Page 82 of If the Duke Dares
Persephone watched a flurry of emotions play over his face, most of them moving too quickly for her to identify. He looked confused and surprised. And at least a dozen other things.
“I want this night with you, not the promise of a marriage neither of us particularly wants.” At least not now. There was far too much going on in Persephone’s life for her to consider such a monumental decision. “When I wed—ifI wed—it will be to a man I love completely and who loves me completely in return.” She hadn’t realized until that moment that she really didn’t want to settle for anything less.
He stared at her, and she worried he was going to say something foolish. He couldn’t love her. She could never love someone like him, and no matter how much less roguish he’d turned out to be, she had to remember the rogue rule about change. At his core, he was a man who enjoyed flirting and sex. How could one woman, especially her, be enough for him?
“I don’t think I know how to love,” he finally said, his voice flat while his eyes seemed to glimmer with something else. Surprise, perhaps.
“Then you are not the man for me. You are, however, the man for me right now. You owe me two more orgasms.”
His nostrils flared. “You know that word?”
“I know many words. What I don’t know is how to come more than once in an evening.”
“Then allow me to demonstrate. One moment.” Somehow, he managed to turn over. He reached for something, then faced her once more. “I needed to position my cravat closer. For later.”
She arched a brow at him. “What are you going to use that for?”
“Nothing so decadent as I may want, unfortunately. I’ll use it for my seed when I pull from your body. Can’t have a baby now, can we?”
“Thank you.” Curious, she bit her lower lip. “But what decadence do you want with a cravat?”
He positioned her beneath him. “If this bed had proper posts, I would use the cravat to tie your hands while I pleasured you. It’s a delightful torment.”
Persey imagined herself bound beneath him while he attended to her body. Her breasts pricked with need as her sex throbbed with renewed arousal. “That does sound decadent.”
“Would you let me do it?” he asked, rising over her and sweeping his hand down her throat to her breast, where he cupped her gently.
“Yes.” She was instantly breathless.
“Next time, perhaps.” He gave her a wicked smile. “Ready for climax number two? I find I am nearly to my breaking point with all this talk of cravats and torment.”
“I’m ready, Acton.” She clasped his neck and brought his head down for a searing kiss. His hand moved down between them, finding her sex with languid strokes. Her flesh was swollen with desire, eager for more of him.
She opened her legs and lifted them, bringing her knees up.
“That’s a good girl.” His hand left her sex and a moment later, she felt the tip of his cock against her. “Here I come.”
He eased into her, moving slowly. Almost too slowly. She wanted to feel him deep inside her, at that spot he’d found with his fingers. The climax he’d wrought had been soul altering. She hadn’t known her body could come apart like that—or that it could go back together again.
She wrapped her legs around him as he pushed all the way in, filling her completely. He kissed her then, his lips and tongue caressing her mouth as his hips began to move gently.
Kissing him back, she dug her fingers into the back of his head and clasped his back, relishing the feel of his muscles going taut as he moved over her.
After nearly leaving her, he thrust back inside, creating a delicious friction. “Again,” she bade him, desperate for more of the same. Faster, perhaps.
He continued with methodical thrusts, his hips snapping against hers. She clasped her legs more tightly around him, drawing him deeper as she rose up from the cot to meet him. His movements grew faster, less measured but just as precise. He kept hitting that spot inside her, expanding her pleasure. She cast her head back and gave herself over to the rhythm of him driving into her, their bodies becoming slick with sweat.
She was getting close to that second climax. It was just beyond reach.
Then his hand was between them again, his fingers pressing on her clitoris. He snagged his teeth on her earlobe and savagely kissed her neck before whispering, “Come for me, Persey.” His movements on her clitoris became more frenzied as his cock dove faster and deeper. She was spinning toward the light. Or was it darkness?
Whatever it was, she was there, her body breaking apart again. She cried out his name, clutching him tightly as wave after wave of ecstasy carried her to some distant place. She was still in the throes of her release when he left her.
His pressure on her clitoris slackened. Persey opened her eyes to see him holding his cravat over his cock as he stroked himself to completion. She hadn’t recalled her prior partner doing that. He’d spilled himself on her thigh and muttered an apology.
Acton grunted before rolling to the side. And onto the floor.
“Acton!” Persey rolled to the edge of the cot. He lay on the floor on his back, his eyes closed. His mouth curved into a spectacular grin. Persey’s heart flipped.
