Twilight Express Ch. 01-07

"I know this is a great risk, and I beg you not be offended, but I would like to invite you to be my guest at my house tonight," he said.

He stumbled on, mentioning the spare room, offering to take her sightseeing, promising to take her straight to Sapporo any time of the day or night if she wished.

Suddenly she stopped him in mid-speech.

"I accept your invitation. Thank you very much. It's extremely generous."

Chapter Five: The Moon Watching Platform

As he helped Melina alight from the train, Shinichi felt as if he was in charge of transporting a rare and fragile antique. As usual, his car and driver waited for him outside the station. He exchanged seats with his driver, took him home.

Shinichi felt odd driving with Melina in the back seat of the black Lincoln like a taxi fare. Thankfully she agreed and moved to the front seat, knees together like a visiting princess. However, she was quiet during the drive to his house. Her silence worried Shinichi. Was she already regretting her decision? Finally they arrived at the short gravel driveway that led to his house. He hoped its remote location wouldn't frighten her.

Carrying her suitcase, he unlocked the door, opened it for her. She stepped inside and removed her shoes. After a short tour, he went to the kitchen to make tea for both of them.

As he waited for the water to boil, he watched Melina walk slowly around the main room, stopping to study the first blueprint of the home. She kept both hands behind her back, her right hand gripping her left wrist. It was if she were afraid to touch anything for fear of breaking it.

Shinichi's home was furnished with a mixture of traditional and Western furniture. An oversized black leather sofa dominated the main area. It was a plain, L-shaped sofa, but the seating area was as wide as a single bed. Shinichi had figured that since he often fell asleep on the sofa while watching television, he might as well have one that doubled as a bed.

After they had finished their tea, Shinichi cleared away the cups and returned to the living room, only to see that Melina was gone. He felt a sudden panic. Had she decided to leave? He checked the front door and saw her shoes parked next to his, her black Tumi suitcase still in the guest bedroom.

He finally found her on the back porch. A full moon illuminated the area, making lights unnecessary. Shinichi imagined her as having just landed on the porch a minute before, magically delivered by a kindly goddess in response to years of devout prayers.

She turned and smiled at him. "Is this what you call tsukimi, sir? Moon viewing? And is this the harvest moon -- chushu-no-meigetsu?"

She looked a little mischievous. "I understood that the first moon-viewing party was held in the year 909, when Kyoto was still the capital of Japan."

Shinichi bowed deeply to her. "I bow to your superior knowledge, Melina-sama." After his first sight of her in the salon car, he had completely forgotten why he had decided to work at home that week: it was because of Hounen-Odori, the harvest moon holiday.

He joined her at the railing, explained that the holiday was his reason for heading to the country mid-week.

"How do you plan to celebrate?" she asked. "I understand it's traditional to write waka poetry, but I'm afraid I'm not much of a poet."

" I'm not much of a poet either," he admitted. Then he added quietly, "I cannot think of any better celebration than your accepting my invitation. Thank you."

His words had the effect he'd hoped for. She looked up at him wide-eyed.

"You're welcome," she whispered.

He reached down and touched her hair.

Suddenly the events of the last weeks flooded his mind: his first sight of Melina, her disappearance, his failed search, his disbelief when meeting her on the train. He moved in closer, took her face in both hands and kissed her gently. He felt her hesitate for a few seconds. Then she began to kiss him back, tilting her head slightly and standing on her tiptoes. He felt a sudden warmth course through his body as he pulled her close.

They stood on the porch for several minutes, eventually leaning against the vertical railings to keep their balance. Melina unbuttoned the top three buttons on his shirt, sliding her soft hands across his shoulders and down his upper arms, tracing the muscles with her fingers. She put her face on his chest, then slid her mouth gently across it as if she were tasting him.

Shinichi could wait no longer. He led her to the leather sofa, sat down next to her. He felt as clumsy and desperate as a schoolboy as he unbuttoned the top buttons on her blouse, then pushing her blouse down and over her shoulders and upper arms. Except for a fine silver chain, all she wore underneath was a plain black slip. He slid the shoulder straps down a couple of inches, tasted her neck and shoulders.

He pushed the slip down further, exposing her breasts; they were as beautiful as he had imagined, perfectly symmetrical with budlike nipples. He touched them gently with his fingers, watching as they responded.

Melina seemed torn between shyness and desire. While her pulse was racing and she made no move to stop his advances, she was unable to look directly at him for more than a few seconds.

He caressed her for several more minutes, touching and licking each nipple until they were fully erect. He carefully arranged several sofa pillows before lowering her to them. Her half-unbuttoned blouse's sleeves held her arms at her sides while the slip pushed her breasts up and forward, but she made no attempt to remove them. She closed her eyes.

He carefully removed her lace panties, then ran his hands over her soft thighs, working his way between them until she finally relaxed enough to let him slide both hands between them.

Fantasies are almost more rewarding than realities. Shinichi realized he was experiencing the opposite. The foreigner's pale skin was silkier, her kisses more arousing, her shy demeanor more tantalizing than he had imagined. He felt as if he were drowning.

He slid two fingers upward and just inside her, her warm wetness like delicate petals. Next he ran his fingers upwards until he found her clit, already beginning to swell. He rubbed her slowly, gradually increasing the pressure until she began to cry out quietly and her body arched to meet him. "Kirei dayo," he whispered. She opened her eyes for a second, looked up at him before shyness took over again.

Slowly he positioned himself between her thighs and began to enter her, whispering still, please, holding her hips. Melina turned her head to one side, her hair spread across the sofa in waves. She was tight as a virgin and Shinichi was finding it difficult to continue slowly instead of ramming himself into her. He hesitated, then gently spread her legs even further apart and upwards, pinning them under his arms. Finally he was completely inside.

He slowly, deliberately began moving inside her, savoring her wetness and warmth, watching as she dug her nails into the sofa's leather. Her arms were still trapped by her sides by her half-buttoned blouse but she made no move to free herself.

Eventually he moved closer, releasing her legs as he increased his rhythm. He reached down and held her by her hair as she wrapped her legs around him. Suddenly Melina opened her eyes, looking up at him as if she had finally recognized his true identity.

Chapter Six: Surrender

Even though she had always been true to her own desires, it took some time for the ever-analytical Melina to fully realize the situation. It had all happened so fast: meeting Shinichi on the train, realizing her growing attraction to him as they drank and talked and played cards. And when he finally confessed to his initial attraction to her in Osaka, she had felt as if she'd received an expensive, perfectly wrapped gift.

When she moved from the back to the passenger seat of his black sedan, he had reached around her with the seat belt to assist her. Melina had caught herself half-wishing he would try to kiss her. And by the time they finished their tea, her attraction to him had increased. While she was unsure of how far she wanted to go, she wanted to send him a signal. The porch had seemed an ideal place.

She had surprised herself by not only responding to Shinichi's touch, but also realizing that she was willing to give herself to him just minutes after their first kiss on the porch. The chemistry was as powerful as if he had drugged her tea. She imagined him standing in the kitchen, her teacup in one hand and a small vial in the other, as he carefully added a single drop of a rare and expensive philter.

And although she had felt a certain amount of shyness as he undressed her -- it had been almost two years since she'd last been with a man - she had also felt a new, deep sense of arousal, as if he had removed more than her clothes.

Now, all she could think of was how Shinichi felt inside her, huge and hard. He held her legs tightly against him while her half-buttoned blouse trapped her arms at her sides.

His dominant approach touched a new and erotic nerve. It was though his control of Melina's body had freed her to concentrate solely on how it felt to be properly, thoroughly fucked. She whimpered softly underneath him, dug her nails into the soft leather as he increased his rhythm.

Shinichi sensed that her initial shyness had disappeared. Now he felt in command and responsible for her pleasure, combined with his right to enjoy her body as he wished.

He unbuttoned her blouse, freeing her arms. In a single, graceful movement, he moved himself underneath her so that she was on her knees and riding him. He pulled off her blouse. All that was left was the black slip, now bunched around her hips.

She leaned back with her hands on his thighs as she pushed herself down, taking him as deeply as she could. She rode him for several minutes, her head thrown back. Shinichi could see the outline of her breasts perfectly silhouetted in the dim light.

He realized he would not be satisfied until he watched her come. He pulled her close and rubbed gently until he could feel her wet, tender clit swell and then harden. Suddenly he felt her relax inside, and then clench him tightly as she dug her nails into his arms, pushing him into her even deeper. He heard her softly cry out his name. She fell forward as her orgasm continued, her forehead on his shoulder as she twitched helplessly.

Shinichi returned her to her back and held her by her ankles, spreading her wide apart. He began plunging into her like an animal, feeling himself grow even harder as she arched her back to meet him, his orgasm just seconds away. Suddenly he jerked himself out of her, marking her belly and breasts until she was drenched with come.

Looking down at his signature, he dipped one finger into the thick white liquid and put it into her mouth. She gently sucked his finger clean. He retrieved it, dipped two fingers into her filled navel, presented them to her.

Shinichi spent the next few minutes tracing sticky paths on her belly and breasts, occasionally offering his fingers to her. Finally he kissed her and wrapped her in his discarded shirt before going to fetch a blanket for her. She closed her eyes.

As he pulled his trousers on, he looked at Melina lying on the sofa, his white dress shirt sticking to her damp body. Again, he could not believe his good fortune.

Chapter Seven: Home

When he returned to the living room, Melina had tucked one arm under her head and appeared to be asleep. Shinichi considered wrapping her in the blanket and carrying her to his bed. But when he drew close, she looked up at him, a shy smile on her face.

He sat down next to her, peeled off his shirt and carefully washed her with the warm cloths he'd brought. Then he wrapped the blanket around both of them and pulled her close to him, her head on his chest, until she fell asleep.

But Shinichi did not join her. He was wide-awake, thinking of the evening's events and of Melina. What now? Would she want to stay until the weekend, or insist on rejoining the train the next evening? And was she as attracted to him as he was to her?

He felt no less smitten with her after taking her; instead, he wanted her more than ever before. He kept thinking of their first kiss on the porch, how her face had felt between his hands. He remembered the first time she smiled at him in the salon car; it was during his description of his first days in England and his various innocent faux pas. She had such a pretty smile.

And his memories of her on the leather sofa -- arching her back as he entered her, whispering his name, cleaning his sticky fingers with her tongue -- kept reappearing in his mind, like photographs hidden in a bedside drawer. More than once, he found himself guiltily wishing she would awaken so that he might attempt to seduce her again before sunrise.

Finally he stood up, carefully carried her to his bedroom. She was even lighter than he imagined.

As he covered her with a quilt, she stirred and opened her eyes. She touched his face with her fingers. The sight of Melina reaching up to him from his bed filled Shinichi with a pure joy, simple and profound. He lay down next to her, took her in his arms. He felt her slide her arms around him, holding him close, forehead on his shoulder. He heard her whisper goodnight, Shinichi-san.

For the first time, his country house felt like a home.