Deep Waters

Her legs scissored around him.
    He felt her fingers tremble. She was in no condition to handle the small chore. "Give it to me."
    She quickly surrendered the small packet. He tore it open with his teeth and eased the condom into place with one hand. He watched her eyes widen as he lowered her slowly onto his erection.
    Her nails sank into his shoulders. Her head fell back. Her whispered gasp was incredibly erotic. It took every ounce of control Elias possessed to hold himself back from the brink. The pull of her snug body was irresistible.
    He went to his knees with Charity wrapped around his waist. He eased her back onto the wooden floor and buried himself completely inside her. She closed around him with such seductive strength that he thought he would explode.
    "Yes. Yes, Elias. Just like that. I want you so much."
    A wild desperation seized him without warning. It severed the last remaining bonds of his control. He sank himself into her again and again until he felt her clench even more fiercely around him.
    Her climax ripped through her, compelling his own. He covered her mouth in order to savor her soft shriek.
    The release that tore through him was both surrender and victory. It was impossible to tell where one left off and the other took hold. The only thing he cared about in that moment was that he was as close to Charity as it was possible to get.
    A long while later she stirred beneath him. "Okay, so it's not sweet."
    Elias lifted his head. He cradled her face between his palms. "No."
    Her smile was infinitely mysterious. "What is it, then?"
    The question stunned him. He did not know the answer. He took refuge in the sanctuary that had never failed him, the place where he knew he was strong, where all the questions had answers, Tal Kek Chara.
    "The transparency of water is most often described by saying what it is not, rather than what it is."
    She put her fingers over his mouth. "Forget I asked."
    She was still smiling, but there was a wistfulness in her eyes that worried him. Elias got to his feet, helped Charity up, and walked with his arm around her toward the darkened bedroom. He paused beside Otis's cage to cover the bird for the night. Otis was already inside. He kept his back to Charity and Elias and muttered darkly.
    "I think we embarrassed him," Charity murmured.
    "He's actually a very straitlaced sort of bird," Elias said as he adjusted the cage cover. "Hayden's influence, I think."
    The panic swirled out of a dream, a dream in which she could not breathe. The old claustrophobia seized her in a nightmarish grip.
    Charity came awake with unnatural suddenness, every sense shrieking. She opened her mouth to scream, but the cry was blocked in her throat.
    Elias's palm clamped over her mouth was her first clue that this was not just another routine panic attack. Something really was terribly wrong.
    She opened her eyes and stared up at him. Fear lanced through her. He was pressed against her, holding her very still on the futon. In the darkness, she could just barely make out the shadowed profile of his face. He was looking toward the bedroom door.
    Charity heard the sliding squeak. Wood on wood. An aging double-hung window made that kind of noise when it was slowly pried opened. Otis gave a soft, inquiring whistle from inside his covered cage. The sliding squeak halted for a few seconds.
    Then it came again.
    Elias lowered his head and put his mouth to Charity's ear. "Stay here."
    She nodded quickly to let him know she understood. For some odd reason, the fact that there was a genuine focus for her fear had a steadying effect on her senses. Her body could deal with the real thing. She was painfully alert, her fingers shook, but she was not on the verge of hysteria.
    Elias removed his palm from her lips and rose from the futon without a sound. As he passed in front of the window she saw something in his hand, something he had picked up as he got to his feet. It looked tike the strip of leather that he habitually wore around his waist.
    There was a very soft thud in the other room. Someone was sneaking into the house through the front window.
    Charity stared at the shadow that was Elias. He was flattened against the wall just to the side of the partially open door. She could barely make out the curve of his naked shoulder and thigh.
    She was cold. Tension gripped her from head to foot. Her palms tingled. Her stomach felt weird. But she was not going out of her mind.
    The narrow beam of a small