“Please,” she said. “Don’t stop.”
“But I must. Or I will not be able to. I fear I have overestimated my control.”
“But you said you’d kiss me everywhere. And if other places feel as good as…as that did…”
“They will feel better. But I cannot.”
“Raven.” She breathed, inhaling, exhaling, her heart thudding. If he didn’t put his lips back on her, she feared she might die an untimely death. “Please.”
“You test my strength.” He brushed her cheek in a soft kiss. “I will try to please you.”
Thank God. Ella closed her eyes. The swish of soft fabric tickled her thighs as Raven removed first her dress and chemise and then her drawers, shoes, and stockings. The soft night breeze caressed her bare skin.
Bare skin? Goodness, what had she been thinking? Her eyes flew open. Raven’s head bobbed between her legs. When had she spread them? This was most unseemly. She opened her mouth to protest, but gasped as his tongue touched her. There.
He looked up. “Tehila?”
What did one say? What could one say? He was looking at her secret place. He was kissing it. “Raven.”
“You are so beautiful, Ella. Every part of you. Do not be afraid.”
“I-I’m not afraid.”
“You wanted me to kiss you everywhere.”
“Yes, but I didn’t think you meant—”
His chuckle reverberated against her folds, sending chills throughout her body. “Do you wish me to stop?”
He lapped at her again and she nearly flew off the ground. No, her mind demanded. No. Do not stop.
“N-No, Raven. I…it feels…so…” She groaned as he licked her again. Sensation danced within her. Fear. Pleasure. Want. Need.
She felt, more than heard, the soft words he murmured into her core. “Beautiful… Wet… So lovely…” Then words she couldn’t understand. And then his lips clamped onto a spot that made her convulse with a joy so rapturous, so pure, she thought she had soared out of her skin and into the heavens themselves.
From the ground she heard herself sobbing his name, and from somewhere deep within her body, she felt him breach that most private part of her with his finger, moving it in slow circles inside her until she flew even higher.
After moments of mindless bliss, she opened her eyes and found Raven’s face next to hers.
“My beautiful Ella,” he said. “I must take you back now. To your cabin. If I do not, I will take your maidenhood.”
“M-My maidenhood?” Ella squirmed, still feeling the glow of her flight to the stars. Yet she knew there was more to share with Raven. And she wanted it. She wanted it all.
“Yes, my love. I want to come inside your body. Make you mine. But I cannot. Not until you consent to be my wife.”
“Y-Your wife?”
“Yes. I will not take what is not mine.”
“B-But, Raven. I want you to. I-I need you to.” Ella looked into the black eyes of this beautiful man who seemed to recognize her soul. He was hers. Her destiny. Why hadn’t she seen it before? “I will be your wife, Raven. I want nothing more.”
“Tehila,” he groaned, and then locked his mouth onto hers in a searing kiss.
Ella kissed him back with a passion she had only now uncovered. The passion of a woman in love. He tasted different, tangy, and she warmed as she realized she tasted the nectar of her own body. He fumbled on top of her, removed his buckskins, and within seconds his hardness probed for entrance.
“Tehila,” he whispered, kissing her ear. “Are you certain?”
“Yes, Raven. Please.”