Chapter 7
Chapter Notes: Dusty273, beta and vigilante for the “Flying Eagles: Little League and Do Gooders Team” was kind enough to remove her cape and help me with the editing. I wish she’d removed the boots, however. She left her heroic muddy foot prints all over my linoleum tile.
Tanit, beta and legendary pretzel contortionist was spotted two months ago in a tangle of of puns. Choking on the irony, she swallowed a bottle of “Chapter 7 of Dampersandspoon’s fic” and set about making corrections. Not only in this chapter…but in her soul.
The story in this chapter and the quotes are from the rarely, if ever used, book called “The Odyssey”. I know, no one ever quotes from that, ever. *sarcasm* It’s so bizarre that I had to use it, so obscure in knowledge that it seemed fitting. *rolls eyes* Cliche, I know. But it was either that or Oliver Twist and somehow, I can’t find anything hot coming from that. Unless you like underage thieves. YOU DO, DON’T YOU? YOU SICK BASTARD!
Even though his head was pounding, his throat was raw and his stomach was churning with a warning only a man with a hangover understood, William couldn’t remember a time when he felt so happy.
His evening with Elizabeth was far better than any he’d ever imagined or wrote about, and he’d started to remedy the latter with page after page of couplets and odes. She’d infected him with her passion, crawled beneath his flesh and sought refuge inside him, baptized him with her mouth and made him feel things he’d only ever dreamed of feeling. Was it possible? Had he finally found someone that wanted him, accepted him for all his folly and could she be the one to put an end to his hopeless searching?
Anne would take some convincing on the matter, considering Elizabeth’s unfortunate situation, but William would have none of it. He would court her, he would make her his and then…then, he could give in to the desires that were suddenly bubbling inside him, awakening like flowers in the spring, burning every cell and every inch of him. Had this always been within him, this passion? Had he been so repressed, so afraid of himself that he’d denied these wonderful sensations, his yearning and longing for something he’d never hoped to touch before? It didn’t matter, he decided, because he was glad that Elizabeth was the one to show it to him. And oh, how sweet she was! Her mouth was just as delicate and soft as that rose she’d teased him with and he was already anxious to taste them again, though he knew he should restrain himself lest he get carried away.
After he was dressed for the day, he walked across his room to exit only to stop when he spotted a folded piece of paper on the floor just near the door. Curious, he picked it up and read it.
W,
You better not stay in that bedroom of yours regretting what happened last night. I may not be able to speak, but I have a very mean glare and no problems showing it to you should you not join me at breakfast.
With hope,
E
William grinned and placed her letter on his writing desk before he made his way downstairs for brunch. If she had any idea how much he did not regret it, any idea how he’d spent the rest of the evening…well, she might just change her mind about wanting his company. He wasn’t letting her out of his sight.
Of course, all of his musings were easier said than done. In the harsh light of day without the comfort of alcohol to steady his nerves, William was finding it most difficult to be at ease in her presence. She was dressed in a gown that was incredibly distracting. It was a pale pink, silky thing that was dangerously low cut in the front and though a hair above appropriateness, he could still make out the swell of her breasts through the thin fabric. The bodice was fitted to the waist highlighted by a trail of tiny buttons that ran down the center and the skirts gradually floated away from her hips in delicate folds to the floor. The sleeves stopped just below her elbows in an adorable little poof that showed a bit of whimsy. Her hair was down, though she’d swept it up on the sides again and since he now had an intimate knowledge of how her hair smelled, how her skin felt beneath his hands and how she’d sound if he were to kiss her right behind the ear, he realized that unless he wanted to announce his erection to the entire staff, he’d do better not to look at her at all. How was he supposed to keep it together when she’d turned him into a monster?
But she wasn’t making things easy, wasn’t making it easy at all for him to be a gentleman when they were alone in the library and she’d sat directly next to him on the sofa after he’d procured a book from his shelves. She was looking at him expectantly, her knee touching his thigh after she’d kicked off her slippers and curled her legs beneath her, turning to face him. She bent her right arm on the back of the sofa and propped her head up on her hand and smiled at him.
He knew he was blushing, could feel his damn cheeks getting hot. He smiled softly and asked her, “Would you like to read something?” She shook her head and batted her eyelashes coquettishly. He cleared his throat. She tapped his book with her free hand and snuggled into the sofa even further. “Would you like me to read to you?” She smiled and nodded and he realized he’d been staring at her a little too long, so he turned away and cleared his throat again. “I’m half-way finished with this, but I can start at the beginning if you’d like.” She shook her head. “Very well then.” God, this was going to kill him, but William was proud of himself that he was able to do it for her. He began reading and Elizabeth closed her eyes, letting the low rumbling of his voice wash over her. She loved the calming effect his voice had and she learned that it was even better when he was reading something, void of his stuttering if he was nervous or distracted. It was silken and unwavering; smooth.
“…you will come to the Sirens who enchant all who come near them. If any one unwarily draws in too close and hears the singing of the Sirens, his wife and children will never welcome him home again, for they sit in a green field and warble him to death with the sweetness of their…”
He had such a delicious looking neck, she realized. Long and thick, his jugular twitching as he spoke. She’d been so lost to the demanding way he’d kissed her the night before that she hadn’t thought to kiss him there.
“…the blessed gods call these rocks the Wanderers. Here not even a bird may pass, no, not even the timid doves that bring ambrosia to-” William paused when he felt Elizabeth’s fingernails on his neck, barely tracing the outline of his shirt collar, stroking upwards to his ear, causing his voice to go up in pitch slightly.
“To…oh, where was I?” He inhaled and closed his eyes and then found where he’d left off as well as his proper tone. “To Father Jove, but the sheer rock always carries off one of them, and Father Jove has to send another…”
Elizabeth licked her lips slowly, tilting her head to the side as she watched his mouth moving as he spoke, leaning a bit closer to rest her head on his chest. Once she did, he paused again and took a shuddering breath before he continued. She could hear the rapid beating of his heart and continued to play with his neck, moving back to twirl the tiny hairs at his nape and rested her chin on his shoulder as she watched her own movements.
“…No man though he had twenty hands and twenty feet could get a foothold on it and climb it, for it runs sheer up, as smooth as though it had been…”
God, he smelled amazing. She couldn’t resist, couldn’t hold back the urge and she leaned forward and kissed his throat before dragging the tip of her nose along his jugular, inhaling his masculine scent.
“E-Elizabeth,” he stammered, breathing heavily, “w-would you like me to stop reading?”
She shook her head and gently bit the column of his throat as her hand moved down his chest.
“I don’t…uh…mmmm…think I c-can read while you’re doing…” he trailed off, his head falling backwards as she placed hot, open mouthed kisses on his throat and behind his ear. If she didn’t stop doing that, he was afraid he might lose his mind and make an animal of himself. Unfortunately, she pulled away and mouthed the word, “Sorry.”
Well, he should have kept his mouth shut because now she wasn’t touching him at all! He closed his eyes and tried to gather his wits, clenching his jaw and thinking of anything he could to halt the brave attempts of his cock trying to stand at attention. It was probably for the best, however, because he knew he shouldn’t be doing what he so badly wanted to do to her.
Charles Tate and David Pierce often spoke of their debauchery with their mistresses when William happened to attend a party. They spoke in such vivid detail, said such degrading things that they did to these women! After all his scoffing and “Oh, dears” and appalled expressions, William was recognizing that he was just as wicked. He wanted, God help him, to yank the neckline of her dress down and bite and suck her flesh until she was screaming, plunder her mouth and see what was hiding beneath the layers of her skirts and Christ that erection was not going away!
When William opened his eyes, he saw Elizabeth giving him a knowing smile and he pursed his lips in mirth, shaking his head. “You’re trying to kill me, aren’t you?” She bit her lip and shrugged like the temptress she was. He chuckled breathily and quirked an eyebrow at her. “Evil, you are. Plain and simple. Now, Homer is waiting for us so I’ll continue.” Unable to hide his grin, he picked up his reading. She waited a few minutes.
“…No ship ever yet got past her without losing some men, for she shoots out all her heads at once, and carries off a man in each mouth and oh! God, Elizabeth! What are you—”
She was sucking on his earlobe now and her hand was on his thigh. On his thigh! Approximately 14 centimeters away from his now noticeably hard member and moving towards it! He must have been stunned still because somehow, his book was plucked from his hands and tossed aside and he had a very amorous woman licking and sucking on his Adam’s apple while that damned hand of hers crept upwards and tenderly caressed him through his trousers. Her hand was there only a second but Lord, he’d never felt anything better than that.
“We shouldn’t,” he said quietly, knowing it had to be said lest she think him a letch. She swallowed any further arguments with her lips as she covered his mouth with hers. His chest was constricting as his breath sawed in and out of his mouth when she moved to his throat again. He knew he should push her away, but as soon as he’d placed his hands on her arms her to do that very thing, instead he pushed her back on the sofa and climbed over her! What was he doing?
“Tell me to stop,” he pleaded, even as he pressed his body against hers and sucked her bottom lip into his mouth. “Please, tell me to stop.”
She had no intention of making him stop, apparently, because she dug her nails into his scalp and kissed him like the world was going to end. He felt his glasses slipping down his nose and he flung them across the room and attacked her mouth once more, sliding his tongue across hers, moaning as their heads fought to tilt just the right way. William’s hands were clenching the sofa cushions, his last ditch effort to restrain himself but then Elizabeth made that damn noise, that soft, innocent gasp of hers and he could no longer keep it inside.
His hands clamped down on her hips and he kissed her neck, sliding down a bit so he could worship her décolletage the way he wanted. Elizabeth threw her head back, gasping and panting as his soft lips and tongue kissed her collar bone, licked her sternum, and traced the neckline of her dress until his nose fell between her breasts to inhale deeply. He looked up at her, turning his head to the side to lay his cheek on one breast, seeking permission to go further. She unbuttoned the top button of her dress and moved her hand to the side in submission, biting her lip as she smiled at him. His nostrils flared and he gave her a predatory smile; a smile she’d never associate with him. It was a side of him she never knew existed and it made her skin tingle and her eyes grow wide in anticipation.
William slid one hand up her stomach and pushed the second button through the hole, taking his time, as he was both afraid of what he was doing as well as wanting to prolong the anticipation for as long as he could. The third button suffered the same fate as the first two and the top of her breasts spilled out, spreading the slit of her dress as she panted. The corset she wore was in danger of being ripped away if he didn’t control himself, so instead he kissed and licked her breasts where they strained to break free and without thinking, his hands trailed down her thighs and started inching her skirts up.
Elizabeth arched her back and curled her toes as his fingers trailed up her legs and his chin burrowed between her breasts, pushing her corset down far enough to expose her nipples. He stilled above her and she looked down, watching him as he blinked and panted, overcome with awe at what he was seeing. She smiled and ran her hands through his hair, urging him forward.
He’d seen drawings of women’s breasts before, paintings and frescos and magnificent depictions of great women in the nude but Elizabeth, she was flesh and blood and real and he was about to make a mess in his pants and that wouldn’t do at all so he moved up again and kissed her, tentatively rolling his thumbs over the pink buds of her breasts. She jerked beneath him, pressing herself into his hands and gasped when she felt his body settle between her legs, now that she was free of the restrictive skirts. He moaned as well, her heat surrounding him, cradling his aching erection.
This was wrong, this was wrong, Lord help him, it was so wrong but she felt so good beneath him. He’d not only crossed the line, he got on a horse and leapt over it and took off running, never wanting to look back. What had this woman done to him? Surely this wasn’t the same William Pratt who’d been ridiculed by his peers for being too stuffy, too stiff…just “too” lots of things. In a matter of days she’d made him a man obsessed, a man who spent every waking hour of his days thinking of her, only to grow into something more once he’d kissed her for the first time, God, just kissed a woman for the first time! And now he was on top of her in his library, sucking on her tongue while her hands clutched and rubbed his back and chest.
He jerked his mouth away from hers and buried it in her throat as she lifted her hips and ground into him. He let out a frustrated moan, turning it into a growl of possession when her legs wrapped around him and she did it once more.
He was not going to make love to her on a sofa in his Library while no mention of courtship or engagements had been made. He wasn’t. He was not! No, no, no! God, she was beautiful!
“You feel like heaven, Elizabeth,” he said with a raspy moan, moving his hips against hers, feeling her warmth through her bloomers and his breeches, smiling against her mouth when she clutched his shoulders and whimpered, obviously finding the friction as pleasant as he was. His fingers were eagerly plucking at her nipples now, hips moving of their own accord, rubbing against her tenderly, slowly, feeling a tightening in his stomach that seeped through his flesh and spread out to his limbs.
Elizabeth felt a similar build of sensation as he continued to hit a spot that sent jolts of pleasure through her entire body. There was so much fabric everywhere, her skirts bunched around her waist, her stockings sliding down her thighs, the harsh wool of his vest rubbing her nipples, the velvet pillows of the couch sliding beneath her head and shoulders. She couldn’t decide if it hindered or added to the sensations.
His boots dangled off the arm of the couch while his knees dug into the seat, driving him against her with deliberation. He knew the effect it was having on her now and he felt empowered; for the first time in his dreadful life, William felt like a man, a man capable of bringing a woman pleasure, better still, a man capable of bringing Elizabeth pleasure, make her gasp and pant, her lips red and wet as she chewed on them, her eyes glassy with lust. His mouth found the confidence to go lower again and he drew one of her nipples into his mouth, moaning as the pitch of her gasps went higher, flicking his tongue over it, possessing it, biting it, biting them both, moving faster over her, panting, clawing, gripping her thigh and breathing on her neck as she clung to him and finally she jerked her hips forward. Hard. She dropped her mouth open with a silent cry and fell apart beneath him.
He couldn’t stop moving, using her clothed crotch to get himself off, rubbing hard, sucking her nipples and his hips thrust forward as he came, moved over her again and again, kissed the palm of her hand as she raised it to touch his sweat covered brow and then collapsed with a weak sigh, almost purring as she scratched her nails in his scalp and kissed his temple. He lifted his head and looked down at her, searching her eyes for any discomfort, regret or shame and only finding a deep affection as well as a satisfied smirk when she must have seen the same emotions in his eyes.
He felt warm and heavy yet light at the same time, giddy and euphoric. He also felt free, released somehow and it scared him to death. He rose up, positioning his coat to cover the embarrassing wet spot on his pants, thanking God that she hadn’t noticed, only to blush like the virgin he was when she started buttoning up her dress as if he hadn’t just feasted on her breasts a few moments before.
He sighed and cast a hand through his hair as he searched the floor for his glasses, still too dizzy and shocked with what had transpired to say much of anything. When he located them a good eight feet from the couch, he got up and retrieved them, sliding them on and taking a moment to collect himself with his back turned to her.
He’d really done all of that. He’d really allowed that much to take place; he dove straight in and did everything he’d tried to avoid. Maybe not everything, because as he thought about it, there were all sorts of images and scenarios in his head and that was exactly the sort of thing he should be stopping immediately.
Elizabeth must have sensed his tension because when he turned back around, she was properly covered and presentable and she smiled warmly, holding out one of her hands. He sighed with a sweet little grin and sat next to her, took her hand in his and kissed it. He rubbed it gently with his thumb as his brow furrowed in thought. She waited patiently for him to speak, hoping that he wasn’t about to tell her that he’d made a mistake.
“I don’t know why I can’t control myself around you.”
She panicked. Here it was, he was going to reject her.
“And I don’t know why it’s so easy for me to feel this way, Elizabeth. But I feel…something. Do you?” His hopeful expression made her melt and she nodded, unable to resist kissing him on the cheek. He smiled and his eyes darted to their hands once more. “Is it strange that I feel as if I’ve known you for years? I know it’s ridiculous but I’ve never been so relaxed around another person before. Granted, I’m still a nervous wreck at times but it’s nowhere near…I just don’t understand this. I would never do something like…well, like what we just did and yet, I’m already thinking of the next time we can do it again,” he chuckled and she blushed, even though she was thinking the same thing.
With his free hand he ran the tip of his middle finger from her brow down the side of her cheek and under her chin, twisting his hand palm up as his thumb traced her bottom lip. “I know nothing about you,” he said with startling realization, frowning as he pulled his hand away from her face. He chuckled and closed his eyes. “I can’t believe…” Elizabeth squeezed his hand, afraid he’d let go and leave.
“We’ll just have to find out who you are, then,” he smiled. Relieved that he wasn’t having second thoughts, she smiled wistfully at him as he turned gravely serious when he said, “Let’s hope you don’t have a beau somewhere or I’ll have to pretend to be menacing.”
She smiled and laughed silently, beaming at him.
“Have you tried to talk again?”
She shook her head and attempted to say his name. It came out as a hoarse whisper and she clenched her eyes shut and rubbed her throat, shaking her head sadly.
“It’s an improvement, yeah? Maybe you just had a bad cold? I’ll ask Judith to make you some herbal tea, would that please you?” He was so hopeful that he’d figured out her problem that she didn’t have the heart to turn him down, but she had a feeling her lack of speech had nothing to do with a sickness and something to do with her loss of memory. But she nodded in acceptance and allowed him this. He smiled proudly, glad to do something for her and then was silent again, staring at their hands for a long moment.
He inhaled sharply and looked at her with worry. “I didn’t hurt you, did I? Was I…it was too much, wasn’t it?” She smiled and touched his cheek, shaking her head from side to side. He relaxed then and leaned his side into the back of the couch, just to gaze at her and she quickly mirrored his gesture, nuzzling her cheek into the soft high-backed sofa. “I want to kiss you again, Elizabeth,” he whispered, “but I promise it’s just a kiss.”
She bit her lip coyly and he leaned forward and gently pressed his lips to hers with a pleasant sigh. He pulled away before he went any further but he kept his face close to hers, drinking in her image with a goofy smile. “I better ring for Judith to get some tea before I do something I shouldn’t,” he rose quickly and walked to the door, stopping to turn towards her. “I won’t be long.” She smiled and then sighed as he closed the door behind him, plopping back on the sofa with a blissful grin.
A/N: Ahh…nothing like a good ol’ fashioned dry hump on a couch to kick-start the smut.