“I’m sorry,” he says.

I raise my head to meet his dark gaze and ask what for, but he answers my silent question by hooking one claw on the side of my panties and ripping right through them. I gasp, the slight tug surprising me, but he’s already tearing through the fabric on the other side. Then he puts his hands under my ass again and lifts me off the bed, bringing me closer to his face.

“Fuck, Gianna, you smell so good,” he growls.

Before I can so much as yelp, he drags his tongue over my clit for the first time, and my half-hearted protest dissolves into a guttural moan.

He feelsincredible. He teases my clit with the forked tip of his tongue, the ends working around my sensitive little bud, then licks insideme, pushing deep. The rough texture of the tongue scrapes so deliciously over the walls of my pussy, my eyes roll back in my head, and I melt into the pillows, thrusting my hips up for more friction.

Dominic’s low chuckle tells me he knows exactly what he’s doing to me. I want to touch him, too, make him feel the same, but the evil Krampus has tied me up, and I can’t even dig my fingers in his hair to hold him in place. Instead, I close my knees around him, hooking my heels behind his shoulders.

“Demanding,” he murmurs and drops a kiss to my clit, so gentle, then shoves his tongue inside me in a brutal thrust that has me arching off the bed.

The combination of soft and rough is doing something to me. His claws dig into the skin on my ass, but his tail coils around my ankle, the tufted end caressing me. I whimper when he hits a spot inside my pussy that has me seeing stars, and he lifts his head, his lips shiny with my wetness.

“What do you need? Can you come just from my tongue in your pussy?”

I scrunch my eyes up in embarrassment, but Dominic waits me out, and finally, I open my eyes again to meet his golden gaze.

“I’d like you to tease my clit while you do it,” I whisper.

The smile he gives me lights me up inside.

“Good. That’s good, Gianna. I need you to tell me what you want. I want to own your pleasure and learn everything about you.”

He’s proud of me for telling him what I need, and I love that. He’s so much stronger and older than me, he could easily fuck me however he wants, and I’d let him—I’d even like it. But this is another level of intimacy, one I didn’t expect so soon.

“Your tongue feels amazing,” I tell him because I want him to know how well he’s doing. “It reaches so deep inside me.”

He shudders, his eyelids fluttering shut. “Yeah?”

I grin, slow realization sparking inside me. “And I love your claws, Dominic.”

He groans, his hips thrusting forward on the bed as if he can’t stop himself. Then he dips down again, licking through my pussy lips, and plunges his forked tongue back inside me.

Oh my God. My nerves spark with the first flutters of my orgasm, but my mind whirls with the new knowledge. My Krampus likes to be told he’s doing good. The way he lit up for me just now…I’m gonna have so much fun with it.

Dominic brings the pad of his thumb to my clit and circles it, careful not to prick me with his claw. Then he twists his tongue up inside me, and my mind blanks out. It’s a suspended moment in time, a long beat where I feel like I’m teetering on the precipice, my breath caught in my throat, my heart thudding madly.

With another press of his thumb, I fall.

Pleasure crashes through me, dragging me under. I scream, writhing on the soft sheets, and my arms tense. I try to pull awayfrom the headboard to grasp Dominic’s horns, to hold him there or push him off, I don’t know. He draws out my climax, expertly playing my body to wring out every last drop of sensation from me, then slows his movements.

As I collapse back onto the pillows, he draws his long tongue from me and laps up all my slickness from my pussy and my clit, then licks his lips, growling in satisfaction.

But no—the sound isn’t a growl but a deep, rumbling purr. He rises over me and unties the string lights tying me to the bed. He undoes the knots and rubs my wrists, even though the cord barely left a mark. He caresses me and kisses my cheeks, my lips, my neck, and folds me into his warm body.

“Are you all right?” he murmurs.

I let out a giggle, then bury my face in his chest. “Yes. That was amazing.”

He chuckles, his hand rubbing circles on my back. When his fingers find the zip of the dress, he raises his eyebrows.

I nod, wanting more. “I want you to show me everything.”

CHAPTER 9

GIANNA