Chapter 28 #2
He kicked the door shut, then set her down atop something soft as a cloud. She took two seconds to register her surroundings—an extravagant four-poster bed with white covers and a set of matching furniture—before he was crawling on top of her.
This was his bedroom.
He’d taken her to his bedroom.
He’d put her in his bed.
This was David Berkeley’s bed.
Wasn’t it just this morning that she’d decided he was too complicated to pursue?
Now she was beneath him, wanting him with a sharp, desperate savagery that felt like fingering a razor’s edge. Was lust always this overpowering? She wanted to give him things she’d never given anyone, wanted him to have parts of her no one else had.
His mouth dipped to her neck, and a ripple of tingles spread down her body. Her legs spread of their own volition to create space for him, her boots dragging against his trousers.
David lifted to his elbows to look down at her, searching, but she didn’t want him finding any reasons to stop.
She flattened her hands against his chest, then slid up until her fingers twined with the gold chain at his neck.
She pulled, tugging him back to her mouth.
His kiss grew harder, more demanding, and his arm snaked around her waist. He pulled her tight against him, and a moan burst from her chest at the unyielding length that hit a perfect spot between her legs.
What…
She sucked in a breath when he did it again, and she felt his kiss turn into a grin. “I knew you’d be responsive.”
“That…that feels…”
“Good?” he asked, his mouth sinking against her throat as he did it again.
She nodded frantically.
“If it didn’t, I wouldn’t be doing it right.” His teeth grazed her collarbone, and he hit the spot once more, making her gasp. She’d had no idea her body was capable of this kind of pleasure. Why had no one told her?
“Don’t stop.” She arched against him, seeking a more perfect angle, more friction, just more.
“You’ll like it better with your clothes off,” he whispered against her mouth.
She let out a breath. “Then take them off.”
He pushed away, snatching a protest from her throat, and sat on his heels between her legs.
Anna tried to control her breathing as she stared at him, his hair a mess from her hands, his lips swollen from her kiss. She didn’t just want this man. She wanted to keep him.
Would she get to?
Would this be all she’d get? Did she need to commit this to memory?
She was afraid to ask what this meant to him, whether it meant anything at all.
“I’ve never done this,” she said instead.
“I know.” He lifted one of her legs and set her foot against his thigh.
His hands made quick work of the laces of her training boot, then the other, throwing them across the room.
He slid his hands up her legs until he reached the undershirt tucked into her breeches.
Slowly, painfully, he tugged the fabric up, exposing her midriff.
His gaze flicked up to her. “But you trust me?”
“Yes,” she whispered.
David bent to kiss each new inch of exposed skin but paused to stare at her midriff.
She threaded her fingers through his hair. “What is it?”
He glanced up. “I’m the only one who’s been here.”
She nodded.
Something dark, almost possessive, flashed in his eyes. “I like that.”
“Then keep going,” she said, tightening her hands in his hair, urging him to go faster, to banish this urgency in her blood, but every plea was met with a controlled decrease in speed.
His kisses turned leisurely, as if they had infinite amounts of time and he planned to use it all just exploring her with his mouth.
“David,” she whined. “Please.”
He expelled a breath against her stomach and gazed up at her. “I’ve had dreams about you begging me for this.”
He had? He’d thought of this before? Thought of her specifically?
Anna dragged her thumb against his mouth. “Did you ever give it to me? Because at this rate, we’ll never get there.”
He laughed darkly and nipped the tip of her finger. “I did. Slowly.” His lips returned to her skin. “You loved every second of it.”
I did. Slowly.
It occurred to her how easily he could obtain anything he wanted. A single whisper from his lips in just the right tone would be enough to make her succumb to anything he desired.
“Could you use the voice on me if you wanted?”
Eyebrow quirked, he gave one slow nod. “But I don’t want to.”
“What could you do with it?”
He pushed her shirt higher, exposing the bandeau she wore beneath. His teeth tugged at it until it slid away from her breasts.
“Whatever you wanted me to.” His voice slurred a bit, like he was drunk on imagination.
“I could turn every kiss into a climax for you. I could bring you to completion without even touching you. I could wrap around your mind and enhance every touch, every stroke, until you were mindless with pleasure.”
Her brain stuttered at those possibilities, all ways he’d use his magic for her benefit alone. “What about you? Aren’t there things you could do for you?”
“Those things are for me.” His mouth climbed the swell of one breast until he took the peak inside.
A gasp tore from her, and her back arched at the zing of pleasure spiraling and gathering between her legs. She rocked against him, her legs squeezing him closer. Her eyes fluttered shut.
“I’ve heard it hurts the first time,” she whispered.
He released her and traveled farther up, exploring every dip and swell around her clavicle. “I’ve heard that, too. We don’t have to do that.”
“But… Could—could you make it not hurt? With your voice?”
David paused his exploration to look at her again. “Is that what you want?”
Her breathing grew uneven. “I want—I want you inside me. Even if it hurts.”
He stared for a long moment. “Alright.” His lips brushed her ear, and he whispered in his silkiest voice, “It won’t hurt.”
Tension she hadn’t been aware of released from her muscles. Nerves dissipated. “Good.” She reached for his shirt, and he helped her yank it over his head. Pushing him to his back, she smiled. “Then it’s my turn.”
He was…stunning. Golden and honed, all sharp edges and smooth planes. Faint scars peppered his chiseled torso. A crescent-moon tattoo decorated his left ribcage, the black ink dripping artfully down his ribs.
Anna kissed it, lit aflame by his sharp intake of breath. It gave her the courage to search for other places he liked, her hands roaming over every muscle, then dipping beneath the waist of his trousers. His abs contracted.
“You want that?” she asked, settling at his side.
“You have no idea how much I want that,” he rasped.
She met his eyes, darkened and primal, and his knuckle traced her face from temple to chin. Her blood glistened at the heat in his gaze, at the desire burning through his ice, barely restrained while he let her play.
Her hand slid inside and gripped him.
David’s eyes closed, and a hum gathered in his throat, barely audible. A breath scraped from his lungs. Fingers snarled into her hair, pulling her back for a fevered kiss.
She marveled at the juxtaposition of him, hard and soft all at once, a sensual polarity. He drove into her hand, once, twice, before she realized exactly what he wanted.
She obliged, eagerly, fascinated by the hunger punching holes through his ice.
It fed her own lust, their twin desires melding and ballooning out until her very skin burned with need.
Her hand grew slick as she moved, and she took that as a good sign.
She threw a little twist into her wrist, and his hands spasmed as a groan gathered in his throat.
Nipping his jaw, she whispered, “You like this?”
One hand left her hair to slide around her waist. It dove beneath her breeches to grip her bottom, dragging her nearly on top of him. His eyes locked into hers, then dipped to her mouth. “Yeah. Makes me wonder what the rest of you will feel like.”
Anna licked her lips. He took her wrist in a vice grip, stopping her rhythm.
“You learn too fast.”
She smiled. “Can’t handle it?”
He laughed, low and dark. “Let’s see how well you do. It’s my turn now.” Rolling her to her back, he lost all semblance of restraint. He disposed of the clothes still clinging haphazardly to her torso, then tore at the ties of her breeches until she was naked beneath him.
Until this moment, she’d never considered whether someone might find her attractive. Her body was her trustiest weapon—she’d honed it on the training grounds until it was strong and reliable—but was it also appealing?
The desire to cover herself surged, but David gripped her hands and held them firm to the mattress as he hovered above her. “Don’t hide from me.”
A glow brightened inside, destroying the insecure thoughts.
He set a hand between her breasts, then trailed his fingertips down her body, achingly slow. Kisses rained down her body—the turn of her jaw, her neck, her chest. When his hand reached the apex of her thighs, the featherlight touch nearly drove her mad.
“Please,” she begged.