2023 Story Collection

Painter of Worlds III

Aurora looks through the windows adjacent the bed, watching the sun rise in all it's spectacular glory. She smiles.

Could I be happier? She wonders as she feels the embrace of her lover around her with the most beautiful sunrise falling over the sky and crashing over all that it touches bathed in the warm gold glow.

The man she'd painted just hours before was fast asleep, his arms holding her to him in a warm comforting embrace. His bare chest was exposed and she saw now his tightly wound muscles that barely covered his bones. The muscle was small but incredibly strong, she could feel it.

It made her smile wider. Samuel was a man that had been through more in his life than others experience in lifetimes and yet he was stronger because of it. He didn't loose his kindness either. She knew he was hard, rough and could be cruel-he had to be that's how he survived-but be was a gentle caring man. Those he cared for mattered more than all the gold in the world.

She ran her fingers down his chest and enjoyed the warmth of his skin. He is real, he is really in my arms, she thought. When she looked up to his face, his eyes were open and a smirk played at his lips.

She brought her hand up to his cheek, he leaned into her touch, closing his eyes.

She pulls away giving him a peck on his lips. His smile is bright and wild. He leans up on one arm, looking down at her.

"Now that I have you," he says caressing her cheek, "how could I ever let you go."

"I will have to return to my world," she begins but he cuts her off ignoring her words, not unkindly.

"Maybe I should just be the villain and kidnap you, take you as my wife and build a museum filled with your art. Do all sorts of horrible things to get the money to fund such endeavors, whatever it takes to make you happy." The way he says it makes her dream of such a life. One in which she'd never want, one where he was hers completely.

Maybe that wouldn't be so bad. But then she images of her family and friends flood her mind and her face falls. Sadness taking over her features.

"But I can't abandon my family, my friends," she says in such a way that makes the mans heart break.

Samuel knows this, he knows Aurora has a life and those that she cares and loves. He knows they must love her too, how could they not. He knows that he couldn't possibly ask her to leave them all behind. But he can't help but want exactly that.

"But my offer tempted you, didn't it?" He looks deep into her, past her eyes into her soul, her very being, he waits for an answer. "To stay with me, to build a life together."

"More than I've ever been tempted in my life," she confirms and he is soaring. Somewhere up in the heaven with her at his side. His heart a bird flapping wildly in his chest, caged in his body just barely, threatening to break free.

"Then we will find a way." He says, nodding at his own words, completely absolute. He will find a way to make this woman his, even if it means giving up everything to do it. He does not care the price, so long as he can stand by her side. Now that he has taken flight, he will never come back down to earth. He will make their home among the clouds if he must.

She pulls him into a kiss and it quickly becomes more. They pour all their emotion into each other, hundreds of conversations exchanged in moments.

She feels it then, she is soaring through a sunrise of clouds his hand in hers. She wants nothing more than to stay like that. Entangled in each others arms. Connected in such a way that feel complete and real. She never wants to leave this moment.

---

She is forced to get up from her place in his arms when her leg begins to cramp.

She stand and walks around the room trying to ease the pain in her leg.

"I would like another kiss," she hears him say from behind her. She turns to face him and notices a slight pink tint to his cheeks.

"You're naked," he says, slightly breathless. She chuckles.

"Does that bother you?" She asks walking closer.

"It could not bother me less," his eyes drift all over her body. Seeming to take count of every curve. "So long as I'm the only one who sees you in such a state."

"You are," she says, "if I am the only one to see you in yours." He smirks.

"Of course," he replies.

"I do not believe you," she says. "You are to handsome a man to trust." He laughs.

"Don't make me think of mortal woman when a goddess such as yourself stands before me. There is no being to ever exist that could tempt me when you stand before me like this." His words make her heart skip a beat.

"Maybe I should place a mark on you so they know your mine," she says teasing him, her heart racing.

"Ravish me as you'd wish," he says. "Scar me with your nails and carve my flesh with your teeth. Tattoo your name in ink and mark me with a hot bit of iron. Leave your mark if it pleases you so, make me yours," he widens his arms in surrender. Her face flushes at the images that his words create in her mind.

"Do not tempt me with offers you do not mean," she warns. "I might just take you up on them." She means it too.

A cold chill runs down his spine when he sees the look in her eyes. It excites him that such a woman would lust after him so.

"I would not offer you myself if I was not willing to give all of myself to you." At those words a animalistic part of her is triggered.

She rushes to him, hungry. But as she does she slips on a sketch she'd done the previous night. She tries to catch herself but trips and falls.

She is falling, falling, falling.

She lands hard, the cold floor a shock to her naked body. She waits for her lover to check on her, for him to rush to her side and ask if she is okay but he doesn't.

She frowns and opens her eyes and is met with her art studio. She looks around confused, before registering that she fallen straight onto the drawing she'd made of her art studio last night. Now completely heart broken she lays back down. Sadness falling over her in suffocating silence.

She'd fallen into the sketch she'd done last night and come back. How could she not be more careful. She should've know better than to draw again on a full moon. She groans, hands covering her face.

What a bad day to be clumsy and stupid. She tries not to cry as she looks around the studio. A place that just hours prior had been her greatest joy, but now filled her with an emptiness only Samuel could fill. She turns to look over at him, the painting still laying on the floor.

She looked out the window, and watched as the full moon set over the West mountains.

That was the moment she finally broke down, because she knew that she'd have to wait until another full moon to go back. And right now that felt like an eternity.

To be continued...

December 16, 2023