Page 87 of The Iron Dagger
“A very bad idea—”
His mouth smothered her words before she was finished, and he spread her legs, driving forward with a subtle movement of his hips. Hara let out a gasp as he breached her, the empty neediness replaced with a different sort of ache as her body adjusted to him.
He swore as he felt her, and Hara clutched at his shoulders, her legs reflexively lifting around his waist. He stretched her so deliciously that she couldn’t help the keening sounds that escaped her. Like blowing on sleeping coals, her stalled climax rekindled, and with each movement, she felt the burn of pleasure build. She locked her ankles together and pulled him deeper, and Gideon moaned as he sank fully inside.
“You take it so well,” he rasped. “Fuck, Hara.”
He moved his hips slowly, watching her face as he did, and Hara covered her mouth to muffle the cry that escaped her. Gideon grabbed her wrist away from her mouth and pinned it to the bed in a strong grip.
“This is my house, and the walls are thick. I want to hear you.”
He began a pounding rhythm. It was rough and graceless, need straining from him in every muscle. She could feel the weeks of denial in his movements, every suppressed desire, every shortened glance or tense gesture. They werescattered, forgotten, as he gave to her what he had wanted all along.
Every curl of his hips pulled gasping little cries from her throat. Hara closed her eyes and moved her hands to hold her knees wide apart. He brought his mouth to her again, biting her lower lip almost to the point of pain.
He entered her to the base, barely pulling back with each furious thrust as if he could not bear to pull away from her any further. Soon the repeated pressure made her forget everything but the release simmering close to the surface. She was drowning in it, paralyzed, and then she felt herself clenching as white-hot sparks clouded her vision and she cried out his name.
Gideon withdrew, and before she could do or say anything, his mouth was between her legs again. A new jolt of sweetness darted up through her, her sensitive flesh not yet recovered from her peak. He licked deeply, making warm groans of satisfaction as he sucked and lapped at her. Then he drew away, but he was not looking at her face.
He stared at her swollen sex, his own lips shining with her.
“You’re so gorgeous,” he said, running his thumbs down her inner thighs and using them to spread her slightly. “Gods, Hara. I’m afraid I’m possessed.”
Then he lowered his head and began to suckle her more gently, teasing her clitoris with feathery brushes and suckling caresses. The sharp, fluttering sweetness of his tongue was such a contrast to his deep pulsing thrusts. She was ready to beg for more pressure when he coated his fingertips with her wetness. Hara let out a trembling sigh when he slid them in and began rubbing them firmly along her upper wall. As she began to arch and strain, whimpering, his mouth became more eager. With hisother hand, he reached down and began to stroke himself as he licked her, as though he couldn’t resist.
She clenched her fingers into his hair, holding him to her, feeling that her world would shatter if he stopped. Then with a groan she reached it, the satiny pulses of her release making her tremble and pant. Gideon made a deep grunt as he reached his own climax, the sharpness of his teeth sinking into her inner thigh as the surges lessened. He had given her no rest between her peaks, and she felt warm and swollen and well-used.
With a groan, he crawled up the bed and collapsed next to her, closing his eyes. They listened to the softness of their breaths, and Hara concentrated on her slowing heartbeat. She clenched her muscles around nothing, feeling deliciously sore and needy, primed to come again. Even his panting breaths next to her aroused her, but the weight of the day was descending, pulling at her eyelids.
Hara curled against his side and rested her ear against his chest, comforted by the rapid beats of his heart.
Gideon
It was unfathomable that Hara was sleeping in his arms, worn out with climaxes, in his home. Most bizarrely of all was that he did not have to fear their discovery. His parents had all but urged him to have her, so there would be no sneaking out in the early hours to escape the notice of the household.
It should feel unnatural and awkward. But now, with his naked body pressed all along hers, it seemed the most natural thing in the world.
After he left her room the previous morning, he had gone to his bathing chamber and stroked himself furiously ashe recalled the way her face contorted with pleasure. Surely, he thought, that would hold him for the day.
Then he saw her in that dress.
Spotting her across the room had made him feel like a tongue-tied lad. Her back had been turned to him, but some instinct in his gut knew that it was her.
The satin river of her hair flowed over bare shoulders, her skin warm and luminous against the blue velvet. When she turned those dark, catlike eyes on him, something inside of him growledMine.
It was only years of practice as a courtier that hid the butterflies thrashing around his middle, for he had no idea what he had said next. He was only aware of the need to hold her, to touch her in any way that was permissible in public. During their dance, he knew it was only a matter of time before they finished what they’d started that morning.
Gideon had gotten his wish, deeply and thoroughly, and it was better than he imagined it would be. He should have been exhausted and sated, yet he found that even now, his pulse still hummed in anticipation.
Heat rolled through him as he recalled the sounds she made when she came apart on his tongue. He could happily keep his face buried in her sweet cunny all night for his own enjoyment, if she would let him. But watching her writhe and pant as she chased her pleasure made something primal roar inside of his brain. It made him want to crawl atop her and mount her like an animal until they were sore and spent.
The scent of her pleasure lingered on his lips, and he closed his eyes to breathe her in. It worked like a spell upon his groin; he was almost achingly stiff now. Apparently, his cock only needed the slightest encouragement before demanding he take her again. Gideon couldn’t remember the last time he had felt so damned insatiable.
He thought about waking her, but she was surely exhausted from the events of the evening. He unwrapped his arm from her body and made as though to shift himself away, but then he heard her low voice.
“Why were you asking me about Lord Robert?”
He stiffened. The last thing he wanted right now was to remind her of another man’s existence.
