“I hope you’re having fun,” he said. “And I hope you don’t mind me saying, you look very delicious tonight.”
Kate felt her legs warm, starting at her ankles and running all the way to her hot center. She had to pinch them together again while she bit her bottom lip, wishing that they were somewhere private where she could whisper sweet nothings back into his ear.
Instead, she pulled at his neck, bringing his scent closer to her wet lips. “You make me blush,” she murmured.
He smiled and pressed his cheek against hers, which made her gasp instinctively. “I hope I can make you blush all over your body,” he purred.
Kate felt like her body was a volcano ready to erupt. She turned from him, giving him a naughty grin and shaking her head back and forth. He squeezed her leg at the same time, and they tried to return their attention back to the concert.
Once the concert was over, Devlin directed her into the back area of the manor, a fair distance away from the chatter. As he held onto her hand, she felt the sounds fade into a dull hum until they were completely swallowed by the silence of the enchanting garden they walked through.
They moved through a charming, rustic-looking gate that acted as the entrance to a flourishing landscape of beautiful flowers and vegetation. Kate thought for a moment that she was floating through a fairy tale because the moon was also so bulbous and full that it appeared to light their path, a personal spotlight of magical proportions.
“Did you enjoy the show?” Devlin asked.
Kate was lost in the atmosphere of the garden and the weight of his hand in hers. She nodded, feeling unsteady as he looked at her with those wonderful eyes.
“I did,” she replied. “Everything here seems so surreal, so very whimsical.”
He grinned at her, holding her hand even tighter as they strolled through the moonlight past little ponds, their hearts beating in the rhythm of the cricket’s song.
They spoke about their lives, and Devlin even started revealing a bit about himself. It came up when Kate said that it was because of her parents that she had trust issues, and Devlin said he could relate to that.
“I used to have a lot of faith in humanity,” he said, looking off into the green pastures. “But I once trusted someone so deeply, and they betrayed me anyway. That has since made it hard for me to open up, you know?”
Kate agreed, nodding and listening to his melodic voice in the dim light.
“This person really had all of my trust, but … they took advantage of it.”
Devlin appeared genuinely upset by whoever had hurt him, and Kate thought perhaps it was a former lover. She thought about pushing the subject a bit more but decided not to. He had already opened up so much more than he had so far in their relationship, and she didn’t want to make him uncomfortable.
They stopped at a bench tucked in between two large willow trees with a flowering bush in front of them, acting as a privacy screen. When they sat, Kate noticed that the bush was carved to look like a majestic swan.
The setting was ideally romantic, which certainly enhanced the sensation blooming in Kate’s chest. She loved how soft and strong his hand felt on her leg, with spider-like fingers that slowly moved up to settle on her thigh.
“Everything is so beautiful here,” she whispered, feeling like her voice would disrupt the serenity. “I wonder how they maintain it all.”
The moon crested between the canopy of the trees above them, casting Devlin’s handsome face in a decadent silhouette. He reached out his hand to touch the petals of the bubblegum pink flowers, which diffused into a lavender shade.
He stroked them with his free hand, staring into their center thoughtfully.
“Well, I guess it's like anything,” he said, voice as gentle as his strokes. “You have to nurture it, cultivate it with patience until it becomes bold beneath your touch. It’s only then that it’ll open up for you, and when it does, you worship its glory with every fiber of your being.”
If Kate could remove her clothing in a single movement, she would have. Instead, she looked down at his hand that rested on her leg and slowly began to slide the hemline of her skirt up until the black silk of her thong peaked out.
Devlin watched closely, his eyes narrowing like a shark’s.
“Make me bloom then,” she purred at him.
Devlin slowly moved his hand from her thigh, all the way up to where her panties were, and let it sit between her legs a mere inch in front of her throbbing clit.
“Are you sure?” he asked hungrily.
“Yes,” she gasped.
He found her lips easily, pressing his mouth against hers and letting out a grunt that was so primal Kate thought that she was going to lose her mind right then and there.
The kiss quickly expanded into an open-mouthed, passionate plea for each other’s bodies, with hands moving frantically up and down, a desperate desire to possess each other in any way possible.