Page 41 of Devotion

And no wonder.

Laborers have little choice in the jobs they’re made to do, but that’s normal. Expected. I had no idea someone like Gabriel could be forced to do a job in a similar way.

“So you never wanted to come here?” I ask in a small voice, hurt in a way I can’t fully process but that I know must be irrational.

I need Gabriel to want to be here in the palace. To want me to be his partner.

He doesn’t answer immediately. When he does, it’s very soft and gravelly. “I didn’t come to the palace by choice.”

His ass muscles are very tight. It’s impossible to get them to loosen. I eventually move down to the back of his thighs. The muscles there are thick and well developed from all the swimming he does. He’s not as overall tense in his legs, so it’s easier to find the knots and focus on them.

Finally I say, “You’re too smart and too good at what you do. Who would have thought that could be a problem for a person?”

He makes another one of those huffs of sardonic amusement. “Yeah. Who knew?”

“I’m sorry.”

“For what, baby?” He’s closed his eyes again. He sounds tired now and completely unaware that he used the old-fashioned endearment again.

“I’m sorry you didn’t get to choose to be here the way I did. I… I wanted more for you than that.”

I answer him honestly and never intended for my response to sound as nakedly vulnerable as it does.

Gabriel doesn’t answer immediately, and he doesn’t open his eyes. He takes a few slightly shaky breaths before he finally says, “Thank you.”

I keep working my way down his long legs, and after a few minutes he starts to really relax again. I feel better when his breathing gets slow and thick, and my heart jumps in excitement when he groans low and sensual as I rub his feet.

I’m a little breathless when I say at last, “You can turn over now if you want.”

Gabriel pushes up on his arms and flips onto his back, sighing as he stretches out comfortably and closes his eyes again.

I work my way up his legs at the same pace I descended them. He’s aroused by the time I reach his hips. I can see the outline of his erection very clearly beneath his swimsuit.

Applying pressure with both hands to the line between his legs and hips, I check his expression. He groans at my touch. Lifts his ass slightly off the bed. “Jess, please,” he breathes out. “I need it.”

Thrilled at the admission and his obvious urgency, I gently pull down his suit and, since it’s clingier than his normal underwear, pull it all the way off over his legs and feet.

Then I adjust my position so I can comfortably lean over to reach him with my mouth.

He lifts his hands as soon as I lower my head and combs his fingers through my hair as he guides me down to take his cock all the way into my mouth.

Since he’s already fully aroused, it doesn’t take much sucking for him to start mounting toward orgasm. He keeps moaning softly and lifting his hips toward my mouth.

I let out a silly, helpless humming sound as my own body throbs with arousal at his responsiveness.

“Fuck, Jess.” He tugs on my hair as his hips give a few clumsy thrusts. “Slow down. Not so fast.”

I’ve been sucking with an eager rhythm, but at his instructions, I fight back the needy urges and temper the speed of my suction. I match the pace he sets as he guides my head, and the slowness is delicious torture.

“That’s right. Now you’ve got it. Good… girl.” He almost chokes on the last word as his back arches up. I slant my eyes up and see his features twisting. He’s obviously struggling just as hard as I am to hold back. “I want it to last.”

I hum out a muffled agreement, intentionally restraining my enthusiasm as I keep moving my head and hollowing out my cheeks in hard sucks around the thick length of him in my mouth.

We keep going like this for longer than normal. I’m working away on him, making wet, shameless sounds of pleasure and excitement around his cock, and he’s groaning uninhibitedly, much louder than he usually is as he holds my head in place and his back arches in time with my sucking.

My jaw and back are both getting sore when I finally lose patience and let him sink farther into my throat. As expected, the new depth shatters the last of his control. He lets out a loud, primitive sound as his hips start thrusting up fast and hard.

He’s so unrestrained—and it’s so unusual for him—that a tiny flicker of anxiety ripples through me as I suck and swallow frantically, trying to keep up. I’ve barely caught up when he makes another loud exclamation of pleasure and his cock starts to shiver in the way it does just before he comes.

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