Her Favorite Duke (The 1797 Club #2)(31)

“Simon?” she whispered, lifting up slightly and reaching out to touch his cheek.

He let out a shuddering sigh and leaned into her gentle fingers. “I don’t want to hurt you,” he admitted. “But there is no avoiding it.”

She tilted her head and examined him, and he thought she understood he wasn’t just talking about this night, this moment.

“You told me it wouldn’t always hurt—did you lie?” she whispered.

He shook his head. “No. No, after the first time it should never hurt again, if I am doing my job right.”

She smiled. “Then the pain leads to something better.”

He winced. “Meg—”

She reached between them and gently touched his cock, placing him at her entrance. “I want this, Simon. All of it. If the pain is part of it, then I want that too. Because all the feelings, the good and the bad, make it real. Make it true. Please.”

It was the please that hit him in the gut. She said it so softly, so gently, not as a plea on her behalf, but on his. And he had never been able to deny her. Not since the first moment he saw her. Certainly not since the moment he recognized she was not just a woman, but the woman for him.

And for better or for worse, for good or for bad, for whatever he had done to bring them here…now they were here. And while he wasn’t certain he would ever be worthy of loving her, if he was even capable of giving her what she needed, when it came to pleasure…there he was an expert.

He drew in a long breath, then met her eyes once more. As he focused on the deep brown depths, he pushed her legs just a little wider with his knee. He kept her stare even as he began to breach her.

And it was heaven. From the moment he slid inside, her body gripped him, a tight, wet glove that welcomed him home like he belonged there. He felt the resistance of her unused channel, knew when the pain hit by the way she caught her breath.

He stopped even though it took a lion’s share of control to do so, and stroked her cheek with his hand. “Relax,” he murmured.

She nodded. “It’s only a little pain,” she reassured him. “It’s so strange to have another person inside of me.”

He smiled and leaned in, pressing his mouth to hers. She opened to him immediately, his tongue stroking hers, just as he would stroke her with his body in a moment. When he felt her relax beneath him, her inner muscles flex and flutter, he pushed forward again.

She gasped into his mouth, but her arms didn’t unwind from his neck, her kiss didn’t stop and her body accepted him inch by inch until he was fully seated inside of her.

It was the most powerful thing he had ever experienced. Oh, he’d fucked plenty of women before, he’d found a great deal of pleasure in that act. But it was fleeting. This was something different. This was a woman he loved. A woman he’d been certain he would lose.

And now he was inside of her, her body flexing around him, her breath against his neck as she clung to him. He’d never felt such pleasure before and he hadn’t even started moving.

He flexed his hips gently, testing her response, and she let out a soft sound. “Does it hurt?” he asked.

She shook her head. “No,” she groaned. “Not hurt.”

He smiled at the tension in her voice, brought about by pleasure, and rolled his hips again. “Does it feel good?”

“Oh God,” she grunted, her fingernails digging slightly into his back. “Yes.”

He crushed his mouth down on hers and began to take her in long, steady strokes. She lifted to meet him, her innocence not as strong as her natural drive to find pleasure and to take his. And took his, she did. His cock had never felt so hard or so sensitive as he drove through her wet folds and ground against her already sensitive clitoris.

She was moaning now, her cries just a little too loud for the house full of people. He covered her mouth with his, letting her gasp and groan into him as he took her over and over again. His balls tightened, he knew he was going to spend, but he wanted her to come again. He wanted to mark her with pleasure before he marked her with his seed.

And then she cried out his name and her body began to flutter, massaging him with her inner muscles as orgasm hit her again. She stared up at him, eyes wide with both surprise and pleasure, and he could hold back no more. He thrust a few more times as she milked him and then allowed himself to find release as he came inside of her.

He collapsed down over her, feeling the softness of her body as her arms came around and held him. Her fingers smoothed along his spine as she pressed warm, sweet kisses against his neck and his shoulders. Simon let out a deep sigh. He had been waiting for this all his life, it seemed. And here he was. And she was his.

He had stolen her, of course.

That thought made his eyes come open and he rolled away from her onto his back, separating their bodies as the tightness around his chest returned in an instant.

Meg moved to her side and settled her head on his shoulder as she rested a hand on his chest. “I’m so glad you came here tonight,” she murmured, tracing a light pattern on his skin with the tips of her fingernails. “To be honest, I-I thought you might be angry with me.”

He looked down at her. “Angry?” he repeated. “Why?”

“Because you’re being forced to marry me,” she said with a sigh. “After you didn’t do anything wrong.”