“I still bested you,” she said.
“You did,” he whispered as he reached out to toy with the tie at her collar. He was feeling his body change: his breath coming quicker, his blood changing course. He could only resist so much; he was no angel.
“Do you remember when you kissed me?” Alex’s voice turned husky. “That night? By the river?”
“I do,” he said again. His voice was thick in his throat. He watched her mouth as she spoke, her words, each a drop of sugar that he wanted to lickfrom her lips. And for the second time that night, he knew that to make any move would be to lose control.
“I’ve thought about that kiss for many years,” she said. “Often when I was alone.” She paused and looked at him with trusting, open eyes. “I should like to experience it again,” she admitted.
She was killing him. He knew it was probably wrong, but how could he refuse them both this pleasure? And if it were just a kiss, he could keep himself at bay. His heart pounded and he ached with want as he spoke before he could stop himself. “Then lie back, darling,” he said, staring into her firelit eyes, “so that I may find your lips.”
A breath escaped her as she reclined on the hard ground. Magnetism pulled him along with her, and he found himself balanced on his hands and knees looking down at her. Her lips parted and her eyelashes fluttered, and he realized he was about to taste her again. This was his chance to show her that things were different, that something had changed between them. He’d stolen all the other kisses from her, but this one, he decided, he would give back.
His knuckles ground into the dirt as he hovered above her. He watched her, worried his own need would ruin it, but then she smiled at him. He’d forgotten what an elixir her smiles could be, and he found himself grinning back. When he could hold himself back no longer, he leaned in, until his lips brushed hers. He was determined to keep some decorum, but she arched up to meet him and his instinct took over. He took her lips against his, first just the bottom, then both at once. They were soft and tender, peaches in the summertime. A powerful wave of desire shot through him then, and he nearly buckled above her. He kept the distance, though, and instead opened her mouth more fully so he could taste her more deeply. She accepted his kiss, and soon she was kissing him back, hypnotic movement between them.
Then her body was reaching for more. She bit her nails into his arms trying to pull him down closer to her. He responded by kissing her more desperately but at the same time straining his muscles to maintain some distance. This only made her writhe and whimper as she tested his resistance and reached for contact. It was too much. He had to stop before it went too far. He pulled back and looked into her eyes, assessing any damage he had done. She moved her hands to his shirt, more than content with their current situation, as she tried to pull him down to her.
“Philippe,” she whispered, desperate. “Please do not stop.”
He kissed her chin and lingered with his lips at her neck as she leaned back. “Alex, I don’t think you know what you are asking for,” he whispered against her skin.
“Yes, I do,” she said. Still holding his shirt, she scooted up and shakily got on her knees in front of him. She pulled him up until he was kneeling as well, and she pressed her body against his. “Trust me,” she said against his lips.
He felt a growl deep in his chest. He wrapped his arms around her waist and hugged her close. He felt the warmth and softness of her body separated from his by only a few thin layers of fabric. He fought back every instinct that said he had to take her there in the dirt. He couldn’t do it. She wouldn’t forgive him, and he couldn’t forgive himself if he made love to her when she was not herself.
“Alex,” he forced himself to say, “Please,chérie. We can’t do this now.”
She groaned and reached again for his lips, moving her body against him.
“Alex,” he said again, his voice losing conviction. “We have to stop.”
All at once she halted, the words sinking in. She looked at him and then scrambled back. She planted herself against a rock and put her hands over her mouth. “Oh Dieu,” she said. “You just don’t want me.”
“No,” he said, and he began to laugh. “That is not the problem.”
“Then what is the problem,” she said, anger rising in her voice. “I am here. I am ready. Whynoware you not interested?”
“Darling,” he said. “You are really drunk.”
“I am not,” she said. Then she hiccupped. “Maybe a little.”
“I don’t want to give you any opportunity to blame me for taking your innocence when you do not have all your senses.”
She looked at him with her eyebrows knitted. “I don’t believe you,” she stated with stubborn conviction.
Without thinking, he snapped forward and grabbed her thighs. He dragged her roughly onto the ground beneath him. Instead of kissing her again, he moved down her body, and down her leg, to the little burn on the inside of her knee, barely visible through the hole the ember had burned into her pants earlier. He gripped the fringe of the opening and pulled the fabric apart with a loud rip. Then his hands were on her bare fleshand his lips at the edges of the fresh mark. He moved one hand up her inner thigh, until the fabric stopped him, but not before he brushed the border of her soft undergarments with his fingertips. Philippe shuddered as he ran his lips across her skin while digging his fingers into her flesh. Alex let out a cry, but then he released her thigh and was on top of her again, pushing against her this time, his kiss even more intense than before. Her lips, her tongue, her body, soft beneath him. When he broke away, he was gasping. “Don’t mistake,” he breathed. “I want to take your innocence. And if you should still want me in the morning, when nothing clouds your mind, I promise I won’t let you leave the room until I have pleasured you thoroughly.”
Alex, with a dreamy look on her face, drunk from the booze and soothed by the kiss, smiled languidly at him. “Then may I go to bed now to make that moment come even faster?”
“Yes, little fox,” he laughed. “Let’s get you back.”
Philippe prepared the horses by tethering them together, then put out the fire and picked up the few items left behind while Alex sat quietly watching him. When he was ready, he asked her, “Are you sure you are able to ride?”
She nodded.
He helped her mount his horse then hopped on behind her. He snapped the reins and brought the horses to an easy trot. The night was clear, every star in the universe visible in the sky. Philippe grinned as he wrapped his arms around Alex, confident for the first time that she actually wanted his attention. He hoped that she would still feel the same tomorrow, but at least now he was convinced of her feelings. He just needed to find the right moment for them to come together. He was agitated and his blood hot, but he was content, in the moment, just to have her in his arms.
But then she spoke.
