Disclaimer: All the characters from the "Magnificent Seven" T.V. series are property of Trilogy Entertainment, The Mirisch Group, MGM Worldwide.
Even before he saw the amber glow in the sky from the distance, Chris Larabee could smell the smoke. It ashy stench drifted through the trees, snaking across the land like tendrils of foreboding, the nearer he reached home. It was not unlike the smell that would beckon him the next day, when the fire had died and all hope had disappeared with it. As Chris and Buck continued at breakneck speed for the homestead where Sarah and Adam awaited rescue, he could feel his heart pounding in his chest because he knew that if he made it at all, it was going to be by the narrowest margin of time.
The night was beautiful and clear and as Chris and Buck reached the final leg of their journey, the splendour of twilight only seemed to mock them in its amplification of the violence taking place in the beyond that was close enough to see. Chris could see the glow of the house amidst the trees surrounding the perimeter of the main house. Like a pyre, the flames stretched into the night, illuminating the indigo sky with amber waves of heat and embers that drifted with the wind like fireflies dancing. The house sat at the bottom of the hill and as Chris and Buck looked down at the fire raging against the canvas of iridescent blue, it could almost have been considered beautiful
If not for the screaming.
"Sarah!" Chris almost screamed back when he heard it and dug his spurs into his horse, sending the animal into a bray of pain before it rushed forward, leaving Buck behind.
"Chris wait!" Buck shouted after his friend, understanding how much that terrified scream would wrench his senses if it was his wife too but in his desperation to reach Sarah, Chris had forgotten about the men who were responsible for this, men who were still in the area. Unfortunately, Chris was beyond hearing as he and his horse thundered through forward determined to reach the property at any costs.
"Shit!" Buck swore and had little choice but to follow him, praying that whatever that lay waiting once they reached the flaming house was within their ability to handle. However, even Buck had to confess that the terror in those screams growing louder they nearer they reached the house was enough to drive any man insane. He felt his insides clench with fury, aware as Chris must have surely known the moment he had heard them, that those were Sarah's screams. Even Buck started to feel his own restraint slip as he followed Chris through the winding darkness of the track, feeling a darkness permeate his soul as unspeakable evil ran its course through the depths of this night.
"Chris!" He tried to stop his friend's rapid advance but Chris was still riding hard ahead of him. The distance between the house and the track was shortening, they would be on top of the homestead in a matter of seconds and there was nothing to mask their approach. The fire had sent every living thing, other than human, scurrying away for fear of the oldest and most powerful elemental in nature's arsenal. The only sound that could be heard from the forest was the crackling of wood, their eminent approach and the screaming that had become so loud that nothing else seemed to penetrate.
Chris could hear nothing else. He could not hear Buck, trying desperately to warn him of what was awaiting, trying to force him to tread on the side of caution. All Chris could hear was Sarah's cries and what frightened him more than hearing his wife was the fact that his son's voice was strangely silent. Chris broke through the ring of trees that surrounded the house and the barn. Sarah's screams had descended into shrieks of pure terror as Chris gazed upon the house that she was trapped within, he finally had one of the many questions he had regarding this night as to what her last hours had been. The roof of the house was completely ablaze. The mere fact that it had not collapsed upon itself was more of a testament to the structure's construction then the intensity of the fire. Inside the glass windows he had specially ordered from town so that Sarah could have her view, he saw her. She was pounding against it, soot covering her terrified face, one fist smashing against the clear glass, begging and pleading for her life. Her eyes widened as she caught sight of him and that centred her thoughts somewhat.
"Chris!" She pleaded. "Help us!"
Chris dismounted the house, thinking of nothing else but to get to her in time. The fire had taken the awning on the front porch of the house, snaking down beams and consuming its path to the front door. Despite his urgency to reach Sarah, Chris knew he had to do this right because there was only one chance to save her. The roof was burning away steadily and a minor miracle had taken place because it had yet to crumble upon itself in final destruction. When that happened, it would take his family with it. He ran to the pipe that was in front of the house and immediately started pumping to produce the water needed to fill the bucket before it. The seconds it took for the frothy liquid to emerge seemed like an eternity and Chris scanned the area in the interim, trying to find Fowler and his men who should be still in the area.
The bucket was filled to the brim when Buck Wilmington made his appearance and Chris paid little attention to his best friend because he had other things to deal with. Besides, with Buck here, the man could watch his back in case Fowler and his men decided to come back. The window that Sarah was standing before was surrounded by flames and to get her through it, he would have to put some of it out. Crossing the space between the house and the pump, Chris saw Sarah was holding Adam in her arms as she stared at him, relief flooding into his face at his presence. The smoke inside the house was so thick that it would have been difficult to see her if she had not been standing at the window. With his mind completely focussed on reaching Sarah, it never occurred to him why she had been pinned in that one section of the house.
Flinging the content of the bucket as soon as he stepped under the awning, Chris immediately felt his eyes water from the sting of the thick smoke. With horror, he was unable to imagine how Sarah had not succumb to it when it was must have been so much thicker inside the house. The water sizzled as it killed the flames around the windowsill and Chris approached the glass, relieved that he was able to save her, as he had not done so before. Sarah pressed her hand against the glass as he came up to it, with tears running down her face that could not even begin to explain how happy she was to see him. He pressed his own palm against hers, unable to stop staring at her even like this. Then his eyes shifted to Adam whom Sarah was cradling and the smile on his face dissolved immediately.
Sarah had not noticed yet mostly because she had been so intent on letting him know they were here. Adam was lying limp in her arms; his head lolled back and his eyes closed. He was probably still warm from the heat of the fire so Sarah could have been forgiven for the mistake. Chris felt a well of anguish rise from his heart as he realised that for Adam, it was too late. The smoke had claimed him long ago. Chris raised his eyes to meet Sarah's, seeing her face so full of hope drove the need to tell her away for the moment. He had to save her first, then he could tell her about their son.
Chris was about to smash the window when suddenly he heard the sound of a rifle being fired. Immediately, he swung around to the direction of the loud booming noise. Buck who had been filling up another bucket of water to aid him was staring at him with a look of surprise on his face. The big man glanced downwards as the crimson stain in the centre of his chest started extending outwards, creating a wet patch of red across his light coloured shirt. He met Chris' gaze briefly before everything that was Buck drained out of his eyes forever. Chris knew he was dead before he even hit the ground.
"Buck!" Chris ran forward as Buck collapsed in the dirt. He was no more than two steps away from his friend when he remembered Sarah and cursed himself for a fool. Not caring whether or not Fowler was watching, Chris ran back towards the house. When Buck had been shot, the sound of gunfire had tore through Chris' mind like an echo that would not fade. However, it was nothing in comparison to the sound made when the roof of the Larabee home finally gave in.
There was a final moment after it tore through the air when Sarah stared at him with pure terror in her eyes, knowing that there would be no last minute rescue, no final reprieve or anything for that matter, when time seemed to freeze for Chris. He watched almost unwillingly, as the spine of the main ceiling beam snapped with a loud crack that seemed to fill his mind with nothing else than its resounding waves. He watched in muted horror as the roof caved in, bringing with it death in a descending wall of fire. Her last scream was one of hopelessness and anger at the life that was snatched away within inches of her reach.
"Sarah!" Chris screamed with her before their voices were both drowned out by roar of the fire that did not just kill her but a part of him as well. He dropped to his knees, feeling his heart shatter into a thousand pieces when she screamed no more and he was left with nothing more than the knowledge that he had failed her again. It wrenched his insides with a pain so unbearable that for a few seconds following Sarah's end, he could do nothing but weep in inconsolable sorrow at the loss of her. Losing her the first time had been more than Chris could stand and he never believed that could be any pain worse but now he knew was no limits to what pain could make a man endure.
He almost lunged into the fire after her. For what he had failed to prevent, he should have died too. He staggered to his feet, ready to make the journey into the fire when suddenly, he remembered something else. Chris paused in mid step. Inside himself, the man who remembered marrying Mary Travis slipped away quietly into the mists, disappearing as if he had never been. In his place was a creature that Chris had kept locked up all his life, terrified of releasing for the evil it could do in its berserker rage.
Chris hardly noticed when that door was opened.
Trancelike, he walked past Buck, seeing his friend but the death registered no more than that. He looked into the darkness and he saw the faces just skimming the edge of the trees. He knew why Fowler had not attacked him because Ella had not given him leave to do so. Shooting Buck had been a tactic for delay nothing else. His friend had died so that Chris would be prevented from entering the house and being killed when the room finally caved in as it had just done and sealed the fate of his wife and son.
"Fowler!" Chris shouted loudly because he needed to get the man's attention. "I know you're out there, Fowler You can't hide away this time, I know who you are and I'm coming for you!" Chris said these words as if he were reading them from a book. It too did not register in his mind as anything that he ought to care about, it just needed doing.
Until now, there had been nothing to prove to the law that Cletus Fowler was responsible for the deaths of Sarah and Larabee. All that had led him to the man previously, was one outlaw's word and that had not been enough. Fowler had killed the man to assure his anonymity and Chris was certain that he would do the same to Chris to protect himself, client or not. Chris went to his horse and waited for the eminent arrival of Fowler and his men from under the protection of the trees. He could almost imagine what Fowler was thinking at this moment, that he was easy prey. Grief had made him weak and easy to overcome.
When Fowler and his men finally did emerge, Chris made no move to approach them. He remained by his horse so that they would not have a clear shot to do to him what they had done to Buck. Whomever had shot Buck had done it from a distance and Chris scoured the faces and decided it did not matter which one of them had pulled the trigger on his friend. Nothing mattered any more. There was a numbness inside him that was indescribable and his rage was a singularity in his soul awaiting release at the right moment.
"You were not meant to be here Mr Larabee." Cletus Fowler said, his men surrounding Chris while he stared at them dispassionately. "It is unfortunate that you were. Give up your guns." The assassin ordered as he stared at Chris from on top of his horse.
Chris tossed both his peacemakers into the dirt, several feet from himself, without hesitation. He was not afraid of anything that happened to him now. Not with Sarah and Adam gone and now Buck as well. Mary was out of his reach and for what he was about to do, it was best that way.
"Step away from the horse." Fowler ordered, seeing something in the gunslinger's eyes that made him nervous. In fact, they all did. Perhaps it was the lack of feeling in those steel coloured eyes, he could not say for certain but the others riding with him were starting to get apprehensive. "Slowly," he added the warning, expecting something but unsure what that might be.
Chris stepped out in front of them and pulled the shotgun he had loaded before their arrival and had kept hidden discreetly. With speed he had always possessed but seldom used, he emptied both shells into the men next to Fowler without so much as batting an eye. The loud roar of the weapon coupled with the frightened reaction of the horses as both men caught the brunt of the discharges in the chest, caused Fowler's mount to buck with similar fear. The assassin felt to the ground as Chris rushed forward and tore the last unseated rider from his horse. The chaos taking place around the man had distracted him from the flurry of movement that had become Chris Larabee. Chris dragged him out of the saddle and paused long enough for Fowler to notice that he had snaked an arm around the man's throat and was waiting for an audience.
Before Chris snapped his neck with one abrupt movement.
The man went limp in Chris' arm following the sickening squelch of muscle and bone. Chris let him drop to the ground and turned his attention to Fowler with eyes that were black like onyx. The assassin who knew little about fear saw something in the gunslinger's eyes that made him shudder. Chris took a step forward, oblivious to the fact that he was unarmed and Fowler was but still confident that it was Fowler who was about to die. Even the assassin began to understand this as Chris walked forward with such casual ease in his manner that he looked like death itself, wearing a black duster and gazing at Fowler with empty eyes.
"Think of this way," Chris said listlessly as he approached. "You'll die quick. Ella won't."
"This is really getting out of hand." Steven complained as he checked on Mary and Billy whom he had instructed to remain hidden inside their house. He had thought moving his family into town would make things safer for them. However, after today, he decided that there was no safe haven for a man to keep his family. The gunfire had resumed an hour ago and had not stopped. Like any sane person, he had instructed Mary and his son to remain indoors while the drunken Texan's responsible for this siege got the liquor out of their system, hopefully without doing too much damage. Unfortunately, this did not appear to be a scenario that would take place anywhere in the immediate future since the group was still riding through town causing untold damage as they discharged their weapons, destroying property and sanity. Steven supposed they ought to be grateful that none of these men had turned their attention to anyone person yet.
"It will end soon enough Steven." Mary advised, knowing that a short time from now, Chris Larabee and Vin Tanner would intervene and this reign of terror would end in a blaze of gunfire that would herald the formation of the seven.
"I hope so," Steven frowned, walking up to the front widow to see the progression of the violence. "We need a real sheriff." He declared unhappily. "This town seems to be attracting all kinds of bad elements lately and now Chris Larabee too, God knows what the wind is going to blow into town next."
"Whose Chris Larabee." Billy asked as he remained in Mary's arms at the corner of the room.
"A notorious gunslinger." Steven answered off handedly, still staring out the window at the goings on taking place outside.
"Really Steven," Mary frowned, feeling the need to come to Chris' defence. "We don't know anything about the man. All we have are third hand reports from questionable people regarding his so called reputation as a ruthless killer."
Steven looked over his shoulder and her, clearly unimpressed by her appraisal of Chris' character. "He must have left quite an impression on you." He said without hiding the jealousy in his voice or the dislike.
Mary suddenly felt embarrassed by the intensity of his glare in her direction and she forced herself to remember that this was Steven whom she had loved and for whom she had pined for so long after his death. Why did she now feel like he was a stranger. She loved him once and in her heart, she loved him still but her thoughts were filled with Chris. Seeing the gunslinger this morning had only driven home just how much she wanted back the life where she was his wife. "Don't be silly," she said trying to sound convincing. "I just don't think its right to judge a man solely on what people say about him. He seemed perfectly nice when I spoke to him."
"Considering how you spoke to him, that was hardly surprising." Steven retorted, the malice in his voice was unconcealed, so was the implication.
Mary felt her cheeks flush with anger. "Steven, I did nothing objectionable. I was merely having a conversation."
"Did you talk to him ma?" Billy asked, oblivious to the nature of the conversation being carried out by his parents and were only aware of the fact that his mother had spoken to a famous gunslinger, like he read about in books.
"Yes," Steven said turning back to the window again. "Your mother had quite a friendly conversation with Mr Larabee."
"Steven," Mary stared to get angry. Even if she had spoken to Chris with more familiarity than she should have, he had no right to discuss it in front of Billy. "I merely spoke to the man to be polite, if you read anything more into it, then that's your business."
Steven turned around to say something further when suddenly, something else caught his attention. The town had been in chaos up to this point. The Texans were running riot through town, shooting at anything that moved, although gratefully no one had yet to be hurt. However, with the sudden pause in gunfire, that was all about to change. Mary knew what that was and she left Billy behind and hurried next to him, all thoughts about their previous argument fading from memory.
"What is it?" She asked quietly as he looked across the street at the drama unfolding on the upper floor of the building.
"Damn!" Steven swore. "I knew when they asked Nathan to fix up their trail boss there was going to be trouble."
Mary followed his gaze and saw the Texans ragging Nathan out of the set of rooms that the healer used as his infirmary. The scene played out was one she was terribly familiar with even though this was the first time, she had viewed it from this perspective. Nathan was bound by the hands, struggling to break free of at least three men who were part of larger group intent on lynching him for the death of their friend.
"They're going to hang him." She whispered, taking note of the rope that was around the healer's neck ready for the purpose.
"Not a chance!" Steven declared firmly and hurried away from the window. Mary stared at him in shock, wondering what he though he was going to do. She knew how events had played out, that after a rather pointless attempt by her to stop the Texans from carrying out their lynching, Chris and Vin would step in her place and save Nathan from that terrible fate.
"Steven!" Mary ran after him as he disappeared into the office.
"What's daddy going to do?" Billy asked as she followed Steve out.
"Stay where you are," she ordered in that no nonsense tone that made Billy freeze in his place and remain silent.
When she reached the room, she saw him loading up the double barrel shot gun that he kept in the office. In the reality she remembered, Mary had kept it in pretty much the same place. Periodically, he would look out the window to keep abreast of what was taking place outside. By this point, Nathan had been brought to street level, giving everyone in town a rough idea of what was going to take place. A wagon being driven by one of the Texans had pulled up at the front of the building where the infirmary was and Nathan was bundled roughly into the back at gunpoint.
"Steven, you're not going out there." Mary exclaimed.
"Of course I am." Steven retorted, giving her a look that seemed surprise that she could even ask such a thing. "I can't let them hang Nathan."
Mary swallowed hard, suddenly remembering why she loved this man so much and how good and courageous truly be. This was the husband that she remembered and pined for after his death, not the jealous man who had angered her a short time ago. For a moment, Mary felt inordinately proud of him, like she always did when he was at his most determined to defend someone who needed defending because no one else gave a damn. "Steven," she smiled, her hand touching his face tenderly as he paused and looked into her eyes. "I love you."
"I'll be fine," he said confidently and kissed the hand against his cheek, happier than all was well between them again. He hated it when he and Mary argued because he loved her so much and knew that part of the reason he had been so jealous was because the thought of her looking at someone with the same look she reserved for him was more than he could stand. "You stay here with Billy." He said gently before he took the gun and hurried out of the office into the street.
Mary watched him go, knowing that he would not get hurt. After all, she had done the same thing and the only she had suffered was to her pride. They had brushed her aside like an annoyance because she was just a woman. Suddenly, Mary felt her breath catch. Dear God! They had not hurt her because she was a woman but Steven......
Mary was running out the door before the thought could coalesce completely in her mind. She prayed she was wrong. She prayed that the reason they had not shot her that day was out of some sense of belief that there was a world of difference from hurting a white man and lynching a Negro, not because she was a woman. As she ran up the street, she saw Chris Larabee watching at the front of the saloon, his eyes immediately shifted from the unfolding drama to her as she approached, her skirts raised in a desperate attempt to reach Steven before it was too late.
Gangrene was the last word she heard Steven say before the sound gunfire tore through the air. She froze in the middle of the street as she saw him fall. The shot gun fell out of his hand after the bullets had done their work. There were cries of shock and horror throughout the town from those watching as they saw one of their most prominent citizens gunned down in front of his wife. Mary watched in slow motion as he landed in the dirt and the men who had killed him, continue on their way. The alcohol has so blinded their senses that they felt little remorse over what they had done and would not likely to do so until the liquor had worn off.
When she could finally move again, she found her limbs heavy as she approached him. Even as she neared him, she knew he was dead. He lay there on the street, his blood seeping from under him like a crimson pool that reflected the colour of her world as she came understand that she had lost him again. Although some of the townsfolk had converged around his body, all stepped aside when Mary finally reached him. The world ceased to exist around her as she knelt down beside him and tried not to cry. It was easier to do than she might have imagined, after all, she had wept these tears for him once before. The sorrow of his passing was nothing new to her. The circumstances had just changed.
Mary dropped to her knees and brushed his cheek once again with her finger tips again, as she had done only a short time ago. The bullets that killed him were plain to see on his ruined torso. The killing wound was where his heart was situated and Mary was able to take some comfort in the knowledge that the dying for him had come quickly. She had wished him alive for so long, to have him back again and now as she held him in her arms, having lost him a second time, did she finally understand why that was always such a impossible dream.
Steven Travis believed in standing up for what he believed in, no matter what the price to himself. He had avoided death once because this wish of hers had allowed it, however, everything that he was ensured that he would willingly put himself in danger if he believed the cause was right time after time. She had wished he had not been killed that night when she should have wished him to be someone else because the only way he was going to stay alive was by not being the man he was. Chris Larabee watched the woman with eyes like a dove hold her husband in her arms, shedding not one tear as she cradled his dead form even though the full measure of her grief was an open book to Chris. He knew precisely what was taking place inside her and he could share her sorrow with as much intimacy as he wanted to share her heart. When she had looked at him earlier that morning, Chris had been able to think of nothing else. Even though it was a wedding ring he had seen on her finger, thoughts of golden hair plagued him so badly he had more or less, neglected to notice what was taking place in town. Perhaps if he had, her husband would still be alive.
He watched her grief and felt it stab in his own heart, filling the emptiness that had lived there since Sarah and Adam had died, with the first semblance of feeling in almost three years. Chris wanted to hold her, he wanted to tell her that her world had not ended with the death of her husband, that some day, someone would breeze into her life and bring with it a reason to live as she had done for him. Chris took a deep breath and made a decision at the same time he noticed that the store clerk who had been watching the proceedings in the shop across the street, emerging with a rifle after appearing to have come to the same conclusion he had. The younger man met his gaze and the secret message conveyed between prompted Chris into moving.
It was time to do something.
The sun was almost up.
If he did not act soon, they would be on the move again and he would have to spend another day tracking them. While patience was virtue in this game, Vin wanted to be done with Eli Joe so he could get back to his life or begin living it again. Even in the reality he remembered, Vin had to admit the desire to catch Eli Joe had almost become obsession. He had trailed the outlaw longer and further than any other bounty he had set himself to collect. Only when he had found Kincaid's body and returned with it to Tascosa, did Vin realise just how single-minded he had been about Eli Joe's capture. He had been so single minded that he had missed the obvious signs of the deception and led to his becoming a fugitive.
Vin remained in the darkness, watching his prey as they remained huddled around the fire, passing the bottle of whisky that was making them drunk but doing nothing to hasten their descent into a stupor where they could be easily handled. He did not recognise the other men with Eli Joe but Vin decided he was not in the mood to take all of them on. He only wanted Eli Joe. Once he had the outlaw in his custody, Vin had every intention of abandoning the bounty hunting game. If necessary, he would seek out Chris Larabee or wait the gunslinger out in Four Corners. Eventually, things would fall into place as they had been and Alex would not far behind those events.
This time however, he was beating Ezra to her.
In truth, Vin had no idea how he was going to stand waiting for her arrival when she was such a large part of his life. In fact they all were, from Chris to JD, Vin knew that in the past two years, they had filled a void in his life he had never suspected was there. He spent so much time alone in his life that the need for people had been a secondary consideration. Even when he lived with the Indians, he was always set apart. Although they treated him as one of their own, he was not and while nothing was said, Vin could feel the underlying sentiment held by them all that as much as he tried to understand their ways, he was still a white man and in some respects, the enemy. Only when he had come to Four Corners and met Chris and the others, did Vin recognise the long buried need to belong somewhere and to someone.
Chris had understood and extended a hand of friendship towards him, a hand seldom offered to anyone. However, Vin was certain the gunslinger saw in him something that had been lost in himself since the death of the wife and child that left Chris Larabee so terribly marked. Chris' friendship, guarded though it may have been at first had taught Vin a great deal about letting people into his life. If it had not been for Chris, he would still be the loner that he was, not a member of the seven and certainly without Alex in his life. If he could just deal with Eli Joe this time, then when she came into his life again, he would not have to worry about never being able to marry her because of this damn bounty on his head.
Vin blinked and stared into the campsite where the outlaw was camped and noticed that the voices were silent. It appeared that the liquor and the late hour had finally taken its toll on the group and they were fast asleep in their bedrolls. Even Eli Joe was down for the count, having collapsed next to the fire, being too drunk too crawl into bed. It was just as well. Vin wanted to take the man with the least amount of fuss.
After watching the campsite a little while longer to ensure that no trick was being played on him, Vin finally moved out of his hiding place. Covering the distance between himself and Eli Joe in a matter of minutes, Vin moved across the darkened landscape almost soundlessly, his footsteps giving no warning in their advance. The horses stirred slightly at his approach but not enough to give him away. He paused as they neighed and stamped their feet, their animal senses detecting him with far more accuracy than he himself was capable of tracking. Vin paused for a moment, making certain that the unheard warning remained just that and continued forward only when he saw no movement from the prone figures lying asleep next to the gentle illumination of amber light.
Vin removed his gun slowly, knowing precisely where Eli Joe was situated from his observations earlier. He crept past the others, who were as he suspected too drowned in liquor to be coherent of anything but each others snoring, which was he might add rather loud. Eli Joe was lying directly in front of the fire, lying on his back in the dirt, clutching an empty bottle of Red Eye as he snored loudly in his stupor. Vin looked over his shoulder and made sure they others remained where they were, unstirred and silent.
No sooner than had done that, he heard the audible click of a gun.
"I knew you weren't stupid enough to take the bait." Eli Joe was looking at him with a gun pointed at his face, fully awake. The man had been waiting for the arrival of the tracker all evening, expecting company even though the others had anticipated the bounty hunter would have taken Kincaid's body back to Tascosa by now. However, Eli Joe knew that man who was pursuing him, knew that any bounty hunter that would be so determined to maintain the hunt no matter what the outlaw had done to throw him off the trail would not be fooled so easily by such a simple ruse.
Vin swore under his breath, cursing himself for a fool in his eagerness to get his hands on the man. Now Eli Joe had the drop on him and he was in for a world of trouble.
"I should have taken care of this the old fashioned way," Eli Joe replied, his eyes narrowing with such intense hatred that Vin suddenly realised that when Alexandra Styles finally arrived in Four Corners, he was not going to be there to meet her.
The last thing he knew of anything was Eli Joe pulling the trigger.
When the stage rumbled into Four Corners, Alexandra Styles knew at last that she was at home.
The knot that had formed in her insides ever since she had woken up in that strange office in Boston had started unravelling as soon as she entered the town limits. Alex was practically leaning out the window as the Concord rumbled into Four Corners, eagerly breathing in the familiar air of home, even though it was hardly what one would called scented. Still, the smell of leather and horses and all the things that made the Territory so distinctive was captured in that one breath of air. For the first time in days since she had woken to this strange dream where her deepest wishes were fulfilled, Alex felt somewhat at ease.
The effect on her was so noticeable that even her father could not help but be astonished by the sudden changed in her manner upon entering this dusty town in the middle of nowhere. Who ever this young man was with whom his daughter was so enamoured, he must have been something quite extraordinary for William Styles had never seen Alex so passionate about anyone. There were times when it concerned him just how clinical she could be. He realised that much of this was his fault, that he had raised her without any consideration to her gender, just her mind and so she tended to rely upon it more stringently than most women to do her thinking for her.
"I know this is impossible," Styles asked since Alex's pleasure at being in this town was so apparent on her face that he actually wondered if she had ever been here before. "You did not leave Boston for a few weeks without my knowing and actually visited this place have you?" He looked at her suspiciously.
"Vin described it pretty accurately," Alex lied, not about to explain to him just how she knew Four Corners. Despite her happiness to be here, Alex was also thrilled that she had made this journey with her beloved father. It was like they had never been apart and everything she remembered about him was as it was for most of her youth, where they travelled the globe like a pair of nomads with no fixed home. Having him meeting Vin was the sweetest conclusion she could think of to this whole crazy dream.
"I see," He said sceptically, with every indication that he did not for a second believe a word she was saying.
Alex offered him a vague smile and sat up as the stage finally pulled up next to the Four Corners hotel. She knew her father had many questions and were she able to explain to him how any of this was possible without his thinking her stark raving mad, then she would do so happily for she disliked keeping secrets from him. As it was, she had no idea how she was going to explain this to Vin but she knew she had little choice in the matter. She loved him and not even this strange reality she had somehow stumbled into would change that. Alex knew that he felt the same for her and even when he looked at her and saw a stranger, she was convinced she could convince him that in another place and time, they were meant everything to each other.
Alex disembarked from the carriage and looked over the town. Nothing much had changed. In fact, from the Emporium located at the end of the street to the Clarion News office across the street from the saloon, the place was as she exactly remembered it the night before she had gone to sleep and awoke in Boston. Familiar faces she had treated during her time in Four Corners, walked up and down the street, showing no recognition in their eyes when they happened past her. Some of the men looked at her in interest, their eyes moving over her form the way men did whenever they caught sight of something they liked.
"Daddy," Alex turned to her father who was seeing to their bags as it was being unloaded from the top of the Concord. "Why don't you check us in the hotel. I'm going for a little walk, I need to stretch my legs a little after all that."
"Certainly Lex," Styles answered, his attention more focussed on his discussion with the stagecoach driver and where their luggage was to be deposited then anything Alex had said.
Alex left him to it and tried to think where Vin would be at this time of the day if he were indeed in town. God, she hoped he was. Alex did not think she could stand to go without seeing him for another minute. The last few days had been hell. She never thought she could miss him so much in her life. She missed the dinners they shared, the moonlight rides, not to mention the passionate lovemaking. She missed that a lot. Strolling through town, she re-acquainted herself with Four Corners, realising that she missed the town even if it was rustic and primitive by the standards of Boston. She was almost tempted to see what had become of the house that had become her clinic when she found herself walking past the saloon.
There he was.
Vin Tanner was playing checkers with Ezra Standish in the walkway that ran past the saloon, enjoying the summer heat rather than wasting the day away inside the dim confines of the establishment. Chris Larabee was also present but the gunslinger's nose was in a book. Who would have thought that the sombre son of a bitch was such a literary buff, Alex thought for the hundredth time. Vin looked no different than the last time she saw him, wearing that damn buckskin jacket she was certain he would be buried in one day, with a look she knew to be one of utter boredom. It must have been a slow day if he was reduced to playing checkers with Ezra, particularly since the gambler's sleight of hand allowed him to cheat at that too.
It was a slow day for Vin Tanner but as he looked up and saw her coming towards their direction, all thoughts regarding the game he was playing with Ezra seemed to fade from his mind. He stared for a moment, feeling something stop working in his chest as she crossed the street. Vin basked in the sight of her, wondering who she was, with her golden skin and a smile that seemed meant for only him. With waves of jet black hair bouncing off her shoulders as she moved, Vin had never in his life been so utterly captured by any female. Not even Charlotte had paralysed him with such desire.
"Mr Tanner," Ezra who had been waiting for Vin to make a move on the board, said impatiently. "The move is yours."
"What?" Vin turned his attention back to the game, which he had absolutely no interest in at this point.
"What has captured your attention so.....oh my." Ezra stopped short as he saw the woman who had crossed the street and seemed to be proceeding in their direction. "My compliments on your taste."
Chris Larabee looked up at this point much to Vin's embarrassment. He had no wish to be caught gawking like a teenager but his annoyance lasted for only a second because the object of his affections was soon heading directly for them. Immediately, the three lawmen rose to their feet for the woman, who despite her colouring was dressed very much like a lady and should have been afforded the proper respect.
Alex saw Vin's eyes the moment he saw her and knew that she was not a stranger to him, well in heart anyway. Her effect upon her was evident in the depths of the cobalt coloured pools of his eyes, which Alex knew were incapable of hiding how he felt from her. She swelled inside knowing that her intense feelings for him were not one sided, that even now, though she appeared to be a complete stranger, the passion of their love still existed on some level . It was also nice to know that Vin had been telling Alex the truth when he said that he had loved her from the first. The instant she laid eyes upon him, Alex knew that her plan of getting to know him gradually before rekindling their love affair without actually going into detail of how they had first met, was going straight out the window.
Her arms were around him even before she knew she was making a public spectacle of herself. Alex pulled him close, pressing her lips against his in a kiss of steamy passion. After so many days without him, she felt starved and even though there was some measure of resistance as she kissed him, it lasted for no more than a second before his tongue was probing past her teeth, joining hers in their passionate exchange.
Vin had no idea what was happening but when he felt her arms around him, he knew he wanted nothing else. She tasted like nothing he had ever known in his life and the scent of her skin made him dizzy from sheer craving. When Vin finally regained enough sense to push away from her, he was almost breathless as he stared at her with wonder, not to mention a great deal of puzzlement. She flashed him a radiant smile and Vin found his heart beating heavily in his chest as she looked at him with eyes that held the secret to a mystery he was not privy.
"I'm guessing you've met." Chris Larabee said, trying to hide the amusement at the expression of absolute bewilderment on Vin Tanner's face.
Alex saw Vin's face turn a shade of crimson and decided to spare him the embarrassment of trying to explain. "I'm Alexandra Styles," she introduced herself to the gunslinger and the gambler. Ezra was also trying hard to hide the snigger that was threatening to steal across his features. "I'm thinking of setting up a medical practice here in Four Corners, I'm a doctor."
"A doctor?" Vin exclaimed staring at her in astonishment. "But you're...."
Alex gave him a wicked smile and remarked. "A woman." She replied. "I thought we cleared that up a second ago." She teased and garnered a rather dark look from him in response.
"And how did you and Mr Tanner get acquainted?" Ezra found himself asking because like Chris, that question was burning foremost in his mind. Vin was not the most social of creatures and had a habit of being painfully shy, particularly when it came to the opposite sex. How Vin could have had the opportunity to charm this incredibly beautiful woman was beyond Ezra especially since none of them had laid eyes upon her before or was aware of when Vin might have had the opportunity to meet her in the first place.
"That's our secret." She said evasively before turning to Vin. "If you want to escort me to the hotel Vin, I think we need to talk."
"Now you want to talk?" Vin stared at her, his confusion escalating by the moment. Something very strange was going on and felt like he had to run after her to keep up. It did not help that when he gazed at her, he felt such a rush of desire, he had no sense of anything but wanting her lips against his in a repeat of that devastating kiss she had delivered to him a short time ago.
"Until next time Mr Larabee, Mr Standish." Alex smiled, not waiting for Vin to follow as she started walking.
"Go on Mr Tanner," Ezra urged, giving Vin a gentle push as the tracker stood there looking at them helplessly. Neither Chris nor the gambler had ever seen the younger man so far removed from his usually unflappable self. "I believe I can sacrifice our game just to know that you are not keeping your lady friend waiting."
"I have no idea who she is!" Vin stammered, gravitating between complete panic and the desire to run after her like a schoolboy.
"Yeah," Chris grinned. "I could tell by the way you were kissing her pard."
"You ain't helping!" Vin barked in irritation.
"And you ought to be going so she can explain it to you," Ezra prompted. "Because I want to hear how this came about as much as you." The gambler taunted.
Vin let out a groan of exasperation but nevertheless departed from his friends before they started laughing and he was forced to shoot the both of them.
It took a few lengthy strides for Vin to fall in step with the woman called Alexandra Styles. She reacted at his present beside her with little more than a sidelong glance. "Relax Vin, its not that bad."
"Not that bad?" He looked at her. "You just come out of nowhere kiss me and tell me that it ain't that bad. I don't even know who you are!"
She paused and looked at him with a faint smile. "I told you, my name is Alex Styles. I'm a doctor."
"I know that bit." He said sarcastically. "I mean why did you kiss me?"
"Because I love you." She answered, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
"You don't even know me!" Vin was very confused by this point.
"I know enough to let you in on a couple of things." She motioned him forward and whispered quietly in his ear. Vin listened to her words and then recoiled as if she had let him in on something completely horrifying.
"How do you know about that scar?" He hissed mortified that she should have such personal information about himself and his body.
"The same way I know that kisses on your lower back makes you absolutely insane." She grinned and continued walking, enjoying this a little. She did so love playing with his head.
If Vin had been drinking, he would have choked. Instead he just opted to turn a deeper shade of crimson because her revelations, embarrassing as they might be for him to admit, were utterly correct. Vin just could not understand how she knew. "Are you crazy?" He asked, feeling like he had walked in at the middle of a play.
"Nope." She said casually.
"Well you're driving me crazy." He grumbled.
"I guess I am," Alex looked at him with a twinkle in her eyes. "But you're going to love me."
It took little under a week for Julia to arrive in Four Corners and that journey was fraught with the same considerations that had plagued her when she first fled into the night from her father's home in the reality she remembered. Like before, she slipped away quietly, leaving only a note to say to those who would be bothered by her disappearance that she was going away on a short trip and would not be home for at least a month. Of course, she left no clue as to where she was headed and travelled under the alias that had become more real to her then the name Avery. When she boarded the train for the West, she did so as Julia Pemberton.
Travelling under the name of Pemberton had ensured that Roderick Packard would not follow her in pursuit. She knew that until she was married, there would be no end to the man's determination to make her his bride. Although she did not hate him as much as she did, having come to know him in the past few days, Julia was unprepared to pave his way into Philadelphia society by being his wife. Still, Roderick was just the most acute symptom of the problem she had been facing ever since she had come into her father's money. It was ironic that upon inheriting her father's estate, she was no happier than she had been when she was hiding in Four Corners.
In fact, she truly missed the place and the friends she had made there, not to mention Ezra, whose thoughts preyed on her mind almost hourly. Amazingly enough, even though in this time and place, he had no idea of her existence, she found that she could not be unfaithful to him. However, she was not about to waste time with coy attempts to get him to know her and rekindling their romance. Julia was not a patient woman and if she was not in his life at this point, then there was only one other thing that held more sway over his existence than what she might have meant to him.
She arrived in town inconspicuously, hiding out in the same suite of rooms she had taken when she had first come to Four Corners. However, instead of seeking him out immediately, she paid a nice gratuity to the bellboy to find out if Ezra was indeed in Four Corners. Julia soon learnt that apart from her absence, everything else was as she remembered. He was indeed one of the seven guardians of Four Corners who was also part owner of the Standish Tavern. She ruminated on how she would approach him and decided that it might be simpler if she have him come to her. Besides, if Ezra thought there was a quick buck in it, he would follow her to the moon.
God, she missed him.
So now she found herself here, pacing the floor of her room, waiting for him to come, feeling like a schoolgirl in her giddy desire to see him. Her pulse was racing and she was dressed in the most alluring thing she could find in her wardrobe, wondering when was the last time she had actually felt the need to dress for any man. Julia checked her look in the mirror for the hundredth time when she heard the inevitable knock on the door of her suite. The sudden sound made her jump and she realised how anxious she really was to see him. Taking a deep breath, she steadied her nerves and slid into the charming manner that was capable of reducing most men to panting teenagers before answering the door.
Ezra Standish stood before her, appearing just as dapper as she remembered and Julia felt her breast swell at just the sight of him. She wanted to hold him and tell him how much she missed him these past few days but when he looked back at her, Julia knew he had no idea who she was, even though he reacted to her like all men reacted to her. His sea-coloured eyes met her emerald own and for a few seconds they just stared at each other. Julia gazed at him, hoping that there was something in Ezra that knew who she was while Ezra tried hard to maintain the cool image of the perfect southern gentlemen before what was undoubtedly the most breathtaking creature he had ever seen in his life.
"Mr Standish, please come in." she said after a moment, remembering that she had a plan already laid out and she needed to follow it. Ezra was no fool and he had the distinction of being the one person she could not lie to with any measure of success. It was God's way of paying her back, she had decided long ago, that the one man she would love beyond anything was the only one who could see straight through her.
Ezra walked into the room, puzzled by this whole invitation. As it was, he was somewhat amazed that such a beautiful woman had made her arrival in town without anyone being aware of it. Usually, Buck Wilmington could smell an eligible female before she even broke town limits, let alone go unnoticed for days.
"I'm afraid you have me at a disadvantage, Madam. Your note did not tell me your name." Ezra replied as she motioned him to sit. Judging by the steaming pot of tea on the table, she had prepared the setting for this meeting quite fastidiously. For the life of him, Ezra could not understand what this was about although he was not one to deny himself a moment in such charming company.
"My name is Julia Avery." Julia introduced herself deciding that for her purposes, her real name would have to be disclosed. "I have a business proposition for you."
"I am intrigued." He said wondering what she had in mind.
Unfortunately, she was not about to launch into what that might be just yet. Instead, she went through the motions of serving tea and making some small talk regarding her journey to Four Corners, some personal inquiries about himself and other inanities. He took the time to observe her, deciding that nothing about her was very conventional and guessing very quickly that whatever she intended to tell him was not something she could put on the table with any ease. Ezra hated to think that he could be the cause of so much consternation when every time he looked into her eyes, he saw something that he could not explain but knew to be kindred.
"Here is the thing," Julia sighed, deciding there was no point delaying what she needed to say. Once she gauged how he felt about her proposition she could do the rest. "I recently came into a great deal of money."
He tried to remain calm when she mentioned the subject of money but Julia could see his eyes flicker with instinctive interest. Choosing not leave him in suspense, Julia continued. "The problem is, I have every fortune hunter in a hundred mile radius of where I live attempting to charm or marry me, I can abide either but I'm under a great deal of pressure to pick someone and soon."
"If you do not mind my inquiring Miss Avery, just how money have you acquired?" He asked, trying to sound delicate but Julia was perfectly aware that he was burning with curiosity to know. He was after all, her Ezra. Until she came into his life, his first love had been money. Although, sometimes she wondered whether she had actually supplanted that love or was he just telling her that so she would not kill him.
"Two million dollars." She answered with a faint smile.
He swallowed visibly and she wondered if he needed smelling salts because he looked somewhat faint.
"That's a great deal of money," he said after a moment, trying to remain cool as ever.
"Yes, it is." Julia tried not to smile. "You see my dilemma."
"I am surprise you managed to get away alone," he remarked with genuine surprise. "If I were after a fortune like that I would never let you out of my sight." The idea of fortune hunters chasing after her with no thought about the woman herself seemed somewhat scandalous. True, the money was inviting, actually more than inviting, damn near intoxicating but this was no wallflower. She was a exceedingly beautiful woman; the money would be incidental next to actually having her. True, he had no idea what she might be like but something told him that she was special in a way most women could never aspire.
"Which brings me to my proposition." Julia said pleased because she had seen the genuine concern in his eyes as he had asked the question, beyond the taste for the money. "I need to be married Mr Standish and I need to be married soon. Now I'm not particular about where I live and this town seems charming indeed if you wish to remain here. I am willing to sign equal control of the fortune to you provided that you are willing to sign an agreement that ensures we stay married for at least ten years."
Ezra merely stared at her in astonishment. "Miss Avery, are you proposing that I marry you?"
"Of course." Julia nodded, wondering how he could think anything else. "Is that so surprising?"
"Aside from the fact that you and I are complete strangers and you wish to enter a marriage of convenience with me, yes I must confess, I do find it a little unusual." He exclaimed.
"What makes you think its going to be a marriage of convenience." She looked at him with a suggestive gleam in her eyes.
Whatever he was going to say next froze in his throat as she leaned over and kissed him. For a moment, he could do nothing but lose himself to the power of those silky lips, devouring his mouth with increasing passion. Ezra wanted to protest but as he felt her hands brace herself against his chest, her tongue probing into his mouth with such seduction and desire, he felt his resistance melt and he was kissing her back. His hands immediately circled her and he reached for the copper coloured hair that he had been longing to run his fingers through ever since he walked into the room.
Julia felt dizzy from the pressure of his mouth against hers. Now that his initial surprise had faded, he was taking control again and she felt that familiar fire of anticipation burning inside of her whenever they made love. Ezra had made sex something she could enjoy not merely use as a means to an end. He was the first man who ever wanted more than just to have her. He had shown her what pleasure could be and for that, Julia knew she love him to the day she died, whether or not it was in this reality or any other.
Julia broke the kiss long enough to sit back and release her hair, dishevelled from his hands running through it. It swept down her cream coloured neck in waves of red that made his breath catch as he stared at her, his arousal apparent in the way his eyes move up and down her body, envisioning what was behind the layers of fabric covering her skin. Julia stood up and in her eyes, beckoned him to follow. She saw him swallow, as if what was happening at this moment had caught him completely by surprise and all he could do in action was to be carried away helplessly.
"Miss Avery," he managed to say when she led him towards the bed at the far end of the room and he realised just how far she was willing to satisfy both their desires. "Do you always move so fast?"
"Only when I see what I want." She remarked when she reached the bed and turned around to face him again. Her hand slid around his neck and she started kissing his neck, feeling his body react to the feel of her tongue laving the sensitive skin. "Then I do things painfully slow." To illustrate the point, she traced a wet line from his neck to his earlobe and heard him groan slightly.
"Well," Ezra sighed as he started taking control once again, now that he was clear on what she expected of him. "I am never one to refuse a lady's attention."
When Ezra lifted her chin to face him again, their mouths with fierce intensity. He slid the wet heat of his tongue past her teeth while savouring the softness of her lips. He had no idea what he was doing and for once in his life he hardly cared. This incredibly desirable creature had just offered him more money than he could ever dream of and even if she came without a cent to her name, he still wanted her. There had been women before but none that could make him throw caution to the wind as he was doing so now.
Ezra felt her hands pulling at his coat, desperately needing to divest him of his clothes. His jacket fell to the carpetted floor in her feverish desire and Ezra helped her with the buttons of his waist coat when he saw the lust burning in her eyes and in the shape of her slightly parted lips. Any remaining doubt he might have had against the prudence of what he was doing was washed away when his vest and shirt was finally discarded and her hands slid across the bare skin of his back, paralysing him with the incredible sensation of her touch. He felt her breasts heaving against his chest and could feel the points of her nipples through the fabric of her dress.
Julia did not resist when Ezra started pulling at her dress, moving through the layers of her clothes with such ease that very soon, she found herself standing before him completely naked. The sight of her bare completely was enough to make his cock stiffen with such rigid desire that he could feel it pressing uncomfortably against his trousers. He felt his heart pound at the absolute magnificence of her and still felt overwhelmed that she had chosen him over all others. Ezra had no idea why she had decided to bestow her affections upon him in such a pleasurable way but he was going to never give her reason to regret it.
He tortured Julia's mouth mercilessly with warm, seductive kisses while at the same time caressing the swollen breasts before him. He groaned softly as he felt the erect nipples under his palm, hardening each time he moved over the sensitive buds. Julia released a pleasured sigh into his mouth when she felt his finger tips brush against the tight nubs of flesh, taunting them into further contraction. Her moan of pleasure reached down his throat and tantalised his growing erection with every soft whimper.
While engaging her attention in this way, Ezra had manoeuvred her towards the bed that was only inches away from them. Gently, he lowered her onto the soft mattress, hating to leave her mouth but knowing he must for a brief moment. Julia eased back into the bed, watching him strip off the last of his clothes with nothing less than pure lust. How she had missed being with him in the past she remembered and hoped it would be as wonderful for him as it had always been for her. Julia felt another gush of moisture between her legs as she saw him completely naked and licked her lips in anticipation at how beautiful he was.
"I'm impressed Mr Standish." she smiled at him seductively.
Despite his control of the situation, she saw an involuntary twinge of red seep into his face as he smiled. "As am I." He returned huskily and came towards her. However, before Ezra could lower himself down on the bed, Julia stopped him as he stood in front of her. She gazed at his raging erection and found herself meeting his eyes with a leer of salacious desire. She saw the shudder of anticipation running through him as he realised what she was about to do and dropped his hand onto her shoulders as if bracing himself for the torture she was about to make him endure. Julia teased him a little, working her warm tongue over her lower lip, her movements slow and full of promise. Ezra was mesmerised by those soft lips and suddenly found himself leaning closer to her, his cock brushing her face gently. The tip that touched her cheek made him groan softly.
Julia liked the sound he made as he struggled to restrain himself from forcing his way into her mouth. She decided she liked making him suffer a little and continued rubbing the swollen head of his cock against her skin before parting her lips ever so slightly in an invitation for him enter. Her tongue slipped past her teeth, seductively, beckoning him with tantalising movements across her upper lip. Ezra felt his cock spasm at the thought of burying himself in that warm, moist mouth.
"I am going to make you scream, Mr Standish." She whispered and saw the restraint snap inside him as he trust his hips at her mouth and she was able to delight in the sensation of his engorged cock sliding down her throat before closing her lips close around it with tight wet pressure.
"Oh God." He whispered.
The hunger in which she swallowed his throbbing member deep into her mouth was more than Ezra could stand. All he could do as she ran her tongue over his shaft was to groan incoherently. With a start, he realised that he was being very vocal when he thrust his hips forward, his cock determined to bury itself as far down her throat as possible. The pleasure of what her tongue was doing to him was beyond description. He could hardly believe that under the facade of the prim and proper heiress, was a siren capable of producing such mind numbing pleasure. No woman he had ever been with had managed to match this sweet delight.
His hands were running through her hair as he pulled her face forward while thrusting into the taut ring of her lips. She increased the pressure even more until all he could feel was that surge of crushing weight as her lips slid over his shaft. Ezra could feel the sudden tightening in his groin when his cock hardened beyond the point of endurance and whatever resolve he had left threaten to crumble with complete surrender. He had to stop her or else he would come in her mouth. As much as he wanted to feel that ecstasy, Ezra wanted to be inside her when the time came and so he managed a strangled gasp.
"Not yet." He said feeling anguished when he forced himself out of her mouth.
Ezra climbed onto the bed, lowering her flat on her back in his descent. Once they were nestled together, Ezra started kissing her again, unable to get enough of her wonderful taste. His kisses were harder and more intense where they had been warm and gentle earlier. The desire to explore her mouth was gone; she had pushed him so far over the brink he could think of nothing but taking complete possession of her. His tongue plundered hers with passion, until the ferocity of it took her breath away and she was left gasping for air.
After awhile, he slipped away from her mouth, sliding further down her naked body, until his mouth found her nipples and took one into her mouth. He started sucking it insistently, sending exquisite waves of pleasure rippling through her body each time he chose to swirl his warm tongue over the erect tip. Julia had started to moan, feeling that pleasure while at the same time aware that Ezra's hands were sliding down her thigh. She felt his skilful fingers slip past her throbbing folds, prying them apart as he buried one finger deep into her warm recess. The muscles within gripped the finger with such hard suction that Ezra felt all the blood rush to his cock in a single gush of desire at the anticipation of what those muscles would do to his manhood.
Her cries were almost incoherent now as she was treated to the ministrations of his sensuous mouth as he nibbled gently on her while his hand kneaded her other breast. Ezra's lips were everywhere at once and she knew he delighted in her reaction. The way her body shuddered in sighs of ecstasy each time he ran his hands over her skin or laved its silky texture with his tongue in long strokes, made him so aroused he could hardly believe it.
Suddenly, Ezra withdrew his fingers and started sliding downward; eliciting a ragged sob from her when both hands and mouth stopped what they were doing. She looked down at him with glassy eyes and swallowed hard when she realised what he was about to do. Ezra trailed hot kisses down her abdomen as he made his downward journey. Finally he arrived at his destination and gently coaxed her legs apart before lowering himself into the mound of dark hair. If she felt so good around his fingers, Ezra wanted to know if she tasted just as delicious. As he nuzzled into the cleft between her legs, Ezra was rewarded with a groan of utter ecstasy.
"Oh!" She cried out. Her body had become a tight knot of pleasure. Oh god, Ezra..." She could hardly form the words as she felt his mouth searching for that sensitive place hidden in the folds of her pulsing flesh. All she could stand was that wet tongue probing deeper into her, until he found the pearl of flesh that would shatter every bit of self control with one flick of hot, moist pleasure.
Ezra did not speak but continued what he was doing, feeling his own desire mount at her vocal expression of his seductive ministrations. His tongue darted into her deepest crevices, moving to a rhythm that only he could knew. He swirled around that tiny node of skin until it was so hard; he could feel his own cock straining with excitement. Julia dug her fingers into his hair as Ezra proceeded to fuck her with his tongue, sliding in and out of her with long, smooth strokes until she was moaning incoherently with mindless pleasure.
His tongue started to tingle as he felt Julia reaching the peak of her climax. He loved the sensation against the tip of his tongue when a woman was about to orgasm. He swirled around that erect nub of tissue, sucking it hard between his teeth before laving its tiny tip with his hot tongue. She was whimpering now and Ezra knew she was not long from filling him with her warm salty taste. It rushed into his mouth no sooner than the thought had crossed his mind and he lapped her up with relish, satisfied in the knowledge that it was he who made her feel this way.
Seeing the dreamy expression on her face as she came down from her shattering climax only made Ezra want to plunge into her sensitive flesh. He did not want her to have time to regain her composure because more than anything at this moment, he wanted to feel those powerful muscles grab his cock and crush it helplessly in a surge of pressure that would make him scream with absolute surrender. Ezra looked at Julia whose expression was starting to fill with hungry need at the sight of him. She met his gaze and smiled. "Make love to me Ezra, make love to me hard."
Ezra was so hot and ready that he could barely stand to wait another second, as he remained poised at her slick opening. Spreading her legs apart with his knee, Ezra did not offer her warning as he entwined his fingers between her own and rammed his cock deep inside her, pushing it as far it would go inside her warm and moist inner passage. Her back arched in response to the brutal penetration and she cried out. However, Ezra was there to capture her mouth again, stifling the sound before it could escape her lips. Julia started to moan into his mouth and Ezra started pumping into her, falling over the abyss of his own control into a vortex of sensation.
Good God, she felt so good!
Ezra's mind clouded over with sensation as he felt her tight muscles contracting around him each time he pounded into her body. Her legs were wrapped around his and her fingers dug into his back, raking across the skin and driving him insane with arousal of pain. He could do nothing in reaction but to drop one hand to her thigh and hook it around his waist so that he could impale her with even more force. She began to whimper the faster he thrusted into her until the sounds she made just about drove him completely over the edge. Ezra fought for control, closing his eyes while his body became utterly subservient to the immense climax that was building inside him.
Ezra felt himself explode inside of her when the pressure of those incredibly tight muscles gripped him with such pressure that it forced all sense from his world and he came crashing down, in the wake of his own release. A final shudder ran through them as their hot fluids melded in an erotic mix of heat warmed them both.
"God! Julia!" He groaned as he emptied his seed deep into her body, filling her with his warmth before finally surrendering to the exhaustion wrought by this incredible experience.
He collapsed on top of her, still panting as he felt all energy drain from him with the intense climax she made him experience. Julia smiled, enjoying his weight on her body as she felt his shallow breathing in her ear. After a moment, Ezra slid off her and nestled beside her so that he could cradle her in his arms.
It was a while before he could answer his mind and body reeling from one of the most incredible sexual experiences of his life. "After due consideration, I think," he said looking at her with a faint smile. "That I shall accept your proposal."