Page 31 of Dance with the Dragon Duke

“Debauched?” he offered quietly.

She nodded, a corner of her lip curving upward before he claimed her mouth once more.

The scales of his tail were soft as leather. As it teased the sensitive flesh of her inner thigh, it reminded her of the padding on the wingback chair she’d grown to favor. His tail climbed up her leg to curl about her knee. His fingers worked under her dress, following her garters up the sides of her leg. He found her drawers and traced the slit in the center of the fabric so delicately she moaned.

Tomorrow buried the sound against his neck, fisting his shirt so hard she was sure she’d tear it.

Dark placed one of her hands over the cradle of her thighs. “Show me how you pleasure yourself.”

Breathless and so desperate she could hardly see straight, she found the top of her sex with her thumb and circled the bud of nerves there. Dark watched her for a time, his eyes dilated and dreamy, before he took over with tender care.

Footsteps neared, and Tomorrow shoved her skirts down over Dark’s hand. Cheeks flaming, she buried her head in his shirt, hiding herself. Tomorrow had always been slightly envious of those at The Boot who entertained themselves without worry. Since her life had changed, she’d gotten into the habit of allowing fear to rule over her. As soon as cowardice reared its ugly head, she’d given into the compulsion, never sharing in any of the wanton fun around her, despite desperately craving the distraction.

But with Dark she felt safe and brazen.

The duke growled a warning at the intruder, the sound rumbling deep in his chest, low and threatening. It reverberated through her, and muscles in her belly pulsed. The footstepsfroze. Tomorrow smiled in spite of herself. Dark sounded like a grizzly bear standing over its dinner.

The footsteps retreated quickly, and a titter bubbled out of her.

Dark smoothed back her hair soothingly until she stopped hiding herself against him, sitting upright. He resumed his exploration of her, his touch sizzling through her core. Sensation shot up her stomach and sent pleasurable tremors scampering across her skin. She moved with his caresses, hips rolling forward and back on the seat until the wood groaned. His daring tail found her wet center. The smooth tip traced it, a teasing promise she couldn’t resist.

Tomorrow bucked her hips, welcoming his dragon heat inside her.

“So fierce,” he purred approvingly. Then he kissed the sensitive arch of her ear, warming it with his panting breath, showering her cheek and jaw with more demanding brushes of his lips.

Her hand found the head of his hard erection, thickening against the side of his thigh. She thumbed the curved tip until it dampened the wool. His tail pulsed inside her, and he sighed, a sound so satisfying it sent her soaring.

Tomorrow felt unburdened in a way she never had before. Reckless and wild and completely wanton. The worries she’d had earlier were gone. She didn’t care if anyone else came close enough to see what the table hid. Gods, he’d lit such a fire in her, she practically welcomed it.

She didn’t want it to end, didn’t want the fire to sizzle out, but she was circling the peak. His hand stroked her, lips teased her throat, and the end of his tail pumped inside her strong enough to rock her.

Her release hit like a freight train. If Dark hadn’t been there holding her, she’d have slunk down under the table.

She hid her moan against his shoulder because that was for him, her pleasure a gift she didn’t intend to share with the room. A pulse of bliss thundered inside her pelvis, rhythmically tightening intimate muscles around the tip of his tail. She rode out her release, clutching him close, feeling surrounded by him, by his heat, his bulk, his scent thick and musky in her nose, his salty taste on her tongue.

Her next exhale was a whimper. Bleary-eyed, she blinked at him. “Should we . . . Do you want me to . . .”

“Yes.” Fingers shaking, he fixed his waistcoat. Under the table, he helped her push her skirts back down her legs into some appearance of put-togetherness. Hands linked, they stood up and sped for the archway, doing a poor job of acting casually.

Tomorrow spotted Susan behind the bar. The madam shot her an all-knowing grin. Tomorrow winked at her before being whisked out of the room, across the entryway, and down a small corridor that led to the back stairs. Their rooms weren’t far now, but they didn’t make it inside either of them.

Tomorrow had found her courage, and she wasn’t letting it go. Feeling like the basest of temptresses and loving it, she tugged him to a stop. He followed her willingly to the nook beside the stairs. When she wrapped her arms around his neck, he lifted her.

She kissed his face, his nose, his cheeks. She took her time enjoying his mouth, the taste of his dragon skin, rough and heated. Bracing her against the paneled wall of the alcove, he rucked up her skirts. Satin whisked against satin, the sound lewd to her now in a way that made her skin pebble. Between her thighs, he worked down the fall front of his trousers.

The head of his erection found the slit in her drawers. Tomorrow stiffened in his arms, fingers digging into his shoulders.

“Sunshine?” he cooed.

She laughed uneasily. “I’m fine. Really. I just . . . had a moment.”

“A moment?” Cupping her ass to support her weight, he rubbed his nose against hers.

“More of a realization—” Her breath caught. Pinned between his hot chest and the wall, his fingers found the cleft of her sex and began to do wicked things in gentle circles, coaxing movements that made her startled muscles loosen.

“Do tell,” he said in her ear. “I’m in no hurry. We can move slowly, and I can bury myself in you all night, or we can keep going like this.”

“Let’s . . . Actually, I don’t know. I want both now.”

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