It was by moonlight and secret they met every night. Once the Cove had cleared, and the fire was only burning embers, he'd come, sliding through the world like a shadow. He often caught her by surprise. She'd sit by the fire, her back to the lagoon, watching as smoke curled from the pit. She'd wait. Sometimes, he'd be there early on in the evening, if he'd noticed the others weren't around. Other times, he'd come late... Sometimes just before the sun rose. It was a game they often played. Guess when Shadow Man would appear.And she would wait. Wait with bated breath, her body tingling with excitement, her skin waiting to be caressed gently. She'd wait all night for him, if she must.
She saw him tonight. Rather, she felt him... She'd never seen him come before, he'd always approached her from the back. Tonight was no different. She smiled, acting as if Shadow Man wasn't yet noticed. He came up behind her, quietly; effortlessly. He kneeled down behind her, and she could smell his cologne, dancing in the breeze. He placed his hands around her eyes... Those beautiful, strong hands. She reached behind her, laying her own hands on his thighs. She could feel his smile.
Then she'd turn, and she'd stare into those ever going eyes... She never reached their bottom. She felt lost; intoxicated by those eyes. His very presence made her giddy, and made her knees melt beneath her.
"Thought you'd never come," she told him, the lust in her voice deepening it seductively.
"Ye of little faith," he told her, placing one gentle hand in the crook of her neck. She leaned into him, into his embrace. She looked up at him again, and this time, they're gazes only connected for the shortest of moments, before his lips were brushing hers in the gentlest of kisses. It was only a breath to her tingling skin, which he set ablaze wherever he touched. She shifted, pulling her chest to meet his. She raised herself up, so she was sitting straighter, covered his mouth with hers in a much more passionate kiss. Their tongues danced together, lavishing in the essence of the other that they could barely touch. God, he tasted so GOOD...
They pulled away for a moment, their breaths already ragged. "We have to quit meeting like this," he told her, a sly grin on his lips. She laughed. He loved it when she laughed... He loved everything about her... While his statement had been said in a moment of passion, he meant it more than he'd let on. The lies and secrets were getting harder and harder to keep, and his disappearances every night were beginning to become a hassle to explain.
"We will. Soon." She promised him, her fingers slowly trailing their way down his chest, stopping at the elastic waistband of his shorts.
He smiled. He always did. He knew it was what she wanted. She didn't want anything more... He felt like a toy, at times... Just a toy...
'He's thinking again,' she thought to herself, beginning to feel a familiar pang of fear. He was a great person, and a great friend... He just wasn't her type as far as boyfriends went... Damn though, he could kiss... And he could make love. He was good. He was right, though; he was simply a toy.
He leaned into her touch, and placed both his hands on the small of her back, tracing small circles on her skin. She could feel a fire igniting in each place he touched. She sighed.
"I love you," he told her, and in reply, she moaned. She always did... What that meant, he wasn't entirely sure... She kissed him again, this time, even more deeply than the first.
Before long, they were both lost in a frenzy of passion. Clothes were discarded, and thrown haphazardly next the fire. The stars were their soul witnesses of this sin, twinkling down on them in heavenly agreeance. Certainly something that felt so right to them both couldn't be wrong...
* * * *
They were lying with each other, lost in their embrace. He combed his fingers lightly through her hair, smiling in spite of himself. He'd liked her so much for so long, but it seemed that nothing ever became of their nightly meetings. Nothing more than a blasphemy that he couldn't speak. She stirred a little beside him, her body shifting in the sand. He pulled his arm tighter around her, watching her sleep for a moment. He saw her eyes flutter open, looking silver in the moonlight.
"What time is it?" She asked, leaning a little more heavily on his arm.
He pulled his other arm up, and looked at his watch. "Almost four," he told her, his eyes begging her not to leave. Not yet.
She smiled up at him... That smile that made his heart melt, and mind whirl. "Well then, we have some time, don't we?" He just nodded at her, lying his head back down.
Finally, he sighed... He couldn't wait any longer... He had to know. "What are we? I mean, what can we BE?"
She had known it was coming, of course, but she wasn't quite ready to face these questions today. She sat up. "I have to go..."
He touched her arm; just the gentlest of touches. Her skin began to tingle, leaving electricity where his skin met hers. "You said we had some time..." He began. He didn't mean to whine, but that was how his voice sounded to his ears. Young, pleading, and weak.
"I know... I hate to go... I really do, but... I just have to go. I'm sorry." She stood, gathering up the last of the discarded clothing she hadn't yet pulled back on. She turned to him. In the luminance of the stars and the moon above shining on his face, she could see the pain written and etched into every feature. She'd done that to him. Of course she knew she had... She hadn't meant to, but many things in life are not meant to become they way they are. She certainly hadn't meant to fall in love with two men.
"Please don't go," he whispered, sounding defeated, beaten. He knew he couldn't ask her to stay... There was no way she would...
"I have to." She leaned in, kissed him quickly, and pulled away. "We do need to talk, though... I'm just not sure I know the answers yet." He nodded, acting as if he understood her reasoning. He'd learned many times over that there was no point is arguing, or asking for explanation. She never satisfied his curiosity anyhow.
She stood, and crept out of the Cove like a shadow, just as her Shadow man had come to her in the night, only he was left with a much different tingling in his skin, waiting with bated breath for their next rendezvous.
