I shiver at his words. Leo has never cussed around me before. My mother always said cussing was sinful. Everything was sinful in her eyes.
“Why did you come into my home, Emma? You had to have known who I was. No woman would just step foot into a man’s house like you did. No one. So why did you?”
To tell him why I did would be to tell him everything about my mother. How she kept me locked away my entire life. How she kept me so sheltered, it turned me into the kind of woman who doesn’t know how to read people. If I had been raised like the people in her books had been, I would have been able to tell Leo wasn’t a good man. But I couldn’t because I don’t know anything.
I’m learning now though. I’m learning how evil this world is and how right my mother was and that pains me most of all.
“I can’t,” I say. “I can’t.” The shame of how my mother raised me is too deep. It’s embarrassing. Humiliating. I can’t say the words.
Leo’s eyes flick down to my bare breasts above the water. I sink down lower, hiding my body from his view. “Are you shy?” he asks. “Don’t want me to see your body? Yet, you agreed to marry me after knowing me for only a week. I’m sure you wanted to give your body to me then. Who are you, Emma? Are you playing a long game with me or are you truly that innocent?”
I don’t say a word.
“Why don’t we test it?” He reaches his hand out and pushes a piece of my hair behind my ear. I gasp. His touch feels electric. Despite how evil Leo has turned out to be, I always did find him handsome and that hasn’t gone away overnight.
“Do you like this?” he murmurs, drawing his fingers lower to my collarbone. I shiver. A smirk plays on his lips as he brings his fingers to the swell of my upper breasts. “Would you let me touch you here? If you were truly innocent, you would push my hand away. Or maybe it’s because of your innocence that you won’t. What game are you playing, Emma?”
“No game.”
He cups my breast in his hand. I gasp from the pleasurable sensation. Never have I felt this before. My own touch exploring my body was nothing in comparison. Every time I would read one of my mother’s romance books, I would feel a tingling between my legs but I never knew how to get rid of it. My mother told me that touching your own body was a disgrace.
But how can it be wrong when it feels so good?
Leo runs his finger over my nipple, making me gasp. “You like this? Tell me.”
I bite my lip. I shouldn’t like how this feels but I can’t deny the tingling sensation that spreads through my lower body. I press my legs together to make it stop but it doesn’t help.
“Are you aroused right now, Emma?” He lets my breast go and lowers his hand to my stomach. “What would happen if I touched you between your legs? The moment you showed up on my doorstep, I thought you were so pretty. I’ve wanted to touch you all week but I held back, watching to see what game you were playing. Have you wanted me to touch you too?”
“I don’t know,” I admit while deep inside I want to scream yes.
“Shall we see?” His hand moves further down until he touches my upper thigh. Gripping it, he parts my legs. I don’t fully know what’s happening. I know about sex and how babies are made but I don’t understand this frustrating ache deep inside of me. I don’t know enough because of my mother.
Leo keeps his eyes locked on mine as he brings his hand between my legs. The moment he touches my nub, I gasp and clamp my legs around his forearm. The pleasure is too intense. I can’t take it.
“You like this, I can tell.” Leo rubs that pleasurable spot over and over again. “Part your legs for me. It will feel better.”
I do as he says because in this moment, I want to feel good. I want to explore these deep, confusing feelings. I hate Leo but I also like him. None of it makes sense.
Leo presses his fingers against my nub, making my hips arch up and a soft whimper to escape my lips. “I can give you what you want, Emma. If you just tell me what you know.”
“I don’t know anything,” I answer honestly, looking into his eyes, silently begging him to understand. “Please, Leo. I don’t know anything.”
“Then how are you so innocent? No one is.” He flicks my nub and a loud gasp leaves me.
“Please.”
“Just tell me.”
“I can’t.” I can’t utter any words about my life on the farm with my mother.
“I know you’re still keeping something from me. You showed up on my doorstep. You came into my home. You agreed to marry me after a week. It’s all suspicious, Emma. You have to see that.” He rolls my nub around, increasing the pleasure building inside my stomach. “So either you had a plan or you’re just that innocent. Which is it?”
“I’m innocent,” I moan. The sound comes unbidden from inside of me.
“Maybe you really are. I want you to be innocent, Emma. God, I want you to be.” He sounds so real and honest that it takes my breath away.
“Please,” I beg. “Please.” I arch my hips into his hand, needing more. The pleasure he’s bringing out of me is too much. I need… something.
