When her eyes finally opened again, she found herself alone in bed again. It wasn't surprising to her, but somehow she felt more vulnerable after what had happened.
Her drawers were back on and she wondered for a moment if it was all a dream. But no, she felt a little tender between her legs. It must've been real.
She wanted to thank Erik for the pleasure he had given her, but one does not talk about such things, so she decided to wait until they were back in bed that night.
He was lying on his side facing her and she mirrored him. It was as always completely dark, but she sometimes thought that she could see a shimmer of amber looking back at her.
"Erik, I really liked what you did last night. With me." She wasn't embarrassed about what he had done, but she felt shy. She had never talked of such things with anyone.
"Erik wants to please his Christine. He loves her so very much and will do his best to be a good husband."
"And you are a very good husband. I would like to be a good wife too if you will let me."
He became really quiet and she got impatient. She moved closer to him, so she was flush up against him and put her hand on his chest like she had done several times before. She felt his heart beat rapidly against her hand and hoped that she wouldn't put a strain on his heart.
"Will you kiss me?" She asked him like many times before. He lifted his mask and touched her lips briefly. Her other hand wrapped around the back of his head to prolong the contact and the beating against her hand on his chest grew wilder.
She let that hand slide slowly down his nightshirt until it had reached the lowest part of his abdomen. He had stopped kissing her. His body was tense as a bowstring while his breathing was labored.
Before she lost her courage, she continued the path down over his night pants where she felt a hardness straining through the thin material. Her core squeezed together at the touch. How she wanted this.
He inhaled sharply, but otherwise stayed still. Excitement overtook her and she grasped his length. He arched into her hand with a loud whimper, then pulled swiftly away from her.
She felt him rise from the bed and movement as he paced the floor by the end of the bed. He was clearly flustered because he usually made no sound when he moved. She scolded herself for enjoying that she had made him lose control.
He mumbled to himself like she had often seen him do when something puzzled him greatly. She couldn't hear what he was saying.
"Erik, what's the matter?" He came to a halt and she heard him breathe in several times to speak, only to say nothing.
"I'm sorry if I did something wrong."
"No! No, Christine could never do wrong. It is Erik. Her Erik is bad. So very bad."
"No, you are good. I promise you. Won't you come back to bed?" She asked and patted the spot next to her. She felt his resolve as he took a deep breath.
"Erik needs to... find something." He left the room without another word and she knew that he wasn't coming back.
She had been too forward. He wasn't ready yet, so she decided to be patient. The next week she settled with their rutine of lying in bed with him, getting a goodnight kiss before falling asleep to his soothing songs and not expecting him to be there when she woke up.
He was apprehensive the first evening, but quickly relaxed into the rutine he knew and seemed content with it.
Christine wasn't content. After Erik had… made her feel so sated and complete, she started to crave that feeling again. She ignored it, expecting it to disappear with time, but every day the craving grew.
Her patience dissipated only a few days after Erik's wondrous treatment of her and she began to snap at her colleagues if they made the smallest mistake.
But it was worse near Erik. Every touch between them brought out the craving and she would scold Erik when he had done nothing wrong. She always apologised profusely afterwards, but it was distressing to them both.
Next came the dreams. She dreamed of his velvet voice, lifting her higher while his slender hands and talented fingers played the organ. Then the organ turned into her body and his fingers tenderly played over her throat while he sang, flicking lightly over her nipples, drumming softly over her stomach and at last between her legs where he would play her until she woke up just before crescendo.
She would wake up with wet drawers, panting and aching. How she wanted Erik in those moments, but he wasn't there, of course, and she didn't want to make him uncomfortable again. She tried to replicate his ministrations, but it didn't feel the same and she longed for his touch.
One night where she was having a particularly vivid dream she was pulled away from the playful fingers and into her room where Erik stood by her bed with a candle in his hand, shaking her carefully.
"Dear, poor Christine! She was screaming for her Erik and gave him such a fright. Is his Christine alright?" He looked worried as he took the sight of her. She was surely looking flustered - sweating and breathing hard. She had been so close to completion in her dream and must have screamed out loud. For him.
"I think so." She fell back against her pillow. He put a cold hand on her forehead and she leaned into it with a sigh. She noticed that he wasn't in his nightwear like he had been when she fell asleep.
"Christine is very warm. Does she feel sick?" His sublime voice was tender and caring, making her want to tell him everything.
She shook her head. "Oh, Erik, I ache." She rubbed her thighs together to achieve some relief, knowing that he couldn't see it under the covers.
"Where? Erik will help his Christine with her pain." He lifted the duvet from her burning body and moved the candle over her to scan for injures. She blushed. It was very sweet of him to want to help, but it was difficult to ask for the kind of help she needed.
He seemed to notice on his own when he paused as he saw the nightgown entwined between her stirring thighs. She hurried to reach down to straighten her gown.
"Does Christine ache… there?" His honey-coned voice turned husky and his amber eyes hooded.
She nodded timidly, avoiding his intense gaze. Did he think her awfully wanton?
"Erik has not performed his husbandly duties. How his Christine must suffer for his flaws!"
She was about to object to his self-deprecating words when he blew out the candle and plunged the room into darkness. He moved down to lie beside her and reached out to stroke her cheek with the back of his hand.
"May I kiss you?" His words surprised her, so normal from his usual way of speaking and even asking her for something. She nodded and he leaned over to kiss her.
His lips, though mostly absent, were chilled and sensual, feeding her craving. His tongue brushed over her bottom lip, making her shiver and lean further into him. He had never initiated a kiss and then never done more than touch her lips. It aroused her extremely that he was so forward all of a sudden.
One of his hands travelled down her body, moving over the curve of her breasts until it reached her mound. His fingers pulled her nightgown up and over her drawers, all while he kept kissing her lips and jaw.
His hand gently stroked each of her thighs, then cupped her womanhood. She trembled at his touch and whimpered when he removed his hand again.
She was aching more than ever. His mouth sucked her neck by her pulsepoint and she gasped hard. His breathing was heavy against her skin and she wanted to reach down and feel if he was aching too. But she was afraid to scare him away.
A finger found the slit in her drawers and immediately dipped into her soaking center. The wet finger then travelled up her limps and found her sensitive bud.
"Please, Erik." She pleaded. She was already so close, having been pulled right to the edge after her dream. He hummed heavenly against her ear and circled her bud lightly, then pushed down gently.
She screamed in pleasure, twisting beneath him as he kissed her lovingly. White spots danced before her eyes as the pulsing in her body passed through her.
Suddenly he was gone and she feared that he had left her already. Until she felt her drawers being pulled down her legs and discarded next to her right leg.
"Perhaps Christine still aches?" His voice was low and rough, coming from the end of the bed where she felt the slight weight of him on the mattress.
"Perhaps." She whispered, her mouth dry. She felt quite sated, but she was curious to know what he had in mind and just couldn't say no.
"My Christine is so beautiful, a true angel to me." How confident he sounded, she noted. What made him so different in this moment? "I want to kiss every part of her. If she allows it?"
She nodded, now dry mouthed in anticipation.
Two hands lifted her left foot and his mouth kissed it. Every toe was kissed, the pinkie toe nipped with his teeth, while his hands massaged the ball of her feet. It felt wonderful. Next the kisses moved up over her ankle, continuing up her leg until he reached her thigh. At that point her craving had returned swiftly.
His hands now lifted her right foot and offered it the same tender treatment, as did he kiss up her leg. But when he reached her thigh, he didn't stop. Instead he continued that path until she felt his breath on her wet core.
"Erik!" She exclaimed in mortification at what he was about to do, but instantly his mouth was on her. He was cold, yet his breath was hot, a strange combination that thrilled her. She keened softly.
He licked up along her inner lips, ending at her tight nub. His tongue flicked over it before moving lower again and lapping up her wetness.
She shivered when a cold hand sneaked up under her nightgown and chemise. His hand massaged her breasts, switching between them, so both got equal attention. Every time a calloused finger slipped over her nipples, he nipped her pleasure point and made her moan loudly.
She was quickly spinning out of control. Her hands wrung into his sparse, thin hair as she struggled to keep still. It was however useless when she felt Erik's silver tongue settle over her bud and a finger entered her.
"Oh, Erik!" He hummed in response and it made her quiver.
Her moans turned louder and her vision blurred as his hands both occupied her breasts and her core while he was tonguing the most sensitive part of her body.
She was pulled to the brink and plummeted into a vigorous spasm, calling his name repeatedly as she convulsed. When her body began to calm, she heard his soothing voice envelop her.
"My Christine is so special. She makes her Erik so happy by allowing him this joy."
She wanted to drag him up to her, kiss him and tell him that he made her happy, that he was special, but her limps felt so heavy and his voice was so serene. It was only a few moments before she fell into an undisturbed sleep.