Raider and the Lost Lamp Ch. 09

"I don't know," Clara honestly replied, as she looked pensively at her former prison. She thought silently for a moment, appreciating the importance of Jeff's question. "My father is good friends with Sir Vernan Winthrop, the famous oceanographer. They went to Cambridge together. Perhaps we can have Sir Vernan drop the lamp into the mariana trench on his next expedition, after we've taken the liberty of sealing it in a block of concrete, of course," Clara suggested.

"Sounds like a plan," Jeff said in an impressed tone, as he gently placed the lamp back on the vehicle's floor.

"Well, I'm not just a pretty face, you know?" Clara said facetiously, without even the slightest trace of conceit about her actual physical beauty. She nuzzled happily into the empty space beside Jeff's neck, while an apprehensive expression grew on Jeff's face, as Clara's lighthearted statement resounded through his mind.

Clara was beautiful in every possible sense of the word. She was intelligent, witty, courageous, captivating, sensuous, and without a doubt the most remarkable woman Jeff had ever met. And the question of whether she had feelings for him was beginning to gnaw away at him. Jeff had a terrible foreboding about asking her, but he knew that the longer he put it off, the more devastating any negative repercussions would be.

"Clara?" he said, in a serious tone. Clara looked up at him with a smile. "Is this... I mean this right now... Is this just, like a 'thank you'? Or some kind of freedom celebration?" The smile quickly faded from Clara's face as Jeff continued, "It's okay if that's what this is, I guess, but it's just... I need to know."

"Jeff..." Clara began in a sad tone, unsure of how to respond further.

"I mean after the last time we had sex, you barely spoke to me, almost like you regretted it..." Jeff said with painful honesty.

"No!" Clara declared adamantly. "...I mean for a while, I might have, but..." It was ironic that words failed her when she so desperately needed to explain her actions. Clara took a deep breath and tried to calm herself, although it wasn't easy; her awful treatment of Jeff over the past few days had finally caught up with her and she was so terribly ashamed. "I... I have never done this before, I have never let myself get close to anyone like I have with you... And I suppose it scared me. It scared me!" Clara explained, with an uneasy chuckle. Although she genuinely believed it, the statement seemed so absurd, coming from a woman who had braved the boobytraps of the most intricate Aztec tombs, without even flinching.

"Scared you? What do you mean?" a confused Jeff asked. Clara closed her eyes as she summoned the courage to tell Jeff the complete truth. After all he had done, he deserved no less.

"I was afraid that you had used the lamp's power over me to seduce me without my knowing. I was afraid that you had manipulated me into sleeping with you," Clara said, cringing in shame. Jeff was clearly hurt by this revelation. "You deserved so much better, after all the kindness you showed me. You never gave me any cause to distrust you and I am so, so, so sorry for the way I've treated you. I'm so, so sorry I had those terrible, stupid thoughts about you. But if it makes any difference, and I hope to God it does, I know now that the feelings I had that night and that morning were genuine. I know because you gave away infinite wishes for my freedom and that means that you're too good a person to have taken advantage of me," Clara declared in a heartfelt tone.

Now it was Jeff who looked as if he'd been caught out. He opened his mouth as if to respond, but Clara interrupted, "I know that you were aware of what you were sacrificing. And it is so unfortunate that nobody else will ever know what you gave away to free me. But I do, and I will never, ever forget it," she promised solemnly as she wrapped her arms around his neck in a tight embrace, fearing that it just might be the last one she would ever give him. Several tensely silent seconds passed before Jeff spoke.

"I gotta admit Clara, I was really tempted to use that amulet..." Jeff confessed, looking away from Clara with a guilty expression.

"Why didn't you?" she asked.

"Because..." Jeff hesitantly replied, as if he was searching himself for the answer. "Because it was the right thing to do... and... because I knew that if I didn't, you'd never feel the same way about me as I do about you. Which I guess, in the end, was what I wanted most of all..."

"Do you love me?" Clara asked, looking over at him intently. As soon as she asked the question Jeff's gaze immediately turned to her, she had his complete attention.

"Yeah, I do." Jeff replied, a little surprised by the question, but totally sincere.

"Well then, you got your wish!" Clara said with an elated smile. A beaming smile appeared on Jeff's face as Clara's response blew his haunting doubts away like dry autumn leaves. Clara pushed her lips against Jeff's and they kissed passionately. Jeff wrapped his arms around Clara's naked body and held her tightly, just as she held him. Their mutual embrace only grew stronger as they rocked from side to side in the back seat of their four wheel drive and kissed, and kissed, and kissed. Clara snickered as she felt Jeff's cock beginning to rise beneath her.

The End