WARNING – M/MA rating in this completely unnecessary "50 shades of Zorro" chapter I wrote yesterday for self-gratification and just because. And why not, also to get Diego to a new level of frustration.

If you are under 16, please skip this whole chapter and go straight to chapter 20 when it is posted (although, who am I kidding? Sure you youngsters have seen much worse on telly).

Enjoy Diego's frustration, especially at the end of the chapter, facing the tree. Hopefully the last sentence will put a smile on your face. ;)

Oh, and get ready for the action in the next chapter. I haven't decided on the degree of maiming yet, but of course, he cannot get away unscratched. I'll take your suggestions into consideration, if you want to leave any.

Chapter 19 – 50 Shades of Zorro

It was late, and the tavern was already closed when Zorro got there. He could see light coming through the closed window at Victoria's bedroom on the first floor, so he climbed up the adjacent roof and from there he tapped softly on the glass. She didn't take long to open it.

"Zorro! Hurry, come in before someone sees you," she whispered. When he got in, she closed the window quickly, including the shutters. "I wasn't expecting you tonight. I'm so glad you came." She ran to his arms then, hugging him tightly under the cape. "Ouch! What's that?" she complained when she scratched her arm with one of the rose's thorns.

"Sorry, Victoria. It looks like you found your present. Here," he said, producing the rose for her.

"Not again!" she said, laughing. "Here I am, worried sick about what you'll face tomorrow, and here you are, wandering around at night stealing roses for me."

"Just as you said, sooner or later I was bound to get caught. My luck has run out."

"What?" Her heart galloped remembering her conversation with Diego. Could it…? No, sure not! "How do you know what I said?"

"We talked about this before, remember? And you were right: Don Alejandro didn't appreciate me taking another one of his precious roses for you."

"Ah, that," Victoria said, relieved and somehow disappointed at the same time, placing the rose in a vase.

"Although, we had an interesting conversation tonight, which got me thinking again. He is very fond of you, and he thinks of you as his daughter. He asked me if I had the intention to marry you, because otherwise I should set you free so you can marry someone else. Exactly what I said." He paused for a moment to caress her chin lovingly with his gloved hand. "We both know there is something I need to do tomorrow, and I will need to carry on doing it until we get rid of the alcalde and we get a fair leader in Los Angeles, when Zorro's name and this mask can fade into oblivion and I can be yours. So, I want to ask you again: are you sure you want to wait for me?"

"Of course I do! I already told you so."

"Without a shadow of a doubt?"

She nodded energetically then. "Yes. No doubts. I'll wait."

"Are you sure you never think about having a normal family? A normal married life with someone else, other than me?"

Victoria shook her head, but her guilty conscience betrayed her and her face got red in shame at the same time the word "no" left her lips, while an inconvenient image of Esteban, and then Diego, got stuck in her mind.

"Sure?"

"I… I… well, I would like to say I don't, but I can't help it: sometimes I do, yes, I fantasize about being married to other men, sorry."

"More than one?" he said, raising an eyebrow under the mask.

"But they are only that: fantasies, I promise! I think it happens because I can't put a face into my real future husband's fantasies, as I don't know who you are. If I was seriously thinking about marrying someone else I would act on it, and I wouldn't be here telling you I love you," she said, pulling from his neck to kiss him. He held her tightly again, responding eagerly, as if he could not have enough. He was painfully aware that, if his plans for tomorrow would fail, this could be the last night she would be in his arms. And for the way she clung onto him, she was probably thinking the same. They moved across the room bumping into furniture while they kissed, lost in desire. During the struggle, he removed her shawl, leaving her covered by her revealing, scanty nightgown only, and Victoria helped him to get rid of all his weapons, the hat and the cape, and then she instinctively jumped to his hips, clinging on to him with her legs crossed behind his back. Zorro held her up by her bottom and took her to the bed, where they collapsed heavily on the mattress. She giggled then under his lips, nervous and excited when she felt the now familiar bulge pressing against her legs.

"God, how much I would like to make love to you, to take you right now," he said, panting on her ear.

"Do it, then," she replied, kissing him again, willing to do anything to erase once and for all the images of her phantom husbands: Esteban and Diego.

Zorro groaned into her mouth, and got rid of his gloves with haste so he could touch her warm body, fondling her all over through her light, thin nightgown. She moaned with pleasure when he found her breast, arching her body under his, until he suddenly rolled on his back, away from her, and sat at the edge of the bed with his masked head between his hands.

"I can't. I love you too much for this. It's not right," he said, standing up when he remembered his father's words: a kiss and nothing else, because I consider you a gentleman. "We should wait until we are married."

"I don't want to wait. I also want you now, as much as you do. God forbid, you could get caught or killed tomorrow. Do you realize this could be our last chance to make love?"

"Don't say that. I'll be alright. Besides, what would happen if you get pregnant and I never come back to you?"

"I have a painful knot in my tummy, and this is what I want right now to release it. Look, if I get pregnant tonight and you die tomorrow it would be a blessing, not a curse, because I'd have your child then to get me through the sorrow of losing you," she said, removing her gown to lie naked on the bed.

"Please, don't do that. Please," he said, closing his eyes.

"Come," she said, with the most seductive tone he had ever heard.

"Cover up, please," he said with his eyes still close and his hands shaking, with his self-control and willpower quickly losing the battle.

"Come here."

He opened his eyes and the vision of that naked, welcoming woman drove him crazy, and he surrendered. He removed his shirt, throwing it to the floor hastily, and followed the alluring voice to find her lips again, pressing his body against hers, enjoying the skin to skin contact without the black silk on the way.

"I love you. I love you. I love you…" he said, kissing her all over her face and neck, supporting most of his weight with his arms. She hugged him then, and her hands travelled up his back, and then lingered at the front, exploring his muscular torso with interest. Then she frowned when she touched the healing wound in his right arm, now closed with a noticeable red scar, and Diego thanked his lucky star because the dark bruising in his shoulder had disappeared.

"It's alright. You can touch it. It doesn't hurt much now," he said.

Her hands continued wandering up his strong arms then, reaching his shoulders and then his head, and they stopped behind it, caressing the dark hair breaking free of the mask. When she pulled at the cloth, he grabbed her hands quickly.

"No. You can't do that."

"Why? I want to see you. And I want to touch your hair."

"You can't," he said, kissing her hands, lowering then down in a bundle over her chest, holding them in one of his. "That's what I've been trying to make you understand all this time. I want to keep you safe, but I can't do that if you know who I am under this stupid mask."

"But… I just want… Please, let me —."

He stopped her plea with a finger on her lips, and releasing her hands, he took off his belt.

"Look, I can't trust you, so… I'm sorry I have to do this." He gently lifted her arms and tied her wrists with the belt to the metal bars at the head of the bed. When he was done, he paused to look at her, gorgeous and willing, waiting for him, looking even more enticing now that she was bonded and at his mercy. However, the rearguard of his willpower rose to the occasion, and he stopped to think.

He knew he could not risk getting her pregnant, but for heaven's sake, he would dissolve that knot she was talking about and make her melt slowly like snow in spring, no matter what her father thought a gentleman shouldn't do to a lady before marriage.

He hovered close to her face for a moment, enjoying the way she tried to lift her head to reach his lips, so obviously longing for him it hurt. He leaned then to kiss and caress every inch of her body, driving her insane with desire when she could not respond, pulling from the belt in vain, because she could not reach him with her hands. Soon, when one of his hands travelled south, she was moaning so loudly he had to cover her mouth with one hand, resorting to leave a finger in there so she would be distracted while suckling it.

"Quiet now, or you will wake your guests up," he whispered when he prodded with his finger into her moist. Judging for the way she was twisting her body and how wet she was, it looked like she was melting already. "Quiet," he repeated, leaving her mouth free to concentrate at her breasts with his hands while he used his tongue to make her come, causing her arch her body involuntarily, from head to toe, pulling from the belt shaking the bars, unable to contain the odd howling sound that escaped off her throat at her first orgasm.

"I said quiet!" he whispered, covering her mouth again. She giggled hysterically then under his hand, and he showered her with kisses one more time, unable to resist her grateful face.

"I love you," she whispered to his ear through the mask. "I love you so much."

They heard someone opening a door and stepping into the corridor, and right then Toronado neighed, bored to be waiting for so long at the back, as usually Zorro's encounters with Victoria were much shorter.

Zorro untied the belt to release her hands, and put it back on his trousers quickly while she played with the small bunch of hairs on his torso. Then he jumped off the bed to find his shirt.

"Where are you going? It is your turn now."

"As much as it hurts me, I have to go. I've been here for too long. It's not safe."

"Please, don't go. Please," she said, reaching for him, but he continued buttoning his black shirt, and then he got the cape, the hat, and the rest of the gear on.

He leaned to kiss her one more time and then walked to the window, adjusting his leather gloves.

"Tomorrow, in the battle, think on me," he said, touching the brim of his hat.

"And fall thy edgeless sword. Despair and die!" she replied.

"You know Shakespeare?"

"Yes, I read that play with Diego once. You should say that to the alcalde."

Mierda! I forgot. "I'll be thinking on you. As always."

He bowed and left the room, jumping back onto the adjoining roof, and then whistled for Toronado.

Soon after leaving the pueblo he had to stop at the side of the road because his unreleased sexual tension and the erection that would not go away made the ride very uncomfortable for him. He hid behind some bushes, and confident in the knowledge nobody was around, and even if they were, they could not see him in the dark, he rested a hand against a tree trunk and with the other one he relieved himself quickly while recalling the hot scene at the tavern.

After he had finished, he couldn't help laughing at the idea of Mendoza telling everybody how they had captured the almighty Zorro while he was defenceless wanking behind some bushes.

ZZZZZ