Chapter 24
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Dafni
Just keep stirring, Dafni. My brain was bouncing around, first to the potions bubbling in the cauldron.
I needed to keep stirring so they wouldn’t bubble over again.
Then it bounced to Gideon’s hands. How they gripped my hips, his fingers brushing back and forth ever so slightly.
Subsequently to the hard bulge in his pants that he’d nudged between the cheeks that were not on my face.
I knew what that was, of course. Once Annabel had realized I’d never had the birds-and-the-bees talk, she’d sat me down and told me everything, my face as red as a tomato by the time she was done.
But this was the first time I’d felt one pressed up against me.
It felt bigger than I imagined it would—it only made the tingling between my legs stronger.
Him pressed against me and the pulsing between my legs made me move—my toes in my boots, my thighs rubbing against each other. If my hands hadn’t been occupied, I would’ve slipped them beneath the waistband of my skirt.
“Gideon,” I whispered, “someone could walk in.”
His growl met my ear. “It is lunchtime.”
I glanced up at the clock ticking on the wall above our heads.
The tick-tock of the clock, the sound of the wooden spoons hitting the sides of the cauldrons, and our unsteady breaths filled the room.
It was quiet but loud, my body and mind buzzing, waiting for his next move.
He always had one, and they usually surprised me, although I tried to hide it.
Gideon was so much more experienced than me.
He’d lived at the Academy his whole life, had access to any witch he’d wanted.
I, on the other hand, had grown up on a farm, where I’d killed frogs and lived on every word of the fairy tales my grandmother had spun at bedtime.
Gideon’s hands traveled lower, down my hips, closer to my throbbing core. I held my breath, waiting, wanting him to keep going but still nervous about what he’d do.
“Can I keep helping you feel good?” His words tumbled through my ear, doing somersaults inside my brain.
Yes! Please do whatever you can to make me feel less like the boiling point I keep my cauldrons at.
“Mm-hmm,” was all I could muster, my throat squeezing shut as I held back a more embarrassing sound from leaving my lips.
What was he going to do next? I knew what I wanted—his hands down my skirt, between my legs, his fingers helping rid my body of the tension that made me feel like I was about to burst.
“Keep stirring those cauldrons, kitten.” Gideon’s warm breath met my ear, right before his lips did, brushing against the outside. “Let me take care of you.”
The moment I heard his words, his hands dipped low, where no one beside me had ever gone before.
I let out a breathy sigh when his fingers slipped beneath my skirt, pushing past the folds between my legs. His fingers slid easily through them, all the teasing already having made me wet, putting delicious pressure just where I needed it.
Gideon’s fingers stopped moving once they reached the wettest part of me.
Why had he stopped?
His body slumped into mine, pushing me against the workbench. “Is this all for me?”
His fingers curled, scooping up the liquid I’d created with his fingers.
I cringed as he removed his hand, bringing the wetness with him, holding it in front of my face.
His fingers glistened with what he had retrieved from between my legs, the liquid pooling before sliding down between them, threatening to drip—right into my cauldron.
The hiss of my wetness hitting the side of the hot cauldron hit my ears at the same time Gideon’s chuckle did.
“You think that’s funny?” I spit out, more embarrassed than angry.
He was laughing at me, what my body had produced. It might’ve been my first time being touched by a man, but I knew that was normal. It had happened every time I’d touched myself before…
Gideon brought his fingers to his mouth, slipping them inside, his lips closing around them. His cheeks sunk in as he sucked them, his throat bobbing as he swallowed.
“Mmm…I’m full. Lunch can wait.” Gideon’s hand dived back under my skirt, finding my still-dripping core.
He liked it? I didn’t have time to think before his fingers once again slipped between my folds and started moving. They didn’t go anywhere, staying in the same spot, moving in a circular motion, massaging the most sensitive part of me.
Oh my. The way his thick fingers moved, the way he was pressing down, holding pressure against me, had my eyes rolling back and my head tipping back to where his shoulder met his neck.
My arms stopped stirring, my brain solely focused on the hand between my legs and the tingling it sent up my spine all the way to the tip of my nose.
The hand stopped moving. “Keep stirring, kitten.” His voice was a command I had to follow.
His hand continued moving the moment I continued stirring.
My knees bent, my legs falling further apart, to aid his actions.
His fingers put just enough pressure against me that I could feel them roll over my clit.
Occasionally, he’d catch the nub between two of his fingers and roll it, sending pangs of pleasure throughout my entire body.
I began aiding his actions, moving my hips back and forth against his fingers, creating a feeling in my body that was beyond what I’d been able to create with my own hand.
I stirred the cauldrons in time to my hips moving against the pads of his fingers between my legs.
Up, around, and down.
Up, around, and down.
Up, around, and down.
The tingle between my legs started to feel like a twisting sensation in my pelvis, something that wound tighter and tighter with every rub of his fingers.
“Take what you need, kitten. You’re doing so well,” Gideon murmured into my ear, my hips only moving faster, my body pressing down harder on his hand after hearing his words. He was enjoying this as much as I was.
I let myself go, letting myself fall victim to the sounds of Gideon’s breath against my ear, his hardness pressed into my backside, and the press of his fingers between my legs.
It felt good.
It felt too good.
Felt so good I found myself letting go of the wooden spoons I’d been stirring the cauldrons with to grab on to Gideon’s face that was nestled between my shoulder and neck. I clawed at his jaw as his fingers moved in circles vigorously between my legs.
Don’t stop. Keep going. My back arched, Gideon’s hardness leaving the warm nest it’d been nestled in, my head leaning against his shoulder as I yelled at the ceiling things I’d only heard in the hallways of the Academy. The words rolled off my tongue like I’d used them daily.
“That’s it.” Gideon’s voice sounded muffled in my ear. “You feel like a fucking dream.”
My own labored breaths that met my ears were the only sign that it was over. My vision was still dotted with black dots, my body limp, held up by Gideon’s strong arms. His muscular arms. I’d fallen prey to him—again. My body stiffened at the thought.
“Easy,” Gideon murmured, one arm wrapped around my waist, holding me up, the other hand moving between cauldrons stirring haphazardly.
Both cauldrons still bubbled evenly, neither had boiled over.
The healing potion I was making looked ordinary, bright neon bubbles popping on the surface.
The other, the rage potion, was being mixed under the careful watch of Gideon’s hands, the green liquid steadily boiling.
I breathed a sigh of relief. The potions were fine.
“I think I need to go lie down,” I whispered.
My body was jelly. What had Gideon done to me?
He’d somehow drained all my energy, making me weak.
This had to be some sort of latent power he possessed as a male witch.
There was no other explanation for the way my knees buckled and my eyes fluttered closed.
Gideon wrapped his arms around my body, and I melted against his warm chest. Why did he feel so good?
He turned around toward the door that led out into the hallway.
“My potions!” I tried to yell. My voice came out of my throat hoarsely. Had I been screaming?
“They were just for practice,” Gideon said.
I nodded the best I could, my chin hitting my chest as I forced my eyelids to open. What had he done to me that’d made me so tired?
His scent filled my nose as I let my cheek roll into his chest. “I’m going to bring you back to my room, kitten,” he whispered before picking me up, cradling me in his arms. He walked toward the door, kicking it open with his foot, still holding me with both of his arms. Cool air from the hall rushed into the hot potion room.
I shook my head back and forth, trying to clear my head. “Can I grab a book?” There was so much information in the potion room I was prohibited from reading as an inexperienced witch.
“Which one, kitten?” Gideon purred, his stubble tickling my cheek.
I lifted my finger and pointed to one I’d eyed when I was gathering ingredients. It was a spell book, for beginners.
Gideon pulled the book from the shelf, handing it to me before wrapping his arm around me once again. I couldn’t help but fold into him, curling myself around my new book in his arms. He was warm and safe for the time being. Like his fingers between my legs, it was something I’d never felt before.