Dangerous Games

A NIGHT OF DREAMS AND NIGHTMARES

Samuel helped her out of her coat when they got home. It felt heavenly to step out of her heels and feel the cool tiles on the soles of her feet. Hours of standing and walking around the big gallery made her sore. Plus, the night had been one big rollercoaster after another. It wasn't enough to have Ysabel on her back; it seemed she also couldn't get enough talking down to from Samuel's grandfather.

The conversation with Samuel in the garden also filled her with a whirlwind of emotions. They didn't talk about it, but she did wonder if he wanted kids. Personally, she wouldn't want to have a child until she was sure they wouldn't be breaking up the next day, but she did love the idea of a child.

He said he didn't want to divorce her. She could feel her heart tremble when she remembered the directness with which he said those words. She looked at him now, his face otherwise blank as he folded her coat and dropped it on the sofa. When he caught her staring, he smiled.

"What?"

She shook her head. "Nothing. My head was somewhere else."

"Long night, right?" He exhaled hard, gathering her in his arms. "It's a good thing tomorrow is a Saturday. We can sleep in. Maybe spoil ourselves with breakfast in bed and warm baths."

"Hmm. Sounds delightful, but who is handling the baths and who is handling the breakfast."

"Me. I owe you for making you spend so many hours with me. Your poor feet."

"You didn't make me do anything. It was fun." She went on her toes and snapped her teeth close to his face. "It was even more fun seeing your mother's face after we went back in. She looked like someone fed her a raw puffer fish."

Samuel scrunched his nose. "Bet grandfather's words kept playing in her mind over and over again. Bet she'd be having nightmares tonight."

"Do you think I'd be a star in those nightmares? Oh, please say yes." She swooned.

He caught her as she leaned back with a dramatic sigh and her palm against her forehead. "Maybe one or two."

"One will be enough, but two would be magnificent."

Kali was about to say more, but she finally noticed he was no longer paying attention to what he was saying. Instead, he was looking at her. And intensely, too. Her fingers unfolded from the lapels of his jacket, resting them flat against his chest. She couldn't see much of his face in the dark, but she could hear his quivering breath loudly and feel the racing of his heart where her hand rested.

Samuel searched her eyes before he palmed the back of her head and kissed her. Kali melted into him, hugging him to her as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

In the little time they dated, such a weird thing to say about a husband, she learned a few things about him. There was a difference between when he kissed her to show affection and when he kissed her out of desire. She didn't know how her mind separated the two, but as his lips moved over hers, she knew that, on this occasion, it was the latter.

She moaned and pulled away, shaking her head. Samuel tried to kiss her again, but she planted her hand on his shoulder and held him back. She practised what she preached and meant it when she told him she'd be patient, but it didn't mean she wanted him to dangle it in front of her face.

"I thought you said you weren't paying attention to your grandfather's request." She teased nervously.

"About the having kids?" He asked, and she nodded, and he shook his head. "Yeah, this has nothing to do with that."

He tried to kiss her again, but she stopped him, licking her lips with a nervous laugh. "If that's so, we've done this dance before. It didn't really go well then."

"My fault." He whispered. He kissed her again before repeating, "My fault entirely."

They kissed again, and he began to walk her backwards. Blind, she clutched his jacket, following until she felt the rails of the stairs on her back. Her fingers tangled in his hair as he trailed kisses across her neck. His hands were everywhere, her waist, back, shoulders. Wrapping around her neck.

Kali gasped when he bit into the crook of her shoulder. She pushed his jacket off, crushing their lips together as she moved away from the stairs. She felt blindly behind her for the back of the sofa before she banged into it.

"Wait." He whispered, and she bristled, making him chuckle. "Don't bite my head off. I want to say something first."

"Hm. What is it?"

He exhaled heavily, looking suddenly uncertain. "I haven't...I haven't been with anyone."

Her confusion immediately cleared, and she could only smile sweetly at him. Of course, she didn't say that she already knew. She wanted to keep that as her personal secret.

"I want to tell you so...you know...in case it's..."

"What?"

"If it won't bother you."

She grinned, cradling his face in her hands as she kissed him. "Not in the slightest."

He picked her up from the sofa and set her on her feet. Together, they walked up the stairs and into their bedroom. The lights were off in there as well, but none of them cared to find the switch. A pathetic excuse for light was the small stream of moonlight that illuminated the foot of their bed from the window.

Samuel kissed her as soon as they cleared the door. His fingers grappled with the zipper of her dress, but it didn't take long for him to pull it down. Cold air touched her skin, and she shivered, laughing before they kissed again. His hands stole beneath the dress, pressing against her skin and dragging over her open back.

Her heart was racing as much as his did when they were downstairs. She unbuttoned his shirt, walking back with him towards the bed, their lips still sealed together.

She couldn't even remember if they had closed the door, but they were the only ones home, so the implications didn't distract her.

"Have I told you how handsome you look?" She muttered, taking him in as the moonlight bathed half his face and body in its glow.

He grinned, "You always find a way to mention it every now and then."

Samuel shrugged his jacket off, and Kali pushed his shirt after it. She pressed her lips to his chest, kissing a path down his stomach before he caught her behind her neck and pulled her flush against him.

Ysabel didn't exist, fears didn't exist, questions and insecurities didn't have the strength to rear their head. He pushed her gown past her hips, and they pulled at her feet a second before he lifted her into his arms. With her eyes on him and her hands braced around his shoulders, she watched him as he made his way up their bed.

The pillow cradled her head when he set her down, and she smiled at him. Curiously, she caressed the side of his face, her eyes searching his for any uncertainty or doubt. She came back with nothing. She couldn't see him clearly in the dark. Only feel. She could feel his smile, the rise of his cheeks and the beating of his heart against her chest.

"Are you sure?" She whispered in the darkness.

Samuel nodded, kissing her collarbone and then her neck.

"Very." He softly said before kissing her passionately.