aware of howher hair became weighted, how the weight pulled slightly at her scalp, making it tingle.
Bella washed her hair with slow, firm fingertips, massaging so deeply that Teesialet out a small moan at one point. Opening her eyes, she looked up at Bella, hovering over her, and they shared a smile.
When her hair was clean and rinsed, she wordlessly stood and stepped out onto a fur rug placed next to the bathing tub, waiting patiently as Bella slowly, thoroughly ran a drying cloth over her. Her entire body prickled with awareness as Bella drew her thin white nightgown over her head, then took her hand and led her to stand before the viewing glass mounted on the wall in her chamber.
Her nipples shone through, dark and pink, and the fading light of day made a shadow at the juncture of her thighs, even though it no longer shone dark with curls.
Bella brushed Teesia’s hair until it was nearly dry, then said, “Lie down on thebed.”
19
Lacey Alexander
“What now?” Teesia asked, lounging comfortably on her back.
Bella crawled up next to her on the fur bedcovering. “I’ve told you as much as I can about men and sex,” she said. “The only way to teach you more, sweet Teesia, is to show you.”
“Show me?” What did Bella mean?
A small smile played about her friend’s red lips, which always looked to Teesia as if perhaps they’d been stung by a bee—large and prettily swollen. “First, you must learnhow to kiss.”
With that, Bella leaned over, lifting one slender hand to Teesia’s cheek, then lowered a soft, short kiss to her lips. Teesia couldn’t help being surprised at the skitter of sensation that shot down through her body at the gentle contact. Then she let out a
small laugh. “That was easy, but surely that’s not how a wife kisses her husband.”
Bella smiled. “No, sweet girl, it’s not. It’s more like this.” Her next kiss was slightly firmer, longer…it was more searching, Teesia thought, as if trying to pry something out of her. She returned the kiss, trying very hard to do it in just the same way, trying to learn how she should kiss Ralen of Charelton.
She’d thought they might stop and evaluate the kiss afterward, but instead, Bella kissed her again and again, the kisses growing deeper, more sensuous. Teesia soon forgot about trying to kiss well and simply found herself kissing Bella back, meeting her lips, moving her mouth against them, finding herself inspired to continue the pleasurable lesson without conversation.
When Bella’s tongue swept past her lips, Teesia was at first surprised, but thenunderstood—it was just another way of kissing, and she had to learn them all. Shewelcomed her friend’s warm tongue and met it with her own, sensing from Bella’sresponse that she was learning quickly and doing well.
When Bella’s hand glided from Teesia’s cheek to her neck, then down to cover her breast, she moaned at the touch. Bella kneaded her through the thin, flowing silk, rubbing the fabric so gently against her skin that she thought she’d die from the tender pleasure. Could a fierce man like Ralen touch her this softly? She had to wonder.
But at the moment, there was too much pleasure in Bella’s lesson for Teesia tobroach the question. After all, Bella was the Orienter—Teesia decided she should simply accept the lesson as it was and ask questions later.
Soon, Bella’s lips left hers, only to descend to her neck—and oh, what sweetness her dear friend’s mouth delivered to the sensitive flesh there! She heard her own breath turning labored, coming in sighs. But all of that measured nothing when Bella pushed her sleeping gown from her shoulder, baring her breast, then lowered her mouth to thestiff pink peak.
Teesia moaned unabashedly as Bella’s kisses echoed through her body like the sort of thunder that shook the ground. She watched as Bella ran the tip of her tongue