Page 40 of The Devil's Viking

“Yes.”

Still holding her hair between his fingers, Viking lowered his face to hers, ghosting small kisses on her forehead, across her cheeks, along her chin, turning her this way and that to accommodate his mouth. He moved slowly, taking his time, listening to her breathing get deeper and harder at his gentle dominance.

“What about that?” he murmured against her throat, his beard tickling her. “You agree that I can doallof that to you, baby?”

Iris couldn’t answer this time; her voice seemed to have completely stopped functioning. She nodded, praying with everything in her heating-up body that he wouldn’t stop touching her.

Viking lifted his head again, stared into her eyes. He smiled at her clear desire, knowing now for sure that he wasn’t all alone in what he was feeling. She looked scared, though, and he didn’t want that. It was just about thelastthing in the world he wanted.

“You want to know whatyoucan do tome?” he said.

“What?” she stuttered. “What do you mean?”

“Ask me what I agree to.”

She was frozen in place, fighting to get up the courage to do what she really wanted to do – what it looked like Viking wanted, too. But he wasn’t going to take that next step, she saw suddenly. He was going to make sure she was comfortable with this, and the way he could be the most sure would be forherto take things to the next level.

He watched and waited, pushing down on his urge to ravish her mouth with his. No, he’d made the first tentative moves, but she was going to have to make some of her own. He needed to know that she was a part of this, that it wasn’t all just happeningtoher. That she was making choiceswithhim, not because of him.

When she finally raised her hands to his chest, he almost sighed with relief. Iris’ touch was gentle, shy, and a wave of tenderness for her threatened to wash him away. He sat very still and let her take the lead now.

Iris ran her hands over his muscles, a bit stunned at his obvious and massive physical strength. He was so clearly holding it all back, though, holding it in check. She grew bolder, let her fingers trace the hard curves of his upper arms, his pecs.

“What about this?” she said at last. “Is it fine that I do this?”

“It is,” he said hoarsely.

She smiled, enjoying the game now. She stood up and pulled him to his feet too. Standing on her tiptoes, she moved closer and slid her hands over his broad shoulders. She pulled his face down to hers, flicked her tongue over his lips. “And is that OK?”

His response was a groan and he wrapped his massive arms around her.

“Is that a yes, Viking?”

“Yes,” he growled. “Yes, it istotallyOK for you to do that.”

“Can I do more?” she whispered shakily.

“You’d better,” he said. “You’re killing me, baby.”

She lifted herself to him again and this time, he pulled her up, he pulled her right off her feet. Her sweet mouth met his in a soft kiss, a butterfly kiss that knocked the breath out of him. She pulled back a bit and stared up at him. “I hopethatworks for you.”

“Iris…” Viking took a deep breath. “There’s no rush here, you know. We don’t have to – I mean we won’t do anything that you don’t want.”

“I don’t think that I’m ready to…to do everything.” She peered up at him, looking to see if he was disappointed. “Is that OK?”

“Baby, I’m going to say this again and again, until you hear me and believe me: we only do what you want. No more, no less. It’s your choice, you’re in control. You say yes, you say no, you say stop, you say go.”

“You won’t… I don’t know. You won’t feel frustrated and maybe… maybe like I’m leading you on?”

“No.”

“No? Just no?”

“Just no.” Viking gently set her back on the floor. “We can stop right this second if you tell me that, and I’ll be totally fine with it.”

“No.”

“No?” He cocked his head at her. “We’renotstopping right this second?”

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