Persephone in Winter
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Chapter 2
The house was one of many hidden behind dense hedges and wide iron gates along the endless avenue. Finding it was painfully slow. The camera's cold, glass eye found them, internal elements shifting with precision, then stared unblinking at them through the windshield for what seemed like hours.
At first they sat in silence in the waiting car - her heart racing with forbidden surrender to another, his with apprehension, and finally terror. She was delicious in the cool evening light. He had never seen her so radiant - the creamy white skin of her neck gracefully arched over a tempting hint of heaving breast revealed at the border of the modest neckline.
The dress was delivered earlier that day, a plain black box with a single red rose attached. Steven was curious but quiet upon its arrival. She placed it on the bed unopened, smiled, and put her arms around his waist.
"He always dresses me. Oh, it's not what you think. No garter belts or lingerie, none of that. He puts me in the most tasteful clothes, something different each time. Very chic. Very expensive. Afterwards he takes them from me and destroys them."
"He thinks that little of you?"
She smiled, resting her head on his chest against a bounding heart.
"No - he thinks that much of me. Each time, I'm what he wants me to be. Each time is special. And after, it's gone forever. Me, the place, the time, the dress - it's his creation, unspoiled, and forever unshared by anyone."
Her words still echoed in his head as they waited in the dark car. The dress fit her like a glove, a black, velvet glove. He marveled at how the fabric could be so thin, and yet so opaque. It moved as though it was a part of her, revealing fleeting lines of breast, hip, and thigh with the slightest motion of her body. Down the front, a single row of soft, tiny, black buttons, an inch apart, ran from neckline to ankle. He had watched her button each one, an agonizingly slow process. She had taken her time, smiling up at him after every two or three, as if to say, "Imagine how long it will take him to get to me, to open me up, to peel me like a piece of wet, juicy fruit."
The heavy gates swung inward on smooth, silent hinges. He hesitated, his foot hovering above the pedal, now uncertain whether he could guide the car through the entrance, then along the densely wooded drive that would take her to him. She sensed his reluctance and turned to him. He fought for breath as she leaned closer, her trembling body draped in exquisite ebony. The fine, delicate swirl of her ear bore sparkling clusters of emeralds that flirted with the light between perfectly placed strands of hair. She took his hand. Her smile was weak but genuine.
"Now that we're here, I can't ask you for this. I can't bring myself to utter the words, to sound so selfish, or to hurt you."
Her eyes were liquid and wide with sympathy. But was there a fleeting hint of excitement in the flicker of her dark lashes?
"I can only tell you that it's happened, that it's something I can't escape. Something in me needs this, something so powerful I feel I'll self-destruct if I don't see it through. I don't understand it. I can't answer your questions. But I can love you. Is that enough?"
He flinched when she squeezed his hand lightly, then took the wheel and drove through the open gates without a word. She turned away without apology, looking straight ahead as he drove on. The tear he waited for never came. He knew the road ahead was the only way to keep her.
The gates vanished into darkness behind them as the car crept along a broad curve, lit only by muted lamps hugging the driveway at regular intervals. He heard her small sigh as she settled back into the seat, her eyes now staring miles into the night. Guessing her thoughts tortured him as he peered ahead into the blackness. Was she already with him? Did she know his plan? Was she eager to escape his costume for the night, to be naked and used in a game of their making? Or was it the anticipation of the unknown - something that would push her far past boundaries not yet crossed?
The house rose like a glowing fortress, awash in the blue-white of countless lights spread over the sprawling grounds. The hulking Georgian manor, spacious entry court, and winding drive were carved out of the surrounding dense vegetation that contained the light within it, keeping the property in near-daylight long after sunset. A wide portico supporting six massive ionic columns dropped to the level of the circular driveway through a series of gleaming white marble steps that sparkled under the intense light. He stopped the car in front of them, peering into the rows of tall, arched windows lining the front of the massive two-story structure. Taking his hand again, she looked as though she belonged there - elegant, beautiful, a precious gift to be enjoyed, treasured, possessed.
"Wait for me?"
"I'd rather not. I - I don't think I can..."
"No, my love. I'm not asking. He is."
"But, he never said anything about having to watch you with him. I couldn't take that. Isn't this enough?"
"He doesn't want you watch us. In fact, he won't allow it. I'm his and his alone when we're together. But you must show that you're willing to share me, to give me to him whenever he wants. Bringing me here to him, and later returning me to our bed is the only gesture he demands. You have to give me willingly. It's sex, not love. I love you. I always will. Please show him you'll wait."
She was out of the car before he could answer, making her way up the rows of steps. As she turned just briefly to glance back at him, he noticed the flush across her face, and her hardened nipples straining against the delicate fabric.
She rang the bell at the door. He watched her as she waited patiently, hands at her sides, the slim curves of her body on display in the finest detail under the intense light. Even so, the black dress clung to her body in ways that would have made her unrecognizable to him from the back, had she not just left her place beside him minutes ago.
The door opened. She took a step forward. His arms encircled her, one at the waist, the other moving up her back until his fingers dug into chestnut curls, pulling her closer. She lifted her chin and opened her mouth to him. He covered it with his, suddenly pleased that her response was so eager, that she would so savagely invade his mouth while her husband watched. His hand moved lower, palm now gliding over the hard flesh of her ass, naked under the wisp of black cloth. She moved close against him, her legs closing around the muscle of his thigh. Her hips tilted into him, then again, and again, as the kiss became more frenzied.
Steven watched them from the car, the kiss, his caresses, her thighs clutching the stranger's leg, hips grinding against him in heat. And when he thought he could watch no longer, they stopped. Two large hands appeared on her shoulders. He was speaking to her. She was nodding, slowly, mechanically. His hands disappeared again, retreating down the front of her dress, busy, doing what? From the back it was difficult to tell. His hands reappeared on her shoulders, this time pulling the dark material to the sides, then down, over her arms, until her bare back glistened in the floodlights. Elyse stood before him, naked to the waist, her hands now busy below his belt, her actions also hidden from her husband's sight.
She knelt, now on her knees below him, her hands still busy, still hidden from her husband by waves of shining hair. Her small fingers closed around his cock, smoothly running the length of it as the tip grew wet before her eyes. She closed her lips around it, the ball of flesh hard and warm against her tongue. She welcomed the familiar taste of him, and let him know with eager but careful teasing, sucking and licking just as he had taught her. But this time it was different. She was wet, and loved the feel of him in her mouth as she had on each occasion, but now she felt her husband's eyes upon her. Would he allow her this one passion? Was he strong enough to accept her physical need for another and be party to it as well? She loved Steven desperately. He nourished her soul. But Simon fed her cunt, and her mind refused to consider having to choose, should it come to that.
Steven watched them from the car, stomach tied in knots, glancing away each time doubt began to overcome him. Although he saw nothing but his wife on her knees in front of him, her flexing back naked in the night air, agonizing images filled his head - her lips sucking greedily at the stranger's cock, her hands busy, milking, coaxing the semen from his body into her waiting mouth. He fought the temptation to escape, to turn the key and drive away. But he knew her well enough by now to recognize the genuineness of her love for him and her need for this stranger's hold on her.
At that distance, it was difficult to make out the man's features. The skin of deep bronze against the crisp white shirt, shining jet-black hair pulled back, bound into a short tail, all suggested a man of Latin descent. And the voice on the phone; he thought he detected a slight accent beneath the intimidating, articulate voice. His display of total control as Elyse knelt before him, her naked breasts offered to him as Steven imagined her caressing a stranger's cock with her lips and tongue, all against the backdrop of the brilliantly lit mansion presented a surreal and painfully erotic scene that mesmerized him. As much as he needed to look away, he found he could not.
After a minute, maybe two, the man reached for her, pulling her gently to her feet. His hands appeared again, this time lifting the dress back over her shoulders, methodically fastening the open buttons, one by one. The demonstration was brief but effective. Elyse understood the intent all too well, but wondered whether the show of power was excessive, considering the emotions her husband must already be juggling. She also knew that power was everything to Simon, power and control. He would insist on an offering, a sacrifice, from her husband from the start. To witness her submission from behind, with few details, forcing Steven to imagine her mouth on Simon's cock, to ask himself if her nipples hardened when she touched her lover, to agonize over what Simon saw as he looked down over her bare shoulders and firm, young breasts - all this was what he would demand. Simon took her hand, and as the mansion swallowed them she warmed inside, knowing she had not heard the engine rev or the car speed away into the night.
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Wife LoversChapter 5 He woke slowly, first to the constant hiss and sizzle, then to the familiar smell of bacon, teasing him from his sleep with a hint of a perfect breakfast made just as she knew he would want it. Sleep had finally come to him sometime early in the morning, but the lack of it hung about him as he lifted his legs over the side of the bed and stood to face the day. She had drawn the blinds so he could sleep late, and waited until mid-morning to start his breakfast. He would shower first,...
Wife LoversChapter 3She sat some ten feet away from Simon in the walnut-paneled library. Glasses of brandy rested on identical cherry tables beside each richly upholstered wingback chair. He was unusually quiet this evening, taking time to savor the rich, dark drink, allowing her to nearly finish her own generous portion. She expected he would talk of her husband, and was apprehensive about betraying her love for him, even with unshared thoughts. Instead, he sat and watched her, his fierce eyes drinking...
Wife LoversChapter 1It wasn't quite as though she was cheating. He had known for some time. And she knew he knew. She couldn't help crying out a bit louder when she came. She had always been quiet, her small throaty moan rising on those few special occasions when she seemed especially wet.Now she came with mouth wide open, filling the darkened bedroom with unfamiliar words, telling him over and over how she wanted him, how she loved his cock inside her. When she straddled him and played with her breasts,...
Wife Lovers"She does love you. Perhaps too much."Simon's voice still carried the same self-confidence that Steven remembered from the only other time he had heard it. His thumb hovered over the "End" button, an instant away from silencing him. Instead, he pulled the car to the side of the road, unable to look away from Elyse's name staring back at him from the tiny glowing screen."How did you get her cell?" Steven asked, after a moment's pause. He was determined not to let the defeat show in his own...
Wife LoversWaiting in the chilly car was no easier this time than the last. Consumed with agonizing images of his wife with the dark stranger, he sat unmoving behind the wheel, staring into the darkness, hoping to find an answer there, but finding only more anxiety and pain with each passing minute. "What kind of man allows this?" he argued silently to himself. "What kind of wife does this to someone she loves?" He should leave her - start the car and speed away from this revolting house that held her. A...
Wife LoversThey sat facing each other in a room unfamiliar to her. He had led her past the library to the back of the house where bright lights no longer spilled through the towering windows. It was a room of secrets, dark and quiet, lit only by shrinking tongues of flame and dying embers sputtering in a nearby hearth. She thought it smelled of man-smells, of leather, tobacco, and the charred wood of a campfire. For a brief minute, just after he took her hand, led her through the door, and then closed...
Wife LoversHis attempts to find the mansion were frustrated at every turn. The neighborhood's streets formed a maze of circles and cul-de-sacs hidden from one another by dense but impeccably groomed landscaping. Each time he made a wrong turn and she showed him the way, he wondered how often she had found it on her own. In the dark, each private entrance looked alike, until they came face to face with the twisted bars of his imposing iron gate and the familiar glass eye of the camera, peering down at them...
Wife LoversThe house was one of many hidden behind dense hedges and wide iron gates along the endless avenue. Finding it was painfully slow. The camera's cold, glass eye found them, internal elements shifting with precision, then stared unblinking at them through the windshield for what seemed like hours. At first they sat in silence in the waiting car - her heart racing with forbidden surrender to another, his with apprehension, and finally terror. She was delicious in the cool evening light. He had...
She sat some ten feet away from Simon in the walnut-paneled library. Glasses of brandy rested on identical cherry tables beside each richly upholstered wingback chair. He was unusually quiet this evening, taking time to savor the rich, dark drink, allowing her to nearly finish her own generous portion. She expected he would talk of her husband, and was apprehensive about betraying her love for him, even with unshared thoughts. Instead, he sat and watched her, his fierce eyes drinking in her...
"If only others could see you as I do." He paced slowly as he spoke, eyes feasting on white flesh against the crimson sheets under her. The bed, a heavy four-poster with a canopy frame, was positioned at the very center of the room. At first sight it was an imposing structure, a fusion of dark carved woods and burnished metal in an old-world Mediterranean style. As he circled it, he studied her from every angle. Her thin wrists were stretched above her head, bound by two feet of cord...
He woke slowly, first to the constant hiss and sizzle, then to the familiar smell of bacon, teasing him from his sleep with a hint of a perfect breakfast made just as she knew he would want it. Sleep had finally come to him sometime early in the morning, but the lack of it hung about him as he lifted his legs over the side of the bed and stood to face the day. She had drawn the blinds so he could sleep late, and waited until mid-morning to start his breakfast. He would shower first, buying...
It arrived a month later, delivered by a tuxedoed messenger who smiled briefly, then returned to the limo waiting at the curb. The package was large and black, its length and width secured tightly by a gleaming silver cable of ribbon. A single red rose was tied at the center with a shining knot nestled between clusters of menacing thorns. Steven stood behind the closed door for a full minute, not able to take a step, staring at his own reflection in the glossy surface. "What is it? What's...
His attempts to find the mansion were frustrated at every turn. The neighborhood's streets formed a maze of circles and cul-de- sacs hidden from one another by dense but impeccably groomed landscaping. Each time he made a wrong turn and she showed him the way, he wondered how often she had found it on her own. In the dark, each private entrance looked alike, until they came face to face with the twisted bars of his imposing iron gate and the familiar glass eye of the camera, peering down at...
They sat facing each other in a room unfamiliar to her. He had led her past the library to the back of the house where bright lights no longer spilled through the towering windows. It was a room of secrets, dark and quiet, lit only by shrinking tongues of flame and dying embers sputtering in a nearby hearth. She thought it smelled of man-smells, of leather, tobacco, and the charred wood of a campfire. For a brief minute, just after he took her hand, led her through the door, and then closed...
Waiting in the chilly car was no easier this time than the last. Consumed with agonizing images of his wife with the dark stranger, he sat unmoving behind the wheel, staring into the darkness, hoping to find an answer there, but finding only more anxiety and pain with each passing minute. "What kind of man allows this?" he argued silently to himself. "What kind of wife does this to someone she loves?" He should leave her - start the car and speed away from this revolting house that held...
The shock that woke him was as though he had been dropped into the car seat from a great height. When he opened his eyes, he found himself strangely energized, in spite of the lucid details of his dream. Why had he let this man have his wife, over and over? Few husbands would have been so accommodating, so weak in the face of a wife's professed sexual encounters. How could he have brought her here a second time? Suddenly he knew what had to be done. Neither the manicured lawn nor the marble...
"She does love you. Perhaps too much." Simon's voice still carried the same self-confidence that Steven remembered from the only other time he had heard it. His thumb hovered over the "End" button, an instant away from silencing him. Instead, he pulled the car to the side of the road, unable to look away from Elyse's name staring back at him from the tiny glowing screen. "How did you get her cell?" Steven asked, after a moment's pause. He was determined not to let the defeat show...
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My mother called me. At work. First Autumn, now ... Flora Jennings. “Winter, can you come by?” Mom knew I worked, had my own office. But since I was no longer with the KCPD, nor employed by a real company, she simply hadn’t accepted that I do anything worthwhile. In fact, after Reggie left me, and before Vanessa married me, my mother regarded me as ... sad. A loser. Couldn’t keep a man, couldn’t find a real job. So it didn’t surprise me that she would expect me to drop whatever...
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Robert ‘Bobsy’ Atwater, as part of his three-patent sale to Hayes-Harris, the venture capital company, became an employee there. He wasn’t a partner, but he was one of seven on the Executive Evaluation team. He sat in on presentations from individuals and companies looking for investment capital. Hayes-Harris took small fliers and big risks, tiny positions and majority ownership. They provided money when they were interested. And money, expertise, guidance, even personnel, when they were...
I sent Clint some suggestions for the name of our firm. For incorporation purposes, he would be the equivalent of a CEO, but no one seemed to be interested in titles. To the clients, potential clients, each one of us would be the Indian Chief in our home town. As for a corporate name, I was leaning toward Winter Jennings & Associates, LLC. A second stolen print ended up for sale in Omaha, then a third in Des Moines. Little Rock, Denver, St. Louis. I push-pinned a map and noted that...
Clint spoke softly, “Does he have a gun?” “No, not in the basement. I don’t think.” Our first words. Clint bundled me in his arms and carried me back inside. He sat me gently on a hall bench and flicked the safety off on his Sig Sauer. Even in my panicked state, I registered his new P320. And I also became conscious of the anguished howls coming up from the basement. Clint opened the door cautiously. He didn’t look away from the stairwell as he asked me, “What did you do to...
Once Fowler started babbling, it became almost anticlimactic. Bear started the video recorder and even Fowler’s voice seemed to have lost its resonance. He confessed without emotion. He answered every question — no longer defiant, no longer any vitality in his voice, his posture. Mr. November was resigned, had given up. The last call he’d made, to Ryder and Mologna — “It’s her. Do it.” — turned out to be an order for them to go back to Richmond. To tear the Barbara Reynolds apartment to...
It was the day before our expedition to Pickering was due to set off. Kelly, Kirsty, Kat and I were going and we were taking Will Hinds, Harry Wilton and Emma. Jim Bolton was also coming with us. Although he was now quite frail he wanted to feel useful and his military experience would be good for Will and Harry. He still had sharp eyes and would stay with the train on lookout duty. Katie and her group were all travelling and we would use both engines, with the same make up of carriages as...
At noon on Thursday, Miss Thompson's presence was requested at the principal's office. She arrived to discover a parent seated opposite the principal, dressed conservatively but expensively, with conservative but expensive jewellery. The wedding rings on her hand were expensive, elegant but not ostentatious. The contrast between her and the two educators, both of whom were wearing runners, ankle socks and minor jewellery, could not have been more strong. The Principal herself had decided to...
It was mid-winter here in Western N.C. --- and I had cabin fever. Looking at the same places- same faces - had given me the 'itch' to travel.. My income also suffered now because of the Christmas season. People would rather buy presents than have a massage.I had watched the discovery channel lately, and hit on an idea. In winter, caribou would migrate south to their winter grazing areas and be near a water supply. In summer, they moved back north to stay cool and be near food and water. I would...
It was the first week of October 2013, I was working in the garden of my cottage on the edge of the Yorkshire Wolds near the coast. I hate gardening, always have done, but after last winter when potatoes reached £120 a pound on the black market, I decided that turning the garden, and a bit of the field behind the garden, with the agreement of the farmer who owned it, into a large vegetable patch was prudent. I was lifting the last of my potato crop and storing them for use during the winter....
I eyeballed Sandy Seaver two different ways. From the stands in The K and by tailing him. My first time in a baseball stadium. It was a revelation. An expensive revelation if I’d been paying for everything. Parking, tickets, food, beer. The little magazine that tells you ... um, baseball stuff. And, if I’d had little kids ... all those treats and souvenirs and whatever else they needed. I bet a family of four couldn’t get out of the park for under a couple of hundred bucks. But the scene...
Two parallel investigations — sometimes intersecting, sometimes intertwined. The FBI, supervised by Ash Collins, was focused primarily on illegal weapons — manufacturing and sales. And chasing the gun money, possibly diamonds, around the world. Matt Striker, reporting to Constance Grayson, was all things Meriwether. Their PAC, their possible connections to Wexler and Hoffstatter. And, just maybe their connections to diamonds. I was, for now, relegated to the sidelines. Impatiently so. Ash...
American Snapshot: In Montana it is illegal to guide sheep onto a railroad track with the intent of damaging the train. Vanessa and I agreed to bring Walker and Pilar back home. We couldn’t hide them forever, although Rebecca Montgomery was enjoying their company enormously. But school. Friends. Life. An FBI agent was still posted in the Wrigley lobby. Gunther wouldn’t be able to board the elevator even if he were foolish enough, or desperate enough, to return for another try. Nor would...
The magic of Gaen seems closely bound to music and song while at the same time, Magic and Music each seem to be blooms from very different flowers. Beneath everything, they are very much of the same body. Mathematicians and musicians will both tell you this is true. Wizards will too, if you are in a position to ask them. Threes and fours, apart and in combination, especially in combination, have strong ties to the magic and history of Gaen. These numbers, especially in combination, seemed...