Shoe Strings

you’ll have to trust mine.   Angelita…”   He brushed his lips to hers, once,
twice.   Her eyes flickered and then
fell closed with a sigh.   She gave
in to him and to herself as quickly and completely as she had the other night
on the path.   Only this time, Cal
and Ty weren’t around to bring them back to earth.   Alone in the cabin in the woods, they
floated toward a place Jesse knew they’d head the moment he’d laid eyes on
her.   “Let me love you, Angelita.   Let me have you.”
    She lifted her hands to his shoulders and dug in with her
nails.   He hadn’t moved toward
her.   She closed the distance
between them and kept it closed with every breath she took.   Deliberately, he ran his hands along her
back, up and down, to tease and to guide her toward him.   She knew he wanted her, all of her, but
he wouldn’t take her if she didn’t give herself freely.   He’d never forced a woman and wouldn’t
do so now, even when being with her, sharing all of himself with her, felt like
the most important thing in the world.
    ***
    Too much, Lita thought.   There was too much pleasure, too much pressure within her body straining
for release.   She wanted him like
she’d never wanted another.   Her
body and the sensations he’d aroused had taken over her brain to where she
couldn’t decide, couldn’t think, but could only react.   Her desperate need to stay in control,
she thought dimly, was why she rarely shared her body with another.   And even when she had, she’d always kept
herself in check and had led her lover where she wanted him to go.  
    There was no leading Jesse.  
    He became her breath, her voice, her hunger.   She’d known they’d end up here and had
fought it so hard that, when she gave in to the need, it swamped her and nearly
swallowed her whole.   It was like
riding the river after the sky had opened, one dangerous curve after another,
one crest after another until there was nothing left to give.   She could only take, take what he
offered and demand more.   With a
sigh, she settled onto his lap and rode the tide.
    “Angelita,” Jesse said her name as she pulled the shirt from
his back.   “I’ll be careful with
you.”
    “Don’t.”   His
chest felt like gold beneath her fingers, glistening and dangerous.   She nipped his shoulder with her teeth
and wondered how she ever thought to deny them both this pleasure.   “I want everything you can give me.”
    His eyes, the hazel that seesawed between blue and green,
were dark in the firelight, but she could see the intensity in them as he
looked at her.   She saw the moment
her words registered, the moment his control shattered.   She should have been scared, would have
been if he hadn’t pulled her shirt off and lunged for her breasts and all
thoughts drained from her brain in an instant.   It should have hurt, the scrape of his
beard, the tug of his teeth, but it only served to urge her on.
    She arched and twisted toward him.   He’d stripped her shorts off in one
fluid motion while she strained to rid him of his clothes.   The tremble in her hands made it nearly
impossible.   The more frantic she
became, the more she pulsed for his touch, the slower he moved, as if to
demonstrate his control.   He seemed
to savor her with a patience she no longer possessed.  
    She’d known; deep down, she’d known he would take her places
she’d never dare go on her own.   And
the fear of it, the panic she’d anticipated, melded with a need so strong it
created something dark and thrilling and dangerous.   His mouth cruised along her body,
tasting, testing, while his hands held her wrists above her head as if he knew
she’d never lie still for his sweet torture otherwise.   How did he seem to know her so
intimately, so soon?   And why did
his knowing make her desire all the more thrilling?
    “Angelita.”   She
felt her name in the ragged breath as he nipped her ear.   “Look at me.”
    She opened her eyes.   His lips brushed hers, his breath touched her face, and the look on his
face went straight to her soul.   “I
want you to look at me when I take you.”
    And take her he did.   She struggled to keep her eyes on his, when her body bucked and shook
with pleasure.   This was more than
wanting, more than need, more than desire.   This was everything, if only she could let herself believe.   Confused, delighted, soaring, she let
herself go.
    ***
    Jesse lay in a forest surrounded by trees,