Page 5 of Stolen Moments
“Good,” she said and laid her head on his chest. He knew she was listening to his heartbeat, something she was fond of doing. She liked to say the sound was strong and steady, just like him. He was so deeply lost in thought he hadn’t realized she was reaching into his pajama bottoms.
He gently grasped her wrist and looked into her eyes.
“I want to,” she whispered, a hint of longing in her voice.
“But, you’re—”
“I’m fine. Is it that you don’t want me, anymore?”
Luka watched her large blue eyes fill with tears, and he squeezed her hand. He looked her over, from her closely cropped head to her pale but full lips. Luka shook his head. Though her traditional beauty had faded with her illness, she was still beautiful in her own way now. The tenderness he felt for her overwhelmed him.
“It’s not that. I just worry about you.”
“I’m fine.”
He nodded, and pulled her up against him. He kissed her softly at first and then firmly. She pressed her flattened chest against his. Her breasts used to be fuller but they had been reduced with her weight loss. His hands roamed haltingly over her body, caressing hard edges that had once been soft curves. It had been a long time since he had touched her for fear of hurting her.
Tenderly, he eased her onto her back and pinned her delicate wrists together swiftly tying them together. Luka kissed Susan’s forehead, kissed along her eyebrows, down the bridge of her nose. He showered her face with lingering kisses, down the line of her jaw. Susan’s breath caught in her in her throat as Luka kissed her neck, his pulse pounding. He trailed his fingers down her side, as he kissed her along her pronounced clavicles, pausing for a moment at her scarred chest. “Is this okay?”
“Green,” whispered Susan, panting with want.
“Green, what?”
“Green, master,” said Susan, she arched her back and moaned. Luka reached into the bedside table and grabbed a small switch he kept in their drawer of toys. He lightly tapped her thigh with it and she sighed. She struggled slightly against the hold he had on her wrists before sinking into the bed as he kissed the area where her breasts had been. He dipped his tongue into her belly button and let go of her hands. He kissed her thighs, and Susan trembled.
“Do you like it?” He breathed heavily into the space between her legs, and she moaned a yes. Luka whipped Susan’s thigh.
“Yes,master.”
“Then beg.”
“Please.”
He whipped her again.
“Please,” she said in between heavy moans, pushing her hips up to meet his hand as he rubbed her with his palm. A bead of sweat rolled down Susan’s face, and Luka frowned, pausing for a second. But she looked at him with desire, and Luka wanted so badly to give her what she needed. He hit her with the switch again.
“Please, please, please,” Susan clenched her eyes and pulled at her restraints. Luka straddled her, looking down at her. He kissed her and rubbed his hardness along her thigh, teasing her. Luka gently turned her onto her belly and fit her wrists into the restraints they had put into the posts of their bed many years before Susan’s sickness reached into even their bedroom.
Susan moaned and pulled against the shackles that bound her to their as Luka entered her. With each of his thrusts, he whipped her lightly; until they both collapsed breathing hard. Luka listened to the slow wheeze of Susan’s breath returning back to normal. He unbound her and pulled her frail body close. The cancer had made her bruise easily so he checked the already reddening patches around her wrists; the marks the switch had left on her would soon grow purple. He felt guilt, even though he had been as gentle as possible.
Susan must have noticed his silence for she caught his gaze, holding him as strongly as her weak body allowed. “It was fine, more than fine.” She squeezed him. “It’s what I wanted. You were soft with me. This”—she held up her wrists— “is not your fault.”
Luka’s eyes filled with tears he didn’t allow to fall.
Susan held his hands tight. “Don’t make me feel bad about this.”
Luka shook his head and pulled her head onto his chest. A few months were all Susan had left. This troubled Luka more than he told her, although she was perceptive and knew more thanshetoldhim. Luka had lived for Susan for as long as they had been together, had cared for her when she was sick, had given everything to bring her back from death’s door. It just wasn’t fair. He railed against God, against fate for giving him happiness and then taking it away. What would he do when she was gone? The thought was often too much to bear. Susan was dying. That was a fact. It was the only certainty in the future; it loomed over every aspect of his daily life. But what would happen after? They had no children. He feared that Susan, and any memory of her, would die with him and he’d lose her completely. All the future they had imagined, their kids, their happily ever after—gone. The tears stung Luka’s eyes and he no longer struggled against them. Susan slept, and Luka’s hot and long held back tears rushed down his face.
* * *
Melia noticed the dark circles under Luka’s eyes as she opened the door to Victor’s apartment. “Long night?” she asked with a smirk on her face. She had been expecting him to come and help her with some of her things but didn’t know he would be so moody.
Luka gave her a dark smile and continued down the hallway of the apartment. He stood in the kitchen, frowning, his blue eyes flashing, and Melia couldn’t help but notice how beautiful he was. “Is everything a joke, to you?”
Melia felt a flash of anger and embarrassment. “I wasn’t making a joke,” she snapped. “But if it’ll give you some solace, you won’t be staying up with your wife alone anymore.” She thought she detected mirth cross his face, but it was instantly replaced by his constant frown. She slammed a box of her things onto the kitchen table and squared off as Luka leaned against the doorway. He looked back into the hallway and saw the pictures of an attractive, well-built, dark man. His heart sank a bit.
“You’ll be missed, I guess.”