Page 10 of The Countess's Awakening (The Lovers’ Arch #3)

CHAPTER 10

H is fortitude was being tested. There was no doubt in his mind. He would have to lower Esther into the bath while she wore nothing more than her shift. Her shift which would turn transparent when wet.

How could he resist that? Especially after that kiss. His lips still tingled, and his blood hummed with desire for her.

He had arranged for transportation quickly enough, and now he lingered in the corridor, waiting for the maid to exit Esther’s room.

When the girl departed, he approached the door and knocked.

“Enter!” Esther called, and he turned the knob and slid into the room.

He thought he had braced for the task, but nothing could have prepared him for the sight of Esther covered by a towel and wearing absolutely nothing underneath.

He swallowed hard. “You are naked under that towel.”

“I couldn’t very well get in the bath wearing my shift. I need it to be dry so I can wear it again.” She pointed toward the fireplace, where presumably the maid had laid out her garments in front of the fire.

“Right, of course. Let’s get you into the bath then, before it gets cold or you catch a chill.”

He removed his sodden coat and placed it by the fire, then rolled up his sleeves as he went to her. Placing his arms under her legs and behind her back, he lifted her. The same way he had done countless times. Except now he was painfully aware of her nakedness. He walked the couple of steps toward the bath and lowered her into the steaming water.

He intended to place her in the bath and turn his back. Leave the room while she bathed. He would not look. No matter how tempted he was, he would not—

She dropped the towel that covered her.

He froze. Unable to stop himself from staring at her beautiful, round, soft breasts. Milky white with rosy-pink areolas. They beckoned him. His hands fisted to prevent themselves from reaching out and molding the pliant mounds.

“Esther,” he croaked, her name a plea. “What are you doing?”

“I can hardly bathe while covered with the towel, can I?” she replied innocently.

He finally tore his gaze from her breasts to meet her eyes. “You are torturing me.” The confession seemed torn out of him.

Her hand came up to cradle his face, brushed back the unruly lock of hair that continually fell over his brow.

“It’s not my intention to torture you. In fact, the opposite is true. Maybe we can find solace together.”

He scrunched his eyes. Her offer was the most generous, tempting, miraculous… and he couldn’t accept it.

He made a last desperate attempt at honor. “I don’t want to take advantage.”

“You are not, Kai. You have done nothing to take advantage. In fact, I am doing the seducing. Although I’m not very good at it. But I’m not an innocent girl with a reputation to protect. I’m a widow of advanced years. We enjoy a lot more freedom. Society wouldn’t raise a brow if I took a lover.”

His hand surrendered to the temptation, skimming softly up her arm, over her shoulder. “Have you ever taken a lover?”

She frowned. “Well, no. I was married before. You would be the first. In fact, you are the only one I would consider because we are friends, and I trust you.” Her gaze lowered in the last word, and she lifted the washcloth to cover her breasts, as if suddenly bashful. “But perhaps I am the one who is taking advantage. Perhaps I misjudged—”

“No.” The single word exploded out of his chest. Nothing could be crueler than to let her think, even for a moment, that he didn’t want her. “Esther, I want you so much I can barely breathe, let alone think.”

She still looked doubtful and embarrassed. Her earlier bravado had deserted her.

“Do you need proof of my desire? Here.”

Taking her hand in his, he skimmed it down his body. Slowly, so that she could halt the movement, snatch her hand back, utter a protest, if she so wished. She did none of those things as he guided her hand towards his crotch, where it closed over his hard-as-iron rod.

A small moan escaped her lips, sealing their fate. There was nothing that could stop him from making love to this woman.***She already knew his hands were wonderful. His touch had always produced profound relief and forbidden pleasure. But when he touched her as a lover, with the intention to arouse, she thought her mind might melt from the wonderful sensations.He had moved behind her. Her head rested on his chest as he used the soap to lather his hands. When he had worked a good lather, his slippery palms wandered along her chest, drawing circles around her breasts, avoiding the aching peaks until she was arching into his touch, grasping his wrists to guide him over her tightly furled nipples that begged for stimulation. Her ragged moan when his palms rubbed over her nipples drew a low, wicked chuckle from him. Confirming what she already knew; he had known all along what she craved and was tormenting her by delaying her pleasure.

The rhythmic circles he rubbed against her aching peaks sent tendrils of sensation to her core, making her intimate flesh throb with want. She squirmed, begging for more even as she feared the storm of desire that was brewing inside her.

And still he rubbed her nipples, in no apparent hurry to move.

“Kai, please…” she moaned. Unsure what to ask for. She never wanted this wonderful teasing to end, but didn’t know how much longer she could take it. She would self-combust at this rate.

“You have such beautiful breasts, Esther. And they are so sensitive,” he murmured against her ear, his hot breath caressing her and raising goosebumps along her nape. “I wonder if I could make you come just from touching your breasts.”

“No,” she pleaded. “This is too much… I need more.”

Even in her delirious state, she knew her words were contradictory, but he seemed to understand what she wanted. His hands increased the rhythm, rubbing over her over-sensitized peaks with increased speed, and her breathing became fractured. Her head thrashed from side to side against his hard chest.

“Touch your pussy,” he commanded. When she didn’t immediately obey, too lost in the sensations to discern his meaning, he bit the rim of her ear. “Now.”

In a daze, she slid her hand down, parted her folds that felt swollen and sensitive, even though he had not touched them yet. Using only one finger, she slid up to tease her pearl. The moment she rubbed that place of excruciating pleasure, everything in her tensed and a warm tide of pleasure flooded her. She was rising, rising on that glorious feeling… Her nipples, her pearl, everything was feeding the conflagration inside her, winding her tighter, lifting her higher.

Kai pinched both her nipples with exquisite pressure while biting on the rim of her ear.

She shattered.

And then shattered again. Waves of pleasure kept buffeting her relentlessly. Sparkling spots danced behind her closed eyelids while she gasped and thrashed in the water. She heard her own moans and keening cries as if from a distance, her ears buzzed. Then she was flying…

No, not flying. Kai had hoisted her from the tub in a swift motion, bringing her to the bed and depositing her in the middle of the mattress. Then a soft towel, warm from the fire, descended over her. His hands, efficient and practiced, ran over her body, rubbing her dry, and eliciting more sensation everywhere they touched.

When he was satisfied that she was dry enough, he covered her with his body, warming her with his heat, kissing her so deeply, as if he wanted to possess her soul.

She savored his desire, his passion, and reveled in it. She tugged his shirt free of his trousers, slid her hands under the fabric to caress his naked back. The muscles there shifted as if her touch had the power to arouse them to life.

His lips left her mouth, painting a trail of fire down her neck, along the center of her chest, detouring briefly to flick one exhausted nipple that nevertheless stood in readiness at his attention. He had the power to command her body, to play it at his will like a virtuoso musician drew music from his favorite instrument.

But he didn’t dally on her breast. His mouth continued lower, skating over her belly, nuzzling the dark fuzz at the juncture of her thighs. He parted her legs with a decisive movement and then settled in the cradle he had created.

His warm breath wafted over her sensitized flesh, eliciting tingles of excitement even before his mouth, hot and humid, descended on her eager flesh. The first swipe of his tongue had her crying out in surprised pleasure. Climbing again towards that peak from where he had already made her jump.

“Such a delicious quim,” he muttered between the licks and sucks of his mouth. “You cannot know how much I’ve fantasized about having you like this.” Another lick, a deep suckle. “Tasting your arousal right from your fountain.”

Oh, good God, how could she be ready to climax again so soon after such an intense orgasm? But his mouth was relentless. He licked, sucked, kissed. Tormented. While his fingers parted her folds to give himself better access to her flesh, he penetrated her with his tongue, tearing a gasp from her throat. Her hands tangled in his hair, grasping handfuls, scratching his scalp as he continued his relentless ministrations.

Once again, she felt the delicious tingles of an approaching climax, felt her womanly parts tightening, winding, eager for the explosion of pleasure that would follow. She chased it this time, greedy for more. Reassured that he would catch her in his powerful arms.

A series of rapid flicks over her button, followed by a languorous swirl, catapulted her over the edge. She almost laughed with the sheer joy of flying unfettered, but it came out as a strangled cry.

In the aftermath of desire, she lay trembling and spent. His head pillowed on her belly, her hands lazily tunneling through his locks.

But no amount of languor could make her forget that her selfless lover was still aroused and unsatisfied. Tugging on his hair, she urged him to look up.

“Your turn now. Come here.”

He shook his head. “I’m fine. We don’t need to… This is enough for me.”

“Absolutely not!” She rose on one elbow, pulling at his shirt. “Remove this. Remove all your clothes. I want you naked. On top of me. Skin to skin.”

***A shudder of desire went through him at her words. He could do nothing but comply. Standing from the bed, he removed his shirt, trousers, and smalls with alacrity, then stood naked in front of her. Her gaze roved over him, and she licked her lips. Her unabashed perusal fanned the flames of his already inflamed desire.

“I don’t want to hurt you.” His voice was a tortured rasp.

“You won’t. No one has ever touched me with more gentleness and care than you.”

He shook his head. “That was as a doctor. As a man, my passion is raw, primitive, all-consuming.”

Her eyes flared as her lips parted. “Is that supposed to deter me? Because it’s having the opposite effect.”

The blatant arousal in her gaze had him growling. The beast in him strained its fragile tether. “I want you rather violently, Esther.”

Her arms extended towards him, inviting him to join her. It was an invitation he couldn’t refuse. He slid into the bed, his body settling gently on top of hers. But Esther would allow no hesitation. Her hands skated down his back, pushed down on his backside, bringing their pelvises together with exquisite heat. Unable to stop himself, he rubbed his aching cock in the ample moisture of her cleft. Hooking a hand behind her knees, he opened her legs farther and was rewarded by her moan of pleasure.

“Take me, Kai. Hold nothing back. I’m not a fragile flower. I’m a woman. A woman who hasn’t felt like one in a very long time. Until now. Until you. Please make me feel.”

With a guttural groan that seemed to emanate from his heart, he notched his cock at her entrance and slid in. Inch by wonderful inch, he sank his aching rod into her. Her slick flesh received him eagerly, enveloping him like a well-fitted glove, surrounding him in heat and mind-numbing pleasure.

Then he moved. Slowly at first. Deep, measured strokes designed to allow her flesh to mold to his. But soon passion took over, demanding urgency. Craving completion.

He took her mouth, intent on claiming all of hers at once. He wanted to drown in her. They were as close as two human beings could be, joined in the most intimate of ways, his flesh within her flesh, their mouths fusing, sliding, tongues dueling and then caressing. And it still wasn’t enough. He wanted to meld their bodies, become one.

Her hands at his arse pressed him tighter, urged him deeper, before they slid up his back again, and pulled him closer. He had been holding the weight of his body on his elbows, but at her urging, he couldn’t resist. He lowered his chest to lie fully on top of her, her soft breasts the perfect cushion to his hardness. His arms circled her torso, snaking between her back and the mattress, holding her to him with a force just short of bruising, while his hips pistoned a constant, punishing rhythm into her body. But she didn’t retreat. Didn’t ask for mercy. Her cries in between kisses were of more, yes, and the best of all, his name, which she said like an incantation.

When one of his hands lowered, slid under her bottom, and raised her, changing the angle of his penetration, her mouth tore from his in a surprised gasp, then a low, keening sound emanated from her, her hands at his backside digging into his flesh. He captured her gaze, letting her see the storm, inviting her to get swept away with it.

And she did.

“Kai,” she panted. “I think I’m going… it’s coming, I’m coming. It’s too strong…”

“Yes! Shatter in my arms, Esther. I’ll catch you. I’ll hold you…”

The powerful contractions of her pussy around his cock made his eyes roll back with pleasure, almost squeezed his seed out of him. He held back by sheer force of will, every muscle in his body tensed against the climax that was crashing upon him like a tsunami. Only after the last of her contractions faded, and she went limp with satisfaction beneath him, did he rip himself from the heaven of her body to spill against her stomach. The spasms of his cock made his entire frame shake as he muffled his groans of release against her neck.

He forced his arms to relax from the bruising grip he had on her. Not that she was complaining. She was calmly stroking his back, carefully avoiding his wound, looking at him with the soft expression of a woman well-pleasured. And yet he had been too forceful.

“Are you all right?” he rasped.

Her smile was soft, dreamy. “Never better.” She brushed his hair off his forehead. “You look deliciously rumpled.”

He chuckled. “I feel rumpled. Like I’ve been tossed about by a storm.”

“I know what you mean, but it was a storm of our own making.”

He gave her one last, lingering kiss before he turned and jumped out of bed. Walking to the bath, he retrieved the washing cloth and, after dipping it into the still warm water, came back to the bed to clean her belly.

She lay passive under his ministrations, observing him as if pondering something before saying. “That was very considerate of you, but you needn’t have bothered…leaving.”

His mind was still sluggish, for he frowned in incomprehension as he quickly washed himself before returning to the bed.

“Withdrawing. Before spilling. I know why you did it. To protect me from pregnancy. But there’s no need. I’m too old to conceive.”

He stared at her for two seconds. “I don’t know your age, but you don’t appear old enough for that.”

“I’m two and forty,” she insisted.

He slid into the bed, drew the covers over their bodies, and hooking an arm around her waist, pulled her against him. She turned on her side to face him.

“Some women can still bear children well into their fourth decade,” he explained calmly.

“Well, I’m not one of them. I’m past my childbearing years.”

She looked away, and high color bloomed on her cheeks. With her shiny brown hair mused by their vigorous lovemaking, her rosy cheeks, and lips swollen by his kisses, she looked adorable, and younger than her age. Was she saying…?

“When did you last have your courses?”

She turned a violent red and threw an arm over her face to cover it. “That’s an intimate matter!”

Her reaction was answer enough, but he needed confirmation. This was too important. “More intimate than what we just did?”

She peered at him from under her arm. “That’s different. What we did was sublime. My…situation is just mortifying.”

He gently picked up her arm and lowered it from her face. “It’s not. It’s a fact of life and part of a woman’s life cycle. I don’t wish to embarrass you, but you are actually young to not have your menses. Each woman is different, of course, but it usually happens a few years later.”

Her smile was strained. “There you have it, then. I’m aging ahead of my time. Before long, I shall be an old hag.”

This time she turned away from him and buried her face in the pillow. He caressed her shoulder, her delicate arm. Leaned in to place a kiss on her neck. “You are not. In your case, your injury may have caused the early cessation. Did it happen after your accident?”

“Shortly after,” she muttered.

“So you haven’t had your courses for years.”

“No.”

“And do you feel well otherwise?”

She nodded her head.

Intense relief flooded him. For him, it was the best possible scenario. But how could he reassure her and make her feel as the vibrant woman that she was? How to convince her that this was for the best? His biggest worry was the possibility of a pregnancy. The danger that would put her in… No, better not think about that.

“Regardless of the cause, it doesn’t define you. Look at it this way: you are still a young and beautiful woman. Capable of feeling and inspiring desire. Now you are free to enjoy sex without having to worry about pregnancy or the risks of childbirth.”

“I was never beautiful. Not even in my younger years,” she mumbled against her pillow.

He smiled against her shoulder. “Fishing for compliments?”

She gasped, outrage at the accusation making her turn to face him. “I was not! I’m merely stating a fact.”

“It’s not a fact. It’s your opinion, with which I wholeheartedly disagree. Not only me.” He rubbed into her hip, making her aware of his renewed arousal. “My rod seems to find you irresistible. Esther, I’m almost fifty years of age, and you have me as randy as a lad of eighteen.”

Her eyes widened as he pulled her against him, insinuating one of his thighs between hers.

“You want to do it again?” she asked.

She didn’t sound horrified at the prospect. More like intrigued. He dotted kisses along her shoulder, up the side of her neck, nibbled her ear. His hardening cock turned to iron.

“Only if you wish. I’m more than up to the task.”

She giggled. “I can see that.” She reached down and wrapped her fingers around him, making him groan with desire. “What do you call this in Chinese?”

She wanted a linguistic lesson now? He could barely think straight with her wonderful fingers squeezing him.

“It has several names,” he croaked. “ Lóng gēn. ”

“Hmm, long.” She wiggled her eyebrows. “It’s definitely fitting.”

He could not believe he could laugh at a moment like this, but a bark of laughter surprised him at her naughtiness.

“It means Dragon’s Root.”

Now it was her turn to laugh. “Rather grandiose, don’t you think?”

“Maybe you would prefer to call it my jī,” he whispered against her ear. “That means chicken.”

“Definitely not a chicken. Perhaps a cock,” Esther suggested with a smirk.

He grinned back at her. “What about yù zhàng? Jade Staff.”

Another squeeze, another tug. She was caressing him with a rhythmic motion that was driving him insane. “I like that. It does look like a staff.”

He groaned and sealed her mouth with a kiss, determined to prove how desirable she was, and how much his cock wanted to become more acquainted with her kitty .