AFTER THE RAIN (Bonus edition)

8. The gentle flower whisper

"Oops," Stormy said when they finally got their bearings and caught their breath. She was naked and bent over the bed, and Marcus was lying on top of her, his breath coming rapidly.

"Big oops," she said again, with a huge sigh.

Marcus shifted against her. Her hair was wet and strands were sticking to his face and chest. He was almost in shock from the sex they'd just had – it had been mind-blowing. It had all happened so quickly that the details were a blur, but he could see flashes of it.

At one stage she'd been dangling off him – literally. One minute, he was standing and she was wrapped around him, and the next she was bent over backwards and hanging. She was so light and flexible that he'd been able to do exactly what he wanted with her – and he had. It had been hard and totally satisfying. No woman had been so uninhibited. Mind you, no woman had hung from him upside down like a bat, either. Thank God this pay-by-the-hour dive did have condoms next to the bed.

She was small and delicate-looking. But her fragile build was deceptive – she was a fucking wild demon. That thing she did with her leg twisted like that – he'd never seen it before. Perhaps she'd just invented it.

They lay there. Not moving. Not talking. Just catching their breaths.

Marcus eventually got up. He didn't know quite what to do now – most women wanted to be held and cuddled at this stage, but Stormy was not like most women. And despite their sexual gymnastics, they didn't really know each other. There'd been nothing emotional or intimate about what had just happed – it had been nothing more than lust. Pure, unadulterated lust.

He got it now – why it hadn't happened earlier when she'd offered herself to him on a virtual platter. They had to be arguing. They'd been arguing or irritated with each other when it had happened on the other two occasions, too.

He got off and walked away. He wasn't really sure what else to do. He needed a moment alone to think. Hopefully his rational brain would soon return from the time-out it seemed to be on.

***

Stormy was shaking from head to toe and finding it hard to breathe under the weight of his body, but she didn't care. She was still shell-shocked. It had been the wildest sex she'd ever had. Crazy-manic. Normally she was into burning candles and incense, listening to Malayan chanting, setting out crystals and doing some slow tantric breathing vibes, followed by intricate poses called "The gentle flower whisper" and "Two lilies blow in the warm breeze". But this had not been like that at all. He'd been like an animal; she'd been like an animal.

And when he'd thrown her onto the bed face first and grabbed her hair, she'd nearly died.

To tell you the truth, she wasn't exactly sure how it had happened. There had been some intense staring across the hotel room and then all of a sudden she had been on the floor, against the wall and bent over the bed. She remembered ripping his clothes off as quickly as possible and tearing the neck of his shirt as she had tugged at it. He'd thrown her rugby jersey across the room and he'd taken charge. And it had been amazing – the best sex of her entire life.

The stars were right – they were very sexually compatible. Oh yes indeedio.

Now what? What the hell were they meant to do after sex like that? Cuddling was out of the question. Some pillow talk and bedroom chatter seemed totally inappropriate. Maybe she should bite his head off and eat him – praying mantis style. She heard the bathroom door shut and Marcus disappeared from the room.

She got up and looked for her clothes, eventually finding them strewn on opposite sides of the room. She rubbed her hip and looked down, seeing a red mark. It looked like it was going to leave a bruise. How had she gotten that?

Oh yes, when he'd pushed her against the wall...

She bit her lip thinking about it. The wall. The hard, cold wall against her hot, sweaty body.

She sat down on the bed and waited for Marcus to come out of the bathroom. They needed to talk about this. But the minutes passed and he didn't reappear. It felt like he'd been in their for ages. Eventually, she got up and approached the closed door.

"Marcus," Stormy called softly, knocking on the door.

"Mmm," a quiet moan of acknowledgement issued from the tiny bathroom.

"Are you okay in there?"

A pause.

"I'm not sure... are you okay?"

"Ummm, I think so."

Another long pause. Stormy tentatively opened the door and peeked round. Marcus was sitting naked and morose on the floor, looking like some kind of abuse victim.

Stormy sat down on the other side of the door and peered at him through the crack.

"What was that?" he finally asked, looking at her.

She shook her head. "I don't quite know."

"Did I hurt you, with the wall and all that...?" he sounded agitated.

"A little bit."

Marcus sighed loudly and put his head in his hands. "Shit. Sorry!"

"No, no!" Stormy pushed the door open wider. "In a good way... a very good way."

An awkward silence fell over them as they both thought about how good it had actually been.

"It can't happen again, though," Marcus finally said. "I mean, you and I... it would never work."

"Goddess, Mary and Joseph, no!" Stormy exclaimed. "Never. Remember what the stars said. Sexually compatible, but not good in relationships."

"So we agree this should never happen again, and we should just try and forget about it?"

"Absolutely!" Stormy said loudly.

"Shake on it?" Marcus stuck his hand out.

Stormy took it and they started shaking.

BAD IDEA...because next thing, he was pulling her onto his lap.