Forbidden – Chapter 7
A few days past and all Maria could think about was Georg. His visit to the Abbey several days before had lifted her spirits although she still knew they couldn't be together. She didn't feel fearful about bumping into him in town anymore and so was happy to leave the Abbey each day to go into town to run various errands for the Reverend Mother. But each time she went into town, as much as she looked out for Georg, there was no sign of him.
Feeling somewhat deflated, the next morning Maria decided that she needed some fresh air and decided to go up to the Uttersberg for the day. While many months ago she would have been inclined just to sneak away from the Abbey, Maria had noticed the Reverend Mother keeping a close eye on her since Georg's visit so she got permission to leave the Abbey for the day before she left.
On the way to the train that would take her up the mountain, Maria made a quick detour into the town to purchase some cinnamon rolls from her favourite bakery. As she opened the bakery door, she ran head first into someone coming out of the shop.
"Oh I'm so sorry," she exclaimed before she looked up to see the person she'd run into was Georg. At once her face lit up to see the man she loved standing in front of her.
"Quite all right, Maria," he chuckled. "I didn't mean to startle you." He took her arm and pulled her away from the door and into a nearby side street so they could talk more privately.
"It's good to see you," he told her. "I wasn't expecting to run into you."
"And I wasn't expecting to see you either," she replied. "It's quite early for you to be in town isn't it?"
"Yes, I have a 8am meeting, I'm afraid."
"Goodness! That is early. I can't imagine what time you would have had to get up this morning to leave the villa in order to get to your meeting on time."
"Well, I didn't sleep at the villa last night," Georg confessed. "I stayed at my apartment in town knowing I had this early start."
"Your apartment?" Maria questioned. "I didn't know you had an apartment."
"I don't use it much," he explained. "In fact, I use it so infrequently that sometimes I almost forget I have it. I only stay there if I have a late night in town or an early morning meeting such as this one."
"Oh I see…" Maria's voice trailed off. There was a long pause as they both looked at each other, thinking and calculating about what it meant that Georg had an apartment in town. It was somewhere they could go together to be alone. And the thought seemed to tempting to ignore.
"What time are you due back at the Abbey?" Georg quickly asked her.
"Late, I suppose. I got permission from the Reverend Mother to go up the Uttersberg for the whole day today. I won't be missed." Maria felt her heart beginning to race in anticipation of what he was going to ask her.
Georg pulled her a little further into the side street and closer to him so he could whisper to her in case anyone overheard their conversation. "Maria, I can't avoid this meeting. I wish I could but I'll be finished in about an hour. Especially considering the circumstances, am I asking too much of you to meet me at the apartment?"
Maria swallowed. She desperately wanted to be with Georg – being apart from him was almost killing her, yet Maria remembered how they'd been caught once before and the terrible consequences that happened as a result of that. She felt cautious. "Does she know about the apartment?" Maria asked him.
"Yes, she does unfortunately. She overheard me talking to Max about it yesterday," replied Georg unhappily. "But Elsa's gone to Vienna for two days for dress fittings, and I told Max I'd probably not be back at the villa until nightfall. There's no one who could catch us this time."
Maria felt her face begin to flush as she silently agreed to meet Georg later that morning. Georg quickly gave her the key and instructions on how to find the apartment before he left for his meeting.
Maria wandered the streets aimlessly; trying to pass the time while Georg was at his meeting. Finally as the hour was drawing to its close, Maria made her way to Georg's apartment using his instructions. The apartment was small studio with a sofa and table on one side of the room and a large bed on the other side. There was a tiny kitchenette in the corner and the ensuite bathroom was tucked away off the main room. French doors opened up onto a balcony terrace overlooking the square below.
Maria placed her discarded wimpled on the table then paced up and down the room, waiting for Georg to return. The hour had passed, then two and she wondered whether he was still coming or whether he'd changed his mind. But as the next hour came and went, Maria decided that Georg was not coming and she was about to leave. But then the door opened and a flustered Georg hurried in and locked the door behind him.
"Maria, I'm so sorry for keeping you waiting. The meeting went longer than expected and…" He didn't get to finish his sentence for Maria had flung herself at him, kissing him deeply and passionately. Waiting for Georg had induced a deep sense of longing and desire in Maria and she lost all sense of control the moment she saw him.
He kissed her back. These weren't the sweet and sensual kisses he'd given her days before at the Abbey but wild and hungry kisses. She clung to him as they kissed, running her fingers roughly through his thick, dark hair. He moaned into her mouth as they kissed again and again. Breathing already heavy and ragged, very quickly Georg felt Maria tug at his jacket, wanting to remove the garment as rapidly as possible. He let go of her momentarily so that she could pull it down and free his arms so he could pull her into his embrace again.
With one hand holding her close, the other one was free to roam over her body and his ran it from her waist up her chest to caress her breasts through her black postulant's dress then up to the neckline, searching for an entrance to her garment.
"At the back," she muttered in between kisses and Georg reached around behind her to fumble with the buttons on the back of her dress. Still kissing her madly, he made quick work of undoing the buttons and an instant later; he slid the dress from her body to pool in a pile at her feet.
Maria pulled at Georg's tie, yanking it free of his neck and she tossed it across the other side of the room. Georg smiled against her mouth as he felt her nimble fingers opened the buttons of his shirt quickly before she pulled the shirt from his trousers and flung it aside just as she had done with his tie only moments before.
They stumbled towards the bed and landed down hard in a heap in the center of the bed. Maria burst out laughing as Georg groaned in pain.
"Darling, perhaps we should slow down?" she asked with a giggle.
"Not a chance," he growled back. "I've missed you too much." He kissed her passionately as he began to undo her bodice that covered her undergarments. Quickly that was discarded too, along with her petticoat, stockings and shoes so that she was only dressed in her bra and panties.
Maria laid her head back on the pillow and sighed as Georg sucked gently on the skin on her abdomen as he worked his way back up her body. "What exactly have you missed?" she asked him softly.
Georg stopped kissing her and raised his head so he could look into her eyes. "You and me, like this," he replied with a wicked grin.
Maria sat up slightly so she could push Georg onto his back. She didn't say anything but began to kiss his body. Firstly his neck, then his chest, and then his abdomen. When she got to his trousers she stopped. Slowly she undid his belt buckle, and then opened the front of his trousers. Not taking her eyes off his, she slipped her hand into his trousers to take his full and hard erection in her hand. "Have you missed me doing this?" she asked him as she stroked his manhood up and down.
Georg closed his eyes and moaned in pleasure at her touch. "Mmm…. I have."
Maria licked her lips, contemplating her next move. She let go of him just long enough to slide his trousers and his underwear down his legs and remove them along with his shoes and socks. He was now lying on the bed in front of her naked. She crawled back up the bed. "And what about this?" she asked as she bent her head to kiss the tip of his erection. "Have you missed this?"
Georg gripped the bed sheets next to him and grunted in enjoyment as Maria took him in her mouth, sucking and teasing his shaft with her tongue and teeth. As she stopped a minute or so later he pulled her up to him and kissed her passionately. He rolled her onto her back, sucking gently on the soft skin on the side of her neck.
"And what about you Maria? Have you been missing me?"
"I have," she breathed as his mouth moved along the line of her bra, licking the skin right above the material.
"Tell me," he asked. He stopped kissing her chest for a moment and looked into her eyes. They were dark and wild with lust.
"I've missed you so much that I've…" her voice trailed off.
"What?" he asked gently.
Maria swallowed deeply. "I've been fantasizing about you, and…" she stopped.
"And what?" he asked, wanting to know.
"And touching myself…" she admitted to him breathlessly. He smiled in response, thinking of his own dark confession of the many nights alone in his bed where, missing Maria dreadfully, he'd fantasize about her, touching himself until he became undone.
He inclined his head, beckoning her to tell him more. "Well, firstly I'd imagine that you were touching and kissing my breasts," she whispered. Georg at once removed her bra to reveal her breasts underneath. He lightly ran his hands over them, touching and caressing the left then the right, before placing his mouth on her nipple. He sucked and teased each pink apex until they were firm and erect. "Like that?" he asked. She groaned her affirmation in reply.
"What next?" Georg asked as his hands moved down her body, slipping his hands along the sides of her panties. She bucked her hips up in order for him to remove the material more easily. "I think you know," Maria told him as her body shivered in anticipation.
At once Georg moved her legs apart so he could taste her and pleasure her with his mouth. Moving his tongue slowly at first, he relished in the sensation of his lover writhing beneath him. Maria gasped with pleasure, her breathing fast and ragged as Georg made love to her with his mouth. Very soon Maria felt the exhilarating sensation of pleasure wash over as her body erupted into a strong orgasm. And even before she knew it, Georg was on top of her, thrusting deep inside her and she wrapped her legs around his waist, matching his movements until they both cried out in ecstasy.
Almost unable to breathe, and definitely unable to think after such wild and passionate lovemaking, Maria clung onto Georg as their heart rates returned to normal. Slowly he rolled off her and pulled her into his embrace. Not even bothering to find or pull up the bedcovers, they lay on the bed exposed, their naked bodies entwined together.
"I love you Georg," Maria whispered.
"I love you too," he replied. He tilted her face towards him and gave her a long and lingering kiss. They lay together kissing and gently touching, enjoying being with each other after such a long time apart.
But suddenly they were interrupted by the sound of the telephone ringing from the other side of the room. Maria looked at Georg in a panic. Quickly telling her to wait there and be quiet, Georg got up out of bed and answered the telephone.
"Hello? Oh it's you Elsa."
Maria's blood went cold hearing that it was the Baroness on the other end of the line.
"No, no. Everything's fine. The meeting just went for a lot longer than I'd anticipated. Yes, almost three hours. I know. I didn't expect it either. What am I doing back here?" Georg turned and glanced over at Maria lying naked in the bed. "I left some things here, that's all. You're lucky to have caught me actually; I was just heading out the door. Yes, still a few errands to run in town." As she listened to Georg speak on the telephone, Maria was struck with just how effortlessly Georg could lie to the Baroness.
Georg turned back around away from Maria as he continued speaking. "What was that? The wedding invitations? Elsa, you know how much I don't wish to get involved in… Oh, all right, I can go via the printers on the way back to the villa. Nothing else? All right, I'll see you tomorrow. Goodbye Elsa." Georg hung up the telephone and let out a deep sigh.
He turned back to Maria who was now sitting up on the side of the bed. "Maria, I'm sorry," he apologised quietly. "I didn't know she was going to telephone like that."
Maria looked down, not meeting his gaze. "It's fine." Georg could sense the hurt in her voice. He came and sat back down on the bed next to her. "Maria?" he asked her tentatively.
But Maria didn't reply. Instead she hopped up off the bed and began to look for her clothes. "Maria, what are you doing?" Georg asked her.
"What does it look like?" she replied hotly. "I'm getting dressed. Georg, I should never have come here. We should never have done that, not again. This was a mistake. We ended it and now you're marrying someone else."
"Not by choice, Maria." Georg stood and put his hand on her arm stopping her. He bent his head and tilted her face up so that she was looking directly at him. "If it was up to me, I'd be marrying you and not her, and then we'd never have to sneak around like this again."
"But it's never going to happen, is it? We're never going to stop her if you refuse to marry her, are we?"
"But perhaps there's another way," Georg said thoughtfully. "Perhaps you and I could keep meeting here? She wouldn't have to know."
"You're asking me to be your mistress? Your secret lover?" Georg nodded.
Maria looked at him in disbelief for a moment then spun away from him, flinging her arms above her head. "Georg, I'm not sure I can do that."
"We did it before…"
"And look where that got us!" she replied exasperated.
Georg stood behind her and placed his hands on her bare shoulders, rubbing them gently. "I know it isn't ideal, but at least we'd be together."
"Not ideal? Me having to sneak away from the Abbey, you having to hide and lie to the Baroness, all the while both of us having the burden of whether or not she's going to discover us hanging over our heads." She turned to look at him. "This," she motioned wildly to the telephone on the table, "is our wake up call. Georg, we can't continue to do this. No. The last few weeks being apart from you has taught me one thing: with us, it's all or nothing."
Georg looked hard at her for a moment before turning around and pacing the room. "So this is it?"
Maria nodded. "I'm afraid so," she told him sadly. She paused momentarily before adding lightheartedly, "Unless, of course, the Baroness gets hit by a bus while she's standing on a street corner flashing her large, gaudy engagement ring to her wide social circle of friends."
Georg gave her a strange look. Maria burst out laughing. "I'm joking. Georg, no matter how much I hate her, I wouldn't wish that upon her. At all."
"I know." Georg chuckled as he wrapped his arm around her and kissed her temple. "I'm sorry it's come to this."
"I know," she replied as he held her tightly.
After a few moments, she pulled away slightly and lifted her face up to look into his. "I suppose we should get dressed." Georg agreed and they proceeded to dress in silence. Maria finished placing her wimple back on her head then approached Georg to straighten his tie.
He looked at her thoughtfully and brushed his hand over the wimple on her head. "So back to the Abbey?" Maria nodded. "And I can't see you again?" he asked.
"No, I don't think it'll be a good idea," Maria told him. "It'll just complicate matters." Georg reluctantly agreed.
"But would you mind if I brought the children to the Abbey to see you one day?" he asked her. "They miss you terribly."
"I'd like that. I miss them too."
"All right, I'll bring them around in a few days time." Georg opened his arms for her and Maria melted into his embrace. He held her close. She tilted her face towards his and gave him a chaste kiss on his lips. They exchanged words of love before Maria let him go then went to leave the apartment. She opened the door, but paused at the doorway. She turned and gave Georg a sad smile before she was gone.
A/N: A big thanks to everyone who has read, favourited, followed or reviewed! It's really wonderful. Please review and let me know what you think of this latest chapter!