Page 28

“ Y ou’re leaving?” Lucretia asked when Felix told her of his upcoming journey. They were, once again, sequestered in his dining room, accompanied only by a few steaming platters of food and a pair of gently flickering candelabra. “For how long?”

He shouldn’t have been so gratified at the disappointment in her voice. “Two weeks or so, if there are no delays. It should take about three days to reach my sister’s home. She and her husband live near my mother and stepfather, outside of Spoletium. Are you familiar with the area?”

He couldn’t help asking: if her guardian lived near there, she must know something of the vicinity.

But she shook her head. “No, my family is from the south. I’ve never been that far inland.”

Well, that was somewhat interesting. He stopped himself from prying further. Given their truce, it was of no concern to him.

Besides, she was now lifting her dress to her waist, which thoroughly distracted him from all thoughts of Spoletium or guardians or anything but the fast-growing ache in his cock.

She slid into his lap, soft thighs clasping his hips. His hands sank into the flesh of her bottom, pulling her closer.

“Mm,” she breathed, giving a little rub against him which made him groan. “I think you’re ready for a more advanced lesson.”

“Advanced…?” His mouth went dry at her words and her closeness. Could this be…did she mean…

He’d been growing increasingly desperate to bed her, to know what it felt like to slide into the tight, slick clasp of her body. He hadn’t wanted to press her on it; he understood she might prefer to avoid that particular act due to the risk of pregnancy.

She dragged a finger down his lips. “Utilizing these.”

“We’ve already covered kissing.” He extended his tongue to lick the tip of her finger.

A pleasing flush rose to her cheeks. “Utilizing these…somewhere else.” Her gaze swept downward, and he started to understand.

“You want me to kiss you…here?” He palmed the warm place between her legs, which made her arch against his hand.

She nodded, hands tightening on his shoulders.

Despite the immediate surge of interest that made his cock twitch, he hesitated.

“Is that, er, something people do? Something men do?” Though he wasn’t personally experienced in these matters, he had listened to other men discuss their carnal endeavors.

He’d gotten the impression that using one’s mouth to pleasure another, whether male or female, was something only slaves or courtesans did.

Lucretia raised an eyebrow. “It can be something you do.”

“But is it, I mean, proper?”

She gave him a cheeky grin. “I’m not sure anything we’ve done is considered proper. Are you looking for special dispensation from Caesar Augustus himself?”

“You know what I mean.”

“I don’t, actually. Tell me.” She climbed off his lap, coming to sit on the couch next to him.

He shrugged, embarrassment crawling over his skin. “I’ve heard people say it will give you bad breath or rot your teeth.”

She chuckled. “Did you ever notice that Cornelius’s teeth were particularly affected?”

“ He did that?”

“Occasionally.”

“Hmm.” Felix reevaluated what he’d heard about performing such acts.

He’d never known anyone who actually admitted to it, but he’d always respected Cornelius.

And perhaps he felt a tiny jolt of competitiveness toward Lucretia’s dead husband, over something entirely different from their old business rivalry… “I suppose we could try it.”

His hesitant words belied his eagerness. Once, after being inside her, he’d furtively tasted his fingers, and the sweet, musky savor sent a pang of desire straight to his groin.

She rolled her eyes as she lay back on the couch. “If you don’t like it, we need not continue.”

“I have a feeling I’ll like it,” he muttered, half to himself as her legs spread before him.

He was familiar with the sight of her quim by now, but it never failed to scramble his mind and reduce his thoughts to little more than pulsing need.

He trailed his fingers up the insides of her silky thighs, relishing her shiver as he did so.

He loved eliciting reactions from her—a shiver, a sigh, a catch of her breath…

“You know the basic principles,” she said, her voice taking on that husky tone he’d learned meant she was aroused. “You just need to apply them in a different way.”

He attempted to clear his mind of the haze of lust and focus on the task at hand. These lessons were made markedly more difficult than any other subject he’d tried to learn by the constant throbbing in his groin, the itch of desire crawling over every bit of his skin.

He forced himself to survey her beautiful, pink quim with as much academic detachment as he could muster. He knew what to do with his hands to make her shudder and quake. He only had to figure out how to replicate that with his mouth, his lips, his tongue.

He leaned close, inhaling her drugging fragrance. Oh, that was good. Why were other men so determined to warn each other off this singular pleasure?

His tongue flicked out and licked down one of her folds. She let out a sigh, and one of her hands caressed the back of his head, fingers tangling in his hair. He continued exploring her with his mouth, reveling in the plush softness and heady taste of her.

His tongue found her entrance, and he couldn’t resist lapping at the dampness that had already gathered.

She shifted beneath him, thighs clasping on either side of his head.

In this position, his entire universe was consumed by her—her feel, her smell, her taste.

Nothing else existed but the way she twitched and gasped, and his urge to drive her higher, higher until she gave in to the frenzy of pleasure.

“Up,” she demanded, voice breathy but insistent. “Move up.”

He chuckled against her. He knew exactly what she wanted, and he loved when she got like this—an enticing combination of begging and commanding.

For now, he decided to give her what she wanted. Or at least attempt to, given his untested skills in this area.

He dragged his mouth higher, finding the swollen nub at her center. He swirled his tongue around it, clumsily attempting to replicate how his fingers moved against her. “Like that?” he murmured.

“Try using your lips instead.” Her fingers wove in and out of his hair, the sensation soothing and stimulating at the same time.

He closed his lips around her, drawing her into his mouth.

“Yes,” she hissed. “Like that.”

Felix braced his hands around her thighs as he continued to work her with gentle suction. He experimented with swiping his tongue over her at the same time and was rewarded with a moan.

He kept doing that, and her hand in his hair clenched tighter and tighter.

Felix lifted his head. “Am I doing it right?” He was fairly sure he was, but it was always satisfying to hear her say it.

“Don’t stop,” she panted, so he put his mouth back to work.

Soon, she was shuddering beneath him, hips writhing and bucking. He had to curl a hand around her thigh to hold her in place. “Yes,” he growled. “Come for me, Lucretia.”

She moaned his name as the climax took her, and the sound sent a burst of possessive pride through him. He would never get tired of satisfying her—not if their arrangement lasted for months, or years.

Her grasp on his hair loosened, and her hand fell slack against the cushion. She was breathing hard, flushed, her lips parted and her eyes glazed with residual pleasure. Felix drew her skirt back over her legs so she wouldn’t get cold.

Instinct urged him to gather her into his arms, but he hesitated.

They’d briefly embraced that way after their last encounter, until she gently rebuffed him when he’d asked her to stay the night.

He wouldn’t make that mistake again, but he still longed for her closeness, especially knowing they were about to be parted for at least two weeks.

The prospect of weeks without her eroded his restraint. He lay down on the couch next to her, then slid an arm around her waist and gathered her to him. She curled into him, resting her head on his chest, her weight warm and limp.

He let out a long, slow sigh. Suddenly, going on this trip was the last thing in the world he wanted to do.

If it had been a business trip, he would have found a reason to delay or sent Siro in his place.

He had a duty to his family, though, and he did want to celebrate the birth of his niece.

But at this moment, with Lucretia’s warmth surrounding him, her scent imprinted into his mind, the thought of two weeks without her felt impossible.