Charles whipped around the entrance hall to his lake house, second-guessing the layout of the flowers on display on the front table.
“Maybe we should have gone with something more classic, like roses. Every woman likes roses, right? Tulips are a bit...”
“Tulips are the new roses, I promise you that. Besides, they’re fresh and unexpected. I think she’ll be impressed with your choice, especially with the way the pink at the bottom fades into a stunning white,” Mrs. Murphy said, also fussing with the arrangement. “And don’t worry, as soon as they suck up more water, they’ll perk right up!”
Great, the tulips are wilted and my palms are already sweaty.
Why am I so nervous for Demi to get here?
Tabitha’s been round this place more times than I care to remember, but for Demi... everything needs to be perfect.
“Well, dehydrated flowers certainly aren’t going to impress the woman who seems to be able to make cut blooms last three weeks, but hopefully the rest of the place will distract her.” Charles checked his hair for the third time in the mirror by the front door, anxiously awaiting Demi’s imminent arrival.
“Like I said, they’ll perk up in a second. Besides, I’m sure Demi will have some kind of solution we haven’t even thought of.”
“She probably will,” Charles noted. “She’s a whiz with all things plants and baking. I’ll take her on a tour of the garden, of course. Maybe she’ll know what we should do with that odd dry patch by the herbs. Thank you for all your help, Sharon, and I’m sorry if I’ve been a bit more... stressed out than usual. It’s just that I think I really like this one. More than like her. I... Well, I don’t want to get ahead of myself, but I think she’s going to stick around for a while. Maybe forever.”
Charles felt his cheeks start to heat as he talked to his ancient housekeeper, the closest thing to family or a mother that he still had. The way her creased face crinkled up as she smiled and her eyes started to sparkle made Charles’ bashfulness dissipate somewhat. From the looks of it, she was just as excited for Demi to arrive as he was.
“I think you’ve made an excellent selection, Charles. Or, should I say, fate has made a good decision pairing off the two of you. She’s a special girl, and I think you should be prepared to find that she’s even more... extraordinary than you already realize,” Mrs. Murphy added leadingly, giving Charles pause.
“What do you mean by that? I don’t know if I can handle her getting any more amazing than she already is. I’m definitely out of my league with her, that’s for sure.”
“In some regards, you might be right about that, but on the other hand... I think you have a lot to offer that she hasn’t been able to find elsewhere. Oh look! There she is now.” Mrs. Murphy darted forward with more speed than Charles thought she was capable of, and opened the door to reveal Demi standing on the steps of the massive porch overlooking a valley of endless trees.
“Hi! You must be Mrs. Murphy. I’ve... I’ve heard so much about you. I’m Demi.” She wore a comfy-looking but sophisticated romper that floated around her, yet clung to her perfect curves as her hair swayed loosely down her back.
“I’ll bet I’ve heard more about you,” Mrs. Murphy said with a wink, taking Demi’s overnight bag from her. “I’ll take this up to your room, and don’t hesitate to ask if you need anything! Anything at all.”
The elderly housekeeper winked at Charles again as she passed by, but, distracted by Demi’s presence, he almost didn’t notice.
“I’m so glad you made it! Where did you park, by the way? I’ll have someone drive your car to the garage.” He pulled her in for a kiss, enjoying the softness of the silk enwrapping her body and getting lost in the sweetness of her lips.
“That’s okay, I didn’t drive,” she whispered when they finally parted.
“You didn’t drive? How’d you get here, take a cab?”
“Yeah. Well, actually, no. I magically appeared. I’ll explain it all later. Why don’t you take me on a tour of the place! Everything about this place already looks so gorgeous, and I’ve only just seen the outside! Ah, these tulips could do with a little sprucing, couldn’t they? Do you mind if I...” Demi gestured toward the sagging flowers, stems bending under the weight of their heavy blooms.
“Of course, go ahead.”
I knew she’d notice, and I knew she’d know how to fix them.
“There, that’s better, isn’t it?” Demi asked, stepping back to reveal perfectly springy tulips brought back from the brink of death.
“You really do have a green thumb, don’t you?”
“It might be a little more than that. Tour?”
He held out his arm to her and she took it. There wasn’t much in the world that he liked more than the feeling of her perfect little hand wrapped around his arm, and the feeling of her heat beside him. The stares they got together in town were flattering, but at the lake house she was all his, and that was more than gratifying.
“And finally, this is the turret library. I don’t come up here often anymore, but when I was a kid I would do my homework up here. The view’s pretty impressive.” Charles led her to the front of the round room, lined with twelve foot high bookshelves with every volume you could dream of, old and new.
“Oh, Charles, this place is charming! I love it. I can’t imagine how amazing it must have been for you to grow up here.”
The rest of the tour had gone swimmingly, with Demi making all the right ooh’s and aww’s when they were required, and Charles pulling her into dark corners for clandestine kisses when he couldn’t resist her swaying hips any longer. Now that the tour was done, he only had one thing on his mind: getting her out of those clothes and wrapping her thighs around him as soon as possible.
“It was amazing in certain ways. Lonely in others. Speaking of lonely, you might have noticed I’ve been missing you these past few days. What do you say we christen the master bedroom before getting a drink?” he asked, kissing along the curve of her shoulder and neck as she looked out the window. He could feel how fast her heart was beating beneath her skin, which told him she must be feeling what he was, too.
“Actually, do you think we could sit here for a bit? There’s something... something I’ve been putting off telling you that I need to come clean about.”
Immediately, Charles pulled back and looked deep into her endless brown eyes.
“Okay. Is it serious? You’re scaring me a bit.”
What am I walking into here?
I knew she was too good to be true!
Criminal past?
An ex who’s still in the picture?
“Here, sit down.” Demi led him to the ornately engraved, round study desk in the middle of the room with chairs lining it. “I... suppose it’s serious, but it’s not a bad thing, I promise. At least, I don’t think it’s a bad thing.”
She’s going to tell me she’s in love with me.
Damn, I wanted to be the first to say it!
I’ve been feeling it for weeks now.
Should I interrupt and blurt it out right now?
No.
Wait, Charles.
Wait.
That might not be it, and then you’d look like a real idiot.
“All right, I’m listening.” He pulled her hand into his and squeezed it, trying to ignore how loud the beating of his heart was in his ears.
“Okay. I’ve never told this to anyone... anyone human before, so it’s hard to know where to start. I guess, from the beginning might be the best. Um, okay, here we go. You might have been wondering why you’ve never seen where I live, and that’s because I live in... purgatory. It sounds worse than it is. It’s actually a pretty nice place. Ever since Lucifer fell in love, he’s really cleaned the place up.”
“Purgatory, huh. I’ve never heard of it. Is it up north?” Charles asked.
“No, not really. It kind of defies any normal sense of geography. If anything, it’s down south, kind of. There are certain enchanted or cursed gateways that humans can travel through, but that’s not how most of us get there.”
Charles furrowed his brow. “What do you mean by ‘most of us?’ Like, the citizens? ‘Purgatorians?’”
“Gah, this isn’t going how I imagined it. I’m not explaining myself very well. Let me just say it plainly, and then we can go from there. I’m a goddess. The Olympian goddess of the harvest and agriculture, presiding over grains and the fertility of the earth. I used to live with the rest of the Grecian gods, but after a bad break up with someone you’ve probably heard of, I knew I had to set out on my own. My brother, Hades, offered me a place in the underworld, both me and my sister, actually. And since we both really needed a change… So, we landed in purgatory.”
Okay, so this is the catch.
She’s... quirkier than I thought.
That’s okay.
I can work with quirky.
In fact, it’s pretty cute.
Might be embarrassing if it comes up with other people, but we can handle that.
At least she’s not like all those people who pretend to be vampires and pay people to give them their blood and stuff like that.
“A goddess, huh? That’s pretty cool. How long have you... how long have you felt like you had this goddess inside you?” he asked, trying his best to be respectful. This was obviously something that was really important to her.
“I mean, it’s not something I feel. I just am a goddess. Have been since I was born. I could’ve given up my powers when I left Mount Olympus, but I decided to hang onto them.”
She thinks she has powers?
Breathe, Charles.
Don’t be judgmental.
“What are your powers?”
“Well, like I said, I’m the goddess of the harvest and agriculture. I’m sure you noticed the way I was able to revive those tulips downstairs, and how quickly I was able to set up the food displays at that event. Did you really think that just any human could do that?”
“You definitely have a crazy green thumb, and your baking is out of this world,” he conceded, not being able to bring himself to fully lie and say he believed that she had supernatural powers.
“Exactly. Out of this world. You know that patch in your herb garden where nothing can grow?”
“Yeah, I know the one.”
“Go look at it now. I restored life to the area while we were passing through.” Demi leaned back in her chair and waved toward the window. A skeptical Charles stood, smoothing out his pants, and made his way to where she pointed. Looking down over the front gardens, he could see that she was right. There was no brown area anymore, having been replaced by a thriving pumpkin patch.
Wow, she’s really committed to this bit.
I’ll admit I don’t know how she did it, but I definitely know it had nothing to do with powers.
Sleight of hand and early communication with the gardener, more like.
I wonder if Mrs. Murphy had something to do with this...
“That’s very impressive, Demi. I’ve been trying to get something, anything, to grow there for years.” He arched an eyebrow and flashed her a smirk.
“I can tell you’re being condescending, Charles. I need you to believe me, because I... I haven’t felt this way about someone in a very long time. I want you to know me, to know everything that I am, and that includes where I come from and where I live.” Demi sucked in a breath.
“I want you to meet my family without running for the hills. Every part of my soul misses you when you’re not around, because I... I love you, Charles. I can’t help it, I love you. I thought maybe this was just a fling, and that’s why I could get away with keeping my true identity from you, but that’s impossible now. I’m head over heels in love with you.”
When Charles turned around again, his heart almost stopped. Demi had never looked more beautiful to him. Her eyes were wet with emotion, her skin almost glowing with a golden aura he had to blame on the sun. She bit her lip and looked down, sending Cupid’s arrow straight through his heart.
Charles forced himself to push his skepticism aside for the moment. He knew he was already in love with her, but somehow in that moment it felt like he was falling all over again.
Slowly, he took a step toward her and smoothed her hair behind her ear and lifted her chin up, cradling her cheek in his palm so she was looking at him.
“Demi,” he started, swallowing as his voice splintered with emotion. “I love you, too. I can confidently say I’ve never felt this for anyone before, and, honestly, you’re cracking open my world. My heart loves you. I feel it in my gut. I think about you every second that I’m awake, and I dream about you when I’m sleeping. More than that, I can feel how much I love you in my fingertips. I don’t care who or what you are. I want to be with you, Demi. I want you.”
Something approaching relief came over her eyes and she reached up, running her fingers through his hair, suddenly grasping the back of his neck and pulling him into an impassioned kiss. He kissed her back, hard, also feeling some relief at having unburdened his own secret. Finally, he’d found his partner, the one person who he wanted to be by his side, always.
Between her sweet, supple lips, her tongue made its way into his mouth along with a moan, sending shockwaves through Charles’ body. Suddenly, his mind wasn’t in control anymore as his body took over.
He slipped the straps of her romper off her shoulders, and pressed his mouth along her naked skin, soft as a peach. With a passionate grunt, he lifted her onto the table, pulling her powerful thighs around him as his quickly hardening manhood pressed against her center.
“I want you.”
Charles heard her words echo through his head even though he could’ve sworn her lips hadn’t moved.
“Be patient, my goddess,” he replied with a smirk, even though he was aching with a needy desire himself.
Slowly, he freed her ample breasts, running his fingers along her perfectly pert, dusky nipples that were just begging to be sucked.
Charles urged her down on the table, and leaned over her exquisite body, back arched, rising and falling with quick, desperate breaths. With one swift motion, he got rid of the rest of her clothes, leaving her deliciously on display, still with an inexplicable golden glow emanating from her.
Just as he lowered himself to finally enjoy the taste of her honey-flavored skin, she grabbed the collar of the shirt he was still wearing and pulled his face close to hers.
“Goddesses don’t have time for patience,” she whispered in his ear, her voice again echoing with a timbre he’d never heard come out of her before. His cock throbbed with the vibrations, and he blinked.
When Charles opened his eyes again, he was the one on his back with the table underneath him and not a thread of clothing on him. Above, Demi was straddling him, yet somehow just out of his reach, almost floating.
“Why should I grace you, a mere mortal, with the enjoyment of my form? Why should I give my body over to you?” she asked in a threatening tone, all whilst she held his rock hard member in her hand, leaving him incapable of thinking clearly. All Charles could focus on was his uncontrollable need to be inside her, to feel all of her around him and join their two bodies.
“I don’t claim to be worthy, but I swear to you now, I will worship at your altar for the rest of my mortal life. There’s nothing I won’t do to earn your love.”
He had no idea where his words had come from, or how he’d come up with them, but it didn’t matter. Demi nodded, satisfied with his vow, and ran a finger along his lips before lowering herself down on to him slowly, letting him feel every inch of himself slide into her depths.
Time ceased to have any meaning.
Charles had no idea how much of the day they’d lost to each other’s curves and desires. Demi rode him until she shook with pleasure, tossing her head back in ecstasy and shuddering with release. Books fell from the shelves as he drove into her against the spines, taking himself to the brink of orgasm before Demi would stop him, elongating his climax and driving him even more wild with need.
“Come for me,” she finally moaned, pulling him on top of her gently as they gave into gravity and found themselves on the floor. Finally having been given the permission he so desperately wanted, he kissed her tenderly before sliding into her soaked, silky folds. Somehow, Demi’s inner strength did the work for him, urging his seed out of him and igniting an explosion that rocked through both their beings.
With a sigh, he collapsed on top of her, enjoying the mingled scent of their sweat. Slowly, he came back down to reality and laughed a little, at a loss for words to describe what had just happened to him.
Is that what they call an out of body experience?
Was that tantric sex?
Has that kind of lovemaking existed this whole time and I was busy being obsessed with reverse cowgirl?
I thought I knew what love was, but this...
Now, I feel it.