Her breath caught, her nails digging into her palms, but she took a step closer, her chin tilting up defiantly. “Of course I would. You’re a misguided arse, Nathaniel, but I would never believe you capable of treachery. I know you.”
For a moment, silence crackled between them, thick as a storm cloud. Then Nathaniel’s hand shot out, gripping her arm and pulling her flush against his hard, aroused body. Before she even understood his intent, his mouth descended on herswith bruising force, stealing her breath. Her anger twisted into something hotter, more dangerous.
“You know me, do you?” he whispered against her mouth. “Tell me, Alice, what am I feeling right now?”
He didn’t give her a chance to respond before he deepened the kiss. She fought him for a heartbeat, her hands pressing against his chest, but then she was clutching his shirt, yanking him closer as his tongue swept into her mouth. This wasn’t merely a kiss; it was a battle, raw and fierce. Their tongues dueling and surrendering all at once.
His hands roamed her body, tugging at the buttons of her coat, pushing it off her shoulders. She gasped when his palms found her corseted waist, then her skirts, bunching them up as his mouth devoured hers.
“This isn’t solving anything,” she managed between kisses, though her voice lacked conviction.
“No,” he growled against her neck, sucking, licking, biting. Driving her crazy with want. “But I can’t stop.”
She didn’t want him to. The thought of denying herself this, denyingthem, seemed absurd now. With a sharp tug, he loosened her corset as his mouth found the curve of her throat. Her fingers fumbled at his shirt buttons, desperate for the feel of his skin under her palms.
“Damn you, Alice,” he rasped. “What sort of power do you have over me? I can’t resist you. You have me…bewitched.”
He seemed almost angry about it. As if needing her was something he was ashamed of. A weakness he despised in himself.
Well, she wasn’t proud of her feelings for him either. Her stupid heart couldn’t seem to comprehend that their marriage was over. He made it even more difficult when he took her like this.
They stumbled toward the sofa, shedding clothing with desperate hands. When at last they were naked, his hands closed over her breasts, and he pinched her nipples between his thumb and forefinger, the sensation shot straight to her core, eliciting a gush of warmth to drench her. She screamed in ecstasy.
But surely they shouldn’t be doing this here? It almost felt as if she was profaning the house. This stuffy, palatial home was not the place for this sort of shenanigans. She looked around warily, as if expecting Greystones to come out of the woodwork to accuse her.
Yet when he placed his hands under her bottom and lifted her, she wrapped her legs around his hips, and their mouths fused in a kiss that was more teeth than lips. He laid her down, following her, their bodies entwined in a tangle of heat and need.
This wasn’t like the night at the Black Swan, all frantic and reckless. Nor was it like this morning, a communion of wounded souls. Deep and tender. This was fury transformed into passion, the deep, bruising kind that left marks and yet somehow healed at the same time.
Her hands slid down his torso, molding the long hard muscles of his back, savoring the feel of his flesh under her palms, the heat of his body over her, pressing into her. Had she accused him of going soft? What an unfair accusation. His muscles were solid slabs of stone encased in smooth flesh. Not only his muscles, but the rod between his legs. She wanted his weight on her. Wanted his hard cock inside her. Her hands roamed lower, to the curve of his arse, her nails digging into the hard flesh.
“Alice,” he groaned, her name breaking from his lips like a prayer as he pressed forward, as she knew he would.
His rod touched her, the wide head playing at the entrance to her body. So close, so close… She readied for his possession, craving it with every inch of her body. But instead of pushing it, he changed the angle, sliding upward between her swollen, slickfolds, titillating her button with every roll of his hips, every pass of his hard flesh over her soft one. He smeared his cock in her moisture, spread it, until they were gliding easily against each other, the thrust of his hips increasing the speed and pressure. She arched beneath him, her head rolling back.
“Ahh, damn it, Nathaniel…”
“Yes?” His tone was deceptively solicitous, but his eyes gleamed with satisfaction.
“I…” She opened her legs wider, grinding harder against him. Digging her nails deeper into his arse. She was going to leave marks, but he didn’t seem to care…
No, he was enjoying it, growling and pushing harder every time her nails dug deeper into his skin. His cock was an iron ridge, providing the pressure she needed, sliding relentlessly against her, the friction making the desire coil and tighten inside her. She was rising. Soon, all this energy was going to burst into a glorious culmination.
She reached for it, rode the wave upward until it exploded inside her. Around her. She closed her eyes and screamed her release, and then screamed again when he changed direction and plunged inside her to the hilt. It detonated another wave of ecstasy, or prolonged the first one, she wasn’t sure. She was being buffeted by wave after wave of an orgasm that seemed to go on and on.
“Look at me,” he commanded, and she opened her eyes. “That’s right. Look at me while you come. So that you never forget who you belong to.”
When she didn’t reply, too dazed to even form words, he snarled, “Say it. Say you are mine.”
“I’m yours.”
“Yes, you are. And now I’m going to make you come again.”
“No! Nathaniel, I can’t.”
“You can, and you will. Because your husband commands it. Remember? I own your desire. And I can make you come as many times as I want.”
Making good on his promise, he leveraged himself up with an extended arm and slid a thumb between their bodies, rubbing, rolling, caressing her nub until she was climbing again. But faster this time.
