Sweetest Fall Read online

  Orla smiled. “Chess?”

  He looked at her in surprise. “Do you play?”

  “Not well, but I enjoy it.”

  The autumn king cocked his head. “Would you care to play a game with me?”

  She smiled. “Sure.”

  “If I win, I get a full square of that fudge.”

  She blinked. “I don’t have anything to request.”

  He grimaced. “If it isn’t even, we can’t gamble.”

  She thought about her experiences there so far, and she nodded. “If I win, will you teach me how to ride a horse?”

  The autumn king looked surprised. “Certainly.”

  She nodded, and he waved his hand. They were suddenly seated in a warm study on either side of a chessboard; her fudge was sitting nearby but just out of reach.

  He took one of each colour on the board and put his hands behind his back before holding his fists out. “Choose.”

  She tapped his right hand, and the white piece was in his hand. He set the pieces back on the board, and he nodded. “You go first.”

  She sighed and tried to remember how to do this. She slid a pawn forward, and he met her move for move.

  Orla scratched at the ribbons on the shoes, and they clunked down onto the floor as she pulled her legs up on the chair. The autumn king stared at her, and she grinned as she took one of his bishops.

  He looked surprised.

  She shifted her legs to the side and leaned forward as she waited for his move. The room was warmer, and she didn’t need to keep the wrap as tight.

  He made a move, and she blinked as it was not strategic. It did make her lean forward to reach over to his end of the board, and she felt a strange rustling on her ribbon. It was loosening as she teetered forward.

  He scrubbed a hand over his eyes, looked at her, and then he moved his knight.

  Her brain was babbling on by the horsey, but her chess mind said that the horsey had to die. She took out the knight, and he grinned, “Checkmate.”

  She watched, and he tilted the king over. “Damnit.”

  He sat back, and he grinned. “Now, please deliver my reward.”

  She grimaced and got up after making sure that the gold ribbon was staying in place. The wrap was left in her chair. She picked up her little cardboard box and walked the two steps over to him. He was leaning back in the chair with his legs sticking out. She pierced a chunk on the fork and leaned forward, but somehow, she just couldn’t get close enough. She huffed.

  “First, one small piece at a time. Like before. Second, you might want to be in my lap for this. It will make things more convenient.” He grinned. “The winner sets the terms.”

  She snorted. “That is messed up.”

  She looked at his smug expression, shrugged, and decided what the hell. She set the box on the table next to him, slid her knees to either side of him, and she settled back on his thighs.

  His surprise was obvious.

  She broke up the piece on top of the box so the end could be seen and there could be no accusation of cheating. She took a piece of fudge, put it in her mouth, and then kissed him, passing it along.

  He groaned, and his arms wrapped around her, moving over her back. She shivered and backed up, picking up the next piece and delivering it the same way. He slid a hand between them and cupped her breasts in turn, and she felt the ribbon shifting.

  His tongue duelled with hers and teased her. His hand on her back slid over the tight silk, and his long fingers reached her sex from the back. She shuddered and gasped for air as his fingers grazed the tight covering over her clit.

  She broke the kiss and looked at him. His lips were shining, and so were his eyes. Orla lifted her hand and took another piece. This one she tried to place in his mouth, but he shook his head. “Oh, no. You can’t change the rules now. Deliver it with a kiss.”

  She made a face and put the fudge in her mouth, passing it to him, and this time, his fingers stroked her slowly, and she was gasping as she fought her release.

  When the sugar disappeared, he leaned back and whispered, “More.”

  She gave him an evil glare and took a look at how many pieces were left. She nearly sobbed when she saw how much was left. Orla steeled herself and took another piece, giving it to him as he returned his fingers to her, and her control broke with a surge, and she moaned low into his mouth as she slowly bucked against his hand. He held her close as her body flexed to its own rhythm.

  She relaxed against him, breathing heavily against his neck. He moved her hair aside and pressed a kiss to her curved neck. His long fingers moved on her, and she grabbed his soft, embroidered shirt as a lesser pulse ran through her, and she groaned.

  When her body was calm again, she slowly peeked up at him. He was waiting with a patient expression, and he whispered, “More.”

  Her hand was shaking as she grabbed another piece of candy, and she gave it to him. This kiss was softer, gentler, but still seductive. His hands still moved over her, cupping her butt, stroking her back, and to her surprise, the ribbon came undone and slithered to the floor. She was naked on his lap, and out of eight pieces of fudge that she had cut, nine remained. She had no idea how that worked, but he was definitely cheating.

  He urged her hips into rocking against him, and Orla moved with him in a slow and deliberate motion while the kiss continued until the sweetness had faded from his tongue, and he leaned back again. She sighed and accepted that the blush was making her look weird and blotchy.

  Orla leaned to one side, and she quickly counted. “Your Highness? Majesty? Dude?”

  He nuzzled her cheek. “Lugh. Call me Lugh.”

  “Lugh. Was math a thing in ancient times?”

  He leaned back and blinked. “Why?”

  “Because I cut that piece into eight little pieces, and there are now nine on the box, including the one in my hand. Fudge doesn’t breed, so what is going on?”

  He smiled and shrugged. “You must have miscounted, or a piece broke off. You are distracted.”

  She picked up a piece and continued the way she had started. His fingers slipped inside her, and he groaned. She licked at his mouth and asked, “Lugh, why are you groaning?”

  He groaned as his fingers moved inside her. “Because you feel like hot, wet velvet, and I want to spend a thousand years inside you.”

  She was never not going to blush around him.

  He moved his head until his face was a whisper from hers. “More.”

  After she began the transfer, something new happened. There was no longer fabric between them. Orla’s eyes opened wide when she felt his erection against her belly. She tried to glance down, but he threaded a hand in her hair and kept her lips linked to his.

  She started to move her hips against his fingers while she moved to straighten and weave her own fingers through his silky hair. No use. The tie that he had on his hair was tight, and the ponytail was impenetrable.

  She sighed softly in disappointment, looping her arms over his shoulders and focusing on moving with him. The slow stroke of his fingers inside her was hypnotic, and she shivered as she moved her hips. When he lifted his head and whispered, “more,” against her lips, she finally figured out that his endgame had very little to do with sugar.

  Chapter Three

  Orla kept her head down as he slid inside her, his cock disappearing until she felt pinned and immobile. Her body took him easily enough as a result of the extensive prep, but she was still grappling with the feeling of fullness; her position was putting her entire body weight on him.

  He leaned in toward her and inhaled. Her hand shot forward and clamped over his mouth, she was panting, and she said, “Give me a minute.”

  He smiled against her hand, and she closed her eyes as she took in the length and girth of him. She was glad she hadn’t stared. There was no way she would have let him in if she had psyched herself out.

  Her breathing slowed, and she tightened
around him. His lips flexed against her hand, and when she removed her hand from his mouth, she whispered, “If you say more, I am going to punch you so hard your horse will feel it.”

  He chuckled and pressed a kiss to her temple. “Put your hands on my shoulders and lean back.”

  Her grip was loose, but it tightened as he eased her back until she was past a forty-five-degree angle. This angle caused the cock inside her to press against the front wall, and when his hands gripped her hips and slid her over him, nerve endings that rarely got any action sprang to life.

  “Oh, no,” she whispered as he leaned in and took her nipples between his teeth, sucking hard as he moved her around him.

  She dug her nails into his shoulders as another release came roaring toward her. She gritted her teeth and flung her head back as her neck arched, and she twitched around him.

  He was holding himself still as she came, and when she looked up at him, he pulled her slowly back onto his lap, and he thrust his hips upward. He held her head with a fist in her hair and kissed her hard while he rocked into her. He parted their lips and whispered, “I want to hear you.”

  He thrust in hard, and she grunted and groaned. She gave herself permission to make noise, and she held onto him as he thrust upward and their bodies slapped together. Every moan, sigh, and squeak was given to him. His moves started to get stronger, and she felt her body tightening again. Her cries turned to soft moans that grew in pitch until she gasped and dug her nails into his neck. She pressed her forehead to his shoulder as her body clenched around him, and he groaned and jerked into her with short strokes until he was still. Her body softly caressed him inside her, and he flinched with his arms wrapped around her.

  Sweat coated both of them, and she simply held him until her heart stopped thundering inside her. She couldn’t tell if he softened at all. He had been large to begin with.

  Orla didn’t want to lift her head. She didn’t want to look at him after that.

  He stroked her cheek and brushed her hair back from her face. “You will have to raise your face eventually.”

  “I don’t believe I will. No. I can keep my face averted indefinitely.” She murmured it against his skin.

  He chuckled. “I will have to move eventually.”

  She shrugged. “Not my problem.”

  He stroked her skull until she moved her head against his hand, and then, he eased her head up. She didn’t look him in the eye and, instead, noticed that his pointed ears had a cuff on the upper edge. It was cute. It gave him a pirate look.

  When her gaze skittered across his, he cupped her jaw and sighed. “We enjoyed each other. There is nothing else to it.”

  She swallowed and nodded then glanced over to the table. “Oh, come on.”

  Tiny fractions of fudge were on every square of the chessboard, perched on the pieces, and arranged on the edge of the gameboard.

  He nuzzled her neck. “Autumn is a time of plenty.”

  She slowly looked at him. “Lugh, you are going to go into sugar shock. That much sweet isn’t good for you.”

  Orla blinked as she felt the recovery inside her. He reached past her, put a piece in his mouth, and then, he kissed her with the taste of caramel apple pie. She shivered and pressed her breasts against his chest as the kiss continued until her hands were plastered against his chest, and she was slowly riding him.

  Keeping the kiss going seemed important to him; he kept a hand in her hair and used that to hold their faces in parallel. He took every moan, whimper, and sigh until she let out a little squeak and froze as her body let pleasure run through it.

  She caught her breath, only then realizing that they were still kissing. Neither had pulled away when she sank on him.

  He chuckled and smiled. “This has been fun, but I think a more relaxing location is in order.”

  There was a warm wind that wrapped around them, and the study disappeared. She was kneeling astride him with him still deep inside her, but they were on a bed with an elaborately carved headboard in leaves and vines. The posts had the same carvings on them, and there were curtains on all sides of the bed.

  She had just finished looking around when he rolled her to her back and covered her completely. He pinned her hands above her head with one hand, slipped out of her, and played with her breasts using his mouth, a lot of licking, and a slow, soft suction that was maddening.

  Orla pulled on her arms, but he held her wrists in an iron grip. She wrapped her legs around him and undulated against him. He ignored her and continued to learn which method of licking caused the most violent response.

  Her arousal increased with every soft, wet caress, and he refused to help her tip herself over. He slid his fingers into her and looked at her. “Did you cum?”

  She shook her head, but she could feel her inner muscles fluttering around him.

  His smile was slow, and he moved over her, sliding in short rocking motions of his hips, in time to her spasms.

  When he was inside her fully, he started thrusting, rocking his hips on the inward stroke. Her clit began to throb in time to that rocking. As Lugh slowly increased his speed and the force of the inward thrusts, she came, screaming hoarsely as her body bowed, and every nerve was on fire. He thrust rapidly while she was locked, and his own grunt sounded in the air.

  He pushed himself into her, and she could feel a throbbing inside. He collapsed on her and released her arms.

  She pressed a kiss to his temple and slowly moved her arms down into a less strenuous position.

  He lay on her for five minutes without moving. She patted his hair and carefully touched the tip of his ear. He groaned, and she felt him flex inside her. “What the hell was that?”

  She stroked the other ear, and the same result, a groan and his cock flexed inside her.

  Orla knew her own ears were sensitive, but this was funny. It might be hard to reach this weak spot, but she knew where it was.

  Lugh lifted his head. “Are you laughing?”

  “Little bit.”

  He looked over her and smiled. “Good.”

  He rolled to the side, and she was on top of him with her back cooling and her front sweaty. He shifted and withdrew from her.

  The sudden rush of cold on her sensitive parts made her flinch. The trickle of cum was mortifying. She pushed away from him. “Where can I wash up?”

  He rolled with her and left the huge and cozy bed, carrying her to a room that made her gasp. There was a pond with a waterfall, and it was very familiar. “I have been near this pool.”

  “It is the scrying pool. I brought a portion of it here and linked the magic to the original.” He smiled. “Bathe as you wish.”

  He took a basin of water and washed himself. She took a cloth, dipped it in the water, and started cleaning up. It seemed that no matter how much she managed to remove, more crept toward her inner thighs.

  She began to mutter when Lugh knelt in front of her, slid his fingers into her, and made a scooping motion. The cleanup went faster after that.

  He stroked something inside her, and she frowned when he asked. “What is this?”

  It took her a moment, and then, her eyes widened. “Oh. Birth control. It is inserted in the uterus, and those little monofilament threads are there to assist in removal when it is time to take it out.”

  He blinked. “How often do you take it out?”

  “Every five years.”

  “So, you have sex frequently?”

  She laughed. “No. I have it to control my period. My body is a little out of control, so this allows me to keep a normal job, live a normal life, and not be crippled by pain and traumatic bleeding at random. I lost a lot of time that way, so my doctor and I finally went along with this. They don’t normally let you use it when you are younger because of the issue with the installation, but we tried it, and it worked better than anything else.”

  “So, it is not permanent?”

  She snorted. “No. I
might find a guy I want kids with, but it hasn’t happened in my life to date, so I am just as glad that it leaves me the option.”

  “Does it hurt when I...”

  “Oh. No. It’s fine. As long as no one yanks on it, I am fine.” She finished cleaning the residue up, got another piece of fabric, and started to wipe the sweat and saliva off. Eventually, she gave up and stepped into the pool.

  She dove under the water and surfaced again, dragging her hands over herself to scrape off most of the water before she stepped out.

  She twisted her hair, and he was staring at her. She blinked. “What? Is there something wrong?”

  He shook his head and leaned against the doorway with a hand to his forehead. “Something someone said to me a very long time ago suddenly makes sense, and I am a colossal idiot.”

  She took a cloth to wrap around herself and tapped his arm as she passed him, going exploring. “Yes, but you managed to fit, so it’s fine.”

  He spluttered with laughter, and he leaned out as she opened and closed doors. “What are you looking for?”

  “Something I don’t need now but might need later.”

  She glanced back at him, and he was standing naked with his arms crossed and a delighted expression on his features.

  “Clothes?”

  She paused. “That’s on the list.”

  He smiled. “Second door on the right.”

  She looked, verified, and nodded. “Thank you. Now, what made the bed?”

  “The same thing that moved you to the fourth floor without your dainty foot touching a step.”

  She looked at him and chuckled. “You might want to take a proper bath as well. You are covered with sugar.”

  He looked surprised. “What?”

  “You ate the fudge, and licked my skin, and then your chest was against my chest... and you are candy-coated.”

  He sighed, and she removed the towel that was around her and worked her hair into a semblance of damp. Once that was done, she twisted it into a ball at the nape of her neck. It wouldn’t hold, but it got it off her shoulders.

  Orla wrapped the towel around herself again, and she heard, “Don’t bother with that on my account.”