Chapter Eight #2
The weight of him added excitement to the spinning anticipation. “I’ll decide that.” She slipped her arms about him and pressed her lips to the base of his throat. After the anxiety of the past handful of days, she wanted—needed—to feel safe and protected.
A grunt was his only answer. He spent the next few minutes kissing and caressing her while she did the same to him, but again her fingertips encountered a wealth of deep scars—some that crisscrossed each other—and her breath stalled.
Before she could inquire, he nuzzled her neck. “Please don’t ask and ruin the moment. Now is not the time.”
“Then you’d best bed me, Blackhawke, because I have waited long enough to couple with you in a proper bed.”
“Fuck, but I adore that tart mouth, and I will do exactly that in a moment.” His chuckle rumbled in her chest.
“Why the delay?” Already, she felt as if she would burn to a crisp.
“Just concentrate on what I’m doing to you.
” Then he began his game of seduction all over again, gliding his fingertips along her skin, circling her nipples, calling gooseflesh forth.
With the air of a man determined, he kissed a path over her chest and down her torso.
When he buried his head between her thighs, she thought she would surely die this time.
Already, she felt as if she were breaking apart from incredible sensations.
“Dear God, James, let me take you into my mouth and give me a reprieve.” Truly, was he trying to kill her instead of send her flying?
“Not tonight. I’ll save that for when I’m in a worse emotional state.”
“Are you now?”
“Not any more than usual.”
She thought she would break or simply expire from needing to hit release, but then he left off and came back up body to kiss her again.
The intensity behind that sent her over the edge, and as she shook like a leaf in the wind, the duke settled himself more comfortably between her splayed thighs and the tip of his hardened shaft glanced along the folds he’d already played at.
Eloise sucked in a breath of anticipation.
The first couple of times they’d come together, he’d taken full advantage and didn’t care what she thought, but now?
Each time she looked forward to his attentions because they were so different from what she’d experienced in France.
She bent her knees, bumped her hips into his in encouragement.
Longing circled through her lower belly, need throbbed through her core, and seconds later, he flexed his hips and thrust into her, didn’t stop penetrating her body until he was fully inside.
“Dear God.” The sensations battering her were surprising, different but the same as the other times he’d joined with her.
His length was beyond lovely, filled her wonderfully well, sent impossible frissons of pleasure through to every nerve ending that she moaned from the sheer bliss of joining with him.
“My sentiments exactly.” The duke gathered her close while still imbedded within her but didn’t do anything else except kiss her for several minutes. Did he consider it as romantic as she did? Probably not; he wasn’t that sort, and all too soon she was lost in him.
It wasn’t long before Eloise’s world went topsy turvy.
Those kisses were heady indeed, but when he withdrew only to push back inside, fill her again in an attempt to perhaps touch her soul, she was launched through the heavens and the only thing she could do was cling to his broad shoulders and learn the rhythm that he set.
For long moments, the sound of flesh hitting flesh broke the silence of the room as James’s strokes became ever more frantic and faster. They shared moans, shared breath, and with each thrust, her heartbeat ricocheted, and pressure coiled tight once more in her belly.
The feelings flooding her were so large and overwhelming she struggled to stay ahead of them.
When she folded her legs closer to her body, he went ever deeper and the pleasure he invoked threatened to split her apart.
Tears gathered in her eyes from the intense sensations.
Moisture spilled to her cheeks, but she didn’t care.
The whole of her attention was on him, on what he did to her, and as he slipped a hand between their heaving bodies to worry her swollen nubbin once more, her hold on reality fractured.
Barely did she have the wherewithal to caress him, to give him the same pleasure he imparted, but when she squeezed one of his taut buttocks, he groaned, and she grinned.
This coupling was no less intense than the other, but it was different, as if his emotions had shifted, and it drove her wild.
The blindfold heightened everything she felt.
Which was odd because she was actually feeling things now, had been since she’d met him.
How was that possible? Why had he made the difference?
Then the stacking pressure broke and a low, keening cry left her throat.
Wave after wave of bliss pulsed over and through her, and her body temporarily felt weightless, but then he thrust like a man possessed.
The remainder of her sanity broke. Another scream escaped her as a second release caught her up in its vortex.
Intense contractions rocked her core, echoed through her insides as she hurtled over the edge.
James stroked into her a couple more times before he shouted her name, wrapped his arms about her and ground his hips into hers. His length pulsed, and when it ended, he rolled to his side, his breathing harsh and labored in her ear. “Well, damn. I didn’t expect to come so hard tonight.”
She couldn’t answer, not when sobs overwhelmed her. The whole session was beyond comprehension, and the tears were for the bonding that was happening between them. It was all she could do to burrow into him and let the emotions run their course.
They had been held back for far too long, and she feared that now the door holding them back had been opened, she wouldn’t be able to ignore them any longer.
And he held her close until the torrent subsided. Afterward, he pressed his lips to the top of her head. “Are you well?” Gently, he removed the cravat from around her head and peered into her eyes. “Did I hurt you in my enthusiasm?
“You did not.” Eloise raised her head to peer at him in the dim light. “I am suddenly besieged with feeling.” She smiled so he would know she’d enjoyed herself. “It’s overwhelming to have those things back again.”
“I know the feeling.” The duke seemed content enough to remain locked in an embrace. “You have managed to take me by surprise, Elli. That doesn’t happen often.”
Did that mean the coupling or simply by being herself? She didn’t ask and he didn’t elaborate. Eventually, her eyelids drooped and for a while, she let herself drift into a daze, for how often did one find themselves in bed with a duke?
Eventually, he stirred. “You have your freedom. Go where you will.”
Her breath stalled at the unexpected boon. “Can I leave the property?”
“Do you want to?” There was a certain guarded note in his voice, and his body tensed as if he would exit the bed.
It took too much energy to argue with him, and it was rather nice to lay beside a man, feel protected by one that she didn’t want to disturb the moment. “No, unless it’s to visit the shops or take in the air if it stops raining.”
“Ah.” He nodded. “I’d be happy to escort you on walks about the acreage.”
Surprise went through her chest. “That would be lovely.” The bond further deepened between them. Was that a good thing, or would it prove disastrous for her?
He slipped a hand over her hip and left tingles in his wake. “Why do I have the feeling you will eventually leave me?”
“Perhaps this is an exercise in trust, Blackhawke.” Daring much, Eloise rested a hand on his chest. “For us both.”
Would she survive whatever was between them, though? Time would tell.