It was absurd really but the word bedroom sent a thrill of pleasure and panic through her the likes of which she had not experienced until this moment. They would be no more alone in that room, no less focussed on each other and yet the thought of being in the same room as a bed and a man was enough to make her heart beat painfully in her chest.

There was also the fact that after this there would be no going back, if indeed she had not already crossed that particular Rubicon already. The vague and mysterious something that would come next would mean that she could no longer claim to be a proper young lady, not the same as her sisters or cousins – though now she was here herself she thought she might be understanding Ellory more than ever before – but she thirsted for whatever it was more than she has ever wanted anything. His lips against her jaw made her whole body tingle, she wanted more of it.

“Yes, I think so,” she replied, shy but rather more decisive than she had expected to sound. She was decided. She was. She might love Freddie Prewett. “I want you to show me,” she added, letting the meaning of her words teeter between two possibilities.

---

Bee is tremendous, isn't she?