Page 54 of The Wolf and the Wildflower
The rasp of calloused fingertips against her soft folds sent shivers of heat cascading through her limbs. He stroked his fingers between the aching flesh of her sex, rubbing over her nub. The one she had touched a few times in soft curiosity before she had snatched back her fingers.
Jules jerked to her toes as a long, desperate moan left her lips when his palm pressed against her swollen clitoris, two fingers sliding deep inside her sex. Jules cried out with the burning pleasure-pain of the impalement.
“The fit is tight,” he murmured, his voice low and rough. “You’ll feel incredible on my cock, Wildflower.”
Heat blushed across her entire body and the tension that had mounted the instant he touched her snapped, and wetness flooded his fingers, and a twisted knot of need thumping in her belly loosened.
Jules dropped her forehead forward, bit into his shoulder and she swore he growled. A thumb and forefinger gently pinched her chin, lifted her face, and then he was kissing her again. The stroke of his tongue against her was deep and carnal, a perfect mimicry of the way his fingers moved inside her sex.
Oh God.
Each wicked stroke brought an awful burst of pleasure and pain, sweet delight, and utter madness. James dragged his mouth from hers, moving his lips over her jaw, leaving fire in their wake, coaxing and seducing. “I want inside, Wildflower.”
His fingers flexed so that she would not be in doubt of exactly where he wanted to be. She had been in enough pubs, acting as a gentleman to know he spoke of swivving…or tupping…or even as some of her mates had crudely said, fucking. Hearing those words and phrases then had not even filled her with mild curiosity. Now her knees weakened, and she clung to James, her heart a pounding drum in her ears.
Temptation and want beat at her senses and everything inside her screamed to say yes. His thumb glided over her nub once again…the move soft and insistent. Jules moaned. She couldn’t help clenching her muscles, holding his palm in place. His fingers retreated, then in one slow, delicious movement slid inside her again, going provocatively deeper. Brilliant flares of pleasure tore through her entire body, and she cried out.
Alarmed by her visceral response, Jules pushed away from the duke and stumbled back. He was a male wonderfully aroused, his cock surely too large of a bulge against the front of his trousers. The intensity emanating from him frightened her, and before she could do something reckless, she tugged up her trousers, closing the flap with shaking fingers, and then ran from the tree house.
Jules went down the roped steps so fast she stumbled. When his hand caught her waist to steady her, she slapped at it, and James released her. Jules descended the rope ladder, and once she was on the ground, she tried to run but her legs simply gave way and she dropped into the grass.
“I am the one that has lost all sense of self and am an addlepate!” she gasped, her breath leaving her on a harsh gust.Oh, what am I thinking?
Jules pressed her forehead between her knees and took huge gulping breaths. She had almost given herself to the duke.Bloody hell!She dug her fingers into the grass and plucked out thick clumps and tossed them aside with her frustration.
Jules wanted to be with him so desperately. She wanted to make love with him, to allow him to sweep her away into a world of pleasure she might never get to experience again. Jules pushed to her feet, whirled around, and looked up. He was standing there on the ledge, peering down at her. She could feel his hunger deep inside her body. A trickle of perspiration ran between the small hollow of her breasts and heat flushed over her.
A little whimper broke in her throat. Jules lurched forward and clambered back up that roped ladder until she was standing in front of him.
“I cannot leave,” she said hoarsely, fisting her hands at her side.
His eyes gleamed with a carnal savagery that should have frightened her, but she only felt assured that he wanted her just as badly.
“Then do not leave, Wildflower. Stay with me.”
A tense silence ensued. A dangerous charge emanated from him, lighting every nerve in her body.
“It is not so simple.” Her words were whispered but steady.
Denial flashed in his eyes. “Why must it be complicated?”
The words fell unbidden from her lips. “Should we become lovers, what then, James?”
Those dissecting eyes settled on her once more. “We are lovers with no expectations of each other. I will promise you nothing more than pleasure, nor do I expect any more from you.”
Here was a chance to experience pleasures of the flesh without compromising anything. When it ended, she could move on and live her dream of being a noted doctor of the mind, living the life she dictated for herself and not society or anyone else. The sweetest longing beat at her senses, even as a sense of fright filled her chest. Could she tangle herself with a man like the duke and escape intact? Jules sensed he had the power to break her, even if she as yet did not understand how he would do it. Logic and instinct screamed at her to run away from the madness he was proposing. “I want…”
He took a step closer. “Yes?”
It felt imperative to be honest with him even if the vulnerable sensation almost cleaved her in two. “I want to experience pleasure with you, James. I’ve never felt this…desire before. It is baffling, thrilling, and I want it, not only because I may never feel this again but because it is…withyou.”
He closed his eyes briefly. “I can smell your fear, Wildflower…and also your need.” His hand darted out, gripped her hip, and hauled her against his chest. His fingertip stroked along her chin lightly. “What do you fear? Tell me.”
“I do not know because it is instinctive.”
The duke leaned down and rubbed his cheek against hers, like a sensual jungle predator.
“James?”
