|◁ II ▷|

snoh aalegra — love like that.

THE RAINSTORM HAD SOAKED the life out of Maya's head of hair, which made the volume of her curls go limp under the relentless pouring of rain pellets. The walk home — in the rain, especially away from Ebén who was the cause of her foul mood, should have tempered her but she was still seething.

At herself for letting down her guard — when she knew Ebén wasn't the type to commit long-term.

She had wished hard that fate would never have made the two of them meet, as his ambush into her life, had brought the total loss of her privacy, the constant bartering of her pride and the bleak realisation that she had caught deep, hard feelings for the womaniser that stirred her crazy.

She had always been quite reserved with her feelings and whilst she hadn't said that she loved him back, the truth was that she did. Like a dummy.

" — so cute you crimp your nose like that, " Maya and her dripping wet appearance had walked in on Blaze and Eve's bodies folded together intimately.

At first, she had been sure that love hadn't been something that she wanted, given that the woman was unhealthily nursing her hurt. But, her brief reacquaintance to love that came from Ebén, had softened the heart of the stubborn woman.

And she now had gotten tired of always harbouring this cynicism when life seemed better with love in it.

The door slammed shut under Maya's hand, with help from the exertion of the silent wilds but it was Maya dripping wet from head to toe, that made Blaze and Eve's eyes perk at the unsightly sight of her. A squelching sound came out from underneath the sole of her boot as she tried to rid herself free from the sticky mud she had walked miles through.

"Eurgh!" Her distaste for the patches of mud that had gathered on her person was made obvious by her long, drawn-out groans that exited out her mouth.

Their clothes had been discarded in such a way that they had every intention of it staying off.

"Sorry," Maya's eyes ducked, not knowing where to stand or sit as the two women loved on each other.

Her feet sped across the wooden flooring — hoping to not bombard the two about the pangs she had about Ebén, and about love, as it was obvious — even to Maya, that they were currently having a moment.

A moment she had already interrupted.

Both their eyes were casing her with worry, wondering what had happened outside that made her look so afflicted both in breath and body.

"Maya? You okay?"

Her body collapsed into the single sofa chair, and she took a minute, to suspire a breath. They both watched how her chest rose and then fell, as they waited for her to tell all, "No. I'm pissed."

"At who?" Blaze had a feeling that it had something to do with a certain rugged (and sometimes condescending) athlete, but would wait for the confirmation to come out of Maya's own lips.

"Ebén," Maya gritted slowly — his name still unsettled her, not in the way that she was terrified of the man, but that he had played on her heartstrings in a bid to get her legs to open and she had let him.

Do it over and over, as the realisation had dawned on her that she had become another one of those women that hung on his every word when the lothario had no intention of changing.

Ever.

The sight of his name made Maya's blood still run red even minutes after she had supposedly simmered. She didn't have an ear of patience or even an understanding heart to hear him out, she just wanted to vent — then she would move on, without him.

"I hate him," Maya said with a gruff, head in her hands whilst her phone continued to buzz on the oak table, with Ebén hopeful of being forgiven by the woman who was both the bane and blessing of his existence.

He was still trialling this one-woman man persona after spending years of being a hoe and working out the kinks would take some getting used to.

"You don't," Blaze knew that Maya didn't hate him, but was just processing the ferocity of her emotions.

Ebén had brought his chaos into her uneventful and sometimes mundane life, and Maya liked privacy and structure; two things that didn't come with Ebén.

And there was also the added fact that she had fallen hook, line and sinker for the sucker, which had made the sting of what he had done, harder to forget.

And much easier to hate him.

"I do," Maya continued to sustain, to her — it was unforgivable. She had mentally checked herself out of this ring around with Ebén and had no intention of ever reconvening with the man that proved her right.

"You're just... upset, Maya" Blaze tried to make sense of Maya's feelings for her by dressing down her hatred for Ebén as just something that was transient.

But Maya was firm in her belief, that she unequivocally and absolutely hated him.

"No, Blaze" Maya said at her unbelieving best friend who drew her eyes to Maya's, "I hate him."

The strong accent from her lips on the word — hate, a second before, had Blaze and Eve drumming their heads with thoughts as to what Ebén might have done to make Maya flare like this. She wasn't someone that was unreasonable, and her reasons for cutting people off were rarely ever with haste.

But, were natural consequences for being repeated let down by those she trusted.

Blaze had now become curious, "What happened?"

The clicking of Maya's tongue made her take an unintended pause as she began to mentally recount the events that had riled the woman red, "Ebén is exactly who I thought he was and I'm angry at myself for thinking that he was a decent human being."

Blaze really felt the weight of Maya's character assassination of Ebén, "So... are you saying it's over?"

"Blaze, it never fucking began," Maya huffed; screwing off the bottle cap of some Merlot and preparing both her liver and her mouth to drown out the feeling of a bruised heart that Ebén had caused.

She was too in her feelings to show manners as she took a swig of the bottle, and was reminded by the taste as to why she was a brown-liquor babe.

"Where is Ebén by the way?" Blaze asked, wondering why the man who professed to be really apologetic, couldn't pay the woman he had offended a visit.

But, instead chose to send his apologies by blaring up her phone in the hopes she'd answer.

"Probably on a plane," Maya's shoulders sank in a shrug as she answered, "He's expecting me to join him on that flight, think it leaves in like — " 

Blaze had immediately warmed to his generous gesture but Maya hated that Ebén was trying to appease her with the unlimited access he had to money, "That's... kind of him, no?"

Maya was stringent when it came to her money management; and didn't have much at her disposal to spoil herself even if she wanted to.

But, she had lived her life — independent, and was adamant that she wouldn't depart from her independence, just because she had happened to now be in the company of a multi-millionaire.

"There's nothin' kind about that offer, Blaze."

"I think there is," Blaze vehemently shook her head, "Obviously... his motives are a bit... questionable but it is still a nice, generous offer by him, Maya."

"It really isn't Blaze, it's — "

"I think you should go... hear him out," said Eve, who was now crowded with stalked-wide eyes that looked back at her as though she had lost the plot.

"I'm good," Maya was in no mood to take the man up on his offer, when they were as good as done.

Eve's tone was more appeasing than Blaze's loud, headstrong boom but Maya was not budging; "I just think that you have to understand Ebén and how — "

"Are you sayin' I don't?"

Eve blinked owlishly, not wanting to say the wrong thing, but wanted to successfully mediate, "No. I just think he's learning what it's like to be with one woman because he's never... really had that before,"

"Eve, please stop makin' excuses for him. He's a grown man, not a little boy, if he fucks up somethin'... it ain't because it's his first time with a woman or whatever that bullshit is. It's 'cus he didn't give a heck who he ended up hurting."

"Maya, I understand that he hurt you, I can only emphasise and I know you're currently in a headspace where you can't see the good in him. But, he's a good person, that deserves your olive branch."

Even though Maya only ever saw Ebén as bad in her eyes, everyone else seemed united in the belief that he was this good guy, who was misunderstood. Maya did wonder if there was something that she wasn't seeing that everyone else saw in him.

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EBÉN WAS TOO IN HIS HEAD to notice the presence of a certain brown-haired woman, who had been hiding out in his private suite. Hearts that were built like hers didn't do grand gestures or even want to be on the receiving end of them — but days and nights with him, had sparked something new in her.

A want and a desire to love, and be loved.

It hadn't been something that she had sought out on her own, but it had sought after her — causing her to grow boldness she never knew she had. And once she felt that high, she couldn't deny the thumping beating of her once still heart, "About time, Mr. Cástro? How long were you going to make me wait?"

Ebén's feet was planted, still, as though he couldn't fathom the fact that this was his reality, "Maya?" He said her name, breathy and with disbelief.

How had she got here?  Ebén began to mentally drum out, trying to think even with a frayed brain.

"Hi," said Maya with faultless control, despite the fact that she felt so... not in the control. She had flown into the Canary Islands, to reacquaint herself back into the arms of the love of her life, and was equally desperate to have that husky drawl of his whispering god-awful things in her ear.

And she had also come because she knew that she was tired of running. From this moment on, she'd be all in.

She watched him look down at her with a hot-blooded smoulder, and knew that Ebén was hinting the same thing that she was, "Yo... you're here?"

"Uh-huh," Maya managed to muster out a croak that was full to the brim with desperate desire. He again took a not-so-innocent glance down at her lips, as set in his eyes, was a man who didn't want to waste time, but wanted to devour the woman from back to front.

First, he owed her an apology. A heartfelt one.

"Maya, I'm really sorry for what happened earli — "

But Maya's head and her heart were too fraught with impassion to listen to this. She had forgiven him long before she caught her flight, and that wasn't exactly what she was itching to hear from his lips right now.

She wanted him — and those lips of his, all up in her grill. Demanding her body to fold as he said whilst dominating her from minute one until the end.

"Shut up and fucking kiss me," Maya grounded out to Ebén a desperate demand from her stomach pit, wanting his lips to envelope hers and ignite her fire.

Ebén took a limped step towards her, still smouldering whilst she waited on him — not overly decided on which route he'd take to get her to come.

"Somebody's impatient," jested Ebén, who knew that his slow and unhurried strides towards her was nothing but torturious, both to her and him. "Tsk, I just know what I want," Maya's eyes were now fully traced on him, still waiting... impatiently.

But the wait had been for long enough — as Ebén set his sights on her plump lips, that she had been rubbing together, in preparation of his personal devour. He grabbed at her neck, still painted with physical remnants of their last, lipsing her.

And lipsing her hard.

She undid his buttons in a haste that was so wild and without finesse, and he flung her sundress up, wanting somewhere warm to insert his fingers. His thumb, dripping wet, with his spit brushed against her aching nub, making her yell, swear and scream. His soft finger strokes made her head roll back in glorious pleasure, she had missed this.

Even if it the lull away from each other had only been for a few days.  

"No undies today?" Ebén noted from the physical inspection he took of her trimmed-down core.

Maya shook her head as a smile crept in, "Not when you have a habit of ripping things."

"Baby, I ripped it once," Ebén assumed a defence, as he looked down at her doe-freckled face. He wasn't sure how his future would end up panning out — but the only thing he did know, was that he had to have her in it. She was his light in his darkness. His reason.

And his hope.

"I love you," said Maya, sprawled naked on his bed — looking into the eyes of a man she once hated and written off and feeling no fear whatsoever.

He, though, hadn't been expecting her to affirm the feeling that he had felt from day one, her three word declaration initially rendering him speechless.

"Swear?" Ebén didn't have the strength to withstand a dagger to the heart from her... again. He was ready to take the leap, but only with her, holding his hand.

"Ebén, I love you. So fucking much."

══════════════

The pair stumbled back into his hotel door, caught in a web of wet kisses after spending the night giving each other the eye over dinner and drinks.

"You're gonna run me dry," Ebén's belt was already loose, barely hanging on his waist, as Maya had spent the minutes that they were afforded some privacy in the elevator... getting handsy.

"Maybe, that's my intention" Maya retorted back, venturing down to his neck to bask in the taste of the man that was about 20 seconds from ruining her.

The two hobbled backwards towards the bed's railing — stuck to each other  but Ebén had other plans as to how this night was going to go.

"Strip."

There was something metal hiding in his palm.

Maya tried to take a peak, "Baby, what's in ya hand?"

Ebén didn't find Maya's curiosity endearing as he thumped with a growl, stepping into her path and repeating the word, "Strip, Maya."

With each button of her dress she undid, she took a step back which Ebén and his 6ft plus shadow mirrored until she couldn't take another step — falling into the arms of his king-sized bed, and cuffing her hands and feet to the bed.

What... in the BDSM?

He towered over her — an aggressive glint stationed in his eyes that had Maya on high alert, "Ready?"

Maya laboured heavy breaths as she tried with everything to wriggle free from the metal cuffs but her wrangling only succeeded in giving her sore wrists. The only word that parted out of her lickerish mouth was a desperate yes.

Not wasting another second, he pulled at her legs, sinking her into his white pillows and spread apart her legs as a motor was clamped on her flesh.

She recognised the whirs immediately and jutted out her eyes once she was hit with the first lick.

Ebén stood over her, as a spectator to her torture, sipping (and enjoying) a glass on Cognac. He took small, slow sips as Maya begged and begged for him.

Immobilised with wide, jutted eyes, she howled — "Eb... ugh! Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Eberrrrrn,"

She couldn't say his name.

He continued to drink, clearly enjoying being a witness. His soft brush-thumb skimmed her clit, not saying anything, but adding more fire.

The degrees got hotter, and he started counting.

One.

Two.

Three.

"Baby! Please, oh my! FUUUUCK — " Maya's mouth was slack-jawed, the metal cuffs rattling against the bed frame as she tried to stop the burning.

But couldn't.

Four.

Five.

Six.

"Oh, fuck... Urgh, please!" Her eyes were now rolling back to the top of her head as her curls were drowning out her face.

Seven.

Eight.

Nine.

"You warmed up?" goaded Ebén, his thumb and the motor torturing her flesh. She growled an intelligible yessssssss, with her eyes clenched shut.

"Then, let's make love baby."

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A/N: Lowkey kinda have a dirty mind, sorry not sorry.