Her belly clenched at that. Not in fear, but in desire.
“You must know what it feels like without losing your virginity. You must experience what it is to be taken by the emperor so he will lose his seed inside you.”
“But—”
“It is only pretend, Ling Xin. You will pass the virginity exam.”
She nodded because she wanted to believe him.
“I will feel it all?” she asked, her voice a whisper of need.
“I swear it.” He grinned at her. “It is the only way to know. You must—”
“Yes.” The word escaped before she could stop herself.
She carefully turned around on the wall, settling herself gingerly between his thighs. And when she struggled with her legs dangling on opposite sides of the wall, he guided her to put one leg over his where he braced himself on the branch. And the other…
Oh my. The other went across his dangling one, leaving her legs spread wide, her skirt tight across her thighs, and…
And his hands tightened across her belly. Her breath caught. His hands were so large, so warm. And then he began to kiss her neck. Heat and pressure. A sweet lick that made her body tighten with desire.
So fast. So open! And yet as his tongue slid across her damp skin, she shivered in delight. This felt nice. With his teeth scraping across her flesh, she felt tingly.
Her belly fluttered. Her body felt surrounded and so safe that she relaxed further against him.
“Remember,” he murmured against her ear. “If you are afraid, you can slam your head backwards against me. You might even knock me unconscious.”
She twisted to see behind him. Yes, he was not perched so solidly that she couldn’t throw him off.
“You have control,” he said.
She nodded slowly, saying the words aloud in order to convince herself.
“I have control,” she said hoping it was true.
He waited as she turned to face forward again, with him at her back. She felt his hands slip around her waist and she shivered at the sweet feel. It was especially thrilling because his hands were not still. Indeed, her belly tingled as his hands slipped slowly, inevitably up from her waist.
Inch by inch, his hands crept higher while she held her breath in anticipation. And then, he cupped her. On both sides, he held her breasts in his two hands.
That was when she realized she had no control at all.
Chapter Nine
Ling Xin feltit all. Her mind grasped and held on to every sensation, every detail, memorizing it, in the way that only the most diligent student could. Or at least she tried to, because to admit that she relished every second, was thrilled to the core with every caress, would be to admit that she wanted to be debauched in the most carnal way.
She wanted what he was doing, and so she gave herself up to the experience of it all.
His hands were on top of her night dress. The thin silk, however, did nothing to blunt the feel of his large hands gently cupping her breasts. She arched in reaction, simultaneously trying to move away and lifting herself deeper into his hands.
It made no sense. Oh heaven, her heart was racing so fast, and he was doing nothing but holding her.
His breath heated her ear, his tongue teasing across the shell. She shivered in reaction and her toes curled inside her slippers.
“Tell me what you feel,” he whispered.
“Everything,” she confessed.
“You must know the details specifically. You must remember what makes you feel good, what is too much, and what is exquisite.”