Page 47 of The Queen's Line

His finger had retreated, and I wanted it andmoreback on my skin, until a moment later there was a tug on the back of my dress. I gasped as Cosmo pulled away, and then stiffened at therippingdown my spine and the sticky cling of fabric loosened. Cosmo grinned at me and then revealed a penknife in his hand.

"I'll find you new ribbons to lace with," he said, and then he flipped the knife closed and began to pull the dress off of me.

No one had ever gotten that close to me with a knife in my life, and there was nologicalreason for my heart to beat faster and my blood to run hotter, but I moaned as Cosmo peeled me out of the gown.

"Are you going to ruin my corset too?" I asked, wondering if I sounded as hopeful as I felt.

"I don't know why you bother with them, you're perfectly made as it is," Cosmo said, staring down at the swell of my small breasts against the binding of my corset.

I wiggled my hips out of the skirt, falling back into the grass as Cosmo pulled his shirt off over his head. Sunlight wove its way through the gnarled branches of the dead oak above us, freckling over his tanned skin and catching on the droplets of water that clung to him like kisses. I gaped at him, and he laughed as he caught me at it.

"Do you really want me to cut it?" he asked, nodding down at my corset before scooping up my dress and tossing it away from us.

I raised my knees, planting my heels on either side of Cosmo, watching the instantaneous flick of his eyes move down to my center. "I do," I said.

Cosmo's lips curled, and his eyes traveled back up to mine. "Is my muse a little attracted to danger?"

"Maybe. Or I am simply impatient to have your mouth on my breasts," I said, flush flooding my cheeks.

I had been more than ready to fuck Owen in the stables, but I'd also been ridden heavily by the Hunger. It was here now between Cosmo and I, but it wasn't the painful clench and demand, more of a sinuous cloud of desire floating between us.

Cosmo was broad shouldered and lean. He bent over me, arms bracing himself to hover above me, the tips of grasses reaching out to tickle his cheek. The damp fabric of my shift stretched and then rose higher up my thighs as Cosmo sank against me. His hips rocked, and my eyes fell shut, lips parted on a silent cry as the warm pressure against my sex flared, a match catching its flame. His lips pressed to my pulse.

"Now? Here?" he whispered, but there was something missing in the question.

I nodded and kissed his lips. "With you, yes."

He wasn't a convenient body. He was Cosmo, my observant artist, and I wanted him intensely and immediately.

“And your tea?”

“Every morning,” I answered, speaking of the contraceptive tea Cosmo had convinced me to ask Cook Umber for. I wasn’t like the rest of my family, even if I did have the hunger and Cosmo was probably right to caution me on this front too. I wanted to claim a kingdom before creating an heir.

Cosmo sighed, and I wrapped my arms around his back, tapping my fingers over knots of muscle and sun-warmed skin. He settled on top of me and the weight of him, pressing my thighs open to make room for his body against mine, was exquisite pressure. He rocked softly over me, and every nudge of our hips connecting made my breath catch.

"I want to draw one hundred sketches of you like this, just to memorize the moment," he whispered.

I ignored my own blush and nipped his chin. "That would take a lot of time. I'd rather memorize the feel of you inside me with one hundred thrusts," I said.

Cosmo's belly laugh always hit him suddenly, and I grinned at the low and loud happy sound as it poured out of him. "Bryony!" His eyebrows raised, and his tone softened. "You've never had sex before."

I narrowed my eyes. "I've never hadthiskind of sex before. A cock inside me. Will it make a difference for you?"

"Ha! I…I am more concerned for your sake."

I sighed and lifted my hips, smiling and letting my eyes fall shut as I ground myself against Cosmo and listened to his guttural groan. "I…I had Owen's mouth on me. That seems more…obscene or intimate in some way. His eyes were awfully close to a part of me I've seen very little of. This simply seems equitable by comparison."

I opened my eyes just in time to see Cosmo's eyes fixed to my straining breasts. His tongue licked his lip and he grinned at me.

"Well…that's a valid argument."

"Are you worried about hurting me like Owen is?" I asked.

Cosmo hummed and passed his lips over mine. "No. It will be intense, but I can make sure I don't hurt you."

And with that, the discussion ended. Cosmo rolled to the side, one of his hands diving into my hair to clutch at my roots and hold me in place for a plunging, rough kiss. The other hand traveled to the top of my corset, pulling at the laces there. No knife then. Maybe I could convince him another time? Instead, he kissed me, on and on, until I struggled for air. There was no purchase for me to find in the kiss, it was entirely under Cosmo's control, licks and nibbles, his tongue thrusting against mine. Without him between my legs, I could only press them together to try and relieve the pressure the kiss created. It was a poor replacement, and my hands grappled over the planes of his back, trying to drag him back on top of me, but he refused to budge.

Slowly, the simmering Hunger began to boil, my skin too tight, my lips clumsy as I tried to find a measure of control. I needed to be filled, needed the pressure of Cosmo's body to pin me back on the ground. I barely noticed as the corset loosened, falling away from my sides like petals. I wouldn't have felt it at all, except without the occupation of my laces, Cosmo's hand found a new task.