“All yours.”
I walk to the other side of the cave and sit down by the tunnel entrance. With her back to me, Tela steps to the spill, tilts her head forward, and lets the water run through her hair. After reaching her hands to the back of her head, she lightly massages her neck. Her fingertips slide to the top of her shirt and grip the fabric.
Slow and supple in her motion, she lifts the shirt over her head. When it’s off her body, she rinses it clean and then throws it to the dry ground beyond the shallow pool. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I have the decency to look away. But with the primal desires of Darkness clouding my thoughts, I can’t find it. Like a wild animal locked on its prey, I’m captivated by her every move.
She turns around, closes her eyes, and leans her head back to the water. Beads of water glitter with violet as they trickle down her chest, slither over her full, round breasts, and drip off her rose-colored nipples. Her skin is ivory and smooth, her stomach flat and taut. Lowering her face, she opens her eyes and notices my gaze. A slight blush reddens her cheeks.
Tearing my eyes away from her, I focus on the ground between my feet. The cavern is so small that I can’t help but notice that she slips her pants down her legs. After washing them off, she tosses them to the floor by her shirt.
Aphrodite might as well have cast her spell over me. Enchanted by the thought of Tela naked in the fall, I can’t stop my eyes from drifting to her. The sensual curves of her hips lead to shapely, muscular legs that could belong to a powerful sprinter. Between her legs, a narrow triangle of fine, black hair glistens from the water running through it. Intoxicated by every detail of her body, I raise my eyes over her torso, up her shoulders and neck, and then stop them on her face. She’s staring straight at me. Her puffy red lips curl into a faint smile.
“Your hair is darker,” she says.
“What do you mean?” I ask.
Never taking her eyes off mine, she walks across the cavern. When she stops in front of me, she reaches a hand down. I take it in mine and she helps me stand to my feet. After letting go of me, she raises her hand to the side of my head. She combs her fingers through my hair and then rests her hand on the back of my neck.
“It must be from the wild sap,” she says. “It’s black now instead of dark brown.”
“That’s a good thing,” I reply. “I’ll finally look like everybody else in Krymzyn.”
She rests her other hand on my shoulder. “You’ve always looked good the way you are.”
“Thanks,” I say. “You’re not bad to look at yourself.”
Assuming we’re about to hug the way we’ve done at the end of her other showers, I lightly grip her waist in both hands. It’s obviously different this time since she doesn’t have any clothes on, but I don’t seem to care. Instead of embracing me, Tela rises up on her tiptoes. She inches her face towards mine until our lips meet in a kiss. After our kiss ends, we look at each other’s eyes.
“Now I’ve had my first kiss,” she says.
“How was it?” I ask.
She pulls my face back to hers. Any innocence that may have existed in our affection for one another up to this point is obliterated when we kiss again. I open my mouth a little, she opens hers, and our tongues swirl inside each other’s mouths. A wildfire sparks in my veins.
She presses her breasts against my chest while I slide my hands from her waist to the curves of her rear. Cupping her firm cheeks, I dig my fingers into her flesh. The growing firmness inside my pants pulses against her belly.
One of Tela’s hands roams down my chest and over my stomach. When it reaches my waist, she unfastens the top button of my pants. With our tongues still probing each other’s mouths, her fingertips trace down to the second button.
“Wuv-u, Daddy,” whispers inside my head.
A knife plunged into my heart couldn’t cause me more pain. With gut-wrenching guilt overwhelming me, I break our kiss and take a step backwards. I grab both of Tela’s wrists and jerk her hands away from me.
“We can’t do this,” I say, letting go of her wrists.
Her face wrinkles with confusion. “Why not?”
“Sash is the only person I can be with this way.”
“But you looked at me like this is what you wanted.”
“I know,” I reply. “I’m sorry if I led you on. You’re so beautiful in so many ways that any man would find you desirable. But I can’t do this because of how I feel about Sash. I lost sight of that for a while.”
“Why is it different with her?” she asks.
“I tried to explain it to you once. I love Sash in a way that I can’t love anyone else. It’s different than how I feel about family or friends. I can’t betray that.”
“She’ll never know what happens,” she says bitterly.
“I’ll know,” I reply. “And so will you. I could never live with myself. I don’t think you could either.”
She balls her hands into fists. “I want to have this experience, Chase. I want to have it now.”
“You only feel that way because of the wild sap.”
“I don’t care what it is!” she fumes. “I like the way it feels when you touch me. Why did you hold me when we slept if you didn’t want this?”
“In my world,” I calmly tell her, trying not to let the situation get any more out of hand than it already is, “friends can hug or hold each other. I care a lot about you.
