The Florist Ch. 04: Herlesh

Her gasps became moans, in rhythm with my tongue and finger. The hand holding her taut bottom pulled her into the delicious bond of my ravenous maw. My tongue alternated between fluttering into the base of her hood and curving into the top of her opening. I suckled her soft lips and returned to her swollen bud.

"Ugh, oh, ther—uh!"

Her hand left my scalp and I watched her rolling and twisting both her nipples for a timeless beat until she convulsed.

As I drove my mouth in finger into her turgid flesh, Herlesh rocked against me in the rhythmic flailing of a woman possessed. Her loud moans echoed from the ceiling, her body jerked as if she lost all control, and her honey poured from her like a strong lunal surf.

I maintained contact, but just barely, and she rode through a powerful completion. On a whim, I slipped another finger into her and sucked her deeper.

She soared immediately into another quaking fulfillment. This time she released her raw tips and gripped my head. Herlesh nearly lost her balance, but I guided her languid collapse as slid down the wall in a series of switchback plateaus until she pooled onto the floor.

All the while I kept at her. And all the while she kept moaning and shaking, pressing me tightly to her. I drank all she had to offer.

Just when I thought she was spent, her body arched and she burst once more. Her eyes were pressed tightly closed, her mouth opened as she gasped for breath, and her face and chest flushed a deep pink.

Her gasps, and the bending and bowing of her body, slowed the slightest bit before she pulled me from her heat.

"No more—please. No . . . moo . . . oore . . ."

I immediately gave her space. As my fingers retreated she shook, and the skin around her nipples wrinkled.

"Oh, oh . . . Kelline . . . what . . . did you . . . do . . . to me?" She lay panting on the floor for a few more beats before turning a glazed, radiant, smile to me.

"Was that all right, dear Herlesh?"

"All right?" she gasped. "All right?" she repeated, her breath slowing. "That was certainly not like any 'all right' I have ever felt. Mmm ," she chuckled, palming her chest with both hands. "I believe that might have been akin to the fulfillment of the religious promise. Perhaps that was even more then they promise."

I chuckled then turned curious. "Have you never pleasured yourself?"

"I tried, long ago." She suddenly turned coy. "But I, that is, it . . . well, I . . . could not."

"Could not . . . act? Or could not . . .?"

"Could not," she blushed.

"You mean?"

"Yes, sweet Kelline. That was my, first, 'experience'. I simply had no idea."

"Really?"

She stared directly into my face, and stated, "Really. I thought all the tales were just that—tales. I was sure they were exaggerations, perhaps even fabrications. But now . . . well . . ."

"Well?" I prompted.

"Now? I think the descriptions fall far short."

I laughed and she joined me. Then Herlesh murmured, "I also heard that when partners share in lovemaking the experience is even richer."

I rested my head on her right thigh and confirmed, "It is." I kissed her skin, enjoying her scent and the glisten of perspiration on her.

"Show me."

"Here? Now?"

"Now—yes, Here—no. This floor is cold and hard."

"Would you settle for someplace softer and warmer? My bed, perhaps?"

"Yes, a nice, soft, warm bed." Her smile turned impish and suggestive. "With a nice, hard, warm gentleman."

"That, Herlesh, can be easily arranged." I nudged her leg to demonstrate.

"Oh, joy," she grinned.

I left my pants with the rest of our clothes and led her to the bedroom.

* * * * * * *

We lay together as our perspiration cooled and dried. I ran a soft fingertip over the curve of her nose, noticing the cleft at its tip. I followed her lips and caressed her jaw then drifted around the rim of her small ear.

She smiled as my fingertip continued its miniature voyage of exploration. I could feel the early effect it had on me, too.

I touched her in gentle caresses and listened for the slightest response. Herlesh had lost her reserve and let me know when I did something she enjoyed. Her skin prickled with chills when I stroked her clavicles. She gasped as I traced the curve of her breasts and her nipples tautened in the most remarkable fashion, even when I purposefully avoided them. When she growled at me, I smiled and spent a quarter bell nuzzling, nibbling and suckling at her. Her reaction left a heady scent in my bedroom and I hardened to throbbing.

I rolled her onto her tummy and sat beside her. My fingertips continued to caress and worship her body, her muscles and skin and femininity. She moaned and purred in pleasure.

After another while—perhaps a half bell or more—I sat back. My need had peaked.

"Herlesh, please lie back."

"Mmm," she murmured. Herlesh did roll onto her back, but it seemed to occur in slow motion.

I positioned myself between her legs and bent to trail kisses along her abdomen, working my way toward the cauldron between her thighs. When I tasted her again with a long swipe of my broad tongue she arched and cried out in surprise.

I knelt and loomed over her. Her expression reminded me of a prey animal about to be taken. In the next few instants her face went from trepidation to realization, acceptance to flaming desire. She knew.

My tip was against her, pulsing and insistent. She stared into my eyes, nodded once and commanded, "Now—please!"

I pulled her into my lap as I drove into her. Herlesh's eyes bore into mine with a palpable heat. Her mouth was parted in a half-smile and a half-moan. As she settled I felt myself reach the end of her. Her head lolled back and she shuddered, grasping my shoulders for support. Her weight settled and I impaled her.

After a few beats to let her grow accustomed to me, my hands began to slowly guide her hips. She had begun a tentative rocking back-and-forth, but I wanted more for her pleasure and experience. I began pressuring her in a swirling circular motion.

As Herlesh followed my lead her eyes flew open and she tilted her head to my forehead.

"Oh, Kelline!" she gasped as she realized she could stir her insides with my tip. "Oh, you wonderful man." She kissed me as she experimented with motion and pressures. When she found the angle that ground her mound into me and stroked me along the back of her dripping heat her body tensed.

"Unh, oh!"

My arms wrapped around her lower back and I pressed down on her, catching the swell of her hips and pinning her against me. I could feel her power as she kept a hard, deliberate stirring. In a burst the spasms and gasps of a woman in the height of fulfillment began.

"Yes, Herlesh, let the feeling wash over you and carry you away."

"Oh . . . oh!" She grabbed the back of my head and kissed me hard. Her breath pulsed from her nostrils and from between her lips. Her nipples hardened until the dug delicious furrows into my chest. Her sex massaged me in that unmistakable rhythm, and the flow of her arousal coated our joining. Her legs locked behind me and squeezed my middle.

I thrust upward to meet her and felt the tingling start. But I wanted to hold out just a little longer . . .

Too late, I realized that there was no holding out for me. I lifted us off the bed as I strove to reach deeper.

"Ung, ooh, mmm . . . yes!" she cried. She arched backward and pulled my face to her breasts. I caught a flushed tip between my lips and bore down on it as we climaxed together. One of my hands had reached lower for better purchase, and my finger dallied between the cleft of her bottom. Even there she felt slick and smooth. I tickled and felt her squeeze on my jetting manhood intensify. Another larger wave of Herlesh's essence flowed from her to cover my hips and the bedclothes.

I held her, turning my head to listen to the beating within her chest. Her racing heart began to slow, and her breathing returned to a semblance of normalcy. All the while her arms cradled my head to her body.

We collapsed and I slipped from her. I lay back and pulled her to my side, where she lay her head on my shoulder and molded herself to my side. I enjoyed her warmth, and told her as much.

"Thank you, Kelline," she whispered.

"You, dear Herlesh, are most welcome." I chuckled and kissed the top of her head.

She drew back and looked into my face, capturing my full attention. "No, I mean thank you. You could have refused me—"

"No, I couldn't," I interrupted.

"Yes, you could have. But instead you made me feel welcome. And beautiful."

"You are truly welcome, Herlesh. Just as you are truly beautiful."

She smiled and lay her head on my once more. "And, you made me feel a few other things as well." I could hear the smile in her voice and laughed.

"And you, also!" I replied. We shared the mirth before falling back into the comfort of our embrace.

"Kelline?"

"Hmm?

"There are a few other things I would like to experience . . ."

My grin could be heard in my reply. "Really? Such as . . .?"

"Do I have to say them?"

"How else will I know?"

"Well," she began, the shy woman once more. "I could, uh, show you?"

That is how we came to lie next to one another as our mouths explored and pleasured. I made sure Herlesh was fulfilled—more than once—while through some minor miracle I managed to last. When she complained that I had not achieved my joyful instant I repositioned her next to the bed. She knelt on the floor and, at my guidance, draped her upper body face down across the mattress.

I got behind her and nudged her legs apart. She felt my tip, slick and wanton, at her vestibule and eased back towards me. My hands grasped her hips and I drove into her slowly, inexorably, until we both felt me reach the end of her. Herlesh shuddered. Later she told me she reveled in the feeling of being placed on a spit of exquisite pleasure.

We rutted then. Words became useless; instead the sounds we made were guttural, animalistic, frenzied and utterly sexual. Her breasts dragged back and forth across the bedclothes and sparks of electric fire pulsed throughout her sensitized body. When she peaked her body jerked and convulsed, teetering me on the precipice.

My training served me well for a few more beats. I maintained my rhythm and thrust Herlesh through her orgasm before mine rose up to block out everything else.

I pushed as deeply as I could reach for as long as I could manage. I think she might have noticed my end swelling inside her as she gripped me. I felt her hand between her legs as she helped herself. It seemed she had come to grips with her ability to self-pleasure.

"I'm . . . ugh—" I warned her.

"Now, Kell—oh!"

As the first pulse of my heat boiled within her, Herlesh's physicality took over her mind. She juddered and shook, actually biting down hard on one of my pillows as she screamed. Her womanhood gripped me in a despicable and relentless mauling that I still cherish. I clung to her hips and thrust into her until we both achieved our resolution.

We lay down once more; this time Herlesh lay on her side and I fitted myself behind her. The contact was sweet and tender. We lay for perhaps a quarter bell, talking and caressing as lovers do.

I was nestled between the toned spheres of her backside and, after a time, I felt myself start to respond. She felt it, also.

"What, again? The oatwort lives up to its legend."

"Herlesh, maybe I am the one living up to the legend," I teased.

"Remember you are talking to a healer? One familiar with medicinal herbs."

I bit her gently between where her neck and shoulder met, and she laughed. She took my hand and placed it on her breast while her bottom swayed against me. The oatwort was indeed working its magic. So was her body on mine.

My hips moved back and forth in short strokes that ran my length along her cleft. After a time I drew back and slid myself between her thighs. She coated the top of my shaft with her nectar as I slipped repeatedly past the apex of her firm legs.

We murmured to one another, soft cooings of encouragement and delight. When she wanted more, her hips tilted and I entered her. With lingering thrusts I deepened the penetration until she took my full length. We made love again, gently and without haste. I reached lower and let my fingers toy with her slick and sensitized womanhood as she moved me in and out of her warm body.

I felt her passion building to a peak, and mine was close behind. My fingertips grew more insistent because I wanted us to achieve our instants together. She began to tighten and her inner heat rose. Herlesh became even wetter and I felt her flowing on my manhood and my busy hand. I worried that I might not be able to wait . . .

"Oh, Kelline . . . I . . . mmm—"

"Now?" I asked with intense hope. I pinched her nipple and her swollen bud as she thrust back to fill herself with me.

"Ung! Oh!" Her body quaked and her grip on me squeezed as I coated her dripping walls with heat of my own. She gasped as I moaned. Her rhythm neatly matched mine as she drew every droplet from my throbbing, pulsing erection. With a monstrous final shudder she yanked my hand from between her legs and gripped the hand at her chest to stop my manipulations.

"No more—no more," she gasped, panting through the perspiration-matted hair clinging to her face. She turned to me, eyes seething, wrapped one arm around my neck and pulled me to her lips. We lay, kissing, for several minutes and I slipped from her. Our heart slowed and our bodies cooled.

We slept for a couple of bells. I woke her gently with my lips and spent another bell taking her to the edge and backing away. When at last I tumbled her over she squeezed my head between her thighs until my ears rang, and she dug her nails into my scalp until she drew blood. My wounds actually made me proud.

We bathed in the morning and I managed a nice meal. I cleared the table and sat while we finished our beverages.

"Thank you, Kelline."

"You are most welcome, Herlesh. And thank you."

"Me? For what exactly?" She watched me over the cup's rim as she sipped.

"For two things. One, for bringing me back. You were right, I play an important function and, when I am of a mind, I feel that I am good at it."

"Indeed," she replied will an astonishing mimicry of a dreamy and love-struck girl. We descended into a fit of jocularity.

"And, two?"

"Please hear me out." She nodded, but her eyes seemed a bit guarded. "When I came back here I resented it." I took a deep breath. "I resented you."

"You—"

I held up a hand and she, remembering her promise quieted. "I resented you as a spoiled child resent his mother's call to the evening meal. The fun ends and the innocent are blamed. I am sorry."

"But—"

I held up my hand again. She fell silent, but with a tiny smile this time.

"Being with you has wiped away any of that. In you I feel a wise and complex soul, someone with whom I have common traits. I would call you a kindred spirit and could do so without reservation. You are also a wonderful, kind and giving lover. If you have half this much compassion with your patients, it is no wonder they sing your praises."

Herlesh colored at my words, especially my compliments to her as a physical partner. And when I mentioned her wards I saw her eyes brim.

"You rascally fiend, teasing an aged woman." She brushed at her right eye with the back of a finger. "I am glad you are back here, where you belong."

"I—"

Now it was her turn to silence me, and she used the same gesture of her hand.

"I am sorry you were not able to escape—as I have wanted to myself. And I felt a bit of jealousy when I thought you might actually get away. Sorry," she admitted, her eyes flicking at the table for a beat or two. "And . . . I am glad you have some time at Gatekey. I looked at your glasstern work and you do have talent. I especially adore the one on your mantle. Did I notice finger marks in the piece?"

I held my two salved fingers up for her to see and we shared a grin.

"I thought so. For what it is worth, I'm glad you saved that one."

"So am I," I murmured.

That earned me a quick look. "Hmm, interesting, Kelline."

"What?" I attempted to cover with an innocent expression.

"What, indeed. You should remember that I understand your conflict. Perhaps I understand it better than you do."

I kept quiet. She watched me for a few beats before the dawn of a smile curled her lips.

"Who was she?"

"What?" This time I tried to look shocked.

"What? Again, 'what'?" She huffed and gazed at the object. It caught the tiniest flare of light and glistened.

"Or, maybe, I should ask, 'Who is she?'"

Still, I kept silent.

"Oh, goddess, put an old woman out of her misery, you heartless imp!" She did her best to sound angry and exasperated, but the effect was ruined in the very next instant when she grinned.

I laughed and briefly explained Weinotia, unnamed and in the broadest of terms to maintain my professionalism, of course. Herlesh listened and smiled through my story.

"She was different, proud, vulnerable, a challenge. But . . ." I fumbled.

"Yes, 'but,' nothing." She turned serious. "Take care, Kelline. You know as well as I that we lack the privileges of the average person. We have demands that come before our desires."

She leaned forward and took my hands. "This night was a treasure for me. You made it everything I could have hoped for, and much more. But now it is time for me to resume my role and be who I must." Herlesh kissed my hands. "Thank you."

She continued, "But you need to do the same. Leave your glasstern woman in your past and rededicate yourself. If you do not, if your feelings are set free, I fear there lurks only pain in your future. And is that not what drove you out to all those long moons ago?"

It would have done no good to argue, or to explain, or to do anything but agree. So I agreed.

And, I think, Herlesh nearly believed me.