Her First Kiss
“Take off your clothes.”
The moment Elora heard that, she instantly took steps backward and crossed her arms tightly over her body. She passed him a betrayed look with her expression sullen.
“Take them off, princess.”
Her eyes shot upward. “You…you cannot ask a woman to take off her clothing, your highness. It is improper and…and…”
Her protest broke into a sharp shriek, eyes almost popping out of their sockets when in a single stride, he closed the distance between them. She pushed against the wall behind her and turned her head to the side as if to avoid his eyes.
Rafael’s lips twitched. Crossing his hands slightly behind his back, he bent slightly to meet her height. “Firstly, you are not just any woman. You are my wife. Secondly, it is not improper when it is my wife and lastly, if you do not shed that damned drenched garment, you might fall ill.” He lightly flicks her forehead. She cried softly and her hand settled on the spot. “I do not know what runs in this mind of yours.”
Her face grew as red as a blooming sun-kissed rose and her gaze darted everywhere but him. His lips slightly lifted as he watched her blush, her cheeks burning from embarrassment.
“I…I…” She could barely let out a word. “I wasn’t thinking…”
Before he could stop himself, his hands suddenly fell on her waist. Her body jerked forward and a shiver ran down her spine. Slowly, he placed his other hand on the wall and his fingers trailed over her tiny waist and her back. Elora stiffened, her heart beginning to race, his touch burning like a hot flame. Before now, she never thought it was possible to be so much affected by a touch from someone. It made it foreign, strange, and worse, scary.
He tugged at the first tie of her corset.
She swallowed. “I can do it my…” Her words were cut short by a sneeze.
“Let’s get you out of this.”
This time, she didn’t protest as he started to pull on the ropes of her corset. Her heart hammered loudly the closer he got to the last tie and her hands held the dress to her chest.
But as he pulled on the last tie of her dress, she sneezed and in the process, her hands slipped off her dress. Her eyes widened. The dress slipped to the floor and pooled at her feet.
Now standing in only her thin chemise, she was aware of their position and the fact that she was standing before him almost naked, the thin chemise barely covering anything.
Their gazes locked for a while. The walls behind her felt cold but his gaze was enough to make her feel hot and her legs to shiver.
She saw his eyes trail downward. They lingered, dark and hot, tracing her body like he was trying to imprint every curve and dip in his head. Wherever his eyes settled on burned. There was no mistaking the way his eyes devoured her legs and her thighs. She suddenly felt her womanhood throb and in an instant, she clamped her legs shut at the foreign sensation.
Her lips parted, though no sound emerged. She pressed backward but the wall offered no escape. She felt the heat of his stare as he traced upward to her waist and then those eyes settled on her breasts. Her body betrayed her and she felt her nipples harden, straining against the linen, her womanhood throbbing even more. With how his eyes grew even darker, she was certain he noticed the reaction and she flushed, mortified by her body’s reaction.
What on earth was he doing to her? It was foreign. So foreign. Too foreign.
Rafael threw his hands into his hair when the corner of her lower lip went between her teeth.
“You do not realize how much you consume my every being, do you?” His voice was rough and strained. “Here I am, trying my every best to resist your temptation. But here you…”
He sucked in a deep breath, his eyes settling on her lips. His hand twitched and unable to keep it still, he lifted his thumb to her lips and slowly pulled her lower lip from between her teeth. In a breathy voice, he continued. “Here you are driving me nuts.” Every syllable that he spoke came out heavy.
His thumb ran over her lips, his gaze fixated on them.
A step closer he took and when his chest brushed against hers, she let out a small helpless gasp. Her hands fluttered upward as if to push him away, only to flatter against the hard planes of his chest. Her heart thundered and her breath became ragged.
No words were spoken between them. Their bodies pressed together. The sound of their breaths and the occasional swallow were the only sounds heard in the room.
Their heads simultaneously moved closer. Elora’s eyes clamped shut and her chest heaved up and down as she anticipated the feel of his lips on hers instead of his thumb. How was it going to feel like?
It was going to be her first kiss.
But just as his lips were about to touch hers, she suddenly sneezed right into his face.