She placed both her hands on his chest and pushed hard against him. He immediately ended the kiss, but he didn’t remove his hands from around her. He slowly relaxed his grip, loosened his hands on her, and let her move ever so slightly away from him but still within the circle of his arms. “Have you never been kissed before?” he whispered. “Yes.” She was lying and surely he could tell. “No. Not like that.” “It was lovely, don’t you agree, sweet Rose?” Roselyn didn’t answer, but she felt her face go hot, blushing a color resembling her namesake. “Please release me,” she asked quietly. Hoping both that he would and he wouldn’t. He let his arms completely relax and let her go. He turned and sat on his chair, leaning back until it balanced on only two legs. He rested his crossed ankles on the table in a pose of exaggerated nonchalance. “Sit back down, we’ll eat some fruit and finish our game.” Roselyn picked up her glass and drank the last several swallows of wine and immediately regretted having done it.
