He guided her fingers as they closed over him, then showed her how to please him. Lilah moved her hand, at first slowly and then faster. His eyes closed, and he gritted his teeth almost as if he were in pain. Lilah felt a strange tightening at the place where her thighs joined, felt her breasts swell against the wet fabric that covered them. Then all at once he groaned, and groaned again, and the thing she was holding quivered and jerked in her hand. She dropped it, shocked, but whatever she had done to him it was too late to undo. Joss shuddered all over. When his eyes opened again she was regarding him in wary surprise.
"Oh, Lilah!" A broken laugh escaped him as he put his arms around her and pulled her close against him. "You are so innocent! If I were a gentleman I'd stop this right now."
"I'm tired of you being a gentleman," she said, her voice muffled against his shoulder. "I've never felt about anybody in my life the way I feel about you, and I want you to do something about it."
He slid a hand up through her wet hair and cupped her skull, gently pulling her head back so that he could look down into her face.
"You do, do you?" A tiny smile flickered on his lips and died. His eyes were both tender and rueful as they met hers. "How about if I teach you to kiss properly?" Lilah nodded, unable to trust her voice. His hand left the back of her head and stroked her cheek, his thumb just brushing her lower lip.
"Promise not to bite me?" It was a husky whisper. She nodded again, feeling her heartbeat quicken, and he bent his head. At first his lips brushed over hers so softly that she lifted her chin to deepen the contact. The bristles covering his cheeks and jaw abraded her soft skin, but she barely noticed. Every ounce of her concentration was focused on the gentle fusing of their mouths.
"Open your mouth." He whispered it against her lips as his tongue probed at her closed teeth. Lilah trembled, her arms going up instinctively to clutch his neck. She opened her mouth. His tongue slid inside, touched hers. She felt a quickening start deep inside her belly, felt her knees weaken. As she quaked in his arms they tightened around her, pulling her full up against him so that she felt the entire length of him. The hairs on his legs were rough against her soft thighs; the hairs on his chest cushioned her breasts that might as well have been as naked as he was, covered as they were only by the thin layer of soaking cloth. The secret part of him was huge again, and hard as it pressed against her belly. Now that she knew what it did, it held no fears for her.
Around them the water bubbled and hissed, but she wasn't even aware of where they were. She was only aware of him, of his body against hers, of his lips and tongue teaching her things that she had never dreamed of.
His tongue was still a gentle invader, still stroking the inside of her mouth. Lilah had never imagined that such a disgusting act could make thrills run over her from head to toe. Acting from some deep primordial instinct, her tongue moved too, to stroke his.
He groaned into her mouth, then lifted his head despite her grip on his hair, pulling his lips from hers.
"What's wrong?" Her eyes flickered open to stare dazedly into his. His eyes were a dark smoldering green, alight with a kind of wildfire.
"This is harder than I thought. I want you so much I ache."
"Do you?" she whispered. He drew in a breath, standing very still as her lips plied sweetly over his. When he took over the kiss its character changed. No longer so carefully gentle, his mouth slanted over hers and his tongue thrust between her teeth with bold possession. His arms tightened around her as if they would squeeze her very breath from her, but Lilah didn't care. She was in the grip of new and exciting sensations, trembling from head to toe, intoxicated with this new world of the senses that he was teaching her.
She was bent back against his arm, her head pillowed on his shoulder, her arms tight around his neck. Her eyes were closed, her head whirling as she gave herself over to his kiss. Then she felt his palms slide down over her back, his touch warm through the thin wet linen of her chemise. His hands lingered at her waist, testing the smallness of the curve, moved on over her buttocks to stroke the backs of her bare thighs. Then, before she could even breathe again after the intimacy of that gesture, his hands slid up under the hem of her chemise to close on the soft round cheeks of her behind.
Lilah gasped, the sound swallowed by his mouth. Her eyes flickered wildly open only to shut again. His hands on her bottom pulled her close against him, lifting her up on her tiptoes so that the soft mound of her womanhood was pressed tight against the stiff protuberance of his flesh.
"Jo-oss." It wasn't quite a protest, wasn't quite a sound of pleasure. Her head was awhirl, her heart quaking in her chest, and she was both shocked and exhilarated by the way he was holding her, the things he was making her feel.
"Shhh." He gentled her with kisses until she was weak and pliant and quivering in his arms. Then his mouth grew hot and hungry as he rocked her against him. At the rhythmic contact she felt her body tighten as flares of pleasure radiated out from that central spot. She gasped her pleasure into his mouth.
"Oh, Joss!"
His hold on her shifted so that only one hand stayed beneath her chemise. The other came up to cup her breast, squeeze it.
Lilah cried out. Her nails dug into the back of his neck as exquisite pleasure exploded inside her. She shivered and shook and at last went limp in his arms. It was some time later before she even became aware that he still held her.
"Does that… always happen?" Her face was pressed to his neck as he rested his cheek against the top of her hair. His arms were tight around her, his heart drumming urgently against her breasts. That part of him that had given her so much pleasure still pressed swollen and hot against her belly.
"Not always. Not to females. You're lucky. Hell, I'm lucky." He sounded as if he were having trouble getting the words out. Lilah felt pleasantly lethargic and warm and comfortable in his hold, but she bestirred herself to look up at him.
"You're lucky?"
"To have such an apt pupil."
He smiled down at her, a tender ghost of a smile, but his eyes were strained.
"What's wrong?" she asked, frowning faintly. She felt wonderful, and it seemed odd that he should not feel the same.
"Never mind." His grip on her loosened, and his hand came up to stroke the hair back from her face. "You still have lots to learn."
"Mmmm." She stepped back away from him, feeling almost self-conscious now in the aftermath of their love- making. His eyes were intent on her face, and it seemed to cost him an effort to let her go. As he looked at her a rueful smile curved his lips.
"You are soaking wet and your nose is red and you are still the most beautiful thing I've ever seen in my life. I think you've been sent by a malevolent fate to be the death of me."
She frowned. "What are you talking about?"
"Nothing. Come on, let's get out of this bloody pool. I don't know about you, but I'm getting waterlogged."
It occurred to her that she would get to see him naked again, that she would get a good look this time at what she had only glimpsed and touched. It also occurred to her that he would get almost as good a look at her as she stepped out of the water in her wet chemise. The garment covered her to the thighs, but it would provide little in the way of concealment. At the thought of Joss looking at her in such dishabille, Lilah felt a little glow of mingled excitement and embarrassment start to grow inside her.
She slid her hand into his.
"I quite like being lovers," she said seriously, then looked at him in surprise when he laughed then groaned.