Anastasia inhales a deep breath before she finally lifts up her head to meet her reflection, her fingers brushing the black fabric as she lets her gaze take in each detail.
The sinuous line of lace falling low on her chest is drawing attention to the round swells of her pushed-up breasts. The see-through black corset is sharpening the line of her waist, while the tiny lacy panties she is wearing lower are enhancing the curves of her hips, and she can guess the little fabric behind is also accentuating the small globes there too. Lastly, various ribbons of silk and lace are adding relief and delicacy to the ensemble. Her eyes follow the intertwinings until the two strips lowering on her thighs, where they meet the hem of her sheer high stockings, although she only glimpses the upper part in the half-size mirror above the washstand.
It looks fine. Well, it looks like what the pictures have shown when she has ordered it. Who would have thought it would be this hard? She can learn easily every line of any text of law, or even do decimal calculations in less time than she has needed to put all those sheer pieces of fabric together.
She has almost given up at one point. But actually, it might be complicated for her because it is the first time she wears something like this. It is far from the bras and panties she usually wears, even if she has chosen a sober design, and she still has trouble recognizing herself outside and inside.
Her skin is prickling with nervousness on that thought, and as if summoned by her twitchy nerves, a door opens in the next room.
She jumps and almost drops the flasks set on the edge of the washstand with the faint creak, and catching them in mid-air and trying to do the same with her breath, she focuses on the noises outside the bathroom door. There are steps, and her heart takes their pace as they get closer.
She closes her eyes and prays that they don't come to the bathroom, and luckily, for once, the universe is on her side. The steps go back in the opposite direction, and after some shuffle, they stop, letting her breathe out a silent sigh, which is still tense as she looks at the time.
No, she isn't late. She has organized everything to be ready in time. But Nathaniel is early. He has told her he wouldn't be at his treehouse until about twenty minutes.
It's strange; it doesn't resemble him to be this early. Yet she has no doubt it's him behind that door. She can feel it in the tingling of her skin.
So after glancing one last time at the door and its ancient sliding latch, she comes back to her reflection. She has to finish getting ready with a touch of red lipstick and some mascara, nothing else than that, no concealer, no jewelry, no necklace... She knows how Nathaniel likes to see the redness he creates in so many ways on her white skin.
Though now that she senses his presence on the other side of the door, she is starting to doubt every little detail she has carefully thought out. Maybe she should apply more make-up? Less? The lingerie... She frowns at the mirror. What if he doesn't like it? She suddenly feels ridiculous. Why has she thought it would be a great idea to surprise him? Some lace and a few sweets to make up for all the times she doesn't even dare to count that she has pushed him away and all his gentle gestures through it all?
The more she stares at those ribbons and lacy fabrics – and especially at her body wrapped in them – the more it seems plain. Nathaniel is probably used to seeing his gorgeous wife in much more expensive and fine lingerie. What does he even find in her? She can't comprehend it as she finds back the stray kitten from when she has officially met him at the Honor Ceremony, although it has been more a second meeting because they have got to know each other really intimately on their first encounter.
She would probably run away right now if he wasn't behind the door, and she is actually eyeing her bag with her jeans and white tee-shirt.
But a soft sound coming from the other room stops her before she can even move. It seeps through the door to wrap around her heart and soothe her doubts: guitar's notes. She steps closer to the door as the notes are forming a slow, dulcet melody.
Nathaniel, she should have guessed he would be talented for this too. The notes are slightly hesitant, but it's so sweet and pure. It might become her favorite melody, after his voice. Laying a hand on the wooden door, she lets the rhythm lead the beats of her heart, and there is no hesitation left in her mind. Her determination comes back to her smoothly, her decision.
All the way from the shelter she has realized something: everything is uncertain and dangerous in their 'let it be', but she can do nothing about it. The only possibility that could make things change, she has made a promise to not even try it. So the only thing she can do is to make the most of the time they have together, now. Worrying, regretting, or mourning does nothing but spoils their precious moments.
Talking about it with Andy has made her realize how she can't stay away from Nathaniel, how she doesn't want to, and how pathetic she has been.
Spraying her favorite perfume and passing her fingers through her blond waves, she doesn't even give another glance at her reflection. She knows she is ready.
A soft humming starts to join the guitar, and like a snake drawn to the charmer, she is once again guided by Nathaniel's smooth voice. She opens the door silently, and the sight before her knocks the air out of her lungs by its intense softness.
Nathaniel is sitting on a chair, the guitar in his hands, or more exactly on his knees and his fingers on the strings, and as he is slightly turned away from her, he doesn't see her, but she gets a heavenly view of his profile.
The angles of his jaw are half-relaxed, half-clenching in what she guesses is a mix of peacefulness and concentration. His rosy lips are sealed together to just let a hummed melody pass through, and his arms... she is hypnotized by the way his strong muscles are flexing and moving from his shoulder until the tip of his fingers to create the dulcet melody. It's a powerful gentleness, a contrast that is exactly him.
Sensing a tingling tension on his skin, Nate lifts up his head, and his heart instantly leaves his chest in a leap, jumping to the magnetizing pair of hazel eyes near the bathroom door.
"Ana?!" he gasps.
Though he doesn't expect a reply; he still thinks he's hallucinating because of how much he's missing her and how she's always in his mind. Usually, it's when he manages to find sleep that she appears like this, but it must have escalated.
"Hi." Her quiet, unsure voice makes him blink a few times.
She might sound like a dream, yet she's really there, in his treehouse, in their safe place. He doesn't even know how; it must be one of her angelic apparitions.
"Are you trying to kill me?! To be quits for yesterday?" He chuckles, still winded, and he realizes he won't find his breath anymore when his wide eyes finally take in her full appearance, and he sucks in some air that doesn't even pass his throat. "Oh, yes, you're really trying to kill me! But I'll gladly die a happy man!"
None of them raises how accurate this could be. They're in their safe place.
"Well, yes, I was trying to be quits for yesterday, but... I didn't know you would be this early..." She nibbles on her lip, swaying nervously on her feet, and Nate doesn't even know where to look between her red tempting lips, her pale exposed legs, her plump breasts highlighted by the black lace, her free golden locks, the pink shade on her cheeks...
His gaze is traveling everywhere, getting dazzled with every little detail, and also just the fact that she's here as she starts to ramble,
"You weren't supposed to be here until ten minutes. I've come in early to get ready and surprise you, I mean, I know it's–"
"I wanted to make sure everything was settled before you arrive, in case you'd come..." he interrupts her, and it allows her to take in some air as her tensions ease down a little bit with his soft smile.
She is still determined to enjoy their 'let it be', yet his hungry gaze is wrecking all her nerves in a delicious and torturous way.
"I've fixed the fence."
"Already?!" Her heart skips one of its racing beats.
Here is another sweet attention, and now, her little surprise appears even smaller in comparison, like all her insides with the nervousness.
"So... This is a surprise for me?" As if reading her mind, his tenebrous gaze rakes down her body, and the way his tongue comes out to slide along his lips doesn't flood only her cheeks with heat.
"Oui, I mean, I know it's not much in comparison with everything you've done... but, um, I've also brought our choux and some drinks..." She glances back inside the bathroom, her eyes searching for the paper bag with the pastries and the cups of iced coffee, though his hoarse yet bright voice brings her attention back to his wide grin.
"It's the best surprise ever! I don't need the food..." He slowly puts aside his guitar, his eyes never leaving her, like a predator eyeing his prey, or maybe like a charmer trying to tame a wild animal.
She feels like both as she joins him, bewitched by his dark gaze, and when she stops in front of him, none of them is daring to move with the electric tension in the room. The only movements are their deepening breaths and his head pulling back to gaze at her standing silhouette from head to toes like he can't get enough, and he is shamelessly devouring her with his eyes, so much that she has to avert her own gaze before melting in boiling lava.
She focuses on a detail beside them to slow down the fusing rush in her veins. "You gotta explain. I thought you'd told me you don't play guitar. Now I want to hear it."
"Really?!" He chuckles in front of her light frown.
Every time her body is taking over, her brain tries to interfere, while for him, it's the contrary; it's her body that is taking over his thoughts and all of him.
"Now?! You're too distracting..." He grabs her hips, pulling her body closer and trying to pull her out of her mind.
"I'd love to know."
She never gives up. But how does she expect him to remember anything besides her perky breasts looking deliciously tempting just before his eyes?
"It's the first time I was playing in years." He lets his fingers wander along the ribbons of her corset. "I don't know... I had finished the fence, and I've even gathered some fruits." He points to the basket full of fruits in a corner, yet she only catches a glimpse of it, as his light touch is drawing all her attention to him. "I've tried to do like you: busy myself to take my mind off, but I guess guitar works better for me..."
"It does..." She offers him a small smile, which is quickly pulled behind her teeth. "But... I'm sorry... for stressing you, for avoiding you and all..."
There is no point in finding excuses or lies. They both know the truth, and he sees through her with these warm teddy brown eyes, which makes her think... She is still gripping the cuddly toy in her left hand behind her back; she has been through this whole overwhelming conversation like it has helped her open her heart and let the words out, even though they haven't said much actually.
"I know it's not a lot, but I didn't know what to do... You didn't let me help you for the fence, and it's complicated to do a nice surprise while keeping it safe..."
If she's caught his breath and his heart with her sexy apparition, she is now giving them back with the teddy bear in her hand as he finds both his breath and his heart coming back in an ecstatic state, and they won't steady anytime soon as he stares at the word 'home' on the teddy's shirt and then up at her eyes. They still appear too troubled. So he pulls her to sit on his lap, searching for a closeness that is not only physical.
"Don't be sorry. You have the right to be overwhelmed with everything. I am too. But I'll never be mad at you." He holds her soft gaze, which is the reason that brings him to do things close to madness. Yet his anger will never be directed toward her.
"And you didn't need to do anything, even if this is the best surprise ever!" His gaze travels on every little detail from her sexy lingerie to the teddy bear.
He's always had everything he's needed and more materially. But Anastasia offers him what no one has ever given him: little attentions, precious moments, freedom to be himself, and her trust, just herself naturally, and this is the best present he could ever wish for.
"I didn't do any of this to get something in return," he whispers as if the words are too strong to be said out loud. "And I don't want you to feel like you owe me anything. In this 'let it be', we're both free, and... if you ever want to stop, you have the right," he finishes in a breath, letting this out being harder than wresting out his guts.
"I was terrified." Her voice is as quiet as his. "I still am." She looks down at the teddy bear that she is fiddling with, and if his guts haven't be wrenched before, now, they are.
Despite her almost-naked hot body so close, a coldness is invading him from inside, freezing him. Though it doesn't last long when he meets the fire in her determined eyes.
"But I won't run away from you anymore."
This. Is. The. Best. Surprise. Ever.
A wide smile spreads on his lips, and she crashes her sweet mouth on it with as much determination as her words. He grabs her face between his hands, immediately returning the passion, taking in, or giving in – he doesn't know. All he cares about is the way their lips are molding perfectly together and her taste invading him as she lets him in.
The kiss is determined, sweet, and tender, yet it also holds something desperate as if he hadn't just kissed her yesterday because the time has seemed an eternity during this day and the too many times he's thought he has lost her.
"I missed you," he breathes out as their mouths are barely apart, his hand sliding from her cheeks to thread into the back of her hair and keep her close.
"Me too." She pulls her bottom lip between her teeth, savoring the addicting taste he has left there, and she can see she has also left her mark on his lips as they are smeared with red lipstick. It is such a hot sight with his dark hooded eyes focused on her, and even more when a voracious grin adds up, making his eyebrows flash up.
"Can I unwrap my surprise?"
"I guess that's what surprises are made for..." she whispers seductively, her cheeks blossoming with red around her devious smile.
It is innocently lustful, like everything about her outfit, her surprise, her, his sinful angel.
Running his hands along her thighs from the thin black fabric of her stockings to the goosebumps forming on her milky skin, he still can't believe she's done all of this for him. He's already euphoric, getting drunk on the sight of her as he is throbbing everywhere, from his pants to his heart, and to all his nerve-endings, all focused on her.
He takes in acutely the shaky breath she lets out as much as the details of her garter belt, and the feeling of her gaze following the slow ascent of his fingers up her stomach until their eyes meet.
There, in the chocolate shades darkening with each passing second, she finds a sparkle wilder than in her wildest dreams. It prickles every inch of exposed skin it crosses, and now that he is staring deep into her eyes, the tingles are going straight to her core.
When his fingers reach the hem of her bra, tugging at the lace as if it was a gift ribbon, she lets out another shallow breath; it seems she can't do anything else. The tension building around with the anticipation of unfolding the surprise is crippling. Though, maybe it is only for her, as Nathaniel's movements grow more determined in their languor.
He frees her breasts from the tight corset and kisses her again, his lips slowly brushing hers and sucking in her shallow breaths, nothing more, yet it feels more sensual and nerve-tingling than a full kiss.
When she has expected him to just greedily unwrap his surprise, unwrap her, he is doing the contrary, enfolding an impossibly tight pressure around them, and she can almost hear the tension in the air like a wrapping paper being crumpled little by little.
However, he still makes her feel how much he is enjoying the gift when his hands reach her butt, guiding their centers closer. It is surely the most literal definition of the expression 'the pleasure of giving' as her hips instantly take a languishing rhythm to meet his hardness, perfectly in sync with his mouth now dragging the same light open-mouthed kisses along her neck.
His fingers are digging in the exposed skin of her butt, and the high-cut fabric that she has found uncomfortable when she has put it on is now exacerbating the torturous sensations and adding to the friction against her throbbing core.
It's like they're both in a trance. They can't stop, yet they don't go faster. They're just seeking the intoxicating pleasure, tightening inch by inch the knot of pressure inside, and they know it may snap at any second.
She feels like she is just one string away from losing it when his lips get to her exposed breasts, and she circles her hips closer, tugging at his curl in a desperate ache to unravel the pressure.
"Nathaniel..."
But it's him who snaps upon her raw moan.
"Fuck! I can't take it anymore..." he mutters before crashing his lips on her.
This time it's his full mouth, with his teeth, lips, and tongue attacking hers, and he doesn't break away when he lifts her up, wrapping her legs around his waist even closer and heading to the bed a few feet away without breaking their lips apart.
Although in the rush of his movements, he still lays her delicately on the mattress like the most precious present, gazing at her the same way, and he takes a brief moment to commit every detail to his memory as his eyes are running all over her silhouette.
He's wanted to make it last, to savor this present, but this is too much: how he's missed her, the surprise, the attraction between them. His primal hunger is taking over, and his lips are attacking her chest again, making sure to leave more marks, but most importantly, to create tingles of pleasure on her sweet skin.
She is writhing under him, and the lightest touch from her warm body is rushing more heat and need in his tight pants as their clothes are still in the way. His fingers are working on this point, tugging at the ribbons and lacy hems to find a way in. But with his head spinning in desire, it appears impossible, and soon, a ripping sound stops him.
The rush in his whole body is halted too, at least for a second because as soon as he glances up to meet her eyes, the wide look there is only emphasizing the dark lust swallowing their luminous hazel, and his blood is pumping faster when she arches up, her arms snaking around her back. He can glimpse the same pent-up frustration that is growing in his body as her eyebrows are furrowing, and she quickly shakes her head, her arms falling back to her side.
"Just tear it open."
This woman is gonna be the death of him, yet she's making it such a sweet, heavenly death as his heart convulses with a euphoric feeling.
Grabbing the tear he has made on the top of her corset, he easily extends it. The ripping sound might be resonating in all her nerve-endings, but for him, what is echoing is the breathless sigh of relief escaping her lips as she arches her chest, and with the tempting invitation, his mouth swoops on her revealed skin.
"Thank you for this, for the surprise." He punctuates each word with a kiss along her chest. "For the teddy bear." For this one, his lips pause just above her racing heart. "For coming."
"For coming?" She giggles as he peppers her belly button with butterfly kisses.
"Yes, coming." He flashes her a smug grin before coming back above her lips with a special intensity. "Thank you for everything," he whispers, and in his eyes, she forgets all her doubts.
Her surprise might not be extraordinary, yet it's perfect for them, and she still doesn't know what he finds in her, but the answer is in the shine of his melting chocolate gaze.
Their lips meet again, maybe for the hundredth time today – that's how swollen their lips are – but it holds another intensity, and Anastasia takes the lead, turning them around and continuing the kiss along his jaw.
She brings special attention to the underside of his jaw, the soft spot that draws raw groans out of his chest. Today is all about him and his pleasure. Her only goal is to please him, and she is even more determined to make his little surprise unforgettable.
So she peels off the navy sweater that has been covering him too much in front of her almost-naked body, and she resumes her journey lower. She traces each line of his abs with her tongue. She caresses each crevice, grazing her teeth along his pecs and kissing softly his scar, and the way his hands are gripping tighter and tighter all over her body lets her know she is succeeding in her goal.
When she finally reaches the V-lines pointing like an arrow towards what she is throbbing for, her breath is as labored as his, and even though her shaky hands are struggling with the buttons of his pants, his light touch along her cheeks soothes her unsteady nerves, almost guiding her as she manages to pull down his pants and boxers.
Her heart jumps to her throat at the sight in front of her, and she lets her gaze slide over each detail from his erected member standing proudly before her eyes to his quivering stomach and his heaving chest now dotted with a few red marks until she meets his drunk gaze. He's staring at her like hypnotized, and it is hypnotizing her.
She keeps her gaze fixed on his as she brushes her fingers along the smooth and rigid length, and she is entranced by his reaction: his breathing growing heavier, his plump lips parting, and his lids falling down.
The air seems to have grown even more charged, and as she leans closer to him, she can't put a name on the tension prickling under her skin. It isn't uneasiness or nervousness; it is a mix of determination and need, along with the nerves of trying something new as she softly puts a kiss on his leaking tip, liking the warmth under her lips and slipping out her tongue to taste him for the first time.
"Ana..." His hoarse whisper spurs more confidence inside her chest.
She runs her hands with more purpose along his length and sucks his tip between her lips, feeling it twitch under her touch, and she even risks a glance up to glimpse his eyebrows creased in pleasure and his fists clenched tight by his sides as if battling to not grip her and lead her fully.
She could come just watching him like this. It brings her a nameless pleasure, satisfying a place deep inside that nothing else could ever reach, and she gets down lower for more, shivering with his groans.
Yet his fingers in her hair pull her away before any of them can taste the bliss, and if her stomach is clenching, it isn't in a pleasurable way when the worst possibilities are freezing her.
"As much as this would be the best surprise ever, I want to come with you." His voice may be strained and low, but it silences all her doubts before they can even form in her hazy mind, and a smile stretches her lips as she warms up.
Actually, she is already burning again under his dark gaze. "Come?"
"Come," he affirms, connecting their lips again as their hands rush in the frenzy of the kiss to take off the last piece of clothing still separating their burning centers.
In no time the lacy panties are sliding down her legs, and she is leaning away to get rid of the remaining fabric, but Nathaniel stops her with a hand on her thigh, and not anywhere on her thigh: exactly on the junction of her garter belt and stockings.
"Keep it."
Her legs almost give out in tingling lava upon his gravelly demand, and as if sensing it, he pulls her to him and switches them around. He roams his hands all over her legs, making sure to gather more heat that he sparks up when his fingers climb up to their junctions.
"Nathaniel..." she almost begs.
She will implode under the pressure if she doesn't feel him entirely. She can't even form any other words, but he understands, his gaze taking that dark intensity they always and only have during the seconds of sizzling anticipation before they finally form one.
He grabs her right calf, lifting up her leg and kissing delicately her ankle, and she hasn't thought she could be throbbing more in need, yet she is like a ticking bomb when he positions himself at her entrance, one of her legs resting on his shoulder.
He slowly sinks into her, and the full contact makes them both moan in sync. It seems that every time they're fitting even more perfectly than the previous one, like two puzzle pieces sharpening to interlock more precisely or melting and merging together.
At this new angle and feeling, he lets her time to adjust, but she surprises him once again, swaying her hips and clawing at his back. Everything jumps inside him: his heart leaps; his hardness twitches, and his hips jerk deeper, to then all take a wild pace.
His left hand is slithering all over her leg, alternating between skimming and grasping that she's really there. Though he can seize it clearly in her eyes, where drown in the dark desire, there is an assurance that is taking his breath away.
"Ana..." His heart can't take it; his groin can't take it.
He knows he won't last long, as a tingling is already forming somewhere deep inside and growing with every loud beat of his heart, and the way she is clenching around him is making this pressure sizzling and leading him closer to the explosion where she is heading too.
Like in a race against the desire rushing in their veins, his fingers sneak between them, and the light touch contrasting with the sharp thrusts of his hips is turning everything faster, warmer, electrifying, and euphoric in every inch of her being.
With the new angle, he is reaching new places, and she is more open for him in so many ways that it allows him to touch her deeper. She feels the release rising from there. She is so close, but she holds it back with all her will as she arches up her chest.
"Come with me." Her nibbling whisper on his earlobe ends up in a moaned bite as his thrusts become erratic slams, tearing the last bit of her restrain.
Her orgasm takes over like a volcanic eruption. She can't locate the origin of the boiling lava, but she feels every shattering ripple flooding her.
"Oh, Nathaniel! Oh m–" she cries out.
"Ana! Fuc–" he echoes her, trembling with her, and as they are coming together, she realizes from where exactly the explosion is igniting.
It isn't from the hidden, sensitive point he is hitting again and again, even though this spot is pulsating for him. But the place from where the sparking euphoria is springing is deep between her chest and her core; it's the place where she has missed him these past few days.
She knows he feels the same as he repeats her name again and again like it is the only word he knows. Each time, it shoots more waves of electric bliss, and by the time he has filled her fully and falls forwards, she is a limp mess bubbling with ecstasy.
"This was definitely the best surprise ever!" he breathes out when he finally gets a feeble grip on himself.
He delicately puts her leg back down, though she barely feels it as all her members are numb. What she feels more is the emptiness he leaves behind as he pulls out, and she gladly lets him guide her body to the warmth of his arms instead.
"The best..." he whispers again, his fingers playing absent-mindedly with the lace of her garter belt, and as she looks up to his glowing grin, she can't remember why she has ever worried about everything.
This is worth it, and she will enjoy fully every precious second she has with Nathaniel, in spite of all the dangerous clouds threatening around.
Sooo... Did you expect this surprise? 😏🔥 I hope you liked it as much as Nate! 😉
Also, Nate playing guitar? Your thoughts on it? 😁🎵 What can I say?! I love musicians! 😍
I hope you liked this chapter, if so, don't forget to vote ⭐ and let me know in the comments!
Finally, as you know, in last chapter (and on Insta), I asked you about the chapters' length, and you all answered that you liked when I let my crazy writer mind wander, so I will keep doing it! 😉😁 And thank you from the bottom of my little heart, it means the world for me to be able to express myself and have so much positive feedback and support from you in return ❤😘🌞