ETAN

The water was supposed to help. The cold shock of it. But he was still hard. Not as hard. But just her pressing herself to his back had made his entire body salute and now she wanted him to turn around?

"I'm not sure that's a good idea."

"I am. Don't worry, Etan, we won't do… that… today. But we will love each other. And we will revel in this peace we've been given. Please, my love," she said, her voice shaking. "Please turn around."

"Ayleth… my body—".

"I know the ache, Etan. Let me help you. Please."

He knew he shouldn't, but dear lord, how much could one man take? He'd already fled from her open and willing and ready. He dropped his face into his hands and she shifted. He could feel her nipples, hard and high, pressed into his back. Then she laid her lips on his spine and his hands twitched, wanting so badly to reach for her.

He couldn't resist, he turned and the noise that broke in his throat should have been embarrassing. But her eyes went wide as she scanned his chest and arms, and she swallowed twice before speaking.

"You are quite beautiful, Etan," she whispered. "May I touch you?"

Trying desperately to keep his eyes off of her bared breasts, he took her face in his hands and kissed his answer, mouth wide and seeking, frantic for her. And she clawed his back and held him close even when he began to pull away, to give her space.

"This is a very, very bad idea," he whispered, kissing her again.

"It is the very best idea I have ever had," she whispered back. "Let me show you that I love you even if I am not… skilled."

"Ayleth, I assure you, skill will not be needed today." When she looked confused, he snorted, on the edge of hysteria. "Trust me, my love, just being close to you… just you… it's enough." Especially after the slowly building torture he'd been living through since they met. He leaned down to kiss her, but she put her hands to his chest and shook her head.

"I want to see you," she said carefully, as if it were a mere practicality.

He groaned and dropped his head back in surrender. "I am yours Ayleth, do with me as you will."

"No, you must guide me," she said, her breath quickening as she stroked his chest. "But I just… I would like to see you. To understand you better."

"Then let me kiss you first," he whispered, taking her face in his hands. "My precious one."

She smiled into the kiss and arched into him. "I like that name," she whispered, her eyes shining when he eventually pulled away. "You should use that on our wedding night."

His breath literally shuddered. He wanted to weep with the roiling combination of sexual frustration, and pure delight he found in her.

But she was beginning to stroke his chest again, this time using her fingertips to follow the lines of his muscles slowly, frowning at him as if he were a puzzle.

"Your body is so different to mine," she said, then trailed her hands down his sides in a delicious, ticklish slide that threatened to make him giggle like a child. Then her hands paused at his hips. He stared down at her, his chest rising and falling far too quickly. But she looked up at him through her lashes and said, "You must tell me if I do it incorrectly. I have only practiced the once and it was quite dark."

He almost choked, but nodded his head. "Yes, I'll tell you," he said hoarsely.

Then she took him in both hands, between her palms, and slid her grip up once, then down and twice, and it was already almost the end for him.

His breath wouldn't come. His jaw dropped and though he cupped her jaw, his entire body went tense at the strange, otherworldly sensation of her hands—warm and firm—followed by the soft, cold flutter of the water on his most sensitive skin.

"Oh… fuck…" he gasped, shuddering when she slid her hands up again then turned them to change the angle. She was… staring at him. Studying him.

With her hands high on him, she drew one thumb up the bottom, from base to tip, and he almost lost his feet. He flailed, grasping for her shoulders to brace himself, his entire body shuddering when she did it again.

"You like that!" she said brightly.

"Dear… holy fuck, Ayleth, yes."

"Is it… too much pressure?" she asked. "The skin is so soft, I do not wish to—"

"No!" he croaked. "More… just a little more would be good," he gulped, then groaned when she did as he asked, first with one hand, her thumb flat along the underside of him, then the other.

When she hit the tip and the heel of her hand ran over it, he jerked and stumbled again, his knees threatening to give. His breath was tearing from him, but she was overwhelming him with such bliss, he couldn't bring himself to care.

Ayleth's eyes went wide and she grasped him there again, gripping him and turning her hand slightly, watching him shake and groan with her eyes shining. Bracing on her shoulders, he struggled to have a coherent thought.

But Ayleth was fascinated. "It's difficult to get that part just right, with the angle. Perhaps if I…" then she herself sink back slightly, her breasts floating and just inches from him, and the wave that had been building in him began to crest as her nipples entered the water and the water rippled around them.

"Ayleth… oh shit… Ayleth, please don't stop!" he cried.

"I won't, my—"

"Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Oh—Ayleth!" His entire body shuddered with the force of the climax that hit at the base of his spine and spun out to the rest of him, lifting every hair and electrifying his veins.

She gasped as he cried out, then sucked in a breath with a jerk that pulled him out of her hands. But as his body gave over, as he shuddered and groaned, he pulled her to him and took her mouth, still shaking, still twitching, sinking into the water in a crouch, with her pinned to his chest and keeping both their heads above water so he could hold her and kiss everything he felt into her precious skin.