“You’re so fucking pretty when you lie,” he murmurs, and then finally takes me with one hard stroke.

A gasp tears from my throat as his cock fills me completely.By the gods.There is no feeling in the world like having Basten inside me. My juices make our union slick, but he’s so big that it still stretches me in a way that brings both pleasure and pain. He takes a moment to bury his face in the crook of my neck, his cock sheathed to the hilt. Then he pulls out and thrusts in again.

I cry out, overcome by the pressure, and he clamps one hand over my mouth while supporting me with the other.

“Quiet,” he breathes. “You don’t want to alert the whole castle to the fact that I’m fucking Rian’s bride.”

But as he takes me against the wall with powerful thrusts, I can’t swallow my moans fast enough. He keeps his hand against my mouth to muffle my whimpers.

“That’s it,” he says, low. “Show me how much you like it. How you can’t fucking help but like it.”

I wrap my trembling thighs around him tighter, our slickness making it hard to hold on. The dress’s slits tear. The gown was already ruined—shredded by the rough stone wall, soaked in my desire.

His fingers dig into my ass as he thrusts hard and hot. Our skin slaps together even louder than my muffled moans. I can feel every inch of him sliding in and out of me. It triggers some madness in me that shuts off my brain and turns me into an animal. Gripping his shoulders, I lift my hips to match his thrusts.

“Nod your head,” he orders. “Show me you like it.”

My head bobs against his palm. In reward, he adjusts his stance and thrusts into me even deeper. I feel swollen, needy. A storm is growing in my lower half that I can’t stop. My thighs tighten as I rock my hips faster, calling to the storm. Wanting it. The heat is building so much that I can feel it coming to a head, and my pussy tightens around his cock.

“No,” he growls. “Not yet.”

He slides all the way out of me. He removes his hand from my mouth just in time for me to give an angry protest.

“Basten, please!” I pant, angry with him for making me beg.

“I said not yet.” He carries me to the bed, where he drops my ass down on the fur coverings. He stands over me, gazing at my splayed body in the torn, ruined dress, and then shoves my knees apart, putting my core on full display.

He drops to his knees at the foot of the bed, his lips parted, and as it dawns on me what he has in mind, my eyes go wide.

“Oh no,” I say. “Notthat. It’s too much. I can’t take it!”

The last time he licked my pussy, I shattered into a million pieces. I’m afraid this time, I won’t be able to put myself back together again.

He gives me a pitiless look as he lowers his mouth to my core. “Talk less when I fuck you.”

He’s merciless as he licks and sucks my swollen core. His tongue laps at my outer folds, caressing the curves. He lays his tongue flat to lick me from bottom to top, then captures my clit between his lips and sucks.

I cry out, then clamp my hand over my mouth to keep myself quiet. My heart is scrambling wildly. Any minute, Rian could come to the door looking for me. Or Brigit could enter through the servant’s door to prepare the room for the night. We can’t be caught. There’s no telling what sick game Rian would punish us with.

But the pressure is building too fast. The storm is coalescing, aching to burst. Basten pushes a finger inside me, stroking my insides deeply while simultaneously sucking on my sensitive bud.

That’s all it takes. The storm bursts. A wave of dousing pleasure drenches me like I’ve been swept underwater. My brain goes numb as I’m caught in the storm’s thrall. I’m weightless, like campfire embers coasting toward the stars.

My head falls back against the quilt, throat opening to let ragged breaths tear out of me. As my knees fall to the side, my body utterly spent, Basten wipes his mouth with the back of his hand and then unbuckles the baldric belt around his waist that holds up his sword, the last of his armor. He lets the sword clatter to the floor.

I realize why when he crawls on top of me with a look that tells me he isn’t even remotely finished with me, and that he needs full range of movement to accomplish what he has in mind. My breath catches in my throat.

“I can’t come again,” I pant. “Not yet.”

“You can, sweetheart. You will.”

He starts kissing the hell out of me. Arching my back, I lean like a cat into the hard planes of his muscles. He wraps a hand around my bowed back, then without warning, flips me over until I’m on my stomach.

“Basten! What are you—” My words die as he shoves the torn skirt out of the way, exposing my bare ass to the room’s cool air. He grabs my hips and lifts them high so that I’m on my knees with my elbows on the bed.

His hands knead my ass cheeks, holding my hips prisoner with an iron grip. I realize he wants to fuck me like this, rutting from behind like an animal.

“This pussy belongs to me,” he growls. “Do you understand? No other man touches it. Not Rian. No one.”