She didn’t, though she lifted her chin a little higher, as if she was paying more attention now.
“You wished to know the adventures between a man and a woman, yes?” he asked.
“Yes,” she said, apparently reluctantly, judging by the sudden deepness of her voice and the way she avoided his gaze.
“I’ll show them to you, if you like.” His words made her snap her gaze to him again.
I need this. Perhaps after one night with her, it will release me from this torment. One night, and I can go back to other women. I will not have another night like last night.
“What changed?” she murmured. “You have your rule, as you told me at the assembly. You do not usually break it. Why would you break it now?”
“You could call it my wish to help out a friend.”
“Ha! Yes, I have noticed your sudden inclination to call us friends.” She looked ready to swim away across the lake, but her body wouldn’t move. She looked down, treading water and kicking out.
“Something wrong?”
“I’m stuck in the reeds!”
“Here, let me help you.”
“You will n – Your Grace!” She exclaimed as he reached down and put an arm under the water. In one easy movement, he wrapped an arm around her waist and lifted her up from the water, out of the reeds and so that she sat on the bank with him, her body resting against his own.
With their faces so close, he could see the tremble to her skin and the way the water dripped down her, along with the flicker of those dark eyes, looking down at his lips.
Yes, she is thinking about it now.
“Free now?” he asked, nodding his head at the reeds.
“Yes, th-thank you.” She stammered. He hadn’t yet released her, but kept his arm firmly around her, noticing that she didn’t make a move to escape from him. Her body was cold thanks to the water. She crossed both arms over her breasts, clearly hiding her body form him. “So I understand this exactly… what are you offering?”
“Not sex.” He had come to that decision. “That really would be breaking my rule, and I do not do that. Yet there are other things I can show you in the bedchamber.”
“Wait, other things?” Sophia’s eyebrows pinned together. At her confusion, Jeremy could feel his body stirring. He was stiffening at how close she had come to him, with her wet body pressed against his own.
“You do not know of these other things?” he whispered in realization.