💋 - kissing my muse roughly
Late July, 1796
Escaping some party held by some lord at some house
“Oh, that was terrible.” Lucy breathed, glad to be free of the perfume-clotted air. She drew a deep breath, tilting her head up to the streetlamps. A smile broke out. They were finally free.
She came down to earth slowly, her vision focusing first on far -- the night air as it collected in dew on an iron fence, the line of glossy wet cobblestones. Then near -- when she saw that it wasn’t dew at all, but rain, pelting directly downward and onto their shoulders. And nearer, still -- his shirt, jacket forgotten, soaked straight through.
Warmth swelled as she looked at him, exhilaration at their escape mixed with her rapidly-cooling skin. He was always water to her, salt and the ocean, rivers and barges, rain on a quiet, London street. It fell harder, then, the silk of her dress darkening from damp to wet, her fingers already chilled through.
Water went where it pleased. It wore away stone, it circumvented all else. Lucy stared at him, breathless. Sometimes, she wished she were water too.
His lips were cold, but not as cold as her own before they met his, and she didn’t know who had reached for whom first, only that they had, that the wet silk on her shoulder was suddenly pinned back against coarse brick. Lucy gasped. Caught breathless, and more than a little soaked in rain and wine, her lips chased his, one hungry kiss leading to another, harder, deeper. Cradling his face in just the smallest points of her fingertips, Lucy inched her head back to look up at him. Searching, she caught her breath. “Graham--”
It was too cold to speak. Her fingers curled, drawing him to her again.