Chapter 289: Moment alone [1]
Warning! Some mature content.
The servants finished preparing the bath, then slipped quietly out of the chamber, pulling the door shut behind them.
Eloise laughed as Damien guided her towards the bathing chamber. She reached up to undo the necklace, but Damien’s hand covered hers and stopped her, wanting to see it a little longer against her skin.
"What if it falls into the water?" Eloise asked as Damien drew her towards him.
"It can be fished out and dried. And if it is somehow ruined, I will have another at your neck by nightfall. It is beautiful only because it rests on you. Let it shine a little longer," Damien said, leaning forward to press his lips to her neck.
Eloise tilted her head to give him better access. "If it falls into the water and spoils, you have only yourself to blame."
"If water alone can ruin it, then I shall have words with the man who made it," Damien murmured, his breath warm against her skin. "Come a little closer."
Eloise moved closer until there was no space left between them.
Their breath mingled with the rising steam around them.
Damien turned his attention from her neck to her lips. He hadn’t been entirely satisfied earlier after they had been interrupted.
His hands settled at Eloise’s waist, keeping her still as he took another kiss for himself.
Eloise’s hands pressed flat against his chest, feeling the steady rhythm of his heart beneath her palms.
She matched him entirely, pouring everything she felt into it. Each time she needed air, Damien let her take it, and then drew her back in before she had quite finished catching her breath.
The soft sounds they made were muffled against each other’s lips.
Damien finally pulled back and watched Eloise drop her gaze, her cheeks going pink.
He moved his right hand to the knot holding her nightgown together and worked it loose quickly, because the water behind them was cooling with every moment they spent standing here.
Eloise held her breath, waiting for the fabric to fall.
She wasn’t nervous about Damien seeing her since he had seen every part of her by now, but there was always this feeling when it was just the two of them, something warm that no amount of familiarity had managed to settle.
Eloise looked down to watch Damien’s fingers working at the knot with careful patience. The gown loosened and slipped from her shoulders.
Before it fell entirely, Damien stepped back and removed his trousers himself, thinking that if he stood bare before her first, it might make the moment feel easier for her. It was a small thing, but it was the kind of small thing he always seemed to remember.
His trousers dropped to the floor, and he didn’t flinch or look away.
Damien helped Eloise out of her gown and offered his hand as she stepped into the large basin.
Water spilt over the sides as they both settled in, rising with the weight of them.
Damien positioned himself between her legs, his lips already finding hers.
The basin was barely large enough to hold them both, so Damien had no plans beyond touching her and kissing her. He was perfectly aware that if things continued, they would eventually end up on the bed, or the floor, or wherever they happened to land.
Eloise couldn’t help the smile that pulled at her lips as Damien cupped her face in his palm.
"What is it?" Damien asked, his voice low. "Have you conspired with someone to come and disturb us again?"
Eloise laughed a little harder than she meant to. "No. I warned everyone to leave us. I don’t even know why I’m laughing. I simply felt like it. I’m sorry," she said.
"Don’t be," Damien said, pressing a kiss to her shoulder. "I love the sound of your laughter as much as I love you, so let me hear it."
Eloise bit her lip.
"Shy, are we?" Damien said, grazing his teeth lightly against the skin of her neck.
"I am not," Eloise replied. "We should get a larger basin if we are going to share a bath more often. Or if we intend to do anything else in one."
"I’ll have one here within the hour," Damien said, and there wasn’t any doubt in his voice. There was rarely any doubt when it came to things he intended to do for her.
Eloise laughed again, genuinely this time, because she believed him entirely.
Damien shifted in the confined space and lowered himself to press a kiss into the valley between her breasts.
Eloise’s hair had slipped into the water and clung to her shoulders and neck. Her back rested against the basin wall, keeping her steady.
Damien’s hair brushed against her skin as he continued to leave a trail of kisses across her body.
Eloise touched his shoulder, wanting to feel the warmth of him beneath her hand.
Her eyes drifted half-shut as Damien’s mouth sucked at her skin, leaving a mark the way he always did when it had been too long, and the previous ones had faded. She didn’t mind. She had stopped minding.
Eloise looked at him. At the width of his shoulders, the line of his arms in the water.
His arousal pressed against her beneath the water, and it did nothing to quiet the thoughts already occupying her.
There was something about these moments. The kissing, the touching, the closeness that asked nothing of her but her presence, that felt more intimate than anything else they shared.
Eloise’s breath caught, her eyes widening and her lips parting, as Damien’s finger pressed into her.
He didn’t look up. He kept his lips moving against her skin, his head resting level with her breasts, entirely focused on her.
Eloise let her head fall back against the basin wall. She gripped his shoulder, fighting the urge to dig her nails in the way she always seemed to, biting the inside of her lip against the sound building in her throat.
A tension gathered low in her stomach as his finger worked to please her. She tried to press her legs together against it, but Damien’s frame was settled between them, leaving her nowhere to retreat from the feeling.
He had no intention of stopping.
When she finally came undone, it was quiet. Her body went still, her head tilted back, and her eyes closed.
Damien pressed one last kiss to her skin and then lifted his head to look at her.
Eloise opened her eyes and found him watching her with that expression. The one that always undid whatever composure she had managed to put back together.
She brought her hand from his shoulder to his jaw, just to feel him there. He turned his face slightly into her touch, the way he always did, and said nothing.
Neither of them needed to.