Page 36 of Dukes Are Forever
Malloryn stepped forward, his nerves thrumming with anticipation. "You place such a high price on such a simple exchange. One would think you'd never been kissed."
"A dozen times," she admitted. "But never by my husband."
Malloryn stroked his thumb across her mouth. All pretty and pink, glistening with moisture. It was the type of mouth that could hypnotize a man, if he wasn't careful. His voice dropped. "Then he is a fool."
"I like to think so too."
A breathless laugh escaped him. Every time he thought he had control of the situation, she would surprise him.
"I've never kissed my wife either. I've thought about it. Sometimes."
In the dark of night, when he listened to her breathing on the other side of that door.
More than once he'd woken from fevered dreams of Russia, desperate to turn his mind from such nightmares. He'd refused to allow the servants to leave a lantern burning at night to still the dark, and those moments where he woke—disorientated and confused—were the worst.
She'd been his escape.
Even as he feared to reach out and find himself locked inside the Iron Maiden Jelena had put him in, he would hear Adele's soft breathing. If he concentrated, he could make out the slow, steady throb of her heart. An anchor in the dark. A means to remind himself he was safe, in his bed, in his house.
Not alone.
And as the panic surged, a crushing wave seeking to drown him in the darkness again, he'd use anything to force it back. Even memories ofher.
"Now I know you're lying," Adele chided.
"No. I'm not." Malloryn realized his finger pressed against her lip and he hadn't moved. "I don't want to think about kissing her," he confessed. "But sometimes, in the middle of the night, I do. I think about that time in the tower, when I came back to myself with my lips on her skin. I think about the soft gasps she made. The way the skin of her inner thigh felt like silk beneath my fingers."
He ran the pad of his thumb across her lower lip in a hypnotic action. Back and forth. So soft. A shiver ran through her, but Adele merely parted her mouth, and, never taking her eyes off him, sucked on the end of his thumb.
Heat flared through him.
His cock had long since roused, but as he felt the sharp edge of her teeth, it flexed eagerly.
"And sometimes I've wondered if her mouth is as soft as it looks," he whispered, fingers stroking her cheeks as he leaned down and replaced his thumb with his mouth.
Adele's lashes fluttered shut as she tilted up to him. Their lips met, the barest of touches, a replay of the kiss he'd granted her on the day of their wedding.
But this time he pressed deeper.
Took more.
He stole the breath from her lungs with a gentle, devastating caress. The taste of her morning's lemon tarts was still on her tongue, and he sought to drink it from her mouth, as if he could steal that too.
Palms slid up his chest as Adele opened beneath him. It was intoxicating, how swiftly passion burned to life between them. He felt like he'd been waiting months for this, hard and aching in his bed, while the door provided sturdy barrier between them. The soft slick of her tongue darted out, touching his. He'd meant this to be a seduction of the senses, but for the first time, he realized it wasn't just Adele who was being seduced.
The words had gotten to him too.
Because they'd been the truth.
She exhaled, and he tasted her breath in his mouth as he slowly licked her tongue. Adele wilted against him, soft arms sliding around his neck as her breasts were crushed against his chest.
And there was the craving, rising in his veins, wanting, demanding.
The darkness of his very soul seeking release.
A growl escaped him as Malloryn slid one hand down the smooth flex of her spine, finding the curve of her bottom. She, too, hadn't been lying. She was wearing not a stitch beneath the silk. Fingers sinking into such luscious flesh, he ground her hips to his, relishing in the feel of her soft body against the fierce ache of his cock.
Adele's eyes went wide as she drew back from the kiss with a gasp, her lips passion-swollen and as pink as raspberries. He had only to track her swift downwards gaze to realize he'd surprised her.
