too big. Even the explosion after Shane's teasing and the extended denial of orgasm wasn't like this. I couldn't contain it, couldn't hold it in. There was something spiritual in this, as if my soul had clenched and expanded and coruscated outward to find Shane's own essence and together they braided, tangled and twined into something other.
I felt Shane quaking beneath me, felt his every muscle spasm and his breath panting, felt his heart clamoring in his chest. I felt something else from him, an intangible knowledge that he'd experienced the same thing I had. He was shaken, as was I.
I was limp on top of him, his arms weighty bands across my back.
"Shane? Did you feel that too?"
He nodded his chin into my head. "I don't know what it was..."
The feeling of panic at the enormity of what I'd felt was still coursing through me. I held tight to Shane and breathed through it, but it didn't dissipate. His presence, his strength seemed to foster it, to grow it, even as he merely laid with me and recovered his breath.
I rolled off of him and into his arms, craned my neck to look at his face. His features were contorted in an effort to contain some powerful emotion.
"What is it?" I asked. "What's wrong?"
"It's not what's wrong, it's what's right." He crushed me against him, as if I might disappear and he was determined to prevent it. "I think what just happened, what we just felt, it's...that's what making love is supposed to feel like, but never has before, because it's always been just sex."
"You're scaring me." I didn't want to think about what he was suggesting. It was too much, too soon.
Great sex was one thing. And god, sex with Shane was mind-bending, earth-shaking. He'd given me sexual experiences that I hadn't known were possible, taken me to the farthest edges of ecstasy. That was awesome. And, if I was being totally honest with myself, it was part of the reason I'd come to Africa with him. I'd come because I enjoyed sex with him, and because I needed a change in my life, a drastic upheaval and this was a way to do it. I came because John would have flipped out, and because everyone I knew disapproved. I did it to rebel.
But now, Shane was implying something else, suggesting there was more to our relationship, and Rob had implied something similar. I wasn't commitment-phobic, wasn't afraid of my emotions, but...it was unexpected. Not unwelcome, but surprising. I didn't know what to do with it or how to handle it. I didn't know Shane, not really. I'd only met him two weeks ago.
My emotions towards John hadn't been intense. He'd been familiar, recognizable. Being with John was comfortable. Even when we were arguing, it was familiar, a ritual we'd gone over and over dozens of times in the years we'd been together.
Shane...he was mysterious and powerful, and apparently wealthy in his own right as well as coming from a rich, influential family. He was sweet, and considerate, strong and attentive...
"Shane, I—"
I was cut off by a cell phone ringing. Shane cursed and grabbed his pants and searched his pockets until he came up with a big, blocky cell phone.
I couldn't help but laugh. "How the hell do you get cellular service way out here? We're in the middle of Sudan, for god's sake."
He chuckled. "It's a satellite phone. I get service everywhere."
He sobered when he saw the number on the screen. He answered it. "Yeah? Shit. Okay, yeah. We're on the riverbank, a couple miles east of the village. We'll be ready. Bye."
He had paled, and looked shaken. He began dressing, swiftly and efficiently. He tossed my clothes at me and I began dressing too, worried by the expression on his face.
"What is it? Who was that?"
He gathered the supplies into the baskets and re-hung them on the donkey. I helped him when I was dressed.
"It was my uncle, Geoff. A helicopter is on the way to get us right now." I heard a distant thumping, confirming what he'd said. "My dad had a heart attack."
"Oh my god, Shane...is he...did
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