Chapter 4 – Shadows
A sigh escaped Hermione's lips and she sank below the turbulent surface, soaking her auburn hair, deepening its color to an almost black, red wine. When she came up for a breath, the cool air washed over her like a shower of icy rain. It calmed her racing mind, and a smile formed at the edges of her auspicious mouth.
Slowly, whispers of the night stirred in the dark corners of the relaxing retreat. Silhouettes of silent marble statues danced along the stonewalls, playing across the alabaster floor. Hermione closed her eyes, unwinding after the long week, her mind sometimes straying to thoughts of her black-haired, blue-eyed, ostracized boy.
The shadows moved excitedly, unnoticed by the girl resting so peacefully. The thoughts she had within her mind were written so plainly on her face. She needed, she longed, she craved. Deeply, with passion. It was his duty, and his duty alone, to fulfill her every desire and more.
He stepped from the darkness into the pale moon light that spilled through the high array of open windows. It glinted on the damp waves of wine-colored tresses cascading over the slender snowy shoulders, shining angelically. Padding across the smooth marble towards the pools, he paused behind Hermione, his fingers itching to delve into her tangle of hair, his breath catching in his throat.
She awoke in a haze, realizing quickly she had drifted off into an easy slumber. The bubbles were beginning to recede, exposing flushed skin below the surface. Suddenly Hermione flinched as she realized there was a shadow lingering silently over her submersed form. Startled, she pushed away from the edge of the copious bathtub, swimming into the middle of the concealing suds, whirling on her invader.
"Can I help…" The question died on her lips as shocking blue eyes connected with stunning brown. "Draco."
His eyes crinkled in a smile as he crouched down, face to face with the dazed recipient of his devotion. "Hello, Hermione."
Moving back towards the edge, towards him, with her lips parted in shock, her eyes wide with innocence, Hermione looked like a dream. Tenderly, and ever so slowly, Draco reached out and ran his fingers down the side of her creamy face to the soft hollow of her neck. Her breath caught in her throat. "How did you get in? Why are you here?" All of a sudden it sank in, the fear, the panic. "Draco you have to get out of here! This is the last place you should be! It's too dangerous. Why would you possibly come here, of all places?" Frustrated tears were threatening to flow out from behind those chocolaty pools in which they were swimming.
He traced a lazy finger over her mouth, rubbing erotically at her lower lip with the pad of his tender thumb. "You know why I'm here Hermione. You know why I came." The hypnotizing sound of his low, husky voice alone drew her even closer, so that her whole body was pressed against the side of the bath in a slightly sensual way.
"You…can't stay here, Malfoy." As hard as she tried to keep it from showing, her voice betrayed her every notion, as did her unguarded, lustrous veneer. "I forbid you to stay here."
Slow and languid was what his intense enticing laughter was. The joy in his eyes was real and shone brightly, hotly, as he gazed innately into her very being. "Mione, I'm not going to stay here throughout the whole school year, darling." Her face fell. She felt it at the same time as his sparkling eyes caught it and was instantly embarrassed. "I am, however, planning to stay tonight, at least." The corners of his sculpted mouth pulled up, little by little, into a timid yet arrogant smile that had blood rushing to her face.
Hermione released her death grip on the wall slightly, easing back, trying to look as relaxed as Draco. "How, may I ask, are you planning to do that?" She monitored her breath, inhaling deeply, trying to calm her rapidly racing pulse. The rushing of her blood through her desperate body was almost unbearable.
"Hermione," his eyes bore into hers, burning intensely, holding promises and secrets. "Are you really going to make me leave? Do you really want me to leave?" Incapable of responding to his weighted question, she licked her lips nervously, then bit the corner of her enchanting mouth. He reached out to her, gently settling his left palm on her cheek, his right, tangling deeply in her mass of wet hair. His fingers tightened into a fist, bunching her hair, tugging almost painfully yet reverently and possessively, at the same time.
"No…" Her breath left her lungs with a heavy sigh as she pulled herself up to meet his lovingly soft lips with a tender brush from her own. Instantly her arms reached up and slid around his neck, urgency replacing softness, fire sparking where a slow burn had been. "Never…"
His arms came around her, cradling her naked body against his clothes. He plunged deeper, his tongue taking slow, drugging sips from her staggering warmth. Her gloriously forbidden heat that he needed so desperately, so completely. "My god, Hermione…"
Words, just three little words. That's all they were, yet their impact on her body was like a burning match to dry kindling. She was on fire, her skin engulfed in glorious heat. And he felt every inch of her.
Colors swam, sparks flew and she knew, finally she knew. This was what she wanted, had wanted since the beginning. His fingers licked like flames over her body, enticing, seductive, whispering secrets of both pain and pleasure. The pulse in her throat skipped as he grazed his teeth lightly over the sensitive skin. Draco's hands teased her gently, caressing her whole body until they found her fiery core. Slowly, inch by wonderful inch, he slid his fingers into her, staring into her wide, importunate eyes all the while.
Her whole body hummed with excitement, with need as she peaked over the sliver of ledge she'd tried to hold to. Lips came together in a frenzy, moans emerged from within as they let go of all restraint.
"Hermione." Draco's hot breath against the soft curve of her breast was a reverent plea of desire. His mouth skimmed the hollow of her munificent bosom before finding the rosebud tip. Hermione gasped when he took her in his mouth, becoming wild under his tantalizing tongue. Her hands tugged at his shirt, pulling it from the slim waist of his pants and tearing it open, causing all the newly polished buttons to pop off. With a laugh, she ran her hands desperately over the solid muscles of Draco's chest and back.
"I'll owe you."
His growl of lust told her enough. The shirt was of no importance to him. All he wanted was her. Right here, right now.
Backing her against the cold, marble wall of the spa-like bathroom, Draco crushed her lips with his in a kiss that drove away what little sanity she still clung to. "Hermione. Now. I need you right now," he pleaded with her as she pulled him free of his constricting clothes. His jeans were tossed aside and he kicked his boxers into a corner, standing before her, naked, his breath coming in gasps of need.
"Draco…" A moan of longing ensued from her center as she stared at him, and he, her. They drank each other in with just their eyes. Touching only their fingertips, as they loved with their gazes.
"You are so beautiful," he breathed, just above a whisper, as he trailed his fingers down her face and stared into her passionate eyes.
She couldn't move. She couldn't breathe. This was all she'd wanted and so much more. It hadn't even happened yet and she was almost on the verge of tears.
And he knew he couldn't do it. He couldn't take her. Use her to calm the ache he'd been feeling for the past week. He couldn't because then he'd have to face the one thing he knew he could not give.
Draco stepped away from her, holding her hand in his, unable to break that small, yet powerful contact with her glowing skin, with her. "Hermione…I…We can't."
Her breath stopped and her eyes grew to the size of small saucers. "Wha…What?" She stuttered, gazing up at him, lust leaving her eyes, replaced with confusion, hurt. He couldn't take it.
"Hermione, this isn't right. You know as well as I do we can't do this. We can't be together like this…"
Just as unexpectedly as he'd backed away from her, Hermione wretched her hand from his and shoved him, hard. "You bastard!" She walked towards him, pushing him again, her fury growing as fast as her humiliation. "Don't assume to know what I know Draco Malfoy! Don't you ever assume anything about me! You don't know me. You don't know me cause you never wanted to and you still don't want to." Her voice broke and she stopped, a shudder running through her had her wrapping her arms around her all-too-naked body.
As she whipped around to snatch up a robe, Draco grabbed her bicep halting her. "Hermione, wait. Please, I…"
Her hand flew up, smacked him smartly. "Don't. I don't want to hear it. Just go."