The touch, light as it was, was wonderful agony. Toinette leaned back, thrusting her breasts toward Erik’s hands, seeking the solid heat of his body behind her.
He allowed the contact for a heartbeat. Then he stepped back and his fingers closed harder on her breasts, pinching. “Did I no’ say stand still?”
“I—” She struggled to keep her voice even. The pain was small sparks, feeding the fire within. “Didn’t realize how still you meant.”
“And now you do. No moving. You can talk, but that’s all.”
His hands eased again. He cupped her breasts lightly, then slid his fingers down over her ribs to her waist, all the while placing brief kisses along her neck. Toinette drew a ragged breath. “And if I don’t obey?”
Erik laughed again, a hot vibration against the juncture of her neck and shoulder. “Then I stop.”
“There are times,” she said, “that I hate you. You know that.”
“Is this one of them?”
The breeze wound between her parted thighs, caressing slick flesh only enough to tease: no substitute for anything Erik might offer. He stepped closer, pressing his cock against the cleft of her arse, bringing his hands back to fondle her breasts. Toinette’s only comfort was hearing the unsteady sound of his breathing. “Not quite,” she said.
“Mmm,” he said, a pretense at thoughtfulness that his voice was too husky to quite sustain. “Good girl.”
Finally, too slowly, he wound his fingers through the curls around her sex. Toinette closed her eyes, relishing both the touch and the way his hips thrust forward as her wetness provoked his lust, trying not to move or cry out.
The challenge became a near impossibility. Erik stroked slowly along her cleft, alternating between a tantalizingly light touch and a pressure so firm it would have been painful had she been less excited. His thumb rubbed lightly at the center of her pleasure, then danced away again.
She thought of every oath she knew, in every language. That didn’t work. Once Erik slid two fingers inside her and began pumping, rubbing his cock against her in time with each stroke, not even biting her lip helped. The sound from her throat was stifled, as best she could manage, but Toinette couldn’t have denied that it was a whimper.
“Not so quiet as all that,” he whispered into her ear. His teeth closed on her earlobe, and he pulled his hands back at the same time.
Toinette hissed in frustration. Despite the edict, she half turned, looking over her shoulder into Erik’s eyes. “Will you stop now?” she taunted him. “Truly?”
“Only change the rules,” he replied, and grabbed her by one hip. He’d been reaching to undo his hose, Toinette realized then. When he pulled her back against him, his cock slid between her thighs, thick and hot against her,almostwhat she needed. She flexed her hips, and the friction made both of them growl.
“No,” said Erik, and the hand on her hip was punishingly strong. “On your knees now.”
She knelt, quickly enough that she squirmed inwardly at the memory. The sand was soft under her knees, then under her elbows—she knew what he was telling her, and she wanted no delay.
Delay she had nonetheless. Erik covered her with his body, one hand holding the dripping head of his sex just at the entrance to hers. His breath came quickly on her neck, and when Toinette turned her head, she could see his pulse pounding in his throat, but he didn’t enter her.
She lifted her eyebrows and shot him a challenging look. The sport was a thrilling one. She didn’t even mind—entirely—if he won that round, but she’d not take the fall without a fight. “I could just go take care of myself, you know. It’s nogreatersin than fornication.”
“No greater sin,” said Erik, and the presence at her cleft slid slowly along, working her open and then stopping, “but no’ nearly so satisfying, is it, lass? You canna’ tell me your hand feels like this.”
Toinette closed her eyes, dug her fingers into the sand. Despite Erik’s words, she knew he was close to breaking—but the ache between her legs was too much, her body too desperate.
“God.Please, Erik,” she whispered.
Saying the words was itself treacherously exciting; the long slow thrust that followed sent starbursts exploding behind her eyes; and best of all was Erik’s groan, mingling lust and relief and telling her that he’d been in as much blissful torment as she.
Slowly, deeply, he moved within her. She’d been on the edge before; now her whole body went rigid with need.
Leaning down, Erik brushed her hair away from her neck and whispered in her ear, his rhythm never ceasing. “Almost there, aye? Let me feel it—that’s good—yes, oh Christ, yes.”
His voice fell into a shattered snarl as Toinette’s climax began. In the midst of her pleasure, she felt him speed up, felt the bursts of warmth within her, adding to her passion—and was thankful that, at the end, he slipped a hand over her mouth. She surelywouldhave been heard, otherwise.
Twenty-Four
The aftermath of congress had usually been awkward for Erik. Always he felt he should speak; never had he known what to say; and with his urges satisfied, the women he’d been with had all seemed increasingly young. In time, he’d found it less trouble to satisfy lust himself or,in extremis, to confine his attentions to whores.
Had he tried to predict the moments after with Toinette, he’d have hoped, at best, for the same briskness he’d been used to. After their coupling in the forest, that had seemed most likely.
