Page 55 of The Beast of Ashwood Manor

But I tried. Another minute. That’s as long as I could handle before my head fell back, and I let out a long moan as I leaned my hips back, forcing him to push his finger deeper within me. I placed my hand against his shoulder as my seed landed on his chest, and my whole body tensed as the pleasure racked my body.

Taking a shaky breath, I moved back and took Gil in my hand.

Gil removed his finger and leaned back with a sigh, holding me around my waist with his arm as I stroked him.

“You’re so big,” I whispered, catching his half-lidded eyes as they stared up at me. “I’m not sure I’d be able to take you or not.”

“Cale—” He shook his head, but since he hadn’t listened to me to slow down, I’d give him the same treatment.

“But that doesn’t stop me from imagining you inside me.” I came close to his lips, brushing against him. “Fucking me. Isn’t that what you want to hear me say?”

His eyebrow raised, his mouth falling open. Moving his hand up my chest, Gil gazed at me as he cupped my neck.

“If I told you,” I started, brushing against his lips and picking up the speed of my hand on him, “that I thought about your cock inside me instead of your finger, and that’s how I spilled so quickly, what would you think?”

“Shit.” His stomach muscles tightened, and when he let out a breath, his whole body spasmed, as if the pleasure was consuming him completely. Gil grabbed my head and crushed our lips together, grunting against me as he spilled his seed.

When he was spent, he slumped forward and leaned his head against my chest. He loosened his hold on me and took a few breaths. “What are you doing to me, Cale?” he whispered.

“I should ask you that. My nipple is very red, thanks to you.”

He craned his head up to look at me. When he looked down at my right nipple, red and bruised, he laughed. “Well, you’re the one who liked it so much.”

I smiled crookedly and looked away, but he tilted my chin back to the side with his fingers so our eyes could meet.

I caressed his stubbly cheek with my lips and kissed him gently. Then, as I rubbed his right arm, I noticed a mark there on the underside. Moving it, I looked at it, seeing two vertical dark lines and then a horizontal line going across it from the other way.

“What is this?” I asked.

“A tattoo,” he said quickly. He moved his arm away and propped his elbow up on the side of the tub, smoothing his hand over his hair.

My fingers found a scar on his chest, and I traced it. They seemed to be in several places, little lines here and there, discolored enough that I recognized there had been permanent damage. My heart ached thinking how he’d gotten them.

“Will you come back to my room?” I asked.

For a moment, I thought he would say yes, but instead, it was, “I’m tired, Cale. And after all this, I just want to sleep.”

Nodding, I moved off him. “You should probably actually . . . bathe, and then get some sleep, then.” I got out of the tub and dried off while he washed his hair and face.

By the time he was done, I was already dressed and ready to head for the door.

“Cale,” he said, leaning back in the tub, his arms propped up on the sides.

I looked back, unable to keep my eyes from darting down his body, but I quickly snapped them up to his face.

“Yes?” I asked, swallowing.

“You don’t have to worry about me. When I go into the forest, I promise you I will come back out.”

I raised my chin. “But what if you don’t?”

“I will.”

“You can’t promise that.”

“Iwill.”

Sighing, I nodded. I wouldn’t keep arguing with him, but I had a bad feeling that he felt he was invincible, and judging from the wound he’d suffered before, and with the newly gained knowledge of the barrier breaking, I knew that wasn’t true.

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