Saving It

Ronin relaxed into the leaves despite the fact that tendrils were working their way into his boots. Pushing them off his feet, he watched Tara appreciatively. The tendrils tickled his soles. He squirmed, stubbornly silent.

'Tara?' he arched an eyebrow playfully. 'What're you gonna do to me?'

'Aren't you going to giggle, Ronin?' she smiled as she leaned in. 'Humour me?'

'I can't pretend to giggle,' he said, as another layer was drawn off by the green tendrils too. He smiled.

'You've got to give me a reason,' he said.

'How about this?'

Snaking up the inside of his leg, a tendril ran down his inside thigh. He held his reaction down.

'No, not good enough I'm afraid,' he said.

'What about...this?' Tara suggested, as a tendril delved under his shirt to touch his sides.

'Closer,' he admitted.

Tara smirked knowingly.

'Maybe it's not the leaves you want, Ronin?'

He grinned.

'Get down here and I'll show you what I want.'

Enclosing her in his arms felt like such relief. Tara sighed into Ronin's neck as he cuddled her. He rocked her gently for a moment as he breathed in the smell of her skin. Then he drew her down on top of him and suggested;

'Maybe you should've taken it all off.'

'What if someone walks in?' she said, coyly.

'If they do I'll shoot them.'

Tara chuckled. Then she leaned down and kissed his jaw gently. Ronin turned his face towards her. It never ceased to amaze him how shy she was once they got past playing. Ronin knew she'd never been with anyone. It wasn't her style. She'd always loved him. And she was saving it. He knew it. It made him doubly protective.

'You don't need to be shy you know,' he said, snaking a hand around the back of her head.

'Ronin-' she shook her head gently to free her hair. 'I know, I just-'

'Am. I know,' he said.

Drawing her down he kissed her lips softly, and let her respond before he pushed any further. When she leaned in and put her fingers at his throat, Ronin snaked a hand down her back to hold her waist. Her skin was so warm.

The white dress was getting in the way, he thought, as he battled through folds of flower petals to reach her skin. Then finding the way out of it, he peeled it off her back and ran his fingers down the skin he exposed. On her belly on the leaves, Tara cast a glance over her shoulder. It was trusting, but nervous, especially when he pulled it down her body gently and threw it away. Moving up behind her, Ronin was hardly surprised when she moved to stop him.

'Ronin-' she said, a bit fearfully.

'It's OK,' he breathed, right by her ear. 'It's OK. I'm not gonna take it. I just want to look at you.'

'You're already touching me,' she smiled as she relaxed again.

'I want to look with my fingers,' he said, lowering his naked body to touch hers. She gasped, and rolled over quickly. Her eyes were full of apprehension, her body unusually tense.

'Tara,' he smiled, leaning down to kiss her throat. 'What makes you worry I'll take it now, when I can wait till you're my wife?'

She shrugged.

'Maybe what worries me is I want you to,' she said.

Ronin let out a slow, controlled breath when she suggested something to him, softly, in his ear.

'I know it's weird,' she said. 'But it's a way, isn't it?'

He turned his face to kiss her jugular.

'You don't know how much that hurts, Tara.'

'You'd be gentle, wouldn't you?'

He shrugged gently,

'Of course I would. But I don't think you're gonna like it.'

Ronin listened to her little noises, and as soon as they turned into whimpers he pulled back.

'Trust me, you're not going to want this,' he said.

'Just try?' she asked.

Tara gave a little cry as Ronin tried to ease inside her, but she'd never tried this before, and it hurt too much. Wriggling made it worse, so in the end she kept still. Every little push forward was a stabbing, burning pain in her back end, and much as she wanted Ronin inside her, she wasn't too keen on this.

'Ronin-' she gasped, grabbing for his hand. 'Oh God, it hurts.'

'I told you,' he smiled. 'It wasn't made for this, Tara. I want you too. But I want you to enjoy it.'

'My handmaiden actually enjoys this!'

Ronin couldn't help but smile.

'Did she tell you anything else?' he inquired, as he left her back passage carefully.

'Only that it hurts. You know. The other way. I knew that anyway.'

Ronin smiled, and wiping himself off he followed her down onto the leaves. His erection pressed against her thigh, all he wanted was one night, privacy, with the ring she wanted so badly on her finger first.

'Sorry,' she breathed to him.

'I'm not out of tricks you know,' he said.

His hand brushed her thigh suggestively, asking for permission. Tara nodded, a bit nervously.

'What does it feel like?' she asked him quietly. 'You know. When you go all the way?'

'Incredible,' he said softly, as his fingertips slid gently into the hairs between her legs. Tara made a little noise and Ronin's eyes all but rolled back in delight when she gripped him and gazed up with with big, fascinated eyes.

'Hot and wet and...incredible,' he said. 'And when you love each other...even better.'

Tara opened her legs a bit. Ronin stroked a single fingertip over her core and received a gasp from her. She pulled away in surprise.

'Ronin-' she breathed.

'It's OK,' he reassured her, following her gently onto her back. He slid an arm under her back and held her shoulders while his free hand played between her legs. 'It's OK. It's just how it's supposed to feel.'

Tara tipped her head back, exposing her throat. Ronin ran that fingertip around her sensitive spot, and then gently, began to rub it. She whimpered his name urgently.

'Oh God-' it tore up her throat at the same moment her hips moved involuntarily. She blushed. Ronin wanted to protect that sweet innocence with everything he had.

'After we've made love properly you'll feel joined to me,' he promised her, softly, in her ear. She wrapped her arms around him.

'I want the solstice to come faster-' she whimpered.

Ronin smiled tenderly down at her.

'It'll come fast enough. Then the new queen can take over. And I cant take you.'

Tara bucked, her body responding.

'Oh God, Ronin!'

He kissed her lips sweetly. She whimpered his name.

'Gently, gently,' he encouraged her, watching her face as she drew closer to orgasm. 'That's it. Let it happen.'

'What is it!' she almost laughed. 'It's climbing up my spine!'

'Tara,' he breathed her name.

Choking his name, she shuddered in his arms and spontaneously kissed him. Ronin responded hungrily, diving into her mouth to taste her. She cried out as the feeling rippled over her body and holding onto him, she came down from cloud nine looking relax, and refreshed. Ronin wanted to touch himself, but he resisted. He held her, watched her breathing come back to normal.

'What about you-' she whispered.

'I can take care of myself.'

'No you don't,' Tara shook her head. Her eyes glowed with life and love for him.

She slid her hand down. He caught it.

'If you want to,' he said.

Tara smiled.

'Of course I want to,' she said. 'I just don't know what to do with it!'

Ronin burned, with more than arousal too, as she worked her little hand up and down how he'd shown her. She was poking her tongue out in concentration and that was the cutest thing he'd ever seen. When she leaned down and licked it, then pulled away laughing, he moaned.

'I can't believe I just did that. That's Harley's idea you know.'

'She's been telling you too much,' Ronin smirked. Then he ran his hand down her face gently. 'I want to teach you.'

Tara watched him, fascinated, as he began to grip the leaves, grip her free hand. She wasn't exactly sure what he was going to do, but when he started moving her hips to thrust into her hand, she put two and two together. She wondered what that felt like, and whether it hurt or not she wanted to find out. And soon.

'Oh God, Tara-' he was breathing then, and she found her hand surrounded by his and moving faster.

Tara watched him stiffen, and wondered if he was going to yell like she had. He didn't. He relaxed a few seconds after and reached for her, pulled her down. She smiled when he wiped the stickiness of her hand and brushed it onto the leaf beside them.

'Ronin?' she breathed after a few minutes. 'Do you...ever wonder about...kids?'

He smiled.

'You have to do other things to get kids,' he nuzzled her.

'I know. I just...I guess I watch everyone else and I just think about it sometimes. Do you ever...want some?'

Ronin opened his eyes to gaze into hers. He cupped her face gently.

'Yes,' he said honestly. 'Do you?'

'I think about it all the time,' she smiled. 'I'd love some.'

Ronin closed his eyes, their foreheads pressed together.

'Just stay with me, then,' he whispered. 'Past the solstice.'

'I'll be fine,' she smiled.

'You've got to be fine. You know Mandrake will try.'

'And he'll fail,' Tara said confidently. 'Ronin. He'll fail, I'll hand over the crown, then you and me can move to Northaven, and make babies all day long.'

He smiled, but some feeling nagged in the back of his mind. He couldn't put his finger on it.

'Stay with me,' he breathed.

'Ronin,' she shook her head. 'No matter what happens, I'm always going to be with you.'