A New Estate - Crimson Peak

Chapter Twenty Six

The time seemed to slow around us, a cliché in itself but none the less true.

His lips lingered over my own, feeling ever so slightly chapped against my soft ones which gave them a strange but pleasant contrast.

We broke apart then began to experimentally give a mixture of lingering locks and brief pecks, getting used to the sensation of us being so close in a way I personally had never experienced with another person.

Thoughts of how scandalous this was rushed through my head, an unwed woman kissing a young bachelor without even going on an outing was sure to cause a stir were word to get out.

And yet I didn't want to pull away from him.

There was no stopping the feeling of disappointment that tugged at me when he did inevitably end the kiss and he stepped back just a little.

I gazed up at him, both of us just staring at each other in a total daze, neither of us saying a word as the moment lingered in the air and my lips tingled pleasantly.

"I, um," he started but trailed off and broke our eye contact, an awkward chuckle replacing the rest of his sentence.

An unbreakable smile of happiness and also slight embarrassment hurt my cheeks, which felt as though they were also burning hot.

"That was most certainly something," I managed to laugh out, unsure of what to say but needing to fill the half conversation he had started.

"It was improper, I'm sorry."

"No, it is perfectly fine."

"I doubt that your father would approve of this and believe it to be 'fine'."

"Perhaps not, but I very much approve."

I found that my cheeks flared up once again, the adrenaline of excitement was dying faster than I wanted it to and now I was feeling more unsure of what I was saying as each word passed my lips.

Now that he had brought it up, I couldn't stop thinking of what Mother and Father would think of this, of his being an employee and neither of us seemingly attempting to court the other before making this bold move.

"It will be fine, Father will understand," I soothed gently, though for his sake or mine I couldn't be certain.

"I would still rather that we kept this between ourselves."

"Then that we shall do."

"Thank you."

Our lips lightly brushed once more before we pulled away completely, each of us smiling shyly like two children sharing a secret.

From the corner of my eye I notice a movement in the furthest corner of the room to my right, just behind the piano.

Whilst attempting to not be too obvious in diverting my attention, not wanting to alert Robert in case it was my mind playing tricks on me due to the mixture of darkness and flickering candlelight, I gradually shifted my focus towards the corner.

It took a moment for my eyes to adjust and differentiate what I was seeing from general darkness, but once the looming figure of Lucille had stood out in a blackness unlike any other she became hard to ignore.

A strange mixture of sensations surged through me.

The adrenaline of fear rushed through my veins much like it had many times during my stay here, but this time it mixed with the adrenaline of excitement from the kiss that was still vaguely there and this concoction became a strangely sensual urge inside me that was unlike anything I had ever felt.