Page 32 of Falling for a Footman

Charlotte had let go of his jacket and now simply lay her hands against the small of his back. Perhaps she should touch him? She did feel curious about what he felt like. Slowly she started running one hand up his back up towards his shoulder blades then his neck. She let it rest there under the queue of his hair, feeling how the muscles in his neck moved as he twisted his head a bit to be able to kiss her deeper.

Gathering courage, she slowly let her hand explore his hair. It was much softer than she had anticipated, as soft as her own in fact, and it seemed to give him a sense of pleasure that she touched it. At least he let out a sound somewhere between a growl and a moan.

The sound made Charlotte bolder, and she buried her hand more deeply in his hair, letting her other hand run up his back to join in.

“Charlotte,” James whispered breathlessly against her lips.

“James,” she simply replied.

“We need to stop,” he murmured.

Charlotte shook her head, leaning closer to him to kiss him again. James did not meet her lips but leaned back a bit to avoid them.

“No,” he mumbled with a smile. “We need to stop.”

“Why?” Charlotte could not help but ask, even though she knew that their actions could only lead to her being ruined. She tried not to show how disappointed she was.

“Can’t you tell how much I want you, Charlotte?” he asked with a teasing note in his voice.

Charlotte had to have looked confused because he gently took her hand.

“Do you mind if I show you?” he asked, the teasing not gone.

She shook her head because in that moment she could not believe that she would mind anything that he did. James placed her hand on a hard form between his legs. Charlotte remembered her mother’s words: that men and women were created differently, and her eyes widened as she realized what it was she was touching. She felt his heat through the fabric of his breeches.

“It’s the part of the man that goes inside the woman,” she whispered breathlessly, not removing her hand even though she knew she should.

James laughed out loud. At first an eruption that made Charlotte startle and take a step back from him. Her hand leaving his groin. He turned the volume down to a mere chuckle as he pulled her closer again.

“Well, that’s one way to put it,” he finally allowed, still chuckling.

“But do you want to... do that... with me?” she had to ask, even though she had known she was ready to let him ruin her if she could be certain that it would not have any consequences.

“Very much,” James avowed solemnly.

The laughter was gone from his eyes and a severe look was on his face now as he bent his head slightly and looked into her eyes.

“We can’t do that,” Charlotte stated and took a step back again, as if he might open his breeches and... she blushed as she realized what would happen then.

“No, I know that,” James sniggered bitterly. He halfway turned from her towards the window.

“And we can’t kiss... without having to do the other thing as well?” Charlotte inquired.

She remembered her mother’s words that it was not something that you were supposed to do with anyone but your husband. Not only would her future husband know if she had done it with someone else, but it might also result in a child.

“We can kiss without doing anything else... it’s just... you’re so innocent, Charlotte, and I feel I’m taking advantage of you,” he walked away from her to stand at the window, overlooking the garden. “Heavens, I just made you touch me. And all I could think was that I wished the fabric of my clothes was not between your hand and my skin.”

Charlotte felt her breath catch at the thought. She instantly thought of soft warm skin and how exploring it would be an adventure.

“You should not trust me, Charlotte, since I don’t trust myself around you,” he went on in a pained voice.

“You would never do anything that I would not want,” Charlotte uttered as she took a step closer. She might not know him very well, not know the specifics of his origins, but this she felt absolutely certain of. When it came to women, James was an honorable man.

James turned to look at her. He was merely a dark frame by the window; she could not make out his facial expression at all.

“No, never intentionally. But I’m afraid I might coerce you... and perhaps persuade myself to a certain extent into actions we would both come to regret.”

“Would you regret it?” Charlotte asked. She could hear how her voice had an edge of confusion and hurt to it. She was only a step away from him now. If she reached out, she would easily be able to touch him. But she held onto the skirt of her dress with both hands instead.