Chapter 25 #2
His mouth closed over her nipple, sucking a moan out of her as heat pooled between her thighs and her hips bucked. When his fingertips brushed against her secret bud, she thought she might explode right there, so overcome with want that she feared she might go mad if he did not claim her.
Indeed, emboldened by the sudden, fierce rush of pleasure that burst like fireworks in her stomach, she reached for the fastenings of his trousers.
As he held himself up on his arms, she tugged those tight trousers down the contours of his muscular backside and powerful thighs, until he kicked them off, along with his boots.
Oh… oh, goodness…
Glancing down, she swallowed thickly. A mystery had been revealed, intimidating and exciting in equal measure, the sight of his manhood making her sex pulse with anticipation.
It would be one way to solve my problem, she reasoned, knowing that if she gave herself to him now, she would be ruined in the eyes of society. And not caring at all if she was. Perhaps, it was a kind of madness, but she needed to feel him more than she had ever needed anything in her life.
Before, she had never understood what ‘giving oneself to a man’ entailed, but after all he had already taught her about pleasure, she could guess.
Anxious that she might talk herself out of what might happen next, she wrapped her arms around Adrian. He kissed her with renewed fervor, his breaths hot and ragged as he began to slowly rock his hips, the heat of that hard flesh gliding across her bundle of explosive nerves.
“Oh, Adrian… yes… oh, God, yes!” she cried out, her head swimming at the grip of ecstasy that tightened its hold upon her.
He took his time, the ebb and flow of his hips, his manhood, pushing through the slick folds of her, teasing her until she did not know how much longer she could bear the anticipation.
For a moment, there was pressure against the entrance of her silken depths, his hips pulsing slightly, that feeling echoed against that secret part of her.
Spurred on by something primal and feral within herself, she tilted her own hips up to draw him inside her.
“Oh… oh…” she panted, her fingernails digging into his upper arms as, for half a second, she felt him begin to ease into her.
The next second, he pulled away, his mouth bruising hers with the most intense kiss, before he began to trace his kisses down her neck, exploring all of her once more.
Fleetingly, Valerie wondered if she had done something wrong, her slick well still eager to feel him.
But as his kiss found its way between her thighs, his tongue tasting her swollen bud, she soon forgot any disappointment or doubt.
If she had done something wrong, he would not be continuing at all; he would have turned her out of his study altogether.
Perhaps, he is a gentleman after all…
Maybe, her reason for wanting to proceed was the reason he had not, so that she would not be ruined.
“Yes, Adrian…” she moaned, her back arching up off the rug, her body glistening with sweat as his tongue worked its magic upon her bundle of nerves.
And when his fingers eased into her, it was as if he had never pulled back at all, granting her that same satisfaction. Indeed, the anticipation had risen to such tremendous heights that it was not long before that wave of pure bliss crashed through her.
She relished every second, trembling with the might of that majestic euphoria, her very soul alight with the force of it.
And when it ebbed, as it had to, she lay back on the rug and waited for Adrian’s burning kiss.
A slow, lingering kiss that tied a bow around the pleasure he ignited within her.
A gift she would cherish for the rest of her life, regardless of where fate placed her.
“Does this mean I am forgiven?” she murmured as she held him against her, savoring that singular delight of feeling his bare skin against hers.
She had been right before; she needed no fire as long as she had him to warm him.
Adrian kissed her again and propped himself on his elbows to look at her, the ghost of a smile upon his lips as he murmured back, “For now.”
What a beast you truly are.
Adrian watched Valerie as she dressed herself, marveling at the divine beauty of every curve that he had kissed, while furious with himself that he had almost stolen her honor.
If he had not reined his discipline in at the final moment, he knew he would have claimed her and it would have undone him entirely.
It was not how close he had come to making love to her that perturbed him, but the fact that he would have done so without knowing anything about her.
She had listened to him and comforted him, but had he done the same for her?
Had he asked a single thing about her, aside from a cursory mention of siblings?
Indeed, she had alluded to the fact that she, too, had lost a mother, but had he bothered to ask her about that? No.
He could not promise that he would be able to stop himself if they were to be thusly… entangled again, but, at the very least, he would know more about her before that could occur.
“Will you join me for dinner?” Valerie asked, a touch shy.
Still shirtless, and rather grim of temper, Adrian shook his head. “I have no appetite.”
“Oh… well then, I… suppose I will see you… uh… when I see you,” she said, clearly dismayed for the second time—perhaps, the third—that evening.
“Tonight,” he said abruptly, before he had a moment to talk himself out of it.
She frowned, her head tilting to one side. “Pardon?”
“When you have dined and whatnot, come to my chambers,” he replied. “I would have a nightcap with you.”
Her enchanting eyes widened, a smile forming where her disappointment had been. “Very well. I… shall see you then.”
With a slight spring in her step, she headed out of his study and left him alone in that stark room, his eyes fixed upon the place where he had almost made a terrible, delicious mistake.