67. Harper
67
HARPER
H e kissed down the column of her neck, cradling her skull in his palm, and pulled down the fabric of her dress draping across her shoulders so he could continue the trail across her collarbone. Her hands raked through his hair as the fabric fell, pooling at her feet. She was naked underneath. This wasn’t fair. She had to even the odds. This was twice now that she found herself bared before him— and she would have reciprocation.
Pulling his mouth up to hers, Harper teased his lips open, and Dimitri yielded to her, those sharp teeth of his grazing her tongue as she explored him with her mouth and her hands. She tugged his shirt open, teasing apart the buttons one by one—until his hands met her in the middle, having started at the bottom, and off that shirt came to join her dress.
Pulling back momentarily to admire his honed body, she ran her hands up the hard planes of his abdomen, across his chest, and over his broad shoulders. Dark ink stained his torso in a glorious swirl of shadow that shifted as she watched—writhing around the muscles of his shoulders, chest, and arms as though they had a life of their own. She dragged her fingers over him in wonder, and he shuddered, leaning into her touch as she wound her fingers up his neck, through his hair, and pulled him to her mouth once more.
Now, she dared to go lower. Her hands dipped to Dimitri’s waist, tracing over his navel—and continued until they found the satisfying warmth in his breeches. She cupped her hand there, squeezing against the growing hardness, and he gritted his teeth against her lips momentarily.
“Careful, huntress. Not so fast.” Dimitri captured her wanton hands and slid his fingers up her arms as he drew both to hang loosely around his neck. “Let me. I need to touch you. Please.” The need in his voice undid her.
“I’m right here. Touch me.” Her daring sent a thrill through her that shivered with every pound of her wanting heart.
“As you command it.” His mouth fused with hers again, his kisses hungry and passionate and his tongue and teeth a symphony of sensation as they teased her. He tasted of sweetness, spice, and everything forbidden. His hands palmed down her arms again and continued, briefly skimming over her breasts. She drew in a sharp breath at the contact—hot and sensitive—and then its loss to the cool air as he continued down and past her hips. His hands rounded her bottom where he squeezed, digging in his nails ever so slightly and sending a pulse of pain-edged pleasure through her. That warmth between her legs grew, and her breathing quickened. If he had yielded her mouth at all, she would have begged to be satisfied, for she wanted nothing more than for him to make her feel everything. Everything good to banish the all-consuming darkness that devoured them.
As if he knew her thoughts, one hand slid around to her front, caressing her belly and searching lower. A trail of shivers followed in its wake as she hissed with the unexpected sensation, and how intoxicating it felt wherever he touched her. His fingers slipped between her legs, and she bit his lip involuntarily from the explosion of feeling as he slid a finger along the sensitive folds there—and dove between.
Dimitri groaned. “You’re so wet for me, my huntress.” He rolled a finger around her slick clit, sending a crescendo of pleasure through her, as he pressed another kiss to her mouth and lavished her tongue with the attention of his lashing tongue in perfect rhythm to his hand. She attempted to draw a hand between them, but his free hand squeezed her backside in warning.
“Not yet.” He peppered her jaw with kisses, licking and sucking down her neck. “I want to last as long as possible with you. I will take whatever time we have for this, Harper.”
There was only a gasp by way of reply because she could not form words as he lavished attention on her breasts, taking one into his mouth, licking and sucking at her nipple, grazing it and nipping oh so gently with his teeth until it was hard and peaked for him, before giving the same thorough awakening to her other.
Dimitrius dropped to the floor. “Skies above, you bring me to my knees. I will never willingly kneel for another living thing. I will never yield in spirit to another. Only you.” Still, his hand swirled between her legs, and as he kissed down her stomach, it was all she could do to remain standing, her hands clutching at his hair, because each wave of pleasure he wrought threatened to undo her legs. She parted her thighs at the unspoken request—the slight pressure of his hands teasing them apart—and gasped when he pressed a gentle kiss to her core, following it with a lash of his wicked tongue.
Her legs trembled, and it was the strength of his arms holding her up as that tongue found her clit and licked again, sending a jolt of satisfaction through her. She needed more. This was just a tease, and her body felt aflame, every part of her begging to be stoked to the point of no return and the precipice of release.
Dimitrius surged to his feet and walked her backwards, chest to chest with her, until her calves hit the edge of the bed. “Damn it,” he growled, desire dark in his eyes. “I need you too much to be patient now.”
She fought with the buttons of his trousers—and won—stripping the garments down his legs. He kicked them away. Harper paused for a moment to admire the sight of him before her, naked for the first time. Tall, broad, honed with lean muscle—and his considerable length rock hard for her with a bead of liquid gleaming at the tip. Her mouth dried—and there came a fleeting urge to lick it.
Harper reached for him, but he caught her wrist before she could do more than graze the sleek tip. He pulled her closer, until her body was flush with his, and that wet, hard length pressed into her belly—and his next words were forced through gritted teeth. “Absolutely not—yet. I’m going to wring every ounce of pleasure from you first.”
Her stomach flipped and a rush of heat flooded her body at the sensuous promise of those words. She did not doubt him—and she wanted it with every pounding beat of her runaway heart. So, she let him push her back onto the bed, sitting on the edge and bracing herself on her hands, her head now level with that glorious cock standing proud for her. It vanished a moment later, for he knelt between her legs and pushed apart her knees. Her breathing quickened.
“Lay back.” The instruction was quiet, sure. She acquiesced without a word. What was he planning? She had her answer when his palms planed up her belly and down again before settling at her hips, pulling apart her legs yet more, so she was bared before him and the apex of her legs was utterly at his mercy. His hot breath ghosted the sensitive mound of skin there with a second’s warning before his mouth enveloped her clit—and she gasped at the sudden shock of sensation.
That ungodly tongue of his set to work, teasing and swirling around her clit, lavishing it with sleek broad strokes, every one of them sending her pleasure up to a higher plane. Then he quickened with needy laps, up and down her folds, before returning to that most sensitive spot at her clit. Her hands wound into the coverlet, twisting in the fabric as she let out a ragged moan. He sucked her clit into his mouth—and she went rigid, arching her back off the bed as he edged it with his teeth, sending a lightning edge through the rising tide of pleasure sweeping her away.
He hummed with satisfaction at her movement and the vibrations of his noise fused deep into her. His tongue followed. Down it brushed, and then into her wetness it speared—but his tongue was not enough. Not when it came to there. She gasped. “More. Please.”
One hand slipped free from her thigh, and a finger teased her entrance as his mouth enveloped her clit once more, lapping there as that finger stroked her, before sliding home. A second joined it, relieving some of the pressure building in her and Harper shuddered as the throbbing rhythm within her crescendoed to a point of unbearable pleasure. He curled his fingers inside her, brushing a spot that sent her to oblivion.
She shattered upon his tongue. Over the edge she plunged with a cry as he wrung her climax from her with every sweep of his hot tongue through her wetness and every pump of his fingers within her, curling them to hit that white-hot point inside that made her see stars.
It was not enough—still not enough. She needed more. She needed him. Harper pulled him up and he came, crawling onto the bed to hover over her. She kissed him fiercely, tasting herself upon his lips as the waves of her climax faded. Her thighs spread wide around him, Dimitrius settled between them, and she rolled her hips up to welcome him, melting anew as his hard length pressed against her soft, wet core that still ached for him.
“Mmm.” He bit down on a moan, and his eyes were narrow slits as they devoured her. “Still eager for more, huntress? Did I not sate you?”
She sent him a wicked glare of her own, a playful spark dancing through her. “Oh, you did—but I’m not done yet.” The need broke through her voice. “I want you. All of you.”
His throat bobbed. “Are you sure you want this, Harper? Because there’s no going back. Once we do this—you’re mine , and I’m never letting you go.”
She reached down between them and took his thick cock into her hand, her lips curling at the soft velvet feel of his shaft in her palm. He stopped breathing and his attention tightened upon her—the whole world fell away when he speared her in his gaze like that. She rolled her hips against him, feeling that slick, wet tip brush against her so deliciously, but he locked himself, holding firm, so she could have no more of him than that.
“Harper,” he breathed, the words rolling hot onto her mouth. “I’m warning you…”
She lifted her head and licked along the length of his jaw. He shivered against her. “Dimitrius,” she whispered into his ear. “You talk about claiming me—but I claim you. You’re mine. Now give yourself to me and make me yours.”
A carnal sound forced apart his lips and he closed the gap between them, lining up with her entrance and edging in just his tip. It was an agonising tease, the promise of more.
“Now. Please. I can’t take it anymore,” Harper said against his lips. Dimitri swallowed her cry as he slid home, seating himself within her as he took her mouth with a punishing kiss. Harper took a shuddering breath as she adjusted to the shocking pleasure of him inside her. Gloriously, perfectly stretched, he filled her all the way to the hilt and she clamped around him, soaking in the ripples of pleasure as his cock twitched inside her. With a shift of his body, he pushed in yet further, as far as he could, grazing her swollen clit as his body connected with hers.
“Mmmm.” He gritted his teeth, pausing for a moment as he hung over her, his nose nuzzling hers. “You feel so good. I never imagined it could be like this.”
She felt so sensitive, it was as though she could explode once again, and it took her breath away. She needed this as much as him. The distraction. The release. The all-consuming inferno. “More, Dimitrius. Don’t stop.”
“As you command.” He slid out, and the absence was a hollow void within her—but only for a moment, for he slammed home once more, burying himself. His pace quickened, rolling and deep, each stroke thorough and stoking something rooted inside her that promised that blinding glory once more. This was no gentle fuck, every stroke and every fierce kiss filled with desperation, urgency, and passion.
Dimitri thrust in and out, hitting that deep, primal spot inside her with every pump as they fully coupled. His mouth found hers again, his tongue seeking as one hand pinned her wrists above her head. The other gripped her throat, softening to caress it and slide down to her breast to squeeze and roll her nipple between his fingers, making her gasp into his mouth. He sunk to his elbows, bracing on either side of her head as their kisses became sloppier, their breathing harder. The distance between them vanished, until they were so close she could feel the pound of his heart rattling through her chest as that glorious inferno rose again.
“I can’t last much longer,” he grunted. “Gods be damned, you are perfection.”
“Good,” she gasped. She could hardly breathe. He plunged into her again and again, and that white-hot obliteration threatened, the intense wave building inside her, on the cusp of sweeping her away. She gave herself to it gladly. “Come with me.”
On the next thrust, Harper shattered again. She locked her legs around him and pulled him closer, calling his name as the world disappeared. Dimitrius groaned and stiffened as she broke on his cock, tightening and spasming around him—and he followed her over the edge with one last thrust, powerful and deep, as his own release found him and he gushed his seed into her. His strokes slowed as he buried his face into the crook of her neck, eventually stilling, but still fused with her body.
They remained like that, breathing heavily, their slick chests sliding together and with him still buried within her for a long moment. Harper’s eyes slid closed as he placed tender kisses where he rested against her neck, revelling in the hazy after-effect of her climax, and relishing in the settled warmth of him on top and inside her. In that moment, there were no regrets or misgivings over what they had just done—only a deep, certain satisfaction.
But, they could not remain like that forever. The cold of the world crept in around the edges of that warm cocoon. Dimitri slowly pulled out and she sighed at the loss of him as his length vanished and slickness from their mingled pleasure slid down her thighs. It felt glorious , and she wanted more.
“You are extraordinary,” he murmured, caressing her jaw with a knuckle. His eyes were bright with wonder as he regarded her. He leaned in to kiss her once more—so softly this time, it seemed as though it was someone else entirely. “If I die tonight, I shall go to my doom happy.”
Bitterness crept around her edges. “Don’t say things like that,” she whispered, sitting up. “Why would you say that?”
His expression clouded, and he pushed back from the bed and stood. He did not answer for a long moment as he retreated and donned his trousers.
Unease curled, tainting the afterglow. She felt suddenly exposed. “Dimitrius?”
“I think you know me well enough to call me Dimitri now, princess,” he said with half a smirk, but she saw at once it was one of his masks.
“Don’t do that. What aren’t you telling me?” She stood too, crossing her arms across her bare stomach.
His gaze flicked to the pile of fabric. “He’s back,” he admitted.
The white-hot fear that shot through her at his admission burned away the last embers of pleasure.
“He summons us both to attend to him.”
“When?”
Dimitri had the good grace to drop his gaze. “Since we have made other use of our time… Now.”
The walls closed in. Harper could not breathe. She sank onto the bed again. She could not bear to face Saradon—not again—and the walls closed in as her breath stalled for an entirely different reason. Any sanctuary she had found in those snatched moments with Dimitri was destroyed in the face of the truth. She was at Saradon’s mercy. And she could not save herself from him.