Page 67 of A Lesson In Beginning

“I do.” He licked the spoon slowly. I could not tear my eyes away, thinking of how his tongue felt against my skin, against my own tongue. Immediately, I remembered the way he licked my arousal off of his own fingers. My thighs clenched at the memory, the stirrings of arousal right there, ready to be called to action by his commanding touch.

I flipped my spoon around in my mouth, biting the edge as I let my thoughts wander, watching him eat his ice cream in a far too sensual manner. I had never realized just how seductive the simple act of eating could be. Granted, up until these past weeks, I had not realized that orgasms were possible for women, so I wasn’t exactly an expert on the subject of all things carnal.

“You have to stop biting your spoon like that. You’re driving me crazy.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

“No, Adah. You didn’t do anything wrong. I’m just saying that watching you lick and suck on that spoon has me thinking about your mouth and tongue on my body. And when you bite it — yes, just like that — it is just far too coy a look for you. It makes me want to corrupt you.”

“Perhaps I enjoy subscribing to your particular brand of corruption.”

“Careful.” His raised brow and look of consternation did not land. I could see right through him. And I wanted it. I wanted the playful banter. I plastered on my most innocent face, looking down at my ice cream for a moment to calm my excitement and my expression, before looking up at him through my lashes with the most innocent expression I could muster.

“Corrupt me.”

“Fuuuuuck me. Christ, Adah!” He set his ice cream down on the dash roughly, not giving a single care to my own as he reached across the center console, his hand wrapping behind my neck and pulling me to him. His lips met mine. This was no gentle teasing kiss as each of ours had previously begun. No, this was fire. This was flame. This was corruption.

He kissed me like his life depended on it, as though the very act of not kissing me would be the death of him. And Lord, how I wanted to save his life.

His teeth grazed over my lower lip, tugging and giving me the smallest jolt of pain. I gasped into his mouth and his growl of desire was the only answer I needed. His fingers pulled at the elastic in my hair, freeing the tresses for his fingers to wrap and twist in. He tugged once — hard. I gasped, my head forced back as his kiss became more needy, more desperate. Christ, how I hungered for it.

He pulled away only moments later, both of us breathless and panting.

“You are becoming like oxygen to me, Adah.”

“Excuse me?” I set my ice cream on the dash beside his, not trusting my trembling hands to continue holding the cup of now slightly melted goodness.

“It’s getting harder and harder to deny myself when it comes to you and those kisses. I need them.”

“The feeling is quite mutual, Joel.”

“Now, eat your ice cream so we can talk. If your hands are free, then there is nothing stopping me from turning this talk into a high school make-out session.”

“I don’t know what that means, but alright.” I grabbed my ice cream again, grateful for my now slightly more steady hands.

“What did you want to discuss tonight?”

“I wanted to start off by saying that I had an incredible time last night.”

“As did I.”

“But there are a few things I’d like to change.”

“Oh? Was there something you were unhappy with?” All joking was now pushed to the side, concern filling his voice.

“Yes, but nothing you did, per se. I had a talk with Ruth this afternoon, and she helped me to process what I was feeling.”

“I’m glad you had her to talk to. It’s important, and really helpful, to have someone to talk to, especially in the early days of learning kink.”

“I struggled last night.”

“With what, exactly?”

“When you pulled away. I know you said that it was what was agreed upon, but the feeling of rejection was harsh.”

“I never wanted you to feel rejected, Adah. I only wanted to honor our negotiations.”

“And I know that now. I truly do. But I think, in the future, I’d like it if we could talk about things in aftercare more. Things we liked, didn’t like, and so on.”

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