Page 55 of Wynter's Bite

Justus broke the kiss, but her whimper of disappointment changed to a moan of desire as he trailed kisses down her jaw before nibbling on the sensitive place between her shoulder and neck. The heat in her belly spread to the juncture between her thighs, making her hips arch against his. The hardness she felt pressing into her leg turned the heat into a throbbing ache and she longed to feel it at the source of her need.

“Justus,” she gasped. “Please.”

“We shouldn’t,” he whispered against her ear, but didn’t pull away.

“Yes, we should.” She tugged his shirt out of the waistband of his trousers and ran her nails up his bare back. “I’m in a place I love with the man I love. I don’t want to experience this with any man but you.”

His head snapped up to look at her, eyes suddenly vulnerable yet full of hope. “You do love me?”

She laughed and cupped her cheek. “Of course I do, you silly vampire.” Her heart thudded against her ribs as the solemnity of the moment overwhelmed her. “Now please, Justus. Make me yours.” When he hesitated, she frowned. “Or am I too old now?”

His shoulders shook with laughter and he seized her hand and pressed a kiss to her palm. “Not at all. I’m still nearly two hundred years your senior. When we first met, I felt guilty for my attraction to you after learning you were only seventeen. Now you are what, five and twenty?”

She nodded, relief washing over her that he did not think her to be on the shelf.

He continued, interspersing his words with kisses. “Now you are fully a woman... completely... perfect...” His hand slid down to cup her breasts. “...in all the right places.”

She arched her back at his touch, never imagining that someone grasping her bosom could feel so delicious. He then reached behind her back and unfastened her gown. As he undressed her, he kissed every inch of flesh he exposed. Bethany writhed beneath him, fumbling for the buttons on his shirt.

Once they were both naked, they paused for a prolonged moment, devouring the sight of each other. Kneeling above her, Justus looked like a mythological deity descended from Olympus, with his alabaster skin, lean, chiseled muscles, and nimbus of rich red hair framing his angelic face and emerald eyes. The sprinkle of freckles across his shoulders and the fine red-gold hairs on his body rendered her rapt with fascination.

“You’re so beautiful,” she breathed. Even the alarming length of his shaft— much larger than the diminutive members in Greek paintings— held its own allure.

He chuckled. “I’m a scrawny ginger. It is you who are exquisite. You’d make Botticelli weep. His fingers danced over her supine body, eliciting new delightful sensations she’d never imagined.

When he cupped her mons, his thumb sliding across the most tender part of her, Bethany cried out at the electric sensation and reached up to explore him. The combination of the silken softness of his skin and the steely hardness beneath its surface captivated her almost as much as his groans of pleasure when she stroked him.

“Enough,” he whispered and lay down, propping himself up on his elbows. “I’ll go mad if I don’t have you now.”

His weight atop her was more delicious than she’d imagined, a wonder of closeness. Bethany brushed his hair from his face, meeting his gaze in silent entreaty.

His eyes searched hers with silent entreaty. “Are you ready?”

She took a deep breath and shifted her hips beneath him, gasping at the feel of the tip of him brushing against her moist, sensitive flesh. “Yes.”

His hard length pressed against her entrance. Bethany held her breath, ready, but wary of the culmination of their joining.

“I love you,” he whispered before sliding inside her just an inch.

Bethany twined her arms over his shoulders, feeling his heartbeat against hers. The feel of him was daunting, but not the bloody agony she’d heard of. “More,” she dared to whisper, wanting all of him.

“Not yet,” he whispered. “It would cause you pain.” But he did slide in a bit further before withdrawing and repeating the process. Gradually he increased the depth of his thrusts until Bethany felt swollen and aching with need. When at last he was fully inside her, she breathed a sigh of contentment, feeling somehow complete.

“I love you,” he repeated, remaining still yet holding her close.

“I love you too.” Her hips shifted to adjust to the feeling of fullness, which only brought forth a tempest of new sensations.

Justus’s breath hitched near her ear as he moved slowly within her, an intoxicating rhythm that rose to a drugging tempo. Bethany clung to him and wrapped her legs around his waist, crying out for more.

His hands slid to cup her buttocks, guiding her into an angle that made all of her sensitive points sing with pleasure. They rocked together in a rising dance that made all the new exciting sensations climb higher and higher.

The rising tide of intense sensations crested and spilled over in a flood of ecstasy. She cried out Justus’s name and he held her tighter, guiding her through the storm of his lovemaking. For what felt like the juxtaposition of eternity and mere seconds, she rode the wave of pleasure, before he growled and shuddered within her.

“My God,” he whispered, “I never expected it to be so intense.”

She nodded and they held each other in blissful silence until the sky began to lighten. Then Justus carried her upstairs to the room they’d been given and set to covering the windows before slipping in beside her in the curtained bed.

Bethany supposed she should feel ruined, but instead she felt fulfilled. Even more importantly, she felt hope.

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