Au

Chapter 4

******** Cliffhanger warning ********
They both ducked into a nearby mausoleum to shelter themselves from the roaring downpour. They were strangers to eachother, tied together by nothing more than unfortunate weather conditions and an undeniable attraction to eachothers physical appearance. A silent corpse stood between them, blissfully at rest beneath layers of wood and concrete that had been embellished with a black and white marble finish. On one side of the room stood Barry with his arms folded against the wall and his head resting on the impromptu cushion they formed. His breath came out in short breaths, a side effect of his running towards safety though the frantic hammering of his heart suggested otherwise. It showed that he was nervous and he asked himself how could he possibly not be giddy when he was trapped with a Goddess of beauty for who knows how long. He lifted his head up cautiously and turned it ever so slightly but at the sight of her drenched self he tore his gaze from her and faced the wall once more. Shutting his eyes, Barry tried, in vain, to control his speeding heart but with the presence of the darkness induced by his lack of sight the image of her burned fervountly in his imagination, allowing him to clearly see each perfectly drawn detail of her curvaceous figure.

His heart beat picked up, fueled by the arousal based adrenaline, and his wind pipe seemed to contract becoming smaller which each ragged breath he took.
*Not this. Not now.* he pleaded just as his chest began tighten.
On the other side of the anonymous deceased, stood Iris. She, too, was in the process of regaining her breath but her attempts were glazed with a certain amount of grace and finesse. Her arm was out stretched in front of her, the hand facing up and the palm pressed into the cool wall. The other hand resided on her hip, a gesture that spoke of her inner sass.  Her eyes were closed and her head bowed, moving only due to her short intakes of breath. Rain droplets dripped from her curtain of hair that hung forward obscuring her flushed face. The sounds of the storm echoed through their sombre sanctuary and in the moment of calm Iris seized to opportunity to try to make sence of what was happening inside her.

Try as she might she couldn't bring herself to conjour up a single instance from her past in which she'd ever felt an emotion akin to the one that consumed her at that very moment. Each fleeting thought last a little under a second before it was replaced by the image of the strangers sea green eyes. The world around her seemed to change and Iris found herself comparing the vibrancy of the earths colours to the mixture of hues depicted in his stare. No patch of grass could be that green, no drop of ocean that blue, no ray of sunlight that golden. The sound of painful heaves broke through her thoughts and she turned her head towards the sound to find the young man reduced to a helpless pile of desperation on the floor. His chest rose and fell violently and his wild eyes formed perfect orbs, distress was clear in his gaze. The creamy lightness of his skin was tinted with a feverish redness, signalling his ongoing struggle to breathe. With her mind trained to remain calm in the presence of panic, Iris rushed into action. In four short strides, limited by her wet skirt that clung to her hips, she reached the poor boy's side and kneeled next to him.

"Hey, it's OK. You're alright. Calm down. Just breathe." She prompted, her voice taking on a softer tone that, till then, had been reserved for caring conversations with her grandfather. With no trace of her usual hesitation or need for personal space, she placed her hand on his shoulder tenderly and scooched closer.
"Come on. You can do this. Close your eyes and listen to my voice. Just breathe." Barry obeyed and let the sweet sound of her voice wash over him like the rain that still fell outside with no promise of retreat. Unbeknownst to him, his body was reacting to her, listening to her, almost as if under the throws of a witches spell.

"Breath in," she instructed and his lungs willingly expanded, allowing the air to fill them.

"Good. Very good. Now try to hold it." His air passages closed, but not in an uncomfortable way. Rather in a calming manner that reintroduced his limbs and organs to the presence of oxygen.

"That's it. Now exhale gently." came her delicate coe and all at once his body allowed the air to rush out, a sensation that can only be discribed as liberating.

He began to regain control, as she repeated her prompts and he obeyed without protest. Her hand left his shoulder  to push back a single strand of damp hair and he turned towards her touch, his eyes languidly fluttering open. Somehow his cheek ended up nestled in the soft palms of her hand. Palms that had seen nothing but the most luxurious moisturises for 16 years. His gaze traveled along the path of her hand, seeing the glow and softness of her skin that his hand dared not explore. Though he did not realise it she was inspecting him too. Each pair of eyes traveled up the length of the others body as they acquainted themselves to eachothers silhouettes.

The firmness of his chest was made more apparent by the moist condition of his clothing.

Her unsupported breasts showed through the flimsy material of the blouse that had become almost transparent with the introduction of water.

His flustered face was returning to its original hue and his tempting pink lips rested partially open.

Her chocolaty skin seemed to beg for his touch and her voluptuous red lips were like a beacon drawing him in.

Their wondering eyes neared their final destination. His cheek, her cheek. His nose, her nose. His cheek bones, her cheek bones. Then all at once the universe dissapread as their eyes locked and they're gazes remained still. In hers he found the warmth he had been looking for his entire life. In his she rediscovered herself in a way she could never have imagined. Lured in by the curiosities contained in eachothers stares, they unconsciously began to lean into eachother. They drew closer and closer and closer. The distance decreased, their heart rates soared. Their eyes fluttered shut. Their lips met.