I was miserable. Standing in the misting rain, waiting for Puck to clear the debris from a desolate little cave that we had found for shelter, I began to hate what my life had become even more. There weren't many caves in the Nevernever and earlier, Puck had told me that more dangerous creatures usually lurked inside the dark depths. He said this tiny cave, however, was much too small to house any sort of dangerous monster.
"Oh, that makes me feel so much better," I had said sarcastically, my teeth starting to chatter from the chill. Puck had glanced over at me with a cringe and agreed to search the cave before he deemed it safe. Once he had, he'd begun to remove all of the leaves, sticks, and brambles that had started to grow into it. He left long strands of vines at the entrance though, calling from the darkness to tell me that it would hide us better. I nodded, even though he couldn't see me, and wrapped my arms around my torso.
Finally his bright red-haired head peaked from inside the cave and I hurried over, ducking inside. It had started to rain harder outside while I was waiting so I was drenched, shivering and growing more and more irritated and upset. Puck sensed this and regarded me calmly, tilting his head.
"What?" I snapped, wringing out the hem of my ratty tee shirt. He swiftly pulled his brown hooded vest off, then pulled his shirt over his head. I stared at him, wide-eyed. "What are you doing?"
His chest was surprisingly well defined, the lines of his muscles noticeable but not disgustingly so. His stomach was flat and I could see the faint outline of a six-pack. I shivered again, not sure now if from the cold.
"I'm giving you my shirt. Here, take yours off." I gaped at him, my arms falling to my sides. He chuckled, stepping closer. "Meghan, please trust me. I've been your best friend for how long?"
"For as long as I can remember," I mumbled, my face heating up. "But that's the problem – you lied to me about who you are." My mind started to reel as I said the realization out loud. Would he hurt me? Would Robbie Goodfell – who I had just found out only two days before was actually Robin Goodfellow – try to take advantage of me in this small cave while rain poured down outside?
"Meghan." His voice had grown soft; I looked up to meet his bright green eyes. He crooked a finger under my chin, lifting my face higher so he could lean down closer. "I will never do anything to you that you disagree with, Meghan. You have my word, forever."
I felt the weight of his words, knowing that they meant much more in the faery world than they did in the human one, which I had so recently become distant from. Sighing and face still burning, I turned my back to him and quickly pulled off my shirt. I held my hand over my shoulder, waiting for Puck to place his shirt in my palm. When he didn't, I looked over my shoulder at him.
He was staring, but it didn't make me feel uncomfortable. His gaze was soft and surprisingly tender. "Will you turn around for me?" he asked very quietly, so quiet I almost didn't hear him. I found myself obliging, though a tiny voice in my head screamed that this was my best friend and I was standing almost naked in front of him. My arms were wrapped tightly around my chest, hiding the black bra I'd been wearing since the day we left the human world. His eyes flashed up to meet mine and I held his gaze, trying to look like I wasn't nervous.
Something in the look he gave me made me drop my arms, letting him view everything that was unclothed. Granted it was only my stomach, arms, and chest, but this was the first time I had stood in front of someone even remotely undressed. Puck hadn't even seen me in a swimsuit because I always swam in a tee shirt and shorts.
"Meghan." The way he said my name made my knees turn to jelly and he laid his warm hands very lightly on my hips. "You are absolutely the most beautiful creature I have ever seen." I reached up, wrapping my arms around his neck and letting him press his body against mine, our skin-on-skin contact and the heat of the moment itself warming me from the chill the rain had left.
"Are you saying this to get me to sleep with you?" I blurted out, not exactly meaning to. The joyful, mischievous glint returned to his eyes and I found myself questioning his sanity, not for the first time.
"Oh, that would just be absolutely perfect. But now I am bound by my word to never do anything to you that you disapprove of. So, I must ask," he paused to duck his head and press his lips to my collar bone, "Do you disapprove of this?"
I shook my head weakly and he smiled against my skin, planting soft kisses across my collar bone to the top of my shoulder, stopping when he kissed the base of my neck. When I made no protests, he continued his ascent, his lips soft and warm and absolutely heavenly as they danced across the untouched skin of my neck, shivers racing up and down my spine.
"Puck," I whispered and he stopped immediately, pulling back to look at me. "You know I've never … uh." My face flamed again and he smiled affectionately, wrapping his arms around my back. He nodded, having known that I was a virgin since he had been my friend for so long. "It seems crazy," I blurted out again, making him tilt his head in a silent question. "Before now, I didn't necessarily think of you … like this."
He smirked. "And do you think of me like that now?" He didn't let me answer; instead he pressed his lips to mine and flattened his hands on my back. His lips were hotter against mine than they had been on my skin and I immediately moved mine against his, naturally knowing what to do. I was sharing my first kiss with my best friend, standing half naked in a world of myth.
We broke apart to breathe and I laced my fingers through his soft red hair, nodding silently. He grinned hugely and picked me up. On instinct, I wrapped my legs around his waist and he seemed to enjoy it because his eyes darkened and he pressed me against the cave wall. Though it was cold and clammy, I didn't care as his lips covered mine again. His hands held me up just underneath my butt, gripping the backs of my thighs in what I guessed was restraint. Fire smoldered in the pit of my stomach and I knew exactly where this was going, even more he hooked a finger under my bra strap and began to slowly pull it off my shoulder.
I broke away, gasping slightly. "Put me down," I demanded and he immediately obeyed, looking surprised, though his eyes were still dark with desire. I looked up at him, the boy – the man – I had known what felt like forever. I couldn't think of another perfect person. Reaching behind my back, I unclipped the bra and he reached forward, pushing the straps off my shoulders and pulling it away from my chest. I felt no embarrassment, no reason to hide my body from him; I pressed my bare torso against his, leaning up to kiss him again.
His hands ran up and down my body, leaving trails of fire in their wake. He broke away from my mouth, peppering the skin of my shoulders and collar bones with kisses, pressing me back against the wall again. I leaned my head back, panting with adrenaline, wanting him to be as close to me as possible. When he hooked his fingers into the waistband of my jeans, I made no protest.
He completely undressed me in one motion, pulling down my jeans and underwear without my protest. Feeling bold as his mouth returned to mine, I reached forward to do the same to him. He grabbed my small wrists in one of his large hands, pulling back to look me straight in the eyes, his irises almost black now.
"Who said you were the one in charge?" He smirked playfully and picked me up again, almost roughly pushing my back against the cave wall. I felt his bare stomach between my legs and wrapped them tightly around his waist, my lips moving against his fiercely. I never knew that passion could be like this. I'd read about it in plenty of books and stories but I had never imagined it to be this amazing.
He suddenly stopped, pulling away to let both of us have some air. He set me back on my feet, trailing his hands up my hips to my waist. The cave no longer felt cold. "Princess," he whispered, his voice husky and rough, "Are you absolutely sure? I can stop at any moment –"
My hands had returned to his jeans and I tugged the button undone, stepping closer to press my body against his as I shoved them off of his waist. "I'm sure." I reached up and cupped the back of his neck with one hand, pulling him down to kiss me. The warmest part of his body pressed against my stomach, almost burning it was so hot. I only had a moment to gasp as he picked me up once again, his hands gripping my bare butt, his hips pushing my thighs wider apart. He positioned himself, looking at me for confirmation. I bit my lip and he shivered, seeming to like it very much. To tease him, I bit down on my lip again and released it, making my bottom lip, fuller from kissing, pop back into its place in front of my teeth.
He entered me slowly, noticeably trying to control himself. I had expected pain or even discomfort, but the only thing that washed over me was absolute bliss. I wrapped my arms around his neck and he tucked his head under my chin to lightly kiss the hollow of my throat, pushing my head back to rest on the cave wall. We breathed hard and rapidly, the cave growing hotter and hotter with each passing minute.
Suddenly unsatisfied with the cave wall anymore, he pulled himself out of me and set me back on my feet, much to my dismay. Smirking at my small pout, he spread his shirt on the cave floor and swept me off my feet, lying me down on my back. He kissed me again, breathing deeply through his nose to get enough oxygen, before he entered me again. He kept it more slow this time, moving in languid motions that made my fingers grip his red hair and my sounds of pleasure begin to come to the surface. Before then, I hadn't made a sound. My noises seemed to drive him more as he picked up the pace slightly, though still keeping it passionate and sensual.
Nothing in the world could have prepared me for the shock of heat through my stomach, the way my spine arched, and the moans that came out of me when we both finished at the same time. He grunted, pushing his face into my neck and sucking softly on a spot, his hips continuing to move even though we had both finished. My legs squeezed tighter around his waist and I scratched my nails over his shoulder blades, which he seemed to enjoy from the rumbling growl-like noise he made.
He eventually pulled out of me again, rolling onto his side and pulling me toward him so that our bodies were still pressed together. The chill of the night had come back and I shivered. He kissed my forehead, letting his lips linger there as he conjured a thick quilt out of glamour. Even though I knew it technically wasn't real, it felt that way. The fabric was soft and it trapped all of our body heat between us, quickly becoming almost too warm. I didn't mind, because the person underneath the same quilt had become something so much more than my best friend. He'd become my everything at that moment. Puck had become the most important person, faerie or not, to me and I was never letting him go. To punctuate the thought, I wrapped my arm tighter around him and he did the same, hugging me to his warm body.
And even though the near future held many uncertainties and horrors, I couldn't worry about them when I was wrapped in Puck's arms.