Total pages in book: 114
Estimated words: 107756 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 539(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107756 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 539(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
I narrowed my eyes at him. “I am not embarrassed.”
“Truly? Then come here. Without the sheet.”
My mouth dropped open. “I cannot possibly!”
“Why not?”
“Because…” I did not have any reason—other than embarrassment. So I was silent, and he chuckled, going to the door.
“Your clothes!” I gasped, holding the sheet tightly.
He stuck his head out the door, and I could not see to whom he spoke, but he reached out the slightly ajar door. He retrieved a pitcher, still naked as the day he was born. He then walked to the table and poured the hot water into the basin already there. He glanced over his shoulder at me, the steam of the water rising beside him. “Come. We shall clean off as they prepare the bath.”
“How long have you truly been awake to prepare all of this?” I asked.
“Not much preparation was required. I informed the staff to have water prepared for the morning after,” he replied.
“So this is common practice?”
“I would not say that, either. More so a desire of my own,” he said.
“A desire of yours?”
“For you to stand before me, in all your glory, as I clean you.” He glanced up at me. “Will you allow me?”
Never had I heard of such a thing, but then again, there was much I had not heard of. So I nodded and stepped closer to him.
“Release the sheet,” he commanded. I paused for a moment before doing so, now standing before him as naked as he stood before me.
He stared down at my eyes, watching over me hungrily. He so enraptured me that I was startled by the wet cloth upon my skin. Neither of us said a word as he brushed my hair to one side to clean my neck and across my shoulder before reaching my breasts and fondling them. My mouth parted. He leaned forward and kissed them gently before continuing, every so often rewetting the cloth.
“Part your legs,” he commanded. I did, biting my lips as he washed me. All the while, he did not look away from my face. “You look aroused, wife.”
“Is that not because you are seeking to arouse me?”
“I merely sought an excuse to see and touch your whole body in the light of day, forever engraving the sight in my memory. I have dreamed of doing this many times.” He kissed the space between my shoulder and neck, causing me to shiver. “It is even more torturous in reality.”
“Torturous?”
“Can you not see?” he asked.
“See what?”
He bit back a smile, tilting his head to the side. “Do you wish to learn something of a man today? I will not tell you should you not wish to know.”
“Free me from ignorance,” I replied.
He inhaled and said, “Look and see how I rose for you.”
I glanced down, seeing his manhood now high. “And what is the lesson in this?”
“Nothing more than a sign that I very much desire you again,” he replied, stepping closer. “When all of me is longing with need, I rise, begging for relief in you. This is painfully aching.”
“Should you allow yourself to remain in such agony?” I asked, feeling a burn trembling within me.
“I wish not, but you are—”
I kissed his lips gently. “I desire more of last night. Might I have it?”
Dropping the cloth and lifting me, he took me back to the bed, then hovered above me, kissing the side of my face before bringing his kiss to my ear. “You may have anything you desire in abundance, my love.”
I quivered.
Oh, how much better this was than dreams.
20
Aphrodite
It was difficult to enjoy the scenery with the pressure of his gaze upon me. “Stop looking at me like that.”
“Like what?”
“Like you are…thinking of doing something you should not,” I replied, shifting in my seat.
“I know not what you mean, as this is how I have always looked at you,” he said with a smirk upon his lips and his eyes glancing the length of my figure. “The only difference now must be you.”
“Me?”
“Yes, I do believe you have been corrupted, my love.” He chuckled. “You have learned a lot the past two weeks, have you not?”
My mouth dropped open. But I could not disagree with him. He had often looked at me like this before, I just had not realized what the gaze meant at the time. Now I was very well aware that when he grew silent and relaxed, and his eyes wandered over me, and there was a slight uptick in the corner of his lips, my clothes would soon be gone. He had said he wished me not to feel as if I had been moved from one estate to another. Therefore, we had taken a great many detours throughout our journey. Sitting under trees, visiting other towns. Never had I felt so free. Finally, we were to reach Everely. Yet still another full two days later than we planned—why? Because we ended up extending our stay several more hours to indulge in each other. Long gone was the pain of the first time. Now I was engulfed in waves of passion to the point where it felt like a sickness, but the most enjoyable kind.