Page 53 of To Hunt a Demon King

He stepped back a little, moving to the buttons of the blouse and looking at me with a raised brow, as if waiting to see if I would object. When I didn’t, he began carefully unbuttoning the blouse, taking his time with each button until I was ready to rip the damn thing off.

“The waiting makes it better,” he said to me, a smirk playing across his lips when he noted the tension in my shoulders.

“How many times have you done this?” I asked breathlessly as he released the last button and drew the blouse down my arms. I was wearing a simple silk camisole underneath, and it didn’t leave a whole lot to the imagination. My breasts were smallish, not really needing that much in the way of support, so my undergarments were loose and simple. Carnon palmed a breast over the silk, toying with a tiny strap until it slipped down my shoulder.

“This meaning…?” he asked, still smirking at me between soft kisses to my jaw and ear and neck. He was making me blush despite the fact that I was really trying to seem like less of a blushing virgin, and he knew it.

“Ahh, look,” he added, kissing down my shoulder. “More freckles.”

“Sex,” I said, the word coming out a little unsteady. “Am I dealing with a master or a novice?”

He chuckled darkly, moving to my other shoulder. “I’m more experienced than you,” he admitted, sliding the other strap down and gently kissing each freckle that dotted my collarbone. “But not as much as many would believe. I have a reputation that I definitely don’t deserve.”

I frowned, wanting to ask more, but got sidetracked when Carnon gently but firmly pushed me to sit on the bed.

“Wait,” I said, unclasping Mama’s necklace. It felt odd to take it off after wearing it for so long, but it was heavy and I really didn’t want anything to be in the way between us.

“I’m not giving this to you yet,” I warned, handing him the stone. “So don’t get any ideas.”

“I would never,” he said, grinning as he took the necklace. He placed it gingerly on the desk and returned to stand in front of me, cupping my cheek in his hand.

“Now where were we?” he asked, brushing a chaste kiss over my lips. “That’s right. Freckles.”

He knelt before me, taking one breast, camisole and all, into his mouth while he used a hand to tease the other.

“Oh,” I gasped out, the new sensation surprising and delighting me. Carnon pulled back.

“Oh,” he agreed, turning his attention to the other breast. I probably should have cared about the state of my camisole, but it was very hard to.

“I’m going to take this off you now,” he said, his hands drifting to the hem of the undershirt. He waited until I nodded, raising my arms for him to pull the shirt from me.

“Gods,” he rasped, cupping my breasts in his hands and caressing each nipple with his thumb. They looked ridiculously small in his large hands, and I blushed again.

“They’re not much…” I began.

“They’re fucking perfect,” he interrupted, taking one peaked nipple into his mouth. It was warm and wet, and the flick of his tongue over the sensitive flesh did terrible things to me. “Don’t you dare criticize my new friends.”

I laughed a little, relieved that he was trying to keep this light. Fun. Fun was good. Fun was safe.

“No freckles here though,” he teased, moving to the other breast.

I allowed myself to put my hands in his hair as he explored, enjoying the bristling feeling of the side that had been shaved closer to his skull contrasting with the soft strands on the longer side. He looked up, eyes luminous as he gazed at me.

“Time for these,” he said, tapping my hips gently with his fingers before moving his hands to the laces of my trousers. I took a calming breath. Already I was more bare before a man than I had ever been before, and I felt silly that this next part felt like so much more.

“You first,” I said suddenly, a permanent flush settling onto my cheeks.

Carnon paused his assault on my laces and looked back up, grinning wickedly. “As my lady wishes,” he agreed, standing to his full height and pulling the shirt over his head. The motion made me gasp as his firm chest and shoulders were finally out on full display. Before I had any time to admire him, for he truly was sculpted as if out of marble, he unlaced his trousers, pulling them down without ceremony.

Again, I was not completely ignorant of the male body. But this…I felt my heart speed up a little. A lot. This was far more…just…more than I had expected. He wore no undergarments, his arousal impossible to hide. I had never seen a man’s privates except in books before, and a strange part of me wanted to inspect them and learn their anatomy. Carnon did not grant me the opportunity.

“Your turn,” he said, returning to kneel before me completely nude as he returned to the laces. He pulled them down gently, letting me have time to change my mind if I wanted to. I didn’t.

Unlike him, I had worn undergarments, and I didn’t think they were the kind that were used for seduction. They were boring and functional, but something in him stilled like a predator when he took me in, almost completely bare before him.

“Gods,” he rasped again, placing his hands on my hips and running his thumbs over the edges of the garment. He was still on his knees before me, and the look on his face was that of a pilgrim finally arrived to worship at the feet of a saint.

“You are…” he swallowed, eyes darting over me like he wasn’t sure where to look. “Another freckle,” he murmured, kissing my hip tenderly. He glanced up at me again, face serious, none of the teasing banter between us at this moment.

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