Her Favorite Duke (The 1797 Club #2)(30)

She caught her breath. Stolen glimpses in the dark didn’t do him justice. His body was…amazing. Hard where she was soft, broad where she was narrow, and the cock…that cock that he claimed he would fit into her. It was as tempting as it was terrifying.

She reached for him once more and took him in hand. This time there were no barriers between them and she sucked in a gasp of surprise at how hard he was. But the skin was so soft. She smoothed her fingers over the bulging head and down the long, thick shaft.

He pushed into her as she did so and let out a quiet curse. She looked up, fascinated by how enraptured he was. His breath was short, his eyes glazed, his body all tension and coiled strength. He could take over any time he wanted, she sensed that, but he didn’t. He just let her stroke him, over and over.

“Keep that up and I’m going to spend,” he managed to choke out.

She stopped moving her hand. “What does that mean?”

“That you’ll give me so much pleasure I’ll lose control and spend my seed before I even have a chance to touch you,” he explained, catching her wrist and setting her hand away from him. “And I’ve waited so long for this, Meg, I have no intention of ending it that way.”

He pushed her back toward her bed, guiding her until her legs hit the side of the mattress. Then he swept her up and deposited her on her pillows and climbed up beside her, caging her in with his arms. Although she wasn’t certain what to do, her body seemed to move of its own accord, lifting into him as she wound her arms around his neck and drew him in for another of those deep, earth-shattering kisses.

He gave gently, almost reverently, stroking her with his tongue, kissing her until she relaxed into the pillows. Then his mouth drew lower, his lips tasting the angle of her jaw, the curve of her neck, the expanse of her chest and back to her exquisitely sensitive breasts.

She slid her hands into his hair again, able to fully surrender now that she was no longer trying to remain upright as he teased and tasted her. He sucked one nipple, then the other. He nibbled her sensitive flesh with just the edge of his teeth, he sucked until she bit back a cry, he stroked with his tongue until she trembled.

She was needy and on fire, she was shaking and ready to beg. But he pulled his mouth away and traced it lower. Over her ribcage, past her stomach, across her hip, and then he placed one hand on each of her thighs and opened her.

She jolted up to her elbows, staring as he settled between her legs, his face just inches from the most private place in her body. And if that shocked her mind, her sex was another story. Already it was wet, tingling, and having him so near made her hips rise when she didn’t recall wanting them to do so.

He smiled and looked up at her. “You can trust me,” he whispered.

She tensed at those words. He was saying he would take care of her. That because of his experience, he could make this night one of pleasure for her. The idea was wonderful, indeed, but it made her think of her brother’s words earlier in the day.

Of all the other women Simon had done this to. Of all of those he had loved and forgotten in his wake.

But before her worries could overcome her and steal the pleasure of this moment, he dropped his mouth to her and licked her gently. Her mind emptied of everything she thought, everything she might have said. She found herself clutching at the coverlet as he spread her open wide and licked her again.

It was spectacular. Intimate and wicked, focused and far more pleasurable than when he’d done the same to her nipples. She lifted her hips into him, grinding them against him with some kind of ancient, wanton knowledge. The act made the pleasure more focused and he worked his tongue faster over her, gliding his mouth across her center, rolling his tongue around the nub of nerves at the top. She turned her face into her arm, trying to hold back unstoppable gasps and cries as he brought her to the brink of madness with his skilled tongue.

And just when she thought the pleasure couldn’t be better, just when she thought she’d reached the pinnacle, her sex began to quake. Tremors of pleasure washed over her and she jolted her hips wildly as he ran his tongue over her again and again and again.

Only when she’d stopped shaking did he lift his head from between her legs, crawling back up to cover her, resting his hands on either side of her head as he stared down into her face.

“I’m ready,” she whispered when he was silent for so long she feared he was contemplating running. “I want this.”

He shut his eyes, and for a moment there was a flash of pain on his face. A flash of regret that grabbed her heart and squeezed. But then he opened his eyes again and whispered, “I’ll give you everything you want then, Meg. Everything.”





Chapter Ten





Simon stared down at Meg, still flushed from her orgasm, her eyes glazed with want but also worry. How many nights had he dreamed of doing just this? How many times had he pleasured himself while picturing her writhing beneath him, surrendering herself to him?

And now he was here. He had already worshipped her body, he had already coaxed out her pleasure. All that was left was this final claiming. This last thing that would make her his.

But all he could think about was the pain he would cause. The physical pain of taking her had begun to represent all the other pain he would bring to her life from this day forward. The whispers today had been harsh. They had been cruel, even.

And there would be more to come. Because of him.