Daughters of the Night Sky(16)
We lay on the bed, kissing and caressing for some minutes before his embraces grew less tender and more insistent. I felt him slip the condom over his length before he dipped his fingers into the soft flesh between my legs.
“Please,” I breathed into his chest. “Please.”
He climbed atop me, his kisses never ceasing, and eased himself inside me. I felt an uncomfortable pinching sensation, then relief and pleasure as he filled me. I pulled him closer.
“My God, how I’ve wanted you, Katya,” he said into my hair as he moved gently above me.
“And I you, my Vanya,” I mumbled, memorizing the wonder of him commanding all my senses.
He paused and pulled me on top of him so I could ride him astride. “I want to see you, my love,” he explained, cupping my breasts in his hands and then pulling me closer so he could take my nipple in his mouth. I still felt a tinge of discomfort, yet I shuddered with pleasure as I moved, timid at first, but growing bolder until I felt my muscles tighten around him and spasms of bliss lapping over my body from within.
He groaned beneath me, and I collapsed on his broad chest when I knew he’d taken his pleasure. For a long while I just lay in his arms listening to the cadence of his heartbeat, breathing in the minted perfume of his warm breath, and enjoying the soft glow of his gleaming skin in the dim light.
“Whatever happens, I’m so happy to have this memory to take with me,” he finally whispered.
“As am I,” I said, lifting my head and kissing the soft skin of his cheek. “I don’t want it to end.”
“Nor do I, Katyushka.” He caressed my damp skin with the tips of his fingers, and I melted against him.
“I-I had never . . .” I felt the heat in my skin as I stammered out my confession of innocence.
“I know. You have given me a precious gift. I am sorry I can’t say you were my first, but you will always be my most dear.”
I felt jealousy seize my stomach like a vise for a moment, but it passed just as quickly. It was best that one of us knew what we were doing. I had no desire to know of his past conquests but felt the sincerity of his words. I’d been his navigator long enough to know if he were telling an untruth.
“What now?” The question fell from my lips with an almost-audible thud to the carpeted floor.
“We go to war when we’re called. It doesn’t seem wise to make plans beyond that.”
“Perhaps it doesn’t,” I admitted. “But we will get through this. We won’t be digging trenches on the front lines. And when this whole mess is over, I’ll take a job teaching at a flight school and you can spend your days painting.” I caressed his cheek with my fingertips.
“You have a promise, my love,” he said, pulling me close and brushing his lips gently against mine. “My God, I don’t want to go.”
I wasn’t sure if he meant back to our solitary bunks in the barracks or off to war, but I agreed on either count.
For an hour or two, we curled up in each other’s arms, occasionally sleeping, mostly engrossed in exhausted, dreamlike chatter about our future. A home in Moscow, a tribe of children, a workshop for Vanya’s painting. Making plans for a future we couldn’t begin to envision, too shadowed by the looming threat of war.
We scurried back to the barracks moments before curfew. If Taisiya noticed anything amiss, she said nothing, and I loved her for it. It had been hasty and foolish to stay with Vanya, but I wanted no reprimand from her to mar the tender young memory that was forming in my heart.
CHAPTER 5
June 1941
The mess hall silenced as the metallic hum of the intercom system buzzed to life over our heads. “All cadets will report to the auditorium immediately following luncheon.”
Eyebrows arched and questions buzzed about the room as cadets hurried through the last bites of their meals.
“Likely another lecture,” Vanya hypothesized, opening the auditorium door for me, his hand lingering on the small of my back as he ushered me in. “Some of the third-years are being nothing short of reckless on their runs these past few weeks.”
“They’re all wanting to impress the officers,” I said, taking my seat next to him on the bleachers. “The war has them all imagining themselves as future aces, heroes of the cause, and all that.”
“If they want to impress the officers, if they want to be aces, they need to follow the goddamned rules,” he said, leaning back against the bleacher behind him with a grunt of annoyance. There was little that irritated Vanya more than a careless pilot. He’d taken to lecturing the more egregious offenders, always within earshot of the first-and second-year recruits. Most listened, but some found his interference presumptuous. He wasn’t a commander, so it wasn’t really his place, but my loyalty was with Vanya. If he was willing to share his knowledge, his classmates ought to be grateful and listen.
I looked away from his profile, silhouetted in the afternoon sun that streamed in from the high windows, and saw Taisiya breaking ranks, leaving the rest of our female contingent to sit next to us in the cavernous auditorium. I patted her knee as welcome, glad that for once I didn’t have to choose between Vanya and my sisters in arms.
“Cadets, we have a special treat for you today,” the headmaster himself said, standing on the enormous podium that was generally only wheeled out for ceremonies of special importance. “Major Sofia Orlova, Hero of the Soviet Union, is here to address you all. I trust you will give her your undivided attention.”