Title: A-Mazeing

Series: L&L Fantasy Party

Authors: Rella

Rated: R

 

~*~

My mate had found me again. Zapping me until my eyes crossed. I think Sully must have thought I’d turned epileptic the way I shuddered all of a sudden, voice stuttering off mid-sentence. Before his keen sense of smell kicked in, I’d stammered an excuse and dashed from the dance floor, heading outside for a little private time in which to get myself back under control.

Despite the a/c pumping arctic air through the vents, a fine sheen of sweat had broken out on my skin. Flapping the lapels of Will’s coat to give much needed relief, I stepped out onto the terrace. I leaned against the stone railing, concentrating on breathing slowly until my body stopped tingling and my heart rate slowed back to normal.

After a while, my mind wandered. A small smile played on my lips. It had been too long since I’d stepped out of my carefully constructed walls and done something I wouldn’t normally do. I’d chipped away at that wall a bit tonight, made a hole that I could step through. It had started with the dress, and brought me to the dance floor with Sully. I wondered where else it would take me this night…

Peeling the coat off, I draped it over the rail and took the steps leading down from the patio. Torches lit the path as I wandered the grounds. The scent of fresh cut grass and night blooming jasmine tickled my nose. But under that, somewhere nearby was a scent buried in memory. Nostalgia. A soul deep yearning that had taken hold a few years back and had as yet gone unfulfilled.

The moon shone down and turned the path a silvery blue. I sniffed and smiled, turning towards the tantalizing scent. In front of me was a hedge reaching about eight feet high and stretching a hundred feet in either direction. Directly in the center of the hedge was a gap, flanked on either side by two torches.

‘Could it be?’ I wondered. ‘Is it…?’ Peeking in the gap I found, much to my delight, more hedge that formed a corridor in either direction. A maze! A real freaking maze!

Smiling, I stepped in and sniffed again. There it was again… that smell… that memory…

//Sweetness?//

//Rascal?// I smiled, turning to peek out from the entrance to the maze. He was standing at the top of the patio stairs, thumbs hooked in his belt loops, scanning the grounds. He lifted his nose, scenting the air.

//Where are you?//

//Over here…// I waved.

A huge grin split his face. He jogged down the steps and headed towards me across the yard. //What’re you doin’ out ‘ere?//

I pressed my fingertips to my lips, blew him a kiss and turned to dash into the maze with a squeak.

“Wha’ th’… Punkin, where’re you goin’?”

I could hear him coming after me, rounding the corner and rustling the branches. I giggled and ran further in to the maze, dashing between hedges, running this way and that with him in hot pursuit. We’d played this game once before. Dashing around the huge expanse of wooded property behind the castle, he’d chased me down, growling as he made love to me in the dewy grass. My heart pounded, wondering if he’d do the same here.

Blood pumped desire through my veins. There was something to be said about getting caught, but not too soon. The longer I could hold out, the more demanding he’d be.

And I did so love his demanding ways.

I ran into the clearing at the exact moment he did, breaking through an opening directly across from me. I let out a yelp and tried to spin on my heel to dash back into the maze.

“Not so fast, punkin.” With a growl, his arms were around me and my feet left the ground.

The center of the maze held a trellis covered with climbing roses and a huge, three-tiered fountain with gargoyles spitting water into the uppermost basin. Small dips in the lips of the top two basins allowed the water to tumble down to the ones below. Lining the hedges around the clearing were lilac bushes. Ahh, so that’s what that scent was. Even in the moonlight, I could see the blooms, a riot of deep purple, pink, white and lavender dotting the dark green of the leaves. I felt a nostalgic ping centered right over my heart.

Laughing, I held on as he spun me in a wide arc and set me back on my feet. Happiness bubbled up from my belly and I turned to throw my arms around his neck.

“Caught me…” My lips brushed against his as I whispered to him, low and sultry. “What ever will you do with me now?”

He surprised me by setting me back away from him as he let his eyes drag down my body. “’oodlum let you out o’ th’ ‘ouse like that?” He cocked a brow and raised his eyes to mine. There was a definite glow behind his intense stare, one that made the blue brighter.

Heat curled in my belly and my pulse did a little pitter pat. “Yeah.”

He stalked forward, backing me up until leaves and blooms brushed against my back. A soft growl rumbled in his throat and his fingers curled over my hips, yanking me against him. “You’re practically naked, pet.”

“I know…” I whispered, suddenly feeling more vulnerable than I had all night. The crystals of the dress were pressed against my skin at my hipbones, along with something else hard and unyielding in between.

One shoulder strap slipped down my arm, the dress barely hanging on by the peak of my breast. His hands were at the hem, sliding up my thighs before I could even breathe his name. I couldn’t think, couldn’t even stop to wonder why there was a niggling voice somewhere in my head that was telling me to stop him.

His hands were sliding up the soft inner flesh of my thighs, both thumbs dipping in the sides of my panties before my eyes popped open and I remembered why I shouldn’t be letting him have his wicked way with me.

“Conner…” I whispered shakily, pushing lightly at his shoulders at the exact moment he found my secret and his head reared back, his brows arched in surprise.

“Wha’ th’…?”

Heat crept up my cheeks and I chewed my bottom lip. “One… he… I promised, and he…there's a remote…”

He blinked down at me. “Ah. Well, we’ll just take it off an’ we can-”

“No! I’m not allowed to take it off. Not until he lets me.” My face had to be a deep crimson by now. I could feel the blush on my cheeks, that tingling under the skin that lets you know all the blood is rushing to one spot.

I wanted to tell him everything, but part of the little game was I couldn’t. One held the remote, and therefore had control. He got to decide whether I found relief… or not. The trouble was he was having too much fun torturing me to give up the game this soon into the evening. Somehow I had to let Conner know that all he had to do was get the remote away from One and he’d be able to give me permission to remove the device.

“’Ow’s ‘e goin’ t’ know, pet? I mean, we could slip it off an’ ‘ave ourselves a bit o’ a secret rendezvous right ‘ere, slip it back on an’ e’ll be none th’ wiser.”

“I’d know, and that would be enough to ruin the little game. It’d be cheating.” But I was tempted. Man, was I tempted. My mouth was watering with the temptation.

Conner ran a frustrated hand through his hair and paced a few steps away. “Let me get this straight. ‘E ‘as the remote and you can’t take it off until ‘e says so. But, knowin’ ‘oodlum, ‘e’s not gonna let you b’cause ‘e’s enjoyin’ the torture a bit too much. Meanwhile, m’ere, wantin’ you, and I can’t ‘ave you b’cause ‘e’s got you strapped in. M’thinkin’ s’not fair, punkin. Not t’ mention, ‘e seems t’ ‘ave got m’girl in a similar predicament.”

My eyes widened slightly. I hadn’t known that. Little bugger was having himself a lot of fun tonight, wasn’t he?

“Well then, doesn’t seem right, him hogging all the fun like that, does it?” I asked sweetly.

“Bloody right. M’gonna go take care o’ this!” He grabbed my hand and started to drag me off. He paused at the edge of the clearing and broke off a bundle of lilac blossoms.

“S’your favorite, right?”

I blushed. “Yes.”

He grinned and handed the blooms to me. “Let’s go see what we can do ‘bout makin’ ‘oodlum share.”

I followed all too willingly.