Page 59 of The Duke and the Disciple

He was down to his blouse and trousers when he poured himself a mug of whatever was in the pitcher he’d seen on the desk. He slammed down one round of the watery drink and was debating pouring another when he heard Aesylt’s light steps trickle in behind him and stop. From limb to limb, his body seized. He was suspended between the decision to pour or abort, waiting for her to return to her bed, but she didn’t. She didn’t move at all.

Rahn slid his finger along the rough wooden edge of the mug. He trapped a breath and turned, but whatever pleasantry he’d planned flew straight from his mind at the sight of her in a thin night slip. The gauzy fabric clung to her lean curves. Her erect nipples—gods how he tried not to look—sat atop perfectly arced breasts that he’d noticed before but had not seen like this.

He took a single step, his pulse screaming between his ears. It was all he could manage.

“And another with me,” she said, hoarse and raspy, and the world shifted. The room was the same, same fire roaring in the hearth, and she was just as breathtaking in the celestial realm as the real one.

One of Rahn’s hands reached for her, a command dredged from a part of himself not fully in his control. It brushed her warm skin, causing her to lift onto her toes with a shiver, and traveled to the wisp of a strap keeping her nightgown from meeting the floor. Both of their breaths hitched when it slid down her shoulder and rested on the edge of the muscle of her upper arm. The lace covering her breasts fell away on one side, revealing raised flesh along the cut of her cleavage.

Aesylt’s shoulders rose in a charged shudder, but her eyes... She kept her crystal irises fixed on his in challenge, in permission. For what... Ah, he should ask. He should break the spell and remind them both that whatever current was flowing between them was for the good of the research.

His hand traveled along the stretch of her milky neck. She craned her head to the side and his fingers skimmed the underside of her chin, lifting it. Her eyes never closed, and her gaze never faltered, but a single flit of her tongue on her lips was all it took.

Rahn was still drowning in her gaze when he leaned in and swept his lips against hers. She lifted again to her toes with a soft moan that made his stomach wind into knots. Her arms folded behind his head as she stretched higher. He dragged his hands down the fabric, skirting one of her breasts, and let it rest against her hip.

His tongue found hers and something inside of him snapped. He reached around her hip to her ass and cupped it, lifting, and she leaped up, wrapping her legs around his waist. With his thumb caressing the edge of her mouth, he tugged, opening it to drive his tongue deeper, memorizing the warmth, the soft, sweet taste of her, and the clench of her thighs against his hips.

She slid against him, against his cock, which didn’t belong in his trousers. It belonged inher, in her soft mouth, her delicious pussy, her tight ass, her...

Rahn lowered her and took a faltering step back. He wiped his mouth on the back of his hand, panting and turning his startled gaze to the fire.

“Scholar?” she asked, small and anxious, her arms wrapped around herself.

He shook his head, trying to speak, but nothing came out. He coughed to clear the clog in his throat, but it was no better.

“Have I done something to upset you?”

“No,” he rasped, turning his attention back to her. There was hurt in her wide eyes, caused by him. But he’d agreed to this, had even been the one who had proposed it the second time. The mixed messages weren’t fair. He had to do better, for her. “I was only... thinking, we’re both very tired, and if we don’t stop now, we’ll need to do this again in the morning, so our thoughts are fresh for our notes.”

A shy grin pulled at her mouth. “Would that be so bad?”

Rahn wasn’t quick enough to bury his own smile. “I wouldn’t be devastated.”

A fuller smile appeared. She closed her eyes and whispered, and they were again in their own world. She was already moving away from him, returning to her bed. The moment ended as quickly as it had commenced.

Rahn went to his own bed. He sat on the edge, removed his trousers, deciding at the last minute to leave the shirt. Nude was his sleeping preference, but the chill air aside, it was for her benefit he stayed clothed.

It was only when his head hit the pillow that he realized neither of them had gone for their notes.

He closed his eyes but was no longer tired. Heat pounded the backs of his lids, his flesh a minefield. He shifted, trying to get comfortable, but all he could think about, all he couldfeel,was the soft fold of her arms behind his neck, her eager lifting. They’d kissed once before, but not... not like that. Not with intent. Not with enough longing to burn all of Wulfsgate to the ground.

A muted whimper drew his notice. He stilled, listening, but it was another few moments before he heard it again. A sharp inhalation followed, set to the rustling of blankets.

Gods, she’s pleasuring herself.Rahn gripped the sheets, his toes curling toward the pads of his feet. All he had to do was slip out of his bed and into hers. Perhaps she wanted him to. Quiet as she was, she could have been quieter. Unable to say the words, she’d sent him another kind of message.

But there was an order to their curricula. To move ahead was to admit none of it was for science at all, but to satisfy some dark, feral longing for someone he could never have in any meaningful way, and shouldn’t want.

Rahn’s hand moved between his legs. The gentle squeeze sent his eyes rolling back and nearly pushed him over the edge, but he went slow, listening to her breathy pants intensify. He matched her pace, ignited by her unashamed knowledge of her body and its desires. When he imagined her fingers dipping lower to drive her wetness higher, he had to bite down to keep from finishing.

At last he heard her open-mouthed gasp, the torsion of flesh against fabric, and he gave his cock several rough strokes, angling his face against his arm as he came so hard, he nearly yelped.

“Dobranok, Scholar,” Aesylt whispered. In her tone was all she didn’t say. That she’d heard. She’d been right there with him for all of it.

“Dobranok, Aesylt,” he responded, and soon after, sleep offered its warm embrace.

Chapter15

For the Notes

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