Page 13 of His Dark Delights
The first hint of a smile twitched at the corner of his mouth, and a dimple appeared on his cheek. “Rest isn’t what I want from you, Lilly.” He reached over and cupped my cheek in his large, warm palm, and I leaned into his hand. “I’d rather have your heart.”
My traitorous heart reacted as if she knew she was the topic of conversation, fluttering and racing behind my ribs with the need to burst free. I jerked away from Ren’s hand, wide eyed and breathing hard.
“Tell… tell me of the good things about the capital. You seem to favor it a bit more now.” I couldn’t stop to process what he’d said or if he even meant those words. Their memory would hurt too much when he eventually left—and he would.
“I learned to find pleasure when it became available to me. It was like one day the world was in my hands after a lifetime of living on the streets and begging for scraps. Wine, women, money, food, and all the fake friends a man ever needs. None of it filled the hole of my mother’s death. Not even this damned war—” he cut himself off with a long exhale. His head fell back, and his shoulders sagged before he peered at me again. “I’d much rather stay here with you.”
My cheeks turned pink, and I didn’t know how tostop that embarrassing physical reaction to him. “As I said, you’re welcome here. Stay for as long as you like.”
“I think we’ll both find some pleasure to ease our pains while I’m here,” he said with a voice like sin and silk.
My pain tied with Ren’s, telling me that on some level we were the same. It was bittersweet in a way, but it connected us. Ren understood the hole in my heart, and I recognized the void in his. And like him, I needed to find pleasure where it was available, if only to ease my melancholy.
Ren offered to wash the dishes after dinner again. It gave me time to hide in the bath and wash every inch of myself for what came later. Regardless of my inexperience, I had book-knowledge of what to expect. Outside of that, the passing knight made me feelunexpectedsensations—things books hadn’t prepared me for.
I dressed in my summer nightgown; a pale slip of cream-colored cotton with thin straps over the shoulders and a hem that fell above the knee. I had nothing more provocative to entice a knight into my bed. Maybe I didn’t need it.
Before Ren returned, I wrapped the blanket around my shoulders, opened a book, and curled up by the window. In the low light emanating from the fireplace, I pretended to read, and hoped the glow fading outside masked the shaking in my limbs.
He took a bath while I fiddled with the worn pages in my lap. On the other side of the door, Ren was in thetub, naked and lathering soap, into places on his body I dreamed of exploring. Would I get the chance tonight?
My stomach was on the verge of gnawing itself inside out, twisting and churning like an unsettled creature within my abdomen. I chewed on my thumbnail, leg bouncing and heart pumping too hard as if it didn’t quite fit in my chest.
The bathroom door opened, and my heart stopped. Ren stepped into the bedroom, orange firelight dancing on the planes of his bare chest. The thin towel strung around his hips drew my gaze to the smattering of dark hair dipping to places unseen. A surge of nervous delight rippled through my core and chest at the sight of him. I placed the book on the bench at my side and unfolded my legs while sucking in all the air my lungs allowed.
Ren’s lips curled up, and a charged energy sparked through the room’s interior. He lifted a hand and gestured for me to come closer as he stepped forward. I rose from the window and met him at the foot of the bed. His fingers dropped to the towel, and fire spread up my neck to my face.
My eyes clenched shut seconds before the white fabric fell from his hips. The towel pooled around our feet, tickling the tops of my toes.
A hand curled under my chin, and my breath hitched. Soft lips melded to mine in a gentle, probing motion. I exhaled the breath I held as the hand under my chin cupped my cheek and pulled me in for a deeper, ardent kiss.
“You don’t have to close your eyes, Lilly. It’s okay to look,” he assured. “It would please me to see your eyes.” My lashes fluttered, and I looked up to find Ren’s blueeyes gazing at me with something akin to hunger. He skimmed his knuckles over my cheeks and the dimple stressing his smile deepened. “Your eyes are so pretty. Such an otherworldly shade of silvery gray, like storm clouds in the spring. Full of the promise of life and beauty.”
Then he was on me again, kissing me and touching me, sweeping me up into his powerful arms. I didn’t notice when my feet left the floor until my back met the mattress and his weight settled over my body. He eased the nightgown away from my body with unrivaled skill, moving too quickly for self-conscious doubt to settle in my mind.
I didn’t look down as Ren lowered his mouth to my flesh—I couldn’t bring myself to. Instead, my head tipped back into the pillow and my eyes closed while he sucked a nipple into his mouth, inducing a bolt of bliss from my chest to my navel. He moved to the other breast, laving it with the same affection before licking a wet trail between my thighs.
A drawn-out moan rolled off my tongue and filled the room when his firm, wet tongue slipped between my folds. He licked over my lower lips before swirling his tongue over my buzzing clit. My legs trembled madly, forcing him to dig his fingers into my thighs and hold them down as he devoured me.
Ren freed one hand, first inserting one finger, then another. Shrill noises escaped me from the sensation of his tongue lapping at my most sensitive place while he carefully spread those two fingers further apart within me—stretching me to ensure my body would accept him.
The deep burning in my belly he made me feelearlier came back tenfold. Vibrant in my core, until my limbs seized up, and that light cascaded throughout my insides. I was dizzy and panting when Ren crawled up my body, staring down at me like a wolf with a cornered rabbit. In the fiery light, the shadows harshly accentuated his handsome features and the curls of black hair falling around his face.
My legs parted to accommodate his width as he settled on top of me. His mouth littered my chest and neck with kisses, and this time I felt the hardness digging into my inner thigh, and the pre-cum leaking from his tip. Shock gripped me for a brief second until a tongue parting my lips and sliding into my mouth stole my thoughts. Clouds of passion and desire swept into my mind in place of rational thinking with his kisses.
“You’re so beautiful.” Ren dropped his head against my shoulder, breathing hotly into the side of my neck. “Let me have you, Lilly. I must have you.”
“Yes. Yes,” I consented, practically begging. My arms curved over his shoulders and my hips tilted upward in a silent plea for him to take things further and fill the yearning chasm within me.
In one swift motion, he rocked forward. His thick, heavy cock slipped through my glistening folds. A masculine groan rumbled through his chest and a mewl of pleasure rippled through me.
“So wet for me. I’m going to sink my cock into this tight little pussy.” He stroked his cock over me, bumping into my clit with the head of his length each time.
Ren kissed me again, diverting my focus from his cock as it aligned with my soaked entrance. When he bit my bottom lip between his teeth, I yelped, but it morphed into a groan as the first inch of his cockstretched me apart. And I thought I was going to rip in half from the girth sinking deeper into me.
“Oh, Ren,” I whined, squirming beneath his heated bulk. My nails scratched down his back, and I struggled to breathe from the ache of being filled.
“Just breathe. It’s alright, you can take me. We’re almost there.” He talked me through the last impressive inches, settling into the wet center of me. “See, you fit me so well. Like you were made for me, Lilly.”
