I blinked in surprise at the offering. “I think I would appreciate that for now. I am a little nervous.”
“I know,” Reiter said with a positively wicked grin. “You are as tight as a fiddle string under my touch.”
His words made me laugh, and I felt the tension release from my shoulders, realizing they had been up around my ears. “Then you should play me,” I said, trying to make my tone teasing, though I was not entirely sure I succeeded or that my joke even made sense.
Reiter gave me another kiss before setting his head down next to us. My eyes followed it until his hands closed on my shoulders, drawing me a little closer to him. His hands trailed up and down my chest, ever so gently, until one hand stopped to give the pebble of my nipple a light squeeze through the layers of fabric. I inhaled at the new sensation. He chuckled at me from the floor. “All right?”
“Yes,” I said. “Do it again?”
His thumb brushed over the nub once more before his other hand grasped my other one and gave it a pinch, slightly harder than he had the first one. Heat shot through my body, down my spine, to low in my belly. He rubbed his thumbs over both of them, circling them through my shirt and waistcoat. A soft sound escaped my lips, a muffled whimper. He squeezed the spots again before running the pad of his thumb soothingly over them. “I could do more to them if you take off your outer layers.”
I blushed, but I moved to slide my open jacket off my shoulders, letting it drop behind me. As my fingers worked at the buttons on my waistcoat, I gazed back at him. “Should I be…?” My voice trailed off, waving a hand vaguely at his own torso.
Reiter tensed for a moment, his hands resting on his thighs. “No. Let me pleasure you. I just want you to focus on relaxing.”
I knew that was going to be difficult, but I nodded, shucking the vest off behind me as well. “Will you not reveal yourself to me?” I asked, reaching up to stroke my fingers over the shoulders of his jacket.
“I would not wish to disturb you more than I already do,” Reiter said, his fingertips trailing down my face.
“You do not disturb me,” I said, though I was grateful for the kindness of his tone and sensitivity of my feelings.
His headless shoulders hunched just a bit. “If it does not displease you, I would rather you not see me that way.”
I blinked in surprise. It had not occurred to me that a spirit, much less one of a man so otherwise confident and capable, would have reservations about their own form, especially since it was not within his control. I supposed his vulnerability might feel equal to my own in that sense, his concern of rejection or other feelings of disgust. I ran my hand down the center of his chest. “It does not displease me,” I said. “Your comfort is no less important. But know that I hold no animosity toward your form.”
I could see the tension release from his shoulders then, and his hand stroked my cheek again. “You are truly a man of many surprises, Ichabod Crane. Perhaps one day I will feel that I may expose my whole form to you.” His palm traced lovingly down my throat, and I briefly closed my eyes at the kindness in the touch. “Lie down,” he purred, his voice deeper than it usually was. I blushed but shifted to carefully stretch out on the raised planks of the church podium, bunching my jacket under my head for a little softness.
Reiter knelt with his knees on either side of my hips, his trousers pressing just barely against mine as his hands slid up to toy with my nipples through my thin, linen shirt. His hands were strong against me, and I reveled in the unfamiliar, warm touch. It still was so new to me to have hands upon me in an intimate way, not just my students who sometimes wanted hugs or to hang off me like a tree swing. But I was starting to realize why people enjoyed hugging and caressing one another.
He twisted one of my nipples, and my hips jerked up of their own accord, the front of my trousers growing heavier as my blood rushed inside of me. Reiter chuckled, and rubbed his hips lightly back against mine. The front of his own trousers was tented with a large bulge. I blushed slightly at that. He smirked and trailed his fingers down the center of my chest. “What?” he purred.
I let out a nervous laugh that sounded more like a squeak. “I, uh, I have not… ever been the source of someone’s desire before.” Brom hadn’t counted. Brom Bones would have molested a knot in a tree if he could reach it.
Reiter’s hand paused in its movements, and he smiled softly at me. “I wanted you the moment I first laid eyes on you.”
“When was that, exactly?” I asked, rolling onto my side so I could address his head properly.
Reiter actually blushed, which I found quite endearing. “One of your first nights in the village. I watched you from the woods as you dined with the de Viers.”
I blinked in surprise, for that had been the first family I had stayed with in Sleepy Hollow. “You were watching me that early?”
“Yes,” Reiter said, shifting his body to sit on the ground. I felt slightly apologetic for putting our explorations on hold, but this was a new part of the story that Reiter had not told me before.
“Did Katrina know you wanted me?” I asked, guilt tugging at my heart for thinking that Reiter might be the reason I had been chosen at the harvest party.
“No,” Reiter said firmly. “I am certain she knows now, since I chased you to safety when she was after you, and I so rarely do that. But I knew that you would be the sacrifice this year. If there is a newcomer to the town, they are always selected.”
I swallowed hard. “What if there is no one new?”
Reiter’s eyes dropped to the ground. “Then one of the villagers is chosen. I do not know how she selects them. I believe it to simply be at her whim.”
I sat up in surprise. “One of the villagers? And they don’t become suspicious of her because she blames it on you?”
“Yes,” Reiter said, sounding more than a little sorrowful.
I frowned, feeling heat behind my eyes. My heart suddenly gave a powerful beat in my breast, and I gasped, clutching my hand to it. In an instant, Reiter’s hand was over mine, pressing lightly. “Breathe,” he soothed. I exhaled sharply and tried to inhale again. These smaller surges in my chest were becoming more frequent now, and my stomach twisted to think what that might mean. A few deep breaths later, and the pain had faded completely, but Reiter’s hand still held mine. “Are you all right now?”
“Yes,” I said. “Thank you.”
