A long lane at night

1.EXTRA 3. TARNISHED

** BRIAN **

THIN RAYS OF STRONG SUNLIGHT WERE COMING INSIDE the bedroom through the light curtains and their warmth woke me up before my eyes could be troubled by the disturbance. I enjoyed the citric smell in the air before finally opening my eyes and looking round. My alien surroundings felt oddly comfortable, a feeling that lasted only a short while longer, until I realised I couldn't remember where the bathroom was. Searching the room for its doors, my eyes fell on my sleeping husband next to me.

The sight of Allan always brought this indescribable sense of tranquillity and this morning, above all others, should be remembered only by the positive things I feel whenever I'm next to him. We were married for still less than twenty-four hours and this bright sunlit Greek bedroom would be printed forever in our memories as the home of our honeymoon. My head was buzzing with all the information of the last day. From Allan's nervous smile when we saw each other in our wedding suits for the first time to his reaction when he finally understood his song was named after him, his face was a constant presence in all the happy memories our wedding night brought us.

Still, there were gaps which Allan's presence couldn't fill and those empty spaces were finding their way to the front of my mind right now, polluting my thoughts and threatening to tarnish my precious mental pictures of the most special day of my life so far. Although I hadn't been caught entirely off-guard and I'll never be able to say I was genuinely surprised, my parents' absence still stung badly, proving itself an even harder pill to swallow than what I had given it credit for. I had already cried all my tears and Allan had managed to get some long-bottled-up anger to come out of my system, but the actual vacancy was so dry that I was swarmed with this unattractive inability to let go.

Arriving at the inevitable conclusion that nothing I did had the power to change the past, or even my parents' view about their own family, I felt for Allan under the covers, reaching his golden skin and touching all that I could with both the tips of my fingers and the tip of my tongue. I can't really tell exactly when he woke up, but the first sound he made was a particularly satisfying gasp when I took a small bite at his inner thigh. I went back up, tracing his body with my tongue until I reached his nape, going behind his ear, and allowed my weight to rest upon him.

'Good morning, my love,' he said in a hoarse voice, his eyes still closed and his face carrying an expression of pure satisfaction, as if there were no better feeling in the world than my body on top of his.

'Good morning,' I said teasingly, nibbling his exposed ear, allowing my tongue to travel lightly through it, 'Mister,' a nibble, 'Altridge-,' another nibble, '-Leech.'

I already had him prepared and the sound of his new surname was the final touch he needed to let me in. I barely had to move and soon we were as one. Allan tilted his head backwards so I could kiss him and he wouldn't let go of my tongue. We kissed through our gasps and moans, never breaking the two physical connections that were going on, regardless of our volume. I have no idea how long we lasted, but the state of the sheets afterwards suggested we had climaxed practically together.

Panting, Allan folded back his legs, hugging my own. His hands intertwined with mine, he let out a satisfied sigh before he spoke.

'We have a problem.'

'What is it?'

'We have an entire Greek villa to explore and enjoy, but if you take it out of me, I'll kill you.'

'Do you think the locals will find it weird if they see us walking around with me stuck right behind you?'

Allan laughed heavily, then he started to move his hips, feeling me grow again inside of him.