Page 74 of Gilded Wicked Mirrors
But Quinn was in a curious mood, so she nodded. “Yes, I want so much more.” She curled her fingers beneath his shirt, allowing them to climb up his bare chest, digging into his impeccably sculpted muscles.
Emrys’s eyes held her captive, searching for something beneath her gaze. “There is a bed.” His voice was dark, forbidden chocolate. “It probably wouldn’t be best to fuck you against a wall for your first time.”
Excitement stroked through Quinn’s core. The words should have horrified her, but they did just the opposite, and she nodded again, unable to speak.
A low chuckle resonated from his throat. “The bed it is.” Shifting his grip, he held her as if she were light as air—and to a vampire, maybe she was that easy to carry. Gently, he laid her down on the bed, her head resting against the pillow as he hovered over her. All the while, his lips claimed hers again. Now, instead of pressing her to the door, he was pressing her to the bed. And oh, how glorious it was.
As his hand traveled beneath her skirts, seeking her forbidden folds, his gaze latched on her—like he was asking permission with every new liberty he took. “This will be—” But she didn’t hear his last words because they were covered up with her gasp. Emrys’s hand was met with slick wetness as he circled her pleasure center with his thumb.
“Oh,” she breathed as her head fell back, and she pinched her eyes shut. He plunged two fingers into her core, stroking her most sensitive spot. “Yes, you’re much more talented at this than I am. I wonder if there is a scientific reason . . .”
“Stop talking, Quinnevere, and enjoy it,” he growled before capturing her lips once more.
It wasn’t easy for her to shut her brain down and simply be in the moment. But she desperately wanted to try. Passion was thegoal, and if she could learn to do it with him, then maybe she could get out of her head while dancing.
Pinching her eyes shut, she focused only on the sensation of his fingers driving into her channel and circling her clitoris.
Emrys drove her to the edge of ecstasy and then pulled away, releasing his mouth and fingers. Once again, torturing her with pleasure and withholding it. “Please, Emrys.”
“Only if you are good.” Emrys bit her lip, and with a low possessive growl, his fingers returned to their ministrations.
“I can never be good for you,” she sighed, the words only breath. Even in a sex-addled state, Quinn still had her priorities.
Emrys chuckled, increasing his speed. “I guess that’s the appeal of you. Obstinance.”
“Yes, obstinance.” She released a moan as the waves of her orgasm began climbing. “Emrys, that’s—” She didn’t finish the words because she fell apart beneath his touch, trembling as wave after wave hit her, and his fingers kept striking, prolonging her pleasure.
A loud noise knocked against the outside wall as Quinn let out a final moan.
“Someone is coming,” Emrys said, moving with human speed off the bed and away from her. “You need to fix your clothing and hair if you prefer not to get caught.”
The space around her suddenly felt cold, his body no longer warming it, but also, the change was so abrupt, and she was not ready for it. The moment was breaking apart, piece by piece. Quinn panted, her chest rising in frantic passion-filled breaths, as she adjusted her drawers and swung her feet to the ground, her skirts tumbling down as she moved. The hardwood was cold against her toes as she curled them and tried to ground herself.
“What was that?” It all hit her. Everything she’d just done and allowed. Reality hit like a sledgehammer. Holy, fucking mirrors, she’d been about to fuck her biggest enemy. The reason Jane was dead . . . at least a partial reason. Anger flared in her blood, coatingit with fire and fury. If Emrys had done that on her birthday, Jane might still be alive.
“I find myself . . .” He trailed off, pausing for a long moment, his eyes an unknowable midnight fire. Then he shrugged before straightening his cravat. “You’re a very beautiful girl. A rake like me, well, I couldn’t help myself.”
Just like that, the remaining magic of the moment vanished and turned to ash in her mouth. She was another one of his conquests in a long, long list of conquests.
Nausea pooled in her stomach.
“Chin up, Quinnevere darling. Perhaps it will help with your dancing.”
“You are very cruel,” she breathed.
He flinched as if her comment disturbed him. As if he wanted to take his words back, but his demeanor remained rigid and distant. “But isn’t that what you wanted me for? To teach you passion.”
“No, it wasn’t.” Tears gathered in her eyes, but she refused to let them out. To let him see the pain he caused with his careless words. Yet the pain seeped into her chest anyway. Her first kiss, the first time she ever allowed herself to be so vulnerable, so open, so touched by another person, only occurred on the whims of a roguish prince. A cruel, hurtful devil.
She felt so foolish.
“I shouldn’t have said that.” He appeared in front of her and ran his thumb along her chin, his eyes softening.
Quinn licked her swollen lips, her chest unfortunately still rising in passionate breaths. His amber eyes traced and tracked her tongue, and she felt the sudden terrible urge to close the distance between them again—a stupid, stupid magnet drawing her toward—
“What in all of the mirrors are you doing?” Emrys and Quinn pulled apart at Giselle’s words. “This is definitely not gathering fingerprint samples.”
Quinn felt like red calla lily petals were blossoming on hercheeks as she cleared her throat and flattened her skirt. Emrys slid his fingers into his pocket and struck a devastatingly nonchalant pose—like it was normal for him to seduce sheltered girls.
