Page 36 of Feral
“You say that like it matters.”
“It does,” he insisted, watching her closely. She wished she could see what was going on in his mind. Maybe then she wouldn’t think she had him figured out one moment only for him to seem like a perfect stranger the next. “You may not understand now, but you will.”
“I’m a stray,” she reminded him. “I don’t even know my real last name.”
“You’re chosen. It doesn’t matter where you come from, it’s clear what you are and what you’re meant to become.”
Ella looked away, feeling the weight of her impending title grow heavier with each word he spoke. She’d once imagined royalty came with privilege and freedom, but she felt more bound than she ever had when she’d been a nobody. What did any of it matter if she couldn’t have what her heart truly wanted?
“I don’t want to be the future Empress tonight,” she said, looking up at him. She placed a hand against the firm surface of his chest. “And I don’t want you to be my teacher. I just want to be with you.”
His gaze softened in understanding and he pulled her closer, his arm around her waist. “Then that’s what we’ll be.”
Ella gasped as his lips met hers. Searing heat spilled throughout her core as his touch reignited what it had already brought to life. Her hands had a mind of their own now that the seemingly impenetrable barrier between them had evaporated. Somehow, they ended up in the bedroom, but all she could think about was her pattering heart. She cursed her fingers for their clumsiness as she tried to unbutton his shirt.
His soft chuckle filled her with desire and embarrassment anew. He finished the task, peeling the white button-down over his head to reveal a torso carved like a statue of a Greek god.
Ella couldn’t help but ogle him. He was too perfect to be real. The fact that he was looking at her in reverent wonder was even more impossible to understand.
“Damn, you’re hot,” she blurted out before she could stop herself.
He stared at her for a second before laughing, a huskier, bolder sound than she’d imagined. It thrummed through the deepest parts of her.
“And you are exquisite,” he said, stroking the curve of her jaw. He brushed her hair over her shoulder and cradled the back of her head, guiding her gently down onto the bed.
Ella squirmed in anticipation as he climbed on top of her and slowly unbuttoned his jeans, revealing the cut of his hips. She watched, eyes transfixed and mouth watering. Rather than taking his jeans off the rest of the way, he looked down at her, letting his attention travel freely over her body.
When he slipped his hand up her thigh, his fingers pushing up against the hem of her skirt, she shivered in need. “Mr. Bryant,” she gasped as he pushed both hands underneath her skirt and tugged her panties down over her hips.
Heat flared in his gaze as he looked up at her, lowering himself to the edge of the bed. “Sterling,” he said in a low, commanding voice that left no room for questioning. Not that Ella would have been capable of forming a coherent question when he slid her panties the rest of the way off before discarding them and gently pushing her thighs open.
Ella’s spine arched as he pressed a kiss to her inner thigh, his fingers biting into the outside of it. The smooth caress of his lips traveled upward until he reached her heated core and the moment his tongue flicked against her, devilishly adroit, she came undone.
Any potential she might have had of staving off the heat he had originally stirred vanished, and she knew the only way out was through. And what a torturously sweet journey it was. As Sterling worshiped her sex, his tongue delving into her hungrily, she felt as if she really was on fire. Rather than the painful, agonizing sensation it had been before, his touch made it pleasurable to give in and allow it to consume her.
At first, she tried to smother the desperate moans and gasps building in her throat, but by the time he had her on the brink of orgasm, she no longer cared. And why should she? It was just the two of them in the middle of nowhere, and the ardent nature of the attention he spent on her with his head buried between her legs made it clear there was no reason to hold back on his account.
The scent of their mutual arousal mingled in the air, a heady incense that was driving Ella all but mad. Her head fell back against the pillows and she moaned as he pushed her over the edge, so skilled that she had no doubt he’d orchestrated her pleasure down to the last second. She shuddered hard, her thighs clenching and her hips surging as the orgasm swept over her. He lifted his mouth off her just in time to keep his touch from becoming torturous, and when he raised his head to meet her eyes, they glowed with something wild and erotic.
Gone was the civilized man who showed no hint of passion or humanity. He’d given himself over to the ravenous nature of a beast, and as he settled on top of her, Ella found herself naturally drawn to submit to his control. It was strangely the most freeing thing she’d ever felt, and she allowed herself to give in to the instinct as fully as he had, her arms and legs wrapped around him, desperate to pull him into herself.
“You taste like sin,” he growled against her lips, his tongue flicking against them.
Ella gasped as she tasted her own arousal on his tongue and he kissed her so hard the room began to spin. She opened herself for him instinctively, and while she wasn’t sure when he’d finished undressing, the swollen head of his cock brushing against her wet folds promised she was close to getting what she craved.
He held her close, easing gently into her. As careful and restrained as his touch was, power vibrated through his lean muscle and with every movement, she became keenly aware of the difference between them. He was all hard edges and raw power, overtaking her soft curves with his strong hands.
“Relax,” he purred, stroking her thigh as he slowly pushed into her, his length and girth proving to be a challenge despite her arousal. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
Ella moaned in protest, too breathless to tell him she didn’t care. She just wanted him inside her, however much it hurt. She wrapped her arms tighter around his neck, her hips surging into him. His breath rushed out against her lips in a startled groan as he sheathed himself inside her.
The heat between Ella’s legs turned to an inferno as his cock filled her and her sex clenched around him, instinctively trying to push against the invasion she had initiated. Ella gasped against his lips, her body trembling in pain and pleasure as she adjusted to the sensation of him filling her so perfectly.
His eyes darkened as the faint scent of blood hit the air and once again, something wild and feral took the place of the genteel man she knew. He was familiar in his soft touch and whispers as he coaxed her to relax for him, but she saw the animal in his gaze. Hers responded in kind as she writhed and arched beneath him, her nails scraping along his muscular back. Soon, his blood tinged the air with hers, inviting him to thrust into her the way she craved, body and soul.
“You’re so tight,” he growled, his voice low and rough in approval as he thrust into her, his cock hitting the sensitive bullseye within her over and over.
“You’re huge,” she murmured when she was finally able to catch her breath. The ache between her legs was finally starting to give way to pleasure, but even when it had been at its sharpest, she couldn’t resist the automatic impulse to buck her hips and beckon him in deeper.
