Water and Fire (11 page)

I smiled gently. "People want
to hear it from a doctor, not a midwife. If he'd gone into labour,
then they'd have listened to me. Besides, you had everything under
control."

Aidan persisted. "But…the
snake! I never even saw it. If you hadn't, then it might have been
too late when he got to hospital…"

"You listened and that's what
matters. You saved his life, Aidan, not me." I smiled again,
brighter this time. "And I'm sure Mark the barman is happily
spreading that story right now. Enjoy it, Aidan. This is what
you're capable of doing."

"Thanks to you. Only with you,"
Aidan replied, taking his eyes off the road to stare at me.

I wanted to
meet his eyes, but one of us had to watch the road. "Watch out!" I
shouted, in time for him to avoid the kamikaze kangaroo by swerving
onto the wrong side of the road and back again. The words stuck in
my throat. The reply I wanted to make but couldn't.
Aidan…

Aidan's eyes remained glued to
the road for the remainder of the trip back, as did mine. No more
kangaroos tried to kill themselves or us. Lucky lived for another
day.

We reached the house and Aidan
reached over to caress my face, pulling me in close for a
passionate kiss. And another. I didn't want to move, nor leave the
car, relishing the closeness and comfort this man brought.

A third kiss came to a close
and Aidan pulled away. "Let me get the fire going and we can
continue this, uninterrupted," he begged.

"I'll help," I replied quickly
as he led the way to his own woodshed. I didn't trust the snakes to
leave him be for me without me there to remind them.

Together, the
work went faster, as we filled a wheelbarrow load of wood for the
house and headed back for another. I stacked the wood as Aidan
constructed something complicated on the hearth with paper, sticks
and small kindling. He touched a flaming match to the creation and
set it alight, much like he did my heart. I watched him for a
moment, as his eyes danced with reflected flame.
Fire on water…

Aidan turned and smiled at me.
"Let's wash up and then the one thing I want to do most is get you
out of those clothes."

I returned his smile, still a
little shaken. "Same," I admitted, trying to match his light
tone.

"Spread those lovely legs for
me, Bel," Aidan murmured between kisses as his lips moved down my
breasts. His hands caressed my thighs as I willingly complied.

"Let me show you how grateful I
am for what you did today." His words confused me as his lips
distracted me, travelling lower until they tickled my inner thigh.
More confused than ever, I tried to pull away.

"Bel," he began, his hands
stroking where his lips had been only moments before. So close,
almost teasing me, for I knew what he could do with those hands. I
shifted again, so my legs were wider apart than before. "I'd like
to taste you."

"What?" I sat up quickly,
staring at him. My body shifted from aroused to afraid, as if I'd
plunged into cold water. "You want to…what?" My alarm grew.

"To taste you, my beautiful
Bel," Aidan murmured, touching his tongue to my skin. A slow lick
until I stiffened at the sensation, from my nipples to my spine.
I'd never felt anything so strange.

Aidan laughed, looking up at my
face. "Look at you, Bel. I'd think you'd never…"

I shook my head, not sure how
to tell him I had no idea what he meant. Fifteen fumbling minutes
in the back seat of a car with a man whose name I never knew hadn't
prepared me for whatever Aidan wanted to do to me now. I felt
fear.

"Aw, Bel, I'm not going to bite
you," he began again, still laughing. His laughter died as he
realised he'd guessed my thoughts. "Hey." He sat up, too, on his
knees between my legs, pulling me to his bare chest. "I thought
you'd like it. Don't freeze up on me again, Bel. Please." His voice
held an urgent entreaty.

I slowly relaxed into his
embrace, telling myself I was being silly. "I'm not the fucking ice
queen," I mumbled, the words slipping out before I realised I'd
spoken them aloud.

Aidan's laughter rocked us both
as he stroked my still-knotted hair with one hand, gently undoing
the knot to let my hair down once more. "That's right, you're not.
You're warm and wonderful, my beautiful Bel." The stroking stopped,
before resuming a moment later, slower and more intimate. "Just
like in that amazing shower we took together this morning…" His
fingers were deft, reminding me. He kissed me deeply, taking my
gasp as he took me to the cusp of a climax. "I love you, Bel."

I shouted his name, my body
shuddering, almost drowning out his heartfelt words. Yet I clung to
him, too, aware of every syllable and every sensation he inspired
in me. I wished I had the breath to reply in kind.

Aidan held tight to me,
murmuring in my ear. "Now, if it's all right with you, I'd like to
do with my tongue what I just did with my fingers. I think you'd
enjoy it. But it's up to you, Bel. I just want to hear you scream
my name like that again."

I struggled for breath. "Is…are
you…as good with…your mouth…as with…your hands?"

"Better." Aidan kissed me as
the growled word faded into the air. Slowly, he leaned me back
until my head rested on his satin-skinned pillow again.

Our lips parted and he smiled.
"Shall I?" He dipped his head to touch his tongue to my nipple,
delicately caressing the pink skin until it tingled.

"Yes," I whispered uncertainly,
closing my eyes.

A gentle kiss touched my mouth,
before Aidan chuckled. "I won't hurt you, Bel. I just want to
pleasure you – any way you'd like. Anything you want me to do. Just
name it." His hands caressed my breasts and belly as he moved. His
next kiss was equally gentle, though considerably lower. "Relax,
Bel."

I tried, but from the first
swipe of his tongue I was lost to the electrifying sensation as
Aidan set my every nerve alight with the fire of his love. Lust.
Ah, maybe both. And mine.

I surrendered to his skill.

"Oh,
Aidan…
Aidan…OH!"

Day darkened
to night and I made love with Aidan. We felt no hurry, nor desire
to stop. He was a sweet lover, for all his fire. Like mixing his
fiery whiskey with cool water, our time together was enhanced by
our joining. His every caress felt burned into my skin, yet I
burned for more.
Oh, Aidan…

I didn't sleep on the floor by
the fire that night, nor barricaded in the bedroom nearest the
bathroom. I shared Aidan's bed and slept beside him on satin, when
we chose to sleep. And when we didn't…I ached for more.

That night, I woke in darkness,
thirsty for water. I disentangled my body from Aidan's embrace and
padded to the kitchen. Through the kitchen window, I spied movement
on the edge of the lawn, where trees and bush met grass. I held
still and watched. Keeping low, a large, striped cat, the size and
shape of a greyhound, stalked the edge of the bush. Her ears
pricked at the slightest sound and once her head turned so she
looked right at me. She froze, as did the two tiny cubs at her
paws. With such small young, I knew her den must be close by. As I
met her gaze, I nodded slowly. Her secret was safe with me, as long
as she did not betray any of my secrets. She and her cubs flitted
between two trees and were gone. The Nannup Tiger lived and she was
not alone.

I quenched my thirst with tap
water, before returning to Aidan's bed. As I slid in beside him, he
stretched an arm across me to stroke my leg.

"I thought you'd disappeared
and maybe I'd just dreamed you." His hand curved around my thigh,
slowly moving upward. "Would you like to inspire some sweet dreams
to see us through 'til morning?"

I could take sleep or sex, but
I knew that when morning came, I'd be driving home. The burning
fire our passion kindled tonight would be cold soon enough. Fire
could not burn forever. But it could burn for one more night. And
oh how I burned for him now.

I stretched and spread out, as
his fingers slid inside. My breath hissed out in response, as a far
hotter snake thrust into a welcome home.

Sleep could wait.

I lay on my side, facing Aidan,
sated and sleepy. My fingers still stroked his chest hair, even as
he started to snore.

Rain drummed on the roof,
washing away with it my willpower to leave. With every passing
moment, more and more I wanted to lie beside him 'til Monday
morning dawned. Just one more loving encounter and I'd leave, I
told myself, but I lied.

I loved this man too much.

The sky started to lighten and
still I stared at him. I leaned over him, holding my breath, and
brushed my lips lightly across his.

One last kiss. No more.

I had exams tomorrow and a long
drive home today. Were he awake, he'd tell me to go, to become the
qualified midwife I wanted to be. Did I still want that?

Of
course,
I told myself. All this effort for
a qualification. That was why I was here. Aidan wouldn't ask me to
throw that away. Two weeks, is all. I could return once I finished
my exams.

And tell him the words I
couldn't say.

Sticky and smelling of sex, I
should have showered. Instead, I savoured Aidan's smell on my skin.
I dressed and packed up my things. The brown-bagged bottle of
whiskey clinked as I lifted my bag, a reminder.

I lifted it out, torn between
giving it to Aidan as I'd intended or keeping it for myself, to
remember him.

I will return
to drink it with him, so I'll leave it here.
I folded the bag and slid it like a notecard beneath the
bottle. Taking a pen from the desk, I carefully wrote two
heart-felt words:

Thank you

It seemed like so little when
he'd given me so much, so below it I scrawled three more:

I love you.

With one last glance at the
room where Aidan slept, I left his house, forcing every step I took
to my car. The sooner I left, the sooner I could return.

And I'd never have to leave
again, as long as he lived.

The sun rose on my tears, but I
kept my foot on the accelerator as my car drove north. Away from
Aidan, though I ached for him still.

When I reached Mother's house,
I was tired from my long drive and voluntary sleep deprivation. I
dropped my bag in my room and trudged wearily to the kitchen, where
she sat at the dining table, reading a book in the afternoon
sun.

"You'll need to go to the
chemist's to get a pregnancy test," Mother stated, not lifting her
eyes from her book.

"Why, who needs one?" I
asked.

"You," Mother answered. She
closed her book and laid it on the table. "I thought you were going
to wait until after you'd completed your studies to try for another
child." She smiled as if she already knew what my answer would be.
I wouldn't have been surprised.

"I received a particularly
attractive offer that I found I didn't want to refuse." I hadn't
yet dared to let myself hope that Aidan had given me a healthy
child, though I would have traded everything for her. Maybe even
him. I shook my head. Her hopes flew too high for me. "I don't even
know if I can have another child. If I can…that will change
everything." I stood, stunned, looking at a future in my mind that
I hadn't foreseen.

Mother's smile grew wider.
"What was it about him that made him so attractive?"

I couldn't help but smile in
response. "He had fiery red hair. Everywhere." I shrugged, not
wanting to discuss Aidan in detail with Mother. "It's only a few
weeks until I finish my final exams. I'll take the test
afterwards," I said, opening the fridge in search of a drink and a
desperate change of topic. "Do we have any whiskey?"

"Whiskey?" Mother asked,
looking up. "You can't drink that if you're carrying a child." She
smiled again. "Your father had red hair, too."

"Oh." I closed the fridge and
poured myself a glass of water instead. I'd left him only this
morning, yet I missed Aidan's fire so much.

"What was the man's name?"
Mother's eyes looked far away, into some memory of the past. Idly,
I wondered if she'd ever loved a man as I did.

"Aidan," I replied.

"How was your practical
experience in Albany?"

I smiled. "Highly
educational."

The pregnancy test sat in its
plastic cover, while I waited the ten minutes that felt like ten
times that. Time ticked away possibilities in my head.

Duty or freedom?

Love or loneliness?

Aching or Aidan?

Warmth or chill?

Back to the life I knew or the
thrill of change?

A child or forever empty
arms?

"Have you decided what you'll
do next?" Mother asked, standing in the doorway.

I shook my head. "It all
depends on the results of this."

Mother gave an understanding
smile. She would advise me, but we both knew the decision was mine
alone.

"You know what will happen if
he discovers your secret," she began. Her tone held warning. "You
know what you may have to do."

"If I'm carrying his child, the
decision is out of my hands," I replied firmly.

"And if you cannot conceive a
child?"

A tear slid down my cheek, but
I remained resolute. "Then I will make my choice. And I might not
choose to return home with you, Mother."

She gave a solemn nod and I
knew she understood.

"The men I loved both died.
It's a hard decision to make."

I remembered the moment the
aching started – when I left Aidan's bedroom. It hadn't ceased
since. My lips longed for his, my fingers itched to stroke him and
my breasts ached to be held in his hands once more. My tongue
burned for the fire on his.