Being with Tam was better.

The feel of her clenching around his cock, the look of trust in her eyes. Her roaming hands exploring his shoulders through his shirt and stroking the naked skin on the back of his neck. But best of all, the feel of her under him. Without his volition, he’d upped his pace, chasing pleasure. The desire to feel that peak with her,in her, overwhelming.

“You’re so pretty. You feel so perfect and I’ve wanted you forever. You were made for me, Tam. And I was made to be in you.”

He wanted to do this again, without the encumbrance of clothes and the concern they might be caught. In his bed, with her as his duchess.

Her plush creamy breasts pushed up from her bodice, practically begging for his mouth. He was taking every impulse this night, just in case he didn’t get anything more. He nuzzled his face into the sweet valley and alternately kissed and bit. He sucked one nipple then the other into his mouth as Tam writhed beneath him.

Being inside her and feeling that wet heat, just for him, was magic. But he needed more. He wasn’t as deep in her as he had to be.

Some savage beast inside him purred as he dragged her thigh higher and more open. The first plunge at this new angle was heaven, particularly as he heard her moan. The second even better.

“Mine,” he whispered.

“Att.” The word was soft against his mouth, and it was only then he realized what he’d said.

It was true, but for a second he instinctively tried to hide. To take it back and deny what he wanted.

He was done with that. Instead he doubled down. “You’re mine, Tam.”

Then he said it again. With every slide of his shaft into her he repeated the word, covering her mouth with his so she couldn’t reply. He couldn’t prevent himself from responding to his body’s urging, speeding up. He held her bottom and thrust and Tam arched up into him, in sync, reaching for the pleasure that was almost within reach.

“Come again.” His voice sounded harsh and demanding, sandpaper in his ears. “Please.” He wasn’t beyond begging—

“Yes.”

That word again. Oh god, had she really said that? The sweetest thing Tam had ever said to him. Just that one word of agreement and acceptance and want repeated so many times this evening, and paired with his possessive claim of,Mine.

He shoved his hand between their bodies, relentless in his pursuit. Sticky, sweat-covered skin, then curls, then finally, silky wet folds. It only took a few strokes of his forefinger in combination with deep rolling thrusts and she broke, tensing around him. Pulses that tried to drag him with her into mindless pleasure.

She’d been waiting for him to tip her over.

He choked as she cried out and clenched around his cock. Pressing his mouth to hers, he swallowed her scream of pleasure, still dimly aware they were upstairs at a Christmas ball, and despite the music someone might hear. And it was probably only that which held him back when she tightened around him, feeling somehow even better than before.

Kissing her mouth, then over her cheeks and forehead and every part of her face as he rolled his hips slowly to keep her orgasm going and fend off his own, was an indulgence. He loved her, had always loved her, and the combination of their physical joining and allowing himself to kiss her with all the affection in his heart was perfect.

He pushed again into her soft, tight, yielding body, and she moaned in pleasure. The grip of her body around him, smooth and hot, was heaven.

“You’re amazing.” He lost the words into her neck as he thrust again, deeper.

“No, you are,” she whispered back, her hands cupping his face. “I thought that peak was the best, but it’s not. That feeling of you inside me, deep and hot, is the best. You’re so far in me I might never let you leave. You might change me permanently, rearrange my insides.”

He couldn’t believe this. After all this time. He’d been such a fool to never risk his pride. He’d have made them wager like this years ago if he’d known she’d say things like that.

“Your weight on top of me.” She mewed as he eased a bit more onto her, letting her feel pinned since she said she liked that. It fulfilled a wild part of him that wanted to own her, body and soul. This clever, beautiful woman had allowed herself to be caught by him in a trap he showed her and she walked all around before strolling right in.

He didn’t deserve a woman as smart and amazing as her, but if hell was the price he paid for being with her, so be it. He’d give his life for the sound of Tam panting and needy for his cock. Tam arching into him as he accelerated, pounding into her.

“Att, please. Yes.” She squirmed underneath him, raising her hips and searching for more pleasure. Her breasts were pressed to his chest, nipples puckered. It wasn’t just the feel of her, soaking wet and deliciously tight around him. No, it was her soft skin pressed to his. Her arms finding the back of his neck and combing into his hair. She dug her heels into his buttocks and encouraged him to go harder and deeper. Faster too.

At the base of his spine, the pleasure built.

“I’m not going to last,” he choked out. “You’re so good at this, you’ve robbed all my self-control.” And his heart. And his soul.

She’d come, and he had just enough presence of mind to pull out of her before ream after ream of spend shot from him. It painted over her inner thighs and quim as he gripped the head of his cock, shaking with the intensity of it.

Tam. He’d had Tam.