Page 46 of Modern Romance Collection December 2024 Books 5-8

‘But I thought—’ she began.

‘You should have told me, Belle,’ he interrupted her again, the flicker of deep emotion stunning her into silence. ‘But it’s done now, and there’s no undoing it.’

Was he angry with her? It was impossible to tell, and hard to concentrate on anything but the overwhelming feeling of having him inside her. Her sex throbbed, and burned, but when he shifted slightly, fierce pleasure pierced the tenderness.

‘Tell me what you need,’ he said, his voice rough with urgency now.

‘Honestly, I don’t know,’ she replied, hideously exposed.

He swore again, but then he touched his forehead to hers. ‘You’re crucifying me here, Belle,’ he whispered, the tone as raw as she felt.

She wanted to say something, anything. But it was alltoomuch.

He cupped her cheek. ‘Can you move?’ he asked. ‘Without hurting yourself more?’

‘It doesn’t hurt so much now,’ she managed.

‘That’s good,’ he said, the strain in his voice helping to ease her anxiety about his reaction. ‘Why don’t you take the lead, then?’

‘How...? How do you mean?’

His eyes darkened, his focus on her—and only her—making her lungs seize.

Slowly he lifted her hips. Then eased her back down. The renewed jolt of pleasure rippled all the way to her toes.

‘Good?’ he asked.

‘Yes... Good.’

‘Then let’s do that again. You decide how fast, how far you want to go. Whatever feels good, okay?’

‘But what about you?’

He groaned. ‘Don’t worry about me. I’m just trying to hang on long enough to give you an orgasm before I lose it completely.’

He looked dazed, drained, and even though the vicious need still pulsed inside her—desperate to be filled—the wave of accomplishment at seeing what she did to him was its own reward.

She eased off him again, then sank back to the hilt. He was still huge, still overwhelming inside her, but the ripples began to build and merge as her clumsy movements became more focussed, more sure.

He moved with her, surging up as she sank down. And gradually, the exquisite pain turned to brutal pleasure.

He reached down to where they joined, finding the heart of her. And the hard pulse of pleasure rose again, harder, faster, more furious, more desperate.

He worked the spot, even as he grew larger inside her—his grunts matching her sobs. The heady wave of sensation rose to slam into her at last. She tumbled over into the abyss, her cries of completion followed by his shout of climax.

She collapsed into his arms, spent now, and worn out.

He shifted against her as she listened to the strong steady beat against her ear—the afterglow like a drug.

Was it supposed to feel this intense? As if she had been changed for ever? How did anyone survive something this intimate without losing their sense of self?

‘You good?’ he asked, not for the first time. But his voice sounded distant, lacking the playfulness and then the fierce passion she had found so beguiling.

She lifted her head off his chest, shocked by the painful clutch of emotion making her ribs hurt. A chill swept through her at his shuttered expression.

He settled his hand on her back, but the touch felt impersonal somehow. ‘You need to dismount,’ he said. ‘My leg’s starting to ache.’

Brutal humiliation chased away the last of the golden glow.

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