers and hoped she hadn’t messed up.