Page 45 of The Scarred Duke's Bride
She moved closer, staring intently at the scars, unblinking. “I am not staring with disgust, am I?”
He chuckled in quiet amusement. “Not at the moment, no.”
She turned to look him in the eyes. They were so close she could feel his breath on her face. “Just the moment?” Her eyes dropped to his lips.
He closed the distance between them, capturing her lips with his own, and inhaling deeply as he kissed her, sucking her bottom lip, pulling it into his mouth before questing with his tongue, asking for entry.
She readily let him in, clinging to him as he kissed her. His hand roamed along her back and then wandered over to the soft swell of her breasts, squeezing gently before returning to her back.
He pulled her close, tongues tangling as his hands fumbled with her buttons, taking them off one by one as he licked along her jaw and suckled a bite into her neck. She moaned, throwing her head back to give him more room. He pulled her dress off her shoulders and let it hang around her waist. She wiggled, pushing it down until it pooled on the ground at her feet. His hands dug beneath her buttocks, squeezing them before he lifted her from the sofa and into his lap.
She could feel his hardness against her thighs as he returned to kissing her face, her nose, her cheeks, and then back to her mouth. His fingers pulled at her shift, so that it was askew, exposing the creamy swell of her left breast.
He reached into her neckline and scooped out her breast, immediately latching onto it with his mouth and suckling. She squirmed in his lap, moaning and groaning as she reached for his shirt, unbuttoning it slowly. She ran her hands along the hardness of his chest, gratified to finally be able to touch.
It was just as hard as she had imagined. Immovable like stone. She groaned, flicking at his nipples, and he jerked in reaction.
“Oh, did I hurt you?” Her brow furrowed in concern.
“Not at all. Please, continue,” he said courteously before returning to laving her breast until it was wet with his saliva. He pushed her shift off her shoulder on one side and then the other. Turning his attention to her other breast, he began suckling it as well.
She tucked her hands around his neck, pulling him close, hungry for more. She loved how it felt to be touched in this way, and it satisfied a little bit of the hollowness she’d been feeling in the preceding days.
But still, she wanted more.
His hands circled her naked waist, pulling her flush against him, his hips moving beneath her in rhythmic cadence. He pushed her back and took one of her legs, maneuvering it over his waist so that she could straddle him. He pulled her close again, kissing her hard as his hips resumed their rhythmic movement, pushing up against her exposed center.
“Want you,” he murmured into her skin, and she wasn’t sure what he meant, but she had a feeling she wanted it too.
Suddenly, he moved back, pushing her off his lap and doubling over. She stared at him, stupefied.
“Eric? What’s wrong?”
“I’m sorry.”
“What?”
“I shouldn’t have touched you against your will. I’m sorry.”
Freya stared at him, nonplussed. “Don’t be silly. You didn’t touch me against my will.”
“You are drunk,” he cried into his own lap. “You cannot consent.”
Freya’s lips worked, but there was nothing she could say. She was indeed very drunk, and maybe she would not have had the courage to offer herself were she sober, but…she did want this.
“I do consen —”
“Shut your mouth!” he held up a trembling hand. “Do not speak.”
She obeyed without thinking, staring at him, wondering why he was bent over like that and looking as if he was in pain.
“Go to bed,” he whispered.
She wanted to protest, to refuse, but she also could not throw herself on him. Not when he’d rejected her so thoroughly. Dragging her feet, she let her shift fall to the ground and crawled stark naked into bed. She lay there for a long time, listening to his deep painful sounding breaths and wondering if his scar hurt.
Finally, she heard footsteps, and he walked over to the bed which dipped as he entered on the other side. She waited, tense, wondering if he would touch her now. But he just turned away from her and began to breathe evenly.
She closed her eyes, a single tear falling as she felt something like her heart break.
