Prologue
The lamp post flickered slightly as he walked up to the pub. The Lion’s Snare. It was a dark square building that sported stained glass, with a motif of a roaring lion on the front. In his youth, he’d often wondered what was beyond the doors he wasn’t allowed to cross. He’d left this town immediately after graduation and had never looked back. He’d never wished to. He still didn’t.
With his navy blue suit, he stuck out like a sore thumb. He should’ve changed when he checked in to the town’s B & B, but after briefly unpacking, he found himself unable to linger in that room. He’d found himself walking around the town he’d grown up in, his steps eventually reaching this pub.
As he opened the door, a bell hung above and announced his presence, making him scowl. He surveyed the room briefly. A scattered array of circular tables with mismatched chairs, a line of booths, and in a far corner facing glass windows that showed the view of the crystal lake he’d once swam in, were glistening billiard tables. On the wall beside the windows hung a series of black and white cues and shelves that held the multicolored balls for the various table. He looked away from the billiard area and made his way to the bar where a bronze-haired twenty-something was wiping the counter.
“What can I get you?” The bartender asked.
“Whisky, neat,” he said, watching as the bartender moved to pour the amber liquid in a smoked glass that bore the mark of the lion upon it. He put a square napkin on the table resting the glass on top.
“Welcome to Crystal Vaine.” The bartender said, making the man smirk. He took a drink the whisky burning a trail of warmth down his throat. He glanced to the side as the light caught his gaze.
In the last rays of sunlight, he saw her, walking around the billiard table with a cue in her hand, bathed in the golden light of sunset. It lit her brown hair into an array of russet and honey tones, making her plain pink dress shine in the light. Lighting her curves as she bent at the hip to make a shot, one of her boot-clad feet raised to point its toe down as she made the shot. As her eyes raised from the Billiard table she caught his gaze, smiling lightly at him.
He took another drink as his mouth had suddenly become dry. He walked over drink in hand. “Nice shot,” he said. The girl smiled bending once more to take another shot.
“Unless your into water sports, there’s not much to do in this town,” she said smoothly.
“That I remember very clearly.” He muttered.
The girl looked up at him, in surprise. “Remember? Have you been here before?” She asked, putting her cue in an upright position and paying him proper attention.
“I grew up here actually,” He said glancing at the window. “I was one of the boys either riding bikes or waist-deep in the lake.”
“And look at you now.” She said with a smirk turning to put her cue away. He saw the flash of a tattoo on her shoulder as her sleeve slid lower on her shoulder as she turned. She turned to look at him straightening the sleeve. “I’m Aiyana,” she said quietly.
“James–” he said freezing mid-sentence as she plucked the drink out of his hand, and gulped it down in one go.
“Nice to meet you, James.” She said sweetly. “Welcome home.”
Aiyana let out a gasp as her back hit the wall, James’ mouth tracing her jaw before he bit lightly on her ear lobe. “Remember to be quiet,” he whispered huskily, his hands running down the front of her dress undoing the ribbon at the side that was the only thing keeping it together. She shuddered harshly as he pushed his body against hers. He moved his face against hers his nose touching hers with how close they stood. “We wouldn’t want to wake anyone,” he whispered his breath caressing her lips.
She pushed up slightly kissing James hard making him groan. She bit at his lip, “Be quiet, remember,” she whispered back, her hands pulling at the dark curly hair she’d admired from across the pub.
James ran his hand on her thigh gripping it and raising her slightly so he could press against her a certain way. He smiled as she cursed slightly her hands tightening around his hair. He kissed her, his tongue slipping into her mouth her hands moving down to grip his shoulders. He lifted her other leg, holding her against him for a moment before he moved her away from the wall delighting in her gasp of surprise. He moved his mouth down sucking lightly on her throat, as he lowered them both to the bed. He removed her hands to lay on the bed she rose up slightly to look at her. With her dress open he saw her summer-kissed skin and the silk bra she wore. She raised her eyes to look at him those midnight eyes that trailed along his own body. He undid the last buttons and shrugged off his shirt. He bent down and kissed her softly before he mouthed his way down her body, sucking lightly at the tops of her breasts before he moved down lower and lower, listening to Aiyana’s little gasps. Aiyana turned to bite at the pillow as his kisses, turned into soft licks than deeper, hard licks that followed him sucking obscenely in a way that made her toes curl and her entire body limp with pleasure. She felt him move slightly the whisper of fabric falling, loud in the room.
She opened her eyes as he laid back on top of her. .The hardness of him low on her belly, “May I?” he asked quietly as he pressed his body insistently against hers.
She nodded looking up at his molten brown eyes, intent on hers. “Yes.” She said. His eyes seemed to burn then the brown looking more black in the moonlight. As he grabbed her hips, lifting her slightly as he went down. She gripped his shoulders as he moved against her, his hands on her hips insistent, as she followed his rhythm. Until she fell into that boneless embrace, James shuddering against her, kissing her sloppily. While he moved away, landing beside her with a jerky motion of his hands low on his body.
They lay there for a moment listening to the silence of the room and their own labored breaths. Aiyana rose slightly pausing when she felt James' fingers tracing the lines of her tattoo on her shoulder. “Ravens?” he asked softly.
She smiled lightly. “Technically it’s crows. Docile creatures unless provoked.” She smirked leaning forward to nip playfully at his lip. He put a gentle hand on her neck deepening the peck into a kiss that turned into a caress of tongue and teeth.
“Have I done anything to provoke you?” he whispered.
She raised her head slightly nudging his nose with hers. “Not yet you haven’t,” she said, kissing him once more. “Although if you think about it, perhaps I provoked you?” she said lightly leaning over him.
He chuckled. “When you kept bending over in this dress? Or when you stole my drink?” He asked.
“I bought you another one.” She reminded him.
“Then offered to walk me back to the bed and breakfast,” he murmured.
“Perhaps I just wanted to have my way with you,” She said softly.
“And what is it that you want to do to me?” he asked huskily his eyes darkening.
“Perhaps I’ll show you,” She said as she leaned down to kiss him once more.
Light filtered through the room, making James mutter as he got up, blinking away the sleep from his eyes. He moved slightly from the turned position he’d fallen asleep on, his eyes landing on the empty space on the bed, beside him. He ran his hands over his face as he got up, pulling on the sweats he had left out to sleep in. He shuffled to the washroom barely noticing the disarray of the room. He walked past the desk where the ivory paper stood on display declaring the reason for his visit for the home he’d avoided for so long. The reason he’d avoided looking too long around the B & B.
The Pleasure of your company is requested
At the Marriage of Christian Thomas Grayson,
And Inara Vivian Hughes.
Please RSVP before the 11th.
P.S Hartley you better be here on the 1st for the Grayson Summer Party!
Christian
