Sweet Enemy

by Heather Snow

  Liliana hitched her legs and pushed Amira ahead, forcing Geoffrey to speed up to take the lead, which she knew he would because he obviously had a destination in mind.

  They circled the east side of the park until they came to the largest of Somerton Park’s three lakes. Geoffrey slowed and Liliana followed suit, delighted when she realized where he was taking her.

  The abandoned folly stood nestled in a grove of old-growth trees and overlooked the water from the farthest side of the lake. As they drew closer to the columned circular structure, with several of its massive foundation stones darkened with age and moss, Liliana couldn’t contain her gasp of pleasure.

  “This is lovely,” she said, her gaze sweeping the view. The waking sun reflected in the lake, casting pink and orange shadows over the faded stone steps leading to the folly’s entrance.

  “Yes, it is,” he murmured, yet his eyes stayed solely on her.

  The vines of desire rooting beneath her breastbone stretched and tightened.

  “The design was inspired by a Greek revival temple,” he said, releasing her from the intensity of his gaze. “My great-grandfather, William Wentworth, commissioned it just before the end of the seventeenth century. I understand he was taken with ancient ruins while on his grand tour.” Geoffrey led her to a marble mounting block and they tied the horses.

  “He enjoyed a touch of whimsy, too, did he?” Liliana asked as they climbed the stairs. She pointed to the faded painted ceiling as they passed under the columns where caricaturized scenes from Greek mythology graced the domed panels.

  Geoffrey laughed, a rich sound that echoed off of the stone. “No. Well, perhaps. William was quite a character if the stories I’ve heard are true—brash, adventurous, lucky in love but not at the card table—but the farcical ceiling was the work of my father,” he said.

  Liliana turned at the strained note she heard in his voice. A tightness had appeared around Geoffrey’s eyes, but his smile seemed easy enough. Yet something tugged at Liliana that made her sad—an intimate understanding, perhaps. It was apparent that Geoffrey had loved his father, just as she had loved hers.

  “This was our special place,” Geoffrey said. “My father…” He coughed, one short little burst. “My father painted those one summer, and we would sit out here for hours when I was a boy, lying on our backs, looking up and concocting ridiculous stories to accompany the scenes.”

  Looking up, Liliana noticed the faded scenes, and yet some of them were bright with fresh paint. Had Geoffrey been restoring the panels?

  Geoffrey pushed open the wooden doors, which, to Liliana’s surprise, opened easily, with no creaks and groans. As she stepped inside, she realized that this place had not been abandoned at all. It was clean and tidy, and while the furnishings were sparse—two overstuffed chairs, a daybed, a writing desk and a small table—they looked comfortable. She turned inquiring eyes to Geoffrey.

  “It’s now become my special place when I am home,” he said. “My private place.”

  “Is that why you’re repainting the ceiling? To keep your father’s memory alive?” She swallowed, understanding. Isn’t that why she’d fought so hard to be allowed to learn chemistry?

  “Perhaps.” His voice lowered and his eyes turned soft in that way that Liliana had come to recognize precluded, at the very least, a kiss guaranteed to curl her toes.

  A sudden nervousness gripped her. Geoffrey had never before taken her somewhere so…secluded. Which meant the opportunity existed for their intimacy to be taken to the next level. Her breasts grew heavy and her breath short.

  “Your private place, eh?” she said, striving for lightness even as that peculiar yearning that had become a near constant companion these past days took hold. “Pity,” she teased. “I’d thought the folly abandoned and had quite set my sights on a lovely laboratory. You wouldn’t mind, would you?”

  An indiscernible look crossed his features as he made a slow advance upon her. “Not at all,” he said, his voice turned gruff with arousal. “There are many things I might be convinced to share with you, Liliana.” He stopped directly before her. “The first of which is this.”

  He took her lips in a kiss that felt at once familiar and thrillingly different. A kiss with an intent unlike his kisses past. Her body responded to the urgency of his and she threw one arm around his neck, anxious to get closer, closer, now.

  The trembling fingers of her other hand reached for his shirt, wanting his warm skin beneath hers like yesterday.

  “Ah-ah-ah,” he said, pulling away from the kiss and trapping her hand against his chest. “Not today, my little researcher.” He tilted her face up. “Today, I turn the table. You, my dear will not be the experimenter, but the experimentee.”

  Liliana uttered a nervous laugh. “That’s not even a word.”

  “No?” Geoffrey’s mouth spread in a slow smile as he leaned in toward her again. “Well, it should be,” he said, taking her lips for the second time. As their tongues entwined, Liliana had the vaguest sense of being moved, backed toward something. The cushioned cover of the daybed met the back of her knees a second before Geoffrey slowly lowered her onto it.

  He settled her in the middle, his lips never leaving her. He arranged her body just so, his hands tender as they glided over arms and knees and breasts and face. Heat filled her, so much that her clothes seemed to burn her skin, and she moaned. Geoffrey seemed to understand, as he slipped the buttons of her shirt free, allowing cool air to kiss her heated chest.

  “Today I intend to show you what your body can do,” Geoffrey murmured.

  “I understand”—Liliana gasped as Geoffrey slipped his hand inside the opening in her shirt and brushed a finger across her nipple, which hardened almost painfully—“understand how the female body works.”

  A low chuckle accompanied another flick of his finger. Then Geoffrey cupped her breast in his warm palm and squeezed it gently, dragging his rough thumb back and forth over her distended areola. “You may have knowledge of what I speak,” he said, “but until you experience it, you won’t understand.”

  Liliana nodded, closing her eyes. She’d agree with anything he said if he’d only keep doing that.

  “For example,” he murmured, bringing her eyes open to look at him again, “do you know what purpose women’s breasts serve?”

  “Of course.” Heat scored Liliana’s cheeks, but she answered. “Glands inside a female mammal’s breasts produce milk to nurture her offspring.”

  Geoffrey nodded. “Mmm…that’s correct, my smart darling.” He flicked her nipple again with this thumb, and a sharp pang shot from Liliana’s nipple to an answering nubbin far lower. Geoffrey slipped another button loose with his free hand, baring her breast to his sight. “But did you know that babes are not the only ones who might suckle from a woman’s breasts?”

  “Wh-what?” She could barely breathe as Geoffrey leaned in closer, as if to kiss her, but at the last moment he detoured and lowered his head to her chest instead.

  “Let me demonstrate,” he murmured, and then he opened his mouth upon her.

  “Oh!” Liliana groaned. She couldn’t tear her gaze from the sight of Geoffrey’s dark head at her breast. His eyes were closed, yet his mouth worked, suckling her. She watched the curves of his cheek hollow as he drew more deeply of her, and then she had to close her eyes, so sharp were the sensations, a tugging that pierced her, stealing her breath and setting off a rhythmic throbbing below in time with Geoffrey’s draws upon her breast.

  Liliana’s other breast felt horribly ignored. She moaned and Geoffrey seemed to understand. He broke from his task long enough to whip the shirt over Liliana’s head. She hardly noticed, so intent was she on expressing her desire for him to treat her other breast to the same experience. She grasped his hand, pulling it to her neglected breast, and gasped in pleasure as he cupped her.

  Geoffrey dropped his lips to her and opened his hot mouth. His hand tweaked and rolled her other nipple between his fingers at the same rhythm
his mouth drew upon her.

  Sir Isaac’s ghost, she didn’t know how much of this she could stand. Liliana writhed in pleasure. Who knew this was possible? No book she’d ever read had alluded to anything like this.

  Geoffrey released her nipple from his mouth, then lapped at her one last time, which shot sensation straight through her. He raised his head and speared her with his gaze…His cobalt eyes burned hot, deep blue pools that simmered.

  “Do you understand what else your breasts were made for, Liliana?” he asked, sensual challenge in his voice.

  She shook her head, waiting for him to show her.

  He’d cupped both of her breasts now and was gently squeezing, pumping, shaping them. “Caressing your breasts will help make you ready for…other things.” He took each nipple between the thumbs and index fingers of his hands and gave a sharp pinch at the same time.

  Liliana gasped.

  “Do you feel that?” Geoffrey asked.

  “Yes.” She struggled with words. “It’s like…like there are invisible strings drawn between my breasts and my…my mons. What is it?” Liliana could feel the heat on her face, but her curiosity won out over her embarrassment, as it always did.

  Rather than answer, Geoffrey said, “Observe how tight the strings become the more stimulation your breasts are given.” He dropped his mouth again, suckling deeply while rolling her opposite nipple between his fingers simultaneously.

  Liliana clenched her fists as the sensation spiraled, the string drew tighter and tighter and the throbbing pressure below built and built until she thought the strings must surely snap. She didn’t know what would happen if they did, and she alternately yearned for and feared finding out.

  Finally Geoffrey ceased his torture, bringing his head up to rest against the side of her neck. His hot breath brushed against her and satisfaction swelled within her. He was just as affected as she, and she’d yet to touch him. How fascinating.

  “Do you feel it now, Liliana?” Geoffrey rasped.

  “Feel what?” She felt many things, mostly an urge for more.

  “The heat,” he said, “between your thighs. Do you feel moisture there?”

  Mortified that he would mention such a thing, Liliana nodded against him nonetheless. Just thinking about it gave her an urge to press her thighs together. She gave in to the idea and moaned at the sensation.

  “Good,” he said roughly. “That means you are becoming more and more ready for me.” Geoffrey sounded as if he could scarcely breathe. “Not only will caressing your breasts prepare you, but indeed, so would caressing many other places on your body. Your very skin is a conduit of sexual energy,” he said. “If we had more time, I could show you several spots that will excite you thus.”

  “Really?” Liliana blinked, even more fascinated. She supposed she shouldn’t be, but truly, the very idea of it stimulated her senses.

  Geoffrey laughed. “Yes, really.” He placed an open palm against her stomach, just above the waist of her pants, and all laughter died. “But you don’t need that today, Liliana. You’re more than ready for what comes next.”

  Almost as if in answer, more moisture gathered between her legs and Liliana instinctively pressed her thighs together again.

  Geoffrey chuckled and placed his hands at the fastening of her trousers. “May I?” he asked, and as Liliana looked into his face, she knew he was making her choose. Choose whether she wished to learn more or whether she wished to let things remain unknown.

  “Yes,” she said emphatically, knowing she wished to experience anything this man would show her.

  “Good.” Geoffrey’s smile was quick and his voice low, sending warmth spreading through her. “Because I’m about to show you what your wonderful body is truly capable of.”

  Liliana’s chest expanded, almost with a relief. He was going to make love to her. She knew she should feel ashamed, at the very least modest, but she did not. No, rather, she felt nothing but burning excitement, and that need that caused her mons to throb grew more insistent.

  Geoffrey slipped her pants over her hips and she kicked her legs, impatient to be rid of the hindrance.

  “Patience, love,” Geoffrey said, and then he cupped his hand over her most private of places, pressing the heel of his palm against the spot from which those invisible strings seemed to originate.

  Goodness, it was as if every nerve ending in her body were centered in that one spot. How was this possible? Surely her—

  Geoffrey’s fingers moved, dipping lower to her moist heat. He kept delicious pressure on his palm, on her, yet his long finger moved inside her gently. She couldn’t help herself. She planted her heels and lifted her hips, pressing herself more into him.

  “Relax, love,” Geoffrey soothed. “I know what you need. Trust me to give it to you.”

  Liliana groaned but subsided. She did trust him. Now if only he would—

  One finger drove deep, and Liliana felt herself clench around it. Geoffrey groaned and she wondered how he could be feeling pleasure when it was he touching her. Yet she remembered the satisfaction she’d gotten yesterday when she’d run her hands over his body, eliciting shivers and groans. This phenomenon would certainly need to be explored further. For posterity’s sake, of course, but not right now. She was fast losing her ability to think objectively.

  Geoffrey withdrew, drawing moisture from within her and bringing his finger up to circle that wondrous little spot. Liliana gasped, nearly coming off the daybed.

  “What? What?” She couldn’t get the question out.

  Geoffrey circled her again, this time with all of his fingers. She delighted in the pressure, the movement, the swirling, the building…

  “Geoffrey?” What was happening? She was losing control of her own body.

  “It’s all right,” he murmured. “Perfectly natural…Just let it happen, Liliana.”

  “But—”

  He cut her off with a kiss. Liliana latched onto his tongue, grateful for the anchor. Yet it did not hold her to the ground. Geoffrey’s hand continued to work its magic, and it was as if her entire being lifted and contracted into that swirling mass.

  She moaned, her body tight and strung for an endless moment.

  And then she exploded. It was the only word her overwhelmed mind could come up with…She flew apart, into a million tingling pieces. She cried out against Geoffrey’s mouth. She could hear little moans through her buzzing ears and knew they came from her.

  “That’s right, love. Just relax and let it take you.”

  Waves of pleasure rolled from her mound, cresting through to her fingers and toes. Just when she thought they’d subsided, another would set off and ripple, until at last she floated in a calm, pleasurable sea.

  She opened her eyes, as heavy as they were, and blinked up at Geoffrey, who sat beside her on the edge of the daybed. A grin that could only be classified as male arrogance rode his face, bringing an answering smile from her.

  “What was that?” she asked around a thick tongue.

  “That’s the pleasure that can come from a man and woman coupling,” he answered.

  Liliana blinked. She was innocent, but she’d read enough to know that they hadn’t coupled at all. Why, she’d never even touched his— “Did you experience the same…release?”

  A pained look crossed his face. “No. What did it feel like for you?” he countered.

  She shook her head. How could he expect her to put magnificence like that into words? Surely he knew, unless…“Can only women feel this?”

  Geoffrey barked a tight laugh. “Having never been a woman, I can’t vouch for whether the experience is the same, but men do have a similar release,” he said.

  Liliana sat up, intrigued. “Even without actually coupling?”

  “Yes.”

  She moved to her knees and evaluated him. Lines of tension showed around his lips and eyes. She dropped her eyes to his lap, where evidence of his arousal strained against his trousers. If he could bring her such wonder
ful feelings by merely touching her, maybe she could do the same for him. A purely feminine desire to please Geoffrey hardened her still bare nipples and she reached a hand out. “You mean I can touch you and—”

  “Whoa!” Geoffrey leapt from the edge of the bed. “You’re the experimentee, today, remember?”

  Liliana frowned. “That’s hardly fair.”

  “Be that as it may,” he said, still backing away, “it’s all we have time for.”

  Liliana looked to the windows of the folly. He was correct. The sun was fully in the sky. They’d be pressed to return undiscovered as it was. Still, Liliana didn’t think she could wait until tomorrow to see the same bliss overcome Geoffrey as he’d given her.