His tongue was impossibly smooth and soft, brushing over me in such a tender caress that I thought I was going to melt into his mouth. I parted my lips, seeking him and trying to taste what he gathered from me.

His familiar scent was cool and crisp against the sweetness of the candies. The flavors blended together into the most hypnotizing ambrosia, washing away all my worries and frustrations from the day. I breathed in, exchanging more of the sugar on my palate with his earthy zest, reveling in the delectable treat. Our tongues danced an intimate tangle before he slid free and licked my top lip clean as well.

“Refreshing indeed,” he said when he released me, “for all seasons.”

I clutched his collar, stopping him from pulling back. His kiss was like a glimpse of temptation offered to an addict, and I couldn’t stop at just a mere sample of it. “You should’ve told me you like candied hawthorns, Bai Ye.” I kept my lips wedged against his as I spoke. “I would eat them every day if I knew.”

He laughed. His breath tickled my nostrils, delicious just like the rest of him. “I only like them if you feed them to me.” He reached for the box on the table and removed a hawthorn from its skewer. “Will you do me the favor?”

I snatched the candy from his hand, and he laughed again when I bit off a big chunk of glaze almost eagerly. I pulled him in and sealed my lips against his.

The tips of our tongues touched, and we passed the sugar between us, swirling it slowly in our mouths. The piece was hard at first but melted quickly into saccharine nectar, coating him in a slick layer that was more silken and juicy than anything I had ever tasted. I swallowed, letting the sweetness sink into the depth of my throat along with his scent.

The tang was luscious. He was luscious. I sucked him hungrily for more, and my hands traced down his collar to his belt, tugging lightly.

He broke the succulent kiss. “Don’t forget we are still outside, Qing-er.”

The evening hoots of owls that I didn’t hear before suddenly came rushing into my ears. I froze. We were still in the garden, and the front gate was unguarded. What if …

My thoughts halted at the sound of his chuckles. “And sweets taste best under the stars,” he whispered as his hands glided under my dress.

I realized belatedly that he was teasing me again—cautious as he was, he wouldn’t have kissed me without setting up a barrier spell first—but the hint at our forbidden desire only kindled me more. My blood boiled as he loosened my underlayers, and the heat of his palm grazed against my thighs. I let out a light sigh and tugged harder on his belt. “Then how about another bite?” I offered.

He smiled. The stars were just starting to rise behind him, and his eyes twinkled with them. He brushed his lips over mine in a seductive touch. “There is more than one way to eat these … I want to try them all.”

His other hand stroked my inner thighs almost casually as he spoke, coaxing the flames inside me to flare higher. I wiggled on the bench, spreading my legs wider in silent encouragement.

“Most people like to bite them all the way through,” he continued as his caress glided higher, “for the crisp and the mix of flavors all at once. But some like to slowly savor the outside—” he stopped at the base of my legs, “—before they reach the inside.”

With those words, his finger slipped into me.

I gasped, and my body tensed instinctively, clenching tight onto him from within. I hadn’t expected this was where he was going.

“That way—” he didn’t pause the conversation while he slithered like a naughty snake inside me, “—the glaze will melt fully in their mouths, and they can indulge themselves in the sweetness before topping it off with a burst of tartness at the end.”

I could feel the slipperiness encasing him as he moved, and my breaths heavied at the realization of how wet I already was. Ever since I woke up from that dream last night, the lurking fire inside me had turned from a spark to a blaze, and it roared at his stir. I clutched his shoulders, panting slightly.

Then he stopped as if he found something. His finger curled and pressed into my inner wall.

“Ah! Bai Ye!” I squealed at his touch, suddenly feeling something shooting through my entire body. What did he do? It was only a tiny movement of his hand, but the sensation was unbelievably sharp and strong, as if he had discovered a new part of me that was capable of waking yearnings in every inch of my being.

“Will you oblige me?” He continued to speak as if we were just having a boring conversation about candies. “And let me experience this delicacy?”

His finger didn’t pause, and I moaned uncontrollably as the sensation repeated and magnified, burning me from within. It didn’t seem possible that such a simple touch could do it, but it felt as if all my senses from the rest of my body had disappeared, and all that was left was the part of me at his fingertip, too fragile to bear the overwhelming feeling. Tiny tremors started to crawl through me so fast that I was almost … almost …

He suddenly stopped.

I panted madly, dazed and at a loss. Then something else slid into me.

It wasn’t his finger this time. Nor him. Whatever was inside me was cooler, smaller, but hard. My inner muscles were already in tremors, and they convulsed at the foreign sensation, clenching onto the thing and pulling it deeper inside. I looked at him, slightly nervous.

He was removing another candied hawthorn off the skewer. “I promise it will be scrumptious, Qing-er,” he said as he brought the fruit to his lips and licked his finger, and his hand moved beneath my dress once more.

I finally realized what he was going to do.