“Are you all right?” he whispered as his dark brows furrowed in the dim light. “I didn’t wish to cause you pain, but—”
“I’m fine,” she said, nodding in the pillow. “Really. I only wish I knew what to do.”
Adeline remembered seeing his manhood as he climbed into the bed, and when she glanced down, she confirmed he had buried it inside her. All of it. She hardly knew where he ended and she began.
He kissed her forehead again. “We’ll sort it,” he whispered as he slowly pulled almost all the way out of her.
Her reaction was immediate as she lowered her hands until they smoothed over the mounds of his bottom and gripped them.
He chuckled softly as he pushed into her again.
Suddenly understanding what to do, she kept her hands where they were, allowing him the gentle thrusting movements. Her own hips met his with each thrust as her chest rose from the bed. She wished she had removed her nightrail, for the fabric seemed to abrade her nipples with every movement.
Perhaps Ertugrul could read her thoughts, for he paused his movements and helped her pull the offending garment up and over her head. He tossed it to the side and resumed his thrusting, this time with more force, his movements more quick. His tongue occasionally reached out to flick across a nipple, which had Adeline arching her back as frissons skittered through her entire body.
When he suddenly stilled, his back arching as his torso rose up, Adeline felt warmth wash over her and through her. A moment later, and he slowly lowered his upper body until his head rested on the pillow next to hers.
His labored breathing was loud in her ears, or that might have been hers. She didn’t know. Didn’t care as she hugged his body close.
“It will be better next time,” Ertugrul promised.
“How is that possible?” Adeline asked as she turned to regard him in wonder.
He chuckled softly and kissed her forehead again. “I should roll off of you before I fall asleep.”
“Are you comfortable?”
“Very.”
“Then please stay right where you are,” she pleaded. Even as she said the words, she sensed his manhood lessening in size, the sense of fullness at her core dissipating.
“You were brave to come to my room,” he whispered.
She regarded him with a questioning glance. “I cannot imagine how. I had no intention of not coming here.”
“I was thinking I would go to your bedchamber, at least to kiss you goodnight,” he claimed.
“I would have made you join me in my bed,” she whispered.
“I would not have argued.”
She mewled when she realized his manhood had escaped her body, and Ertugrul slowly rolled off her body. “Stay here,” he whispered as he rose from the bed and disappeared into the bathing chamber.
Adeline immediately missed the warmth of his body and the closeness they had shared. About to leave the bed to discover what he was doing, he suddenly reappeared with a bath linen and a wet cloth.
“Lie down,” he instructed, “and lift your knees.”
Relaxing back onto the bed, she watched as he bent over the edge of the bed. The cloth was suddenly pressed to her quim, the warmth a welcome sensation even as it stung a bit.
“What—?”
“Shh,” he interrupted, moving one of her hands to cover the cloth before lifting her body into his arms. Adeline immediately wrapped her free hand around the back of his neck. “Can you stand?” he asked. “You may wish to wash—”
“Of course,” she whispered, curious as to what he was doing. Despite how her body trembled and how every nerve ending seemed to be on high alert, she was steady on her feet once he lowered her to the floor. She darted into the bathing chamber, wincing at the light but determined to finish cleaning herself without him paying witness.
Ertugrul watched Adeline hurry into the bathing chamber, his breath hitching at the sight of her bare backside. The smooth, round globes of her bottom topped long thighs and shapely calves, and her skin appeared milky white under the gas light. Her mahogany hair fell in waves well past her shoulders blades, swaying across her back. When she disappeared from view, he turned and shook out the bath linen, covering the small blood stain that showed in sharp contrast to the white bed linen.
During the short time he’d been in the bathtub, he had thought only of her. Of what it would be like to join her in her bed. To hold her. To kiss her. To pleasure her. To claim her as his own and then hold her against his body for an entire night.
