Page 48 of The Agent and the Outlaw
“Charlotte, what’s the matter? Are you unwell?”
“No, I…I’m fine, Antoine. Perhaps a little tired, that’s all,” I said, attempting to find my lighthearted tone again. “I’ll leave you to your peace.”
“Wait, Charlotte,” he said. “Please. Don’t go.”
He rose from the bath and water sluiced down his body, dragging away the last of the dirt and soap suds. He stood before me completely naked, visibly aroused, with an entreaty on his face that I found myself precariously close to accepting.
“What of your peace?” I asked, taking a step toward the bed to retrieve my cloak. He wrapped a towel around his waist, and I failed to hide my disappointment. He got out of the bath and came toward me.
Staring deep into my eyes, he blew out a resigned sigh. “Because of you, I don’t think I’ll ever know peace again.”
He brought his hand up to my cheek and caressed it with his thumb, then pulled me to him for a passionate kiss that felt like pleading, longing, and goodbye at the same time. His other hand let go of the towel and found my waist, expertly locating the ties of my skirt.
Just this once, my body seemed to cry.Just this once before never again. But what of the blood plague? Am I putting him at risk of infection if we make love?I hesitated.
“Antoine, the blood plague…the variant…I don’t want to corrupt you. I won’t take your choice from you,” I whispered.
He pulled at the ribbon tying my skirts in place and brushed his lips across the skin of my neck.
“You were scratched by a werewolfanda vampire. Do you plan on scratching me that hard? Or biting me?”
I couldn’t keep the teasing from my tone as I ran my hands over his hard body. “Perhaps. I make no promises.”
He tilted my head up and dropped kisses along my jaw. “I accept the risks. Nothing you do will corrupt me beyond what my own sins have wrought.”
Resolved, I wrapped my arms around him and my skirt tumbled to the floor in a heap. Without taking his lips from mine, he began to unpin my bodice and loosen my stays. Layer after layer fell away, until I was down to my stockings and chemise. He knelt to grasp the hem of the garment, looking up at me with heated intensity.
“Are you sure?” he whispered, his hands starting to tremble. “Do you wish me to continue?”
Emboldened by his uncertainty, I pulled the chemise over my head and sat on the edge of the bed, spreading my legs before him.
“Do continue,” I managed, adoring the blush that spread from his face to his chest.
Smiling with relief, he leaned forward, pressing a kiss to the inside of my thigh. He slowly slid his hands up my calves to my knees, tugging them further apart, then ran them lightly over the tops of my thighs, around my waist and behind my ass. Pulling me forward on the bed, he found better access to all the places I longed for him to go. As his stubble scored the insides of my legs, I twitched in anticipation and heard his rough chuckle.
“Are you always so sure you’ll get what you want?” he murmured, tracing the outer folds of my sex with his tongue. The effect was immediate and explosive, prompting me to throw my head back and swear. He repeated the move on the other side, then dragged a feather-light lick along the seam, ending it just below the apex of my pleasure.
“I asked you a question,” he whispered, dropping kisses back down my thighs, moving away from where I needed him.
I wiggled forward, trying to make my preference known, but he only smiled up at me deviously.
“Yes,” I blurted in frustration. “Yes, I am accustomed to getting what I want, but only because I have the guts to fight for it.”
“We should all be so lucky,” he said.
He set his tongue to me again, this time in the exact place of my torment. Moving in circles, he sucked at the bud of my pleasure and slipped his fingers inside me, working me to the peak of bliss. Before the orgasm could take form, he pulled away and pushed me back down onto the bed. I whimpered in disappointment. He grinned wolfishly, obviously quite pleased with himself and the torture he was wreaking upon my needy body.
“Perhaps I should be better about demanding what I want, secure in the knowledge that I would get it.”
He crawled up my body, marking my skin with gentle, little bites on his way to my lips again.
“What is it that you want, Antoine?” I panted, nearly feral with lust. “It might be within my power to give it to you.”
He nudged my legs apart with his knees and rubbed his hard cock against my sex, teasing a moan out of me that sounded alarmingly like a growl.Dieu, I needed him.Now.Libidinous to the point of madness, I grasped his cock and slid the tip inside me, cooing with satisfaction at his grunt of pleasure. He pulled back with what looked like great effort, gritting his teeth. Mischief sparkled in his eyes.
“I want your pleasure, as well as mine,” he said.
“You have it,” I moaned, arching up to meet him.
