Chapter 25 #2
His eyes don’t shift from mine as he sets his weapon on my desk. “As a service?” he clarifies, undoing the top button of his shirt.
I take a second to gather my thoughts. “As my friend, but nothing more.”
His expression doesn’t change as he begins rolling one shirt sleeve up his forearm, and then the other. “Okay.”
The single word makes my heart skip a beat. “The bed?” I’m surprised by how steady my voice sounds.
He looks at my empty desk chair and shrugs. “Here’s fine.”
I’m wholly unprepared for his decision, and even less so when he grabs me by my hips and spins me, pushing me onto the cushioned seat. He sinks to his knees before me, and when he places his hands on my legs, my skin heats instantly.
“Tell me to stop and I will,” he says, rough palms trailing up the length of my thighs, pushing the hem of my slip upwards.
When his fingertips reach the crease where my legs part, I stop him with a hand over his. “You’re under no obligation to do this because I’m your queen.”
A grin I’ve become familiar with eases some of my doubts. “Trust me,” he says, right before he grabs me by the back of my knees and pulls me to the edge of the seat. “This is by no means a hardship on my part.”
He tugs at my panties and I lift my hips to help him remove them. The sudden escalation of events has my head spinning and I cling to the reminder this is what I want.
No. This is what I need.
He looks up at me as he spreads my legs, exposing me to him.
I feel the heat of his breath against the inside of my thigh as he dips his face to place a gentle kiss to the skin.
Finally, his gaze falls to the task before him and even still I struggle to dispel my doubts.
The urge to retreat plagues me, to tell him I changed my mind, but I don’t. I won’t.
I realize now how pathetic I’ve been, and the only thing I haven’t tried to make the hurt stop is doing what Messer said—to move on with someone else.
I need the hurt to end.
My breaths come in short bursts, anticipation making my body tremble.
It works in my favor, making me appear eager about the way Fredrich’s tongue and teeth scrape along my skin.
It’s meant to be enticing, teasing, but I’m somehow already impatient to get this over with.
For his mouth to be on me properly, so I can move on with my life.
Widening my legs even further, he reaches the apex of my thighs and wastes zero time before licking his tongue over my center in a long, sweeping motion that makes all of my thoughts stutter to a complete stop.
The teasing is over. His mouth moves over me in a devouring kiss.
This is exactly what I needed, because suddenly there are no thoughts or emotions or desire making me want to escape my own skin. There’s simply … nothing.
He makes his way higher and I have to grip the edge of the chair’s arm cushions when he sucks firmly on my bundle of nerves.
A shocked burst of sound escapes my parted lips at the jolt of intense pleasure.
He’s clearly pleased by my reaction, but he eases off a little, his mouth curving into a smile—right before his tongue plunges inside me, and I’m stunned by how much I think I like it.
Then the worst thing imaginable happens.
Acker appears.
I pitch forward with a shocked gasp, which Fredrich takes it as positive feedback, delving in deeper, and I grab him by the hair in a bid to halt his movements. Instead, all it does is draw a low groan from his throat, which I feel vibrate against the most sensitive part of me.
For a heartbeat, Acker is frozen in place.
I say Fredrich’s name in warning, but it comes out breathier than I intend, and it does nothing to stop him.
Acker’s expression falters a moment before a wave of outrage floods his features.
His figure flickers as he surges forward, the stones still around my neck doing their best to keep him out, but they’re not enough in the face of his wrath.
This time, my warning is sharp. “Fredrich!”
But I’m too late. Acker slams into Fredrich’s ever-present shield, his outrage palpable as he yells out his anger. There are no coherent words, only searing hatred as he slams a fist against the invisible barrier again, teeth bared. I’m momentarily stunned by the raw emotion shining in his eyes.
Looking up from between my legs, Fredrich’s pupils narrow as he angles his head in the direction of the unseen impact.
I scream in alarm as the sword Fredrich had discarded on the desk flies through the air toward us.
Fredrich doesn’t flinch as the sword snaps, the sound of ringing metal reverberating against the air around us.
A cocky smirk stretches across his glistening mouth as he returns his eyes to me. “You didn’t say stop.”
Before I’m able to comprehend the meaning of his words, he’s thrown my legs over the crook of elbows and dives back in. I cry out, fingertips scraping against the material of the chair. My eyes are locked on Acker’s as the feel of Fredrich’s mouth and tongue make me squirm and oh my gods …
I arch as one of Fredrich’s fingers slips deep inside me.
Acker’s chest is heaving with the force of his breaths, eyes wild as he watches me suppress a silent cry.
Fredrich introduces a second finger and it’s too much.
All of this is too much. I don’t know how I got here or how Acker’s able to push past the power of the mangi stones, but when Fredrich returns to suck exactly where I need it at the same time, he curls his fingers … I whimper.
“Is this repayment for my wedding night?” Acker’s upper lip is curled in disdain, but it isn’t very convincing, not with the way his eyes are glued to the scene before him. “An attempt to hurt me like I hurt you?”
I shake my head from side to side.
He’s not even supposed to be here.
Closing my eyes, I bite my lip in an effort to hold back the sounds threatening to spill from me due to the buildup of pleasure, but it’s becoming more and more difficult to ignore the way Fredrich is determined to end me.
“Look at me.”
Acker’s voice comes from closer than I expect, and my eyes shoot open, landing on a gaze as dark as night.
He’s leaning over the back of the chair, and unless I’m mistaken in my lust-fueled haze, his expression looks almost wounded as he takes me in more closely.
Everything about the way he’s looking at me makes my heart squeeze painfully in my chest. Not a look of disdain or resentment, but how he looked at me when we were on the boat, just the two of us: with restraint and …
and maybe even a little admiration. Like he can’t help but appreciate the sight of me in the throes of pleasure regardless of where it’s coming from.
His voice is rough when he says, “Tell him to make you come.” My eyes widen at his words, but also from the way he wraps his hand around the column of my throat and angles my head back toward him. “Tell him,” he growls, looming over me.
My words tumble out between breaths. “Make me come.”
Fredrich hums as he continues to suck at the bundle of nerves and pump his fingers in and out. A moan slips from my mouth.
“A footman obeying his queen,” Acker drawls.
Wetting his lips, he leans closer, eyes hazy as he fights against the mangi stones.
“You like knowing you have him at your bidding.” His breathing nearly matches mine as his eyes fall to my open mouth.
“At your service,” he says, before swiping his tongue over my parted lips.
My eyes fall closed as I savor the taste of him.
Acker jerks back from my mouth, tightening the hold he has on my neck. “Look at me,” he orders again.
I obey, my gaze landing on his dilated pupils, his eyes nearly black with need.
He opens his mouth, telling me without words what he wants, and I open my own so he can lavish his tongue over mine.
The memory I’ve held of what it’s like to kiss him has done the reality of it little justice.
It’s all power and struggle and dominating in every way possible.
I cave to it, letting Acker devour me as my hips buck, chasing pleasure against Fredrich.
There’s nothing I can do but submit to the moment.
Releasing Fredrich’s hair, I cup the back of Acker’s neck, pulling his face lower.
He understands, mouth descending to my exposed neck and shoulder.
It hurts, his teeth, as they scrape along my skin.
Biting, tasting, punishing. The blood oath won’t allow him to truly hurt me without dire consequences, but I need him to know my surrender is my choice and not his, and I dig my nails into the meat of his neck in warning.
I’m desperate as I race up the last stretch of pleasure to the peak, squeezing my eyes shut. There’s a chorus of rattling and I have the vague sense that every mote of metal in my bedchamber is in danger from Acker’s failing composure.
“Look at me.”
The words are a demand. The powerful echo of an order, bordering on intrusive.
But still, I obey. I’d do just about anything right now as long as it brought me to this moment.
Blurry in my vision, Acker’s dark eyes watch me as I come apart, my breath leaving me in a punch of ecstasy.
I pull his mouth back to mine, wanting to disappear within him in this singular, perfect moment.
I never want it to end, but the high does eventually ebb into a simmering afterglow I’m not yet ready to face. And just as I think I’m fully spent, emotionally and physically, Acker removes his mouth from mine … and there isn’t even a hint of that soft haze of adoration in his gaze.
He brushes his thumb over the apple of my cheek, eyes hardening further with each swipe. “So, you do still blush after all.” Satisfied, he lets me go. “That was your one and only concession, Jovie. Don’t let another man touch you again.”