Reluctantly, I release my hold on her, and she scoots away until no parts of us are touching. I do not see how this is a step toward pleasing her.
“Your real first lesson is that for most women, trust is required before they can experience pleasure. So you have to build up to the dick-rubbing part.”
“You do not trust me?” This cuts me deeper than I expect. “I will stop if you tell me to stop.”
“I know. I wouldn’t be lying in bed with you if you wouldn’t. But this is about enjoyment, right? So I’ll enjoy this more if I trust that you’re interested in my enjoyment, too, and not just interested in getting off.”
“Getting off what? The bed?” I ask. Now I know how my apprentices feel when they are new to Usuri and can’t find the comm room. I’m completely lost.
“Spilling. Spending. Whatever you want to call it. There are a lot of other things that happen first.”
I turn off the wall sconce. It’s easier to beg in the dark. “Show me. I want to learn everything. I swear, I won’t rub my cock on you without asking again.”
Chapter 14
Delphie
Ichoke down a laugh at his earnest promise. This is not a good time to tell him that I actually wouldn’t mind. My pussy’s buzzing and tingling and begging for the pressure of his cock. But sex with a guy who barely tolerates me is not what I want. I need a genuine connection to get off. And he’s really inexperienced, maybe even more than I realized when I teased him about being a virgin, so I don’t want to throw him in the deep end.
“Have you ever kissed someone?” I ask.
He’s quiet for a minute. Then he says, “I have been kissed. On Olethia, when I visited the pleasure houses with Fenix, some of the workers were...enthusiastic.”
I grin, even though he probably can’t see it. “Did you like it?”
“I liked the feeling, but I did not like that it was...false. I believe it was a sales tactic.”
Aw, why does that make my heart do a little flip? “Probably, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t enjoy it, too. Kissing is fun. You can kiss without it having more meaning. We can try, if you like.” I reach out and find his face, cupping his jaw. The muscle flexes against my palm, and he turns his head to brush his lips against my fingertips. It’s not a kiss but more of a caress, and then he withdraws.
“I think for me, it would have meaning.”
He’s right, it probably would. He’s waited so long for his queen that even kissing is a big deal. “Does that mean you’re rethinking this whole ‘apprenticeship’ thing? It’s okay if you want to stop.”
“No.” He loops a leg around the back of my knee and a hand around the back of my neck and drags me into his body, crushing his lips to mine. I can’t even process what’s happening. It’s not like any kiss I’ve had before. There’s no exploration, no build. It’s straight to teeth and tongue and growls. Claws digging in, apologies whispered between hot licks. He sucks my tongue and bites my chin and humps my leg. It’s clumsy, wet, and so, so hot.
I wrap my arms around his neck and kiss him back, showing him how to slow down, how to stroke and nibble and savor instead of devour. He’s a quick learner, adjusting right away, matching my energy. I shouldn’t be surprised that he’s a natural, given how physical he is. Within a few minutes, he’s the one making me into a needy, whimpering mess.
We’re so wrapped up in each other that somehow he ends up on top of me, my legs around him.
“Frix,” he says, stiffening, and I feel warmth seep through my pants. Oh, damn. I think he just came. He immediately rolls off me. “Forgive me.”
“It’s okay,” I pant, lips still throbbing from his attention. “Don’t worry about it. It happens.”
“I did not ask before I rubbed my cock on you. I broke the only rule you gave me. I have failed my first lesson.” His voice is hollow, ragged, and it makes me ache a little.
If he thought that kiss was a fail, he’s so wrong. He lost control, but he wasn’t selfish. He was totally tuned in to me and my needs. He gave me things I didn’t even know I wanted. That kiss...changed things for me. Who knew that inside the cold, controlled king, there was this sexy, open,realperson?
“You have nothing to be sorry about. Sometimes we go into a lesson thinking we’re going to learn one thing, but we learn something else. That doesn’t make it a failure. You did really well.”
“I’ll do better next time. I will please you. I won’t just...get off.”
“Hey. Come here.” I feel my way to his back and tug on his shoulder until he turns toward me again. I slide close so I can wrap an arm and a leg over him. “The lesson wasn’t about your dick, remember? It was about building trust. I was so caught up in that kiss, I would have said yes to anything. That’s trust. And you were so invested in learning to kiss me that you forgot about everything, even your own response, until it was too late. That’s the opposite of failure. That’s what a good kiss is supposed to do, make you forget yourself.”
He relaxes into me, burying his face in my neck. The heat of his breath gives me goosebumps and makes me wonder what that mouth would feel like in other places. “I impressed you?”
“It was an incredible kiss.”
“Better than all the other males you’ve kissed before?”
