Page 10 of The Education of Ivy Leavold
“How do you feel?” he asked.
“Terrible,” I told him bluntly.
He laughed.
“It’s not funny,” I said, a little miffed and more than a little agonized. “I don’t think this game is fun at all.”
His face turned serious. “This isn’t a game, Ivy. It’s supposed to be more than fun.”
“I thought—”
“You and me, we are more than playmates,” he said, one hand letting go of me. He unfastened his trousers, exposing his erection. My body pulsed in response, every cell straining to touch him. He took himself in his hand and began rubbing the head of his cock against my sex. I gasped at the feel. He was like steel sheathed in satin—silky maleness, hard and wide.
I began to wriggle against him, urgent to impale myself on that sublime organ, and to my surprise, he let me. He let me notch the head of his cock into my pussy and he held himself upright as I slid down, crying out with bliss as I did. I finally sank to the root, my clit pressed against him, but again his hands were on my hips, buried in the silk skirts, keeping me from moving.
But a muscle in his jaw ticked, and I could see that it took an enormous amount of restraint on his part to keep me from riding him.
“We are more than playmates,” he repeated. “What do you feel when I’m inside you?”
“Like I want you to fuck me until I’m beyond my senses.”
A faint smile. “Think harder than that. Probe your feelings further.”
I wanted to weep with the need to move. He stretched me, filled me, and my whole body sang for him, but it wasn’t enough. “I feel…full. Complete. But I want more. More of you, like no matter what we do, we’ll never be close enough.”
His voice was husky. “Keep going.”
I could barely catch my breath, my need for friction was so strong. “I feel like you and I are one person, one soul split into two bodies, and when we’re joined like this, it almost feels like that spirit is whole again.”
“Yes,” he told me. “We were meant to be together. You were born to be Ivy Markham. I was born to love you. When I’m deep inside you, I feel my heart beat in tandem with yours. Can you feel it?”
I could. I could feel my body keening for him, canting toward him, as if he were the only warmth in a frozen land. The only music in a soundless void. And when our bodies were connected—
“Yes,” I breathed. “I feel it.”
“So when I tease you, when I deprive you, all I’m doing is reminding your body—your soul—that it needs mine. And as you yearn, you will know that I am being reminded too. That even when we are not joined, we still are, on a deeper level.” His mouth softened, warmth suffusing the lines of his face. “Do you understand now?”
I nodded, my throat suddenly tight. I blinked and a single tear traced down my cheek. He leaned forward—shifting himself deliciously inside me—and kissed it.
“Is this a tear of joy?” he asked quietly.
“It is,” I said, more tears falling fast now. “I love you.”
“And I love you.” He reached for something in his jacket pocket and extracted it. It glittered in the faint light of the carriage.
A ring.
“I was so eager to claim you last night that I forgot the most important thing.” He slid the ring onto my finger. “There. Now everybody will know that you’re mine.”
I examined the ring closely, feeling more tears swell as I did. A rose gold band sprouted into two delicate leaves, which held a sizable diamond in place. It winked and shimmered and added a heady weight to my hand. “It’s beautiful,” I managed.
He looked at me closely. “It was my mother’s. Do you like it? We can buy you a new one—”
“No,” I interrupted. “It’s perfect.” And it was. It could have been a band of iron and I still would have loved it, because it came from him. Because someone loved me enough to marry me, despite my poverty, despite my fallen family. After my brother’s death, I had given up all hope of ever making a decent match. And here I was, marrying into a family more wealthy and ancient than even my parents would have ever hoped for me.
“Good,” he said. “You need to like it. I expect it on your finger at all times—especially when we are in public.” He moved again, and I was reminded of our position, of him sunk to the hilt, of me desperate for more. I rocked into him, the engagement ring sending prisms of light cascading around us, yellows and blues and greens darting around our moving bodies.
“Let’s marry now,” I said. “Today.” My voice was tight—I was so close to coming—
