Embracing Ellie: Chapter 2

Previously on Embracing Ellie: Elena Torres, standing 200 yards above Kawarau River in New Zealand, struggles with fear over her bungee jump. Daniel, her husband, encourages her, reminding her of her confidence during the Hilltop Waterway project presentation. Despite her doubt, Elena decides to embrace the challenge and prepares to jump. // Daniel and Elena arrived at their luxury lodge in Queenstown, New Zealand. After admiring the scenic view, Daniel suggested they explore. Ellie noticed Daniel's unusual behavior and suspected he was planning a surprise. They drove to a bridge and saw a cable car with people bungee jumping. Daniel reveals his plan for Elena to try it.

*

Elena told Daniel to pull the Land Rover over to the side of the road.

Daniel slowed down, but saying, “Why, what’s wrong?”

She checked her watch again, heart-rate still elevated. God, her chest felt tight—tight in a good way. Her fingers still tingled and her cheeks burned from the racing winds as she’d rocketed toward certain death. She whistled between teeth and lip, jabbing a finger to the right side of the road where they passed a long row of tall trees close to the road’s edge. “Right here, right here.”

“Pull over here? I can’t. There’s a rock wall, for crying out loud, Ellie.”

“Cross over to the other side.” She jabbed her pointing finger more eagerly. “There—that grassy shoulder, pull onto that.”

On the far side of the road there was a tall row of dense foliage, like eucalyptus, but blue sky showed through gaps in their canopies; they could pass through to the other side. Daniel slowed further and waited for a motorcycle to pass coming the other way, sunlight sparkling on its chrome, then drove onto the grass like she’d told him. There was only enough space for two vehicles on the narrow strip of grass.

“Perfect,” she said, unclipping her seatbelt and letting it snake back into its receiver.

Daniel nodded, smiling, saying, “Oh, do you have to pee?”

“No, I don’t have to pee. I want to show you something.”

Daniel narrowed his eyes at her, tilting his head back, scrutinizing her. “Your eyes are like saucers, babe. You look high as a kite.” He snapped his fingers near her, like he was a hypnotist waking her up.

She pushed his hand away. “Let’s go, come on.”

“Go where?”

“You worried I might have a plan for you, too? Worried I’m going to make you do something crazy?”

“I’m worried you’re gonna push me off a cliff for revenge.”

“It crossed my mind,” she said. “But I think I’ll let you live. I even think you might like to hear my proposal.”

He leaned away against the driver's door, smiling wider. “Aw, are you going to propose to me? Get down on one knee? I can’t wait to see my ring.” He held out his finger-wiggling hand and admired it as if there were a diamond on his ring finger. “I like an emerald cut.”

“Suit yourself, Danny. Stay in the car, miss out.” She opened the car door and stretched out a leg.

“Miss out on what? Where are you going?”

Elena glanced back at Daniel, grin stretching. He wasn’t the only trickster in the Torres family. “Come on, buddy, there’s a view I want you to see.”

“What view, Elena?” He said, “We’ve never been here before. You don’t even know where you’re going.”

But now she was out of the car and onto the grass, heading into the dense foliage. She put her hands together and spread a space for her to crawl into the eucalyptus, calling over her shoulder, “Yes, I do!”

It took some work to get through the trees and out onto the other side. Here there was a grassy knoll with a steep incline becoming granite. The granite lip descended on the right and she went that way, looking to get around it. Daniel squawked and complained behind her, thrashing his way through the eucalyptus. By the time he got through, she’d almost made it around the knoll, and already she was surprised by what she saw. She stopped in her tracks and waited for Danny to catch up.

Daniel saw her posed in momentary reverie and slowed, raising an eyebrow. She waved him to follow, walking a little further over the grass. A cool wind sent her hair over a shoulder in a bobbing dance.

Danny joined her, and she watched his expression change from suspicious to disbelief. “How did you know this was here?”

“I didn’t,” she said. “Just lucky, I guess.”

A distant lake sparkled in golden sunlight as the sun descended toward an undulating mountainous spine. The spine’s edge shone like crystals, the beginning frost as New Zealand entered its winter. Green fields and pastures spread out around the lake, dotted with trees in their autumn foliage. The mountain range’s reflection danced on the water like fractal mirror.

Daniel admired the view, mouth agape, like in awe. He said, “What lake is that? Is that Wakapitu?”

“No idea,” she said, taking one quiet step rearward. “Check on your phone.”

“Good idea,” Daniel said, fishing his phone from his pants pocket. She’d stepped about a dozen feet behind him without him noticing.

As Daniel thumbed his way through screens, searching the identity of their location, she turned and speed-walked to a thicket, lower down the grassy slope. When she heard Daniel shout out her name, she started laughing and sprinting. She got to the thicket, the golden sun dappling through its canopy, thrashing her way through the dense branches until she found a clear path. She followed that, Daniel yelling and shouting behind her as the branches whipped at his face. At a dense shrub the size of a compact car, she ducked down and stilled, listening to Daniel’s pursuit, listening to him complaining, but knowing he was having a good time.

“Ellie?” His voice echoed through the thicket with a playful annoyance. “Where did you go?”

She covered her mouth with a hand and hunkered down.

On the right, she noticed the perfect spot, peered around the shrub’s edge and saw Daniel’s back, Daniel heading the wrong way. With quiet steps—hunched low like you would see a sneaky cartoon character do—she made her way from the shrub to the thick tree trunk she’d spotted, the tree’s canopy low and scraggly, dotted with bouquets of long pine needle. When she got to the trunk, she sealed her body against it, sliding around as Daniel circled the area, keeping out of his view.

Now she cupped a hand to her mouth and hollered out, “Can’t you find me?”

She peeked around the trunk, saw Daniel scanning the area, not seeing her, brows furrowed, lips pressing together. A chuckle escaped her; the thrill of the chase! 

The chuckle gave her away. Daniel spotted her and headed toward her. “Alright, you asked for it.” He pushed through the thicket, branches snapping as he ventured into her secret spot. She rolled away, her back to the tree, and waited. The snapping continued until at last, Danny crept around the trunk, sly smile on his face. He said, “Found you.”

“Yeah, you did,” she said, letting her head fall back to the trunk, sticking her chin up and looking into her husband’s deep blue eyes. “Now what?”

He said, “You tell me, El.”

She reached out and pulled him toward her by his shirt, her fingers eagerly exploring the firm contours of his chest. “It’s about time,” she whispered back, her lips a breath away from his. Their mouths came together in a gentle kiss. The gentle kiss became more passionate as she pulled him against her, wanting to feel his weight pin her against the tree trunk.

Danny’s hands roamed her body, slipping under her shirt, tracing the lines of her back, pulling her closer, as if he couldn’t get enough of her. She responded in kind, fingers working on his belt buckle.

Daniel stopped kissing, looking around, whispering, “Here, Elle? You want to do it here?”

She kissed his neck and slid the leather out of his buckle, one hand palming his crotch and finding Danny’s member lengthening. “I know you want to,” she said, smiling so he could see before she kissed his neck again. She gave his member a passionate squeeze. Her heart hammered like she still stood at the cable car’s door, that unbelievable drop looming before her, the river shimmering far below like a ribbon of glass. Certain death.

Daniel looked around, making sure they were alone—like someone would follow them into a thicket like this; he couldn’t even find her when he was looking for her. She whispered, “It’s just us, Danny. We’re alone.”

He smiled now, looking down, a happy growl rumbling in his chest. He said, “What’s got into you?”

What? The mood had seized her. She bit her lower lip, still coddling Danny’s growing member, thumbing one side and straightening it out in his underwear as it sought to grow larger. “It’s your fault,” she said. “Sending me on that jump.”

He chuckled and lowered his mouth to hers again. She welcomed it, sighing into their kiss, her hands working on his zipper now. And Danny was into it, now that he’d performed his over-the-shoulder security check. His hands worked higher under her shirt and jacket, large and warm on her bare skin. He thumbed over her nipples under her sports bra and they reacted. Lively already, they condensed to aching buds under Danny’s touch.

Then Danny’s erection was out and in her hand. Hard as a rock, but covered in warm, gummy skin. She stroked him, whispering, “Take my pants down.”

“Here?” He said, “You want to do it here?” Sure, maybe their sex life wasn’t that wild; they were the kind of people who tried to remain sensible and pragmatic. But they were here in New Zealand for an adventure, weren’t they?

She squeezed his hard member, saying, “I do. Let’s do it right here.”

Danny swayed away, checking his perimeter again, and she let go of his erection, back against the tree, unbuttoning her hiking shorts. Danny returned his gaze to her, watching her hands work, his erection sticking up to the endless sky. He said, “I can’t believe we’re going to do this.”

At the moment she’d stepped out of the cable car, her stomach had dropped away in an exhilarating rush; the ground raced toward her faster than possible comprehension. For a moment, there was nothing but the wind screaming past her ears in a fierce roar. It had been the most alive she’d felt. Ever. “Were doing this, Danny,” she said, full of confidence, heart pounding in anticipation of the impending sexual act she needed right now.

She unzipped her shorts and peeled them open, showing Danny her cotton undies in their pale pink—and wishing she’d worn something more provocative before heading out. But who had have thought she would jump from a cable car, and if she’d known, would she anticipate the electric charge it juiced her sex drive with? The cotton panties were what she had, so that was the way it was going to be; she pushed her shorts down further and showed Danny what she’d expected. The excitement had blushed the crotch of her panties into a charging hot pink. Danny panted harder seeing it. And that simple act made her feel very bad. Very naughty. Very uncivilized. It was an incredible feeling. So, down went the panties as well, letting Danny see her little patch all matted with her sexy dew. “How are we going to do this, Danny?” 

It was a good question. Danny wouldn’t take his pants all the way off, that was for sure. And she wouldn’t either. Someone could wander along and discover them, and then what? Danny shrugged, baffled, knowing this was a dilemma, just as she did. There was one obvious choice, and it was terrifying. She whispered it to her husband, warning him what he would now witness. “From behind?”

And eager Danny responded, “Yeah-yeah,” like a hungry cartoon dog seeing a cooked steak. That charged her up as well. This was the sexual behavior of the wild, of the uninhibited.

She turned around and faced the tree, bracing her chest against the trunk, pushing her panties and shorts over the curve of her rump. They’d had sex like this before; dog sex. Bad sex. This wasn’t the first time. But the first time had left them feeling . . . guilty.

Danny’s body loomed behind her, then on her. The wrath of his naked hips touching the cool of her naked buttocks. His erection burning the seam of her butt cheeks. She whimpered as swirling lust and simple wrongness consumed her, and she escaped it, thinking of that rush. The insane weightlessness, a sensation so terrifying yet so intoxicating. Time stretched as she fell, suspended in the thrill of the leap. Every nerve ending ignited by the gas flame of adrenaline. Her screams and laughter mingling with the wind, a sound of pure joy that echoed through the endless atmosphere. And Daniel’s voice: steady; a hard anchor amidst the whirlwind of fear, speaking to her in the cable car and telling her she could do it, could find the courage to face the fear. Daniel’s gaze had sparkled with excitement, urging her to embrace the thrill. 

Danny's warmth seeped into her skin and she shivered at a strange release. His erection, hard and insistent, nestled between her cheeks. The thrill of their secret rendezvous in the thicket, the rush of the bungee jump still fresh in her mind, all coalesced into a hard knot of forbidden ecstasy.

Danny's hands roamed her hips and thighs, smoothing the curves. He whispered her name, voice low and husky. She closed her eyes, cheek squashing into the tree trunk. Danny's fingers slipped under the waistband of her panties, pushing them down a little more, enough to expose where he would penetrate her.

With a gentle nudge, Danny entered her from behind. She gasped, her fingers digging into the tree bark. His length slid inside her, their friction greased with mutual excitement. It felt unbelievable. Way better than if they were home and in the privacy of their room. This felt so wrong in all the right ways. He moved slowly at first, savoring the sensation of their union. The Danny went deeper—all the way. Out and then in again. In deep. Breath hitched in her chest as Danny filled her, the pressure building inside her with each thrust. The wind rustled through the leaves above them, casting dappled shadows on the forest floor and on the tree she hugged. The risk of the jump, the risk of daytime public sex invigorated by the passion burning between them.

She’d raced to certain death at a hundred miles an hour in her imagination. And then at the perfect moment, she’d slowed, the cable holding her, reminding her it was all a game, a temptation, a simulation of life’s awful finality. The bungee cord snapped tight, stretched to its maximum, the jolting her back into the moment. She’d flown weightlessly upwards, the rush of air lifting her spirits even higher. Her heart soared with each subsequent bounce, each swing.

Danny's pace quickened, his breath hot against her neck. Her body responded in kind, hips moving in rhythm with his, pushing her rump out against each of his thrusts, loving that feeling of being stretched out deep inside her, loving how that plump end of Danny’s organ pulled in and out, rippling her insides. Tension built to an astounding steam-whistle sound, the pressure mounting with each thrust. She bit her lip, stifling a moan as the first waves of pleasure washed over her again and again, and their connection went slippery and the friction eased away and left throbbing pleasure in its wake.

Danny's hands gripped her hips, pulling her into his thrusts. He drove into her, again and again, harder and harder. Two animals rutting in the forest, grunts and snorts, and the slick squish-squish of their wet parts clashing. Her body trembled, her muscles tightening around Danny’s member. She teetered on the edge of cataclysmic release, the sensation building and building until it was too much to bear.

With a final, powerful thrust, Danny sent her over the edge. She cried out, her body convulsing as the release exploded in a gush of wet glory. Her embrace on the rough trunk slackened. Danny followed, his own release shuddering through him as he pumped her insides full of his seed, roaring and grunting, biting back the volume, still concerned by their possible discovery.

They stood there for a moment, panting and spent, their bodies still joined and held upright by the tree. Contentment wormed through her, a deep and unexpected satisfaction after something so dirty. Danny panted hot breath on her neck. She detected his pulse through his slippery member softening inside her.

She slumped, her legs boneless and of no help. Danny was the same, but managing to guide her down the trunk and laying them on the forest floor at the base, spooning, his penis popping out. An uneasy gush came with the unplugging, his seed spilling from her creases. "Oh no," she whispered, and fumbled her hand into a pocket and brought out her bandana handkerchief. She reached behind her and between them, and stuffed the bandana in her thigh creases. Danny used the other end to dry his penis before slipping in behind her again and hugging an arm around her. Both of them were still short of breath but basking in a wonderful afterglow of lovemaking. They had never had such wild sex before. Maybe in high school, but that seemed so long ago.

Danny mumbled, “The mountains are Remarkables.”

“Yeah, they are,” she gasped.

“No, I mean, that’s their name.”

“What’s that?”

“The lake we saw was Hayes, Lake Hayes, and the mountain range is called the Remarkables. I liked it up, remember?”

She chuckled and squeezed his hand held over her chest. 

Then he said, “I should take you bungee jumping every week.”

“I’m sure it would get boring after a while.”

“What just happened will never get boring.”

She chuckled again and agreed. “Thanks for getting me to take that step.”

“I knew you could do it, Ellie. You just needed to be reminded how strong you are.”

“I guess,” she said. “It was incredible. It was, uh, intense.” Could she tell him how intense? Really confess?

“I’m glad you liked it,” Danny said and groaned a happy sound.

She hid her face away for a second, still gaining the courage—the audacity!—to tell him what she wanted to tell him. She said, “I, uh, I really liked it.”

Daniel peeked over her shoulder, grinning, self-satisfied. “I’m glad.”

“You’re not hearing me,” she said, nudging him with an elbow.

His face loomed further over hers, one eyebrow raised high. “What are you saying?”

She exhaled, smiled. “I kind of . . . got off on it.”

Danny stayed expressionless. “Uh-huh. . . . Wait…”

“Yeah?”

He hesitated. “Tell me. Say it.”

“You say it.”

“You say it. I don’t want to sound stupid.”

She looked away, losing courage for a moment. “I kind of had a little… You know.”

Daniel’s features scrunched. He whispered, “Orgasm?”

She showed him a look of pure offense and elbowed him in the ribs much harder. “Gross, Daniel. No. Ew, why would you say that?”

“Sorry! That’s why I told you to say it—don’t make me guess. I’m an idiot.”

She broke out in a laugh, then snuggled her backside onto his front side. “Nah, you’re not an idiot. You’re right. That is what I was saying.”

Danny went expressionless again. “You’re such a bitch,” he said, and then laughed as well.

Ellie showed him her thumb and finger, about a half-inch apart, showing a small measure. She said, “Un pequeñito. Just a little one.”

Danny said, “Bitch or orgasm?”

She giggled and hid her face away. “Both, I guess.”

Daniel’s arm slipped around her again and he squeezed her tight, kissing behind her ear. He sighed then, with abundant happy satisfaction. He said, “We certainly started with a bang, didn’t we?”

She giggled again, putting her hand over one of his. “We certainly did.”