THE QUICKENING…

Vincent leaned against the door as erotic images evolved into beguiling scents. The essence of Catherine's delicious, womanly places wafted towards his nostrils, making them quiver expectantly. He could feel her hands stroking him; feel her mouth on his body. He could see her around him, beneath him, above him, loving him, opening herself only to him.

Consumed with desire, an irrepressible excitement constricted to a pulsing, uncontrollable ache in Vincent's groin. The eagerness built, rushing through him in a torrent of sexuality. Ah, to stay within her as he attained release, to withhold nothing of himself, nothing…

The colors of passion exploded into shimmering hues of crimson and silver inside his head. To position himself carefully behind Catherine and slip one finger into her warmth, readying her, and then to lean forward, center himself, and penetrate her with one forceful thrust, with one solid drive of his pelvis…

Vincent's body began to tremble, jerking violently as a quickening he'd denied for over thirty years reached out and took him without warning. Pushing into the sensation full force, welcoming it, his body ached with anticipation as his thoughts went to the woman on the bed. To at last allow her to know all of his appetites…

As the pounding of blood thundered in his brain, stripping away a lifetime of hidden, disallowed urgencies, the words were torn from a place within him that Vincent recognized and had always feared. He didn't fear it now. Resolutely meeting Catherine's eyes, he asked, "You would accept me in whatever way I chose? You would have me unite my body to yours with no restrictions, knowing what could happen; realizing full well who and what might be liberated if we dare to do…this?"

Catherine's response was in as encouraging a voice as she could muster. "Yes. I want you to share yourself with me tonight with no walls or barriers between us. Don't…leave me this time. Please?"

"As you wish." Unable to disguise the eagerness in his voice, he put both palms flat against the windowpane and propelled his body away from the glass. "I won't leave you, Catherine. Not this time." He moved toward her. "I want you to know me, to learn with me at the same moment the truth of what I am. I want to relive that night in the cave, and how it felt to give you everything I have to give."

As he neared her, Catherine swung her legs over the side of the bed and opened her arms. Moving to stand with his legs imprisoning hers, Vincent gently cupped her breast in one hand and the back of her head in the other as he bent towards her. Attempting to move her hair aside so he could touch her more fully, he snarled impatiently as his fingers became tangled in the silken strands.

Twisting his hand slightly to the left, he yanked free and looked down, horrified as he beheld the lengths of Catherine's hair that now rested in his callused palm. That small act of ferocity pulled him up sharply. "What have I done!" Horrified at his display of impatience, he sank down to the edge of the bed.

Moving to kneel in front of him, Catherine spoke soothingly, telling him, "I'm not hurt. Vincent, it's just hair. I pull yours all the time."

"Yes, I know that you do." He smiled at the memory, but apologized anyway, afraid to touch her again. "I did not mean to do…that." An air of defeat colored his words as Vincent's shoulders slumped. "Catherine, now you've seen with your own eyes what can happen. One touch and I've already hurt you! I don't know if I what you ask of me is…truly possible. It's something I had not imagined you would ever seek to know…again."

"I want this for your sake as well as my own." Urging him closer, she wrapped one arm around his waist. "I want you to learn once and for all, that no part of you frightens me. I don't want you to ever feel shame again in who you are! You're Vincent, the man that I love."

"Not who I am…" Hesitating, Vincent stared down at his hands. "…What I am."

Releasing his waist, Catherine took the hands he hated, the hands that she loved, and brought them to her bare breasts. "Who you are is everything to me, and your hands…"She kissed the pad of each finger delicately, "…your hands are beautiful. In the cave, they brought me a depth of joy I'd never thought to know."

Fighting back sobs of relief, Vincent swept her into his arms and searched her face. "I pray that you are right, for once this begins, this time I don't think I could stop, even if you asked it of me. Not this time…not now. I need you too much, I want you too much."

First kissing the side of his face, Catherine moved her tongue to the edge of his ear. "As I want you, my love. I do understand how difficult this is for you."

"Do you? Can you?" Gripping her face in his hands, he shook her as hard as he dared, trying desperately to make her fully aware of just how unsettled he was emotionally; how afraid he was. "Have you any conception of how excited I am at this moment, or how desperately I want you; the ways that I want you?"

Nuzzling into his hand, she nipped the center of Vincent's palm. Startling him, the love bite also thoroughly aroused him. "Maybe I don't know as much as I think I do. Show me? Let me know all of you again?" She looked very determined. "I wasn't afraid of him, and to be honest, I…I miss him…"

"Miss…him?" Vincent stared into her eyes hard for a moment, and then a fiercely resolute look came over his face. "So be it. I must trust you to do what is best, for…both of us. God help us if we falter this night."

"We won't fail, Vincent." Catherine gripped him tightly around the neck.  "Together we can dare anything."

"Yes, with you, I can dare…anything." His tone of voice changed to a raspy whisper, settling into her womb like a physical caress. "At this moment, I am no longer able to deny either of us this pleasure."

As she looked into them, Vincent's eyes turned sultry, provocative. They were a strange, ebony color; not his eyes at all. As he smiled at her, his teeth gleamed in the half-light of the bedroom. "Ah, I have missed you…"

Gazing into his eyes, she saw something there that she recognized instantly, but had no fear of. Loving him as she did, Catherine didn't fear of any part of this intensely beautiful man. At the beginning of their relationship, she'd suspected Vincent when the subway vigilante was on the loose, but she'd never truly feared him. How could one be afraid of the center of their world?

"And now…" He tipped her chin up until his mouth was mere inches from hers, 
"…Open your mind and body to me--to us. Yield all to me, Catherine, for from 
this point, I shall not be denied." He griped her possessively and leaned toward her. "Know this, my beloved, tonight you shall be mine in every way…

Pressing her down into the mattress, Vincent began kissing her wildly, until she couldn't think of anything but his tongue, or feel anything but his mouth and teeth. Moving to her breast, he suckled hungrily, as if starved for a taste long denied him. For this part of his secret self, Catherine's taste had been denied for far, far too long.

When she finally managed to find her voice, she gasped, "Lord, you're quick!"

A rumbling chuckle filled the air over her head. "Quick? Yes." Fierce eyes that were synchronized bursts of blue energy claimed her as his soul mate. Vincent's smile was seductive, beguiling. "I can be very quick when I wish to be." Moving his mouth to the edge of her chin, he worried the soft flesh with teasing, nibbling bites. "But I can go slower if you ask it of me."

Placing one hand at her waist, Vincent pulled her up firmly to his chest. Eyes sooty with promise challenged hers. "How do you wish me to be, Beauty? It is your choice. Remember? In the cave, I gave you that choice. And now, I must see your face as you say the words aloud. Catherine, tell me what you want…"

Sliding one hand between them, she trailed her fingers along the edge of his scrotum, kneading the weighty sac with the tips of her fingers. "I want you, as you were that night--completely aroused, utterly fearless, and as eager as I am."

"Are you eager?" Shifting his weight onto his knees, he straddled her hips. "You’re already prepared to receive me, then? Let me see…" Placing one finger at the edge of her femininity, Vincent brushed the furred side of his hand across her thighs, stroking lightly back and forth. "Hmm, yes…" His eyes never left her face as he moved his hand lower, deepening the touch.

When her satiny wetness flowed down to coat his fingers, he grunted, "Ah, your desire undoes me! I feel how ready you are to accept me, as I am just as eager to be accepted, to sheath myself within you." Although the voice was his, the words weren't ones Vincent would ordinarily have used. "I have waited so long for this. I want to bring you pleasure, and rediscover my own in your body. It's time…"

With a twist of one hand, Vincent removed the tiny lace panties from Catherine's hips. As he rose to his knees over her, unbridled passion had altered his expression from one of loving patience to one of necessity. "Accept me as I am, for who I am. Anything I do to bring you pleasure from this moment, also brings it to me."

Dismissing the trembling in his fingers with a snuffling grunt, he moved Catherine's hands back to the headboard of the bed. In a tone that would not be disobeyed, he commanded, "Keep them there."

Holding onto the bed, Catherine looked up into his face, waiting for whatever would happen next. Wriggling her hips against his slowly probing finger, she challenged, "What if I need to touch you? I'll want to, you know that."

The look in Vincent's eyes was loving, but one that would brook no disobedience. "Do as I ask, please? Do not tease or test me, not now. If you do, I promise…"

"Promises, promises," she murmured willfully. Doing exactly what he'd warned her not to, she gave Vincent a very determined look, and then slowly let…go…of…the…bed.

"So, you would tease me then!" Pushing Catherine's knees apart roughly, he kept her body trapped between his thighs. "Promises, you say? Oh yes, that and more; a pledge. You wanted me, so shall you have me, and this time there shall be no doubts…no reticence."

The look that washed over his face told Catherine that this was not a time to play with Vincent in any way. This was not a game. The hunger in his eyes, the look of eagerness there, told her to do as he asked without question. As she watched, his passion seemed to heighten moment to moment, for his needs went beyond ordinary mans--they always had. Putting both hands at her hips, he breathed, "Stay still. I want to feel your response with my mind as I enter you. Don't touch me yet, please? You must be quiet as I center my thoughts."

Gripping her by the ankles, Vincent kissed each one, and then rested them on his broad shoulders. "How I need this…" Gripping her wrists firmly in one hand, he yanked them back over her head. "This time, you will keep them there…"

Tipping his body, keeping her caught between strong but trembling legs, he slowly drifted down to cover her, flattening her beneath him. Then, shifting his pelvis, he lifted away from her for a moment, smothering her cry of disappointment with a fiercely penetrating kiss.

Clasping his phallus firmly between his fingers, Vincent began to glide his tongue in and out of Catherine's mouth in tune with the prodding motion of his hips. At that same moment, he inserted just the tip of his maleness inside her. Pressing forward a little, then easing out again gradually, he moved in her slowly, sensuously.

Then, without warning, Catherine's inner muscles spasmed, clutching at him, taking him much deeper than he was prepared to go. "Yes," he hissed, "It feels so good…" Eyes wide, staring, he began to rock into her wildly, seeking the source of her heat. He was at the edge, nearly there…nearly…

No! Barely in control, Vincent's head jerked back as he tried to slow his movements. Catching himself just in time, he groaned, "Not yet, not…yet…" Squeezing his buttocks tightly together, he withdrew until only the crown of his penis remained embedded within her.

"Stay?" Gripping him with her ankles, Catherine tried desperately to draw him back.

Tensing his body against the need for a swift penetration, Vincent growled, fighting off the pressure to loosen his control. Starved to scatter himself completely within her for the first time in a year, he couldn't remember ever wanting anything—anything--this much. Battling the need to thrust one more time and reach orgasm, he tensed his knees and lifted himself slightly away from her, panting roughly. "Temptress, is this how you wanted me?"

"Yes…" Bringing her legs up, Catherine tried to get even closer to him. "Oh, yes. Don't leave me," she moaned.

Smiling devilishly, doing a bit of teasing himself, all at once he withdrew altogether, loving the wet sounds their bodies made as they separated.

"Vincent!"

Gripping the bed tightly, she arched against him. As she did, Catherine noticed that his usual breathing pattern had intensified to sharply rasped sobs. She became aware of an energy, a vitality that seemed to permeate the air around them.

Putting one hand at the right side of her head, he leaned into her until their mouths touched, and began urgently rocking his moist shaft against her, whispering, "Shall I deny you what I have yearned for myself for such a long time? Lift your hips toward mine…now…" As she did, he wrapped both hands around her bottom and sank into her full force. Thrusting deeply, his eyes flashed, growing more and more expectant as he felt the beginnings of release just heartbeats away.

As Vincent's head went down to watch their bodies meld together, and then part again and again, his tone suddenly turned frantic. "Catherine, let go of the bed!"

The instant she did, he pulled away, captured her by the waist and rolled her over onto her tummy. Licking the curve of her ear, he gasped, "To be free, in all ways. from the fears of a lifetime. To dare dream of loving you like this…"

First skimming his teeth along her shoulder, he then put the sharp tips of them against her neck and nipped her gently. When Catherine trembled beneath him, he knew it wasn't in fear. She was warm, so willing, her voice soft and impassioned. "Vincent?"

His tone was soothing…seductive. "I'm here, my Rose. Now I shall love you without limits. All of what and who I am, I give only to you…"

Meeting her moan of expectancy with a determined groan, Vincent ran his hands over her belly and edged lower on the bed. Moving one hand to the center of her heat, he smiled at finding her quite ready for him indeed. His smile widened, becoming earthy, more sexual, until its glory was an entity unto itself; victorious, dauntless.

For a moment Vincent pulled back as though his minds-eye saw something visible only to him. He did see something—himself, as he'd never allowed himself to be before. Feeling the ‘beast's’ passion blaze up from the dark places within him, this time he didn't forbid the intrusion, he welcomed it. After all, a promise was a promise.

As he caressed Catherine, an almost ethereal hand also reached out to touch her.  Hovering over his for a moment as though even now fearing rejection, the hand then slowly merged with Vincent's. For the first time he and the more sensual side of his spirit were one in the act of love, and they celebrated the revelation.

Although they were his hands that stroked, his fingers that claimed Catherine, they were also those of a duality Vincent had rejected his entire life until this moment. He would never reject him again. No more conflict, no more pain. There had been enough of that between them for two lifetimes. At long last, an entity that had known only the pitiable existence of maiming and loneliness was shown what was truly possible--even for him--with love.

Wrapping the woman he loved in his embrace, Vincent lifted Catherine to his breast. Pressing closer, his words were grunts of pure pleasure, his intent markedly obvious. "Do you wish me to continue?"

"Y…Yes," she stammered, unable to forbid him anything he would have; sensing that within him something wonderful had happened. With each pass of his hands on her skin, each touch of his mouth to her body, Catherine felt his self-confidence growing. To even try to stop him now would defeat all they had gained tonight. Never would she do that--to him. "Love me…"

"Oh, I shall…" Slowly easing into her body, Vincent fought the need to immerse himself fully and take his pleasure. Turning aside his hunger momentarily—longer would have destroyed him--he resisted an instinctive craving to let himself be consumed in the flames of this woman’s love.

Still, there comes a time when desire defeats the noblest of intentions. For Vincent, this was such a moment.

When Catherine leaned forward and balanced on his tensed thighs, offering herself to him, the angle of her pelvis induced a tightness that raced along Vincent's length. Wide-eyed, he tossed his head frantically from side to side and clenched his teeth. Groaning, he fought for a mastery over his desires that had disintegrated as bits of paper would in a consuming heat, leaving only the ashes of the gentle being who'd always put the needs of others before his own.

It was time…it was past time…for him to confront, accept, and finally assuage his own needs. Biting his lower lip to the point of pain, Vincent closed his eyes and settled his hips down onto the mattress, waiting…waiting… Knowing who and what had risen and was controlling him, a whimper rose from deep in his soul.

As he struggled not to fight that side of his spirit, a shimmering heat enveloped him, guiding him towards a vortex of ecstasy he'd never known. ‘Yes,’ urged a voice only he could hear, ‘Feel the power of what we are—together! Feel our connection and accept it. Now…NOW…do you understand?’

Vincent's eyes flew open. Yes, he understood…now. Gasping, he stared into nothingness as a new and unexpected aggressiveness swept through his tensed frame. A need to seize his own pleasure blazed up, unswerving and potent, from the hidden places of his psyche. As an explosion of pure, uninhibited sexuality raced through his blood, he opened himself to the sensation, welcoming it as a part of all he was, freely, without misgiving.

In that moment, in the measure of a single heartbeat, Vincent became all that he’d never thought to be. He was sunlight and shadows, angel and spirit of twilight, a soul older than time itself, as well as an innocent lover on the edge of sexual awakening. He was poet and scholar, passionate and patient. And he was simply a man, yet more, oh, so much more.

Wrapping both arms around Catherine, he pleaded breathlessly, "Help me? I must learn how to control…him, if he can be controlled, for I doubt that it will be possible to dominate…this…much longer." Warm tears dripped down onto Catherine's shoulder. "I still fear the hunger he causes to rise in me. His craving steals my will, it crushes my judgement." Feeling the beginnings of a thunderous snarl rise in his throat, he buried his face into the nape of her neck. "The way that he…the way that I want you, robs me of all patience."

Running her hands down his muscled forearms, she laced her fingers through his. "Please don't be afraid? He is a part of you; he's all of the emotions that you've kept bottled up inside you for too many years. Don't deny your own passion. Let it happen? Stop struggling against him and yourself. Let him free, allow him to exist, for it also frees you. If you trust him, it will free you!"

Vincent didn't answer--not right away. For a moment, there was only the harsh sound of his breathing, each expulsion of air gently stirring the hair at the back of Catherine's neck. From this position, she couldn't see his eyes, or the darkly reflective look that came into them as he eased his hands from hers.

Finally responding, his tone was sensuously explicit, making her giddy with anticipation. "Do not fight him, you say?" Stroking softly back and forth, powerful fingers lingered at the underside of her breast. "Don't you see that the battle has already been fought? And the garland of victory, Catherine, is…you."

Cupping her breast firmly, Vincent ran his thumb along the crested peak. Her eyes drifted shut as a low chuckle stirred the air. In the dark-ness there was a flash of beautifully pointed teeth as he began to nibble on her ear lobe.

"You are the prize, my lady, and I always claim what belongs to me…" That said, he gave himself up to passion. As the force of an innate eroticism never before acknowledged obliterated the last remnants of his fear, the one she loved began moving his hands over her body. "I adore you." A look of promise slowly spread across his intensely beautiful face. "And now, I shall have you…"

Vincent began to stroke her almost lazily. Gently rolling one taut nipple between his fingers, he gave himself up to the sensation it brought. Yes, this was what he’d needed…this. He felt swollen with love, with eagerness; somehow invincible--like a warrior who had battled his dragons, his demons, and at long last beaten them at their own game.

Searching his feelings, he admitted to himself that whatever else he was, he did have a pride inborn in his own particular species. This woman had given this to him. Her love gave him the courage to accept what he was, her devotion gave him the confidence to disregard the things about himself that couldn't be changed, no matter how much he would want to change them--for her.

Catherine’s words were true--life was something that one must live in whatever form it was given you. She wanted him as he was, loved him as he was, and now, here in this bed, Vincent finally accepted the fact that to her, he was a man. And that was the ‘truth beyond knowledge’, the one he clung to now with his heart and soul.

Abruptly, the need for release obliterated all other, more rational perceptions. "Catherine…" Pulling her back against his chest, Vincent rose to the full extent of his knees. Embracing her tightly, he moved his mouth over the soft flesh of her upper arm. "…I need you. I want you…now…" Centering himself beneath her, he brought her down forcefully as he arched upward, crying out, "I have no more patience!"

Pounding into her without restraint, again and again, he whimpered as erotic images swept through his mind, luring him, enticing him onward. Pumping forcefully, he knew he was at the edge of release. "The feeling," he gasped, "…the sensation! Open your soul to mine. Hold on to me. Tighter, tighter! I don't want to hurt you, Beloved, but I can't stop moving!"

Sobbing his name, Catherine flung her head back against his breast. "Give your body what it seeks. Satisfy your needs, and mine. I love you, I'm waiting for you…"

Her beseeching cries released Vincent from his tormented juncture between heaven and hell. As her womb clutched at him relentlessly, his body jerked forward, startled. "Dear merciful God," he gasped, "What is this sensation? What’s…happening?!"

This was completely new to him, and magnificently sexual. He'd never stayed within her long enough in the past to be fully aware of the all-encompassing moistness of Catherine's femininity. Now he felt everything, and strained to lose himself in it; wanting joyously to drown in the heat of it. As his body angled upward, finding its own rhythm, the excitement became a sea of longing. He moaned, waiting for release, desperate for the totality he'd been denying both of them for so long.

Grazing Catherine's ear with his teeth, Vincent tipped his pelvis up, sobbing hoarsely, "This time I must finish within you. Oh, I need this, I need you! Let me guide your body,"  he pleaded, fighting to rein in his hungers. "Let me…"

"Vincent, hold me!" As a clutching sensation rose from Catherine's womb, he rocked to his knees. Yanking her back to his chest just in time, he tensed his pelvis as she dug her nails into his knees. Sobbing his name, she buckled forward in his embrace.

As his beloved attained fulfillment, her rapture clenched along the width and breadth of Vincent's aching flesh. And that quickly the boundaries of constraint were merely a memory. Holding her firmly, frantic to have her yield to both his advances and to him, in every way, Vincent prolonged each exquisite thrust. Struggling to move slowly, he edged his hips from side to side. Loving the feeling it brought, he tried desperately to delay his climax. But the urgency to achieve ejaculation was too powerful to be endured--and it refused to be contained. Without caution or warning, passion ripped through him.

"Uh!" Shouting in incomprehensible joy, he shuddered, aware of what was about to happen. Desperately gulping air into his lungs, unable to dominate the spilling of his seed, or to forestall it, he wept as desire reached out and pounded at him relentlessly. All control dissipated like dust in a storm as hunger, absolute and indescribable, took him body, mind and concepts. Fighting to satisfy his ardor, yet sustain the moment, Vincent took short, jabbing thrusts, hoping to delay his orgasm for one more second, one more stroke, for one more lunge of his pelvis. But it was not to be.

Eagerly, his fingers tightened at Catherine's hipbones. "Be still a moment longer, just for a…" Suddenly, his eyes darkened. "Now…" Shaking his tousled mane out of his eyes, he lurched upward. "It begins. Oh yes…yes! I’m…"

Groaning her name twice, once in disbelief, and then triumphantly, Vincent pitched forward into a whirlpool of colors, scents and imagery, his back hunching convulsively as a potent explosion of semen spilled from his body into hers. Nourishing Catherine's womb, the orgasm completed him as he shuddered and rose to meet it once, twice, thrice, and then a fourth and final time.

"Oh!" Collapsing sideways on the bed, Vincent was a little unnerved at finding himself so utterly spent. His bones were liquid, there was a fire under his skin. He simply could not…move. Groaning in disbelief, wonderfully, utterly depleted, he wrapped Catherine into a loose embrace. A wry chuckle rumbled up from his breast. He was dead from the soles of his feet to the top of his head, and he reveled in it. Damn it, he'd earned it.

The lovers lay motionless for some moments, unable to move, gloriously sated. Then, still joined, Vincent turned Catherine to face him. He groaned as his phallus convulsed, tiny aftershocks winking out all along its still pulsing length.

"I never knew anything could be so…so…"

Unable to find the word he wanted, he put the palm of his hand to the side of her damp face. His eyes were glowing with both love and a sense of recollection, for at the moment of ejaculation he'd remembered everything.

As he told her, his voice was velvet soft, almost a physical caress. "My Love, I know what happened in the cave." Ducking his head, he whispered, "It was like…this, wasn't it?"

"Yes, and it was wonderful." Cuddling down into him, Catherine tightened her inner muscles around him, loving it when he grunted. "You were wonderful."

"That night, and…this, I brought you no pain, none," he stated matter-of-factly.

She kissed his firm jaw. "No, I told you that."

"Thank God." Burying the tip of his nose into her hair, Vincent inhaled deeply. "…And you." Sighing wearily, he snuggled closer to her.

Kissing the bridge of his nose, Catherine peeked up at him. "You're very, very welcome."

"And I am very, very fortunate." Settling one leg possessively over hers, he held her to his breast as they both drifted off to sleep.

*** 

                                                                                                                                                       NEXT