“Bloody hell,” he breathed against her lips. “I can’t hold back.”
The urgency in his voice made her smile. “No one is asking you to hold back.”
He cursed. “Christ, Leonora, you cannot say that to a man.”
“Why not?” She pressed into him provocatively. “I can’t hold back either. Or do you want me to hold back?
“Hell no.” He let out a shaky breath. “Don’t you dare do that.”
She kissed him on the mouth. “I won’t, but you must not either.”
And then his fingers werethere. Circling. Entering. Leonora moaned into his mouth. Thank heaven she’d dressed with temptation in mind, and it was paying off. No frills, no fuss—just easy access to ruin.
“I wish I could undo your hair.”
She shut her eyes and drew in all the sensations of his touch, his whispers, the sensation of his fingers. “Not tonight.” His teeth grazed her chin, a sharp, fleeting nip that caused goose flesh to erupt all over her body.
Not tonight?
What did she even mean with that? The thought barely had time to settle before he stole it away, replacing it with the slow, maddening stroke of his fingers teasing another moan from her lips. Then—oh. Something else. Something bigger. Nudging.
Oh, God.
It was happening.
His nose buried in the curve of her neck, and that wild, intoxicating scent of his enveloping her. His tongue followed, sweeping over her skin, tasting her. Then his teeth—with just enough pressure to make her breath catch—dragged over her collarbone.
And then he was inside her.
Leonora gasped at the fullness.
In all the time she’d spent imagining tonight, she never once truly grasped howitwould feel. Straddling him, her knees pushing into the pillows on either side of his hips, himinsideher, hidden away in a secret room... In her wildest dreams she could never have envisioned this. It was more. More consuming, more intoxicating. And yet there was something else, something she hadn’t expected.
Power.
A whisper of it slid through her, faint but undeniable.
His breath fanned over her jaw as he dragged his mouth to her lips. “How do you feel?”
“Ruined.”
He chuckled. “Does ruined feel good?” He gave a light thrust, and she gasped.
“Supremely satisfying.”Thrilling.So many choices meant nothing. So many choices could be glossed over with a smile. Others, like seducing Dare, didn’t meannothingand could never be glossed over. This would stay with her all her life. It might even govern the rest of her days. The thought should have terrified her. Instead, it settled deep, like him—a truth she had no desire to fight.
She pressed her thighs snug against his hips, anchoring herself to him.
I do not care.
She clutched his shoulders, using them as leverage as she rolled her hips in time with his thrusts, claiming him as much as he claimed her. His pace quickened, and Leonora found herself on the edge of splendor. His hand reached between their bodies, teasing over sensitive flesh, pleasure racing through her—sharp, uncontainable, and all-consuming. She rocked against him, not quite able to describe the feeling building inside her. A part of that pleasure was him—his body, his hands, his mouth dragging all over hers. It was everything all at once. Could she stay here forever, suspended in this exquisite torment, this unbearable bliss?
“Christ,” he growled. Then, with a low, hoarse voice, he called her name—almost like a prayer.
It left her shattering in his arms.
And she cried out his name in return.
*
