Chapter Seven

CHAPTER SEVEN

Ike

Night has fallen. Diana sits on my lap eating a meal of fish and rice.

After we made love on the other side of the waterfall, Diana wanted to try her hand at fishing again and I was more than willing to watch her. She is extraordinary, my tiny person. My love. I waded nearby her in the stream, in case she slipped or got scared and thankfully she made my job easy by remaining very still, only moving at the last second to grab the unsuspecting fish beneath the surface.

My Diana is like lightning.

She fills my chest with pride.

I thought she was being quiet tonight because she was exhausted from fishing and sex, but now that she’s wrapped in my arms and full from her meal, I notice her pensive expression. It makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. If she thinks to leave me, I will tear down every tree in these woods in my misery—and I still won’t let her go. It is merely the possibility that she might want to leave that creates the giant hole in my chest. Has she changed her mind about loving me?

Was I too rough with her body today?

“Ike—”

“Yes?” I respond too quickly.

She turns in my lap and plays lazily with my chest hair, the action hardening my cock. When she feels it pressing to her backside, she bites her lip and smiles at me from beneath her eyelashes. If I didn’t know better, I would say she’s trying to soften me before saying something I won’t like.

“I have to go back to the village.”

“NO!” I roar, my spine snapping straight. “You will stay with Ike.”

“Let me finish!” she shouts back. “And please refer to yourself in first person.”

I have no idea what first person means, but that is irrelevant right now when she is ripping the heart from my chest. “I don’t want to hear the rest.”

“Too bad.” She leaves my arms and stands, stomping a foot on the floor. “I said I wanted to be with you forever and I meant it. You have to trust me, Ike.”

“You just said you wanted to leave.”

“I want you to come with me,” she says, her pretty face screwed up in a cute frown that—for some reason—makes my cock even heavier with need.

Wait. What did she say? “Come with you?”

“Yes.” Diana begins to pace and I follow her, so when she turns, she runs into my chest and almost falls. I catch her first, but she jerks out of my grip and raises her chin. “We have to tell the villagers who is really killing and stealing the animals. Those brothers have to be stopped.”

“The villagers left you for dead, Diana! Why should we aid them now?”

“Because it’s not fair to the animals.” Her eyes begin to shine, gutting me. “You want those clowns to pay for what they said to me, don’t you?”

“Don’t worry, I’m planning on meting out their punishment,” I seethe.

“Why don’t we hand them over to the villagers, instead? We’ll kill two birds with one stone. They get their comeuppance and the animals will be safe.” Diana bites her lower lip and saunters closer to me, trailing a single finger down my chest and circling my belly. “Won’t it be nice to have the hills to ourselves?”

I’m torn between wanting to give her anything she could possibly want—and insecurity. I still can’t believe this perfect woman wants me. I still feel like I’m dreaming. “How do I know you won’t want to stay in the village? How do I know you won’t scream for them to save you from the beast once we are in their midst?”

She sucks in a breath and is no longer touching me.

I fear my words were a terrible mistake.

“I guess you don’t know.” A tear slips free of her eye and she swipes it away. Ignoring my low keen of agony, she marches away and lies down on our pallet, all the way on the edge, with her back turned from me. “We are having our first fight, in case you didn’t know, Ike.”

“No, Diana,” I shuffle toward the bed. “I don’t want to fight. I love you.”

“Love means trust.”

God, her sweet backside looks so inviting among the sheets. Will she let me hold her through the night? I will be miserable without my arms around her now that I’ve been allowed to visit heaven. The answer is no. When I try to roll Diana into the crook of my arm, she freezes up and curls herself into a ball.

Still, I nudge her neck with my mouth and warm her exposed skin with my hands, arranging blankets around her for maximum comfort. And after what seems like hours, she finally rolls over and—though she is pouting—she cuddles into my chest. My heart explodes with happiness and relief.

“We will go to the village, Diana,” I whisper into her hair. “We will save the animals and then I will bring you back home.”

Her smile steals my breath. “It will be fine. You’ll see. I’m not leaving you.”

“I know,” I say, rubbing circles into her back. “I know.”

But the doubt doesn’t go away. Not even when Diana’s mouth kisses down my stomach and closes around my cock, humping her little pussy against my thigh while she draws the come from my balls, her hair in a mess on my belly, her lips stretching as she descends down and sucks her way up to the bulging tip. Her hands ride up and down my pole with something akin to worship and when I finally drain myself into her sweet mouth, I forget my fears for those blessed moments and roll us over, fucking into her mouth from above like a savage, encouraged by the way she grips my thrusting buttocks and moans wildly.

As soon as my immense pleasure hits, I crawl down her body and lick her pussy like a slavering beast, desperate for her pleasure as well as her forgiveness. I’m gratified to find out she was brought nearly to the brink from having my cock in her mouth and in only a minute, she is letting her juices out onto my tongue.

She falls asleep quickly, my arm and leg draped over her small figure.

I stay awake much longer, worrying about what the morning will bring.

I enjoy roundingup the Farley brothers more than I should have.

They have plagued my life since I was a boy learning to cope alone in the hills. In the beginning, I allowed them to steal my food in the hopes that they would one day return the kindness, if needed. After all, their parents had left them in the woods as teens and never returned. I could have sympathy for that. It took me almost a year before I realized they were nothing but irredeemable asses.

I probably could have tolerated their antics forever if they hadn’t spoken to my Diana with disrespect. Now they will face the law of the village.

I had some time overnight to think about Diana’s reasoning and must admit she was right. It is not right to allow animals and the people of her town to suffer when we could put a stop to the carnage and thievery. Still, I cannot help but be nervous that Diana will forsake me in favor of modern comforts. She is a soft, little princess that deserves a palace, not a cave.

“I will give her one,” I say to myself, stopping outside the Farleys’ hovel, which is a much shallower cave than mine, the mouth covered with hanging muslin. “If she stays with me, I will build her a better, safer home. I’ll fill it with pillows for her to lie on and—”

One of the Farleys sticks his head out between the muslin. “What the hell are you doing he—”

I punch him in the jaw. He flies a good five feet and lands on the forest floor unconscious. “Damn,” I growl, crackling my knuckles. “That felt good.”

It takes me no time at all to rouse the other idiot from his bed. While he rubs the sleep from his eyes, I take a quick scan of the hovel and confirm they are definitely the thieves. There are chicken bones and bloody rags strewn about. Meat—the kind that is not available in these hills—rots on their stone table. Disgusted, I fashion ropes around his wrists while he whines, before leading him out to his disoriented brother and tying them together.

“My Diana wishes you to face the law,” I explain, dragging them along behind me as they sputter protests. “Be grateful, scum. My plan was to kill you.”

Diana is wearing a bright smile when I return and I ponder hitching the Farleys to a post outside my cave like horses while I take her back inside to lick her pussy to an orgasm, but she seems eager to travel down the hill to the village. A fact that does a lot to increase my worry.

She does, however, take my hand and pull me aside, out of earshot from the brothers. “I want to talk to you about something.”

My heart stutters. “Yes?”

Her hands run down my chest and back up. “I was thinking about how I reacted when I saw you in the woods for the first time and…well, it was your size that scared me mostly. You’re much larger than the average man and now…” She bites her lip and tucks her pinky finger into my loincloth. “Now your size it something I love about you. Quite a lot. Love.”

“If you are asking me to fuck you, Diana, the answer is yes. Now, please.”

She giggles and I close my eyes to absorb the precious sound. “Later, I promise. I just wanted you to know, before we go to the village, that people might react to you in fear, but it’s because they don’t know you’re the best man alive. It’s not because you’re scary, either. It’s because you’re so strong—”

“And they are weak cowards.”

“Well…”

“They were weak cowards to sacrifice a girl, Diana. I don’t care what they think of me. Only what you think, my mate.” I cup her soft cheek. “I hope they scream in terror.”

“That’s so romantic,” she whispers, kissing my thumb. “I love you.”

My cock is so heavy, it could pass as a deadly weapon, but I force myself to kiss her mouth softly and draw back. She isn’t the only one who wants to get this day over with. I want her back in my home, beneath me, warm, well fed and sleepy before dark.

“It’s going to be fine,” she murmurs, threading her fingers together with mine. “Let’s go.”

With a heavy weight in my chest, we begin our trek to the village. Unsurprisingly, the Farleys have changed their tune and instead of being insulting, they alternate between complimenting me and begging for their freedom. Diana and I pay them no attention. When we’ve reached the edge of town, I pull Diana behind me to shield her before we face the villagers. After these people tied her to a tree in a dark forest, I don’t trust them. Not even a little bit.

As we reach what appears to be a town square, people begin peeking out of their homes, mostly through curtains and around the sides of buildings. I spit at the ground. Cowards.

“Attention,” Diana shouts, waving her hands. “I need everyone’s attention, please. There is no danger. We’re here to help.”

People begin creeping out into the square, eyeing me with fear, the Farleys with curiosity. I stand with my fists poised to fight and guard Diana, in case one of them is stupid enough to lay a finger on what’s mine.

One man in particular is watching Diana a little too closely for my taste and I peel my lips back in a snarl. He wisely halts in his tracks. “Daughter,” he says, a quiver in his voice. “You are alive.”

“Alive and well,” she responds, lifting her chin. She gestures to the Farleys. “These are the men who have been ravaging the village. Not Ike.”

“Ike?” one of the women says. “You have named the beast?”

“He is not a beast!” Diana roars, making me burst with pride. “He is a man. My man. And he’s not responsible for your misfortunes. They are.” She points to the brothers who have quieted and begun to stew. “You are welcome to search their home for evidence, if Ike is kind enough to lead you there.” She looks up at me with admiration and my neck turns hot. “But I’ve only known this man for two days and he is far kinder and honorable than anyone in this town.”

“Daughter,” says Diana’s father, chancing a step forward until I growl him backward. “Two more cows were lost last night and that’s when we knew the sacrifice did not work. That we offered you for nothing.”

“And still you did not come to look for her?” I thunder, sending some of the weaker people scattering back to their homes. “You do not deserve such a treasure.”

“He speaks!” someone shouts. “The beast speaks!”

Diana gestures at that person with her middle finger.

“Come home, daughter,” her father pleads, dropping into a kneel. “I’m ashamed of how I treated my own flesh and blood. Forgive me and come home.”

My lungs seize up, fear turning my blood to ice. Whether I hate this man or not, the sincerity of his apology is clear. I have known Diana only two days while she has known her father a lifetime. How can she choose me?

My fear is for nothing, though.

Diana leans into my side and smiles up at me. “I found my home. With Ike.” She takes the rope holding the Farleys out of my hand and tosses it to a nearby man. “I think it’s about time we got back,” she says to me. “Don’t you?”

“Well past time,” I rasp, swallowing the jagged lump in my throat. She chose me. The most perfect being in the world chose me. I will be grateful to my very last breath and cherish her always. Every single moment of every single day.

Before we turn to leave, I pin her father with a stern look. “And she does have a very marketable skill. She is an excellent fisherwoman.” I snap my fingers. “Like lightning.”

Diana throws herself into my arms with a sob and I carry my sweet girl in my arms the rest of the way home where we immediately fall into our pallet, make love for hours, and plan our future.