He’d told her that he spoke freely in the bedchamber, but she hadn’t truly believed him, hadn’t imagined this steady stream of commands and praise. She’d complied thus far, but really... exposing herself on top of the bedcovers... it was too much.
She kept her thighs closed. “Mightn’t I go beneath the sheets?”
“I want to see you. It’s half the pleasure for me. Looking at you, watching you obey my commands. Open your thighs, Ana. Show yourself to me.”
She closed her eyes tightly, as if that would make her feel less exposed, and inched her thighs apart.
“Good. Now wider.” She heard his breathing grow heavier, sensuality lowering his voice to a husky growl. “Wider.
“Fuck. Ana.”
Those filthy words he used. She hadn’t expected that. The low growl in his throat as his fingers traced the line of her inner thighs. She peeped through her eyelashes and he was staring intently at her body. He brushed his thumb over a place that made her hips buck.
“Easy, Ana. I’m not going to hurt you. Quite the opposite.” She closed her eyes again, collapsing against the pillows.
She felt the bed move as he lowered his weight onto it, felt his huge hands slide underneath her bottom to lift her for his... what was that wet sensation? She opened her eyes. His head wasbetween her thighs. He was... licking her. Good God. It was so unexpected and at first it felt so strange that she cried out. He stilled, lifting his head. “You don’t like it?”
“It’s so strange. I don’t know if I like it or not.”
“Relax into it. Try not to think too hard. I’ll stop if you don’t like it, but give it a chance.”
“All right,” she said shakily. She lay back and he resumed his position. He applied a gentle, soft pressure with his tongue in the same way he’d kissed her lips in the library. After a few moments it began to feel good. Then it began to feel exquisite.
She shifted her hips, wanting him to move a fraction to the right. He complied, listening to her body’s demands. “Oh... yes, there.”
Dex was silent once more, this time because his mouth was occupied with the business of bringing her bliss. A melting, pleasurable sensation began undulating inside her.
For the first time in her life Ana couldn’t find words to describe what was happening. She didn’t even want to imagine an alternate version of this moment. Her imagination completely shut down. She was a body, made of hair, skin, bones, sinew, blood. A body filled with one objective: pleasure.
Her abdomen shook and her inner thigh muscles clenched. Her face flushed with heat and her breasts felt heavy and sensitive. He took little breaks every now and then, stopping for a moment. When she lifted her hips, he resumed. In that way she knew that she controlled his movements. Even though her wrists were tied over her head, she was in control.
“I think . . . I think I’m going to . . .”
His tongue moved faster, just in the right location, and herfocus was on the place beneath his tongue that pulsed with need. Only a few moments more... there...
“Yes,” she cried. “Yes, yes.”
When the pleasure had ebbed and he’d moved up her body to rest next to her, lazily tracing circles on her belly with his fingers, she released a long sigh. “That was starry,” she said. “Tiny little white stars, sparkling through my body.”
He untied her wrists, moving her hands to her belly. “The next one will be like the sun, burning through you swiftly.”
He slid down her body, intent on his mission to make her his.
“Wait—”
“You don’t want another climax?”
“I want to see you. You still have your clothing on.”
“Easily remedied.” He jumped off the bed and shrugged out of his coat. He unknotted his cravat with one brutal tug that for some reason made the waves of pleasure resume in her belly. She noticed that he kept the scarred side of his face turned away from her while he undressed. His profile was all powerful lines drawn with a bold hand. His dark chestnut hair was wavy, and it gleamed in the firelight. His eyes were the cold color of frost on steel.
He removed his shirt and stood with his arms at his sides.
“Are all of those bulging muscles from bareknuckle boxing?”
“Among other rugged pursuits. I like to chop my own firewood. Build my own carriages.”
When he stepped out of his trousers and smallclothes, she gaped at what had been revealed. Thick thighs, as big around as tree trunks, and between them... “Um... I think I’ve changed my mind about the consummation. I don’t want to marry you, after all.”