Chapter 20
“Sit down, Caroline,” he commanded, and stepped to the side, waving a hand toward the velvet couch that she was once hiding behind.
Defiance swirled and intertwined with exhilaration as Caroline began to tremble.
“No,” she replied. She was not going to take orders from him.
Not after he had just accused her of holding hands with another man.
She truly had not felt his touch, if that had even happened, and she was still deeply offended that he implied that intimacy with other men was something she craved.
It had hurt her more than she wanted to admit, even to herself, and she would not reward him with her obedience.
Yet as she defied him, that sinful smile on his lips grew as his amber eyes darkened. He did not snarl or yell as he had just moments ago, and she pondered the complexity of the man before her.
“You are trembling,” he said, his deep voice surprisingly soft. “You should sit before you fall down. Those beautiful legs of yours seem to be having trouble holding you up.”
She hated how right he was. Her knees had started to go wobbly the moment he took his first step toward her, and had only grown weaker by the moment.
Not willing to risk the embarrassment of falling at his feet, Caroline decided that it would be best to sit on the couch.
Even as she sat down, though, her trembling did not stop, but instead grew more apparent.
“I wanted to have this marriage so I could protect you,” Damien stated, his voice dropping another octave as he leisurely stepped closer to her. “I expected some resistance, of course, and you made that apparent when you fled the city to avoid me.”
Caroline’s hands began to shake and sweat as she watched him pull his jacket away from his wide shoulders. She watched it be tossed to the nearby chair, then focused on his fingers as he loosened his cravat.
“What I did not expect, however, was the effect you would have on me once I found you,” he went on, his deep voice nestling into her mind and making her feel pliant and dizzy.
“You have been driving me to the edge of insanity from the moment I laid eyes on you. You see, under most circumstances, I am a man who takes what he wants. Yet with you, I have taken nothing, even if you are what I desire.”
Arousal burned in Caroline’s lower belly as he made his confession. There was something so wicked about what he said, even if she could not quite put her finger on it.
“I... I do not understand,” she whispered, breathing through the heat spreading through her suddenly sensitive body.
Standing right in front of her now, Damien slowly lowered himself to his knees as he drew his shirt over his head in one swift, unbearably attractive motion and tossed it toward his jacket.
She could not help it. Her eyes swept greedily over his naked form, hungrily taking in the ridged planes of his muscles as her once-clenched knees fell away from each other.
Even through her long skirts, Damien must have seen it, for his smile returned, and he dragged his lower lip between his teeth.
“I think you do,” he whispered. “Because you feel that same desire even if you try so very hard to hide it. But this ends today.”
Yes.
Yes, she wanted to drop this act. This idea that she did not want him because she knew that was all it was. It was why he plagued her dreams; why she woke up gasping and sensitive, with a knot in her lower belly that begged for a release she did not understand.
“Spread your legs open for me,” he coaxed, placing his hands on the couch on either side of her hips.
He leaned in, and for a moment she thought that he was going to kiss her again—and for a moment she thought she was going to let him—but his lips never made purchase.
Instead, he inhaled through his nose and brushed a small expanse of air between their lips, then traced an invisible line over her jaw and down her throat.
He let out an aching groan, the sound causing a slick between her inner thighs and driving her wild.
The only thing she felt was the heat of his body and breath against her skin, yet even that was enough to make her dizzy with need.
Her defiance gone, she let her legs part further, sinking deeper into the couch as the outside of her thighs brushed against his thumbs.
“You smell so very sweet when you are aroused,” he huskily whispered next to her ear. “Did you know that? That your scent changes when you want me?”
A whimper escaped her lips as her lashes fluttered, his wicked words and voice making desire coil and burn between her legs. She knew she should be petrified that he could notice such a thing, but instead, she found it exhilarating.
“Such a beautiful sound,” Damien praised in her ear, making her sink deeper into the couch. “Pray, angel, make it again for me.”
She could not help but obey, the sound leaving her throat without so much as giving it a thought.
“Oh. So very perfect,” Damien groaned softly.
Then she felt his warmth pull away, if only slightly.
“Now look at me. Let me see those beautiful eyes,” he coaxed.
Her lashes rose unbidden, and her breath hitched as she saw him kneeling before her, palms on his large thighs, the swell of his muscles apparent even through his breeches. His cock stood at attention between them, straining against the fabric in a way that made her mouth water.
“Do you like this?” he asked as she slowly drew her gaze up to his dark amber eyes. “Seeing me on my knees before you?”
God, yes.
She nodded, unable to form the words on her tongue.
A low rumble of appreciation reverberated from his chest.
“I have kneeled for no one,” he explained, his deep voice lulling her. “No one but you.”
Such a realization only amplified the lust blooming in Caroline’s core. Such knowledge made her feel powerful, and her heart began to settle into a different, slower, more hypnotic pace as she reveled in the sight of him.
“Would you like to see what having me on my knees can do for you, angel?” he asked. “What sort of pleasure I can bring you like this?”
Mind blank, body flooded with desire, Caroline rasped the word ‘yes’ without a moment’s thought.
Pleasure sparked in Damien’s eyes, making them practically glow before the black of his pupils ate away the brilliant color.
He reached for her slowly, but instead of touching her, he grasped the edges of her skirts.
He dragged them up her legs, up to her hips, and using them as handles, dragged her to the edge of the couch.
A blush spread across her cheeks as he laid her sex bare, but she was helpless to stop him.
A low moan poured from his lips as he leaned forward.
“So pretty and pink,” he rasped, trailing his warm breath along her inner thigh. “So very perfect.”
Caroline whimpered at his praise and let her head fall back onto the headrest of the couch.
She trembled as his lips laid soft, slow kisses along her inner thighs, first one then the other, as if he had all the time in the world.
With each brush of his lips, her need grew higher, and she felt a warm dew begin to trickle from her sex at the anticipation of it all.
Then his lips found her center, and she arched her back and flicked her hips forward as she breathed his name. Damien moaned in response and clenched his fists tighter in her skirts as if fighting the urge to touch her with more than just his mouth.
She was not sure why he was doing this. She had never known that men would want to do such a thing, but as his tongue continued to amplify her growing pleasure, she realized she did not care.
“Do you know what happens to a woman when she receives too much pleasure here?” Damien huskily asked and swirled the tip of his tongue at her slick entrance.
Caroline shook her head. She did not know anything in that moment. Only that she did not want him to stop.
“Allow me to show you, wife. And know that I will be happy to show you again and again whenever you would like.”
Damien slowly thrust his tongue inside of her, sliding between her wet lips and into her tight passage. She gasped, shocked at first by the intrusion, but the sound quickly melted into a moan as he began a slow, rhythmic coaxing as moans of satisfaction poured from his lips.
She began to writhe as he drove her deeper into her pleasure.
She grasped the cushions of the couch first, digging her nails into the red velvet as the coil in her core grew tighter.
As it drove her further into frenzy, though, she found her hands moving from the couch to his hair.
She slid her fingernails along his scalp, earning her a moan from him that sent a delicious vibration through her core.
“Damien,” she whimpered, trembling even harder as she felt her body approach an edge she did not understand.
“Shh. I have you, angel,” he whispered between the wicked licks of his tongue. “Let go for me. I will catch you.”
Then he leaned in again, but instead of sliding his tongue inside her like before, his lips suckled a taut bundle of nerves she never knew she had, and pleasure exploded throughout her nerves.
“Damien! I...”
“Yes,” he coaxed, moving his tongue and lips faster as she felt the couch beneath her grow damp, “Yes, angel, release for me.”
Then he drew that bud of nerves he had been flicking into his mouth and suckled hard, and she screamed.
She had thought the first explosion had been intense, but it was nothing compared to the second one.
It swept through her body like a harsh wind, causing her back to bow and her tendons to strain as shock wave after shock wave of pleasure coursed through every vein and muscle in her body.
When she opened her eyes, he was already on his feet, pulling his shirt over his head. He did not look at her. He did not say a word. He simply picked up his jacket and left.
She sat there for a long time after, skirts still bunched at her hips, staring at the empty doorway.
What just happened?