A Story of Africa
Anna sat on the bed without taking down her hair. It was part of their nightly routine. John began taking the pins from it and loosening it, his fingers wandering through her locks to caress her neck.
She sighed. "I want another story of Africa," Anna wanted to hear about everything John had done and been through, including his stories of the Boer War. She had been reading Kipling from his lordship's library and looking at books with drawings and wood cuts of the many animals of Africa, and her curiosity grew.
"What kind of a story do you want to hear, my love?"
"I want to hear," she turned to him for a moment, "I want to hear about lions, if you ever saw any. Did you see lions?"
"I did," he said, putting the hair pins in her hand; she set them on the bedside table. "And heard them, too,"
"Are they as magnificent as the pictures?"
"Much more than the pictures. In particular the lioness,"
"The female?" said Anna, "But the male is so much larger. And he has that majestic mane,"
John hooked an arm around her hips and drew her against his chest, then gently pushed her down on the pillow. She let herself drop, smiling up at him as he stroked her lower lip with his thumb.
"The male does very little," he said, " He only rouses himself to mate or kill hyenas. The lioness is a special creature, a fierce huntress. Sometimes she must even fight the male lions to protect her cubs. She is a loving and gentle mother one moment, and the next she can be hell itself unleashed,"
"That sounds like most women," Anna smiled and they chuckled together.
"But not most." he said, his eyes so warm on her now as he fanned her hair on the pillow, "I'd say it's a very rare woman with that combination of traits, both loving and brave,"
They looked deeply at each other for a long time. Anna blinked, her eyes watering a bit under his loving gaze.
"There is no one like you, Anna," he said, "No one,"
"Nor like you," she said.
"I'm just a man. It's a woman who makes a life worth living. A great woman,"
Anna slid her arms around him and pulled him down with her. She nestled herself against the soft hair on his chest. He held her for a time as they sighed against each other, each steeping in gratitude.
"My lioness," he said, his voice carrying a smile.
He began kissing her throat very lightly and slipped his fingertips lower to make lazy, trailing motions inside the bodice of her nightgown. Anna took a breath and arched her neck.
Their wedding night had been a blaze, a kind of frenzy in which Anna found herself ravaging him. They had joked about it, but it was true that Anna had taken the initiative and John had simply kept up his side. In the last few weeks she had been introduced to him properly as a lover and she was still astonished by his instincts. He had a fondness for tantalizing her and he was patient, so patient and thorough. If a caress brought any kind of response he followed that response down to the minutest, the lightest stroke. It was a kind of art to him.
"How do they-" Anna breathed, "How do lions mate? Like other animals?" She blushed at herself.
"Take off your nightgown," he murmured.
Anna sat up, slipping her gown over her head and tossing it onto a chair. His lips found her throat as the fingers of his free hand brushed her skin the way she loved, delicately trailing, finding each exact, minute point of pleasure and teasing her sensations higher and higher. Anna submitted to his mouth and his fingers until she was forced to grope for a pillow to muffle her cries. While she still trembled he began kissing her belly, down and down.
"John-John-" she gasped, "A minute...give me a minute..."
He stopped his ministrations and laid his cheek on her belly, looking up at her. He blinked and smiled languidly, like a contented cat.
"Of course, my love,"
Anna smoothed his dark hair, catching her breath.
"I think I've always loved you," she said, "From the minute you walked in the back door. I think I loved you almost right then. And I didn't even know...I didn't know you would be...such a giving husband,"
He came up on his elbows, very somber suddenly.
"Is it alright?"
Anna laughed. "Yes! Yes, yes, John, it's much better than alright. I'm the luckiest wife in the world. You go after every way there is to please me,"
He smiled. "I've just begun," he said, sliding down on his arms. He bowed his head and fastened his mouth on her very tenderest bundle of nerves.
Anna only had time to half-muffle the raw shriek that escaped her. He worked on her with persistence and delicacy until her mind exploded. She shook all over, gasping. He climbed up beside her, slipped an arm behind her head and pulled her to him. He waited while she breathed and calmed, but not long.
He reached around her and flipped her on her side with her back to him. Anna gasped.
He was kissing her shoulder. "The male lion bites the female on the back of her neck, to hold her down," he said. He put a hand behind her knee and lifted, scooping in closer, "Then he forces himself on her,"
But he merely positioned himself so that Anna could not resist him. She moved her hips back and down, taking him within.
"It's quite brutal," he rasped, bringing himself into her.
Anna made a sound that had nothing to do with words. They had never done this before. The change in position created a new, glimmering range of sensation.
"The lioness fights him, but she doesn't run away from him," John rolled up on his knees and took her with him. He was crouched over her, his mouth on her neck.
Anna's mind was full of the images he conjured; she saw the thick muscles under the golden fur straining in the act, saw the flashing teeth, heard the groans and roars of the great animals. She herself was an animal, free as nature, free to exalt in the simple perfection of having him inside her. She gripped handfuls of bedding, moving on him hungrily. He was charging into her with all his strength and they rode the fantasy all the way to release, crying out together.
After a time Anna pulled the covers over them and curled against his chest. He kissed her temple, her cheek. Anna sighed.
"You beast," she said.
They laughed themselves to sleep.