He middled himself between her legs and slid her skirts up. In her ear, he whispered, “We’ll be pleasuring each other tonight. Whoever comes first loses and must do whatever the winner says.”
She slid her hands into his hair. “I’ll take that wager.”
His brow ticked up. “Are you sure, sweetheart? What if I ask you to do Godiva’s Ride through Coventry?”
A laugh left her. “You’d never do that.”
He stroked her center softly, teasingly. “And how do you know that?”
“You are too possessive of me,” Cecilia blurted instantly. “Are you arrogant? Yes.Are you brave to the point of foolhardy, and are you unafraid to make yourself look the fool? Yes. But you will never allow anything to get me more shame than I already have.”
He chuckled. “You see right through me—” He kissed her long enough that she was distracted from the wager. He threw up her skirts, his hand finding the curve of her knee, “Now, turn around and slide your leg over my shoulder.”
Helpless to his low command, she did as he bade, and bookended both her knees at his ears. The position was abominablywicked—her core was above his mouth, and her lips were hovering over his rampant erection.
Instantly, she knew what he wanted.
She found herself eager to touch him, feel him, pleasure him. Before she could touch his hot flesh, she palmed him and smiled when he arched into her touch.
Cassian’s hand pushed her skirts higher to rub over her derrière, and his touch made her shiver. His hands fixed on her thighs and pulled her down—the first swipe of his tongue made her cry out.
She’d done this to him before, but reversed, the sensation seemed magnified. He licked her again, this time long and slow; the rasp of his tongue felt like the rake of a big cat’s.
The faint stubble on his jaw abraded her inner thighs with a stimulating heat. “You taste like a summer peach,” he rasped. “Sweet and ripe.”
Stunned, she realized she was faltering in her duty, and forcing out every thought she had, she freed him from his trousers. She wrapped her fingers around him, marveling at how he felt like silk wrapped over a core of steel, the contrasting textures intriguing beyond measure.
Pleasure seared up her spine as he feasted on her core as if she were a cream-filled profiterole. Gripping her bottom, he kept her spread for his tongue and waged war on her core. A finger breached her entrance as he rubbed her pearl with another. With swift swirls and flicks, hard sucks and pointed thrusts of his tongue, it spurred her to her peak.
His hot, wet sucking drove her to the edge. A low moan, her hips shuddered, and before she knew it, he pulled away and flipped her on the large chaise.
The sudden change made her dizzy and discombobulated for a moment, and she was barely steady enough to realize that he had her on her knees. Cassian was behind her as he tugged her dress up and away, then smoothed his hands over her thighs.
“I’m going to do something you might find odd…” Cassian rumbled in her ear. “Hold your thighs tight for me, sweetheart.”
She held fast as he slid his length between her thighs, and she gasped as his member rubbed over her folds. It was the closest thing to coupling as she could imagine.
Their bodies moved against each other, hips thrusting, searching for friction. He caged her hands above her head on the armrest as he thrust, panting and moaning, their hips were jerking and thrusting, each of them slowly climbing toward heaven.
His thumb circled her pearl, and the storm broke inside her, robbing her of all control. Ecstasy melted her bones, and she would have collapsed had he not been supporting her, holding her steady.
The instant her spasms stopped, he pulled from her and got to his knees. Leaning back with her elbows on the pillows, her breath caught at his sensual grace: the way his biceps flexed, every muscle bulging as he handled his rampant flesh. Their gazes met and held—and he came.
Groaning, he shot his seed copiously, covering his hand and leaking from his fingers and down on the sheet. He slumped against the armrest above her and tipped his head up, his chest rising and falling as fast as a sprinting horse at Tattersalls.
Gently, she reached for him, and when he turned, she kissed him. “Stay with me tonight?”
His eyelids dropped half-mast. “Cecilia…”
Her stomach turned on itself. “Please? After that—” she swallowed, “—I don’t think I can bear it to sleep alone.”
Cassian’s expression was unreadable for a long moment, and the whole time, she was sure a soft—butbrutal—rejection was on his lips. Calmly, she held his gaze even though there was a riot of worry and fear under her breastbone.
A smile barely curled his lips. “Only for tonight.”
Fixing her rucked chemise, Cecilia breathed out the worry and slipped down to the pillows. Cassian only stepped off the chaise to thrust the windows open and let the cold air wash through the room and dilute the scent of sex.
He slipped back onto the chaise after fixing his trousers and reached for her. Comfortable, she pillowed her head on his chest and smiled to herself when his hand absentmindedly stroked the nape of her neck.
