Down by the River Ch. 03

My dreams were always filled with images of the forest, of the river, of the sky. Sometimes, I was running through the forest floor, running as fast as I have never run before, laughing as I felt a kind of delight that only being inside the forest could give me. At other times, I was swimming on the river, loving the way the water caressed my body, smiling as strong arms wrapped themselves around me. And, sometimes, I was just lying on the grass, looking up at the sky, watching as clouds passed.

Those dreams never failed to give my heart a sense of peace, a sense of comfort. All I wanted was to remain in that dreamland, so that I could explore more of that world, so that I could enjoy another minute of that blissful contentment. Yet, as soon as I felt a pair of lips kissing every inch of my face, I would gladly leave that dream world and deal with reality.

That morning, just like every morning before, I was awakened by Lucas' light kisses. Smiling, I wound my arms around his neck and caught his mouth in mine.

"Good morning," he whispered, smiling at me when I finally opened my eyes.

"Good morning," I replied, kissing his lips again and wrapping my legs around his waist.

About a month ago, I asked Grandmother if she wanted to leave the forest and live near Mary's house. As expected, Grandmother told me that the only thing keeping her inside the forest was the knowledge that I loved it there. Lucas was the one who told her about the hut he planned on building with the help of his father and brothers, and Grandmother had agreed. Who would refuse such an offer anyway?

The house was almost finished now. Like our house in the forest, it was made of bamboo and woods, even though Mary, in her eagerness to have us living so close to her family, suggested that her husband and sons make a small brick house for us. Grandmother, of course, declined; the two of us would rather live in a hut.

Mary proposed that Grandmother and I lived in her house until our hut was ready. Grandmother accepted the offer readily, perhaps knowing that I would not object anyway.

Nobody asked me what prompted me to actually ask Grandmother to move. I was certain that all of them knew, anyway. Besides, it was not as if Lucas and I wanted to hide our relationship. As Jim, Lucas' younger brother, commented one day, anyone who would see us together would know for sure.

I was fine with that. Let the whole world know that I loved this man. I did not care. As long as he was mine, I would not care about anything at all. I only hoped that none of them knew how frequently Lucas and I were really together -- which amounted to every single night since Grandmother and I moved in to Mary's house.

We slept together a lot. Sometimes, it was me who would come to his room and sleep there, but it was mostly Lucas who would come to mine and share the bed with me. Sometimes, we would only sleep in each other's arms; oftentimes, however, we made love.

It already became routine for us that, in the morning, Lucas would wake me up with his kisses before leaving my room -- or before shooing me out of his on those nights when it was my turn to visit. Often, after the kissing session, both of us would only put on our clothes before one of us had to leave. There were exceptions to those mornings, though.

"Is it already late?" I asked Lucas, unwinding my legs from his waist. "Will they wake up soon?"

He smiled and rolled on the bed so that I was on top of him. "No, it is not. And no, they will not, unless you cry out and alert them all."

I guessed that he already knew where those questions were leading to. It was always the same questions I asked when I wanted him to make love to me before he left my room.

Lucas always teased me about my being so loud when we would make love. He would often kiss my mouth just so that the sounds I was making could be muffled. I would never understand how anybody could be so quiet while receiving and giving the kind of pleasure I experienced with Lucas, and I constantly admired this man for his ability to be quiet -- at least, compared to me.

I gave Lucas' lips a quick kiss before moving down so that I was face to face with his cock. It had not grown in size yet -- or, at least, it was not fully erect. Resting my head on Lucas' stomach, I began stroking it with my hand and watched how it hardened even more.

"Good morning, big guy," I crooned before kissing its tip. "Up for an early morning adventure?"

Lucas, who was stroking my hair, chuckled. "You are a minx, Selene Kier."

"Uh-huh," I moaned, moving my face closer to the member in my hand. "And you love me more for being one."

Without another word, I wrapped my mouth around his shaft, twirling my tongue around the tip. I released it again, still fascinated by the way it could continue to grow. Once, I tried taking all of him in while he was in his full erection, but he was too big. Even though the head was already in my throat, it was not enough. The frustration ate at me, but I was not one to give up easily. One of these days...

Clear fluid was already oozing out of his shaft. I was already so wet that an involuntary groan escaped my lips at the sight of that. I gave it a wet kiss at the base, exactly where cock and balls meet, before licking upwards.

"Lucas, I love your cock," I purred, pressing it against my cheek.

"So it seems," he said, chuckling as he moved so that he could lean against the headboard. "And it seems to love you, too."

Biting my lower lip, I winked at Lucas. "I agree. It has never disappointed me."

Before he could laugh, I took his cock into my mouth, teasing it with my tongue as I grabbed the base with my hand and started stroking it up and down. The gasps, hisses, and groans that came from Lucas as I proceeded on giving him head were enough to spur me on. I loved it when I knew that what I was doing was giving him pleasure.

I would have continued my explorations so that I could swallow his seeds when he comes, but I was aware that he could not stay inside my room for much longer. The whole household would be up soon and both of us did not want them finding out that Lucas and I always slept with each other.

With a sigh, I stopped what I was doing and started crawling over him, kissing him from the groin and upwards as I did so. With my hands planted on either side of his waist, I began teasing his nipples with my tongue. Right then, I realized that my sex was positioned above his left thigh. Feeling naughty, I started rubbing my wetness on that thigh, earning a groan of complaint from Lucas. I knew that he did not like it when I did that. His only explanation was that it made him ache the worse for me, but he knew that he could not -- would not -- make me stop.

Indeed, he even bent his knee, left foot firmly on the bed, so that I would not find it too hard to rub myself on his thigh even as I started licking and kissing his neck. Like myself, however, Lucas was not somebody who wanted to be tortured alone. Always when I teased him like that, he would reciprocate by teasing me, too.

He started stroking my breasts, then proceeded on to squeezing it. Gently, he pushed my head away so that he could bend down and start suckling on my nipple. Given that his back was against the headboard, it was not very hard to do. His other hand was pinching the other nipple, causing me to stop rubbing myself against his thigh and just purring like a cat.

I grabbed his chin and raised it so that I could kiss his mouth. I felt instead of saw the smile on his lips; he knew he won. Placing his hands on my hips, he unbent his knee and guided me so that I ended up planting my knees on either side of his hips. I needed no more instructions.

Reaching back, I grabbed his cock and brought it to my entrance, looking into Lucas' eyes all the while. Those dark eyes were deep mirrors of lust and yearning, and I revelled at the sight of them. Slowly, I sat back, driving his shaft inside me. I gave him a quick kiss on the mouth before leaning back, planting my hands beside his knees. I moved my hips against his, moving up and down his rigid cock, gasping as pure pleasure hit me.

Lucas, too, gasped, and in a hoarse whisper, begged, "Faster, sweetheart. Don't tease me so."

I was past the point of teasing -- past the point of thinking twice. As he pleaded, I began thrusting my hips faster, driving him deeper inside me every time. His hands were firmly holding my hips, keeping the fast rhythm going until both of us reached our climax. A growl escaped my throat as I shuddered on top of him, leaning forward so that he could hold me in his arms.

"My little minx," he whispered, kissing my neck as he held me gently, stroking my back.

I kissed his jaw and moved off him so that I could sit beside him and put my head on his shoulder. "We need to wash these bedclothes."

He chuckled. "The way you wash our bedclothes every five days, Mary is bound to get suspicious."

"Better that than having her smell the evidence," I said, smiling. "Come to the river with me."

"Yes, madam," he whispered before slipping out of bed. "Now, I need to get going or else somebody's bound to walk in on us."

I watched him as he got dressed, smiling when he winked at me. When he was already back into his pyjamas, he walked to the vanity and grabbed the hairbrush, before going back to the bed and asking me to sit up. With gentleness, he combed my hair, braiding it for me. Mary told me that the 'proper' way of sleeping called for the hair to be in a single plait down the back, and to amuse her, I always braided my hair before going to bed. Of course, as soon as Lucas came, it would be combed out of the braid, since he rather liked running his fingers through my hair. Because of that, I taught him how to make braids so that he could plait my hair before leaving -- especially whenever I was too sleepy to actually do it again.

As soon as the braid was made, he handed me my nightgown to put on. I did not know what came over him, but as soon as I looked 'proper' once again, he pulled me close to him, my back touching with his chest, and started kissing the nape of my neck, my shoulders...

"Do me a favour, Selene," he whispered.

"Anything," I promised.

"Lie down," he groaned. "I want you again, right now."

He rarely ever made requests of making love to me again. It was always me who begged him for second rounds. With a smile, I climbed onto the bed again, moving to the centre. I was about to turn around so that I was lying on my back when Lucas stopped me.

"Just stay lying this way," he said as he climbed on top of me.

"Okay," I said, closing my eyes as I felt his weight on my back, pressing me down on the bed.

Lucas lifted the hem of my nightgown so that I was exposed from the waist down. It was only moments later that I felt his hard member seeking entry into my sex. I spread my legs apart just wide enough to allow him to find his way more quickly. It was not long before Lucas found the entrance and pushed his cock into me.

The sensation that his rear entry brought was different, but not unpleasant at all. I buried my face on the pillow to muffle the sound of my groans when he started pumping in and out of me. I enjoyed being made love to, but I also enjoyed just mating with him without the tender, passionate love. His hard thrusts told me that he would be getting off quickly, and I intended to reach the peak with him, so I clenched my muscles around his cock, biting the pillow as waves and waves of pleasure assailed me with his every thrust. Moments later, I was already nearing climax; Lucas' warm seeds exploding inside me pushed me there.

He rested on me for a while, panting, before speaking again.

"Thank you, sweetheart," he whispered, planting a kiss on my shoulder.

I turned my head so that I could smile at him when he moved off me. "Any time."

Lucas chuckled and kissed the top of my head as he put his sagged member back into his pyjamas. He arranged my dress before pulling the blanket over me.

"Try to rest for a while," he said.

He did not have to tell me that. My eyelids felt heavy; I suddenly felt so tired. Still lying face down on the bed, I closed my eyes. I was already asleep even before he could close the door behind him when he left.

*****

"Get up, sleepyhead! It's time for breakfast!"

I groaned when I heard Jim's voice. I still wanted some sleep. "Go away!"

He chuckled and shook my bed. "Come on, Selene! You only have twenty more minutes before Mother walks into this room and shake you awake herself!"

"I'm tired!" I groaned, still not opening my eyes. "Let me sleep in! Just tell Mary that I'm skipping breakfast."

Jim laughed. "That will not do. None of us ever gets to skip breakfast, lady. If you don't want feeling this tired in the mornings, maybe you should ban Lucas from going to your room from now on."

His comment made my eyes snap open. Abruptly, I sat on the bed, glaring at him. "What did you say?"

Jim grinned and crinkled his nose, pointing at my blanket. "Hey. I have been with women before, you know. I know when something reeks of sex." He laughed when he saw my reaction -- which was made worse by the blush that came to my cheeks. "And, believe me, Mother will know, too. So you better get up now before she decides to wake you up herself."

That was enough to send me scurrying out of bed. Jim's low whistle as he appraised me made my cheeks burn hotter. I grabbed a pillow and threw it at him.

"Get out!" I cried, grabbing the blanket and covering myself with it. I was wearing my nightgown, but without the robe that normally came with it, the fabric would reveal every curve of my body. "Now!"

Laughing, he walked out of my bedroom. I stood glaring at the door for a while before making my bed in a hurry. When everything looked normal again, I grabbed my robe and hurried to the bathroom in the first floor of the house. After taking care of my personal hygiene, I ran back to my designated room and changed into an everyday dress. I was just taking off my braid when Mary knocked on my door and announced that we would already be eating breakfast.

Grandmother, Jim, and Danny were already there when I arrived. Mary was still calling George and Lucas, who were fetching water from the well that stood in the front yard of the hut that the men were building for Grandmother and me.

"Had a good night sleep, Selene?" Jim decided to tease me when everyone was already seated around the table.

I smiled at him sweetly, sending him warning through my eyes. "Yes, thank you. In fact, it was so good that I was reluctant to get up this morning."

"You should be ashamed of yourself, Jim," Danny said, grinning at his brother. "Why did you wake Selene up earlier? You should have let Mother or Grandmother do it."

Mary gasped and slapped Jim's arm. "You! Selene is a woman! You should be thankful that she does not sleep naked, or I would have flogged you myself, you impudent young man!"

Trying to bite down my laughter, I glanced at Jim. Unfortunately, he caught me looking, and with a grin, announced, "Well, I knew that Selene was not sleeping naked. I heard her talking to Lucas inside her room an hour before I usually wake up, so she could not have been naked then, could she?"

My mouth fell open as my face burned brightly. 'What a...!'

"Lucas Sebastian Milner!" Mary cried, looking at Lucas with wide eyes. "How... Why...!"

I could not look at Mary. I could not even look at Lucas, who was sitting across the table from me. All I wanted to do was reach for Jim and strangle him. Thankfully, Grandmother spoke to break the tension.

"Calm down, Mary," she said. "Selene has a habit of crying out in her sleep. Perhaps she cried out and Lucas heard her."

I could not believe it. Grandmother was lying for me. She knew it was not true. She knew exactly the only reason why Lucas would be 'talking' to me in the middle of the night.

I looked at Grandmother; she merely smiled at me. Mary breathed a sigh of relief and reached for a glass of water.

"If you ever sleep with Selene and get her pregnant before you two are even married, Lucas, I do not know what I am going to do to you," she said before drinking.

"Don't worry," Lucas said. "That will never happen."

"The part about getting her pregnant, you mean?" Jim interjected, grinning.

"James Frederick," George said in a tone that was sure to silence Jim better than any of Mary's shrill cries would ever do. "One more of those and you will get the flogging your mother was talking about earlier."

Jim made a low whistle before holding up his hands, shaking his head as he did so. "Okay, okay. I won't say a thing about it anymore." He looked at me. "But, once you get pregnant and you need a crib for the baby, I will gladly make it for you." Mary inhaled sharply, and before she could say anything, Jim quickly added, "Not right now, of course. I mean, after you two are married."

Danny reached for the plate of fried eggs and shoved three onto Jim's plate. "Stuff your mouth with this, Jim. Although I know you deserve it, I will hate to lose a brother to flogging."

Grandmother's chuckle seemed to put everybody at ease. I, for sure, was relieved. In my head, I was already thinking of a million ways of confronting Jim later.

We were already done eating breakfast when Mary said, "I almost forgot!" She looked at Lucas. "I received a letter from Matthew yesterday afternoon. He said that, in a week's time, a coach will arrive here to pick you up and bring you back to their estate."

I stopped gathering the plates from the table and looked at Lucas. He, too, was looking at me. He never said anything about leaving...

"Uncle Matthew has already recovered," he said, looking at his mother now. "Why do they need me back?"

"Matthew thinks that it will be a good thing for you to help him manage the estate," Mary explained, smiling. "Besides, his son has taken a liking to you. Your influence on Andrew might help on making him like the idea of managing their estate in the future."

Already, my heart was aching. Did I have to part with Lucas again?

'No, please...'

"Mary, I -- " Lucas cleared his throat and shook his head. "Andrew is a smart boy, and he wants to please his father more than anything else. They don't need -- "

"I know exactly what's behind this objection," Mary said, smiling at me. "Selene."

I felt my face burning. Of course, Mary would know. What could I say, though? I could not tell Lucas that it was okay if he left. I could not lie. He would know exactly what I felt. On the other hand, I would not want Mary to hate me because I was the reason why Lucas would not go.

"Mother -- " Lucas began, sighing. He rarely ever used 'Mother' to refer to Mary.

"Lucas," Mary interrupted. "Think about it. Meanwhile, Eloisa and I need to talk to Selene."

"I already made up my mind," Lucas said through his teeth.

"Well, then," Mary said, smiling forcedly, "we'll talk again after we talk to Selene. Maybe you'll change your mind then."

Lucas was about to say something when George told him to listen to his mother. Calling to Jim, too, George led his eldest sons away. Danny volunteered to wash the dishes in order for Mary and Grandmother to be able to talk to me.

All three of us walked to the front porch of the house. I knew what this conversation would be all about. They would ask me to convince Lucas to go back to his aunt's and uncle's. But, would I do it for them? I did not want to be away from Lucas again...

We sat around the table in the porch. Instantly, Mary's hands were holding mine.

"Selene," she said, smiling at me. "I never asked you because I believe I already knew the answer, but, for the sake of certainty, I'm going to ask you now. Why did you suddenly ask your grandmother to leave the forest and move here?"