Ana stared back at her husband’s amber eyes. “Let’s just go on our separate ways, Ivan. We can still honor the contract by staying married with each other. But other than that, I want my freedom –freedom to do as I please; freedom to go anywhere… I want to be as far away from you as possible if I can.”

“No! I can never give you that!”

“I want to put a stop to these feelings I have for you.”

“You can’t stop! Don’t fight what you feel.”

Ana shook her head. “No, Ivan. Things will never work between us. We are too different. We have different customs. We have different beliefs. Heck, we even belong to different races. We will only live miserable if we pretend this will work. Let’s just stop the pretense…”

She was surprised when Ivan suddenly gathered her in his arms and hugged her tightly as he buried his face on her hair. “No! I refused to do so! I will not ruin my family’s name with a scandal such as that. But more importantly I refused to do so because I want to give our relationship a try.” He pulled his face away from her and stared at her intensely. “I can no longer fight what I feel for you. In as much as how Tadhana played its part on our relationship, I knew I cannot resist it any longer. I also feel something for you, Ana, and I don’t want to stop it. I want to fall, no matter how hard and deep it is. Even if I fall knowing I would hit the ground and get hurt in the process, I will still allow myself to fall.”

“But you hate me!”

“Yes I did. In the past I did hate you, and your whole race. Because we were taught to hate your race before. And maybe that was why grandfather had signed my name in the betrothal because he wanted to right a wrong. But now, even if I tried so hard, I don’t feel hatred towards you anymore.”

“What are you trying to say, Ivan?”

“What I’m trying to say is for you to forgive this foolish elf and try to give him a chance.”

“But you hurt me. And you might do it again.”

“Not anymore. I will never hurt you.”

“How can I be sure you won’t hurt me again? Ivan, I don’t know what to believe anymore.”

Ivan gently caressed her face and stared deep into her eyes with a firm resolve. “I will show you.” Without warning he descended his face onto hers and conquered her lips with his own. He kissed her hungrily, devouring her mouth with extreme need to satisfy both their hunger. And Ana couldn’t help herself but take what Ivan was offering as she matched his movements. Parting her lips, she allowed his tongue to slip in and explore her mouth. She kissed him back erotically, the very same way he was kissing her, allowing their kisses to deepen even further until she heard Ivan groaned in pleasure. She curved her hand around his nape, her fingers touching his hair, and she felt him lowering her until her back met the soft mattress.

He suddenly withdrew his face from her, and she groaned in protest. Ivan gave a low chuckle, apparently looking pleased that she wanted more of his kisses. He stood beside the bed and began removing his clothes once more, his eyes never leaving hers.

Ana was mesmerized when she saw Ivan standing stark naked in front of her. He was magnificent, gloriously male. The only light was the one coming from the fire on the hearth, but it heightened the splendid picture Ivan had created: His arms and thighs were rippling with muscles, his broad shoulders were exuding with power, and even his chiseled jaw was complimenting his handsome face. Oddly enough, she found his pointy ears sexy in a weird sort of way she couldn’t really understand herself. But all in all, he was near perfection. And it made her suddenly grabbed the quilt and tried to conceal her naked imperfections.

She knew she wasn’t well-endowed. She was thin and almost scrawny because, well, there wasn’t anything much to eat back home. She kept every penny she had earned, living on pancit canton or pandesal everyday if she could, just so she could save enough to go back to school. So she never bothered to spend much on food. Her hands weren’t as soft as the hands of those ladies in the court she had seen back at the castle. She had spent her years as a young adult doing odd jobs –scrubbing floors and doing laundry for her neighbors just to earn extra money. But her biggest insecurity was no matter how hard she tried, no matter how much effort and time she placed on her studies about the ways and conduct of a royalty, she would never be a real princess. She could never act like a royal, talk like them or even walk like them. She was simply the same old, plain Ana who grew up in the orphanage and later rented a small squalid room in one of the dirtiest and dangerous squatter areas in the city of Manila. She was never going to be the perfect match for Ivan; she was nowhere near beautiful like this captivating elf in front of her.

So why was Ivan looking at her as if she was the most beautiful person he had ever seen in his entire life? He stared at her as if she was a wondrous apparition that sprung right before his eyes. He gazed at her as if she was the most prized and coveted woman across the land.

She felt the bed sank as he settled his weight on top of her. She sucked in her breath, waited for him to start his assault once more. Fear was beginning to register in her eyes and she was surprised when Ivan started giving her light feathery kisses on her eyes and cheeks. Then his lips grazed on her jaw and travelled down to her neck, giving her wonderful electric current running down her spine. He pushed aside the sheet and he now focused his attention on one of her breast, his mouth closing on the taut peak, drawing hard, while his other hand was splayed on her other breast. She moaned in pleasure, basking from that incredible feeling he was bringing to her. The feeling intensified when his hands started to roam the curve of her body as he returned his lips back to hers, devouring her lips with too much passion Ana thought they would be out of breath sooner or later.

Ivan lifted his mouth from hers, and Ana was now gazing into his smoldering eyes burning with desire. She knew he was watching for her reaction as his hand ran down across her stomach, slid to her waist and glided down to her thighs. She let out a small gasp when she felt his hand found the triangle between her thighs.

“I promise you will like this,” he whispered hotly in her ears, his fingers poised at the juncture of her thighs. On her own accord, she parted her thighs. And the moment that she did, he skillfully slipped his fingers inside her wet warmth, creating that sweet torture while preparing her body for what to come next.

Just when she thought she was about to explode with the surging sensation brought about by Ivan’s expert fingers, he suddenly withdrew them and poised himself atop her, his face a hard granite mask of intense passion. She felt his knee nudge her thighs apart and she felt his hardness probing at her entrance. His hand went beneath hers and lifted her hips, readying her to receive him.

“Ivan…” she moaned, a mixture of fear and anticipation gleamed in her eyes.

“I won’t hurt you this time,” his husky voice promised. And what he said melted her heart with the poignant truthfulness behind those promise. She wanted him; she wanted to feel him inside of her. So she gave him a nod, trusting him that he would never hurt her again.

Ana felt him inching his throbbing hardness inside her silken warmth with careful stroke, allowing her body to adjust from his pleasurable invasion. He withdrew a little and thrust again, his eyes boring into hers, and Ana knew he was watching her for any signs of discomfort and pain.

She lifted her hand and caressed his cheek. “I’m fine. Go on.” Her hands slid on his waist, and she started moving her hips, receiving each of his thrust with warm welcome. The reservations in his eyes disappeared as he drove full into her, making her gasp due to the delicious sensation that licked her entire being. The incredible spasm she felt every time Ivan moved inside of her was making her loss control as she moaned with unabashed pleasure.

He quickened his pace with insistent strokes, and a new surge of sensation bloomed inside of her, waiting to burst into a million tiny pieces. “Oh, god!” she groaned as the throbbing inside of her exploded with sharp delicious sensation that spread throughout her body, making her quake and cry with wanton wildness.

She felt Ivan shudder above her when he gave his last deep thrust. He collapsed on top of her, his heart thundering loudly on her chest, as they both heaved for air.

“Oh god, Ivan,” she managed to say in between gulp of air. “I think I love you.”

A ghost of a smile tugged at the corners of his lips and he buried his face on her soft hair and whispered, “So do I, love. So do I.”

***

A/N: Everytime I write a bed scene, whether in my Tagalog or English stories, I always end up laughing while writing the scene. I just don't know why. And while I was writing this, I was eating pancit canton with pandesal. lol ;)