“Is that your last question?”
“I guess so.”
“Then, yes. I was born a protector; it’s in my blood. When a woman puts her trust in my hands, I’ll never break that trust, I’ll hold it close to me and cherish it. That goes for inside the bedroom and outside of the bedroom.”
“God, you’re getting me all hot.” She chuckles. “Urgh.” She lies down next to me. Shoulder to shoulder. “And once again, I can’t use my vibrator.”
“If you need privacy—”
“No, that would be weird. You going downstairs while I get off? No, thank you.”
“The offer is there.”
“Appreciated, but I won’t be taking you up on it. Okay, ask your final question.”
Her arm rubs against mine, causing the hairs on my forearm to rise, my mouth to dry, and my fingers to tingle. My body reacts to her in a way I don’t think I’ve ever experienced before. Being near her like this, it’s almost like this animal deep within me is clawing, begging, pleading to be let out of its cage, and every little touch she makes only drives that desire to more palpable levels.
When I don’t answer right away, she turns on her side and props her head up on her hand. “Come on, you have to have one more question in there. Something that’s been on your mind.”
Yeah.
There is something.
Something that’s been driving me nuts ever since she announced it during training.
“Your clit piercing. Why did you get it?”
From the corner of my eye, I watch her smile as she says, “After a few sexual experiences that fell completely flat, I wanted something that would help me climax better, something that was just for me. I didn’t want to have to rely on a man to make me come. And with a clit piercing, the sensation is more intense.”
“What was the man doing that he couldn’t get you off?”
“All the wrong things.” She stretches her hand out and traces my collarbone. “You know how the simplest touch in the right spot can get you high on that feeling of ecstasy?”
“Yes,” I answer drunkenly as I allow her to drag her finger along my shirt.
“With the right person, that’s all it takes, just a touch, here.” She moves her finger over my pec. “Or here.” Her finger caresses my abs. “Or... here...” She moves down to the waistband of my pants, and that’s when I grip her wrist, stilling her.
“No, Lilly.”
“No, what?” she asks innocently.
“We’re not going there.”
“Going where?”
Jaw hard as stone now, I turn to face her and say, “Sex. We’re not fucking going there.”
“You know it would be good.”
“It would be fucking great,” I respond. “But it’s not happening. There are too many complications, too many unknowns.” I swallow and then say, “And if I have one taste, I know I won’t be able to stop.”
Her eyes turn heady as she slowly lowers herself back down to the blanket, turns her face to her pillow, and lets out a muffled scream. Confused, I wait for her to lift up, and when she does, she says, “Well, I very well might need that private time now. Thanks a lot.”
* * *
“Okay,that wraps up the history of the cod in Torskethorpe,” I say. “Any questions?”
Lilly blinks a few times and then starts slow clapping. “Wow, Keller, that has to be your most boring lecture yet. Didn’t think you could top the history of patterned curtains in Strombly, but here we are, on the roof of a castle, the ocean beating into the rocks below us, and I’m bored out of my mind.”
