The Gypsy King (3 page)

The Gypsy King

and flash, guilt was extinguished, lust once poured forth and took over again. She blew out a deep breath and tried to relax so she could enjoy the show completely. More of her wetness trickled through her fingers and she felt the familiar coolness of her juices dripping down her clammy thighs. This time it felt damn good though and it was making her feel naughty and intense. Her emotions turned again, this time into piercing jolts of jealousy.

Suddenly she felt cheated!

And hadn’t she been cheating herself and

didn’t even realize it until tonight? “Go away, Leone, you selfish bastard,” she told his voice as he scolded her with guilt. “Just let me look a little…bit…longer,” she purred under her breath.

As she watched him swim and her fingers

worked their magic, she thought back to her childhood. Veronique quickly ran through all of her memories having anything to do with

Ahndray Rodell. Almost all involved Leone of course, but she
did
know more than she realized about his younger brother, she just never really paid him any attention.

He was sweet, but wasn’t very popular and

seemed a bit of a loner. He wasn’t popular with the kids she spent time with in school. She remembered that he always seemed to be on the fringes of her relationship with Leone and she sensed he wanted nothing to do with Leone or his 20

Morgan Rush

brother’s girlfriend at all. She tried hard to remember if she ever caught him staring at her, or showing any interest in her as she grew into a woman. She wondered if her sister, Emelie, had spent any time with Ahndray. She would speak with Emelie as soon as she got back home tonight.

Her rubbing hand was becoming more insistent now, the circles changing to a wiping motion and she threw her head back again, closed her eyes and applied the pressure and rhythm she needed.

She was so caught up in the moment, she almost toppled over onto her ass! She caught herself, but her panties snapped back over her fingers, totally ruining the moment, again. She opened her eyes to steady herself and without missing a beat, slid the sopping fabric over, then dipped her warm fingers into her pool of jelly again while staring in disbelief and raw appreciation at her new passion.

“Mr. Rodell. When did you grow up into,

such…a…delicious man? And how did I let your bullish brother overpower everybody and

everything in his life…especially me!” Anguish and frustration mixed with anticipation and thirst.

“Even his own father usually defers to Leone. I can’t deny that Leone always gets what he wants, but how could I let this happen to myself?”

In that instant under the moonlight, on a night filled with frustration and unrealized fantasies about a lover she now openly yearned for,

Veronique was crushed by her own stupidity. She 21

The Gypsy King

could have kicked herself for not spending more time with this beautiful man swimming in the river. She rubbed her smooth, slippery hood harder, punishing herself for her stupidity and relishing every second of it. In the moonlight, she watched him and admired how open and

vulnerable he was. She realized that Ahndray had grown into an attractive man and she regretted having paid so much attention to Leone because she apparently missed his brother’s beautiful transformation completely.

She continued staring, rubbing and driving her body into a frenzy until she was sure he could hear the sopping sounds of her pending explosion throughout the whole valley! She exhaled through her gritted teeth and forced herself to stop. She pulled her fingers out of her milk and honey fissure and winced at the momentary emptiness she always hated, then lifted them each to her mouth and licked them eagerly, putting herself further into a lustful daze.

“I’m through being stupid and there is only one voice I need to listen to now.” She moaned and suckled her juices from her dewy digits.

Veronique loosened the red ribbon around her hair. She dropped her shoes and Gitanes and, in seconds, her dress fell to the ground. She peeled off her sodden panties and, without a sound, slid into the cool and refreshing river for her own midnight swim.

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Morgan Rush

She was practically on top of him before he saw her.

Like a thrashing sailfish, he jumped almost completely out of the water and splashed away in the blink of an eye.

“Ahndray! Come back, it’s me, Veronique!” She treaded water and waited for him to stop and calm down.

He turned and stared at her.

“Are you fucking kidding me? What the hell

are you doing here, how long have you been here?

You scared the hell out of me! I thought you were an animal or something!” He coughed out a few hacking spurts, then tried to clear his throat with a laugh. He was breathing hard and fast. “Damn you, Veronique!”

He splashed water into her eyes and she could sense his confidence was coming back. She just smiled at him, treaded water and waited for him to calm down.

“You done yet?”

“Done with what?” he asked sheepishly.

She smiled at him, wider this time, and felt her breasts surface under the moonlight as she treaded water in front of him. She noticed that by pushing her arms with a little more force, she could make them float and rise up enough for him to get a full view of her taut, chilled nipples. She saw him look, too, twice.

“Whining? Hey, I’m sorry I scared you,

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The Gypsy King

Ahndray. I was walking. I love the forest at night.

I saw you swimming and it’s a beautiful night and I decided to join you because you look like you’re having fun!”

“I guess you’ve been watching me for a while?”

She sensed his embarrassment and remembered that he could be shy sometimes. She really
was
sorry she frightened him. But she wasn’t sorry at all for being here swimming with him, naked in the river together. “No. Not long really.

Well…uh…” She looked at him and grinned.

“Long enough to see the water isn’t very cold tonight, if that’s what you mean?”

It was a small way of confessing to him that she had been secretly enjoying gazing over every inch of his frame and form. Veronique hoped knowing her little secret would calm him down so they could get past this awkwardness and really start talking. She wanted to know everything she could learn about this delicious man. Right here, right now.

“Fun, huh?” he asked, still hesitant.

“Look, I’m naked, too. You’re on neutral

ground here. Okay, neutral water. Neutral

Chamois
.” When he laughed and she laughed with him.

“Come on, I can’t believe you like to swim at midnight. These woods can be dangerous at night.

Does anybody know you come out here?” he

asked her curtly.

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Morgan Rush

“No.” Veronique admitted, “But this is
my
favorite spot. I love the river and that bridge up there in the moonlight is great for dreaming and gazing off into faraway lands. When I really need to get away from everything, and everybody, this is where I come.” She laughed and pointed to the footbridge she had played on since she was a child.
Since they were both children
.

“I know!” Ahndray said excitedly. “I’ve been coming here since I was a child. I smoked my first cigarette here. Took my first midnight swim here.

And learned a few other things out in these woods, too...” He looked at her and made no effort to hide a mischievous grin. “In all our years of school, I can’t believe we’ve never been here at the same time though.”

She watched the way he looked at her. The way he cocked his head to the side. His gaze was open, not judgmental. It wasn’t as if he could see through her and into her thoughts, but something told her they had more in common than she ever considered. A chill shot through her heart all the way down to her scissor-kicking toes. She felt dizzy as river water slapped lightly against her neck and around her shoulders.

As he chatted, she listened and, in no time at all, felt her usual self-awareness, the awkwardness of the situation leave her almost completely.

Although she hadn’t told anybody about this place, even her sister, suddenly she wanted to tell 25

The Gypsy King

this unusual man everything in the world, open up completely to him, peel away each thinly veiled layer of protection that had grown over her heart in the last few years. She wanted to hold herself out to him and longed for an attraction that was as strong and forceful as every hour in the forest spent dreaming of a mutual heat, a mutual connection, of a real love, all rolled into one long evening of joy and bliss. Veronique kicked her legs harder and splashed him with two full waves of water just because her attraction to him was driving her crazy!

She laughed as he tried to duck the deluge of water pummeling his face and mouth. He spit water back at her and pulled back, kicking his legs easily and smoothly, and started talking.

“I used to come here to sneak a Gauloise when I was a kid, then this seemed like a cool place to hang out and think, especially after my brother and I would argue, or my dad would try for the millionth time to talk me into joining the family business. You know, the red sails at sunset and ochre and the paints business and all that. They just don’t understand that their business is not the romance I’m looking for in my life, really. No thanks. But this seems to be the best place to calm down and dream about what to do next—like

getting the hell out of Lourmarin.”

He dropped his gaze into the river and took a few breaths.

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Morgan Rush

She just stared into his eyes and watched him tread water and thought about seeing his body, wet and hard, as he floated on his back. Pangs of guilt, shame and fear washed away as she swam in front of him. Her fertile imagination was running wild now and it made her feel better. She desired his voice, and his touch, and anything else he wanted to give her this evening.

Hell, if I wasn’t treading water, I’d be reaching
down and running several fingers up and inside my
swishing crevices right now.
She was almost delirious at her delicious discovery. But the reality of the situation, the reality of Leone, came crashing down on her like a thunderstorm and she was unable to hide the sadness from her face.

Ahndray opened another door, a door she did not want go near so soon. Not yet.

“Did I say something wrong, Veronique? It’s okay that you’re here, really. You just scared the hell out of me.”

His concerned look made her shiver, but she said nothing and took a few seconds to regain her composure.

* * * *

His mind raced through a variety of things to say that would sound at least somewhat funny. “Hey, 27

The Gypsy King

where’s Leone?” As soon as he blurted out the question, he knew he made a mistake. The words hung between them, compounding the uneasiness of the situation.

“Leone’s back at the damn party, I guess,

showing off your latest family vintage, talking business, plotting how to overthrow the town, then the British Empire and probably the world,”

she barked.

“After his big surprise,” she turned her left hand slightly to flash the ridiculously opulent diamond in the moonlight, “I had to find a way out of there. I slipped out the back.”

Ahndray certainly understood his brother

could be an idiot, but how could Leone treat Veronique like any other girl? He was always bragging about marrying the girl of his dreams and having more sons in the Rodell family. The way he announced his upcoming engagement to everyone, it looked like they were very happy together, which seemed like a natural progression for Leone—marry a beautiful girl, have more sons, build the business, pass the business down to family and live out his life getting fat and drinking wine until he died a gorged, but victorious, death.

Ahndray now understood that his brother was obviously taking a lot of his future for granted.

Apparently he wasn’t treating Veronique very well because she was now naked, her luscious body lifting and dropping like a floating sculpture 28

Morgan Rush

in the water, and she was swimming right beside him in the dead of night with that engagement ring looking bigger than a silverback fishing lure he used to snag trout out here in the Chamois.

He had never been this close to her before this evening, and he certainly couldn’t blame Leone for that. He watched the water rolling down her wet hair and bright eyes and realized that not only was she funny, she was genuinely friendly—and what spirit in this girl! And her body, just the firm roundness of her breasts he could see above the water was making him swell, his cock twitching in the dark water beneath them both. He had long ago given up being jealous of Leone, but an unexpected arrow of envy shot through him as he pictured his brother running his hands and mouth over this adventurous, but apparently frustrated and delicate woman. He just stared at her, hoping her nipples would rise again.

* * * *

blubbered to Ahndray all about how his brother wanted to share their first time together.

“Your brother tried to take my virginity

tonight. Can you believe he actually wanted to fuck me in your downstairs washroom…the one next to the library? Said his new fiancé would look 29

The Gypsy King

perfect bent over the bidet with my hands against the wall so the blood could be washed away

quickly. Right in the middle of your family dinner party!”

“Leone can be an unbelievable asshole,

Veronique, we both know this.” He paused. “I can see why you would be upset though.” His voice was understanding and sympathetic. “If I was going to fuck you for your first time, I would at least throw you down on a riverbank under the moonlight and make sure nobody was around so you could scream as loud as you wanted.”