Her eyes widened in response, and I was prepared to apologize, but she yanked my mouth back to hers. It was a slight challenge to kiss her the way she deserved with her smile in the way. I wasn’t certain whether it was the curse, the use of her nickname, or my loss of control that caused it but I appreciated it regardless.
Once I gathered myself, I tipped her head farther back and kissed her more thoroughly. She was clearly enjoying her power over me. Now it was my turn. I tangled my lips and tongue with hers, any attempt at slow long gone. This time when my thigh rubbed between hers it was deliberate. She pulled away with a whimper of my name, and I used the opportunity to explore her jaw with my lips and tongue and teeth. She tasted of apples and some sort of citrus there. By the time I reached the hinge where her jaw met her neck, she was panting my name between desperate whimpers.
“Jules, is this alright—do you like this?”
She tried to pull my mouth back to hers in response, but I resisted.
“I need the words. Do you want this?”
I pressed my leg harder against her core to illustrate my meaning. And perhaps add to her conviction.
She buried her head in my chest before mumbling agreement. Seconds ago, she was wantonly pressing herself against me, but the words had made her shy. The juxtaposition was charming, but I needed her to trust me with her desires, her pleasure.
With the hand on her jaw, I tipped her back slightly. “Tell me. I want to give you what you want. Everything you want.”
She whimpered before swallowing harshly. “I want… I need…” She trailed off, her voice breaking with desire. She darted her tongue out to wet her lips before closing her eyes and trying again. “Your leg. My… I… I don’t know the words.” With that she tried to pull me closer and bore down against my thigh.
I pressed a quick kiss to her forehead before taking pity on her, satisfied that she was nearly in the desperate state I wanted for her. I dropped my other hand from the tree behind her, unable to sacrifice touch for the sake of the tentatively balanced blanket. It fell by the wayside. Fortunately, the rain had slowed, and we were only assaulted with sporadic drips from the branches above us. The fresh air did nothing to slake the heat running through me, and I doubt the full downpour would have either.
My now free hand brushed down her side. I made the difficult decision not to linger, destination in mind, before falling to her hip. With a gentle hand, I directed her frantic, disjointed movements, into orderly circles. The groan that escaped her as I guided her movements was entirely unladylike, and I wanted more of them.
The words fell from me unbidden. “That’s it. Just like that. That’s what I’m here for. Take what you need. Everything you need. I’ve got you.”
Mewls were falling from her between pants of my name. She sounded as broken as I felt, and I was greedy for more still. “Michael, I—more. Please.”
“Alright. Here, is this better?”
I began to move my leg, thrusting in time against her frantic circles. Her nod was distracted as she chased her pleasure. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the vision before me, her ecstasy building. Because of me.
“Don’t fight it. Let it build. It’s good. I promise. I’ll make it so good for you. Give you everything.”
Her hand fisted in my hair, just the right side of painful. Her other twisted in my shirt. With a wordless cry she fell apart in my arms, and it was the single most beautiful thing I had ever seen. She went slightly boneless. Her grip slackened on my hair, and I regretted the loss before she collapsed into my arms, face buried in my chest. My heart swelled at the sight of damp wayward curls pressed against me. A new feeling of belonging peace washed over me.
* * *
JULIET
Michael’s arms were the only thingkeeping me up. I was pressed against the curve of his neck and chest. It was delightful here. I only caught hints of his scent before, when the breeze blew just right, or he brushed past me in the hall. It surrounded me now, vanilla and mint as usual with just a hint of petrichor from the damp earth beneath us. His body was warm and solid even in the damp. His embrace was more substantial than I expected from his moderate size.
He pressed a kiss to my damp head before tightening his arms even further. My heart fluttered at the movement, the innocent gesture somehow all the more meaningful after everything we had just shared.
“Jules…” he uttered in a throaty whisper that was probably not intended for me to hear. The single syllable had warmth pooling in my belly again. His voice was still as ravaged as when we were entwined. We were still tangled in each other, but the urgency had died down. That was nothing at all like Kate described. She mentioned a man’s hardness and pleasure. I did not have the words for what I had just experienced, but “pleasure” was insufficient. Even now, giddy euphoria, boneless peace, and warm tenderness filled me. We were all wrapped in a bubble of joy. The bubble was almost full to bursting, but I was too sated to care about the impending explosion.
“Are you planning to surface anytime soon?” His tone was less strained. I could hear the smile in it.
As much as I wanted to see the crooked grin, I was too comfortable here. Easy, loose in a way I had never known before. I sensed rather than heard the deep chuckle that greeted me when I pressed myself closer. He brushed his hand through my wet curls and added another kiss to them, almost cherishing me.
“I’m perfect right here. Thank you.” I infused my tone with as much prim assurance as I could muster.
His response, pressed into the top of my head, was so quiet that I nearly missed it. “Yes, you are.” Though it took my head a moment to parse his meaning, my heart responded instinctively with an erratic skip. Suddenly, I needed to see him. I couldn’t help but press a kiss to my new spot, just above his cravat on his neck, before I pulled back.
I was met with a real smile, not the crooked grin I had grown to love. He had always been handsome, but this was something more. Masculine pride and tender affection mixed in his countenance, the force of the combination directed toward me was overwhelming. With a whispered “Come here” and an accompanying hand gesture, he pulled my smiling lips to his own. There was less heat behind the kiss than its predecessors, more a pressing of smiles together. Then his hand cupped my jaw again, and he directed it into something deeper. Now that I was less frantic, I could appreciate the actual act, the pleasant heat, the teasing flip of my stomach at his efforts. Before I had my fill, he pulled back and tipped my head to press another kiss, this time to my forehead. He made to separate us, but I tightened my grip to keep him with me, not ready to be out of his arms yet.
“That was… different from what I expected. Not how Kate described it.”
He dropped his forehead to mine, untangling one of my fists from the fine linen of his shirt to lace with his own.
“Dare I ask what she told you?”
