Alex released her hand and unfastened the bundle of clothing, then spread the garments to make a nest for them. The circle of lamplight shimmered with the two of them at their center. There was no need for words. Caroline felt it, an inexorable pulse, as if all of time had been distilled down to this one moment, this one breath. She set the lantern down.
Here, in the silence beneath the earth, there was no need for modesty, for shame. Propriety belonged to the surface and the world of the living. Some corner of her mind insisted she ought to blush and cover herself, to pretend a normalcy that was meaningless. The meaning was deeper here—the mysteries of a man and woman. Their separate perfection. Their joining. She still knew very little of it, but the promise of more saturated her senses.
“Come.” His voice was low, the single word thrumming through her. He opened his arms and she went, stepped unafraid into the circle of his embrace.
A circle of flame as their bodies met, skin to skin. Thighs, hips, his hardness pressing against her, her breasts against his chest. Their lips meeting, softness to softness and yet it was there the fire burned hottest. Sparks ran through her as his arms tightened, pulling her even closer. She slid her hands around his sides, spreading her fingers across his back.
Taut muscles under the skin. She ran her palms over his body, savoring the feel of him, the magnificence she held in her arms. The taste of him, his breath mingling with hers. He shifted, opened his mouth. The stroke of his tongue over hers, the desire uncoiling within her in response. This was wanting, this heavy heat that lay along her body, that made her want to press even closer, that opened her mouth eagerly beneath his. If not for him holding her she would have fallen, her senses so dizzy, consumed by their kiss.
“Wait,” he whispered against her lips.
She opened her eyes, blinked up at him. “Why?”
With a smile that held fierce and tender promises, he took a step back. Her body clamored in protest as the air settled on her skin, replacing his touch.
“I will find a way out for us—I swear it. But we need to save what light we have left. Sit.” He nodded to their clothing spread over the cave floor.
As soon as she had settled he bent over the lantern and blew it out. The darkness was immediate and complete. Caroline closed her eyes, then opened them again. There was no difference.
The rustle of cloth as he settled beside her. Moving as confidently as though he could see, he gathered her against him, lips unerring as he brushed them over hers. She sighed, the sound magnified in the darkness, and welcomed his tongue with her own.
Robbed of sight, she was vividly aware of touch. Her skin tingled under the caress of his palms as he ran them over her shoulders, down her back, tracing the dip and curve where her hips flared. Her own hands found their way to the silkiness of his hair, and she wove her fingers through the strands. Mouth raised to his kiss, arms lifted, she was yearning upward, buoyed by the rising sensations within her.
Without warning he grasped her hips and lifted her onto him. She gasped against his mouth. Now she was facing him, straddling his legs, and he pulled her even closer until their hips touched. His hard maleness jutted up, pressed directly against the softness, the heat between her legs. A throbbing began there, low and insistent.
A throbbing that intensified as his hands slid around to cup her breasts, thumbs brushing over the taut peaks. So light, that touch, yet the shock coursed through her. Sweet torment as he circled his fingertips around her nipples, the playful touches drawing soft, breathy sounds from her throat. At last he brought thumb and fingers together, squeezing gently. White fire shot from his touch, and she pressed her hips hard against his as lightning flew through her.
“Yes,” he said, his breath warm against her cheek.
Yes. The syllable reverberated inside her, the utter rightness of their bodies, skin to skin, his touch waking sensations she had only half dreamed of.
He bent his head to trail kisses along her neck. She imagined each one shining with heat, shimmering in the darkness like a trail of stars laid across her skin. Along her collarbone, her shoulders. Down the curve of her breast until—
“Oh!” The sharp sound of pleasure escaped her as he set his mouth over her nipple. Already sensitized by his touches, the feel of his lips moving on her and the hot lap of his tongue were nearly unbearable. She could not keep still but arched against him, sending her heated breath up into the darkness, the air escaping her lungs as he caressed her.
The world narrowed to only this. The two of them, male and female, in the darkness. Yearning with desire, the scintillation of touch and breath, mouth and skin, the fire leaping between them. His hands slid to her back, bracing her as he savored her breasts, and she felt his breathing quicken in turn.
He lay back, taking her with him until she lay covering him, legs still wide over his. His mouth returned to hers, urgent kisses in the darkness. Her mouth, the secret place between her legs, all the places where they touched—she was burning.
Deep within her something recognized this, the twining of two lovers in the darkness. It was ancient, it was entirely new. It consumed her—her body the fuel, the heart of the flame, each caress flaring along her skin.
He turned, pulling her beneath him as their positions reversed. Now he was above her in the sightless air, his hands memorizing her skin, stroking her shoulders, her breasts, her belly. Lower, his palms over her thighs, then moving firmly, inexorably to the center of her. Her heartbeat drowned out the sound of her breathing as she waited, waited to feel him touch her. There, where it seemed a secret star had come to blaze, hidden in her body, burning with a fierce, invisible light.
Then he did, parted her legs, his hands sweeping up and against her, his caress unerring. Right to the center of her. His fingers slid up and down, coaxing long, yearning breaths from her. She had not known how lovely it would feel.
But it was only a prelude. He slipped one finger inside her, still stroking, and a jolt of pure fire flared through her. It was too intimate, too searing a touch, but the darkness forgave everything. A second finger joined the first, and a moan caught in her throat.
This must be how a perfect instrument felt in the hands of a master. Before that touch, dormant, but when played, when put to the use it was made for…ah. She rose to the pleasure, she vibrated with the intensity of his knowing strokes. She sang, her body resonating with inaudible music.
He bent over her, his breath mingling with hers. “My beauty,” he said, his voice brushing through her.
“Yes,” she whispered. Yes and yes.
He pulled back, his glorious touch leaving her, but before she could protest, he was over her again. Now instead of his hands she felt the hard heat of his maleness there, between her legs. In another circumstance she might have been afraid, but there was no room for it here in this hidden cave beneath the earth, with the knowledge of their own mortality so close. This was right, this was inevitable.
It seemed her body knew how to welcome him, for without thinking she spread her legs wider, tilted her hips up to meet him. He pressed against her slick entrance and she felt herself take him in. Slowly, slowly her body stretching until she felt surely she could take no more of him. He was too large, too suddenly overwhelming.
“Shh.” His voice stirred her hair.
One hand slid down and began playing against her, light, teasing touches, assuaging, coaxing her pleasure to rise again. Her body, so obedient to his touch. Heat uncoiling again. She let it sweep over her and felt him shift, slide farther in, then stop, letting her become accustomed to him.
He was in her, and over her, laying kisses across her forehead. She could feel the taut stillness, the effort in his shoulders and back, the tight muscles of his buttocks as he held himself quiescent. It was a quiet that held all the promise of a primal storm, the very nature of his stillness a promise of something she could not even name. She only knew it would shake her to the core.
Then he gradually began to move, stroking back and forth as his fingers had stroked, but this was so much more. This was the heart of it, the joining of male and female. His movements beginning to coax the fire forward again, the sensation so different from anything she had ever experienced, but somehow familiar, known in some deep, mystic part of her.
Alex held himself over her, held himself to a slowness that would have been excruciating, but for the dark. But for the mystery of her body, slowly giving its secrets up to him. He felt reverent as he moved in her, easing her tightness, feeling her soften under him. Not all the way in, not yet. He was waiting for her breathy sighs, waiting for the pleasure to outweigh the pain of it before he made that final, deep thrust.
God, but she was beautiful, far beyond any evidence of sight; he did not need his eyes to know it was true. Beautiful, and strong, and brave. The sight of her stripping off her clothes had stolen his breath, the way she had gone fearlessly into the dark water.
And now here, with him. He could no more have kept himself from her than he could have stopped breathing. It was that essential. Though he might have denied it in the bright day, in the air and lavish sunlight, everything had changed now. There was no more denying it. His soul had cracked open and all he could do was take her in his arms and love her.
A fierce joy crossed his face, unseen. She had relaxed beneath him, her hands caressing his shoulders, her hips tilting up to meet the slow slide of his cock. It was time. He drew back farther, lengthening each stroke, felt her fingers tighten as he surged forward. She let out a cry that echoed for a moment over the still water.
Seated deep within her, he stopped and gathered her close. He murmured into her hair, while his body shuddered from the force of his wanting.
“Is it well?” he whispered.
“I…yes.” Her voice was unsure, and so he kept holding her, his hand moving over her arm, tracing delicate patterns on her skin.
He breathed in the scent of her, so familiar but spiced now with something more intimate, the musk of their bodies together, the heady mix of arousal and need.
At last she let out a slow breath, and he felt her lips along his collarbone, sweet, seeking kisses. He dipped his head and took her mouth with his, letting his tongue move against her the way his cock yearned to do. Soon. Soon now.
A little moan escaped her throat, and he began. She was tight and slick around him as he slid out, in, each stroke sending an exquisite shiver through his nerves. He did not know how long it had been—years, centuries, eternities—but it did not matter now. Time had no meaning here. Only movement, and taste, and touch. Only the pleasure of her body, so soft against his.
She lifted her legs, wrapped them about his hips. His pulse thudded, he tasted her name on his lips. Caroline. Oh God, Caroline.
“Alex,” she whispered, as if she had heard him, her voice throaty and low.
The pleasure was rising so quickly he could barely contain it. The piercing sweetness of her, the sound of her breathing quickening in time to his strokes as she held tight to him. Faster, deeper. He groaned, wanting to take her with him, not sure he could hold on long enough.
“Ah,” she gasped, something revelatory in her tone. Again. She was moving under him with such urgency that he could not slow, could not deny either of them that headlong rush to completion.
It started low, a smoldering that burst almost immediately into wildfire, sweeping through him, burning over his skin, consuming him in glory, glory, glory.
A shout, their voices combined, reverberating through the cavern, rebounding from stone and water as their bodies twined and strove and, at last, melded into that single, perfect moment. The point where mortal met the divine.
The dark enfolded them, brought them home, at last, to their bodies. Breath, blood, bone. Cool air against the skin, a reminder of their own separateness. Alex levered himself up, fingers finding her face and tracing, as if by feel alone he could discern her thoughts.
Her lips curved, her cheek rounded under his questioning touch, and it was enough. No tears dampened her skin, no frown or sorrow manifest. All was well.
More than well. Something deep within him had eased. He slowly withdrew, rolled off her, and pulled their clothing close, making a burrow for the two of them. With a sigh she moved into his embrace and laid her head on his chest.
No words. Only touch. He held her close and heard her breathing deepen into the edges of sleep. But he could not sleep, not yet. He stared up, imagining the curving stone above them, the earth surrounding them. It was utterly quiet, but for the two of them. He could feel their heartbeats, resonating together in the dark.