Earning the Love of a Princess-Chapter 183: One Goddess, One Mortal
William knelt over her and was very careful to take the weight of his upper body with his elbows, to avoid crushing his wife. He looked down as she smiled dreamily up at him.
He would’ve given his entire fortune to lie with her at that moment. He knew it was forbidden for at least another fortnight, until she formally ended her confinement and was purified by a priest. Hell, it was probably a sin to even be kissing her.
He told himself he’d only kiss her a couple more times and then he’d let her be. The moments continued to tick by and he wasn’t having any luck stopping. He could feel his insides winding up tighter and tighter and he gently bit her full lips.
One of Camilla’s warm little hands cradled William’s face while the other ran down his back. He wanted to utterly devour her, after so many months apart.
It was only his terrible fear of hurting her that forced him to suddenly pull away. The image of the blood soaked sheets beneath Camilla during childbirth were going to be seared into his mind for a long while. He sat back on his heels reluctantly.
"Sorry." he muttered, running a hand through his damp hair.
"What are you sorry about?" she looked up at him in bewilderment.
"I’m not supposed to touch you while you remain in confinement, am I? As it is, I’ve probably damned both of our souls." William tried to slow down his rapid breaths, feeling like his self restraint was hanging on by a mere thread. He felt as skittish as a clumsy youth putting his hands on a girl for the first time.
Camilla nodded absently, then pushed herself to a sitting position. Her gaze was almost stoic as she said in an emotionless tone, "It’s alright. I understand."
"Do you?
"Of course." She tried to smile.
William tilted his head slightly and regarded her warily. "What exactly do you think you understand?" He had a niggling suspicion the two of them were talking about quite different issues.
"I look different. Since having the baby, I mean. I can’t blame you for not liking it much."
"What?" William felt like someone had backhanded him across the face. "Wait, what? That’s what you think?"
"I’m always an unbrushed mess in a nightgown. I tire easily. And I feel...different. Like I’m not really myself." Camilla tucked her knees against her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs. Curling herself up into a ball, she looked at William as if she expected him to reproach her.
"But you’ve just had a child. Wouldn’t it be more unusual if you didn’t feel different, or if you weren’t tired?" he said as he scratched his head in confusion. "Did the midwives tell you that you should go back to feeling like you used to, so soon after giving birth?"
"No..." Camilla frowned. "They did say though that most men lose interest in their wives after they get their heir and tend to seek out other women, ones with figures not ruined by childbirth."
"They said that to you?" William managed to keep his voice mellow.
She nodded.
"In that case, I’ll make sure every last one of those spiteful bitches is driven out of court."
Camilla jerked her head up, looking surprised at how coolly he spoke such vicious words. She stared at him wordlessly. Before she could say anything, William had eased her onto her back again and threaded his fingers through hers.
He scanned her slowly with his gaze. She squirmed in discomfort and tried to pull her hands out of his grip.
"William, don’t. Please stop it." Camilla was blushing and couldn’t meet his eyes. She was obviously desperate to get away from his scrutiny.
"Listen to me." he said roughly. "The only reason I’m not tearing your clothes off right now is because I’m scared of causing you harm."
She stilled somewhat and watched his hand as he tugged at the ribbon at the throat of her nightgown, lips parted.
He slid the loosened fabric to the side to reveal Camilla’s collarbones and the tops of her full breasts. Dragging his index finger softly down her cleavage, he whispered, "How you’ve become even more beautiful since having Malcolm, I’ll never understand. But you truly are a goddess and I’m just the mortal who burns for you."
William dropped his weight onto her to pin her to the mattress, then kissed her hard again.
Soon, they were both writhing and clinging to each other. He pulled her on top of him, before rolling back onto her a few moments later. Camilla ran her nails down his back.
"How could you ever think I wouldn’t want you?" William growled in her ear before he gently sucked at the hollow of her throat. He drifted his hands over her breasts, her belly, her hips, over the nightgown fabric. If he touched bare skin, William was sure he’d lose his mind.
William sat up abruptly. "Alright, we have to stop now." he rasped. "My self control is almost gone and I don’t want to do anything I’ll regret."
Camilla sat up as well as she watched William slide himself away from her as if she’d burned him. He fell back on the pillows, eyes closed, bare chest rising and falling.
She just gazed at him quietly as they both caught their breaths, tracing the jagged scar on his left shoulder with her fingers. "You never did tell me much about how this happened."
He opened his eyes briefly. "Which time? The first or the second?"
"Ouch." Camilla ran her fingertips down his bicep and up again, then across his chest. She wanted to commit every line of muscle to memory. He made no move to stop her touches, though he eyed her cautiously.
Camilla let her fingers roam the ladder of his abdominal muscles, feeling the way they’d clench as hard as stone under her touch, then slowly relax.
Her touch roamed lower and lower until William gulped out, "Goddamn. Either finish what you start, or don’t start at all."
"I suppose that request is fair enough." Camilla frowned. She saw William relax somewhat at her words, clearly expecting her to pull away.
She brought her lips to his belly instead. She heard his surprised grunt.
Camilla traced one of the muscles with her lips and tongue, then moved to the next. And so on, kissing and licking every little square as she savoured the taste of his warm skin.
"Alright, you can stop now." William’s voice was hoarse between his rapid breaths.
Camilla ignored him and continued working her way down the ladder of his abdomen. She felt his hands in her hair, gently pushing her down his body, despite his words.
"I mean it, Camilla! Stop now. You’re killing me."
She gently sunk her teeth into his flesh, then licked to soothe the bite. She felt ravenous for every inch of the gorgeous man. Camilla heard him curse under his breath as she unlaced his trousers with one hand.
William cursed even louder when she wrapped her hand around his hot length and took the tip into her mouth. She tried to ignore the way he was twisting handfuls of her hair almost painfully, focusing only on his pleasure.
William was gasping and jerking like a drowning man. He alternated between trying to pull her off and arching into her more deeply.
He wants more then, Camilla thought to herself. Slowly, carefully, she slid her mouth around his shaft until she could feel it brush the back of her throat. She figured that she’d reached her limit.
William seemed just fine with her limit, judging by the gruff cry he uttered.
Camilla withdrew, before sliding her mouth down his length again. She kept up a slow steady pace, feeling smug. She remembered all the times he’d teased her without restraint.
"Fuck. Fuck! Just stop now, I’m begging you-" his words were choked off by a guttural groan as his frame shuddered uncontrollably and he pulsed in her mouth.
Camilla waited until William went slack and still. She swallowed quickly and sat up, wide eyed with surprise at the warm wetness between her own legs.
William squinted up at her as he panted, rubbing away the sheen of sweat near his hairline. She blinked back.
"I’m going to get a drink. Do you want one?" she asked.
"No." William managed to gasp out.
Camilla hopped off the bed and tied the ribbon to the nightgown’s neckline as she crossed the room. After pouring herself a cup of ale, she sat next to William on the bed and took a sip, her legs tucked under her and the nightgown pulled modestly to her ankles.
He remained sprawled on his back, eyes glassy. "You have ruined me for other women, you little witch. I couldn’t look away from you if I tried. So stop worrying about the lies those bitter old crones tried to feed you."
Camilla lay her head on his chest and stared up at the bed canopy, feeling the soothing thump of his heart beneath her. "I hope you never love another woman as much as me."
"I won’t. That’s an easy promise to keep."
