“I thought you were asleep,” he said.
“I was waiting for you. I sleep better when you are with me.”
He pulled her close and pressed his lips to her crown.
She placed her palm against his chest, over his heart, then slid it down to his torso. “Your skin does not feel like mine. The surface is soft, but what it covers is not, so it is very different.”
Her continued curiosity about the simplest things charmed him. She did a bit of pressing and exploring, to see just how different it could be.
“What are you doing now, Minerva?” Her hand had lowered considerably on his body.
“Seeing if I can seduce you.”
“I promise you can. However, the doctors said—”
“—whatever they thought would convince your cousin that they took a duke’s charge very seriously.” One of her fingernails etched a line up his phallus. “I see that did not take long at all.”
“I have sworn not to impose on you while you recover. Much as I would like—stop that!” An unexpected tweak on the tip of his phallus sent lightning through his blood.
“Didn’t you like that? I’m sorry.”
“I liked it. Very much. However, we cannot—”
“You cannot, seeing as you were so foolish as to swear not to. I swore nothing. You will not be doing any imposing. I will not need your help, so just lie there and be true to your word. No embraces. No caresses.” She rose up on her knees and drew her nightdress off. “Only, don’t fall asleep.”
As if that were likely. A stronger man would leave the chamber at once. He didn’t.
Still on her knees, she gazed down with hunger, as if deciding where to feast first. His cock swelled more at the very thought of her feasting anywhere at all.
* * *
He looked perfect. Strong and hard and handsome. Not only his appearance made her stir so deeply. The ways he took care of her, and talked to her, and treated her moved her profoundly. She lowered herself to her hands and knees and kissed him to release the fullness in her heart. Then she moved her lips to his shoulder and his neck, to his arm and his chest, praising him, thanking him with her passion.
He accepted it, as if he knew she meant it when she said she did not want his participation. She wanted to express her own emotions this way. She needed him to just accept them. He did, not embracing her, not taking over. Just skimming his body with her breasts aroused her. She needed no direct caresses. Inhaling his scent made her heady. Licking his skin began driving her mad. She could tell he liked it all. His body showed her that, and his gaze, and finally his low sounds of pleasure.
She sat back on his thighs and caressed him fully, all along his chest, wondering in the feel of him, admiring his beauty. Lower then, following the taper of his body to the hardness of his hips. She circled her finger around his phallus, then caressed it more purposefully. He closed his eyes then. His hard jaw and tense expression made her feel wicked and powerful and seductive.
He looked down his body at her with a hooded gaze. “Are you feeling brave?”
“Invincible. Like a warrior.”
“Then move up here, so I can use my mouth on you.”
It took her a moment to sort out what he meant. She moved forward on her hands and knees. He slid down enough to take her breast in his mouth. His kisses alone had her halfway to insanity, but the way he licked and sucked her breast made her tremble with need. The first tensions of her release started tightening, and he had not even really touched her. She started moving back, so she could take him into herself.
“Don’t lose your courage now. Move forward. Keep coming up here.”
She did come close to losing her courage. She wasn’t sure she wanted to wait, for one thing. She sensed this was something he wanted, however. The pleasure would not really be hers alone.
She inched up, moving her knees forward. Eventually she had no choice but to kneel upright. She grabbed onto the headboard and looked down at how his head was positioned right below her body. He gently pushed her knees apart, then lifted his head.
His first kiss caused a sharp, deep pleasure to shriek through her. What he did after that left her grasping the headboard for support. The intensity of the sensations caused her mind to spin. She was sure it could not get more astonishing but it did, again and again, until she lost all sense. She heard herself begging for him to stop but also for more, in the same breath. Finally a release split through her violently.
Somehow she moved again. No, he moved her. She found herself bound to him, connected and deeply joined. He filled her like never before, stretching her so she felt his power inside her. She hovered over him while he thrust hard and long and even so she would have wanted more if he could give it. His finish came so forcefully that it took her breath away.
She collapsed on him, utterly spent. She lacked the strength to move. He wrapped her in an embrace and held her tightly while their deep breaths met in the night. “You are perfect, Minerva. Magnificent and beautiful.”
She believed him. She felt magnificent and beautiful. With him. Because of him.
