Chapter 4.2

Their lips met again. Hot, rough, relentless. The searing tip of his tongue dragged over every inch inside her mouth. The unfamiliar sensation ran like ice down her spine. She instinctively clung to his wrist as he gripped her jaw, not even realizing his free hand was slowly making its way down her own body.

“Mmh…”

Rosaline’s eyes flew open, realizing he had his hands under her, lifting her by her backside.

“Ah…!”

Her small gasp of surprise was swallowed by his tongue, which he slipped smoothly into her mouth. Synox carried her to the tea table and set her down on top.

Still kissing, he ran a hand down her back. The straps of her dress snagged on his knuckles and came loose. The already flimsy summer dress slipped lower.

Just as she thought her breasts were about to be exposed next, the kiss that had her mind spinning finally stopped.

“Haa…”

With a wet, messy squelch, their lips came apart. Rosaline panted, too dazed to even think of wiping away the mess of spit. Synox’s thumb swiped across her glossy, red-stained lips.

Then he took her face in both his hands. His heat trapped her, and she blinked.

“Who else have you said that to?”

“N-no one.”

It was the truth, but still, his burning gaze didn’t let go.

He stared as if to bore straight into her, then leaned in again. Do not even think of doing this with another man, he growled the words low in his throat, just before sealing her mouth shut with another kiss.

His tongue explored her mouth like he needed proof he really was her first. Slowly, thorough, and consuming, before the kiss wandered to the corner of her lips and began to trail downward.

Synox pressed his lips to her cheek, planting firm kisses along her jawline, and invaded the bare skin of her defenseless neck.

The heat and wetness of his mouth made her sensitive skin tense up.

“Hng.”

Unbothered by her flustered state, his kisses boldly crossed her collarbone. His prominent nose sank into the valley between her barely-covered breasts, before her loose dress slipped completely off her chest.

She didn’t have time to be embarrassed about her bare chest being fully exposed because his mouth latched onto one of her nipples.

Rosaline trembled.

“Nngh…”

Was it because she’d never felt anything so erotic before? Her mouth kept making strange noises, and her hips bucked on their own.

The space between her legs tingled. She wanted to close them, but his body was in the way.

As she twitched, Synox squeezed her thigh, kneading the soft, pliable flesh hard enough to leave marks. While one hand kneaded her leg, his other hand roamed across the small of her back.

His strong fingers raked all the way down her spine, making her jolt her hips up instinctively. Then, the hand gripping her thigh slid higher, over her stomach, until it reached her other pale breast, kneading it slowly, in contrast to the other that he had already devoured.

Mmph. A soft, unfamiliar moan slipped from her lips. Her body was becoming sensitive in ways she had never even imagined before.

Something… feels weird. The more he touched her, the more heat pooled between her legs, and the more confused she became.

“M-my lord, have you… done this before? With someone else?”

Even as he left red marks on her breast, Synox’s gaze flicked up at her, and Rosaline could read the bewilderment in his vivid blue eyes.

Rosaline flinched under his gaze, despite the question being reasonable. She stuttered, fumbling to explain herself.

“I-I just thought… You seem so confident for your first time.”

“…”

“B-but… you asked me the same thing…”

Her voice was barely more than a whisper now, and without warning, Synox bit down on the pink nub between his teeth. Her nipple felt stiff beyond belief as he squeezed it tight, and a jolt shot down her spine.

“Ah!”

Rosaline’s head fell back, body shaking. Still pressed against her chest, Synox murmured,

“It’s my first time.”

Then how could he move with such certainty?

Unless he’d already played this moment out in his mind, over and over again, it was hard to believe him.

…Then again, maybe he had. Maybe Synox held dreams he couldn’t admit to anyone. Sticky, slow-burning dreams, like the air on a summer night.

Though, I doubt I was the woman he pictured.

Maybe all this fervent lust was just his pent-up desire for Aria. The heat rushing down her back suddenly turned cold.

Sensing the shift in her body, Synox finally pulled away from her fevered, slick skin.

“What exactly are you thinking of?”