She looked down at the bed covers and ran her hands along it. The coverlet wasn’t as soft as the covers from her own bed. She picked up the pillow. It also wasn’t as soft, but she supposed Jack was used to it. She checked the door again. No sound. Alice put the pillow to her face, closed her eyes, and inhaled. She could smell his musky male scent.
The door opened.
Alice threw the pillow to its place on the bed and blurted out, “Nothing!”
“What?” Jack asked.
“What?” Alice asked.
Jack stood still and stared. He looked bemused. He held a pot of food in each hand with a napkin tucked under his arm.
“Will I still be hungry enough for dinner back at the manor?”
“Don’t worry,” Jack said. “What I brought you won’t satisfy your hunger…for food.”
Alice laughed, butterflies in her belly.
Jack placed everything on the table and moved the table to Alice so that the bed functioned as her chair. He pulled the one chair over for himself.
Alice admired how his muscles rippled in his arms and chest as he set the table. He caught her admiring him. He smiled. She giggled. Her face felt hot.
Jack pulled matches from his pants pocket, reaching down to that place Alice often dreamed about. He lit the candle. The shadows recoiled to dance on the walls.
Jack picked up the napkin and climbed behind Alice on the bed.
“What are you doing?” Alice laughed.
“Keep your head straight and close your eyes.”
Alice did as he asked, and felt the fabric of the napkin blindfold her. Jack’s hands rested on her shoulders, massaging them. Alice dropped her head and sighed. He erased the tension in her neck and the worries from her mind.
But he stopped too soon. Then again, Alice guessed anytime a massage ends is too soon. She felt the bed quake and heard Jack climbing off the bed. Alice opened her eyes behind the fabric.
“No peeking,” Jack said.
She closed her eyes again. It didn’t matter. All she could see with her eyes open was down her nose.
She heard the chair scrape against the floor as though he were moving to sit close to her. The ting of a pot opened.
Silence.
“Open your mouth,” Jack said.
“What are you going to do?” Alice laughed again. Her heart sped up in anticipation.
“Trust me,” he said.
Silence.
Alice smiled and cautiously opened her mouth. She felt something cold at her lips and touched her tongue to it.
Chocolate!
Dripping from — she gently bit down — a strawberry.
The juices filled her mouth. She shivered, and bit, and chewed.
“Another?” Jack asked softly. His voice rumbled and warmed her belly.
“Yes. Please.”
Silence.
“Try this,” he said. “And don’t bite.”
Alice laughed. “Jack!”
“Trust me,” he said.
She opened her mouth and tasted a drop of cinnamon pudding on her tongue. She closed her lips. Found her lips wrapped around two of Jack’s fingers.
She swirled her tongue around his fingers, licking off the spicy pudding.
Jack groaned.
Alice brought her hands to his and guided his fingers deeper into her mouth.
Jack growled. He removed his fingers. What would come next?
Alice faked a sigh.
“What is it?” he asked.
“I know what I really want,” she replied with a sing-song voice, “but I didn’t bring my hairbrush.”
Suddenly, his lips were planted upon hers. His kiss was urgent, passionate, hungry. When he broke from the kiss, Alice ripped off the blindfold.
She grinned at the pot of strawberries covered in chocolate. “My turn.”
“You’re going to blindfold me?”
Alice shook her head no.
She picked up one of the strawberries and placed it between her teeth. With a single finger she gave Jack the “come hither” gesture. Jack moved towards Alice like a panther. Her heartbeat quickened.
Jack placed a gentle kiss on her lips, taking the strawberry into his mouth. Alice wrapped her arms around him, sharing with him her lips, her taste, her love.
She completed her kiss and opened her eyes to see him gulping down the strawberry.
“Delicious,” he said warmly, his eyes sparkled like diamonds. “Stand up.”
Alice did. Jack spun her so her back was to him. He lifted her hair to expose the nape of her neck. With that one gesture, she felt completely naked
Wasn’t that strange?
His hands were firm on her shoulders. She could feel his eager breath. Her nipples hardened.
“You’re so beautiful,” he whispered.
Alice took in a breath and held it, as though fighting to believe his words. She felt a lump lodged in her throat. Jack undid the buttons along the back of her dress. Her spine tingled at the exposure. Jack kissed the nape of her neck, another further down, and further still. She shivered in delight, releasing a moan.
“So beautiful.”
Beautiful? Did Jack really think she was beautiful? Or was it just for her to enjoy the moment. Whatever he truly thought, his words had an effect on her. She felt her pussy become wet.
Jack pushed down the sleeves of her dress, slowly lowering her dress down her arms. He placed soft kisses down to the base of her spine. Then he caressed the fabric against her legs as he slid her dress down. It bundled at her ankles.
“Beautiful.”
Alice took it in, honoring the tightness in her stomach. Yes, it was still hard to believe him.
But her body still enjoyed every word, every caress. Her breasts ached to be touched, her panties were damp.
His coarse palms swept up her legs, bottom, back, to her shoulders. She felt his warmth, his appreciation for her.
He turned her around so they were face to face. He still had his pants on, and she, her underwear. But it was the way he looked into her eyes that made her feel naked.
Not even her skin protected her from the way he seemed to see straight into her soul.
He seemed to be searching for something within her. Permission, perhaps? No. Something else.
“Do you realize what you do to me?” Jack said, his hands warm on her shoulders.
Alice was startled by the question.
All this time she noticed what he was doing to her…
Jack picked up her hand and placed it on his chest. His heart drummed a tattoo.
“Alice, you are truly a beautiful, beautiful woman.”
Feeling the beating of his heart, she was starting to believe his words. Beautiful. She was beautiful. Her eyes welled up as she heard her voice yelling at herself to believe it.
He pulled her into a hug. Her breasts pressed against his bare chest. She fought against the choking sobs.
