Page 79 of A Most Unlikely Lady
Slowly, she opened her eyes.
‘Tell me what feels good.’
She tried to think about his words. Focus on something other than the searing heat of invasion. ‘I don’t know what…’
‘Don’t think about the pain. Think about breath in your lungs. Cool air on your skin.’
‘Your hand on my back.’
‘Yes, darling! My hand on your back.’ He continued rubbing. His other hand slipped up her side until he cupped her breast and kneaded slowly. ‘What else?’
‘Th-that’s good.’ She arched her back as he leaned close and pressed a sweet kiss against her nipple.
As Edward continued to rain soft kisses over her chest, Ivy realised the shock of invasion wasn’t nearly as painful as the fear of her father’s words. And her father was wrong. Edward did stop.
‘Stay here, with me. It’s just us. You and me.’ As Edward crooned the words his hand kept stroking up and down her back. His other hand slipped back down, gripping her hip. ‘You’re safe, Ivy.’
The panic ebbed with every stroke of his hand. When his thumb inched closer to her slit, traced the seam where their bodies met, desire reawakened. The burn of fullness shifted. Pleasure painted the edges of pain as her channel stretched around him. She took a shuddering breath and tensed her inner muscles.
A white arc of sizzling sweetness zinged through her. She clenched again, chasing the lightning, and Edward bit his lip. His hand stuttered on her back.
What a wonder.
She could make him react just from… She tightened once more and watched his pupils blow wide.
Fascinating.
Edward found her clitoris, pulsing and swollen. He rubbed the pad of his thumb in soft circles and Ivy clamped around his cock harder as echoes of pleasure became a keening cry of sweet need.
‘God, woman. You are killing me.’
‘Tell me what to do.’
‘Ride me, Ivy. Just as you were before.’
She could do that. Tilting her pelvis, she lifted up, the drag of his thick shaft through her aching channel made easier by the wetness she provided. She slid down, grinding herself against his thumb, taking more of him into her. Up again. Down harder. She bottomed out and something sharp and bright came to life.
Fingers dug into her bottom, urging her on. Faster. Deeper. Closer. Flesh slapped flesh, sweat trickled down her spine. He reared up, fastening his hot mouth over her nipple, sucking hard, nipping with sharp teeth as he thrust up with his hips, hitting that bright spot again. And again. And again.
Waves of stunning glory washed through her as she flew apart. Wrapping her arms around him, she held tight, riding him over the cliff’s edge. Moments later, he pulled free, his cock painting ribbons of white over his belly and chest.
Ivy collapsed on top of him, uncaring of the sticky mess. Replete. Exhausted. Sore. Sated. Complete.
* * *
They didn’t talk and the silence felt sacred. A soundless sanctuary.
Edward took a towel from the washbasin next to his bed and cleaned his body. Rinsing it in the shallow bowl, he came back to the bed and gently moved her legs apart, wiping the blood from her thighs. There wasn’t much. She’d bled more when she fell and scraped her knee. She’d always imagined rivers of blood and endless pain. But after the first shock, it had been nothing like her frightened imaginings. It was beautiful.
Ivy felt strangely raw. Not her skin. Not inside where she pulsed still with a memory of their joining. But in her chest. In the vast, unmappable topography of her soul. She was supposed to be comforting him, but perhaps comfort was like love. Impossible to offer without also receiving in equal measure.
He lay on his back and pulled her onto his chest. She could hear his heart thumping a soothing rhythm as he dragged the blanket over them. Ivy breathed in his scent of coffee and mint, her eyes drifting closed. She couldn’t remember feeling so safe.
When next her eyes opened, sunlight streamed through the window, and she was alone. A note lay on the pillow next to her.
Ivy, I’m sorry. You deserve better.
‘Bastard!’
