Page 69 of As the Earl Likes
“Now.” She bent her legs and tugged at his shoulder. Then she reached down between them and searched for his cock. She would bloody well do this herself if she had to.
Sheff laughed as he moved up her body. He caught her hand and put it around his shaft. “You want this? Where?”
“In my pussy. With due haste.” She arched her brow at him.
“Jo, I adore you,” he said with a laugh before kissing her soundly.
Their hands worked together to position him at her sheath, then he thrust into her, one long, smooth glide that filled her to perfection. Jo curled her legs around him and sighed, her eyes closing in bliss.
“Yes, this,” she whispered.
“Should I move, or is this enough?”
She opened one eye. “Moving would be nice, don’t you think?” She rotated her hips against his, and he groaned loudly, his eyes shuttering briefly.
“God, Jo. I couldn’t hold still if you begged me.” He began to move, pumping into her with deep thrusts.
Jo muttered nonsensical things as they moved together, creating a delicious friction that sent her careening toward release. She worked to hold it back, to revel in this act with him. Digging her heels into his backside, she caressed his back, then brought his head down for a long, lingering kiss, their tongues mimicking the roll of their bodies.
He brushed her hair back from her face, and she opened her eyes to see him staring down at her. He thrust hard and deep. She cried out.
“Faster now,” she said softly, pressing her feet into him, urging him.
He brushed his lips against hers and braced his hand on the bed as he drove hard and fast into her. Her orgasm was imminent, the darkness curling around her, pulling her inexorably into ecstasy.
She exploded with light and joy, her body going stiff as waves of pleasure held her aloft. A few more strokes, and then he was gone. His warm seed sprinkled over her abdomen, but she was mindless, not that she would have cared. It was necessary.
Somehow, she managed to find his cock with her hand, joining his to finish him as he cried out her name. It was several minutes before their bodies calmed. He slid to the side and pulled the covers over them both before cradling her in his arms. He kissed her forehead, her cheek, then her lips.
Jo stroked his cheek as they kissed, her body thrumming with a bone-deep satisfaction. That was, without question, the best sexual experience of her life. It was both wondrous and terrifying.
Because it would never happen again.
A dark, hollow sensation formed in her chest, as if a hole were opening. She didn’t want that. She didn’t want what it meant either, that she felt strongly about this man in her arms. Too strongly.
Their lips broke apart, and they were slightly breathless. He caressed her shoulder, and she burrowed her face against his warm neck, inhaling his spice and sandalwood scent.
What had he said just before he’d come into her?
Jo, I adore you.
He’d laughed as he said it, proving it didn’t mean love or anything close to that. He was just in love with what she was saying and doing, with this particular moment in time.
Yes, she was in love with it too. That was acceptable. That was safe. Anything else was not.
Except she feared that “anything else” was already happening, that she’d grown too attached. She would miss him horribly, she realized. And she would miss their ruse.
But she would not miss certain Society events, she reminded herself. Or the people in Society. Namely, his mother. Yes, she would do well to keep all that at the forefront of her mind if she grew maudlin in his absence.
“Can I stay for a while?” he asked.
“I said you could stay the night.” Perhaps there would be one more chance for intimacy before he left. But she wouldn’t ask for it. She’d already demanded too much.
Neither of them wanted more than this. She needed to remember that.
Sheff somehow woke while it was still dark despite enjoying the best sleep of his life. He never slept with his sexual partners. But nothing had ever felt as right as surrendering to slumber while he held Jo in his arms.
He listened to her even breathing as he inhaled her citrus-and-floral scent. Her hair smelled particularly wonderful. And it was soft against his cheek. He smiled to himself.
