After Ivetta’s initial fears of the first night were resolved, she relaxed and became quite the little tease. It is no exaggeration to say I couldn’t keep my hands off of her, and, for the most part, she did not deny me. When she did, it was only for a short time, and it was all part of a game she played masterfully. Not that I had any reason to complain. I had no interruptions, no obligations, and no responsibilities. Just an overabundance of time to spend with her. Making love, cuddling on the sofa, reading; it didn’t matter what we did, so long as we were together. I didn’t even leave her alone in the kitchen. She was an excellent cook, and far too susceptible to my own particular brand of teasing. Besides, if I left her alone, she ended up looking for things to do. We were a couple of days into the honeymoon when I let her out of my sight for a few minutes, only to find her in another room, dusting.
“Servants will clean after we leave,” I reminded her, taking the rag from her hand.
Her wide green eyes and embarrassed blush said everything for her. She’d hoped I wouldn’t catch her.
“I really don’t mind, Chevalier,” she said, as if that would make me change my mind on this matter. “It’s kind of nice to clean every so often.”
Ever the frustrating little maid. I pulled her into my arms and kissed her.
“I mind. You are my queen, and I won’t have you soiling your hands.”
She giggled. “But you don’t mind me changing the sheets and doing dishes?”
I smirked. “Those are necessities. Dusting is not.”
Her blush deepened, as I expected. “Well, I’ve already changed the sheets and done the dishes today, and I don’t feel like reading right now. What if we went for a walk? Do you realize we haven’t set foot outside since we got here? Spring is here, and it’s such a beautiful place. It’s a shame not to enjoy it.”
“I am enjoying it,” I said, smiling innocently. “Aren’t you?”
Her face was bright red, but she hugged me around the waist and rested her chin on my chest, returning my smile.
A tease was coming. And I was more than willing to go along with it.
“Very much, but I would like to explore outside a little.”
“Explore outside, hm?” I asked.
Her eyes widened with feigned surprise, and she pulled away from me. “That’s not what I meant!”
“But we are alone. There’s nobody within miles of here.” I grabbed her and scooped her up, heading for the door.
“Chevalier!” she protested, giggling. “Put me down!”
I did, but only once we got outside. Her green eyes sparkled mischievously as she pulled away from me. She was only wearing one of my shirts, per my suggestion that it was foolish to go to all the trouble of getting fully dressed when it was just the two of us, but practicality was not on my mind right now. It was a beautiful bright sunny day, the air was heavy with the scent of flowers and bloom, and she was backing down the path with an impish grin.
“Where do you think you’re going, little dove?” I asked. Her hands were clasped behind her back, leaving the hem that barely covered her thighs free to flutter in the slight breeze.
“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe I just need to get away from you for a little while,” she teased, and then she took off running. It didn’t take me long to catch her. Our momentum brought us tumbling to the grass and rolling down the hill, laughing. We came to a stop at the bottom, trying to catch our breaths, lying side by side in the sun.
“I can’t believe I’m doing this,” she gasped as the laughter subsided, smiling over at me. Her eyes slid down to my bare chest and slowly back to my eyes.
The little minx.
I reached a languid hand over to stroke her flushed cheek, smirking at the fire building in her green eyes. “You’re in an interesting mood today.”
She licked her lips.
Her wish was my command.
I rolled over on top of her, kissing her hard. My hands slid down her sides to her hips where the fabric ended, and her bare skin began.
“I really can’t believe I’m doing this,” she giggled, running her own hands across my chest.
It wasn’t a matter of belief for me. She was giggling and gasping underneath me on a bed of soft spring grass, every inch of her as soft and sweet as I’d imagined in the long months of waiting for this moment, and as far as I was concerned, there was nothing more real than this. It’s really no wonder I didn’t notice the bank of heavy gray clouds looming in the distance. My ears were tuned to her moans, not the distant roll of thunder. I did feel the wind picking up later, the coolness it brought refreshing to my sweaty body as we lay cuddled in the grass, but I was too focused on her to see the sudden advance of the clouds above. It was just us, alone in the world, and nothing else mattered.
Until the torrential downpour started a few hours later.
“Oh, no!” Ivetta squealed as the ice-cold rain drops hit us.
I pulled her to her feet, and we ran back to the chateau, hand in hand. We were completely soaked well before we made it inside. Concern for her had me thinking that she needed to get out of her wet clothes and into a hot bath before she got sick. The smile on her face and the wet shirt clinging to her skin had me thinking of something else entirely.
“This reminds me of that time when I got caught in the rain with Clavis and Luke,” she said, reaching up to brush the wet hair from my eyes.
“You dare to think of other men right now?” I asked, pulling her close for another kiss.
“Well, the circumstances were entirely different. They were trying to take my mind off of you, actually, but it didn’t work.”
I led her back to the bedroom, my arm around her shoulders, hers around my waist. We made it to the middle of the room before I stopped her for another long, hard kiss. “I don’t want you to take your mind off of me, Ivetta.”
“You don’t have to worry about that,” she said, wrapping her arms around my waist. “You’re pretty unforgettable.”
I kissed her again and felt a shiver run through her. “It was agonizing, waiting for you, but you’ve exceeded my expectations yet again.”
Her shy blush made her look so innocent. I knew better.
“I think I’ll make us some hot cocoa and soup after this. You can start a fire in the fireplace, we can cuddle under a nice warm blanket and listen to the rain together, and maybe we can discuss these expectations of yours.” She stood up on tiptoes and gave me a chaste kiss.
I smirked down at her. “It all sounds so tame, and yet you have this strange effect on me.” I leaned down to whisper in her ear: “What if I ravished you instead?”
“Chevalier!” She pulled away, blushing furiously. “This is like the kissing, isn’t it? You don’t have to make up for lost time. We’ve got the rest of our lives together.”
“But I want to,” I said, dropping my voice into the low purr that she loved so much as I pulled her close again. “And I see no reason to stop myself.” I kissed her again, hungry and eager, stealing the breath from her. “Don’t you agree?” I murmured.
“Mm,” was all she could manage for a moment, but then she wrapped her arms around my waist and rested her chin on my chest. “On one condition.”
“You’re playing a dangerous game, Ivetta,” I growled in warning.
“I married a dangerous man, didn’t I?” she asked, her green eyes sparkling mischievously.
She was about to find out how dangerous. I scooped her up and carried her into the bathroom, sitting on the edge of the tub and starting the bathwater with one hand while I held her on my lap with the other.
“What are your terms?” I asked, smirking.
“Well, since you have the rest of today’s activities planned out, I get tomorrow,” she replied, casually undoing the top button of the wet shirt clinging to her skin.
She was good at this.
“And you intend to keep these plans from me until tomorrow, is that correct?” I asked, watching her hands.
She shrugged and moved on to the next button. “Of course. You wouldn’t want me to ruin the surprise, would you?”
“No, I wouldn’t.” I snapped my gaze back to her face with a wicked grin. “It would seem that I don’t have to hold back anymore.”
“You’ve been holding back?” she asked shyly, a shiver running through her.
“You are such a fragile little dove.” I touched my index finger to the hollow at the base of her neck and trailed it down to the next button, watching her skin flush along my path. “And you were so frightened that first night.”
“Well, you should know by now that I’m not that fragile,” she teased, wrapping her arms around my neck while I made quick work of the remaining buttons. “And I’m certainly not scared anymore.”
“Are you sure about that?”
“Try me.”
I scooped her up and dropped her into the tub. She let out a shriek of surprise as she hit the cold water.
“Chevalier! You forgot the hot water!” she exclaimed, her teeth chattering.
“Did I?” I asked innocently, adjusting the knobs. “You must have distracted me.”
“Chevalier Michel-”
“Remember, you asked for it,” I purred as I lowered myself into the tub with her.
“Oh, just you wait until tomorrow,” she threatened before I silenced her with a kiss.
It was hard to look forward to tomorrow when I was enjoying the here and now so much, but it did cross my mind later in the evening when I was building the fire in the fireplace. Ivetta was in the kitchen making the promised hot cocoa and soup. I didn’t have the energy to interfere after our eventful day, nor did I have the energy to contemplate what she may have planned for tomorrow. The rain continued to fall outside, rivulets of water running down the uncovered windows. I didn’t see the sense in pulling the drapes. Nobody was looking in on us, and Ivetta’s face was marvelously expressive whenever she took in the view. Which was not tonight. Her eyes were tired as we sat on the sofa and ate the meal she laid out on the coffee table, the dancing flames in the heart reflected in her green irises. I finished my soup and set the empty bowl on the coffee table next to hers. The heat from the fire, the warmth in my stomach - I just needed one more thing. I lay down and wrapped my arms around her waist in an unspoken request. She complied, lying down next to me with her back pressed to my chest, her head just below my chin on our shared pillow.
This was right.
“We won’t be interrupted by Jin this time, will we?” she asked as I pulled a blanket over us.
I had to chuckle at her tired joke. “I hope not. My sword is out of reach.”
She giggled. “Where is it, anyway?”
“Let me worry about that,” I replied, kissing the top of her head.
“Sounds good.” She sighed and shifted her hips slightly against mine. I closed my eyes and nuzzled into her hair. The sword was in my luggage. I couldn’t recall having ever gone this long without belting it to my side. It hadn’t crossed my mind since we arrived at the chateau.
I didn’t need it. I did need her.
She was humming the next day, but otherwise gave no indication of any teasing. I knew something was coming, so I kept quiet, waiting. She was sweet, and charming, and appeared to have nothing but normal domestic life on her mind. It was midafternoon when I finally sat down on the sofa to read. Maybe she wasn’t planning anything until evening. Just being with her was pleasant enough.
The book captured my attention, and I lost track of time - and her. It was when the smell of baking bread wafted in from the nearby kitchen that I looked up from the pages. She wasn’t in the bedroom with me anymore. I put the book down and got up, following the smell to the kitchen. She was humming again. I had always loved that sound, and it brought a smile to my face.
But when I stepped into the open doorway and saw her, the smile disappeared, and I sucked in a sharp breath.
She was standing over a batch of fresh beignets, dusting them with powdered sugar, wearing a red negligee. The satin material hugged her curves and wrinkled loosely over her dips, held on by thin straps over her shoulders, sagging down to expose the top half of her back, the hem stopping just below her rear. She glanced over her shoulder and smiled innocently.
The only word I could think of was an expletive.
I stormed up behind her and spun her to face me, kissing her hungrily before she could speak. The slippery fabric forced me to dig my fingers into her waist to lift her up and seat her on the counter in front of me. She tried to pull back enough to speak, but I wasn’t letting her go anywhere. One hand tangled in her hair, keeping her head down where I could kiss her; the other slid up and down her bare thigh.
“Chevalier - the beignets-” she managed to gasp between kisses.
The image of that day in my library, her flushed cheeks and wide green eyes as I held the beignet to her lips, ran through my mind. I released her head and picked up a beignet.
“What did I do to deserve this?” I asked, holding it in front of her mouth as she sat up straighter. She was as red now as she was then. Probably more.
And she was wearing red. A red negligee. With a very low-cut neckline.
The rest of today was not going to be quiet.
Her green eyes sparkled, and she ignored the pastry in my hand, picking up another. “My plan, remember?” she said sweetly, tilting her head to the side with an innocent smile as she held it up to my lips.
I smirked. “Is there more?”
She shrugged, rolling her shoulders with an exaggerated movement that drew my attention to her chest. “Maybe. Try it.”
I intended to.
My eyes wandered back up to her face, her deceptively innocent smile, her mischievous eyes. I dropped the beignet in my hand on the counter and pushed the rest aside, setting my hands on the counter on either side of her and leaning forward to take a bite of the pastry in her fingers. She popped the rest in her mouth and casually studied her sugary fingers, slowly, deliberately licking the sugar away. I was breathing hard, blood rushing in my ears. She giggled and tilted her head to the side again.
“Do you want something, Chevalier?”
“You-” I ground out through gritted teeth.
“Oh, look, you missed a spot,” she interrupted, leaning forward and swiping a sugary finger across my lip. Her neckline dropped open. This was sensory overload. I seized her wrist and licked her finger clean.
Suddenly, her green eyes shot wide, and she pulled back, squirming and giggling.
She was ticklish.
Now it was my turn to torture her. I kept a firm grip on her wrist, licking up and down her fingers, watching her writhe around on the beignets.
“Ch-chevalier - ha, ha - s-stop - he he-”
“This is what you get,” I teased, running my fingers lightly across a ticklish spot I’d previously discovered on her leg. She would have rolled off the counter if I hadn’t caught her. I threw her over my shoulder and carried her limp, laughing form out of the kitchen.
“No - wait - our fifteen minutes are up!” she gasped, pounding playfully on my back.
“Don’t you dare,” I growled, throwing her down on the bed. She was covered head to toe in powdered sugar.
“There’s powdered sugar everywhere!” she exclaimed, rolling onto her side and pulling at the fabric over her hip while she craned her head around to see the damage done to her backside. “Oh, my gosh, look!”
I had already seen the beignet stuck to her rear. She was laughing so hard she was crying, and I wasn’t doing much better. I plucked it off of her, pushing on her shoulder to position her on her back as I straddled her.
“Your turn,” I teased, holding it in front of her lips. I didn’t actually expect her to eat it. She was more likely to choke on it if she tried, and she knew it. She shook her head, covering her mouth with her hands. I leaned in to whisper in her ear, “Should we wrap it in your negligee for later?” I set the beignet on her shaking stomach and rolled the hem of her negligee up over it. “Sorry,” she wheezed. “I’ll get back to seducing you in a minute.”
“Oh, Chevalier,” she choked, tears streaming down her cheeks. She grabbed my shoulders and shoved as hard as she could - which wasn’t very hard at all, since most of her strength was being expended on laughter. I guessed what she wanted and rolled onto my back. She climbed on top of me and put her hands square on the center of my chest. Her head was hanging down, her hair brushing my skin, her shoulders still shaking. She finally sat back and put her hands on her face.
“Sorry,” she managed to gasp. “I’ll get back to seducing you in a minute.”
I laced my fingers behind my head and smirked up at her. “Whenever you’re ready.”
She punched my shoulder playfully and took a deep breath, pursing her lips together.
“It’s no use!” she finally said, the laughter bubbling out again. She leaned forward and put her forehead on my chest. “Can you imagine if we did this at the palace?”
That did paint quite an interesting picture.
“It might raise a few questions, me carrying you down the hall with a beignet stuck to your rear.”
That sent her into another peal of laughter, and me with her.
She finally sat up, rolling her lips into her mouth and biting down on them to try to mute the laughter.
“You can blame Theresa for this,” she said, only the occasional giggle slipping out as she plucked at one of the straps of her negligee. “It was her wedding present for us.”
I smirked. “She’s getting a raise.” I sat up, bringing my eyes even with hers as she straddled my lap, and grabbed the hem of her negligee. “And this needs to go.”
We had a late night and a huge mess to clean up in the morning. Neither of us cared.44Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoCBGQ9Y4nR
