Dante bit back a groan and laid a hand on her head. “I don’t want you thinking you have to push yourself, Snapdragon, but you should also know, if you pull my dick out neither of us leaves this room until both of us have come at least once.” He tucked two fingers under her chin and tipped her head up to look into her eyes. The angle was fucking glorious on its own. He was mildly amazed he hadn’t torn a hole in his slacks as hard as he was. “The choice is yours.”

She let her fingers lower, tracing the bulge of his pants and drawing a groan from the depths of his throat. “I want to … show my gratitude.”

He rubbed his thumb over her lower lip, slipping it inside briefly, before moving his hand back to her hair. “Then part those pretty lips for me.”

Her tongue flicked out, teasing across the trail his thumb had previously followed, and Iris finished undoing his belt. Her hands were steady as she pulled his zipper down, then pushed his pants aside enough to let his raging hard-on spring forward. With his hand still resting over her shoulder, Dante felt her draw a breath at the sight of him. But what filled him with the urge to pound his chest with pride wasn’t the way her gaze fixated on his cock. It was the complete absence of tension in her body.

He sensed no fear in her. And for the first time in as long as he could remember, he was glad for that.

Iris gripped him, her lithe fingers stretching around his girth, and pumped him slowly from base to tip and back again. She wasn’t holding him tight enough, really, but it still felt damn good and Dante let out a grunt of appreciation. He widened his stance a bit, giving her more room, and let his other hand tease along the back of her arm. “Don’t get shy on me now, honey. Take what you want.”

She lifted her gaze to his, her hand tightened around his shaft, and Iris bent forward.

Dante forgot to breathe for a second as he watched her tongue extend, making that first contact with the tip of his penis. Then he felt it, far deeper than he’d expected to, and as she swirled her hot little tongue around his head, he fought off a whole-bodied shudder. She gave him another pump before adjusting her grip in order to lick her way down his length, her tongue following the trail of a vein all-the-fucking-way to the base. “Fuck,” Dante muttered, letting one hand slide behind her head again.

He wanted to rip the clothes from her body, from both their bodies, and sink inside her until the room echoed with the sounds of her ecstasy and she was boneless beneath him. Until neither of them could move and they were a sticky, sweaty, filthy mess. Fuck, he’d lost so much sleep the night before, thinking of all the things he wanted to do with her and all the ways he would take her. Imagining the hitch in her voice when she came. Yet, somehow, he’d never pictured her burying her face in his pelvis just so she could lick a ring around the base of his cock, while her fingers stroked back-and-forth across the head.

It made his goddamn knees weak.

He was about to open his mouth, to tell her to suck him down her sweet throat as far as she could, when Iris parted her lips and did exactly that. She flattened her tongue and took his cock into her mouth, working him deeper than he’d honestly expected, until she’d taken nearly all of him. She had a hand on his thigh, bracing herself, and the other moved to fondle his balls.

Dante cursed. “That’s it, honey. Take my cock down your throat and suck me fucking dry.” He lifted a thumb to wipe away a tear that had leaked from her eye as her tongue undulated beneath him. Her cheeks hollowed and she sucked on him, just the way he told her to. She sucked so hard his eyes threatened to roll back in his head. He let out another deep groan. “You’ve got such a sweet mouth, Snapdragon. You ready to choke on my dick? You think you can handle it when I come down your throat?”

She bobbed her head without even lifting off his cock.

Dante took her head in his hands and eased her back slightly, then pulled her forward again. She wrapped her arms around him, taking his cue and continuing to pump his dick with her mouth. She dug her fingers into his back as she sucked again, her tongue rolling along his length, and Dante finally burst. A burning euphoria coursed through him, tearing from him, temporarily blinding him as he let out a roar and twisted his fingers in her hair.

Iris swallowed once more around his dick before sliding off it and dropping onto her haunches. She was breathing heavily, her face bright red and her hair thoroughly mussed.

Dante kept his stare fixed on her as he caught his breath. He had two very conflicting promises to keep, and one of them was going to put him on a slippery slope toward losing complete control. He raked his gaze over her, noting the way her hands twisted in her lap and the glazed-over look in her eyes.

Never leave your woman wanting. His father had imparted that wisdom—in a very different context—many years before. And every now and then, like always, his father’s words continued to prove useful.

Dante held out a hand to her. “Your turn, honey. But if you make me follow you to the floor, we won’t be getting up anytime soon.”

Her chest rose with another deep breath, and Iris placed her hand in his.

Dante hauled her up, pulling her close to his chest, and bent down to press his forehead to hers. Breathing her in. “I’m going to touch you, Iris.” His words came out in a husky whisper and he watched her lips part on a soundless gasp. “And you’re not going to hold back on me. I want to see and hear and fucking feel your reaction. You won’t come until you absolutely can’t hold it back any longer—and then you’ll let go. Completely. Do you understand?”

“Yes,” she said, the word escaping on a shaky exhale.

Dante tilted her head back with a little pressure on her forehead, holding her gaze. “Good girl.”

Iris trembled against him, her hands clutching at his shirt, as he dipped his fingers beneath the waistband of her pants. He probably should have moved them to the loveseat or the bed, but he knew how they’d end up if he did that. And he wanted her to cling to him. He wanted her as dependent on him to keep her upright as to give her the blissful relief of orgasm. So he curled one arm around her back in a supportive position once her pants were unbuttoned and let the other slide inside.

He felt her broken gasp down to his bones as his fingers made that first sweep over her sopping wet folds. Sweet Jesus. It was difficult to remember there was a reason he wasn’t just shredding their clothes and fucking her senseless. He grinned as he pushed his fingers deeper, using a leg to widen hers and give him more room to maneuver. Her knee ended up hooked over the outside of his, but that was fine. The position opened her wonderfully.

Dante brushed his lips over her cheek while he circled her opening with his fingers. “Do you even realize how wet for me you are, Snapdragon?” He pumped two fingers into her hot core, groaning at the way her body clamped down on them.

Iris gasped again, her head tipping back as her hips rolled forward.

He watched her body try to ride his hand despite the position and growled his approval, pumping harder. This close, he could hear the faint squelching sound. “You really enjoyed sucking on my dick, didn’t you, honey?”

“Y-y-yes!” She pulled herself upright, eyes blown with lust and face almost redder than her hair. “D-Dante, please—”

He curled his fingers inside her and felt her body clench and begin to shake. “I want you to come all over my hand,” he said. “I want you to scream my fucking name and come so hard you can’t imagine it feeling any better.” He extended his thumb to roll it over her clit, simultaneously leaning in to whisper next to her ear, “That way, when I fuck you for real, you’ll be so overwhelmed with ecstasy you black out with my cock balls deep inside you.” He licked the shell of her ear and added a third finger, plunging them into her core. “And when you wake up again, I’ll still be balls deep inside your sweet, sopping pussy. But I won’t fill it until you’re begging for it.”

She was panting against him, small tremors rolling through her in waves as she rode his hand. His name fell off her lips in stuttered pieces that made him yearn to fill those plump, parted lips with his cock again.