Tag Archives: #romance

Out of Control

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Jona162 | Pixabay

Out of Control

Fast and furious, consumed by a fire intentionally set to burn out of control. For three weeks we ate, slept, and breathed each other, we couldn’t get enough. Leading us here, all hopped up on adrenaline and desire in a log cabin on the edge of nowhere.

It started with no expectations, just a chance meeting in that little coffee shop on West 92nd. She caught me staring at her as she flipped her head nonchalantly in my direction. Like a deer caught in the headlights, all I could do was shoot her a smile. It must have been something special because it pierced her heart with an accuracy that would have impressed Cupid. Before we could even process the tidal wave that engulfed us both, we were tangled in each other’s arms, like bramble left to grow wild.

It wasn’t just sex either, it was more. Visceral and at the same time intellectual. Intensely passionate yet soft and meandering. Physical yet vibrating on a higher plane.

But as fires burn they mellow. Without more fuel they fade and eventually the last embers blink out. I could have handled that, even anticipated sifting through the ashes but who could have foreseen its abrupt end? The ring of her phone sucking all traces of oxygen from the room. The flames extinguished in a suffocating instant.

I’m left to watch through the window as she sits like a ghost on the edge of the dock. I don’t know who called or what was spoken but as I watch her in the breeze, I can feel the moment slipping away. Dissolving into the landscape one grain at a time. By sunrise, she will be gone…

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Glass Slipper

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Tim Rebkavets via Unsplash

Glass Slipper

“…and on the left is Berg Eltz,” the guide delivers the canned script from rote. His German-accented English spills from the tour bus speakers as he navigates the narrow Elzbach River valley road. “The castle has been owned by the same family for over eight hundred yea…”

Elise’s mind wanders until the even temperament of his voice only fills the background spaces in her head.

Why did she want to see castles, Prince Charming was never coming. Hell at this point the evil Prince would do. She imagined being locked in the highest turret. A plaything to be ravished beneath the full moon, her hungry bones left to wait for the next time. Her mother insisted girls like them were destined for more mundane fates with men who were far less interesting. Men like her Dad who worked his fingers to the bone, sweating blood and tears just to survive.

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The bus stopped at the end of the long stone walkway leading to the entrance of Eltz. For the next two hours, the historic castle would be her playground. Her travel companions opted for the guided tour while Elise chose to walk the halls and grounds alone. ‘Bleiben Sie hinter der Linie’, ignoring the signs she sat on the edge of the Prince’s bed. A moment later she swung her feet up and lay back. The room was much smaller than she expected but it didn’t matter. She watched the door, expecting him to walk through at any moment, no one came.

As the stopover came to an end she thought of her own smaller castle back in Omaha. Maybe it wasn’t so bad. The thought of removing her glass slippers felt liberating. Pulling them from her feet she set them on the stone wall and walked barefoot onto the bus.

At the next stop Elise sat for a moment, not sure if this was scheduled or if the bus had broken down. As she looked out over the scenic countryside, she caught movement in her periphery. Turning her head and setting her eyes on a tall, dark and extremely handsome man. He was heading right toward her while he motioned with his hands.

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“Excuse me, excuse me… I think you left these at Berg Eltz.”

She nodded.

“I need to be certain,” he said as he dropped to one knee.

She raised her leg to meet his hand and he slid the slipper onto her foot…

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Solstice

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Solstice

Spring, summer, winter, fall, rainy or dry, the seasons are born of a celestial love story.

Theia, travelling cold and alone through Sol’s domain. Oblivious to a fate inexorably tied to the maiden planet set within its path. Drawn towards the fiery sphere’s beauty, racing towards the edge of her influence not realizing he had moved beyond the point of no return. Her gravity pulling him deeper into her well, towards a climax that will devour him and knock her off kilter.

The impact tilted her axis and gave rise to Earth’s seasons. The debris from their joining spilled into the night sky. The seeds of a new life filled the space around her. Coalescing over millennia to birth a child from nothing more than a chance meeting. Their child, forever in lockstep with its mother, gentling shaping and reshaping her shorelines as it circles her.

Theia may no longer roam through Sol’s domain but his legacy lives on in the night sky. Its DNA is embedded in the Earth and the Moon, marking the months as Earth continues her journey around the Sun.

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Vitamin D

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Vitamin D

Edelman lay on the beach basking in the glow of the midday sun. I watched the suntan oil sizzling on his skin as he explained that skin cancer was a fallacy spread by big pharma and the government. Although unclear on the motive he insisted it was connected to vitamin D production and much more sinister than profits and corporate greed.

The conversation slowly turned from conspiracy to a sales pitch. I’m not certain what he was trying to sell but he insisted that he took care of himself and explained that his vitamin D was silky smooth and creamy like milk.

“Would you like a…”

I was certain he was going to say ‘taste’ but just as the words should have been escaping his lips a couple of spry young punks kicked up sand into his face as they ran past. I wasn’t spared as the spray shot across my mid-rift and into my bikini. As I moved I could feel the grit chaff against the tits.

Edelman was spitting sand (and venom) as he jumped up and took pursuit. He was a hulking man with muscles popping out everywhere and washboard abs that would make Dwayne Johnson swoon. What a marvellous specimen I thought as I stood up. I tugged at the bottom of my bikini top while bouncing up and down. Hundreds of lucky white granules fell to the ground as the related ruckus erupted just up the beach. Those poor lads weren’t going to know what had hit them.

I picked up my towel and headed in the other direction. Sure he may have been a smoke show but thank God I wouldn’t have to hear about vitamin D any longer.

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Quantum Hearts

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Image: Unknown | Graphic Design: Greg Glazebrook @ GMGCreative.

Quantum Hearts

Barely aware of the universe swirling around me. I am seized in the glow of such exquisitely simple beauty. Forever fixed to her coordinates, attuned to the pull of every movement. Entangled across time and in this space where everything else that ever existed falls away. Strawberry strands set against radiant bands of light, broken only by a wrinkle in the fabric of a warm smile. Every moment catalogued in the dark matter recesses of my mind. Always twenty-seven to the right and six steps behind. Never closer and still light years away.

In the night she waits for me. Playing on hazy celluloid loops projected on the horizons behind my shuttered eyes. Her vibrations bristle against the imaginary strings raised along the surface of my skin. There is no escape from the sickly sweet atmosphere that consumes us. Our bodies pulled by gravity, crashing against each other until we lay shattered in a heap.

Still, I wake alone. Our wavelengths continually overlapping as our lives run parallel to each other. I remain six steps behind, hoping that on a premonition you glance back and notice me but like the particle-wave duality of the sub-atomic, our worlds will never touch.

My dream of a life together with you has faded and I realize my love for you is unrequited. I knew the only thing left to do was blink from existence.

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What Might Have Been

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The following was written for Fandango’s Story Starter #66 and is a response to “Bait and Switch” one of the entries submitted to the challenge by Paula at Light Motifs II. I recommend reading Paula’s awesome take first and then coming back to see what happens during a chance meeting years later.

What Might Have Been

Several years later while jumping into the back seat of a Glide she vaguely recognized the driver. “Do I know you from somewhere?” She asked quizzically, “I’m certain we’ve met but I can’t place when or where.”

He grinned, “Remember Mingle, the dating app? We spoke for several weeks through the interface before meeting and then when we did – “

“Fuck sakes…” she cut him off. “You’re the guy who asked for a thousand bucks during our first kiss!” Looks like I made the right decision, she finished the thought inside her head.

There was an awkward silence before he finally spoke, “I was in the data center talking with the techs when I saw your name come across the screen. I wasn’t certain if it was you but I knew I had to take this ride to see.”

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The Biology of Things

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The Biology of Things

My attention had shifted to Helena, hijacked by the pheromones (or perfume) wafting on the air currents in the auditorium.

Professor Carmichael was droning on about Lepidoptera and the infinite mutations that made something as simple as a Madagascan Sunset moth possible.

My attentions were more carnal. Although genetics were not top of mind, all that mattered were the variations that made such a beautiful creature possible.

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