What Blooms At Midnight

Two

"T-Thank you..." The soft voice that filters it's way to my ears makes me shiver, my entire body delighted at the sound.

This blessed creature captured in my lap is so timid as he averts his eyes from my face, our intimate moment seeming so much more precious as he struggles to catch his breath over our current level of closeness.

He continues to tremble as the gentle hand that covers mine where it lay on his cheek slowly tries to pry me away from his tender flesh.

I have to struggle to find the will to release him... To let him pull my hand away from his tender cheek as the breeze whips his hair into a frenzy, but when I do his flush only burns deeper as he guides our hands to his lap... How enchanting can one dark-haired beauty be? 

The way he shivers under my gaze... His heartbeat calling to me ever so strongly as it threatens to beat right out of his chest. I cannot help but reach for his cheek again, the urge to touch him... To draw him nearer to me ever strong. Ever urging men to forgo all of my manners and taste his dewy lips until his tearstained cheeks are dry once again... Oh, I have truly been blessed with the loveliest of soulmates. 

My hand is caught and tugged back down until it rests in his lap once more, his plush thighs not an unhappy alternative.

"I... Did I hurt you?" Oh, the way he bats his thick lashes at me, "Wh-When I jumped from the saddle? I... I didn't think about it before I rushed you..."

...
Jasper
...

The hand I've only just taken away from my cheek twists and turns until it's captured one of my hands to hold it properly, our fingers becoming an intimate tangle that is absolutely not helping me calm myself or my racing heart. His thumb strokes the side of my hand just as it had when it rested on my cheek and it only serves to fluster me more. I want so badly to flee... But also to lean back into him to catch a whiff of the cool crisp cologne that seems to pool it's scent strongest at the base of his neck... That spot keeps calling to me, pulling harder than a siren to get me to return to my previous placement and breathe him in.

The desire to push myself back against him until I shake no longer settles over me so deeply... To seek comfort in a strange man that I've only just met... The unnerving safeness I feel cradled in his lap.

Yet somehow when his gentle voice blesses my ears it feels so much like a balm that I cannot help but find myself more relaxed, "You've not hurt me, Sweetheart... Not at all. Are you all alright? Nothing hurt you?"

He sounds so concerned as his hand gives me the most gentle of squeezes to try and pull me out of my timidness...

I have to stop and take inventory of myself, my free hand gliding over my chest and sides, the whole time being tracked by the most intimidating of gazes until it settles back in my lap over the hand so tenderly holding mine before I can answer, "I-I'm fine, Sir. Just shaken."

The man trapped underneath me at the moment is almost to handsome to even stand to look at... Slate grey eyes and the darkest of chestnut hair... A days worth of scruff dusting his strong chin and a jawline and cheekbones that look like they've been chiseled from marble.

Taking my eyes even further from his face to try and avoid meeting his eyes as I try and lift myself from his lap only to be held in place, the hand that seems ever so content to keep itself glued to my hip somehow strong enough to keep me where he apparently wants me my gaze falls upon the fine coat gracing a set of broad shoulders, buttoned over his very solid feeling chest.

I had hoped him to be one of our neighbors but suddenly I fear that while yes, he is... He isn't one of the neighbors I had hoped for.

He's dressed like a nobleman... All golden thread and glittering buttons... Jewels sewed right onto the soft fabric redder than any wine I've ever tasted... And I've landed him right onto the filthy ground to be covered in the dust of the day.

...
Edmund
...

I would give just anything to see into this young mortal's mind as his eyes widen while drinking me in, my slow beating heart skipping a beat in my old chest when he graces me with the beauty that is his softer than satin voice, "Y-Y-You must be from the Palace! And I've gone and gotten you dirty! I can- If there are stains on your clothes or they need washing I can do it, my Lord... I am so sorry-"

His panic is adorable, the redness of his face starting to concern me as it grows yet another shade darker at his new revelation. His concern for my clothing is touching, but, "My clothes are of no importance, Sweet Cherub... My only request is for you to share your name with me... Can you do that?"

From the Palace, I am indeed, and I have never been more grateful in all of my years that I enjoy the solitary strolls that lead me away from it's confining walls and tedious people...

Right to the beautiful..."Jasper, My Lord.  My name is Jasper... If you'll release me I won't keep you any longer."

He's so bashful as he fidgets... Waiting so patiently for my hands to relinquish the delicate hold I've kept on him since his graceful fall from the saddle... It pains me to do so, but my dear Jasper looks as though he could use more warmth than my body alone is able to offer. My fingers are slow to peel themselves away, but even when I release the most lovely creature I've ever laid eyes on he doesn't immediately pull away from me... His timid hands find my shoulders and for a moment... A single blessed moment I think maybe he'll raise those precious lips up to mine and entangle me even more in his charms... But instead, after a heated moment where his eyes meet mine, neither of us even able to breathe... He stands and breaks the spell that has us so enraptured with each other, his hand offered to help steady me as I follow his rise.

"May...My Lord, may I ask the name of the man kind enough to save me?" It's such a bashful request, his hand being tugged from my own in order to allow for me to dust my britches off.

"Edmund... Edmund Rose."