Page 72 of Emma & Edmund

"If I were to taste you now, I won't be able to move another inch without taking you."

She should push away, say that there was no world he would ever 'take' her, but to do so would be foolish. To do so would deny the wetness between her legs, the pounding in her heart. She wanted him to take her, yearned to give anything he wanted.

After one more fervent, bruising kiss, Edmund released her, setting her on trembling legs, leaving her cold as his arms left her. Before she could even truly mourn the loss of his touch, he reached back and took her by the hand, leading her through the now nearly black trail. Only a sliver of moonlight allowed the barest of outlines to Edmund's form, and she found herself unable to look from where their hands clasped.

"Ah," was all the cue Edmund gave when they had reached their destination before stopping suddenly.

Moonlight flooded the path, shining a spotlight on a wall of wispy, grey-green branches dancing in the wind. With his free arm, Edmund had pushed aside the willow curtain, pulling her through, letting it fall behind them as they passed.

For Emma, the unveiled valley, despite all of its natural splendor - from the trickling stream to the barely budding wildflowers - paled in comparison to the great, powerful arm that held her steady. The face, lips, cheeks, and tusks that she had dreamed about were within reach, and everything within her told her to touch, to kiss, to taste as much as she possibly could.

Reaching out with both hands, she cupped his face, turning his lust-blazed eyes to her own, pulling him in to press an exploratory kiss of to his awaiting mouth.

As her tongue slipped past his plump lips, the moan he gave in response rocked her to her core. There was no better sound in the world, responding with her own as her body crushed to his.

Their mouths still conjoined, the cushion of leaves and moss cradling her heated skin was the first sign she had reached the ground, her body held tight against Edmund’s as he laid her down. Her dress quickly moistened, but she didn’t know if the cause was the wet ground or her sweat. Her head cradled in his palm, she whimpered through a nip Edmund paid to her lower lip.

She gasped for breath in the brief moment their mouths parted, eyes fluttering open only for her vision to be filled with the glittering night sky. Andhim.

Emma had seen Edmund's face many times. Since they met, she had seen him overjoyed, saddened, crushed by reality, and in the thralls of arousal. While some were close, she had no words for the tight set of his jaw, the shallowness of his breath, or the fire in the endless black depths of his eyes.

A hot palm pressed into her calf, fingers clutching at her skirts. Suddenly, the fabric felt heavy and confining, in desperate need of removal.

A moan ripped from her throat as Edmund dipped his head into the crook of her neck, latching onto the sensitive stretch of her collarbone. Her voice echoed off the trees as he sucked her salty skin into his mouth, a tusk pressed into her throat just enough to make breathing stutter, but it would take a force of God to make her stop him.

Trailing kisses and bites up Emma's neck, Edmund finally mounted her fully. Bracing his knees into the mud at her hips, he kept only a narrow sliver of space between their bodies. If she wished, Emma could have lifted herself just a bit and press herself against him as she did in her dreams.

She was reminded of the core difference between dreams and reality when the lower lobe of her ear locked between his teeth, and the gasping groan escaping through her own sounded feral even to her ears. Not that it stopped her from clutching to his shirt, or from melting to the ground. Reality felt so much better.

"Emma." The guttural veneration of her name was the only warning Emma had before her dress was hiked over her knees, her underskirts coming with it.

Slipping his hand from under her head, Edmund distracted her with a kiss as he grasped at both of her hips, lifting them just enough to drag the fabric over them. Exposed to the cool night air, Emma released another groan into his mouth.

Edmund's hands roamed her legs, slipping off her shoes to trace the contours of her foot, sliding up the back of her knees only to slide back down, catching her stockings with his thumbs, and they too joined the slippers. As much as she could melt into his touch, her fingers itched to do the same.

Without a second thought, Emma tugged the fine linen shirt from his waistband. Shuttering at a kiss laid on her bruising throat, she wished her trembling fingers to steady while she undid the buttons. Oh, why did they have to be so small?

Pulling his mouth from her, Edmund watched her for a moment, bracing his palms on either side of her face, until a muttered curse came from below. With a low chuckle, it took only one hand for Edmund to rip the cloth from his body, tossing it beside her discarded clothing.

Emma reached to touch the hard muscle carving his chest, defining his stomach, before a single hand captured her wrists, pinning them just above her splayed hair, while its twin trailed up her inner thigh, sending a quiver through Emma. That small shiver was nothing compared to the writhing her body performed when that hand grasped at her inner thigh, pulling her legs apart.

Her breath came out in shallow pants, her eyes open just a sliver, the world beyond her bodily desire nothing but a blur. The hand on her thigh promised her the ecstasy he had delivered before. She didn’t even hear the buttons of her dress pop as Edmund slipped it over her shoulders, leaving only her thin underclothes as a feeble barrier between them.

What she didn't expect, though, was the dramatic arch her back took, her nails digging into the leaves when that same hand shot up her leg, coming to cup at the warm, wet spot between her legs. Edmund peppered her cheeks and the corners of her lips, muttering sweet words that never made their way to Emma's ears.

Oh no, she was far too distracted by the exploratory caress of his fingertips, dragging slowly over her slit, brushing over the sensitive skin surrounding it.

Fusing his mouth to hers, Edmund swallowed her open groan as he slid a finger on either side of her center, spreading her lower lips and exposing the very core of her to the night. He wasted no time in pressing a thick finger to her opening.

Emma's head threw back, her body initially resisting, a whimper pulled from her as he teased the tight barrier. Anywhere he touched felt on fire, melting her into nothing but a moaning puddle of pleasure, and the finger promised her something more. In her untrained and instinct-driven body, she tried her best to open for him.

While it was far from the opening of a lily flower, a celebratory smile was cut off by her groan as Edmund pressed past the tight ring of skin. Harder, fatter, and firmer than a tongue, Emma's hands slipped out of Edmund's distracted hold only to clutch at his wrists, nails digging into his skin.

"Should I stop?" Edmund pressed a kiss to her ear before wrapping his lips around the curve of her neck. He may have asked the question, but the finger within her had begun to drag in and out of her, trailing a stream of wetness from her with each small thrust.

"Don't you dare." It was almost as if the words were a cue, a trigger for the deep-throated growl that Edmund emitted, sending a fresh wave of desire right to her core. The inhuman sound jolted through her, a second finger joined the first - stretching her to what she thought must be her limit - but she wanted more of him, as much as he could give. She had no clue where her limit lay but craved for him to shatter right through it.

Slaps of wet skin and the sounds of Emma’s body greedily drinking in pleasure filled their small valley, only drowned out by her endless cries. Tears streamed from her eyes, not in pain but in the exquisite burn from her spread thighs, the lush, loving lips that never left her, and, most of all, the fast thrusts inside of her that reached into her most hidden depths, bringing her to the most delicious heights.

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