Snowdrops

And then his fingers lit a path of flame down my body as he dropped them down to my aching pussy.

"Oh, oh..." I panted. "Touch me. Touch me, please." My legs spasmed as he did; I cried out, and kicked the blankets off the bed onto the floor. He laughed, and rolled me onto my back.

"My God, you are beautiful."

I stared up at him, panting. "Play with me," I begged. "Put those fingers of yours on me and take me."

"Lucy," he whispered, "you are crying..."

"No," I said. "I'm not. And I don't care. Fingers. On me."

I arched my hips, pushing against him, moaning as he touched me, as he started to play with me, to spread me. "Take me," I begged him, "put them in me, please, please, I need you... oh... oh God..."

I writhed, unable to catch my breath, then cried out in frustration out as he shifted from under me.

He slid down me, and put his hot mouth to my clit.

I arched up off the bed in delight.

"Anton... Anton..." I whimpered. "Oh... that is... that is... please... don't stop..."

He repositioned himself. He pulled me further down the bed, spread me wide. His tongue danced on me, his breath warmed my lips, his hands were so deliciously strong on my bum. I pinched my nipples, rubbing them between my fingers, belly spasming with each liquid movement he gave me.

I could feel myself building.

I was moaning.

But there was nothing I could do. Absolutely nothing I could do.

I was close.

My legs began to spasm. Then my stomach.

And then my orgasm took me.

I pulled him up, grunting with each convulsion of my burning abdominal muscles. I pulled him up, flailing at his face, his back, pulled him up to me, to kiss him, to taste me on him. He was hard against my belly. Throbbing. So ready. Already a bit slick. He hunched forward to kiss me. He was perfectly positioned. And I reached down to find him, to move him, to guide him down to me.

And now he was in me. Right where I needed him, where I wanted him, where I had never expected to ever need or want anyone ever again.

He moaned as he bottomed out in me, and I let out a shuddering "fu-hu-huck" of my own. He pulled back, slammed into me, and I grunted again as the breath was forced out of me.

"Do me," I begged him. "Do me. Fuck me with your hard cock. Fuck me... oh... oh... yes..."

He was hard as a steel rod between my thighs. I wrapped my legs around his hips, opening myself, pulling on him with each thrust he gave me, almost unable to think about anything but how amazing his body was; how perfectly he fitted me, and how much I loved having him in me.

"Lucy," he groaned. "You are so tight..."

"Take me... take me... take... please..."

I dug my nails into his back and pulled him down against me. His sweat slicked my breasts and belly and thighs. He was panting, letting out a low pitched moan with each frantic thrust. I could feel him tensing. I clawed him to me. I felt him arch, heard his pained gasp, the guttural noises, the way his cock began to pulse so wonderfully deep in me as he moaned my name into my neck. He slowed, relaxed against me, and fell forward onto me, nearly crushing me under his delicious body.

His cock throbbed in me once, twice more, and then he took a long, laboured breath. He lifted his weight up off me, and I moaned deep in my throat as he slipped out.

.:.

"Are you ok?"

"Yes," I breathed. "I don't remember feeling this good since forever."

"You are great for my ego," he said.

"Oh, your ego needs no help, believe me. That was... I don't even have words. Thank you. I needed that so much."

"Mm."

He trailed his fingers down over me, and gently ran them along my soaking, semen-slicked lips.

"What are you doing?" I breathed.

"Exploring," he answered. "I didn't have time before..."

"Sorry," I smirked. "I guess... I didn't really give you a chance, did I?"

"I am not complaining, you understand."

"Good," I said. I wriggled, opened my legs a bit. "Oh, that's nice. I... I like being explored like this by you..."

He bent forward, kissed me.

"You smell like a piece of heaven," he said. "I am glad I met you. I am glad that you were so... insistent."

"You are the only one... the only one I've ever done this with."

"Sex?" he said, surprised.

"No. This... this intimacy. I... I think I could get used to this. With... with you."

"Yes," he breathed. He gently parted me, found my clit, and slowly started to circle it with his fingertip.

"That is... very distracting..."

"Lie down," he said. "Lie down so I can distract you some more."

"You are going to get me addicted to you."

He kissed my throat, and then slowly trailed his lips down to my breasts. He gently began to tongue my right nipple. I shifted slightly down, then shuddered as he teased his fingertip along my slightly tender inner lips. "Oh... oh, it feels so amazing when you do that..."

"You are incredibly wet," he muttered into my ear.

"A lot of that is your fault. I think you filled me..."

"Mm. Perhaps. It is... wonderfully slick."

He teased me open. I moaned as I felt him penetrate me.

"I love how you respond to touch. I love how easy you are to read."

"I... just melt...for you..." I whimpered. "I never... I never get like this... it's never this easy... Uhn... oh... oh that's so good, right there, right there please please please, right..."

He found a slow rhythm, a lethargic forward and backwards that seemed to be my body's natural point of resonance. I could hardly breathe; I couldn't really speak. I couldn't do anything except lie there, panting, clutching at the ruined sheet under me as he tortured me slowly up a wave of sensation.

I was building again.

I could feel it. So could he. He shifted, changed the angle, added a finger from his free hand to me as he stroked me, as he toyed with me.

I clutched at his leg, writhing in little helpless circles as he teased my body. He shifted again. He gently pried my thighs apart, positioned himself between them, and touched his mostly-erect cock to me. He slicked himself up with me and parted me and his head into me, never missing a beat of his slow, cunning fingers.

I arched up as my body spread over him. My legs locked, shaking, as he slid achingly slowly in to me. And as he reached his full depth I came, almost silent, unable to breathe, unable to do anything but voice wordless little moans as I shivered and squirmed on him.

He pulled out; I shuddered, thigh muscles screaming. He gently lifted my legs and rolled me onto my side. I realised what he wanted, and, groaning, I rolled onto my stomach and got my knees under me. I lifted my hips up to him, spread myself for him, braced myself on my arms, and let him mount me and have me as hard and as deep as he needed me.

It was exquisite.

And once he was done he held me, his body curled perfectly around mine. We didn't talk, we didn't need to. Some part of me knew that I was now completely and utterly his.

I slept, free for once from my dreams.

.:.

I had woken in his arms to his gentle kisses, had another unforgettable orgasm on him, and got to feel him come deep in me again. I fed him, helped him dress, and kissed him a long, lingering goodbye as I chased him off into the bitterly cold morning to start his day. He hadn't wanted to leave, he'd wanted to stay in bed beside me, and it had taken laughing threats of a cold shower to get him to move.

It had been delicious, and so special, and so monumentally unwise.

But I didn't care.

I could not think of a nicer way to start a day. And the knowledge that I would see him again that evening made me nearly giddy.

I stripped the soiled bedsheets and put them on to wash in the communal laundry, shivering as still more of him leaked out of me and soaked the tights I'd pulled on for modesty's sake.

I showered myself, and cleaned my throbbing, hyper-sensitised body both inside and out.

I shaved my armpits and my legs and pruned my sparse dusting of pubic hair. Then I washed my "Flammenhaar" and tied it up in a ponytail.

I shoved the now washed sheet and mattress cover into the building's coin-operated dryer.

I found a pair of red lace panties that I'd forgotten I'd packed, and a simple white underwire bra to go with them. "Look at that, you're the flag of Austria," I told my grinning reflection. I pulled on my jeans and a fresh slate-grey thermal fleece, then made myself a coffee.

I moved to the sun bay, and watched the town as the sun climbed slowly over the surrounding mountains.

Bliss departed, Melancholy returned from her brief holiday jaunt.

"What now, Sue?" I whispered. "What should I do now?"

The sane thing to do would be to climb onto the bus on Sunday morning.

But a rebellious part of me didn't want to. I didn't want to go home, to my stifling room in my ageing parents' house, still cluttered with her things. Back to the need to grow up, find work, then move to a filthy room in a cramped hovel in some shitty part of St Albans doing whatever shitty zero hour contract contract work I could find...

I wanted to stay here. Near her. And... near him.

Maybe...

No. That was a silly dream.

I sighed. I had a day or two to enjoy myself, but then this brief dream would be over and I would have to find my way.

I drank my coffee, got dressed, and made my way down to town through the night's fresh, white snow. I rambled, with no fixed destination, and found my way eventually to the town square.

And there, on a small printed piece of paper stuck in the window of the town's smaller Internet cafe, I saw the magic words, the unlikely key to my potential salvation.

Assistente richiesto. Nessuna esperienza necessaria.

Help wanted, No experience needed.

"God bless you, Sue," I breathed.

.:.

"It's six Euro an hour," I said, cradling the phone between my ear and my shoulder. "It's not much, but I can work with it. And it's six days a week, possibly seven sometimes, so that helps too..."

"That is nothing," my mother protested. "Lucia, please, be reasonable. What has gotten into you?"

"I need time. I need time here. I don't want to come home and live in a shitty little room in a shared house with fuckwits. I don't want to have to work zero hour contracts doing food deliveries or toilet cleaning in order to make ends meet. I don't have a degree, Mamma, and I'm never going to get one now. We both need to acknowledge that. It's... clean here, Mamma. It's peaceful. There's snow. There are mountains. The people are kind. It's cheaper to live here. I can... I can ski, and in summer I can run... and I can be nearer to her. And in a month, or a year, if it sucks, I can leave. But it will have been something new. I will have done... something. For myself."

"But... you could live with us..."

"No, Mamma. No. I can't. Not any more. I need to find my way."

"Lucia... what has happened?"

I stared out of the window. "I spoke to Herr Larcher, Mamma. We... we spoke about Susanna. About what happened that day. It... it put a lot of the demons to rest. It... I... I feel like I can breathe. For the first time since... since she died."

"Lucia, cucciola... are you ok?"

I thought for a moment. "I... you know what? I think I might be on the way to being that. To being... ok."

"So... what are you going to do?"

"Find a place to stay. Then I'll move my flight back and start working out all the other admin. I'll ask Giselle about logistics, tax... at least I've got the Italian passport, and my savings for what that's worth, so that's one less can of worms I'll need to eat while I get sorted here..."

"Who is Giselle?"

"The lovely woman who helped me when I fell. I think... I think she will become a friend."

"It sounds crazy, Lucia," my mum said. Then I heard the gentle laugh. "But then... that was always your way, back... before all this. Be careful. Tell me how it goes, Ok? Now, I'm going to put some money over to your account..."

"Mamma, no, you can't keep bailing me out like this!"

"... and shouting at me about it is not going to stop me, and you know that, and you are going to tell me when you find a place. È chiaro, Lulu?"

"Si, Mamma," I said, so she knew that I'd heard her and would obey.

.:.

"Hallo... is Giselle here?"

The woman turned, looked at me, and smiled. "You again? Come. She is at the desk today. Come please!" She opened the office door and ushered me in.

"Lucy, hallo," Giselle said, waving at me from a desk. "It is my turn to do the paperwork today. How lucky I have you to entertain me. Come, sit, I am nearly done."

I pulled up a chair, and waited patiently for her to find a place to take a break.

"Would you like coffee?" she said, as she pushed the papers away.

"Please."

"Come. I have twenty minutes, lets... how do you say, chat?"

She led me through to the canteen; I leaned against the counter and watched her as she found some milk.

"So did you have a nice sleep?" she asked, eyes twinkling wickedly.

I blushed bright red.

"Hah!" she shouted. "Yes! I win! The idiot is learning!"

She sang a snippet of some song, then laughed to herself. She grabbed us cups from a cupboard, and turned on the coffee machine.

I took a breath. "Giselle... please... I need your help..." I said.

"With what, Schatzi?" she said absently, as she fiddled with the dials.

I swallowed.

"There is a job available. At the internet cafe by the square."

She turned, waiting. "And?"

"I can start tomorrow. But my accommodation is only until Sunday. How... how hard would it be for me to find somewhere to stay... here? In Selva?"

"Lucy. You are serious about this?" she asked. "This is not some crazy after-sex idiot idea?"

"It is a completely crazy idea," I answered softly. "But... Susanna is here. And I have always loved these mountains. And there is nothing waiting for me in England. I have no career, no house, no real friends who will miss me."

"Oh, Lucy," she sighed. "That is hard. Nobody? Really?"

"Just my parents. My mother, mostly..."

"Your family is important, Lucy."

"Yes. But I cannot... heal there, where everything is as it was and nothing has changed since she was taken..."

"Ah," she breathed. She turned away, and busied herself with the coffee machine. "How much will you earn?" she asked, over the complaining whine of the grinder.

"Six euro an hour."

"That is not bad. It is not amazing, but it is not bad. Signore Jacomo has been looking for someone for a long time. He is... very fussy."

"He seemed to like me enough to offer me the job..."

"Then it is settled. So. There are places. They are not as nice as a ski chalet of course, but you will be able to find something in that budget. A room certainly, a bathroom maybe for yourself - maybe a shared kitchen, perhaps not... but you will find find something. Perhaps there will be something in St Ulrich. It is one kilometre further back down the pass, and is less... fuck, what is the word... less popular with tourists."

She handed me a coffee. I raised it to my nose, inhaled, sighed.

"Thank you for being so kind to me," I said, softly.

"I told you. I like you. You are strong-hearted. You are sweet. You are my cousin's girlfriend. Of course I will help you."

"Girlfriend?" I whispered, flushing.

She grinned at me. "That is what he said this morning when I teased him about you. Silly grumpy Anton. Not enough sleep, I think. So... you are staying? Really? For reals?"

"... I hope to. It's all happening very fast and it's probably a huge mistake and this is all going to explode and be a disaster and..."

"Lucy," she said, softly. "Shush, shush bitte. Just breathe. You will be fine. I promise, I promise, we will look after you here. I will look after you."

She found me some tissues, and sat me down, and sat beside me, chatting away with me about things of no consequence as if we'd been friends since we were children. And for a strange little moment it felt like I was sitting beside Sue once more.

When her break was over she walked me to the office door and hugged me so hard I squeaked.

"Do not forget to tell him," she said, with a smile and a wave.

.:.

"Hello," I breathed, holding myself to him, never wanting to let go.

He bent his head forward, tucked his face against me, and let out a long, slow sigh. He tightened his arms around me, then dropped a hand to the small of my back to pull me closer in to him.

"Hallo," he echoed me. "I love this outfit of yours. Are you not cold?"

"It's a warm jumper. And the socks are nice and wooly. It makes me not mind the bare legs. And, anyway, I wore it for you, not for me."

He pulled back slightly, looked down at me. I stood up on my toes, and kissed him. "You are cold. Come in," I said. "How was your day?"

"Long. Dull. I missed you. See?"

He held up his hand, showed off the heavy duty plaster on the back of his wrist.

"Anton! Oh no, what did you do?"

"I was too busy thinking of you to watch the tools. And so I learned my lesson."

"Does it hurt?"

"Not as much as the alcohol did when I disinfected it."

"Oh. Here, let me kiss it better."

I took his hand in mine, lifted it to my mouth and gently brushed it with my lips and tongue. He made a small noise; I smiled up at him. "Better?"

"Much," he laughed.

"Good. It is pasta again; I am sorry, but it's all I have ever learned to cook well other than fish..."

"Next time, I will cook for you. My treat."

"I would love that," I said. "Come. Close the door and come sit by me. I will pour us wine."

"My God, what did I do before I met you?"

I smiled over my shoulder at him as I led him to the kitchen table, and gently pushed him down into his seat. He sat, idly stroking his hand, staring at the window. I opened a bottle of red wine, found us some glasses, and poured him a generous measure.

I wondered how best to broach the subject with him

He jerked out of whatever thoughts had stolen him as I placed the glass in front of him. "Sorry," he said. "I was just... thinking."

"About?"

He reached out, took my hand, and pulled me gently onto his lap. He wrapped his arms around me and leaned his face against me with a sigh. "How much I like you," he said. "How much I liked you from the start."

"Even with the cut lip and bloody nose?" I teased him.

He smiled. "At least I could help, yes?"

"Yes."

I leaned against him, then shivered as he nuzzled my neck.

"You know... I have a better idea than pasta," he breathed.

"Really?" I said, leaning back against him and shimmying my bum ever so slightly against the bulge of him.

"It goes like this," he whispered. He dropped a hand to my lap, and slowly teased his fingers down between my thighs. "I hold you here, unable to escape, while I make you forget your own name..."

I arched against him, opening my legs for him, moaning as he found me, slipped his fingers under my panties and stroked my soaking lips.

"Oh, oh God... that is so nice..."

"You are..."

"Yes. All day."

He pulled me back against him, and I let my head loll back onto his shoulder.

"Lucy... may I play with you, bitte?"

"Anton. I have a rule I am going to put in play right now. Are you ready to hear it?"

"Yes."

"You never have to ask me for permission to touch me. Never. I will always be ready for you. You make me so hot. Just the knowledge that I am going to see you makes me climb the wall."

"Climb... the wall?"

"So horny that I could scream," I whispered into his ear. "So touch me... oh... oh God. Right there. Oh..."

He slid his free hand up under my jersey to find my breasts. I spread myself further, hooking my feet under his knees. I could feel his hard clock along the cleft of my bum, throbbing against me. I reached back, wincing, and knotted my fingers in his hair.

My stomach spasmed and I grunted at the force of it. "Oh, oh fuck," I whimpered. "Oh, oh fuck me... oh fuck... oh fuck oh god..."