Chapter 24
CHAPTER 24
Tisera
What the fuck? Had I just said that?
Leo blinked as we stared at each other.
He stepped in and pulled me close, his lips on mine. And where he may have been a beginner in combat, in this… he was no mere amateur. His lips were sure and soft, his hands encircling me, pressing us tight.
I hesitated, surprised for only an instant, before relaxing in his arms and opening my mouth to him. His tongue danced with mine as the kiss deepened. But then he stopped suddenly, pulling back.
A bit breathless and concerned, he asked, “Has Daz… your brother… talked to you?”
That was an odd question, especially given our current intimate state. “What?”
“Daz, has he talked to you about…” I could see Leo’s tension, he didn’t want to say everything, but was hoping I’d understand.
I began to. “You know how Daz feels about me?”
He nodded. He released me a bit more, stepping back. “And if you know, then he has talked to you. I… I shouldn’t…”
“You shouldn’t what?” I was a bit thrown by this complete turnaround.
I could see he was trying to be chivalrous and gentlemanly. If I was another man’s woman, then he wouldn’t get in the way. But I didn’t belong to any man, I never would. I would always be my own woman. Still, Leo’s restraint was admirable and incredibly touching… and made me want him even more.
“Yes, I know how Daz feels, and I’m still coming to terms with that, but just because he loves me, doesn’t mean I love him the same way. I don’t know how I feel about him yet, but I do know how I feel about you, Leo. And right now, I want you to kiss me.” I stepped in and quickly kissed him, to demonstrate.
Leo seemed stunned. “Oh… truly?”
“Yes,” I breathed and kissed him again. “I’ll figure out Daz later, right now I want you. Do you want me?”
“Yes,” he breathed, close and heated.
I looked around. We were still close to where my laneway met the road, mostly out in the open. I grabbed Leo’s hand and dragged him farther down the lane, then behind the thick trunk of one of the trees lining the drive, mostly out of sight of the road. I put my back to the tree and pulled him close, kissing him again, deep and needful.
His one hand slowly moved over the contours of my side and hip while the other slid into my hair, combing through the short-shorn locks.
A part of me insisted I should slow down, go over “the rules” or something, but it was a small part, so I ignored it. I didn’t want to think about Kel or Daz or the rules, so I let myself indulge in the heated passion of this moment.
All I wanted to think about right now was Leo.
I cupped his cheek with one hand before sliding it up into his silken hair, pushing his lips harder to mine. I still had my bandages on, but I didn’t care, and Leo didn’t seem to either. My other hand went to his tight ass. He may not have been as big or imposing as Kel, but he was fit and firm and very insistent.
His one hand on my side came up to my breast. I moaned, feeling the sheer fabric move over my sensitive skin. He deftly unbuttoned several of the small ivory buttons and that same hand then slid under my shirt, his hot palm and caressing fingers hard on my breast as he moved his kisses off my lips to my chin, then my neck.
I’d been smoldering with heat since my time with Kel. Leo’s insistence stirred those embers into a fire once again. We’d quickly progressed beyond kissing but I didn’t care. My mind whirled with imaginings of what might happen: would Leo use those long dexterous fingers on me, as Kel had? Would there be more?
I wanted more.
Please let there be more.
I moved my hand from his tight rump to the front, lifting his doublet and undoing the silken tie on his pants. When my hand slipped under and in, I found his cock, hard and ready. Since the only other man I’d been with was Kel, I was quite surprised at the different feel of Leo’s cock: long and slender, like the man himself. He wasn’t as thick as Kel, but longer perhaps, smooth and firm in my grasp.
Leo didn’t balk, didn’t stop, didn’t hesitate. My hand on his cock urged us well beyond kissing. He pressed kisses down over my neck and high onto my breasts. His hand, which had been wonderfully kneading my left breast, seized it, making me gasp. Then his lips descended to the taut nub of my nipple. He flicked his tongue over it, then gently raked his teeth along it, before capturing it in a lingering kiss.
His other hand moved down to my legs, bunching up my skirts. If he was startled by the daggers strapped to my thighs, he didn’t show it. His nimble fingers slid over the rough hilt and leather sheathe, reaching higher, tracing in across my thighs. Then, his fingers brushed my folds and I gasped with the searing heat unleashed with his tentative touch.
“Yes,” I breathed.
One of his long fingers found the hard nub of my clit. He circled it once, then flicked the sensitive bud. I clipped a cry, then bit my lip as he began pressing and rubbing wonderfully. I was already slick and slippery, and his attentions only made me more heated and wet.
Gods, we were doing this.
Heat sizzled through me, boiling my blood as my heart thundered. I was dizzy with expectant desire. My body shouted for more. I let myself be swept away by it.
I’d only imagined what it would be like with Leo and… this hadn’t been in any of my fantasies. I’d pictured us on a lush bed, with slow and sensual kisses, but this… This was like what I’d had with Kel at the palace, a driving and immediate need, an imperative to merge, hard and physical. I’d honestly thought Leo didn’t have it in him.
I was pleasantly surprised, since this was more my speed anyway. Perhaps some other day we’d explore each other, slow and teasing. Today we were both bundles of tense desire, bursting with the fiery need to release.
My hand on his cock pulled hard letting him feel how much I wanted him. I was well past the point where a bit of fun fingering would do. I needed him inside me. His hand on my breast slipped away, down to my other thigh, hefting my skirt higher.
Then, surprisingly — since I wasn’t sure he had the strength to lift a sturdy woman like me — he grabbed the underside of my thighs and boosted me up. My hand was pulled off his cock as I clamped my legs around his waist, helping to keep myself in place. This put my breasts at head level for him. He took my other nipple into his mouth, sucking insistently. I gasped at his attentions even as the tip of his slender cock brushed my wet folds.
I let out a long and unabashed moan of pleasure, then leaned down to whisper in his ear. “I want this. I want you, Leo.” Just in case he had any hesitations about taking the next step.
He didn’t.
Yet, where Kel might have thrust hard and entered me quickly, Leo played and teased, rocking his hips, wetting his tip in my folds first. Then, his thrusts ever so slowly deepened, each frisky push delving just a little deeper than the last.
And this drawn-out penetration — compared to what I’d known with Kel — drove me mad. I needed to feel his fullness. I gasped with the firm press of each teasing touch on my extremely receptive and responsive opening.
“Enough play,” I hissed and tightened my legs around him pulling my hips down over him, driving him deep inside me. He may not have been as thick as Kel, but that didn’t stop me from feeling every glorious inch of him. I let out a long moan of near-orgasmic revelation at the press of his erection deep inside me. He added short thrusts to my movements, pounding my clit when we met.
His lips slipped off my nipple — now very aroused — and I gasped. Then he tilted his head back, and I lowered my lips to his. Our mouths pressed, wet and deep, as he drove me to the brink of bliss.
Gods, I wanted this so bad. I’d been blissfully buzzed, worked up by Kel earlier. It wouldn’t take much to get me off. Leo’s thrusts quickened. Our faces drew apart as we gasped and groaned. Our gazes locked, hot and intense. His sea-green eyes blazed with desire.
“Come,” I whispered. “Come with me.” Then I couldn’t speak as I was thrown over the brink of bliss into the yawning chasm of a hot and pounding orgasm.
Leo drove himself hard within me one final time, his cock pulsing with his release. Heat bloomed inside me. He whispered a soft but insistent: “Yes!”
I clasped myself around his shaft, hard, wanting to feel every throbbing pulse, and that only intensified his experience. His eyes widened as he gasped.
“Gods,” he breathed.
I found enough breath to whisper: “They had nothing to do with it.”
He laughed. And that caused both of us to lose our breath again as the mirthful convulsions threw us back into waves of ecstasy. And when that subsided, Leo pulled me close into his arms, holding me as we slowly regained our breath.
“Wow,” I breathed, next to his ear. I could still feel the pulse and surge of his release within me, relentless. Occasionally he’d shudder and hold me closer. I’d never felt so intimate with someone, so cherished and needed and sexy.
When he did eventually finish, our bodies starting to cool, we slowly disengaged, and he let me down.
“I’m sorry if that was too quick and abrupt,” Leo said softly.
“That was fucking amazing, is what it was,” I gasped, flushed and still a little breathless, mouth dry. “We couldn’t have done slow if we’d wanted to. We’ll do slow… later.”
Would he want to be with me again, or had this been a once-only thing?
Those sea-green eyes caught mine in a long and loving glance. “Tisi…” He blinked as his brow furrowed. “Can I call you that?”
“Yes,” I whispered, with a breath of a laugh. After what we’d just done, he could call me whatever he wanted.
“I… I should tell you, I cannot court you. I cannot offer you everything a man should offer you. I can flirt and play… if you like… but…”
“Oh, Leo,” I breathed relieved. “I’m so glad you said it. I don’t want anything serious. All I wanted was some fun with you, your passion and warmth. I know it can’t really last. You’re a noble, and I’m not.”
“Oh.” He blinked, then a grin slowly spread on his face. “Ohhhh.”
“Exactly.” We had both wanted the same thing yet not been certain the other wanted it.
“And what about our lessons?” he asked. “You’re my instructor.”
“And now I’m your lover. I’m talented, I can be both.”
He smiled at that. “Yes. Yes, you can… can’t you?” He laughed a bit. “You can do anything.”
I wasn’t sure exactly what that meant, but I liked the sound of it.
“I—” Words fled me as I happened to glance over Leo’s shoulder and see… Daz. He was some distance down the lane, but he’d seen… everything. “Fuck!”
“What?” Leo blinked, startled.
“Sorry, Leo I… have to go.” I pressed a finger to his lips to stop any argument. I locked eyes with him again. “Leo, that was amazing and I definitely want to do that again, as well as continue our lessons, but I… just remembered something I need to do. We should talk… about all of this, but can we do that… later?”
He seemed a bit taken aback by my sudden bluntness but then smiled and nodded. “Anything for you, Tisi, anything.”
Gods, he was amazing. He gave so freely, understood everything, followed my instructions, and asked so little in return. I didn’t deserve a man like him. I wasn’t sure how I’d gotten him, but right now… he wasn’t the man I really needed to talk to.
“What about our lesson today?” he asked quickly.
“We both just learned something very valuable. Can we leave it at that? We’ll continue our regular lessons tomorrow, if that’s acceptable?”
“Yes.”
So accepting and unquestioning. I kissed Leo again then smiled.
“Thanks, you’re amazing, I have to run!” And I did, hiking my skirts to run down the lane to the house.
I honestly didn’t know what I was going to say to Daz.
…I just hoped, I hadn’t lost him… forever.