Page 65 of A Scandalous Kind of Duke

Take it,he wanted to say.Take whatever you want. Take it, take me, take everything.

But his voice wouldn’t work, and then her hair was a curtain unfurling around them as her mouth hovered over his. Oh, yes, to kiss her again. To spend their first day together just kissing. Their lovemaking was moving too fast. Too much. He wanted to—

“Tell me again that our friendship meant nothing,” she said, her tone taut and intense.

Leo blinked at her, confused. “What?”

“You said our friendship was of no consequence, merely duty, it meant nothing.” Her anger was palpable now. “You claimed it was never truly a friendship. Say it again now.”

“Say…” His voice failed him. He swallowed. Her thighs were tense on his, as if he were a wild stallion she needed to tame.

“I thought I was a friend to you, but you denied it,” she went on, in that low, intense voice. “So, say it again. Tell me our friendship was of no consequence. Tell me it wasn’t real.”

“I can’t.”

He lifted his hands, but she pressed them back down into the pillow. He had never felt so vulnerable, so exposed, not only his body but his very heart.

“Tell me you never cared and I’ll take you inside me. I’ll let you do anything you want to me. Just look me in the eye and tell me again our friendship meant nothing to you.” She shoved at his hands. “Say it, curse you.”

“Our friendship meant everything to me.” The confession poured out of him. “I lied in London. I called on you these past years because I wanted to see you. I needed to see you.”

She froze, as if stunned by his admission. Then her ferocity dissipated. Sorrow seemed to wash over her, as if she had wanted him to keep lying, so she could hate him just a little. Leo understood that. He understood how hatred and anger were essential sometimes, as the only protection against losing oneself.

“Oh, Leo,” she breathed, and sank down onto him, with a sigh.

* * *

Leo filled her completely.

Not only her body, but her heart, which suddenly seemed full of empty places for him to fill. The secret places where she ached alone, he filled them all. All those dark crooked corners where no one else ventured, he filled those too. Juno almost wept at the sublime wonder of their union. Her anger had risen unbidden, almost consuming her while she seized control and won his confession, but it was a hollow victory, because it did not change a thing. Their friendship was still over, he would still leave her to marry someone else, they still had no future together, and the world they lived in—the worlds between them—meant she had no choice but to let him go.

She had thought all she had wanted was to hear him admit the truth, but that small piece was not enough. Still she wanted more.

More and more and more.

He reared up, arrowing more deeply inside her, and claimed her mouth in a desperate kiss. Something had changed: His kiss seared her with a savage passion, new to them both. Yes! No more control! No more of his careful calm or cursed curation.

She wanted to release his wild heart.

She wanted to taunt him into forgetting himself, into taking what he wanted, and giving her nothing less than a piece of his soul.

“You make me wild,” she breathed. “Be wild for me too.”

He gripped her hips but, once more, she pinned his hands overhead. Once more, he let her.

She slowly slid up his shaft, then slowly, so slowly, slid back down. She tightened her muscles around him, reveling in the feel of him, in his harsh groans, in the ecstasy and agony painting themselves across his face. His hips rose, to thrust into her; she rose too, to deny him. This felt almost like a war, a war of attrition. She didn’t care.

Whatever happened next, she knew she would lose. But when she flew off that cliff, she would take him with her over the edge.

“Is this too tame for you?” She nipped his ear. “What a gentleman you are, Leo.”

She raked her nails down his inner arm, his bicep, down his ribs, his shuddering chest.

“Be careful what you ask for, Juno,” he warned in strained tones.

She laughed, low and breathy. “Cheap, easy words. You hide behind them like you hide behind embroidery and silk. Show me who you truly are.”

She lifted right off him, hovered over him, daring him with her eyes.

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