The days of the family's summer gathering had passed in a whirl and Daniella knew that there was no turning back from the bond that had arisen between her and Bernat, her clever and attentive uncle, the academic at Barcelona University so different from the man she had first spent time with and whose company she sought whenever the chance arose.
His outrageous flirting with her, his twenty-two-year-old niece, had become something deeper, a bond that had her imagining what it would be like to be his lover. The thought was taking a stronger hold in her whenever they were together, and the family was around them.
During the reunion holiday in Mallorca, the extended family resided in the holiday properties that they owned and were, at other times, rented out to visitors. She had bonded with him as never before and had begun to worry that people would notice her infatuation and that her feelings, her longing to be loved by an experienced man, made her over-familiar. No one would know that such feelings and desires were keeping her awake at night and that pleasuring herself was no substitute for his touch and experienced ways. She ought to know better than to be infatuated with a known womanizer; that was how her mother described a handsome and always well-dressed brother.
Now, in the early morning hours, the shuddering booms of thunder and frequent flashes of lightning provoked her to get out of her bed and open the door that led out onto the balcony that ran past her window and of the room next door. She wondered if Bernat would be awake as she peered out and was soon surprised to see him seated on the narrow bench placed there. From it, and on fine days and nights, visitors could enjoy the views over the rooftops of the houses below them and to the Mediterranean Sea beyond.
'Bernat?' she whispered, nervily, futile as that was in the noise that assailed her. She really would be alone with him now, she realized, and saw him pull away the button earphones that he had plugged into his iPhone as she touched his shoulder. 'How long have you been out here?'
'Since before the storm began and now, Dani, the music I've been listening to goes well with it.'
He gazed up at the young woman before him, her hair a delightful straggly mess framing her slender, almond-shaped, face. He saw her lovely lips tremble as Dani met his look upon her.
'It's a miracle you're not cold...I am' she said above the noise, disconcerted by his undoubted appraising look upon her. The raging wind, provoked by the storm, pressed her T-shirt against her body to shape her breasts. Self-consciously she looked down and saw that her nipples were already poking at the fabric. Would he notice them too, she wondered.
'I'm not, and the heat of the last few days has been broken.' He continued to gaze up at her, at a young woman with her silken skin, lightly perfumed as it always seemed to be and that he noticed whenever they were together. He could so easily become enslaved by her, Dani's undoubted and youthful innocence strangely appealing. He felt uncommonly pleased to have his niece's company as the thunderstorm raged all around them.
'I guess so, but these storms aren't what I am used to.'
'Don't be frightened by them, you're not alone.'
'And I'm glad about that, you know.'
Dressed only in a T-shirt and drawstring shorts revealing her slender thighs, she could just make out his appraising look. It would be the first time that she would be truly alone with him; barbecues on the beach, sailing and swimming and snorkeling with Bernat, and being guided to see the wonders of the rocky shoreline, had all brought her to this moment with him.
Much older than her he might be, but he was also athletic. Along with that went his consideration for her, the talking about things of interest, his jokes, and many easy words that had made her laugh. She relished every moment that she could be with him, the man with that smiling face, his lovely mouth, and those dark and wonderful eyes that seemed to linger upon her whenever they were together, or when she caught him looking her way when others were around and too busy to notice what was playing out between them.
She knew again, as she lingered by his seat, that she wanted a man who would make a woman of the inexperienced girl she sometimes thought herself to be; fumbles with young guys never leading to sharing the heat. She wanted someone very special to bring deeper and more fulfilling experiences to her.
'May I sit with you?'
She would be with a ragingly attractive older man, a man who wore baggy lounge pants and a silk dressing gown, loosely fastened against the chill; his greying hair a luxuriant mess that he swept away from his unshaven face. The earphones now hung loosely around his neck.
'I'd like that, now come here.' She felt the slow brush of his fingers to the inside of her thigh as she did so. 'Don't you get cold looking so pretty, will you?'
'Not with you I won't, Bernat,' she answered on hearing the pleasure in his voice to be with her like this. She never could get to say 'uncle' and he didn't want to hear that from her either.
Bernat drew her down beside him and persuaded Dani to put her legs across his lap. 'I...I wondered if I would get the chance to be with you like this, so perhaps the storm is a sign. What do you think?'
She felt a moment's unease that he should speak so directly, but she loved his slow, measured caresses to her skin, the teasing brush of his fingers over the silken smoothness of her thighs, then under the frilly hem of her shorts.
'I...I...I haven't thought of it in that way,' she stammered, his touches arousing the first gnaw of longing for him as never before. They were touches she had no real experience of, even as a twenty-two-year-old. She had often wondered whom she was saving herself for. 'I hoped that I'd get the chance to be with you like this, and soon. May I tell you that?'
She had said it in a childlike voice, and he reached out to touch her face as she looked over at him.
'Of course, you can tell me, and I have wondered how it should be me that might help you...help you to learn of love with a man, although what I've heard from your mother about you, and such things, surprise me.' He had stroked her skin slowly as he spoke. 'I..I sensed that you might be thinking of that happening between us.'
She thought deeply about what he had just said. She looked down at his hand and touched it but did not slow him in his gentle caresses that she knew would bring new experiences to them. 'Mother spoke to you about me and my boyfriends, I suppose?'
'Not in any detail. She just told me that you are particular, waiting for someone special to be with you.' He spoke discreetly but the meaning in his words was only too clear to her.
'That's something, I suppose.'
