Chapter 14
CHAPTER 14
L ust surged through Jasper’s veins, his heart racing and his cock throbbing. Maria nipped at his lips, and he moaned. Christ , but the woman’s kisses drove him nigh mad with desire.
His tongue tangled with hers once more, the warmth and sweet flavour of her sending a jolt of heat to his groin.
“My God, Maria,” he groaned, sliding his hands down her back to cup her arse.
Without him having to urge her, she ground her pelvis against his hard length, and his knees very nearly buckled. He’d come off that morning in the fog with her, and yet his body was reacting as though he hadn’t been touched in months.
Maria pressed her lips to his neck then flicked his earlobe with her tongue before giving it a nip. He growled. Growled , for fuck’s sake.
With his right hand, he lifted her leg by the knee and hooked it over his hip, thrusting his hips gently into her soft flesh. She cried out, her head dropping back and exposing the length of her neck—and the angry-looking wound there.
“I need you inside me, Jasper,” she said on a moan.
The urge to toss her over his shoulder, deposit her onto his bed, and rut into her like an animal was incredibly tempting. But he was not an animal, and she deserved a damned sight more than that.
“I would be delighted to bring you pleasure,” he said, his breathing rough and his voice far deeper than he recalled hearing it before. “If you wish for your maidenhead to remain intact?—”
She shook her head brusquely. “The postulation of virginity was created by men to ensure that brides were untouched by another man before him. My only concern is for my happiness.”
A rush of possessiveness and lust crashed through his veins, and his grip tightened on her. The woman veritably embodied radicalism, but knowing now what he did about her, it didn’t surprise him. She also posed an excellent argument, one he had no intention of disputing. “Then I shall endeavour to make you happy.”
* * *
All at once, their lips connected, their breath mingled, and Maria’s pulse buzzed with anticipation and desire. She clung to him, wrapping her arms around his impossibly sturdy shoulders and lifting one leg about his hip for better friction as she rubbed herself against the erection straining his falls.
She gasped at the contact, and yet she still burned for more.
Maria’s stomach swooped with uncertainty, but determination took the fore. She knew what she wanted, and he wanted her, too.
Without thought, she traced an explorative touch along the hard ridge of him.
He hissed a breath, his head thrown back and the muscles in his neck bulging. “ Christ , Maria.”
Her body heated further at the sight of him. She was causing this reaction in him, and it was entirely empowering.
With a heated glance, Maria slowly unfastened the undamaged hooks of her costume. Jasper’s breath came quick as he followed the movement with his gaze. She let the costume drop to the floor and she nudged it aside with one foot. Next, she reached for her front-lacing stays.
“Allow me,” Jasper said gruffly.
Despite the slight tremble to his fingers, Jasper made quick work of her stays, and those, too, dropped to the floor. Her stomach fluttered and her core swelled with heat as Jasper worked. Each brush of his fingers and molten flicker of his gaze had her pulse speeding and her breath coming faster. Soon, he’d slipped down her petticoats and Maria had toed off her slippers, until she stood only in her chemise and stockings.
His gaze was hot and hungry, and her body responded in kind. Now it was her turn.
With determined movements, Maria unfastened the buttons of Jasper’s waistcoat, relishing the feel of his body against the backs of her fingers. A low groan vibrated through his chest as she slid the heavy, warm material from his shoulders and left him in only his gaping shirt.
Impatience tore at her. She’d felt parts of him before, but she was nigh desperate to get at his chest. The teasing glimpses that she’d had that evening were not nearly enough to assuage her curiosity. Her desire.
In one swift motion, she pulled his shirt over his head and dropped it to the floor with his coat and waistcoat. And her heart all but flew out of her chest.
His hair was endearingly mussed, his shoulders broad, and his body…
Tracing her fingertips along the expanse of his pale torso, through the thick, dark, downy curls that spread across his chest, she followed the narrowing line that encircled his navel and disappeared beneath the waist of his breeches.
He was entirely breathtaking.
Jasper grunted and reached for her, pulling her tightly against his chest and taking her lips in a passionate kiss. Starting at her thighs, he slid his palms up her sides, slowly gathering the material of her chemise.
She smiled against his lips, and her belly gave another little flutter.
“Lift,” he whispered, raising the bunched cotton yet higher.
Maria obeyed, raising her arms over her head as he removed her chemise altogether.
Finally free of her restrictive skirts, Maria clutched Jasper’s shoulders and, with a short jump, wrapped her legs around his waist. He gave a muffled grunt of shock against her mouth before clutching her close, one hand on her thigh and another on her bottom.
The heat of his soft yet hair-roughened skin warmed her everywhere they touched, and it sent tingles of awareness through her abdomen. He shifted his grip on her, and the bulge of the erection trapped behind his trousers rubbed into her sex, pulling a cry of pleasure from deep within her.
All at once, she lay upon his bed with Jasper hovering over her, his body half in shadow from the golden rays of the flickering firelight.
Maria’s uncertainty came roaring back, clouding her thoughts with reminders of the softness of her belly, the width of her hips, the freckles that sprinkled her body, and the jagged scar that ran along her hip and waist from when she’d fallen from a tree as a child. That feeling, however, was short-lived in the face of Jasper’s scrutiny.
His heated gaze travelled the length of her body and back, slowly taking her in.
“ My God ,” he breathed. “I need to taste you.”
“Taste me?”
His lips quirked in a devilish grin before he positioned himself lower on the bed and spread her legs wide.
“Jasper!” she whispered, sudden embarrassment heating her chest and neck. “What are you?—”
His grin widened and he leaned forward to flick his tongue over her cleft. Maria hissed in a breath as shock and pleasure jolted through her.
Settling in, Jasper lowered to his elbows and gripped her arse in both hands, deepening his attentions. Swirl, lick, flick .
She tilted her hips toward him, seeking more of his touch. And he readily obliged.
Sensation rocketed through her as he combined intimate licks with flicks of his tongue. Her body buzzed, her pulse raced, and a keening moan pushed its way up from her chest.
Jasper growled, the heat from his breath adding to her pleasure.
Her hands found purchase in his hair, gently stroking through the silken strands as he devoured her. Swirl, lick, flick .
He shifted and let out another growl before she felt a gentle probing. His finger slid in easily, drawing out a sigh of satisfaction from Maria.
“So wet , Maria,” he murmured against her. “So good.”
His words barely registered in her mind because his finger began to thrust and curve in tandem with his mouth.
“ Oh ,” she gasped. “ Jasper .”
He licked in earnest, swirling and flicking his tongue around her sensitive clitoris while he fucked her with his fingers. Maria rocked her hips in time with Jasper’s movements. Pleasure rose, tingling through her limbs and speeding her pulse. Her paroxysm built, the coil tightening.
Starting in her stockinged toes, tingles raced up her legs to gather in her core.
“ More, Jasper,” she breathed. “I’m so close.”
He let out a low groan.
She was panting, nearly dizzy from his ministrations, when abruptly, the coil broke. Pleasure burst through her, stiffening her limbs and causing lights to dance behind her eyelids. Her head pressed back against the pillow, her back arching off the bed as a cry of gratification itself tore from her chest.
She heard a low curse and the sound of fabric shifting. She blinked as he rose up the bed to cover her once again.
“Maria, you…” He trailed off, but his gaze was blazing before he took her lips in another searing kiss.
The flavours of tea and her musk lingered on his tongue, and she returned his kisses fervently, somehow relishing the taste of herself on him.
The tip of his bared erection pressed insistently against her hip, and a thrill raced through her body. Not only was he still very eager for her, but he had removed his trousers! Her inner core throbbed with want.
His eyes were molten in the firelight, his gaze intense as it traced the lines of her body. “Maria, you’re…” he said gruffly, before swallowing, his throat bobbing.
“As are you,” she noted on a whisper, her own gaze travelling over his form. He was soft from a life of leisure, but also muscled from pugilism and fencing. His muscular body was much like Greek statues that she had seen: toned and sleek, but also soft, and entirely arousing.
The muscles in his arms and shoulders bulged as he dipped to take one of her nipples into his mouth.
Pleasure rocked her, and she instinctively arched into him.
With a hum of satisfaction, he began an exploration. Every curve, dip, and ripple of her body was explored by his lips, his tongue, all while he teased her with delicious languid touches to her throbbing cleft. Needing the contact, she touched him as well, tracing the skin of his shoulders and running her fingers through his hair. She watched his body while he moved, his heavy erection hanging stiffly between his legs and his ballocks drawn up tightly.
“ More ,” she moaned. “Take me, Jasper. I need you inside me.”
His lips took hers on a groan as he positioned himself at her opening.
Breathless, Maria spread her legs wider, eager for what was coming.
“Wait,” he muttered.
Maria’s heart plummeted as he scrambled sideways to reach in his bedside table’s drawer.
“Aha!” He grinned, holding aloft a strange sort of sausage casing with ribbon on one end. “A condom.”
Relief washed over her. She knew of condoms, had heard them discussed, but had never before seen one.
He gestured vaguely with the thing dangling from his pinched fingers. “It’s meant to protect against?—”
“I know, Jasper,” she said, a laugh bubbling through her words.
He blinked. “You do?”
“Of course. I read books…”
One of his eyebrows lifted as he returned her grin, slid the casing over his erection, and fastened the bow at the bottom. He then retrieved a jar with trembling fingers and opened it to reveal a fruity-smelling substance.
“Allow me?” she asked softly, nerves and desire weaving through every rapid beat of her heart.
His cock bounced and his throat bobbed, but he nodded, extending the jar to her.
Maria dipped her fingertips inside and took her time in spreading it over his length, earning a hissed breath from him when she gave him a hard stroke.
* * *
Jasper’s cods drew up and he moaned as pleasure shook him. “ Fuck , Maria. I’ll spend if you continue that.”
She released him with a smirk. “Take me, Jasper.”
His gut tightened in anticipation as he positioned himself at her entrance. He wanted this, wanted her so desperately, but…
He gave a swift shake of his head, and in one fluid movement, rolled them over so that Maria straddled his hips. Damn , but seeing her in this position was erotic.
She eyed him questioningly, her palms bracing on his chest, and his heart hiccoughed.
“Like this,” he ground out. “I’ve no wish to hurt you. This way, you will set the pace.”
Guiding her with his hands, he urged her to lift onto her knees and take him inside while he positioned his cock with one hand. She nodded her understanding and slowly sank down onto him.
“ Fuck ,” he growled.
Her dampness smoothed the way along her passage, letting him slip in. A thrill raced up his spine at the intimate knowledge that he was inside Maria .
“Are you well?” he panted.
She nodded. “Yes. It’s just so… full .”
Fuck, yes .
A low moan escaped her as she slowly sank down, digging her fingertips into his chest—and no doubt leaving marks that he would relish for days to come. At last, she was fully seated.
Heat surrounded him—even through the condom, the slick wetness of her hot cunny had him nearly coming off.
“Christ, Maria, you’re so hot,” Jasper groaned. “So tight.”
Her breathing slowed until he slipped his thumb over her clitoris and swirled lazy circles. She arched in pleasure, chasing his touch and riding his cock inside her. Sparks of pleasure rushed through Jasper, but he kept himself still, waiting until Maria was ready.
“ Oh ,” she breathed wonderingly.
“Yes,” Jasper grunted.
He gripped her hip in one hand while his other teased her.
Then she started to move. At first with hesitation, and then with growing need, her hips first rocking, and then pumping and grinding against him. A small part of him wanted to take over, to thrust into her until they both found completion, but watching her take her pleasure on him was far headier than anything he could do.
Fingers twitching and tangling with the springy hairs on his chest and digging deeply into his muscles, Maria chased her own desire. She canted her hips and sank down on him over and over again, and Jasper’s heart soared.
The room was filled with the sound of their slapping flesh, panting breaths, and cries of delight as she rode him. His release was close to the fore, waiting to be set free. But he wouldn’t come until she’d had her pleasure a second time that evening.
He worked his thumb in earnest, circling her delicious little nub as she sought her release. Her chest and neck were flushed, her eyes half-lidded as she kept her gaze locked on his. Holy sodding hell .
“Jasper,” she said breathlessly. “I’m going to—” Her words broke off on a cry, her head thrown back as her cunny squeezed around him.
“ Fuck ,” Jasper said gutturally.
He thrust up into her once, twice, and then stilled as sparks ignited in his blood, his cock throbbing and pulsing within her as he came apart. Panting, he urged her down into the circle of one arm at his side, and she rested her head upon his sweat-slicked shoulder.
“My God,” he breathed. “That was…” More than I’ve ever felt before.
Maria huffed a breath, then lifted her head to rest her chin against his chest. “You’re speechless, then?”
“Utterly.”