Page 76 of Tusks & Saddles
Welborn nodded, staying perfectly still as Miss Eaves removed his glasses and set them somewhere outside his field of vision.
“Kiss me.”
Despite his nerves and the shaking of his ribs, Welborn closed the distance between them and kissed her. He still wasn’t sure if he was doing it right. There wasn’t enough information for him to saywith absolute certainty that he was. But he knew how to pay attention and knew to keep his senses open to his surroundings. And what Welborn discovered was that Miss Eaves was enjoying herself.
He doubted she would be running her gloved hands through his hair if she didn’t. Or letting out those content little sighs whenever their mouths would open and meet again and again. Each passing kiss was a spark, like the electricity Welborn called down with his magic. Different from divine magic but somehow exactly the same. Thrilling, heart pounding—it all made him lightheaded.
“You okay?” she asked after a long bout of kissing.
“Yeah,” Welborn said, surprised at how out of breath he was.
“I’m going to kiss you again, but this time I’m going to press my tongue against your lips. When you feel that, I want you to open your mouth. Can you do that for me?”
Fuck.
At that moment, Welborn would have thrown himself to the baby monsters circling the boulder if it meant Miss Eaves would put her tongue in his mouth.
“Welborn?”
“Yes,” he shook his head. “I mean, I understand, Miss Eaves.”
She didn’t admonish him for keeping up the formalities. In fact, she seemed pleased with it, though Welborn couldn’t figure out why.
“Good boy,” she praised.
Oh.
Adifferent shiver along his spine. A very different warmth in his groin. Welborn could only close his eyes when Miss Eaves kissed him next. He didn’t say he whimpered so much as let out a startled sound when her hot tongue slid along the seam of his lips. Obediently, he opened his mouth, and her tongue slid inside. It was different. Curious, and wet, of course, but so very warm.
Welborn had never given much thought to the purpose of tongues outside of taste and picking his teeth clean of jerky. But now, oh, he was certain the purpose of his was to be ensnared by Miss Eaves’ tongue. To feel this muscle—so powerful and sharp when forming words—stroke along his own, spreading saliva against his teeth—
Shit,he thought. Shit, shit, shit.
It was just a kiss, just tongues, but Welborn was so wound up by it. Without rhyme or reason, his grip on Miss Eaves hips tightened, and he brought her hips flush against his. The gasp that tore from her mouth made him groan. The sound would have mortified him if they weren’t blanketed beneath her veil. Even if the aid of cloth had been absent, it wasn’t as if there were actualpeoplein the middle of the Wastelands.
No, whatever shame had colored Welborn’s cheeks was now being replaced with desire. Miss Eaves felt good, and she was making him feelreallygood. There was so much possibility before them, so much to discover, and it was all Welborn could do but kiss Miss Eaves when she met his mouth with a growing intensity. The subtle shift of her hips had him breaking out into a sweat. Or maybe it was the humid air between them beneath her veil.
Helplessly, Welborn’s own hips gave an involuntary jerk in return. It caused another gasp to escape Miss Eaves mouth, one that fell over Welborn’s cheek. Instead of returning to his mouth with her tongue, Miss Eaves lips had found his neck. He groaned at the sensation of her teeth pressing against his skin. Her teeth felt different, the canines appearing to be longer than the blunt incisors. Miss Eaves could have had the deadliest set of teeth in all of Ordia, and Welborn would only ever offer her his neck if it meant she’d continue sucking the way she was.
It was difficult not to think of that same sensation in other places. Any notion of propriety in his thoughts had promptly sailed to new worlds, leaving behind only the deepest, most private of thoughts behind. The ones that teased his mind the last week while he was drifting off to bed. Or those mornings when he woke up and had to wait a good deal before going to the washroom.
I want her mouth there,Welborn thought.I want her mouth everywhere, but what would it be like to have it around—
“Ah!”
The sound that escaped Welborn startled him and he bit his lip to prevent any others like it. Miss Eaves hand gently caressed the hair at the base of his skull, her mouth separating from his neck like some kind of blood sucking fiend.
“I didn’t hurt you, did I?”
“No, no! Not at all! It’s just…”
Miss Eaves waited, but when Welborn’s mouth refused to answer, she gently prodded at the robes around his shoulders. They fell away, bunching around his elbows behind him. For whatever reason, the task gave him the courage to speak once more.
“It’s just a little embarrassing…you’re just kissing my neck.”
It was confusing given Welborn thought his desire outweighed his nerves, but he had obviously been mistaken.
“Don’t be shy, Welborn,” Miss Eaves cooed. “You don’t have to hide from me. Let me hear you.”
