Chapter 15 #2
Alek steals another kiss, tracing his fingers along the neckline of my gown. “You know, maybe you shouldn’t have to choose. From that poetry book you gave me, it’s obvious women taking multiple partners like Signy did is pretty common in Woudish culture.”
A breathless giggle slips out of me. “Or at least the culture of Woudish erotic poets.”
He hums in shared amusement. “Whatever the case, it was kind of… exhilarating to read about.”
“Oh? Did you get a lot of enjoyment other than scholarly out of my present?”
I think Alek has blushed beneath his dark skin at my teasing.
He pauses. “I don’t have very much practical experience to draw on with all of this.
In case that wasn’t obvious. I—there was barely anything with the girls I knew before my time at the temple school ended, and here…
In my first year, there was a woman who pursued me, but I found out right afterward that she just thought it’d be exciting to fuck a freak. ”
I bristle around a rush of sympathy. “You’re not a freak. Who was it? If I—”
Alek nuzzles my cheek. “It’s all right. I don’t need you to defend my honor. I just don’t want you to expect more than I can offer.”
“Hey.” I angle his face to catch his gaze. “So we’re clear, I can count the number of roll-abouts I’ve had on my fingers, without needing all of them. And half of those I didn’t even really get off, which is why it stopped seeming worth the risk. You don’t have anything to prove to me.”
“I still want it to be good for you,” he mutters. “I have done plenty of reading—poetry and otherwise. Scholarship can come in handy in all sorts of ways.”
“I’d imagine it can.”
He tilts his head next to mine, his lips brushing the shell of my ear. “You have no idea how many fantasies I’ve indulged in where I offer to help you expand your Woudish by reading that poetry book, and while we’re going through it you turn to me and suggest we try bringing the verses to life…”
A giddy shiver races through my veins. But even more potent is a swell of affection so fierce my heart aches with it.
I hug him to me, absorbing the warmth of his lean frame. “That sounds like a lovely way to spend a day. But right now I’m happy to keep it simple. We do have less than an hour.”
“Hmm. Better stop talking then.”
He claims my mouth and slides his hand down the front of my bodice. His fingers chart the slopes of one breast, gradually working their way to the peak.
When his thumb travels over my nipple through the fabric with a sharper flare of pleasure, my breath catches. Alek grins against my mouth and repeats the gesture with a firmer pressure.
The delight his touch provokes builds with each iteration. I arch into him, urging him on.
In every caress, I can feel Alek gaining confidence. With a pleased hum, he gives my hair a light tug to tip my head to the side and applies his mouth to my neck.
His breath and his lips brand the sensitive skin from my jaw down to the crook of my shoulder. I sway in his embrace, a gasp slipping out of me at a tentative nip of his teeth.
“I want to kiss every part of you,” he murmurs, “just to find out which get me the best reaction.”
I let out a little huff of amusement. “If you’re going to study me, then I want to study you too.”
I give the collar of his tunic a yank. Rather than simply helping me, Alek pulls back just far enough to peel the shirt off himself.
Apparently he’s a lot less shy about his body than his face. And there’s nothing to be shy about.
My fingers reach out, drawn by the softly defined planes of muscle that cover his slim but toned torso. His godlen brand, Estera’s sigil that’s both looping and pointed, reminds me of his usual purpose in life. “I’m guessing you don’t spend every spare moment with your head in a book.”
Alek chuckles with a trace of sheepishness. “Exercise helps keep your mind honed. It’s actually part of the scholarship regimen, to ensure we don’t turn into sickly lay-abouts.”
“Well, I approve.”
I trail my hands right down his front, stopping just above the waist of his trousers. On an impulse, I tip forward to kiss his smooth skin just above his own nipples.
The cool, citrusy tang of him fills my lungs. His chest hitches, and then he’s bowing into my explorations, fondling my chest in turn with one hand while the other slips around me.
With a few deft jerks, he loosens the lacing on the back of my gown. It only takes him a second to delve his hand beneath both my bodice and my undershirt.
The feel of his hot palm right against my breast brings a whimper to my throat. I mark a path of kisses up his chest and neck before our mouths crash into each other again.
Alek tugs my bodice a little lower and then slides both of his hands under the layers of fabric. He cups my breasts in unison, working me over with eager precision as he discovers exactly what sorts of movements spark enough bliss to shock more sounds from my lips.
A burning heat has formed between my legs—and I’m far too aware of the time ticking away before we might be interrupted. Nothing would put a damper on this interlude faster than Stavros barging into the room with his judgmental scowl.
I scoot forward on the tabletop so I can run my fingers right down Alek’s abdomen to the bulge behind his trousers.
A guttural sound tumbles out of him. “Fuck, Ivy. I—”
He seems to decide taking action is better than talking. As I curl my fingers around his erection through the fabric, he shoves the mass of my skirt upward.
I squirm to make it easier to push the layers of silk aside, but my legs are still mostly covered by the divided underskirt that’s like billowy pants underneath. The underskirt with knives strapped around my thighs overtop of it.
Alek lets out another chuckle at the sight of my weaponry, with no sign of being put off. With a shaky inhalation, he rocks into my grasp and fingers the overlapping folds of cloth between my legs to find the gap between.
Just the brush of his hand at the apex of my thighs sets off a sharp enough flare of pleasure to have me moaning. I give his cock another squeeze, delighting in the groan I achieve in return, but this partial closeness doesn’t feel quite satisfying.
“Let me…” I unclip the straps that hold my knife sheaths and then wriggle right out of my underskirt and drawers in one go.
My intention couldn’t be more obvious. Alek’s breath quickens. He jerks at his trousers, and I help him yank them down.
Then I wrap my knees around his hips and grasp his shoulders. With a heady pressure that sends tingles all the way to my fingertips, he enters me.
The slickness of my sex can’t leave any doubt about how eager for this moment I am, but Alek guides his cock in slowly, his breath turning even more ragged. When we’re fully joined, he stops, just holding on to me and panting into my hair.
“You have no idea how good you feel, Ivy,” he mumbles.
I try to push toward him, to encourage him onward. Alek grips my bare ass beneath my skirt to hold me in place.
“Wait. I don’t know—I don’t want this to be over too quickly. I need to last long enough that you get to feel just as good.”
I brush my fingers over his hair, exerting all my self-control not to buck against him. “I already feel pretty fantastic.” As I pause, the larger truth of the matter rolls over me with a sudden catch in my throat.
It takes a moment before I can speak again, my voice gone rough. “You know, this is the first time I’ve ever been with someone who knew all of me. I don’t have any more experience with that than you do. But I can’t imagine anything feeling better than I do right now.”
Alek exhales in a rush and tips my head to capture my lips. He kisses me until my head is spinning with the passion emanating off him.
As his tongue flicks out to tease over mine, he tucks his hand between us and sets it low on my belly. His thumb strokes downward until it hits the spot just above where we’re connected. A jolt of bliss shoots through my core.
His lips travel across the edge of my jaw. “Right there?”
His thumb pulses against my clit, and I whimper before I can answer. “Right there. So fucking good, Alek.”
He works his thumb over me until so much pleasure is racing through my body that I start to shake—and only then does he finally move his hips. First in careful, shallow strokes while dappling kisses across my face and neck.
I grind into him with a needy sound, and a raw chuckle reverberates from his chest. He picks up the pace, thrusting into me faster, harder. Setting me alight from the inside while his thumb keeps conjuring more bliss against my clit.
Even with Casimir, the expert on all things carnal pleasure, it never felt quite like this. Maybe because even with him, I had to keep some part of me distant. I had to close myself off.
But Alek has already embraced every terrible part of me. He wants me as I am.
I have nothing left to hide here. I can simply be.
And oh, it’s wondrous being me at this moment. My nerves sing with the pleasure thrumming through my body.
Alek’s fingers dig into my ass with a firmness that only heightens the sensations. He holds me in place as he slams even deeper into me.
Our mouths crash together with messy kisses between hoarse breaths. The swell of ecstasy inside me builds and expands until I’m barely aware of anything except my hands clutching Alek’s shoulders, his cock plunging into me, and the magic he’s creating with his thumb.
The muscles in his hips tense against my thighs. “Ivy,” he mutters. “I can’t—”
But it doesn’t matter, because just as he starts to spill himself inside me, the wave that was rising washes through me. I hug him even tighter to me, quaking and crying out with the force of my release.
Alek groans and wraps his arms around me just as firmly. He buries his face in my hair as his panting subsides.
For a minute or two, we simply rest there against each other, sweaty and spent but ever so sated. Alek stirs first, seeking out another kiss.
Then he freezes up. “We didn’t take any precautions. I should have thought—”
I rest my hand against the scarred side of his face. “It’s all right. At this time of the month, it’s not much of a risk for me anyway. But just to be safe, I could take mirewort. I got the impression it’s not too hard to come by here at the college.”
Alek nods. “I can request some. Since we won’t want anyone wondering who you’re seeing if you ask about it.”
I hadn’t even thought of that. Trust Alek to consider every possible threat—and mitigate them for me. “It’s effective as long as it’s taken within a couple of days. You can give it to me at our meeting tomorrow. Which I will definitely be making it to, perfectly safe and sound.”
A tinge of anguish crosses Alek’s face as he gazes back at me.
“You’d better,” he says with sudden fierceness. “Or I don’t care what the king’s orders are—I’ll kill Ster. Torstem myself.”