Chapter Eight
Eloise hovered between annoyance with the duke and white-hot need to have his hands on her body again, for she’d ruined being caught in a release by talking with him, but she was also distracted by the blindfold, at how everything felt different with not being able to see.
As she stood, sounds of splashing water followed by a grunt indicated James had gotten to his feet as well, then he left the bathtub. Seconds later, his hands were at her waist and he lifted her out, but instead of putting her on the floor, he shuttled her over to the bed and finally set her down.
“Give me a moment to remove my breeches,” he whispered against her lips.
She nodded as shivers chased over her skin. “I want to remove the blindfold so I can see you undress.” As of yet, she hadn’t seen him nude.
“Not tonight. There will be other opportunities.”
A huff of annoyance escaped her. “That isn’t fair, Blackhawke.”
“Such is life.” The odd, sucking sound of the duke removing his wet breeches reached her ears. “I know you are irked with me right now, but surviving a life that I have, one must not ever make the mistake of thinking there is a future.”
“Except there is. Why do you shy away from this?”
“It is a matter of protection.” Then he joined her again, pulled her close to his damp body, turned her about so that her back was to his front.
“If you have never experienced the darkness that brings depression and suggestion into the mind, it is difficult to explain.” With every word he spoke, his lips brushed her skin while he played his fingers up and down her arms. “However, I am glad you haven’t run from me in terror. ”
“There is no terror, but I do have fear of you occasionally.” Unable to help herself, Eloise reached between them, spread her fingers over his nearly flat belly in order to explore him. “Even if you unlock the door to my room, I’m not certain I’ll run.” At least it was the truth.
“Why?” James took her breasts in his hands and held them, squeezed them together, before teasing her hardened nipples with the pads of his thumbs.
Pleasure skittered through her veins. “There is something compelling about you that cries out to me, implores me to stay with you.” It was a weird juxtaposition indeed to have such a serious discussion while the man was caressing her, but the anticipation coiling in her belly forbade her from questioning it.
“You had mentioned my title before. It is those responsibilities that are just one thing pressing in on me.” The admission rang with truth and resignation. All the while he continued to fondle her breasts. “Don’t think to save me, Elli. It’s not possible.”
“Perhaps, but I can try to help where I can.” Heat infused Eloise’s cheeks. She rather liked his use of the shortened name. “James, I…” When she attempted to turn about and face him, he tsked his tongue and held her immobile.
“Not yet. Soon I’ll let you touch me, but in this moment, let me give you pleasure.” That recurring note of vulnerability in his voice proved the beginning of her undoing, for she nodded.
“All right.” A tiny squeak followed as he gave each nipple a small pinch. “Oh!” Tiny streaks of delight went through her body when he gently kneaded the flesh.
“Damn, I adore how you feel. You skin is so soft.” His voice rumbled in her ear; his breath warmed the side of her neck. “Being with you is almost an addiction.”
Interesting. She would have puzzled over his word choice, but he strummed his fingers over her nipples, and wild sensation bounced between those buds to lodge between her thighs.
“I… Oh!” Every touch and pass of his fingers sent her dancing ever closer to that shimmering edge of bliss.
“How is it possible you set me on fire and nearly send me flying so quickly?”
“Instinct, perhaps, but it is how you and I work together.” He pressed a line of feather weighted kisses along her nape. As he worried those sensitive tips, rolled them, he chuckled softly when she moaned and squirmed against him.
“Just take me already; I don’t know if I can last.” Impatient, she lifted an arm and wrapped a hand about his nape in an effort to hold him close.
The shift in position only put her breasts more firmly in his hands.
Words wouldn’t come; her brain simply refused to work on that level, so she gave herself into his care with a tiny sigh.
Dear God, she was drowning in him, in all of him, all that he was and everything he commanded.
It didn’t matter that he was doing this for his own entertainment or that there was no future between them despite their forced engagement.
Perhaps there didn’t need to be. It also didn’t matter he was dark and dangerous and frightening at times.
What they were doing in this moment was enough, and it was beyond her wildest imaginings.
“Foreplay is an art form, Elli, and something I also enjoy.” The duke worked to learn every secret she held by caressing various portions of her body.
Since she couldn’t see due to the blindfold, she didn’t know what he would do, and the anticipation was enough to enhance everything.
Just when she assumed she couldn’t bear the sensations any longer, he left off, but her reprieve was short-lived.
James slid his right hand down her body, over the soft swell of her belly, past her mons while the relatively cool air of the room wafted over her thighs and the lingering dampness leftover from the bath. “I want to feel you, taste you.”
The urge to feel his mouth between her thighs ran riot, and she nodded as she widened her stance while he wrapped his left arm about her waist. “Do it. I’ll take whatever you wish to give.” Did that make her sound desperate?
“I never know what you’ll say next. It’s part of the game, and I adore it.
” His fingers slid through her curls to glance along her sensitive flesh.
When she made a sound of encouragement, he licked the spot beneath her ear and lightly bit her earlobe.
“Relax into it, Elli.” As he spoke, he parted her flesh, and when he revealed the swelling pearl at her center, she sucked in a breath, for she was already near that edge.
He rubbed a finger over that button, and she shook from the feelings he invoked.
“Harder.” It was impossible to converse; with every swipe and circle to that part of her that would hurtle her into madness. Sensations swamped her, and as the duke rolled and lightly pinched a nipple to enhance his play, she shook from the heat cycling through her veins.
He made her body burn like no one else had been able to do, could command anything from her with just a touch.
She couldn’t explain it, didn’t want to, just wanted him, needed him to soothe her fears and calm her soul from the things she never spoke aloud.
Then, she became a being of feeling and reaction; it was something she didn’t think possible after that horrible time in France.
The longer the duke worried that nubbin, the more heated she grew.
Pleasure and need built and stacked inside her as if it would burst forth and consume her if only she could reach those heights.
“James, please…”
“Soon.” He increased his ministrations, and the varying degrees of friction sent her spinning closer to an edge where the exquisite torture would end.
The heat of him, the solid feel of him at her back, the tickle of his lips on her neck all worked with his fingers into carrying her away into a world where she could enjoy those sensations.
“Oh, oh, oh, I’m coming!” Urgency swished through her blood as her heartbeat increased.
Gooseflesh popped on her skin as her nipples tightened with need as she bumped her hips into his.
With each push backward, the hard evidence of his desire made itself known, and she couldn’t wait to feel him moving inside her.
The soft moans she’d uttered suddenly turned into a desperate cry of surprise as her world upended itself in the rush of something indescribable but exquisitely beautiful.
Her body stiffened for a few seconds before pleasure swamped her, took her away on its tide and left her as limp as cooked porridge.
Fluttering contractions filled her core and she gasped, for only he could make her body do that.
“God, you are spectacular.” James scooped her into his arms when she assumed she would sink to the floor. Then he joined her as she repositioned herself on the tick mattress, and the moment he came over her, she immediately set out to explore.
Because she couldn’t see, she smoothed her palms and fingertips over the breadth of his hard chest. “You are like a work of art.” The defined muscles and ridges she found on him were much like those on museum sculptures.
A small round scar marred the nip of his waist which gave way to narrow hips.
He remained still while she pushed her hands over his skin, followed the sprinkling of blond hair on his.
It formed a thin ribbon that culminated into a nest of curls from which his erect shaft sprang, but she didn’t touch him there yet.
Instead, she roved her fingers over his back, encountered multiple scars.
“Will you tell me how you acquired these?” It was as if her voice hadn’t been used in years for how smokey it sounded.
“Perhaps, in time. I don’t wish to frighten you further, so I’ll have to share that in small chunks.”
“Oh.” More and more she was coming to understand him, and because of that, her heart trembled. A piece unexpectedly flew into his keeping, for this man struggled mentally the same as she did.
“And when I tell you, I’m afraid you’ll find that I’m not a good man.” Emotion graveled his voice as he joined her on the bed and layered her body with his.