“I will not be doing much swimming, either. It is simply a change in plans.”

She tries to pull her hand free from mine and get up, but she looks so worried that I refuse to let her go. Her gaze locks onto mine and a small smile tugs at her mouth. She pulls at her hand again, and I drag her toward me. Her soft mouth looks lush and appealing, and I want to kiss away her concerns. Vali leans forward over me, her other hand splaying across my chest. “What are you doing, Ranan?”

I love how breathless she sounds.

“I’m going to kiss my wife.” I slide a hand along her side, caressing her through the fabric. “But only if she wants it.”

Her gaze flicks over my body. “But your leg⁠—”

“Not using it at the moment.” I’m on my back, half on the bedding. Vali is practically sprawled over me, and she’s being careful to avoid my injury. “Does this mean you don’t want to kiss me?”

“I’ll kiss you,” Vali blurts. “I just…I worry. I don’t want to hurt you. I know you’re in pain. Your leg⁠—”

“Is nowhere near my mouth,” I remind her, tugging her close once more.

Her lips quirk, and she leans in, meeting me halfway. Her kiss is tentative at first, but I’m reminded of how much I enjoy the feel of her. The soft, delicate sweetness of her mouth, mixed with the warmth of her body. Her lips give under mine, parting, and when I stroke my tongue against hers, she makes a sound of pure delight.

I pull her closer, leaning into the kiss. I’ve forgotten just how enjoyable it is to meld my lips to another’s. To lose myself in the joining of our mouths, to feel a body yielding against mine. Kissing Vali feels…different than what I recall when I kissed women of my people. She’s made the same as them, but she’s Vali, and somehow that makes it different.

Makes it better. She’s warm and loving and gorgeous and her pink tongue feels like a dream against my own. My cocks stir, and I’m reminded of our conversation from yesterday.

She takes nothing for herself in bed. No male has ever given her his mouth between her thighs.

I suddenly want this more than anything. “Let me taste you, Vali.”

My wife pulls back from me, her dazed expression glorious. Her gaze darts to my lips and then she licks hers, as if wanting to make my taste linger. “I thought that’s what we were doing.”

“I want to taste you between your thighs,” I point out. “Like we talked about.”

She grows flustered, her teeth sinking into her lower lip. “Your injury⁠—”

“Need not affect us when I have four strong arms.” I lift one to graze her thigh, play with her hair with another, and pat the blanket with a third hand even as the fourth strokes her cheek. I am tiring, it’s true. The wound has sapped my strength, yet this is something that I want desperately. “I can hold you and taste you, or you can come and sit upon my face and let me lick you to my leisure.”

“Oh.” Her flustered gaze darts over my face. “You…you truly want that?”

I groan at the hint of excitement in her voice. Just the thought of Vali straddling my face, her warm cunt pressing against my mouth, makes me crazy with need. “I want it very badly.”

She hesitates.

She’s going to decline. I recognize the stubborn look on her face, and my disappointment is immeasurable. But then she shakes her head. “I’ll only do it if we put your bad leg on the pillow again.”

Is that her only request? “Done.”

Vali detangles from my embrace, her cheeks flushed dark with color as she adjusts the bedding. I’m forced to lie back and watch, hiding my fatigue, as she straightens the blankets and then fluffs my leg pillow. When I’m settled down to her satisfaction, I gesture that she should come toward me. “You look at me as if you are afraid.”

“I’m not afraid.”

“Good, because I don’t bite. You think I won’t be gentle?”

“I’m sure you will be.”

“Then be brave and claim your pleasure, wife.”

She wrings her hands. “What if I don’t enjoy it? I’ve never done this before.”

“Then we will stop.”

“But what if you enjoy it and I don’t?”

“There are a great many things I enjoy, Vali. If you hate it, I can avail myself of one pleasure and focus on the ones that bring both of us joy.”

She hesitates for a moment longer and then sighs heavily. “Your pleasure is far more important than mine. You realize that, right?”

“You’re my wife now and no longer a slave. You realize that, right?” I jab back.

Vali scowls and sits delicately on the blankets next to me, folding her legs under her. “I see your point, but this is new territory for me. You’ll have to forgive me if I seem reluctant. It’s not that I don’t like pleasure or don’t trust you…”

“It’s that it’s vulnerable and you don’t like being vulnerable,” I guess aloud, and she grimaces again. “I would be honored if you would let me try this. If you hate it, we never have to do it again.”

Vali chews her lip again, then nods and smooths her hands down her simple dress. She gets to her feet, eyeing me. “How do we manage this?”

I gesture at my head. “I thought you could sit upon my face.”

I say the words casually, as if I haven’t been contemplating this very thing all night. As if I haven’t been wondering what it would feel like to have her thighs clasping my ears, to feel the weight of her upon my face as I press my mouth and tongue against her cunt. As if I haven’t been making myself crazy with the thought of touching her.

Of what sounds she’ll make when she’s pleasured.

Gods, I’ve been thinking of nothing else since we mentioned this yesterday.

Vali sinks down to her knees by my shoulders and then carefully leans forward, easing one leg over until she’s straddling my neck. Her dress falls over my face and I sputter.

She giggles, pushing the fabric off my chin to expose my grin. “Do you want me naked for this?”

“I’d love to have you naked,” I admit.

With a little smile, she pulls her dress over her head and tosses it away, and then she’s atop me, gloriously naked. Her weight is solid for a human, but to me, she’s light. She trembles, but she doesn’t beg off again. She’s determined to see this through.

My brave wife.

I run my hands up her thighs as she adjusts herself, her knees parted and her feet out to the sides. She leans forward on her hands again, then hesitates, clearly trying to decide the best position. “I’m still not entirely sure how to do this, Ranan.”

“Let me.” I grip her flanks, holding her in place, and one of my lower hands anchors at the small of her back so she can lean against me. We maneuver and wriggle about a bit more, and then she relaxes, leaning back against my grasp.

The scent of her envelops me, and it’s intoxicating. She smells like musk and arousal, and I know without touching her that she’s turned on by the prospect of me putting my mouth on her. My own cocks are fully engorged, throbbing with an aching need that won’t be fulfilled. This is about her.

I take one hand and put it between her legs, running my thumb over the seam of her cunt. It’s shrouded by a nest of dark curls, but I don’t mind that. In fact, I rather like it. It’s just another small difference between our bodies, and I enjoy all of hers. Exploring Vali is like adventuring to new, fresh waters…yet even when I have learned every bit of her form, I suspect I will still enjoy touching and caressing her.

She trembles as I move a hand between her thighs, and that makes me pause. “I have you, Vali. I have four hands to hold you up. I will not let you fall.”

Vali doesn’t look down at me. “I’m not scared you’ll drop me.” Her voice sounds tight. Uneasy. Uncertain.

“Then what is there to be afraid of?” I want to brush my mouth against the soft skin of her thighs, but I want to make sure my touch is wanted, first.

“I…I don’t know.”

“Do you trust me, wife?”

She nods jerkily, as if she hates to even give this small concession. Her unease makes me ache, because pleasure is such a simple thing. Has no one ever thought to touch her in a way that would bring her joy? I hate that she has been surrounded by people that have used her only for what she can give them…and I am no better.