Page 77 of Crown of Slumber

I tugged until her breasts were free. I took a moment to admire them. They heaved with her frantic breathing, and stars above, they were beautiful. Her nipples were already hard. Gods, she was a masterpiece. A smattering of freckles coated each breast, the patterns unique. I wanted to gaze at each one, to count how many there were, to spot the differences between the two. I wanted to study her for hours.

Instead, I bent over, running my tongue along the tip of her breast. Her moan was loud and full of need as she threw her head back against the armoire, her hips grinding against mine. I closed my lips around her nipple. With tongue and teeth, I sucked and nipped, tugging at it. Her hips rolled in silent demand.

“Gods,” she rasped out. “Gods,please.”

I hiked up her skirts, and she obediently wrapped her legs around my middle, pressing directly against my arousal. It feltready to burst from my trousers. I wanted so desperately to bury myself inside her, to pound into her until she screamed.

But tonight was for her. Only her.

While I feasted on one breast, I cupped the other in my hand, gently squeezing, then rolling the nipple between my fingers. All the while, Aurelia writhed under me, her body quivering with anticipation. The frantic pace of her breathing only spurred me on, making me harder.

“Please,” she gasped. “Fenn, please.”

“Please what?” I murmured against her breast.

She groaned, muttering a string of expletives. She knew I was teasing her. I grinned as I continued licking her bosom.

“I need you inside me,” she said, her voice hoarse. “Please.”

“Well, since you saidplease…”

“You are an ass.”

I chuckled, bringing my face up to claim her mouth with mine once more. My tongue collided with hers, and then I drew back just a fraction to lick each of her lips, the lightest of touches. She uttered a sound that was a half gasp, half moan.

My hand sifted through the many layers of her impossible skirt until I found her thigh. I dragged a finger up the inside of her leg. When I reached the moisture collecting between her legs, I hummed in satisfaction.

“Darling, you are positively dripping for me.” I leaned in, pressing my mouth to the hollow of her throat.

“Fenn—”

I slid my finger inside her, and she cut off with a gasping wheeze, her hips bucking. I withdrew my finger, my mouth still against her neck, and whispered, “Is that what you want?”

“Yes.Yes.”

My finger returned to her center, drawing circles around it. She sucked in a sharp inhale with each movement. I slid a finger inside, then another, pumping and thrusting. She moaned, louder and louder, her eyes closing and her brows drawing together as the tension built inside her. When my fingers curled inward, brushing against her inner walls, she let out a desperate whimper.

She blindly reached for me, hands groping until they found my waistcoat. She fumbled with my buttons, but I used my free hand tograb her wrists and pin them above her head, pressing them into the armoire.

My mouth found her ear as I murmured, “Not tonight, little firebird. Tonight is only for you.”

Her eyes were half crazed as she opened them to gaze at me, her lips parted and deliciously swollen from our kissing. My fingers continued to explore her center, driving into her with more force. Her eyes closed again, her mouth falling open. She thrashed, her body lurching as she rode my hand, whispering, “Oh, yes.Yes.”

My fingers were slick with her moisture, but I kept pumping them into her, deeper and deeper. When I inserted a third finger, she cried out, the tendons of her neck straining as she jerked. I felt her insides spasm around my fingers, and I curled them inward again, allowing any fingernails to brush those inner walls once more.

A hoarse cry burst from her as she found her release, her hips rolling against mine, driving me near to madness. The tension coiling inside me was so tightly wound, so close to the edge… Gods, my pulse was pounding, my head throbbing as every ounce of me quaked with need.

“Fenn.Fenn.” She whispered my name like a prayer, her face covered with a sheen of sweat. I almost came at the sound of my name on her lips.

For a moment, we were both quiet, my body still pinning hers to the armoire as our breaths slowed. Nothing but our gasps punctuated the silence. I removed my hand from inside her, my fingers slick, and let her legs slide down to the floor. She wilted in my arms, her head leaning against the door of the armoire. I held her there, keeping her upright with my chest. Her eyes closed, a look of satisfied exhaustion on her face.

Somehow, I managed to carry her to the bed and loosen her corset strings. She buried her face in the pillows, oblivious to my movements as I deftly removed her petticoat and slid it off the bed. I turned, intent on relieving myself in the bathing chamber, but Aurelia caught my hand in hers.

I blinked, startled. I had thought she was asleep. And the way she was curled on the mattress, her hair sprawled around her, her eyes tired, I could tell she was halfway there.

“Stay with me,” she whispered.

I swallowed hard. “I’m not leaving. I’ll be just over there on the sofa.”

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