Page 42 of Summer

“Hmm,” she says, still watching me carefully. She looks as though she wants to say something but doesn’t. Instead, she takes another step toward me so we are nearly touching, her fingers sliding along my sleeve.

“Do not think you can hide for long,” she whispers, her voice low and husky. “You will be unhappy as long as you ignore your needs. You deserve happiness after taking care of everyone else.”

My throat is suddenly dry, my lips parted to say something, but words don’t come. Summer seizes on my stunned silence and presses her lips to mine, a soft kiss, coaxing. Her fingers continue to trail up my sleeve to my jaw. I grip her tightly, pulling her flush against my body. I want these stupid dresses off, I need to get rid of this barrier between us.

“Do you need help undressing, my lady?” she asks into my mouth.

I laugh, even as my entire body clenches with desire. “Yes,” I say.

When she moves away from me, I groan at her loss, turning so she can help me out of my dress. She pushes my hair aside, placing a kiss to the exposed flesh of my neck before working through the various ties. Layer by layer, she strips me, taking slow care, her fingers tracing my bare flesh. Then I am naked before her, and she steps back, her gaze raking me hungrily. I want to rip her dress off, but she stops me, a small smile on her face.

“Let me take care of you,” she says. Instead of approaching me, she turns for my bathing chamber, and I’m confused when I hear the faucet for the bath turn on. Is she really running a bath?

I peer into my bathing suite, finding her testing the water with her hand. Satisfied, she places the stopper and leans back, motioning for me. “Come – get in the bath.”

“Are you going to join me?” I ask.

“In due time,” she agrees, a devilish smile on her face.

I regard her curiously, stepping into the bath and sinking into the warm water. She turns it off when it’s nearly full, then moves to stand behind me. I try to turn and watch her, but she clucks her tongue.

“Relax,” she tells me, and I sink into the water. It’s the perfect warmth, and she’s added some of my salts to the water to make it smell divine. She’s removed a few layers of her dress, leaving her arms bare as she kneels behind me. Her bare fingers pass over my collarbones, then move back along my neck to knead the flesh there. It feels exquisite, her fingers strong and knowing as they work into my shoulders, my neck.

She works her way up the base of my neck to my hair, moving to my scalp. I groan, my eyelids fluttering at the sensation. I’ve been bathed before, but no one has ever attended to me like this.

She massages my hair, my scalp, my shoulders, my neck, working shampoos and soaps and conditioners into my aching body. She washes my hair, conditions it, detangles it – each with such care, such attention.

The water pitches as she steps into the water, now naked. My gaze snags on her body, her sharp edges erased by the weeks of food and activity. She grabs a sponge and continues to wash me, this time my front. She alternates the sponge and her fingers, digging into my muscles, cleaning off my body.

Summer focuses on my breast, taking her time to lavish each one with attention, her fingers tweaking my nipples until they’re hard and straining. She slides between my thighs, spreading them for her. Her hands trail up my legs under the water.

She watches my face as her hands move higher up my thighs, stopping just before my pussy. Her thumb presses against the sensitive bud of my clit, and I groan, my hips jerking toward her. She slips one finger inside me, and there’s no resistance. I’m so relaxed, my body loose yet taut with need. One finger isn’t enough; I need more.

She watches my face as she inserts a second, her thumb still pressing on my clit, driving me toward my orgasm. I jerk my hips in rhythm with her pumping, trying to drive her deeper, trying to have her thumb press a little harder on my clit.

All I can see is her – moisture clinging to her eyelashes in the humid bathroom, her hair stuck to her cheeks which flush. The look in her eyes is unmistakable – she wants me. Not my brother, not my friends – me. There’s no one else in those eyes except me.

Then her mouth is against mine, her teeth raking my lip, bruising me with that need. She tests another finger but it’s too much and somehow not enough. I come hard, my fingers clinging to her shoulders, pulling her into me like a lifeline.

I need every inch of her pressed to me, her fingers deep in my pussy, her mouth devouring mine. She doesn’t pull away, her lips never stopping their soft caress of mine even as they’ve opened to cry out. She swallows the garbled mess of my words, nipping my lips, covering me with her body.

My head lulls back as I come down. Summer hovers over me, her dark eyes boring into mine. She slips from between my thighs, her fingers leaving me, and I groan at the loss.

The loss. Like her leaving in a few short weeks, never to be seen again.

She shifts, pulling me into her arms, my body loose and malleable in her hold. My head rests against her chest, feeling every beat of her heart. Even if she stayed, it couldn’t be like this. Aaoric would need heirs, there…

“Shhh,” Summer coos, her fingers digging into my neck again. “Save tomorrow’s problems for tomorrow,” she says softly.

Tomorrow.

Tomorrow, I’ll worry over this ache in my chest at the thought of Summer leaving.

Tomorrow, I’ll worry about my mother’s plan to marry me off.

Tomorrow…

Her fingers press, more insistent, and it drives all thought from my head. She kisses the top of my head, and I relax, sleep pressing against the edges of my vision.