Page 77 of Song of the Dark Wood

Conor trailed a line of kisses down her jaw and neck as she gasped. He guided her down to a bed of fern branches on the greenhouse floor. His arms bracketed her body, and her hands slid beneath the hem of his shirt. She paused, waiting for him to stop her, delighted when he didn’t.

His skin was smooth and hot beneath her trembling hands. Theoretically, she knew what she was doing, but reading about something and actually doing it were two very different things. She hadn’t counted on her heart pounding so hard, or the way she’d want him to keep kissing her, or the desperation she felt to feel him as close as possible.

Conor’s lips trailed over her collarbone, and she moaned. The sound sent him into a frenzy. His kisses grew hungrier, more possessive as he slid the shoulder of her dress down. Rowan felt drunk on lust as she spread her legs wider, grabbing his hips to pull him closer. He rocked against her and her body responded on instinct, bringing her hips up to meet him the next time he moved. Conor seemed just as mindless with lust as he drew her into another breath-stealing kiss.

“Please,” she whimpered.

“Mother slay me! You’re killing me,” he groaned, dropping his head to her shoulder.

He panted as she lifted her hips again, chasing something she didn’t fully understand. He grabbed the hem of her dress, drawing it up over her thighs. She moaned as his hands skatedup her bare skin. In all her hours of tutoring, she hadn’t imagined that kissing someone could feel so good.

The magnetism between her and Conor took on a life of its own. It was a living, breathing thing. The pull to him was relentless. There was nothing but his hands and his breath hot on her neck, the searing heat of his kisses, the drag of his teeth, and the whiskey and the clean, soapy scent of him.

Conor’s fingers dug into her thighs. It wasn’t clear if he was holding on or holding back, but she didn’t care. She wound a hand through his hair and brought his lips to hers, urging him to keep going.

“Is this okay?” he whispered as he trailed a line of kisses down the neckline of her dress.

“Yes, please don’t stop,” she begged.

His mouth moved lower, nipping at the skin at the very edge of her neckline, his tongue dipping underneath the fabric, and she sucked in a sharp breath, arching against him. He kissed down the front of her dress. She hated that she was wearing such heavy wool. She’d been so delighted to finally have clothes in colors, but now she longed for the scandalously thin silk dresses she wore when she journeyed through the Dark Wood.

Conor kissed down her stomach, and she tipped her head back and closed her eyes, just enjoying the sensation of the heat of his mouth, even through the heavy wool. His hands hiked her dress higher, and he pushed her right leg up, placing a kiss inside her knee. Her gaze snapped to his, and he froze. He was giving her a chance to stop him if she didn’t want it, but she couldn’t imagine halting the momentum of what they’d started.

“Don’t you dare stop,” she said.

Her voice was strange and husky in her ears. Conor smiled and kissed slightly higher, then higher, his teeth dragging over her skin. She moaned and her right hand shot to the back of his head, her fingers threading through his hair.

He paused again, startled by the contact. His gaze snagged hers, and she added the slightest bit of pressure on the back of his head to encourage him. She wasn’t sure what he had planned. Her lessons had only explained how she might please him with her mouth, but not a single lesson had been focused on her pleasure. It didn’t even occur to her that she might want something like that, but as he kissed his way higher, she got the sense that she might really enjoy it.

“Look at you. You are temptation itself, Rowan,” Conor growled against her skin, and she whimpered at the way the vibrations sent a pleasant chill through her.

He bent her left leg up and gave it the same treatment. She tried to focus on his mouth and the sensation of his lips against her delicate skin instead of the fact that she was spread wide for him with nothing but thin silk and lace undergarments between them. He paused at the edge of the lace, his tongue darting beneath the fabric. She hissed in a breath, and he drew away, meeting her eyes.

“Rowan, please say you want this,” he murmured. His eyes glowed with desire.

“I don’t know whatthiseven is,” she rasped, suddenly self-conscious.

“Of course they wouldn’t tell you about this.” Conor sighed and shook his head. “I want to make you feel good.”

“But it’s my job to makeyoufeel good,” Rowan whispered. Her brain couldn’t quite catch up, and the frenzy of kissing him had shut down all rational thought.

“This would make me feel very good. I want to kiss you…here,” he said, running his fingers over the silk between her legs.

A violent flush spread through her whole body.

“Do you want that?” he asked.

She felt uneasy at the idea of Conor so close to such an intimate part of her, but she’d loved the feeling of his mouth everywhere else.

“I don’t want to pressure you. If you’re uncomfortable, we can stop right now?—”

“No!” she interrupted with an urgency that made her cheeks burn even hotter.

Conor chuckled. “If I do anything at all that you don’t like, just tell me. We can stop at any time. I’m a fool to tempt myself like this, but I just want you to feel something good.”

Rowan wanted that, too. Kissing Conor was the most dangerous and best-feeling thing she’d ever experienced. Her whole body felt aflame. She was burning from the inside out, and she wanted to ignite.

“I want it,” she rasped.

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