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But he stopped talking as I reached under the covers to tug off my hose. In fact, the whole atmosphere in the room seemed to change, as though growing both thicker and tenser as I placed the garment beside the bed and stripped off my tunic next. I tugged the blanket over me, but we were both firmly aware that beneath the blanket, I was clad only in a thin cotton shift, and I could almost see that knowledge written across his face as he watched me intently. No longer was he wearing the knowing smile he had when I’d tried on costumes for him, nor was the fire in his eyes that had been there when he’d watched me bathe. This was different. The look he gave me now was simply intent.
I rolled over again, turning my back to him, but allowing the blanket to come with me so he could see the expanse of my back down to my ass, where the shift covered it.
“Is that better?” The voice, coming from behind me, was gruff and thick.
I didn’t look around. “You can’t be comfortable on the settee.”
I heard the creak of the divan as he stood, the scuffed noises of his bare feet on the wood floor and, most thrillingly, the sound of his sword being leaned against the bed—still nearby, but no longer in his hands.
If he wasn’t going to sleep until I did, there was one other way of putting him at his ease and, as I’d learned at the Guild, most men slept after engaging in sex.
But that brought up one question: was this the way I wanted to lose my maidenhood? Using it to lure a man into a false sense of security before killing him? Owing to my unique schooling, this was exactly how I’d imagined it happening though… I couldn’t say the thought felt good. It was more an expectation I knew I was meant to live up to. And, actually, if I was going to lose my virginity in such a way, I was lucky for it to happen with someone like Nicolo—someone so incredibly handsome, virile and someone I respected.
Which was an odd thing to think about a man I was planning to kill.
Frankly, I was trying to put the killing part of the night to the back of my mind and focus on what was happening now.
The bed moved as Nicolo lay down behind me and drew the blanket back so it covered us both. I could feel his breath on my shoulder but he kept his body apart from mine.
I tried to recall all that Mistress Aurore had taught me, but the specifics got jumbled in my head, which was currently in a whirl. What leapt to the top was her final, most important advice;follow your instincts.
I scooted back so my body was pressed against his.
“Charlotte.” There was a hint of remonstrance in his voice.
“Master,” I whispered back, and there was much contained in that single word.
Nicolo’s breath seemed suddenly thready and ragged. His hand settled on my side and the touch made shockwaves pass through me. Almost without thinking, I wriggled back further, pressing my ass into the heat that seemed to radiate from between his thighs, and felt something lurch solidly against me.
For a few minutes we remained like that as I felt the hardness growing, achieving the impressive dimensions I’d seen measured out on the wall of the maids’ dormitory. Nicolo’s fingers moved on my side, bunching up the material of my shift, so my ass was now bare as my cheeks moved against him.
I felt his hands on either side of my hips and his breathing hitched. “You truly are extraordinary,” he whispered and when I glanced up at him, over my shoulder, I realized he was taking stock of my backside.
“Thank you, Master.”
“Don’t…” he started. “Don’t call me that tonight. Please.”
“Yessir.”
“Don’t call me that either.”
“What should I call you?”
“Nicolo.”
“Nicolo?”
“Yes?”
I swallowed hard and couldn’t explain why I was suddenly so nervous. I had him exactly where I wanted him and yet my heart was racing like a frightened bird. “May I turn over?”
He chuckled. “Yes, Charlotte, you may turn over.”
I did so and my breath caught as I took in the taut, washboard muscles of his stomach and the raised hard planes of his pectorals. I felt my lips part as a whisp of surprise blew past them when Nicolo’s fingers found my nipples which were already hard and poking through the thin material of my shift.
I looked up at him. “May I… may I touch you?”
He chuckled. “Don’t ask. Do.”
