Chapter 4
CHAPTER 4
E ver since Ardruina joined him in the hot spring, Theodore had been a constant shade of pink. And yet, at every opening she offered him to back out, to bathe separately, to ask for more space, he declined.
The sweet, shy man tried so hard not to look down, and mostly succeeded, but she could see that she was torturing him. And she brought him back here for a reason, hadn’t she? Something more than just ensuring his general well-being, even if she didn’t know it at the time.
The truth about Dead Man’s Hollow, quiet sanctuary though it was, was that it highlighted loneliness, too. What was once a comfort, time had morphed into an ache.
When it came down to it, Ardruina had been starved of companionship and of touch for an ungodly amount of time, and Theodore seemed interested in both. A few centuries spent relentlessly haunting a remote stretch of forest, and making a sport out of scaring people away, was fun for a while, but it did her no favors in romance.
In hindsight, she’d maybe gotten a little too scary for her own good.
It would be nice to get lost in someone else for a little while.
Holding out a bar of soap, she asked, “Wash my back for me?”
“I don’t know if that’s a good idea.” Theodore averted his gaze.
That gave her pause. She’d tease and he’d blush, but this was the first time he wouldn’t meet her eye. “Is everything okay?”
He sunk deeper into the water, angling his body away from hers. “Um, yes, but I have an, uh, erection,” he finally answered, wincing, as if admitting that cost him.
Maybe it had. Not only had his rosy color deepened, he also tensed. Either he feared her, or how she’d react to that knowledge.
“That doesn’t bother me,” she said gently. “But if it bothers you, I can leave, and meet you inside whenever you’re ready to come in.”
“Oh.” He lost the frightened deer look. “It really doesn’t bother you?”
She shook her head. “You said you thought I was pretty, and it’s a natural reaction, right?”
“You are pretty. Really pretty, but I don’t want to be a creep.”
“You’re not. I’m inviting you to touch me.”
“Even with my…”
“Perhaps, especially.”
“Oh.” Surprise lit his features. “ Oh .”
She winked.
He finally relaxed, taking the bar of soap from her outstretched palm. “All right. Turn around.”
Fighting back a grin at her victory, she complied and listened to him work the soap into a lather.
Slick hands dragged up her arms, and as Theodore’s ragged exhale tickled the base of her neck, her skin erupted in goosebumps. He was so warm at her back, close, but not quite touching his body to hers. Cupping one shoulder, he moved his other hand in tight, slow circles, massaging away her riding aches.
Scooping water into his palm, he trickled it down the length of her back, repeating the process over and over, before lathering his hands once more.
The smooth glide of his palms, the unhurried, savoring touch.
This. This was what she missed, what she needed. In indulging one aspect of herself, she neglected another. But no more.
His fingers skated along the base of her neck, and while light as a feather, they also teased the skin just below the ribbon, trekking too close to perilous ground.
She flinched. “Don’t knock the ribbon loose,” she warned. “Whatever you do.”
Neither of them would like it if he did.
“I’ll be careful,” he promised.
Nipping the lobe of her ear with his teeth and a newfound daring, Theodore washed her front instead. He started with her belly, using tender, worshipping strokes. Wherever muscle dipped into valley, or succumbed to curve, his fingers lingered, dragging fragrant suds in their path. Then rinsed them away as he went. No inch of skin was left unexplored, and every pass of his hands brought contrasting sensations—comfort, relief, and a dizzying, desperate need for bolder, more intrepid touch.
She leaned into him. “Theodore, don’t be shy.”
“I’m not,” he breathed. “Not with you.” His hands drew up to cup and knead, all pretense that he was supposed to be washing her abandoned. “Is this good?” He pushed her breasts together, perfect handfuls, and he played careful mind to her nipples, plucking, and tweaking them into firm, purple peaks.
“Yes.” She sighed, pleased but far from satisfied, and inched her fingers up her thighs, toward a rising ache. The temptation to touch herself beckoned. If she were alone, there’d be no denying that need, but denying herself Theodore’s attentive fingers? That would be criminal. “Don’t stop there.”
Don’t you dare.
He hesitated, the motions of his hands slowing but not completely stopping. “Tell me what you want.”
To be her complete self. To not hold back for fear of scaring him.
To not be so damn lonely all the time.
She said none of these things. The desire pooling below her navel was safer than the one drawing a noose around her heart. “I want to ride your hand.”
His breath hitched. “You do?”
“Desperately.”
After one final squeeze, he released her breasts, laying his hands tentatively on her hips. She pushed her backside into his crotch, firmly acquainting it with his rigid length. “I think I’m in a dream. This is too good to be true.”
Skies above, did he think she was toying with him? “Theodore,” she growled, digging her fingers into the meat of her thighs. “Touch me . ”
He flinched behind her, perhaps startled by her impatience and gruff, demanding tone.
Dammit . If she didn’t assume a gentler, more reassuring approach, she’d scare him off for certain. “Please?” she tried again, more softly this time. “I’d like it very much.”
He reached around and… Oh yes . Right there . Thank the stars.
Nimble fingers coasted over the sensitive bundle of nerves bridging the apex of her thighs, applying the perfect amount of pressure, stealing her breath and curling her toes. “Like this?” he asked, a little unsure, but a whole lot of sweet.
“Yes. Just like that.” Ardruina twisted, winding her fingers into his hair and claiming him in a brief, but heated kiss. Theodore’s surprised gasp was quickly followed by a smile against her lips.
He split his attentions, working her clit with one hand, the other paying homage to her breasts, the motions of his hands bringing her body flush with his. Strumming, rubbing, setting her core ablaze.
Under his diligent care, she almost couldn’t remember why she ever thought he was shy. All he needed was enthusiastic permission, and once he had it, he charged forward with exuberance.
“Feels so good,” she praised, the words coming out breathy and fragile as she rocked into his hand. Things she never got to be.
Widening his stance, Theodore braced her in the cradle of his hips, and she sank her full weight into him, digging her fingers into his thighs as she quaked, drawn tighter than a bow. He stood firm, leveraging the hot spring wall to support her.
“I like pleasing you.” He pressed a kiss to her shoulder, easing a finger inside, water sloshing as he worked his arm up and down. With each upward stroke he ground the heel of his hand against her, sending fresh jolts of pleasure racing up her spine. “But I don’t know if I can make you come.”
“Don’t be modest. You know you can.” Her voice was raw, needy. How could he not? She was nearly falling apart already, riding his palm.
“I don’t.” He nuzzled the groove between her shoulder blades. “Not a lot of practice. You may have noticed there’s not much of me to look at...”
Fury sliced through her. Not at him. Never him.
She spun in his arms, tilting his head back by the chin to stare down into widening dark blue eyes. With her other hand, she hitched his leg between hers, right where she needed him. “Who told you that?”
“No one in particular.” He lifted his shoulder in a halfhearted shrug. “I’m just small.”
There was an old hurt lurking in his eyes. Whoever made him feel like he wasn’t enough could go straight to hell. And they were damn lucky, too, that she hadn’t been around to send them there.
She ran a thumb gently over his lower lip, wanting to steal every hurtful thing he might repeat about himself before he could say it. “You’re perfect. And exactly who I want.” And to prove it further, she eased into a rocking motion on his thigh, testing the feel of him beneath her, and watching his face closely as she did so. “Would I be doing this if I didn’t want you?”
His lips parted on a shaky exhale. “No.” His cheeks turned an adorable shade of pink, followed by a bashful smile.
“Can you do something for me, Theodore?”
“Anything.”
“Show me how you touch yourself.”
Blush deepening, he took himself in hand. Eyes blown wide. “Yes, ma’am.”
There. That was the Theodore she wanted to see. A touch shy but utterly believing her desire.
His shoulder flexed as he stroked himself. She followed that trail of lean muscle, biceps to forearm, forearm to hand, hand to palm, grasped around needy, reddening flesh.
“That’s it.” She crooned, brushing back his hair, the lightly gelled waves now frizzy and undone by the hot spring’s humidity. “Just like that.”
And when she clasped her hand around his throat, applying light pressure, Theodore’s leisurely pace kicked up a notch, water sloshing between them, as he gazed up at her with heavy-lidded eyes.
“You’re so beautiful.” The way he said it, one part declaration, one part awe, set her heart pounding, threatening to break free from the cage of her chest.
When she looked at herself in the mirror, it was only ever to check to see if her ribbon was secure. Everything else about her appearance just didn’t matter. But now? Locked in Theodore’s embrace? She wasn’t immune to such admiration.
She slotted her lips over his, slowly savoring him, their tongues meeting in gentle caress. Earlier that day, she watched him pop a hardtack candy into his mouth, and now she tasted its lingering lemony sweetness. He felt so good and solid underneath her. It felt like a dream, but he was real. This was real.
A shared moan escaped between them, the rhythm of their bodies picking up speed, racing toward the precipice. When she drew back from the kiss, she tightened her hand around his throat, his pulse beating against her fingertips. A vein popped along his temple as his breathing became more ragged. “You’re maddeningly handsome when you’re disheveled.”
“Maddeningly?”
She split her gaze between his hooded eyes, parted lips, and rapidly moving hand, growing wetter and hotter at the sight. “Seeing you like this, brings me close to the edge.”
His throat bobbed against the palm of her hand as he swallowed.
Precum beaded at his tip, and Ardruina fixated on that point, eager to see him join her.
“Use me,” he pleaded, and she did. She rode his leg with wild abandon, seeking, searching, until she found release upon the hard planes of his thigh, every muscle in her body drawing up tight as pleasure pulsed through her.
“Oh, fuck.” His face contorted, and with another jerk of his hand, he spilled into the steaming water.
Their heaving chests rose and fell in tandem as her forehead fell to his, and she dropped her hand from his neck.
Ardruina wanted someone to share this bog with, but those sorts of commitments weren’t made in the space of an afternoon, and secrets like hers didn’t withstand the test of time. And yet, she didn’t want what she started with Theodore to end here.
Maybe this could be a beginning, not an end.
It was foolish. Probably selfish, too, but she whispered it anyway. “I don’t want to stop.”
Theodore’s nose brushed hers, nudging up her gaze, their eyes meeting. His gaze was so soft and giving. “Are you asking for more?”
He reached between them, coasting his fingers across sensitive flesh and sinking into her wet heat one by one. Her heart stuttered in her chest, all at once excited and relieved. He wasn’t done with her. And she hadn’t scared him away.
“Could we…” She tilted her hips, pressing into his hard flesh, still mercifully erect, letting her body do the asking.
“Don’t be shy, Ardruina,” he murmured, parroting her earlier words. “Tell me what you want.” His fingers pumped in and out of her as his thumb rubbed circles.
She moaned. “Bury yourself in me.”
“I am buried in you.” The heel of his hand pressed harder into her to emphasize the point.
Her cheeks burned, and not just from the spring’s heat. She gave him so many easy-ins and now he was demanding lewd confessions. His confidence was growing, and it thrilled her. Wicked man.
“It’s okay.” There was nothing cocksure about his tone. It was all gentle encouragement, as he rocked his hips. “You can say you want this.”
“I do,” she breathed. “I do want it.”
The appendage in question twitched eagerly against her thigh. It hadn’t slackened in the slightest.
“Just let me make sure I have a condom in my wallet.”
He let go of her to reach back, dragging his pants over. Finding what he was looking for, he hopped out of the spring, sitting on the edge with his cock sprung proudly between them.
The man was slight, all modest, lean muscle—a body made for endurance, not power—but it did nothing to dim her desire. From afar, she watched his many long, careful walks through the bog, the way he yanked out invasive plants with a fierce dedication or crouched down to study sundews and pitcher plants with rapt fascination.
So many times, over so many years, she observed him, never once daring to leave the deep shadows between the trees. Too nervous to approach. Too afraid he’d see her for what she truly was. That is, until his life was in danger, and she could hang back no longer. Stuck in bog mud, there was nowhere for him to run, and she could not watch him die. That’s all it took to break her tenuous restraint.
She pressed the palm of her hand to Theodore’s cheek, and he leaned into the touch a moment before placing a kiss to her inner wrist. After some brazen posturing and a little bit of charm, she somehow convinced this man to fuck her.
Was it fair that she knew more about him than he did of her?
Twice, he sensed that something was off. First, with her strength. And second, with Lady Crane’s abrupt disappearance.
She brushed off his questions so far, but for how long would that last? She didn’t want to lie to him, not even by omission. But what other choice did she have?
Theodore rinsed his hands, darting a glance her way. Whatever he saw in her expression seemed to sober him, a little shyness creeping back in. “You rethinking this?”
“No,” she said quickly, smoothing her hands over his thighs, before disappointment or self-doubt set in. Maybe not telling him the full truth just now made her a villain, but she was so used to being one, and she didn’t really need to spill her darkest secret just to fuck a man, did she? “I want this. I want you .”
“Good.” He seized her in another kiss, mouth hungry and demanding. It was between these feverish kisses that he said, “I want you, too.”
He was reassuring her, she realized. Affirming her feelings and making sure she knew this was okay. Caring for her even though this could be the one and only time for them. Damn, this man was sweet.
Theodore quickly sheathed himself, and she turned around, hearing rather than seeing him slide back into the water, getting into position.
They were really going to do this. Scratch this mutual itch together. She’d be such a liar if she said she didn’t hope for this outcome. When she brought him home, leaning into the ride, or when she undressed beside him, the message was clear. If you’re willing, I’m willing.
And they both were, but the water wasn’t making it easy. Cursed friction and not the good kind. The angle wasn’t doing them any favors either. Making no progress, Arduina puffed out a frustrated laugh, and Theodore dropped his forehead to her upper back, shoulders shaking as he gripped her waist.
“This is an inauspicious start,” he chuckled. “Maybe we should go inside?”
Thunder rumbled overhead, and the darkening sky that had threatened rain finally opened into a deluge. That, if not also their physical struggles, certainly decided things.
“Come on.” Grabbing his hand, Arduina pulled him from the hot spring.