She kept thinking about that, through the conversation, until Farran said they’d had an extremely long day, and they were going to stop making sense soon.
Once they were in his rooms, Vega held out her hand to him. “Sleep? I feel like I’m on my fifth wind, but I’m also used to late nights.”
Farran shrugged one shoulder. “You’re different. Did you want something in particular?”
“I think.” Vega took a breath, let it out, as measured as if she were about to sing. “I want to share a bed with you and see what comes of that. Not tonight, if you think you’re too tired to properly appreciate it. But soon.”
“Soon.” Farran was about to say something else. Then he yawned. “But perhaps better in the morning? I need to get back to London, but not too terribly early.”
It made her laugh. “Morning, then. Wake me up, though, I can sleep the afternoon away after. If you wait for me, you’ll be late.”
Farran made a slight bow, then tugged her into the bedroom. Both of them undressed, though he was still more shy of his body than she was. Once they were in bed, curled up companionably with the lights off, she checked he wasn’t asleep yet. “I very much like how you are with your uncle. How he is with you.”
“Different from yours?” Farran’s voice in the dark was warm.
“Warmer. Focused on you in specific, in a way my uncles and aunts aren’t. I just, I like that he’s so firmly there, wanting good things for you.”
“Good model.” Then Farran’s voice went even fuzzier, and there was another yawn, right in her ear. Vega just nestled against him, feeling him against her back, and liking that particular and novel closeness as well.
When she woke, there was light filtering through the curtains, though she thought it was not terribly late. Immediately after, she realised why she’d woken. Farran’s hand had slipped up to cup one of her breasts, and she could feel him against her, rocking gently.
She moved, deliberately, back against him, and was rewarded with a delightful grunt. “Waking up this way makes up for the time of day.”
Farran’s hand explored a bit more deliberately. “Is that you saying yes?”
“Oh, rather.” She drew it out, teasing, then wriggled a little to find just the right angle and get a grunt of his pleasure intothe back of her neck. The thing about this position was that she couldn’t do much, except respond to what he did.
That, however, suggested that he was just as thoughtful about bedding a woman as he was about assessing a piece of art. His touch was not ticklish, but he had a precision and attention to the details that had her whimpering several times.
Also, he did not rush. Vega arched back against him, after a deft shift of his fingers between her legs, and he kissed her shoulder. “Shall I do that again?”
“The thing I like about you, one thing, still a thing.” She sucked in a breath. “You don’t rush. You do the thing in the proper time, the buildup.”
“Why would I rush? Mmm.” Vega was, however, satisfied to realise that he was getting quite worked up, by all the evidence she had. He was hard as anything against her, but his breathing had changed, the little shallow breaths and higher pitches that suggested his eagerness.
“Do you want me to move?” she asked. “Either’s good for me.”
His hand paused, thumb a moment away from teasing her nipple. “Like this.” She had only barely nodded when he moved his hand briefly to rearrange the angle, arched to check it, and then pushed inside her. It brought out music. Certainly, she could not have stopped herself moaning for all the magic in the world.
It was wrong to say he didn’t rush. Farran had an exquisite sense of pacing, and now was not the time for languid movements and slow desire. Almost as soon as he’d seated himself, he was moving like ripples on a river or the flap of a bird’s wings. Steady, but then speeding up, bringing her along with him every step of the way.
Vega had not, in all her other experiences, given much thought to what it would be like to have a proper partner. She’dhad plenty of pleasure with other lovers, but nothing that made space for her like this. That assumed space for her. It would need more thinking about, more duets, but then she was not thinking of anything at all. Her body was carried away by the urgency and the delight and Farran’s utterly unfeigned pleasure at everything.
Her climax took her in a rush, the sort of glorious crescendo where everything came together perfectly. She could hear the percussion of his huffs of breath and grunts of determination in her ear. He held on just long enough for her to begin to come back to herself. Then she felt him explode inside her.
It left them both panting softly, not wanting to move apart. They lay like that, relaxed and entirely comfortable, for some minutes, before his hand moved against her arm. “More to look forward to, I hope?”
“Oh, yes.” It came out breathy, just as she wanted. “When we’ve leisure, and when we don’t, and in the morning and in the evening, and I rather hope at all the points between.” Vega reached for his hand, bringing his clever fingers to her lips and kissing them. “I suppose we should get up and wash and all that.”
“Mmmm.” Farran did not move for a good thirty seconds. “Should. I’ll run the bath for you?”
He finally pulled away from her, and she let herself fall onto her back. The future was going to be excellent.
Chapter 40
JUNE 18TH AT THE CRYSTAL CAVE
Farran set his shoulder against the wall from what had become his usual seat on Friday nights. Saturday, too, most of the time. He’d enjoyed the evening tremendously already, but tonight was a little special. This was Vega’s last performance for the summer, and that was why he was here, unusually, on a Sunday.
