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Thump. Cullen slumped down from the horse first, reaching back to her leg to keep her steady. They preferred to ride together these days. He grabbed her by the hips and lifted her gently down to the ground. Placing a chaste kiss to her forehead he started to unpack the saddlebags. Quickly finding the floral cloth blanket, he spread it under the shade of the nearby tree so she could sit down while he gathered the rest of their lunch and put their horse out in the field to graze.
She gathered her sienna dress under her legs and watched the muscles in Cullen’s back ripple under his thin linen shirt as he dug into their bags and made a small stack of cloth wrapped bundles at his feet. He didn’t train as often as he used to, but he had not yet lost the tone of the battle won muscles he’d had as long as she’d known him. It seemed like much longer than reality, how long they’d known each other. They’d been married now for several months. It felt like no time had passed, and yet like it had been an eternity. They simply fit together.
She reminisced about their first kiss they shared on the battlements, so long ago. His tan, freckled cheeks blushed so brightly, and so quickly when he thought he’d been too hasty to embrace her like that. She smiled warmly, remembering that she’d been waiting for him to make a move for what felt like months. She fiddled with the hem of her dress, pressing the seam between her fingers. She removed the glove from her arm and her left hand dissolved into white shimmers. Cullen walked over and caught her still looking down at the glove in her hand, her smile fading slightly.
He set their lunch down and knelt next to her, taking her hand in both of his. “If you had to lose a hand,” he kissed her knuckles. “I am glad it’s not this one.” He smirked as she pulled her hand away laughing.
“You’re lucky I only have one, or I’d toss a shoe at you!” She lightly pushed his hands away and tucked her hair back behind her flushing ears, smiling again.
They sat and ate their lunch in the quiet of the afternoon. The gentle breeze through the leaves and the birds chirping gave a serene background. Cullen folded the packaging from their lunch up and tucked it into the bag. He readjusted and sat closer to her as he let his hand trail down her left arm. His fingers slid over the scar there where her arm ended now. She squirmed slightly at the touch. It didn’t pain her any longer, but the skin was still sensitive. She started to reach for her glove to put it back on, but Cullen intercepted her hand by taking it in both of his again. She turned to face him completely, the shadows through the leaves of the tree creating patterns on her face. He placed his hands at her shoulders and pulled her towards his chest and into his lap. Enveloped in his embrace, she sighed contentedly and leaned her head against him.
A hand reached up to her head, “I love when you wear your hair down like this,” he continued to stroke her hair down her back.
“I can’t do much with it now,” she nodded in the direction of the discarded sleeve, “not without that glove.”
“I will braid your hair every day, if you’d like,” he kissed her temple.
She leaned back slightly, “I couldn’t ask that of you! That’s so much work.”
He squeezed her tighter in his arms, “I don’t care about the work, I care about you. I’ll even learn those fancy Orlesian braids you like so much!” He tickled her under her ribs.
Between giggles she relented, “If you insist, I’d very much like that actually.”
Braiding her hair wasn’t too far a stretch past what he was already doing regularly for her. He tended her hair every wash. Whatever oils or creams she wanted to use, he followed her careful instruction on how to put them in her hair. Gently brushing away the tangles of the day before washing it in the basin. She’d only been wearing loose, simple braids since the exalted council. Those were the easiest for her to manage.
He threaded his hand into her hair at the nape of her neck, holding firmly, and turned her face towards him. He kissed each cheek, and then her nose, before pressing his forehead to hers. They savored these moments, they were new to them both. Quiet and calm, peaceful.
She leaned away briefly to replace the glove on her arm. White sparkling mist reformed her left hand and it settled on a color that matched her complexion. She put a hand on the side of his neck as he readjusted his hold in her hair. Her thumb grazed the scar at his lip, and over his cheek. He pulled her hair gently back to force her gaze up and he kissed her full on the mouth.
That’s all it was at first, a deep kiss as he held her closely against him. But she parted her lips and licked her tongue against his closed ones, requesting entrance there. He obliged and their tongues met in gentle strokes. He ran his hand down her arm, and settled at her waist. She pulled his lower lip into her mouth and raked her teeth across it. A soft sigh escaped his lips as he dove back into her mouth in earnest.
The quiet moments are nice, but moments like this are better, he thought as he gripped the fabric of her dress tightly.
She ran her hands around the collar of his shirt, twisting the lace at the front in her fingers before skimming down one sleeve and holding the seam there. She tilted her head back further as he pulled her hair, and he dipped his mouth to the line of her jaw. Slow passes of his tongue and nibbles up towards her ear, sending a chill down her spine.
He shifted her from his lap and onto the blanket, his hands never leaving her, and took his place straddled over one leg above her. Reluctantly removing his hand from her hair, his hand was a whisper against her as he gripped the other side of her dress. Now both hands held tightly in the loose fabric, he kissed back down her neck to her collar bone.
She pressed her hands against his chest, outlining the muscles there in feather light touches. Wrapping the curls of his hair in her hands, she kept his mouth at her chest and moved her own to his neck. Her soft breaths reached his core from her delicate lips against the shell of his ear. He grumbled slightly as he pulled back and removed his shirt.
He’d meant it to be quick, but the lacing at the collar caught around his nose. The giggle that rose from her chest at the sight was musical. He could never tire of hearing her laugh. He’d made that vow when they married, that he’d find a way to make her laugh every day. She’d endured enough sadness and grief for more than one lifetime, it was his mission to make up the difference in joy.
Finally free of his shirt, he returned his hands to her, this time reaching for the ties at her chest. He looked to her for permission, “May I?” he asked.
She nodded immediately, “Please,” her hands were already back to his chest, running fingers through the small patch of curls there.
He pulled at one end of the string that held her dress together and loosened the knot there. He took his time, moving her hands behind his neck, and placing a kiss on each cross of the lace as he unhooked it. Row by row, he unwrapped her like the gift she was to him. When he reached her waist, he ran his hands back up her torso to her breasts. Cupping one in each hand, he held them gently, yet firm. He leaned in and put his face between them, pressing a slow kiss there. She sighed softly, and dug her nails into his back gently, scratching up towards his shoulders.
Her dress now undone, he grabbed the hem and pulled it up slowly. Wiggling, and raising her arms, he brought it over her head and tossed it aside. He looked down at her, now completely nude beneath him, and marveled. “You are so beautiful,” he whispered. One hand on her neck and the other teasing at her nipple, he came back to her mouth. Their tongues sliding against one another in the heated air between them. Palming the front of his breeches, she could feel his hard length. She grabbed at his waistband, and pulled the knot free. Dipping one hand in, she grasped him and ran her thumb across his slit, slick with precum. A quiet moan rose in his throat in response.
She shimmied her second hand in, and pushed the fabric down his legs exposing the rest of him. Reaching around she squeezed one ass cheek and smirked at him as he kicked his breeches off from around his ankles, chuckling. The low rumbling chuckle he had always captivated her. Like distant thunder before a storm, his whole chest shook when he laughed. She’d vowed that too at their wedding. After all the suffering and torment he’d lived through, she was determined for him to never feel that way again.
Both of them now bare, Cullen lay beside her and skimmed a finger up from her ankle to her neck, pausing briefly to knead at her breasts. Wrapping his hand around the back of her neck, he kissed her again. He dipped his head down to her hardened nipples, taking one in his mouth while he rolled the other between his fingers. She moaned at the wet contact, tangling her hands back into his hair.
She slipped a hand between them and found his member again. Solid, steady strokes made him stutter in his teasing. His hesitation was long enough for her to push him onto his back and roll on top of him. Putting her hands on either side of his head, she leaned down and he nuzzled into her breasts. Taking one in each hand, he looked at them like works of art. She rolled her hips and ground against him, again, and again. Each pass stimulating her clit as his shaft passed between her wet folds.
She slid off and pulled him back on top of her, capturing his mouth with hers in an open mouth kiss. Her tongue diving deep, his reaching back in response. Cullen reached between them to press a finger into her, and then two. Stretching and teasing her further. He pressed the pad of his thumb to the bundle of nerves there and swept over it in slow strokes as he pumped his fingers in and out of her.
“Please,” she panted as she squirmed beneath him.
He slowed his ministrations, “Please what?” he grinned, clearly enjoying the torment he was inflicting upon her.
She whined out a moan, “Fuck me, please…” as she dug her nails into his shoulders once more, this time in desperation.
He positioned himself at her entrance and began to press slowly into her wet heat, “That’s my girl,” he groaned into her mouth as he bottomed out inside her. “Look at you,” he grunted as he thrust his hips, “you are absolutely gorgeous.”
She gasped at each impact, as he hit that spot deep inside her. She wrapped her legs around his hips pulling him closer as she tucked her face into his neck. Clinging to him like he was the only thing keeping her afloat at sea, she licked the pulse point below his ear and bit down softly for him to notice she’d bit him, but not to draw blood. She sucked that patch of skin into her mouth hard, the pressure leaving a red mark on him.
He held her tightly by the hip with one hand, his thumb digging into the flesh there. He took his other hand and went back to her clit. Carving slow, deliberate circles around it, never quite touching where she needed it most. His thrusts increased in speed as she panted harder into his neck. She became more frantic in her grasping at him, the need for him to be closer was unbearable. She was desperate to have every inch of her covered by him.
The waves of her pleasure were coming to a crest. She pulled at the hair at the nape of his neck, “I love you,” she moaned.
“I love you too,” he moved his hand from her hip to cradle her face, his thumb caressing her cheek.
They tumbled over the edge of their orgasms nearly simultaneously. She breathed heavily as he collapsed over her while still inside her. His heavy panting began to subside. He pulled out of her, and curled her back into his chest as he shifted beside her.
They lay there cuddling while they recovered. The field of flowers now swaying in the strong afternoon breeze.
After some time, she twisted in his arms to face him. Placing her hands on his chest, “You weren’t wearing any smallclothes,” she smirked up at him.
He held her tighter against him, “Neither were you,” he winked back, “I guess we both had ulterior motives for this picnic.”
She laughed and tucked her head under his chin, as he pulled the other half of the blanket over them. They fell asleep there for an hour or so, before they begrudgingly redressed each other and returned home.