Chapter 16: Blindfold In Your Arms

The look on Ruen's face showed that he was stunned by my words. Then, some moments later his eyes softened likely realizing what I meant. He inched closer to me and ever so gently touched my cheeks. This time, the heat I was feeling ignited more.

"Lianne, are you sure?" he asked me with doubt in his eyes.

"Yes..." was my most ardent reply.

He bent his head to kiss me. It was pure bliss. The feeling of his lips on mine, finally. I remembered back in the mansion, before my friends and I were to go to the cave, he bestowed a kiss on me like this. Although that one was a bit aggressive, possibly because he was jealous of Cain, but it was still the same, full of desire that was tangible on his lips.

I let myself loose. I didn't allow anything to nail me down or let any feeling of hesitation come over me.

Free.

Free to give myself to him.

Our mouths collided like a comet hitting the surface of the earth. And every impact was as deep as the one before. I palmed his face with both of my hands and then ran my fingers through his hair. His scent is intoxicating as I remembered it to be. My mind registered every aroma of it.

Then he pulled back abruptly. I was dumbfounded at first, but as I looked at him, I could see the satisfaction and searing desire flaming in his eyes.

"Come with me," he said and took my hand.

I let him lead me once again, only this time up the bedroom floor and into the Masters.

He noticed the slight trembling of my hands and in response, he kept it still, planting a kiss on my fingers as we stood right in the doorway of his room.

"I'll prepare the bath for you," he offered and I just nodded in return. He really does think that I wanted to try the Jacuzzi now.

I eyed him entering the bathroom, or should I say, the enormous bathroom. It was designed for perfection. Blue and white tiles adorned the floor and in the walls were also light blue tiles with engravings. I entered the first of the three separately connected sections of the bathroom.

The first one was half the size of his bedroom. It had a huge wall mirror and a granite sink countertop. The lightings were modern and there was a walk-in shower encased in a transparent glass and a porcelain tub on its side.

This was exactly where I undressed myself, leaving only my black lingerie on. The necklace, I purposely left on the sink. I poised to look at the mirror. My reflection showed me...the nervous me. Is this what it feels like?

There was a white bathrobe hung in one of the walls, so I freely took it. At least to provide a bit of modesty when I enter the second section of the bathroom, which was exactly the Jacuzzi area.

~ 0 ~

POV: Ruen Waitsince

I couldn't believe myself. She agreed.

Yes.

She agreed.

Was I a fool to even ask her that question then? What if she answered no. It would destroy my whole world surely. But now, she's here, willing and ready to submit herself to me.

My heart hammered so much. I felt like this was just a dream. That if I acted a bit too hasty, that everything would disappear.

No.

I should take everything slow. Cherish the time that she's with me, and hope that it would be forever.

I remembered, in the past, when we made love for the first time in my chamber then. It was heaven. But as soon as I opened my eyes in the morning, I found that she already left.

I couldn't risk that from happening again. This would be my last card. My trump card. The only hope I have for her to remember me. Cain, I'm sure, thought the same way. He almost raped her for that fact alone. I wouldn't do that to her however. That was why I solely asked her permission.

I pressed the remote button to let the Jacuzzi run. Since Mr. Rafael gave this rest house to me, this would be the first time I'm using this romantic element in the bathroom. To my surprise, there were already scented candles available in the drawers beside a vanity mirror. Surely, that old geezer made it sure I have one ready. Hmff... that man is such a hopeless romantic.

Well, I couldn't blame him. He had loved and lost also. Come to think of it, I need to thank him for strangling me out of my melancholy.

After five minutes, the Jacuzzi was filled, hinting me that it was ready. Ready for Lianne. Ready for her body.

Then a thought crossed my mind, of her and me inside making love.

No.

Slow. I have to take it slow.

I trashed the thought out into the deepest recesses of my consciousness; however, it didn't take long until it resurfaced again as the door from the bathroom opened and in came the most beautiful woman I had longed for in my life.

She looked stunning in a short cotton bathrobe. Her hair trailing down her waist like it used to in the past. Her eyes capturing my soul like it used to in the past. And my heart throbbing like crazy like it used to in the past. Her long legs looked beautiful. And I know, under that robe, was a much pleasurable view. A view I had seen and tasted countless of times in the past.

I shrugged the thought away. Damn... this was becoming hard for me.

She looked nervous and I could sense that she was nervous. Though deep inside me ached for her, I realized it would be proper of me to give her some private time for herself.

The candles flickered casting a playful shadow as I walked close to her. I noticed now how much those luscious lips captivated me.

"The Jacuzzi is ready, Lianne. Do enjoy. I'll give you space," I said as calmly as I could, hiding a choke successfully. Her closeness sorely temps me. I would have loved to lift her up from the ground and bring her to the Jacuzzi myself.

I aimed for the door, but before I could step away, Lianne stopped me.

"Ahh... no," she muttered. I turned around and faced her again, confused and a bit dumbstruck.

"Ruen, stay. Please...stay," she offered, and her words proved to be my undoing.

Oh how my heart leaped!

***

POV: Lianne Deivin

Every step he made was torment for me. I wanted to speed up time so I could feel his warmth around me.

'Touch me,' my thoughts broke out.

He stopped inches away from me, and in a surprising move, he turned me around so that my back would press his chest.

Then my senses jumped anew when he glided his hand to brush my hair towards the side, exposing my nape and shoving the bathrobe out of my right shoulder. I shut my eyes.

Oh my...

I gasped as his soft lips brushed my skin, from my nape down to my shoulder and nipped its rounded bone. It felt like a tingle, but an even heightened one. I released a satisfied hum.

Goodness me!

"Lianne, remember," he said as he began to untie my bathrobe and then let it slide out of my body down to my feet.

"Then help me," I pleaded once again and without delay, he whirled me around to face him and captured my mouth in a seductively tender manner.

I could feel the heat between us. Boiling. Crying. Screaming to be released. He lifted me up from the floor with his strong arms and we both dipped inside the Jacuzzi together. He didn't even give a damn when his clothes became wet. Instead, he pulled his t-shirt off and I saw in my front such a finely-shaped specimen of a man.

Oh, the Jacuzzi felt sublime. The ripples were playing under my legs and my belly. And the bubbles were tickling my back. The water was lukewarm and soft. The aroma of the whole room smelled of jasmine and spicy wood. It was invigorating. More than arousing.

He reached back for me and slowly, delightfully traced my arm with his palm and then proceeded to kiss me again. His hands massaged my back and that was when I felt my brassiere loose and my breasts free from its modest enclosure.

Unconsciously, I stepped back, but I found myself trapped in between the edge of the Jacuzzi and him in my front. Not that I cared the confined space.

He kneaded my breasts and encircled his thumbs playfully on my hardened nipples. It felt divibe. I was simmering...simmering like a kettle of hot water.

I closed my eyes to feel it more, then a moan consequently escaped my mouth. That was my first erotic sound ever.

He then made a fiery path down my breasts and sucked it, tongued it, pleasured it until I gasped and moaned, and gasped once again.

"Ruen!!!"

I pressed my hands on his chest and instantly, felt his heartbeat drumming violently.

"I miss you so much..." he murmured with a hint of sadness at the end. "You are my life, Lianne. And this time, I swear I will protect you at all cost."

"Then protect me," was my quick reply, "but first you have to protect my heart. Ruen, take my loneliness away, take my confusion, take all of me."

I didn't understand at all but tears broke out from my eyes. They streamed down my cheeks and fell into the bubbling water. I felt pain, sadness, loneliness, despair and in seconds, all of these lifted out of me and all that was left was yearning and love.

"Ruen..." I painstakingly uttered, touching his face like it was my first time ever seeing it.

Then a blanket of darkness clouded my head, I could no longer see him. Everything went black. Like I was in a blindfold. Flashbacks after flashbacks started to present itself thereafter.

I was in a trance. Half awake. Half in slumber. All I could see now was intermittent pulsating visions of what I know was from my past and the present, right in Ruen's arms.

In one vision, I saw myself reading a book in a library, and then the next I was cleaning the stables, and then another, I was picking up white roses. It was all surreal.

Maybe, I was truly in a dream. It felt like one at first, until I gasped and moaned loudly. That was when I realized I was in the present, with Ruen now pressing me in the mattress of his king-sized bed, making love to me.

Even though I could see only darkness, I knew quite well we were both naked: his smooth male skin touching mine, his thick, hard, perfectly-toned muscles pressing my belly. I could feel his hands probing familiarly with every curve of my body. From my neck, my back, spine, my legs, waist, my breast and face, and even the most sensitive part of me.

"Ahhhh," I gasped once again in a more audible tone.

It was ecstasy. Sheer pleasure.

"Lianne, I love you," I heard him say so tenderly, kissed my lips, and then began to thrust his hardness inside me. I felt a quick and brief pain tearing the insides of my flesh then.

"Ruen!"

Another vision entered me. I was in my room in the Regaleria mansion, utterly surprised to find Prince Ruen visiting my chamber in the middle of his father, King Garlow's funeral.

"I have not forgotten my promise to you."

"I know, then, would you..."

"--fulfill it? Yes, of course... you have all the right to be free, Lianne. I can't keep that yearning away from you. But, I want to protect you from the dangers outside my reach."

"What more danger is there outside than living with the world's most cruel man? So you intend to keep me here after all?"

"I am a man who honors my word. I am never like Garlow. I...I just hope you'd..."

"I'm sorry, but, I...ah...I can't stay."

"It is settled then. I hope to give you a proper leave, but then the procession and the burial tomorrow will keep me from doing so. I will not be here for three days and I know you are craving to leave the mansion; so I am quite certain I will not be able to meet you again when I return.."

"The sooner I leave, the better..."

"Then, would it be too much to ask just one thing from you?"

"I am not obliged to do errands for you, Your Highness, but to allow your grace a final request, I guess, it would be enough."

"Then, let me kiss you."

Ruen ensued another thrust inside me. I moaned. Then another. I moaned again. Then another. And another. And another. I writhed in passion.

A lethargic yet surprisingly light feeling overcame me. I heard him groan in pleasure and then proceeded to trail flaming kisses from my lips to my breasts. He was panting. I was panting. Our breaths were heady and mixed.

"Please don't hurt me," I heard a delicate little girl's voice from beyond the darkness. I recognized it was my own.

"I...I won't," a boy replied, his voice tender and warm. A soft green glow of light suddenly appeared out of nowhere, peaking its way from the darkness and changing into a clearer picture: pair of beautifully sad eyes, brown-green in color, staring at me with longing. It was from the young boy in the greenhouse.

"Lianne..."

I snapped back to reality, groggy but feeling satisfied.

The sunrays welcomed me when I opened my eyes, and there I found myself lying naked under the bedcover, with my head resting on Ruen's chest. I looked up and saw two familiar blue-greens staring lovingly at me.

"Good morning, Lianne."