“I knew
you’d come; I intended it. I had to have you here today,
Jolie. Does that frighten you?”
“No.
Nothing about you frightens me.”
“Nothing?” He said this playfully, but his eyes held a
promise of something else, something more.
She
licked her lips and said nothing, swallowing visibly. Did
she know him as well as she thought? The look on his face
changed to the familiar, the expression held in his pictures
she had so often studied while lightly touching her computer
screen.
He turned
from her and briefly glanced at the fire, and then his gaze
settled on her again. The man walked over to where she lay
and stood above her, hand raised in the air. With finger
extended, he began to draw a circle in the air above her.
“Welcomed
by Fire, cleansed by Rain, touched by Earth and purified by
Air; Elements, we welcome you. I summon this circle with
Power, Protection and Peace. So mote it be.”
He rested
his gaze on her again, and she stared at him hesitantly.
He knelt
in front of her, “Now are you frightened?” He smiled gently,
a small trace of uncertainty flickering through his eyes.
“I’m not
frightened, I just didn’t know...” Jolie’s voice trailed off
as she gazed into his eyes. The unknown words, his unknown
intentions alarmed her suddenly, causing the pulse in her
throat to jump.
My
God, what am I doing?
The fear
trickled from her thoughts palpably down to her belly,
causing her breath to quicken and her inner thighs to
moisten.
“So
you’re not frightened? Really?” His face was solemn and
there was nothing frightening to it at all. He reached over
and caressed her cheek, looking momentarily apprehensive.
“No. I’m
not ...not anymore.”
He leaned
down so that his whispering breath shivered along her cheek
and ear. “Do you want to be?”
She was
mesmerized by the fire light over his shoulder; the
flickering light and crackling noise suddenly became all she
could see and hear as she felt the blood pounding through
her body. Jolie swallowed and clenched her eyes shut. Almost
inaudibly, she breathed her reply.
“Yes.”
