“I know,” she said, her expression tired.
Beatrice sat down in the bed next to him.
He realized that he wasn’t sure what to do now.
Usually, they were focused on their erotic arrangement.
But something between them had shifted.Obviously, she was worried about her mother, and he didn’t want to press her for favors that she was not in the mood to give.
Even though, of course, he wanted her.Needed her.Of course.Like always.
But she seemed to have little need for him.She turned so that her back was towards him.
Her lack of interest could not be clearer.
He turned towards the nightstand and put out the candle.
His cock was hard, but it was no matter.He was tired from their travels and soon he would be asleep.
For a few minutes, he tried to occupy himself with something mundane, something that would lull him into unconsciousness.He thought of the account books sitting in Leith Manor.The numbers that waited there for his review.He tried to think of how much his housekeeper had spent on candles last month—five pounds—and how many pence that calculated to per candle.
He tried to think of anything but her next to him.
“Would you—would you hold me?”
He startled at her words, given that he had begun to drift off to sleep.
For a moment, he didn’t process her request, only that she had spoken.
“I just—I—I do not know what I can ask of you.Perhaps I shouldn’t ask that.”
“You can ask anything of me,” he said, reflexively, without thinking.“I would like very much to hold you.As long as you don’t mind…”
His cock had come alive again at her words.And then hardened further when he thought of pulling her towards him…and the way her warm arse would cushion his aching member.
“Don’t mind what?”
He sighed.You wouldn’t think, he thought to himself, that it would need to be stated.
Only a week before, the words would have been agony for him to say aloud.
Now, he found them much easier to say, if slightly exasperating.
“As long as you don’t mind my hard cock.I can’t be in a bed with you, Beatrice, without it happening.But I don’t want you to think that I am asking for anything.”
“Oh,” she said, sounding surprised.“No, I don’t mind that.”
Her back was still turned, but he supposed she wouldn’t have asked if she didn’t want him to touch her.
He slid over to her in the bed and wrapped one arm around her, pushing her body against his.She let out a small sound of contentment as he did so, which gratified him.
“Is this—is this what you want?”
“Yes,” she said.He could feel her body relax.“That’s nice.I have just been all anxiety.”
“Don’t worry now,” he said, not being able to recollect the last time he had soothed another person.“It will all be well in the end.I’ll see to it.”
His cock was still aching for her, but the sensation was almost pleasant.He felt more in control of his attraction to her than usual, perhaps because he sensed her melancholy.
