Craving uncle Leonard

Emilia did not plan for her summer after finishing her first year at University College London to be anything except unremarkable. Her parents had a rare work chance to initial on and are going abroad, will not be able to monitor for the coming couple of months.

Of course.. they turned to their longtime confidante Leonard, who would watch over their one daughter while they were gone. Leonard's place was an enormous estate in the Cotswolds, away from London where all the noise was. His house was a tasteful fusion of traditional and contemporary architecture, nestled in acres of beautifully planted gardens which climbed hills stretching out towards the horizon.

As a child, Emilia had always enjoyed her time in Pianosa, running through fields, climbing trees & laying out in the glow of the countryside. But now, here at 19, they seemed so much more sinister than they had as a child.

There he was-Leonard Hayes. Her daddy's best pal, a guy that is the only connection with her past that she wouldn't like to leave behind. A salt and pepper hair, present to everyone a distinctly noble visage all in itself, for he was so tall it lent everything about him some ethereal air of grace.

In his early 40s, Leonard was the definition everything noble and unreachable.

Her thoughts about him turned almost reverentially thinking of him as a man, hers. Older of course, more experienced and one who had always been more of an uncle toward her.

However, Emilia did not have any pure emotions left for him.

In all likelihood Emilia's attraction to Leonard began when she was a teenager signaling the first of what was (as yet unspoken and acknowledged by anyone) a widespread interest in older men, especially Oxford dons.

When she arrived at his estate that summer, she was determined to keep those feelings hidden. After all, Leonard had never shown any sign of seeing her as anything more than the daughter of his friend.

But things were different now.

For years, she had hidden her desire, burying it beneath layers of propriety and self-control. The urge to have him and bask in his embrace. She had watched him from the shadows, her heart aching with a yearning she could never express. In her dreams, he was hers-his strong arms holding her close, his lips claiming hers with a passion that made her shiver even in sleep.

He was every preteen girls fantasy, scratch that any sane person would want to be with him, handsome, charming, and casually attractive. But he was also her dad's best buddy, a man she'd grown up with before she even understood what that arrangement meant, a man for whom her name was synonymous with little Princess Lily-Lu not...object-of-secret-fantasies.

She had showed up at his estate that summer with the purpose of not letting those feelings show. In the end, after all, Leonard had never given her any indication that he regarded her as anything other than his friend's daughter. In his eyes, she was still the little girl who used to climb into his lap at family gatherings and listen in awe to his tales, calling him "Uncle Leonard watching him with wide eyes and innocent admiration.

Only, that was before.

She had kept that urge so long buried , underneath propriety and restraint. As she sat behind the shadows and watched him, her heart had constricted so much because of an emotion that was nothing more but a taboo. They were not those of him - the strong, warm arms that wrapped around her, sealing her in their comfort and warmth, his lips capturing hers with such a fervor she shivered to the touch even in slumber.

With her parents having been suddenly transferred overseas by their company, it looked like they were going to be leaving Emilia in Leonard's care for the next..undefined time, her parent's can be unpredictable as that. With her parents occasionally leaving, she has learned to not depend too much, busy with campus life and her crazy friends. Well, and boys who will never top that..lets call it Obsession-Leonard.

The opportunity she had dreamt of, dreaded, and now, at last, it lay before her.

The house was quiet, the soft ticking of the grandfather clock in the hallway, the only sound as Emilia sat in the living room, waiting. Leonard had insisted on picking her up himself, his deep voice filled with the warmth that always made her stomach flutter and probably something else too.. wink! wink!

"Emilia, i pray you stay right here with you. Only until things get settled for your parents. I thought it would be a little simpler than hauling you all the way across and around the world with them," he said, his finally eyes crinkling at the corners in a manner that simultaneously made her heart hesitant as to its beats.

There was no sound when she had nodded, just her thoughts spinning with the fits of possibilities. Fvck!, she was here...in his home; where the remnants of his aftershave hung in every breath and he was a presence you could almost feel.

The first night, after dinner, they sat in the study by a fire. Leonard had made them some wine, and they spoke over anything and nothing - what she most recently read, his last business trip, the world. But all the same, there remained an unspoken tension that lay barely controlled between them, behind public façade.

When retirement came, Leonard stood and set his hand on her shoulder, and she shivered.

"Goodnight, Emilia. Glad that you are here," he murmured gently, holding her gaze a fraction of a second longer than strictly necessary.

The days slowly went by in the countryside, next to Emilia. and things even out between Emilia and Leonard. Together, they walked for hours across the

vast acrea of his marvellous garden Leonard was a multi-business entrepreneurial who had many businesses to run and keep up with, so he made time for her when he could.

They did a lot of things together: ate, went to the movies and spent evenings in his study.where he would get her a glass of wine and then quiz her on what she has planned in the future.

In the beginning, Emilia basically kept her distance and remained formal and polite with Leonard as she had always been to him. But the more they communicated, the more she could feel the desire coming from the deep inside of her. She first began to pay attention to his looks, how his eyes would follow her even in subtle moments, how he would touch her hand every time they shared a glass, how his voice, when she spoke with him, was deep into the night.

One evening, Emilia thought that as the day was very hot, it would be a good idea to go for a swim in the estate's, little lake. Leonard took a moment but seeing her standing there in her bathing suit, with her skin shining as the sun towards evening set, Leonard could not refuse.

The water felt pleasantly cool on the hot guys' bodies, and they stayed in the water for some time without saying anything to each other, the air was charged. As they splashed around, when they were laughing and teasing each other, a hint of what the two really wanted to do remained unspoken.

Emilia experienced what she considered to be drawn heartbeat every time Leonard got near, his touch being intoxicating shivers down her spine.

One time she thinking and surfing up behind him and spilled water on the top of his head. Leonard looked at them in surprise but there was something of amusement in his eyes. He jerked her to him without any consciousness of what he was doing. They were almost embracing catching sight of each other chest to chest; water splashing around them, and neither of them dared breathe for what felt like a lifetime, Emilia could even feel the beating of his heart against her. She looked up at him with her mouth slightly open and for the first time, Leonard noticed something in her eyes, he felt his heartbeat racing; but just as fast Leonard let her go, he stepped away as if touched by electricity, "We should get back."

what he said; the words strained through his mouth and throat. Emilia agreed, and was barely able to mask the sinking feeling she got as a result.

That night Emilia lay awake for a long time. These things were going around in her mind as she replayed the scene at the lake in her mind and tried to analyze just what could have happened if Leonard could have started something roughly similar to what was in her mind.

And so, she started provoking, testing the waters. She would touch him when she could, linger a little longer than necessary when he helped her out from the car, wear dresses that hugged her body in places that he couldn't help but notice.

Every time, it was the same: the momentary glimpse of hatred in his calm, regular face and then his mimicked calmness and composure.

It was both frustrating, exciting, and as well fear inducing at the same time. She understood that she was treading thin ice, however; she could not help herself. This was her opportunity, probably her last opportunity to get the man she wanted, the man she longed to possess more than anything that could ever be in the image of her heart.

They did not know how or when the strain developed between them, but it was getting worse each day, and they both could not escape it. In spite of this, they got back to the facade of a normal routine, and for hours, the look, the smell, and the feel of one another spoke louder than words could ever say.

Then, one evening– the winds blew differently.