"Kouchou, you have the most beautiful skin," Shuuei whispered against the back of her neck as he drew her silk shawl from her creamy shoulders. "You glow like moonlight."

"Ah, Shogun-sama, perhaps you see the shimmer of desire your touch arouses in me," she answered, and her voice poured over him like warm honey. She turned her face, and he leaned over her shoulder to press his lips to her mouth.

"Heh, Kouchou, I think these lips are what make you most enticing," he muttered, sweeping his grinning lips against hers.

"Oh? You've thought much about this, Ran-sama?" she teased with a soft laugh and the flicker of her tongue between his lips.

"Endlessly," he murmured and captured her teasing tongue in his mouth. He turned her and gathered her in his arms, deepening his kiss. His rough fingers moved tenderly over her back, drawing her dress down to her waist. Her head arched back, breaking the kiss, for a deep, heated gasp. The motion thrust her ample, naked breasts firmly against his hard chest. "You feel like silk in my hands, Kouchou, soft, cool at first, and then warming to my touch."

"It can't be helped when you hold me like this," she whispered and caressed her cheek against his. "When a man with the strong hands of a shogun…" she whispered warmly at his ear and felt him shiver slightly, "…can hold a woman so gently…" she breathed her spell against his mouth, "…coaxing what he could easily take…" her voice trembled at the last word and she pressed herself tightly against him, "…rough fingers that should bruise…" she whimpered, "…but slowly stir a fiery radiance in my body…Shogun-sama…Shogun-sama…"

The high-pitched plea in her voice unraveled him completely and he took her there on the floor of her veranda, under the moonlight. As he drove into her, quaking with the urgency she had stirred inside him, he kissed her so deeply, so long, so often, that she barely had time to catch her breath.

"These lips," he muttered nearly incoherently. "Your words, your thoughts, your taste, your lips…Kouchou, sweet, beautiful Kouchou, your lips are magic."

"Ah, Ran-sama," she panted and beamed up at him. "What man praises a woman for her thoughts? You are a most special lover, and so I will show you what other magic my lips can do."

"Kouchou…" his eyes widened, and she felt his reaction inside her. She giggled softly. "Lay back, Ran-sama, and let my lips speak to your body."

She tangled her elegant fingers in his long, black hair and kissed him deeply before rolling him over and bathing his body in lingering kisses and licks. When she took him in her mouth, he arched up, taut as a bow string, and clutched at the carpet under his hands until it crumpled in his fists.

Before long, he stroked his hands desperately over her black-cherry hair, and stammered in a choked voice, "K-Kou-chou…I…I can't…your mouth…"

"Yes…yes…Ran-sama…" she gasped and her hungry lips left him no choice but to release and flow into her, lost in the soft, sultry heat of her mouth.

Spent and sated as he had never been before, he still managed to draw Kouchou up onto his heaving chest and wrap her in his discarded robe and his quivering arms. He tipped her chin up and drew his thumb over her reddened lips. He leaned up to kiss her, but she drew her mouth away.

"Ran-sama, your…taste…"

"You honor me, sweet Kouchou," he whispered and lifted her mouth to his. He kissed her hesitantly at first and then parted her lips for his tantalizing tongue. Heat surged through her body, and she ravished his mouth all over again until she felt him harden beneath her.

"Eh, do you have any other appointments tonight?" he smiled at her sheepishly.

"They've strangely all canceled," she smirked and her gaze swept down to his grinning mouth.

Shuuei laughed so deeply, he rocked Kouchou on his chest and she snuggled tightly against him. A wide smile tugged her lips. "It's a pity, though. Such a loss to my business," she teased.

"I'll make it up to you," he murmured suggestively and spun her onto her back. "In every way I can. I wouldn't want my lady to starve or be out in the cold."

"Shogun-sama is always so generous," she wriggled gleefully beneath him, making him laugh again.

"I'm smitten with you, Kouchou. I'm at your mercy. Have I told you that I'm in love with you?" he moaned and buried his mouth in the curve of her neck, causing her to giggle and writhe against him as he settled himself between her thighs.

"Yes, Ran-sama, many times and in many ways," she sighed and arched into him.