It was 4:00 in the afternoon when Arianne pulled Ira inside the house. She could feel herself tremble with the neediness she had developed in the last few minutes of togetherness with him. The lit fireplace had warmed the house and it was warmer than the outside.
Their clothes dripped rainwater on the floor as they stood in the middle of the hall, under the chandelier, numb and clueless. "What now?" Arianne asked Ira, her breath staggering. He did not speak a word. Just held her hand and, taking charge, pulled her to follow him. He took the stairs to the first floor landing.
As Ira sped into a beautifully decorated room, Arianne's anxiety knew no bounds. She had no clue what would happen, except for the fantasical love-making she had heard about. She always had high expectations about the first time she did it, and she was thankful that it was happening with Ira.
He bolted the door behind the breathless Arianne and took her in his arms again, crushing her with his kisses. All lips and tongue and hands and hair and body they were, until Ira pulled back and dragged his hands till the zipper of her dress on the back of her dress. As her breathing altered and she shook, prey to his seducing touches and stare, he pulled the body hugging dress down her, rendering her clad in front of him. The damp dress fell without a sound.
"You're very beautiful," he said quietly as she pulled his hands to her breasts again and him into an embrace. He kissed her neck and shoulder and over the bar strap and down her arms as she stood there, letting him exploit her body as he pleased. He dipped one finger in a wet bra cup as she ran her fingers through his hair, clutching at them, and yanked it down to free her breast.
"You're so beautiful," he repeated, gazing at her nipple harden and swell under his stern stare, making her moan as his hands went behind her again to unhook the bra. Her hands gained confidence as he looked at her expectantly and they worked with each button on his shirt and, in a flash, it was out of him, on the floor, over her dress and bra.
"Make love to me," the audacity in her voice stunned him when they were done with another series of kisses, with their sensitized skins pressed tightly to each other. She led him to the bed and stood, waiting again for him to take up pace.
He dropped his face to her bare shoulders and kissed her neck. She extended the space by stretching her neck away from his face and he took advantage. Kissing all round and over her neckline and collar bone, he pushed her slowly till the edge of the mammoth bed and made her sit. Stooping down, he picked her legs up and she dragged herself backward on the bed, wetting the bed sheet with the water from her panties and damp hair and looked up again at him expectantly.
She wanted him. Desperately. Like she had never wanted anyone before. And, she could feel him wanting her too. Feel him needing her as much as she needed him.
Finally when he pulled his jeans down and climbing on top of her, started kissing her again, her tiny fingers found their way to his lips. She stopped him from kissing her and made him look at her. As he looked, his eyes full of concern, she said, "you're my first, Ira," and shook her head, "no, you don't have to tell me the same thing. I don't expect that. I just wanted you to know that I've never come this far with anybody."
"You're a virgin?" he asked, jiggered. "Not anymore," she blushed, "I've given myself to you already."
He looked into her eyes and slowly closed the distance between their lips. As long as he thought she was not a virgin, he had known how to do what he was about to do. But, her confession about her virginity threw him into a dilemma. He had never been in bed with a virgin woman. Every girl knew what they wanted and what he wanted and acted accordingly. But, with Arianne...what was it with her? She made him feel so different. In every way. As her fingers traced the muscles on his back while he kissed her, he wondered how he could please her, without hurting her even a little bit.
"What are you waiting for?" she asked as he left her lips numb and swollen from the kiss. "Where have you been all this time, Arianne?" he asked, starting to kiss her bare chest, "I've been waiting so long for you." He dragged his lips over her heart and through her cleavage and went south towards her belly. He kissed her plump stomach and dipped his tongue into her navel as her breath staggered with the anticipation she held in her heart of hearts.
Returning to look at her face again, he led his hands to her breasts. Different, he noticed. Not the smallish American kind, but the pleasing fullness that she stored in her body felt new to him. He held her softness enwrapped in his hand and as her nipple shapened with vigor, he placed his tongue on it. She moaned and pushed her head back on the bed as he played with one of the most sensitive parts of her body. Ira wetted one of her nipples with his saliva and pressed the other in between his fingers.
"Ira,"she called out and pulled him back to face her. She touched him again, on his back, now trailing downwards. Strong muscles on his back amazed her as her fingers traced every detail they found on his body. Her hands found the wet elastic rim of his briefs at last and, as he kissed her, tried pulling it down. He sat up over Arianne and as she looked at him, he returned his hands to his underwear and freed himself off it.
"Ira," she called him again as she looked at his size and gasped, "I think we should stop here." "No," he smirked at her and bent to kiss her forehead and, distracting her, put his hand on her hips and yanked her panties down.
"Beautiful," he whispered again, making her moan as his tall fingers found expression through her orifice. She called him out again and again, in anticipation of her climax. When she reached, for the very first time in her life, he stared at her as she struggled to find her breath back.
"What?" she asked, blushing as he rested himself beside her, propping himself on his elbow, "why are you staring at me?" "Because you're beautiful," he said and fondled her cheek with his one free hand.
She turned to him and stared back into his eyes. Blushing even more, she said, "I've never been in such a situation with anyone. Never been naked in front of a guy with him telling me I'm beautiful when I know I'm fat." "Don't go astray to thinking that I'm talking only about how heavenly you look," he said, "I want you to know that you are beautiful. You are, not just your face or your body. Stop being insecured about yourself. What bad others tell you, or talk about you, is because they were born to waste their own time. But, you were born to be happy, to be doing something extraordinary with your life. So, listen to me, don't be insecured."
It was not like an advice. It seemed to Arianne that he said what he said for himself, like he wanted her to be happy for himself. His words were informal, as if coming from a person who knew her for ages. How strange! she thought, people who actually knew her for ages never told her anything like that.
She produced her hand towards him and touched his chest, right over his heart, wanting to feel it beating, wanting to know if it was the same as hers. "Is there any way I can make you not go tomorrow?" he asked, innocently, pulling her closer to him. She shook her head, "no, I have to go," and a terrible pang of sadness hit her heart. 124 days! She almost said it. How would she stay away from him for so long? Especially after how perfectly the day before her departure was spent. "But, you can go to Miami," she suddenly said, "to visit me." "That's a great idea," he smiled at her innocence,  "I promise I'll look into it."
He returned on top of her and kissed her face again. "This is my first time, Ira," she said, laughing out a little laugh, and flushed, "be kind to me." He smiled and kissing her once again, went back to the work at hand. Of making sweet love to the young woman he had grown admiration for. She was so young, so innocent, so lovely, he wanted to make love to her again and again.
Ira rested his knees in front of her stretched legs and prepared himself for their confluence. "Mmmph," she moaned loudly as he pushed into her, making her quiver already and cry his name out.
Arianne closed her eyes and tried giving in to the feeling of being his. It was ecstatic to be with Ira and let him do whatever he wanted to do with her body. She could feel him grow inside her, sweetly excavate deep into her, drag himself out and again push in with a force, making her hold him to her desperately.
It felt celestial to Ira to see her close her eyes and respond to his actions. He wanted to please her any way possible and her reactions seemed to say that he was successful. Her touch, her enticing body, her altering breathing made him pick pace immediately, making more and more hormones gush into his blood. He could see both of them nearing their limit together, and when that limit was sweetly crossed, it was even more perfect to see her collapse in his arms and twist hers around him, bringing his body down and pressing it against her own.
Ira withdrew himself and again rested on his elbow to stare at her bring her breath back. When she looked up, her cheeks were heated with blush, red like the color of Strontium flame.
He lay down on his back and she placed her chin on his chest. Ira held her to him very possessively and she rested her head down on him, putting her arm across his stomach. "Thank you so much," he said, running his fingers along her back.
"For what?" she asked.
"Such an amazing time."
"You've done this before, haven't you?"
He gave out a little giggle and told her, "why don't you go to sleep? I'm sure you're pretty tired." "You think I should?" "Yes," he said, caressing her hair, "yes, you should."
Arianne closed her eyes and the fatigue of first time sex slowly turned her systems down and she did not even have to try to fall asleep on his chest.
The next time Arianne opened her eyes, it was because sharp sun rays fell on her sleeping eyes and the first thing that fell into her sight was Ira's peaceful face. She rolled on to her chest to look at him closely and instantly noticed her clothes. She was wearing a huge grey t-shirt with nothing underneath. She went back to her laying posture and looked away from him at the window right beside the bed through which the sun rays came. The glass was the same painted glass as the main door, this time with words like 'peace' , 'solace', 'love' that a home offers written in several different fonts.
As Ira turned away from her and continued sleeping, she got up from the bed to find her underwears. She found them on the back of a chair and immediately slid her panties in, keeping herself bra-less. Undecidedly she went out of the room, into the landing and then decided to go downstairs. Halfway through the stairs, she heard clattering of utensils from the direction of the kitchen.
She hurried down the stairs to the kitchen and in there, she saw an old man struggling with the picnic basket she had brought.
"Who are you?" she charged into the kitchen, behind the man as he took out the plate of pie. Arianne looked at it and saw that half of it was gone. "You ate my pie?" she asked, seeming angry.
"You make amazing pie, Arianne."
"But, who are you?" her voice had come down as her heart seemingly melted with the compliment.
"I'm here's caretaker, Josh Happiness."
"Oh, you are?" she asked as he waited for her to pick up on his surname, like everyone else, which thankfully she didn't.
She went into the kitchen, "how did you know my name?" "Ira told me," he said, looking up and smiling. "But, he's asleep," she said sweetly, following the old man's actions.
"I came in last night," Josh informed her, "he was awake then. He told me you were here and that you were sleeping upstairs. I made dinner for you two and he said he made you eat it. Don't you remember? Though I was a bit shocked at the fact that you were here."
"Why shocked?"
"He never brought any girl here. I mean, I know him and Dawson since they were teenagers. I have known about that girl he loved then, but never saw her, except on a photo.  And, then I heard about his one-night stands and flings, but he never brought anyone home, neither to meet his parents nor take them to the stream."
"He didn't tell me you guys are so close."
"He doesn't tell anyone. It's our little secret." He laughed it off.
Their conversation broke off in the middle as Ira intruded in, "you awake?"
Arianne turned in shock and breathed relief only when she saw it was him. "Yes," she said, looking down as if in nervousness and with shame, "yes, I am." She had no idea what and how people reacted to each other after their first time, and all she felt was utterly self-conscious. It was so strong, even Ira felt a strange distance between them and moved out of the kitchen immediately, wanting to give her the time and space she needed.
Seeing him walk out that way made her feel guilty. But what could she do? The last day was amazing, she could never deny that. And, even then, standing in the kitchen, she wanted to run out to him and jump into his arms and kiss him like before. But there was no point doing that. She was leaving in a few hours for a long stretch of time, and within this, things could mutate like anything. What good would one night together and a few passionate kisses do?
Nevertheless, she walked out of the kitchen to see him sitting at the dining table, his head hanging backwards from the chair. She went and stood beside him. "Ira," she called out, "turn to me." The older man obliged her and shifted in his chair to face her. As soon as he did that, producing his legs towards her, she placed herself on his lap, surprising him altogether. But, instead of showing the surprisal, all Ira did was pull her body closer to his and placed his head on her shoulder.
"Hey," she held his face adoringly with both her hands and asked, "what happened?" He looked up, "please don't go. I need you to stay here. With me. After giving me so much, Arianne, you're taking away everything. That's..." She put a finger on his lips and said, "I've an hour before I have to leave. Let's go for a shower." "Together?" he asked, jiggered. She nodded and stood up, taking his hand and leading him upstairs into the room.
It was quick undressing in the bathroom this time. With the little amount of clothing they wore, they kissed even in between each undressing. And, when they were finally stark nude, they kissed like it was mad love to them. Their hands exploring each other's bodies, discovered what was recherché to them.
"You think I need shampoo?" she asked, refraining him from the kiss. He looked at her baffled, unaware of what she wanted. She turned the shower tap on and turning to the shelf beside them, looked for a bottle of shampoo. "Can I have the luck of washing your hair, Miss Daveson?" Ira asked, trying to flirt with her.
She smiled and handed him the bottle and turned around. In the water of the shower, her long and thick hair was drenched when he poured shampoo on his palm and applied it on her hair. "Wow," he whispered, "I love your hair."
As soon as her hair was done with, he dropped his face on her shoulder and started kissing her again. "Ira," she called, her hands reaching for his head on her shoulder, "I don't have much time."
He turned her towards him and immediately joined their lips into an infallible kiss. Their bodies, wet, again like the last day, pressed to each other, expressing their greed and need for each other. She moaned into his mouth as his hands went to her butt and he squeezed hard.
"Hold on to me," he told her, his hands on her curvaceous hips, "tightly." As she curved her arms around his neck, he picked her up, making her anchor her legs around his pelvis.
He turned and rested his back on the wall, as he carried her, responsibly enough to not let her fall. She held on to him, like a vine to a tree. She could easily guess how strong he was, considering how easily he picked her up and made love to her, standing with his back rested against the wall. She had to do nothing, only loosen herself and let him get into her while he pushed her up and pulled her down to execute coitus. How compatible are we, she thought, as he turned again to rest her against the wall now.
"Ah!" she moaned sweetly as he pushed harder every time he drew out, "oh, Ira." He kept looking at her as she enjoyed the new way he showed her how much he needed her.
"That was really nice," she said as he brought her back to the ground. "Do you still want to go?" he asked, wishing she'd say no. "Can I do the rest of the showering myself?" she asked him. He took some time before answering, "okay," and left the bathroom with a towel around his waist, left her to herself, thinking.
When she came out of the bathroom, he was still roaming around just in the towel. Seeing her coming out, he went rushing to her and clasped her in his arms. "What did you think?" he asked, kissing the back of her head.
"Ira," she asked him to look at her. She stood in his embrace, also just in the wet towel, around her from over her breasts, her thick and damp hair hanging from her head. He smiled adoringly at her, wanting to kiss her with all his love and want.
"Can we please not talk about yesterday at all?" she asked, holding back the undercurrent of lugubriousness in her voice, "or even today morning?"
Ira looked at her, his manly eyebrows forcing into a crown. "Why?" he asked; he looked terribly tortured, "am I a casualty?"
"No," her hand ran to inhibit him from speaking, "neither are you a casualty, nor are these two days spent with you a mistake. It's just that this shouldn't have happened right before I was leaving. Maybe, after I come back after the summer, we can think..." Without letting her finish, he let her free from his embrace and left the room,  leaving her standing there.
He ran out and into another room to just sit down and think. But, what was there to think? He had spent one beautiful day and one amazing morning with one of the most beautiful woman he had encountered in his lifetime. He knew that such days, if once let gone, may never return to him. He definitely did not want to let her go. Neither did he want to latch on to her without her will.
"Where the fuck have you been last night?" Theresa charged at her roommate as soon as she entered the sorority, "I called you a million times, Arianne." "Not  million times," Arianne ran up the stairs, "only thirty-two times."
"Add it with the times David and your mother called you and I called Ira. After maybe a hundred calls did he call me back and tell me that you were fine and you were with him."
Arianne opened the door and hurried into the room. "Why aren't you answering my questions?" Theresa asked her again, following her in, "where were you two last night?" "At Dawson's ranch," she answered, checking her suitcase kept on her bed one last time. "And?" "And," Arianne looked up from the suitcase, "do you have contraceptives?"
"What the fuck!" David reacted the same way Theresa did when she heard about it, "you lost your virginity to Ira?" Arianne rolled her eyes at him, "c'mon, David, don't act like my mother."
"Do you love him?"
Arianne looked away. It was not that she had not asked herself the same question. Every time she had looked back at Ira driving from Centralia to Seattle, she had asked herself whether she loved him. It just pained her to think that even if she did, she had no other choice than to leave that day for Miami; that even if she did not want to hurt him, she was deliberately doing so.
He had not talked a single word to her after he had left her in the room. They ate breakfast in silence and he even drove in silence. Even when she tried talking, he pretended to ignore her.
"I don't know," she told David. "What do you mean you don't know?" David grew exasperated.
David had parked both his and Arianne's cars at Theresa's place the previous night. So, when Theresa waved goodbye through the glasses of Ira's car, there were three people in it, Ira at the driver's, Arianne beside him and David at the back seat.
"Why are you not talking to me?" Arianne asked, as David got busy unloading the luggage from the car at the airport and she was left almost alone with Ira. He looked away again, trying to snub her words. "Tell me," she held his hand, and immediately her phone rang in her pocket.
He looked away as she attended the call from Father Lewis. "Are you fine?" her mother's voice startled her as she picked the call expecting the old priest, "we called you so many times yesterday. Then we had to call David to know that you slept early. Are you ill?"
"Mamma," she called out and she wanted to run into her arms immediately and cry. All her life she had been contented with it the way it was. Because she had not been given so much happiness by anyone as by Ira, she did not know what she deserved. His intrusion in her life had showed her how much love and happiness existed in the world for her. Only for her. Being ignored by him was the last thing she wanted.
"What's wrong, my child?" Katelyn asked, her voice heavy with concern. "No," her daughter's voice shook over the phone, "I'm fine," so much Ira had to look back to see her eyes shedding an unwanted drop of tear.
As soon as she hung up and looked up at the tall man's solemn face, he could not but grab her face in his hands and her lips in his mouth. He kissed her with all his passion.
Maybe only the agony of separation can make us dive into the depths of togetherness. So did it do with Ira and Arianne. The knowledge of being taken away from each other for such a long time made them give themelves off to each other the previous day. Their love knew no bounds, no constraints as they held each other beside the car and kissed. It was hard - the love - though, for any of them to admit.
"I'm gonna hold you to the promise you made," she told him, out of breath, having checked on David's absence, "you'll have to come to Miami to see me at least once in these four months. If you break your promise, you'll break my heart, Ira."