Page 75 of The Duke and the Disciple

She turned to her side to cuddle into his shoulder. “Nor I you.”

“That part was unfortunate,” he muttered with an annoyed look down.

“It was sexy.” She slithered against him. “I feel as though I know you a bit better now.”

“Do you?” He raked a hand through her hair and locked it behind her head.

“Don’t be ashamed. I’m not.” She kissed him. “It’s yet early. We could continue to collect observations for our notes... and I have designs on giving you a more proper finish.”

He licked the tops of his teeth. “How could I refuse?”

Aesylt climbed atop of him. All it would take was a quick reach between his legs, but no matter how much of his resistance she’d broken down, there was yet some remaining. As long as he could convince himself he was doing it for the research, he could live with it. But she knew better. She knew what he was refusing to acknowledge. She might understand little about sex, but what had happened the past two days was far beyond clinical.

He slid his hands along her ass and then pulled one to the front, dipping it between her legs and working his fingers into place. “You sure you don’t need a rest first?” His eyes narrowed in mischief. “I went easy on you, Aesylt. I won’t be so gentle next time.”

“I’m far from crying mercy.” She grinned and urged him on by riding his hand. “So you have work to do.”

Rahn’s headwas a spinning mess by the time he sat to do his notes for the evening. Aesylt bathed behind a curtain, the gift of hot water left by the kitchen staff and brought up by pulley. How he’d wanted to stay with her... to sponge her back when she was too tired... to see with his own eyes the bruises along her inner thighs that she’d urged him to inflict—and then tend to them. But she’d smiled sleepily and insisted she welcomed the time alone with her thoughts, and that was just as well. Things were already confusing enough.

He squinted, wiping more sweat from his brow as his quill struck the page.Male researcher continues to be intrigued how female is always physically ready for his advances. Not just ready but in a state of total desire, as though there had been hours of foreplay preceding the activity.

He tapped the feather of his quill, his head tilted back to catch his breath. What else could he write? And how could he possibly write it without bringing in the illicit, consuming power of the past few hours, the barriers they’d broken between them, and the closeness that had been present before but had become all he could think about.

Rahn’s eyes traveled toward her desk. She’d done her notes swiftly, hovering over her chair when it had been too painful to sit. Even the thought made him hard, because gods, how she’d wanted it. She’d begged for the fist, but he had to draw the line somewhere, even if she couldn’t.

But if she could take three fingers, she could take him.

Not that his cock could offer anything more to the evening. She’d taken him into her mouth twice, which was to say nothing of the mortifying premature release he’d made in his pants when she had asked for more pain. Not his first time around her. Probably not his last.

Rahn adjusted in his seat, his gaze still on her desk. The locked drawer. “You still all right in there?” he asked, clearing his throat.

“Enjoying the warmth, Scholar. Care to join me?”

“We’re not in the celestial realm, Aesylt.”

“And?”

Oh, she was a crafty one. Perhaps she even meant the invitation. But the celestial realm was all that stood between him and the last vestiges of a belief that he was a good and decent man. “You finished your notes quickly.”

“I had lots of thoughts desperate to escape.” She laughed. The delightful sound echoed across the stones.

“I think we should compare ours soon, so we know if we need to backtrack, collect more experience.”

“You just want to read mine.”

He grinned to himself. Of course she’d seen through him. “I confess I do. But calibrating our findings is an important part of research. It’s how we assess whether we’re aligned on everything.”

Her tone was heavier when she responded. “I know. I just need a little more time with mine before they’re ready for anyone else’s eyes. This isn’t quite the same as watching the sky and reading the stars, is it?”

He closed his eyes to center himself. There was a reason she didn’t want him to see her notes. He just didn’t know what it was yet. “If you need anything, just call out.”

“You can go on to bed. I think I’ll stay here a while, watch the snow and soak my limbs a bit longer.”

Chapter17

A Perfect Preamble

Rahn was up before the sun. He had slept little, his mind working around what Aesylt could be keeping from him. And shewaskeeping something from him. He was certain.

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