In the days after Penelope's and Colin's engagement announcement, she found her mind was somewhat scattered. She often found herself getting lost in thought as she recalled the events that had transpired in that evening. Not the announcement of the engagement itself, which was rather nerve wrecking in its own right. Nor the annoyance she felt toward her publisher, Mr. Lacey, for releasing her last Lady Whistledown column days before it was due, at the Bridgerton Ball; effectively ruining the night. She still couldn't help but sigh and shake her head at the disaster it became... Or at least the beginning part of it.
She hadn't liked being at the receiving end of Colin's anger, when he realised that the latest Lady Whistledown column had denounced Cressida as being the true identity of the author. But she had to admit she had no complaints about what that anger had progressed into...
She squealed with delight, pulling her pillow tight against her face and kicking her feet excitedly under the bed covers. Flashes of that night teased at her mind.
"Stay" He had said, leading her to his bed, "Stay..."
And she was most certainly glad that she had…
She bit her lip remembering his tenderness. His hands cupping at her face. His body lying on top of her. His eyes. His beautiful emerald green pools looking at her with such a well of emotion that she couldn't help but melt.
She couldn't help but blush remembering, fiendishly, that something within her had been awakened that night; teased into existence by Colin's touch. Her stomach tightened at the thought, making her clutch at her waist; her nails digging in.
Her eyes briefly darted towards her bedroom door. There were no rousing signs of life from the rest of the Featherington household as of yet. It was still early morning of course. Perhaps she would be left alone for another hour or so before being whisked away by her mother for more tedious visits into town to prepare for the wedding.
She certainly hoped so at least.
Clinging to that hope, she closed her eyes and allowed herself to indulge in the memory. Colin's fingernails grazing up her side, to her breast, made her want to copy his movements. Her own fingernails gave her shivers as she traced along her rib cage, up to her breast, and around her nipple. She shuddered, not from the cold, quite the opposite in fact. Her whole body was radiating heat, but no part as much as between her legs. She realised to her surprise that her thighs, although clamped tight together, were rubbing against each other rhythmically. Her body seemed impatient for touch.
She recalled what Colin's body looked like in a similar state. His chiselled chest looking nothing less than a piece of art as he hovered over her. His long legs clamped either side of her hips. And his member pinned between the two of them, hot and hard, rubbing against her curls.
Her hand moved tentatively down, grazing her thigh as she pulled her night dress up out of the way. She hesitated, unsure what to expect, but her curiosity pushed her on. It seemed only right that she should understand her body more than a man, even if that man was Colin. It was strange to accept that right now, Colin knew her body more than anybody else in the world, even herself.
Her fingers ventured between her thighs and into her curls. She was surprised to find it...well...wet. She retracted her hand, half expecting to find blood on her fingertips, but instead she discovered it was clear and colourless. She vaguely recalled that after Colin and her had become intimate, she had felt a similar wetness between her legs afterwards. She concluded that perhaps it was...normal?
She tried to explore more, tried to remember what Colin's expert fingers had done and replicate it. She traced the edges slowly, up and down, until she found a bundle of nerves causing her to shudder. Her fingers teased and pinched at it, making her breath hitch in her throat.
Images of Colin, smiling devilishly at her, swam into her mind. "Did you think I wouldn't touch you like this?" She groaned, rolling over on the bed to increase the pressure pushing against her crotch. Her hips ground into the bed, losing herself to her fantasy "There's much more". She slid one finger into herself, as he had done, stifling a moan into her pillow.
Her mind kept her enchanted, this time with flashes of her time with Colin in the carriage,
"My God, I want you."
Her hips ground into the bed, imagining it was Colin's crotch she was grinding against as he had done then. Her pumps started slow, but soon sped up, reliving his hot breath against her skin, "I want to strip you bare and sink into you and never let you go".
Penelope groaned with desire, slipping a second finger within her wet folds. The tightness in her abdomen was building, until finally waves of pleasure racked her senses, making her toes curl.
A loud moan escaped her lips before she managed to stop it, biting down on the soft skin of her arm, effectively gagging herself. Her body lay limp and sweating for a moment as she caught her breath. But she did not remove her fingers. The opposite in fact. Her hand seemed to have grown a mind of its own; slowly pumping still, but occasionally twitching in such a way as to slam her palm down on the bundle of nerves, making her gasp. She felt delightfully wicked and somewhat proud of herself as she realised she was becoming more of a wanton at heart.
She did not want the feeling to end, she only wished Colin was actually here with her too. She had to manage, with only the memories and fantasies for now.
"You're almost ready for me", her breath quickened, as his had done.
Her fingers quickened again, "So wet, but so tight", she slipped in a third, stretching herself, trying to get used to the feeling since she had not forgotten how uncomfortable Colin's girth had felt.
"I can't wait much longer" his hot breath against her skin.
"Don't wait" she breathed.
The tightness in her abdomen was growing to a peak. Her wrist pumped relentlessly, the muscles in her arm protesting but she ignored them.
"I need you", His words rolled over in her head again and again, "I need you...". His emerald green pools looking down at her lustfully, his mouth open at hers, breathing her in as he pumped her to completion. "I need you, Penelope..."
The words brought her over the edge. She stifled her moan by biting into her arm again, trying her best not to make a sound and wake the house. Her whole body shook at the sensations rolling through her.
She fell limp, panting and sweating in the bed covers. God, she couldn't wait until Colin could touch her like that again. She realised with a smile that Colin's rakish behaviour was rubbing off on her, but she didn't care. He already had her permission to touch her anytime, anywhere and any way he wanted. She just hoped that that time, was sooner rather than later.
After she managed to finally catch her breath, a glance at the window made her get up. The sun was coming through brighter now, someone was sure to come in soon to force her up for the day. She thought she should at least try to look presentable. She dried herself as best she could with the bed covers, before pulling them up and off the bed. She folded them up into a pile at the end of the bed in an attempt to hide the evidence of her activities from this morning; she hoped it wasn't too obvious.
As if on cue, Penelope heard a knock at her bedroom door. She ran to her vanity dresser, sat down at it and began brushing her hair, "Come in", she called out.
Her maid, Rae, entered the room, hands clasped together. "Sorry to disturb you, Miss Penelope, but Mrs. Featherington sent me to wake you. She intends on another trip to the modiste for your wedding dress measurements."
Penelope groaned "Again? Lately I feel more like a pincushion than a bride" She sighed, defeated and held out the brush for Rae to take instead. Rae took it and picked up brushing where Penelope had left off.
"It won't be long now, Miss. In a week or so the wedding formalities will be done, you will be the newly Mrs Penelope Bridgerton, and you will likely join Mr Bridgerton in his residence in Bloomsbury." Rae smiled tentatively at Penelope, through the reflection in front of them. "You will no longer be under your mother's..." she seemed to struggle for a moment to find the right word. "Roof", she finished carefully.
Penelope thought she may understand why. The walls in this house sometimes had ears, and poor Rae didn't want to be caught out saying unpleasant things about her Mistress.
"Freedom at last?" Penelope chuckled, raising an eyebrow at her.
In the reflection, Penelope saw Rae's eyes dart briefly to the bedroom door, as if to check it was in fact closed, before she looked back at her and nodded.
Penelope nodded in agreement, "freedom at last".
A comfortable silence fell over the two women as Rae got to work, turning Penelope's bed head into its usual glamorous curls. The gentle tugs on Penelope's hair as Rae styled it, was relaxing more than anything. She felt her eyes glaze over and dangerous thoughts came back to tempt her.
A nipple trapped between Colin's fingers. His hot breath against her ear, "I want to see you sitting up, so I can see them full and lovely and large."
She sat up straighter, pushing out her chest but moving her shoulders too in order to play it off as simply adjusting her position. Her eyes checked that Rae was not paying attention to her; only her hair, before she looked back to herself in the reflection. The soft skin on her breasts rising and falling slowly with each breath, "...full and lovely and large...".
She bit her lip, "...and then I want to crawl behind you and cup you", her stomach tightened. "...And I want to do it in front of a mirror...".
"Something on your mind, Miss Penelope?" Rae's voice swiftly brought her back to reality.
"What?" She coughed and crossed her legs, trying to ignore the feeling of wet arousal between them.
"If you think any harder on it, you may accidentally draw blood" she said looking slightly worried as she referenced Penelope's lip.
Penelope waved her comment away, chuckling awkwardly, cringing that she had been caught with such an obvious expression. "Oh, it's nothing. Just... you know.." she trailed off, mind blank.
Rae chimed in to help, "the wedding?".
"Yes! Yes, of course. The wedding. All very stressful"
"Yes you do seem rather tense..."
Penelope couldn't meet her gaze for a moment, as a sly thought invaded 'I definitely have tension...but not from the wedding...and sadly the only way to relieve it is hardly proper'. She thought to herself.
Rae continued, smiling encouragingly "But there must be fun things too? The cake tasting...the gifts-"
Penelope cut in, "gifts?"
"Yes, gifts. It is tradition. You may well get many from those who attend the wedding, but you can also get Mr. Bridgerton a gift yourself. I don't doubt he will have one for you."
"Hmm..." Penelope pondered this in her mind for a moment.
She hadn't considered this. What could she get the man who seemed to have everything? Although it did not take her long until a devilish smile played at the edge of her lips, her eyes glinting back at her in the reflection.
"Rae, after our forced visit to the modiste per my mother's prodding, would you accompany me to try to locate a mirror maker? I do believe I've just thought of a perfect gift."
Rae looked up from her hair to see Penelope smiling widely at her. "Of course, Miss Penelope. Of course" she smiled back, matching her enthusiasm.