Slowly, gently, reluctantly, I pulled my hand away from her channel. Whether the resulting whimper was hers or mine would remain a mystery.
I shifted her malleable form, pulling her to lay across me. Though it was a futile effort, I straightened her skirts and bodice, leaving them respectable but for the very scandalous wrinkles. Her head found my shoulder with a soft sigh. Davina allowed me to set her to rights, as much as possible. Her hair was certainly beyond my pitiful skills, but I plucked the loose pins free and combed the silky strands with my fingers.
A little hand tangled on my waistcoat again, fingers inching toward my swollen member. I caught her fingers, laced them with mine, and raised them up to drop a kiss on them. “That’s not what this was about.”
“But…”
“Not right now, little menace.” She made an indistinct sound but allowed me to set her fingers over my still-pounding heart. “How are you feeling?”
She was quiet for so long, I began to wonder if she had fallen asleep, when her fingertips brushed the edge of my shirt away. Her hand returned to my heart, this time with nothing between us. “Different.”
“Different?” My breath caught.
“Cee, she gave me a little talk—after a great deal of cajoling, of course. I knew there was pleasure to be found… But it wasn’t what I expected.”
“How?” I fought to keep the panic from my tone and my muscles from tensing.
“Usually, my thoughts move too fast for my body. I can’t stop or slow them. But when you kissed me yesterday, they slowed, they were sluggish. And just now… I don’t think I’ve ever felt like that.”
My tongue darted out to wet chapped lips. “Like what?”
“Everything was clear. It was too many sensations but not the way it always is, where I want them all to stop. It was overwhelming in a good way. I didn’t have to try to shut it all out. You did it for me. There was only you.”
“Is that… good?”
“Yes, Kit, it was good.” I felt her smile against my shoulder. “You need not continue fishing. It was—you were—are… It was incredible. My head has never been so singular like that before.”
“Before?”
I couldn’t see her face, but I knew she had rolled her eyes at me. “There’s never been anyone else. I just meant… alone.”
That single word broke something in my head. I was flooded with images of how and when she might have tried what we’d just done, alone. And then the need to watch those moments in person, desperately.
I swallowed the depravity that threatened to escape my mouth. Instead I asked the very reasonable question, “Are you feeling anything else?”
“You were perfect.”
No force on this earth could’ve held back that smile. “Thank you. I did actually need to hear that. But it’s not what I meant. I don’t want you to regret anything about this—us. And I want to make sure I didn’t hurt you.”
“I’m well. I have no regrets, except that you are being stubborn and refuse to allow me to touch you. I regret that very much.”
“You’re a menace, have I mentioned that?”
“Once or twice. I’m still cross with you.”
“You’ll be even more cross with me when you see what I’ve done to your hair. I suspect there will be no recovering it.” Instead of the scowl I’d expected, there was something coy and mischievous about her smile when she shifted from my chest to meet my gaze. “What?”
A hand snuck up to the mop on my head. Her fingers carded through only to become stuck half an inch from my scalp. With teasing eyes, she caught her lip between her teeth.
“What’ve you done to me?”
“It’s not my fault! If I wasn’t supposed to touch it, you should’ve told me. And possibly restrained me.”
And wasn’t that thought intriguing… I filed it away for a later date, for use if she ever accepted me. Meanwhile, I sighed in feigned irritation, patting down the fluffy mess. I wouldn’t have given up the feeling of her fingers clutching me to her for the world.
“It’s a lucky thing you’re a man and you don’t need to attempt to find some sort of order with those curls. You can just swan about saving the day and look the part of a disheveled rogue.”
“Disheveled rogue? ’M a solicitor.”
