Page 50 of Falling Into Bed with a Duke
“I’ll only regret if you stop.” He heard her swallow. “I want you inside me.”
In spite of the darkness, he squeezed his eyes tight and groaned low. Her words hardened him further. He’d already sheathed himself. He kissed the inside of one breast, then the other. “Then prepare yourself, sweetheart. I’m about to drive you mad.”
ABOUT to? He’d already accomplished that feat. Every inch of her that he’d touched yearned to be touched again, every nerve ending was straining for what she knew he could deliver, for the pleasure that had rocketed through her before. She luxuriated in touching him, the areas she could reach, caressing her fingers over the flexing and bunching muscles.
With his mouth and fingers, he taunted. He kissed, he suckled, he nipped. Until she was writhing beneath him, until she was striving to meld her body with his, until she felt the push of his hardness against her heated opening. She stilled.
“Don’t tense,” he commanded, withdrawing. “Don’t think of what’s coming, just think of whatis.”
She nodded, realized he couldn’t see the movement. Bringing up her legs, she wrapped them around his hips, heard the clink of tassels bumping together. “All right. But I’m ready for you. I know I am.”
“I know you are, too, but there’s no hurry.”
“I thought you liked it rough and hard. Or was it rough and fast?”
“We’ll have an opportunity for that later. We have lots of time.”
“I don’t want to disappoint you.”
He slid up her, took her lobe between his teeth, and she moaned low.
“You’re in my arms,” he whispered hoarsely. “How could I be disappointed?”
She embraced him tightly. He’d said there were no falsehoods in his bed, and yet the words were hard to believe even though he uttered them with such conviction. Why couldn’t she have had this without a mask and shadows?
And what a silly woman she was to lament what she hadn’t possessed and not enjoy what she presently did. She had it now: his devotion, his desire. It didn’t matter that it would only be for tonight. The memory would carry her through to her dotage.
She became aware of the pressure again, the slow easing in slightly, easing out. His mouth on hers, drawing her away from everything except the glory of it. She thought of the fortune hunters. Would they have been this patient? Would they have taken their time? Or would they have simply pounded into her in order to proclaim duty met?
He rose above her, his hips undulating, each movement taking him deeper. She felt herself stretching to accommodate him, the discomfort so minimal as to barely be noticeable. His breathing became harsher, his arms trembling slightly. She ran her hands over his chest, aware of the taut muscles, the strain.
A final hard thrust that went deeper than any of the others. He stilled. Beneath her fingers, she felt some of the tenseness ease. He took her mouth in a hard quick kiss.
“You didn’t cry out.”
She squeezed her legs against his hips. “It wasn’t so bad.”
“High praise indeed for my talents.”
She blew out a puff of laughter, reached up, and bracketed his face between her hands. “I love the way it feels to have you buried inside me.”
His growl resounded around them; she felt it quivering in his throat. “I absolutely adore your forthrightness.”
Then his mouth was on hers again, and he began pumping his hips between her thighs, hard and fast. Sensations that had been hovering erupted into a burst of awareness and pleasure. Everything within her coiled and tightened.
He broke off the kiss, his movements quickening, and she became lost in the rapture, vaguely aware of screaming his name as a cataclysm engulfed her. He groaned, low, feral, and deep with a final thrust and a shuddering of his body. Taking quick breaths, he pressed his forehead to hers.
“Not fair,” she panted lethargically. “You didn’t scream out my name.”
“Because you stole my breath.”
Rolling off her onto his back, he brought her up close against his side, nestling her face in the crook of his shoulder, draping her leg over his thigh. She thought she should say something more, thank him. But she seemed capable of only drifting off to sleep.
SHE didn’t know how long she slept, but she awoke to his arm still around her, his free hand toying with strands of her hair. She wished she didn’t require the darkness, but she wanted nothing to ruin what had just passed between them.
“Was it all you expected?” he asked.
“How did you know I was awake?”
