Page 149 of Modern Romance Collection December 2024 Books 1-4

“You feel incredible.”

He kisses me as he places a hand between my thighs. I arch into his touch as he murmurs against my lips.

“Juliette, I don’t want to wait. I need you.”

I can only imagine what those words cost him. Gavriil isn’t the kind of man to need anyone. But right now, in this moment, he wants me. Needs me.

My legs part. Steel presses against tender flesh. And then he slides inside my body and reality slips as a pleasure so intense it borders on pain charges my every nerve. He fills me to what feels like the breaking point. As he slides in, my body clamps down.

“Christ, Juliette.” He sucks in a breath. “Don’t move.”

I realize just how close to the edge he is. Even though I’m drowning in sensations, I can’t resist shifting my hips, savoring the feel of him inside me even as he glares down at me.

“What?” I ask with a teasing smile.

His answer consists of him pulling out and then sliding back in with one long, slow stroke that makes me bow off the bed.

“Tease,” I gasp.

“Temptress,” he replies before he lowers his head and consumes me again.

We find our rhythm as if we’ve been making love for years instead of just encountering each other for the first time. That incredible pressure builds again, pressing on my skin from the inside out, filling me with a burning tension that eclipses anything else I’ve ever experienced. Through the haze of desire, he kisses me as if he’ll never get enough of the taste of me.

“Gavriil!”

My world detonates and I come apart in his arms.

Gavriil

I feel her body tighten around me as she reaches her peak. She cries my name again, her hands gripping my shoulders, head thrown back, eyes closed as a blush sweeps over her body. I can’t hold myself back any longer, don’t want to. I groan her name and follow her over the edge.

I manage to brace myself on my forearms above her and roll to the side so I don’t crush her as I drift down from the most intense climax I’ve ever experienced. We lie there on the bed, our heavy pants mingling, sweat cooling on our skin. She turns her head and looks at me, her eyes barely open, a smile lingering on her lips. Satisfaction, yes. But also contentment. It moves me.

I reach out and smooth hair back from her forehead. Her smile deepens, her mouth curving up and making her eyes crinkle.

Emotions war in my chest. The same want that’s been plaguing me, apparently unsated by what we’ve just shared. An unexpected thread of tenderness, one that I quickly smother as I kiss her forehead and give myself a moment to rein in my thoughts before I look her in the eye again.

I will never be able to give her anything but this. Moments of pleasure. Nothing concrete. Nothing permanent. Later I will remind her. Make sure we’re on the same page. Given her feelings toward me before we went to bed, I doubt anything has changed for her either. But on the off chance our Paris confessions and frantic lovemaking shifted something between us, then we’ll have to go back to the way things were when we first arrived in France. Organized outings in public, distance in private.

Not my first choice. But I won’t be like my father. I won’t pretend to be anything but what I am. I won’t pretend to offer the world on a string before snipping it with casual cruelty and walking away without a backward glance. Juliette deserves more than that. So did my mother. So did the countless other women Lucifer used and discarded.

But as I pull Juliette’s naked body closer to mine, I vow not to bring anything up tonight. To ruin the aftermath of our first time together with more unkindness. She’s had enough of that from me. I may be damned tomorrow, but when it comes to the physicalness, I’m going to give into my every desire tonight.

As she curls into me, shock registers.

“What is it?” she asks.

“We didn’t use a condom.”

“I’m on the pill.”

“I’ve never not used protection myself before.”

The admission seems to touch her. “Well, I promise I’m safe. And healthy.”

“As am I.”

“Then stop worrying.” She says it so matter-of-factly I can’t help but smile. She yawns and stretches her arms, then starts to roll away.

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