Page 34 of A Tale of Mirth & Magic

“This?” I said, planting another kiss on the soft skin of her stomach.

“No, your hands,” she said. “My muscles are so sore from riding.”

“From riding my leg? You were going at it quite intensely,” I murmured with a smile. Shifting my hands to better massage her tight thigh muscles, I focused on the task, trying to ignore her bare pussy a few inches away.

She snorted. “No, from the horse. I haven’t ridden in a while. Beginning to think it was a mistake.”

Elikki groaned again, flopping back on the bed as I found a particularly tender spot. Working it away, I then moved slowly down her legs, massaging as I went. I kissed every thigh dimple I found. Her calf muscles were sculpted and firm from walking. My thumbs rubbed away knots and loosened the tight muscles.

When I got to her feet, Elikki’s blissed-out groans and mumbles reached a new level.

“Ohhhh, fuckkkk. Barra, yes, yes, that spot.”

After who knows how long, she quieted. I continued massaging, more gently now. It made me so happy to see her like this, cared for and calm. I would do this for hours, every day, if that’s what she wanted.

Propping herself up again, she grinned lazily at me. “That. Was. Incredible. I can’t remember the last time someone did that for me.”

She paused, thinking. “Well, a couple months ago. At a winter festival up north for the moon goddess. But that guy just did the feet. Think he had a bit of a fetish.”

“I can’t blame him,” I said, kissing the arch of her left foot. She shivered, smiling.

Elikki sat up and reached for me. I let her pull me in, and she hooked her legs around the backs of my thighs. Skating her palms lightly over my bare chest, my shoulders, my arms, she explored me in a way I hadn’t let her before. She brushed her lips across the ridges of my muscles. I felt her tits press against me, and I filled my hands with their weight.

One of her small hands found my cock and began to caress me through my pants. I was already hard, and her touch made me rigid.

“Is this okay?” she whispered. Our heads were bowed together. I rested my forehead against hers.

“I don’t want you to stop,” I said. “But…”

Her hand stilled. “But what? You can tell me.”

I didn’t know how to explain. How do you say don’t hurt me? Don’t disappear? Don’t make me love you? Everything sounded so melodramatic in my head.

“El, what do you want from me?” I just said.

She pulled back a little, her eyes searching mine. Moving her hands away, she said, “I don’t want anything from you. I just want to give you pleasure. Like you’ve done for me, a few times now. You deserve to feel that too. You—you know that, right?”

Did I? In most—maybe all—my relationships, my pleasure had come second.

Was that because of me, wanting to make my partners happy? Or was it really them, and their selfishness? I didn’t know anymore.

And here was Elikki, such a force of nature in all things, trying gently to give me something. To return care with care.

I wanted the press of her hand against me. I wanted her full laugh and her flippant smile. I wanted the pleasure that her eyes promised when she looked at me, full of excitement and affection.

Letting out a shaky breath, I cupped the back of her neck with one hand and kissed her again, long and slow. She followed my lead, meeting my lips eagerly but letting me set the pace. With my other hand, I pulled loose the drawstring tie of my pants. Pulling back from Elikki’s mouth, dizzy with lust, I let my pants fall and gripped the hard length of my cock. Her eyes widened.

I took one of her hands in mine and guided it to my shaft. She wrapped around me with a firm hold at the base and slowly moved up and down. I found myself relaxing bit by bit.

“Okay?” she asked in a low voice. Her other hand stroked my cheek, my neck. I leaned into her again, focusing on her herbal-sweet scent and the feel of her.

“Yes. Very okay. Better than okay,” I said.

“Just tell me if you need a breather. Barra?” she prompted when I didn’t answer.

“I will. I will,” I assured her.

Elikki scooted back a bit on the bed and bent at the waist, bringing her mouth close to my cock. She licked up one side of my shaft, then swiped around the ridge of my tip. She did it again and again, circling around, before covering my whole tip with her hot, wet mouth.