Read Online The Obsession and the Fury by Nancy Barone Wythe - Free Book Online

said a prayer. He had never done that before in his life, not even during the war. But now he was afraid to lose her, the only part of his life that had ever mattered. More than Beverley, more than his writing career, more than anything or anyone he had ever known.
    He kept his eyes closed as the deafening sound of the churning earth filled their tiny hut, and his lips searched for hers in the darkness, found them and reveled in the eagerness of her response, and the way her hands soon began to clutch him…
    Then the earth became silent, but hours passed before they dared move. “Listen,” she hissed after a while. “What’s that sound?”
    Alex lifted his head.
    “Fire!” she cried, moving to get up. “The juniper bushes are on fire!”
    But Alex pushed her back. “There is nothing you can do. All hell is unleashed out there. Let nature take its course. We’re safe here.”
    And as he spoke, thunder cracked the skies, unable to permeate it with its bolts of lightning, and rain began to pelt the tin roof, the sound so deafening it exceeded the roaring of the earth.
    Alex went to the tiny window and opened it a crack, but coughed as the ash and debris filled his nose and mouth. He slammed the window shut.
    “We need to see if the others are alright!” Rea said, rising to her knees.
    “It’s too soon. The minute we open the door the ash will invade the room and our lungs. Let’s wait it out a bit longer until the ash stops falling.”
    “Margherita… I hope she and her family are okay!” Rea whimpered, and suddenly it was useless to try to keep her calm. She wept and wept. Alex held her in his arms, rocking her back and forth.
    “I’m sure everyone made it to safety. Most people were already inside their homes at that hour anyway.”
    “The sea! What about the fishermen?”
    Alex searched her face in the dark room. No one had been kind to her for years and now she was worried about their safety. Rea cared about these people that would have let her starve and humiliate herself for survival. But he knew that in Rea’s eyes all that was in the past, and that she considered the townspeople her family.
    “Tomorrow morning we’ll go down and take a look. We can’t do anything yet. Now close your eyes and try to sleep, my love.”
    Rea opened her mouth to protest, but he found her lips in the dark and kissed her, sleep being the furthest thing on their minds.
    “Wait,” she whispered, scrambling up to her feet and over, by what he could tell, to the table. She lit a candle and joined him. A soft orange glow threw shadows against the mud walls behind him, magnifying the intensity of their solitude. Outside was the end of the world, yet here, for them, it was only the beginning of their passion, something greater than the two of them.
    Rea pushed him back, towards the makeshift bed, and crouched over him, straddling his body, her skin the color of fire in the dim light.
    He lifted his eyes to hers and found that she was observing him in turn, her eyes languid, and he felt himself grow hard on the spot.
    He reached out and tugged at her dirty camisole until her breasts popped free and he watched as they rose and fell with excitement, and he ducked his head to run his tongue over a pink, hard peak. He licked and sucked it raw as she moaned and he moved to the other, squeezing her breasts in his hands, watching them go red under his ministrations.
    She pushed out her chest to give him better access, the stubble on his cheeks grazing her skin, and this excited her so much she began to tug at her own panties.
    “No, not yet,” he growled under his breath, his teeth grazing her flesh until she couldn’t take it anymore. “I want to see how long you can resist.”
    After what seemed like forever, he moved his attention to her inner folds. She writhed, her legs rising above him as he rubbed his knuckles against her and she pushed up against his hand and the pressure increased.
    “Faster,” she panted, her mouth