Chapter 69: The First Night
Hanchuan didn’t move immediately.
He remained between Zhiyi’s knees, his hands resting against her thighs while he studied her face. The pause lasted long enough for her to recognize that he had heard the instruction and was giving her time to withdraw it.
Zhiyi didn’t.
Her fingers remained inside his hair.
Hanchuan lowered his mouth to the inside of her knee again.
This time, he didn’t stop after one kiss.
He followed the line of her thigh slowly, his hands guiding her legs farther apart as his lips moved higher. The slip remained gathered around her hips, creating a barrier between where his mouth stopped and the part of her body her attention had become unable to ignore.
Zhiyi attempted to anticipate what he would do next.
His mouth could continue upward. His hands could remove the remaining fabric. He could stand, finish undressing and move them both onto the bed.
Each possibility created additional branches before the first had been resolved.
Hanchuan’s teeth pressed lightly against the sensitive skin near the top of her thigh.
The entire sequence disappeared.
Zhiyi inhaled sharply, and her grip tightened in his hair. The pressure was too light to hurt, but it sent a sensation through her body that had no obvious relationship to the place he touched.
Hanchuan repeated it.
Her legs moved before she decided whether they should. One knee pressed against his shoulder while the other opened farther beneath his hand.
He didn’t comment on the response.
His fingers caught the fabric at her hips and drew it downward. Zhiyi lifted herself from the mattress when he guided her to, allowing him to remove the final part of the slip.
She was completely naked.
The awareness arrived before embarrassment could be evaluated. Hanchuan had seen most of her body while removing the dress and touching her, but the discarded fabric eliminated the last division between partially undressed and exposed.
Zhiyi watched his face.
His attention moved over her without hesitation. There was nothing clinical in the way he looked at her and no attempt to conceal what seeing her did to him.
"You’re beautiful," he said.
The statement didn’t require an answer, which was useful because Zhiyi had none ready.
Hanchuan stood long enough to remove the rest of his clothing.
Zhiyi had never seen a naked man before.
Her familiarity with human anatomy came from textbooks, medical diagrams and the injuries she helped treat during the apocalypse. None of those sources accounted for the effect of seeing Hanchuan standing before her with no clothing between his body and her attention.
She began collecting information automatically.
His shoulders were broader than she realized. A pale scar crossed one side of his abdomen, although it didn’t belong to the injuries he received during the apocalypse. His legs were muscular and completely responsive, presenting another difference from the body she had known for seven years.
Her attention moved lower.
Hanchuan allowed her to look.
He didn’t cover himself or attempt to turn observation into a joke. He stepped between her knees again, placed one hand behind her neck and tilted her face upward.
"Stay with me."
Zhiyi looked into his eyes.
Hanchuan kissed her.
His body pressed against the inside of her thigh, hot and hard enough that she understood why preparation mattered even before her mind attempted to compare physical dimensions.
The thought must have altered something in her face.
Hanchuan slowed the kiss and moved one hand down her body. His palm followed the curve of her breast before continuing over her stomach, giving her enough time to understand where it was going.
When his fingers reached between her thighs, Zhiyi’s muscles tightened.
Hanchuan didn’t withdraw.
He held his hand still against her, maintaining warm, steady pressure until her body stopped reacting as though the contact were a threat.
Then one finger moved.
The sensation was softer than she expected and more direct than anything he had done before. Hanchuan followed the slick heat gathering there, learning her without requiring Zhiyi to explain a response she didn’t yet understand.
Her breathing became uneven.
He kissed the side of her neck while his finger circled slowly. The pressure increased whenever her hips moved toward him and eased whenever her body tightened.
Zhiyi attempted to identify the pattern.
Hanchuan changed it.
Her thoughts broke apart before the analysis formed. She gripped his shoulders and felt the muscles shift beneath her hands as he continued touching her.
The sensation accumulated without producing a clear outcome. Each pass of his fingers made the next one sharper. Heat spread outward through her lower body, tightening muscles that didn’t appear connected to his hand.
"Hanchuan."
He lifted his head.
Zhiyi didn’t know what she intended to tell him. Something was happening. The pressure had become too concentrated to remain stable, but she couldn’t determine whether that meant he should stop or continue until it reached whatever waited beyond it.
Hanchuan read the uncertainty without asking her to translate it.
"Let it happen."
His mouth covered hers as his fingers moved faster.
The pressure broke.
Zhiyi’s body tightened around a sensation that erased every remaining thought. Her nails pressed into Hanchuan’s shoulders, and a sound escaped against his mouth before she could identify that it came from her.
Hanchuan held her through it.
His hand slowed without stopping, extending the release until the intensity became too much and Zhiyi turned her face against his neck.
Only then did he withdraw.
Zhiyi remained against him while her breathing attempted to correct itself. Her heart rate was significantly elevated, but the rhythm remained steady. The trembling in her thighs began decreasing within several seconds.
Hanchuan kissed her temple.
"That was an orgasm," she said.
His mouth moved against her skin. "Yes."
"I know the definition."
"I assumed you did."
The definition hadn’t been incomplete, but it had been insufficient.
Zhiyi looked down at his hand and then at the erection resting against her thigh. Hanchuan had brought her to completion without taking anything for himself.
That appeared inconsistent with what she understood about sex.
He followed her attention.
"I told you I would take care of you."
"Have you finished?" she asked, cocking her head to the side.
"Not even close."
The words carried enough promise to send another pulse of heat through her body.
Hanchuan lifted her farther onto the bed and lowered her onto the pillows. He removed the flowers trapped beneath her hair before settling over her.
His weight reached her gradually.
One arm supported most of him beside her head while his chest pressed against hers. His hips rested between her thighs, and his mouth moved from her lips to her breast.
Zhiyi’s back arched when his tongue passed over her nipple.
The earlier release had made every touch more sensitive rather than less. Hanchuan drew the peak into his mouth, and the combination of suction and heat caused her legs to close around his hips.
He continued until she stopped attempting to suppress the movement.
Then he shifted to the other breast.
Zhiyi’s hands moved across his back. She could feel his control in the tension beneath his skin. His body wanted something he continued refusing to take until hers was ready to receive it.
When his hand returned between her thighs, she didn’t tense.
Hanchuan’s fingers moved through the wetness he had already created before one pressed carefully inside her.