Chapter Nineteen #2
Maxi flinched and backed away until her back bumped into rough bark. Stepping closer, Riftan cupped her breast and pressed his lips against hers. His thick tongue pushed past her lips and roamed her mouth.
The rain poured down their faces, their shoulders, their backs.
Leaves clung to their skin. It was the most primitive thing Maxi had ever experienced.
Picking off the leaves, Riftan kissed her cheek, her jaw, her eyelid.
Maxi breathed deeply, and the smell of rain and wet vegetation filled her lungs.
Lowering his head, Riftan licked the raindrops from her breast. Then, as if needing more, he hungrily began to suck on the tip.
It was like being caught in a storm in more ways than one.
She tore at his wet tunic as he squeezed her breasts up and peppered them with kisses one after the other before pulling his soaked tunic over his head.
Maxi’s eyes roamed over his smooth, marble-like shoulders.
The rain spattered over them, and white vapor rose from where his body met hers.
Her skin prickled. She wound her arms around his broad neck, and he responded by devouring her lips.
He slid his hand between her legs, and the moment she felt his fingers stroking her sensitive flesh, her body shook as though struck by lightning.
Maxi writhed beneath the overwhelming deluge of sensations.
Riftan growled. His face was contorted as though he were enduring unspeakable pain. “I can’t hold back any longer. I am truly…at my limits.”
His helpless gaze made Maxi shudder with the realization that his need was as powerful and all-encompassing as hers.
His finger slid deeper inside her, where it began to skillfully stoke the heat.
Maxi’s lips latched on to his shoulder as sporadic moans bubbled up.
Her limbs felt as though they were melting, and her nerves were so tightly strung that her body quivered at the smallest stimulation.
Riftan’s last bit of patience burned away at the sight of her sensitive reactions.
As if he could wait no longer, he yanked his trousers down and thrust into her.
Maxi let out a moan as he filled her. It felt as if a burning rod had entered her stomach.
Startled by the tightness, Maxi writhed even more, but Riftan held her against him and did not budge.
She felt like a mouse caught in a snake’s coil.
Clinging to his shoulders, Maxi gasped for air.
His sturdy thighs were taut against hers, and his muscle-hardened abdomen pressed against her soft stomach.
Soon, Riftan began to rock his hips. Maxi bounced up and down with only his arms holding her up.
Each time he drove into her, it caused a tingling deep within, and her lungs felt as though they would explode.
Her head was spinning. Raindrops seeped into her eyes and trickled down her cheeks.
For all she knew, they could have been tears of passion.
Maxi shook her head like a woman driven out of her mind.
“R-Riftan…”
Pushing her against the trunk, Riftan began to move faster, thrusting deeper into her.
Maxi was stretched to her limit. Unable to withstand it anymore, her body convulsed as she clung to him.
Riftan grabbed her hand and entwined his fingers with hers.
Finally, he grew rigid, and Maxi felt his lukewarm essence erupt within her.
The erotic sensation made her quiver. A sharp pleasure rippled through her, and it felt as if she would burst apart into tiny pieces.
“Damn it…” said Riftan, his chest heaving.
He still held her tightly. Exhausted, Maxi slumped against him and laid her head on his shoulder.
Strength refused to return to her legs as her thighs continued to convulse.
He carefully withdrew from her and scooped her up, pulling his trousers on with his other hand and wrapping his tunic over her body.
The rain had grown weaker, and now it pattered against their skin more gently. Riftan strode over to their tent with her still hoisted in his arms. Slowly regaining her senses, Maxi looked around nervously, but thankfully, the knights were nowhere to be seen.
Riftan shuffled into the tent on his knees and lowered her onto the bedroll. He did not seem to care that the cot he had carefully laid out for her was getting wet. He peeled off the soaked tunic and climbed on top of her.
“Let me have you one more time.” His eyes were clouded with desire. Planting a kiss on her breast, he positioned himself once more between her legs. She felt his thickness push deep inside her again.
Maxi sobbed pitifully. Sparks appeared above her as her most sensitive flesh was stimulated again so soon after her last pleasure.
Placing his elbows above her shoulders, Riftan lowered himself onto her and slowly began to move.
His large, rock-hard body enveloped her own.
Maxi bit down on his forearm to repress her moans, and his lips quivered, even that stinging sensation clearly bringing him pleasure.
“Goddammit…”
Soon, he began to move wildly, abandoning all restraint.
Dizzying ecstasy took hold of Maxi and stretched on and on.
Her climax was akin to torture. Maxi clawed and struck at Riftan like an enraged cat.
Riftan rained kisses over her lips, cheeks, and eyelids as if to soothe her while he continued to thrust inside her.
At length, his climax followed. Maxi tossed her head back as he drove inside her with such force that she thought her body might break. Her lungs felt close to bursting, her brain melted to a puddle. Her body tensed, then Maxi went limp.
Unable to keep her eyes open in the drowsy afterglow, Maxi felt darkness engulf her and fell immediately to sleep beneath her husband.
—
Maxi slowly opened her eyes again when she felt a wet towel wiping her body.
Darkness had fallen while she had been asleep.
She vacantly listened to the rain pelting down outside when she felt a hand sliding between her thighs.
She sat bolt upright, but Riftan immediately eased her back down onto the cot, gently wiping her feverish flesh with a cool towel.
“Lift your legs. I’ll help you dress.”
Watching his silhouette, Maxi followed his instructions. After helping her put on her undergarments, Riftan hoisted her upper body and helped her into a tunic as if she were a child. Maxi pulled the tunic down below her knees and lay down on the blanket again.
Riftan turned away from her and rummaged through his bag. “The rain has not let up, so we could not start a cookfire. Have this for now.”
Maxi gingerly accepted the fist-sized apple he held out to her. Setting etiquette aside, she munched on it without getting up. Riftan also fed her bite-size pieces of bread as though he were feeding a bird.
“We will be spending the night here and starting out again as soon as the rain stops.” He sat silently next to her with a leg stretched out in front. After a moment, he hesitatingly spoke again. “Do you feel all right?”
Maxi attempted to sit up but dropped back onto the cot with a groan. Her waist throbbed as though it were being stabbed, and the flesh between her thighs stung.
At a loss for what to do, Riftan massaged her waist. “Did I hurt you?”
“N-No, it was not painful. It was…just a bit…t-tiring.”
He released a sigh he had clearly been holding in. “Damn it. After all that time restraining myself…I truly did not intend for this to happen. I lost control….”
“You have been…r-restraining yourself?” Maxi asked in surprise.
Silence fell over them. Riftan, who had been sitting motionless in the dark, pinched her cheek playfully without warning. “How could you be so oblivious to a man going through torture right in front of you?”
Maxi’s mouth flew open at his accusation. She had always considered herself to be the keen and perceptive one between the two of them, while Riftan tended to be obtuse to women’s feelings. Rubbing her stinging cheek, Maxi glowered at him.
“It is you…wh-who has been strange! Wh-Who could have imagined that such a thing would be on your mind…after such an exhausting d-day? Moreover…I have n-not been…looking my best.”
Not looking her best was a delicate way of putting it. Her wind-blown hair was disheveled, her clothes were filthy, and her face was streaked with sweat. Who would have thought that he would feel desire at such an appalling sight?
Nonetheless, Riftan’s perspective was evidently different.
He rubbed his forehead with his palm. “Your face was flushed, your eyes sparkled, and your clothes clung to you, drenched in sweat. And your tousled hair…” He groaned and stared at the ceiling.
“This is the hardest campaign I have ever been on in my life.”
“I-I did not know that it was…so hard on you,” Maxi mumbled weakly after a brief silence.
She was no stranger to his virility, but she was stunned that he could feel such strong desire even in the middle of an exhausting march.
Was that the reason he had been sleeping outside their tent?
When she looked back up at him, Riftan sighed and pulled the blanket over her.
“I was going to restrain myself until the end. I know that it is hard for you to keep up with us, so I should have just let you rest….” He swore under his breath. “I must have lost my mind.”
“I-I did not…dislike it. I-I was surprised…but…I-I still liked it.” Maxi’s face turned crimson at her own words.
They were not empty reassurance. The idea that he was so taken with her that he could not hold back made her happy.
She would never forget the way he looked at her in the rain as long as she lived.
For the first time in her life, Maxi felt like a stunning beauty. It was a scary but thrilling moment she knew she would never experience again. She reached out and caressed his forearm, and Riftan lay down beside her. He pulled her into his arms.