Just then, however, his clever fingers found her cleft, and she discovered she could soar much higher, indeed.
His fingers slipped inside her, first one, then two, stretching her, filling her.And all the while his mouth continued working its magic.Helpless whimpers escaped from her throat as the pressure in her body built.Her hips began to work in tandem with him, reaching for something she could not begin to understand.Just when she thought her body could not take a bit more of the almost unbearable pressure, he pulled her into his mouth, sucking deep, and she shattered into a million glittering pieces.
Before she could even begin to put herself together again he was over her, mouth on her breast, on her neck, on her cheek, frantic kisses that made the ache between her legs return.“Can I, Heloise?”he panted in her ear, the rough desperation sending shivers of renewed need through her body.“Can I love you?”
Can I love you?She shuddered at the hot hunger in that question.Not that she had any delusion that he was truly in love with her.Hell, they barely tolerated each other.This was purely physical.
But good God, that question went straight to her soul.“Yes,” she breathed.“God, yes.”
He groaned, a sound that came from deep in his chest, even as he crushed her mouth under his.He tasted of her,a heady flavor on her tongue, and her eyes rolled back in her head, remembering where that mouth had been just moments before.And then his thigh was between hers, urging her to widen them.She did so eagerly, hands gripping tight to his shoulders as his lean hips slid into the juncture there.The fine material of his breeches rasped against the tender skin of her inner thighs and the swollen flesh at her center, sending a shudder of need through her, making her whimper.One of his hands worked between their bodies, undoing his falls, freeing himself.In the next moment the hot, blunt tip of him pressed against her.Then, after one last pause, he exhaled a hiss of pleasure and carefully pushed into her.
Heloise cried out as he stretched her, her head falling back, fingernails digging into the fine silk of his waistcoat.To her surprise, he paused, pulling back, gazing down at her with a face drawn tight with worry.
“Am I hurting you?”he panted.
She stared up at him, stunned that he would take the time to question her on that.And looking into his eyes she suddenly knew, without a doubt, he would stop here and now if she so much as asked.
Her heart gave an unsteady lurch, and there was the peculiar sting of tears behind her eyes.Confused by her reaction, she hastily shook her head.“No,” she managed, a mere breath of a sound.“You’re not hurting me.”And then, because she could not stop herself if she tried, “Please don’t stop.”
His eyes turned molten, the heat from the low fire seeming to have transferred into their depths.Cradling her face in his hands, he lowered his mouth to hers.Though this time there was something else to his kiss, an aching need that hadn’t been present before.He pushed forward again,filling her.He was so unbelievably hard, and as he began to move, a slow retreat and advance that left her breathless with want, she found this was very different from when he had kissed between her legs.That had been intense, overwhelming.This, however, was so much more.His large body pressed her down into the soft mattress, the weight of it delicious, the sensation of his hips spreading her wide driving her wild.Though they were fully clothed—for the most part—she could feel the rapid, heavy beat of his heart against her breasts, proof that he was as affected as she.And his mouth… God, his mouth never stopped moving, devouring her lips, her jaw, her neck.
But what affected her most was the sounds coming from his lips.Soft gasps and ragged breaths and low, rough moans that seemed to be dredged up from the very depths of his soul.They grew wilder as his movements became almost frantic.And then he reached back, hooking a hand under her knee, and hitched her leg up, spreading her body wider and tilting her hips to receive him more fully.He hit something inside her then, a secret spot that made her explode around him and had her keening her release.
“Heloise,” he groaned into her neck, before, pulling himself from her body, he took himself in hand, finishing himself into the coverlet as he threw his head back and shouted his own completion into the night.
The thought that he would surely roll from her and bid her leave managed to worm its way into her hazy mind as he collapsed atop her and his harsh breathing filled her ear.After all, wasn’t that what it had been like with Gregory?He’d never liked to linger with her once the deed was done.And she hadn’t minded in the least.She had preferred to be alone after.
Surprisingly, the thought of Ethan doing the same madeher oddly mournful.When he finally did rise from the bed, however, it wasn’t to kick her from the room.To her shock—or, at least, as much shock as she was capable of with her body and mind in a state of such utter depletion—he bent and took her in his arms, lifting her against his chest.With deft movements he threw back the coverlet and lowered her with infinite care to the sheets.As she watched, stunned, he gently removed her shoes, followed by his own boots, before climbing fully dressed into the bed with her.And not only to lie beside her.No, he gathered her up in his arms, pulling her to his side.Then, hand cradling her head and lips at her temple, he gave a soft sigh, his large body relaxing.
Why, she thought as she listened to his steady heartbeat under her ear, did she suddenly feel like crying?Eyes burning, a sudden languid exhaustion pulling at her, she found her body melting into his, and within moments quickly fell into blessed unconsciousness as sleep claimed her.
13
That sweet peace, however, disappeared the moment she opened her eyes to the near pitch dark of the room, mind no longer dazed from passion, and recalled all that had occurred between her and Ethan.Something that was made all the more vivid when she realized she was still wrapped around him like a squirrel climbing a tree.
She froze, hand splayed over his very wide, very firm chest as mortification filled her.No, perhaps not mortification; she certainly wasn’t ashamed of what they had done.She had planned on taking him to her bed—or his bed, as in this particular case.And anyway, physical intimacy between two consenting adults was natural.No, she was not ashamed.
But something uncomfortable was condensing in a horrid amalgamation in the pit of her stomach.Made worse as, quite against her will, she once more recalled the things he had done to her—and how she had responded to them.She pressed her face into the silk of his waistcoat, as if the blood that had rushed to her cheeks had somehow created a blinding beacon in the darkness and she could hide it in his shoulder.She had not thought the things that had happenedbetween them were possible.Oh, she had fully understood the pleasures many experienced from the act.After having lived with Sylvia and Laney, she could not be ignorant of that.They were quite demonstrative.
Her imagination, however, must be severely lacking.She had never in her life expected such a sensation.Even thinking of it now had heat blooming anew between her legs.A feeling that she ached to relieve.But in that moment, the last thing she wanted was to wake Ethan.God, she could not face him just then.Ironic, really, considering how closely their fully clothed bodies were pressed together.
But she was being an absolute ninny.She had come here for the express purpose of seducing Ethan, the culmination of several days of effort.She paused.Not that she had done much seducing tonight.Except for her fumbling kiss, he had been the one to instigate things between them this evening, hadn’t he?Strange, seeing as he had tried his damnedest to keep her at arm’s length until now.Why had he done such a severe about-face with her?
But she was being unduly suspicious.Things had worked out, hadn’t they?Who truly cared how they had gotten here, as long as she had succeeded in what she had set out to do?Now she just had to make certain this affair continued.It was not about getting him into her bed; it was about keeping him there and getting him to, if not trust her, at least let down his guard so she might gain much-needed access to the more private areas of Dionysus and find those blasted jewels.Which she would accomplish only by sticking close to his side.No matter how desperately she wanted to slip from this bed and escape this room so she might not have to face him.
An urge that was growing harder to fight with each tick of the clock.Below them the sounds of merriment couldbe heard, the club still a hive of activity.What time was it?How long had she been asleep?Had Sylvia and Laney left for home?All the while, as her mind spun like a top, she was very much aware of the large male halfway beneath her, his strong arm hooked about her back, his even breathing in her ear, the very firm muscles beneath her fingers—the way her leg had somehow insinuated itself between his own.
Mayhap it truly would be better to slip from his arms and the room and this club altogether, she reasoned a bit wildly as her lungs seized.Who knew how long he would sleep, after all?Yes, she should definitely find a way to leave… preferably one that did not include waking Ethan.And so on and so on her thoughts spiraled away from her completely sound logic of a moment before.
Until a large, warm hand covered her own and stopped her panicked thoughts in their tracks.
“Are you going to go back to sleep?”a husky voice mumbled, rumbling under her ear.“Or would you like to pick up where we left off?”
“Oh!”she squeaked, intensely aware of his arm tightening about her back, bringing her even closer to his body.He rubbed his cheek against the crown of her hair, a strangely affectionate action that had her heart going from panicked thumping to lurching in… longing?She attempted to swallow the emotion down, but it only grew stronger as his thumb caressed the back of her hand where it lay against his chest.
“I’m sorry I woke you,” she finally managed.
“I’m not,” he murmured, a second before he rolled her onto her back and came up on one elbow to lean over her.The firelight had died down to faint orange embers, the only light in the room the indirect silver moonlight comingin through the windows.Yet it was enough to glint in the unending depths of his eyes and highlight the rugged plains of his face.To reveal a hunger she had not expected to see, most especially not for her, who had never inspired such a look from anyone in her life.
