“Not now,” Julius agreed. He blew again, a long, steady stream, his exhalation hot and teasing. “But if that’s all that I give you? No more of a touch than that? People have been known to go mad from less.”
“You wouldn’t dare.”
He lowered his head until all she could see were the tops of his tousled locks. Little puffs of air, each one a gossamer kiss, assailed her body. She tried to bring her legs together, supply her own pressure, but was blocked by his broad shoulders.
For the first time in her life, she said a word she’d only heard from the coarsest of men. And from Julius. It felt good rolling off her tongue. Satisfying. So she said it again.
Julius tutted. He lifted his head and threaded one hand under the rope at her waist, tugging her arching hips back to the bed. “Are you certain I wouldn’t dare?” He dipped his head.
Wriggling her bottom into the coverlet, Amanda considered. “I don’t believe it’s possible for you to continue for long. No one can spend all their time merely blowing.”
He chuckled, and the late-evening scruff on his jaw tickled the inside of her thigh. “I can breathe for quite some time. Besides, you have no idea what I can endure. The patience I have. I have spent over thirty-six hours hanging from a rafter. I think I have it in me to blow.”
And he would. Jerking her head off the pillow, she glared down at him. “Ask your bloody questions already! I said I’d answer.”
“Language. You really are becoming quite the gutter-mouth.” Shaking his head, he casually slapped his hand down on her folds. The clap of skin striking skin startled her before the sting made itself known. He gusted a breath over the abused flesh. “Just because you are surrounded by barbarians doesn’t mean you need speak like one of them.”
Amanda squirmed, the heat at her core spreading to the rest of her body until her skin prickled in a low burn. “I saw the man while you were upstairs with Sutton and Madame Sable. I figured it must be the man you wanted. How many tall, skinny, mustached men would be at that club?”
Julius smiled and swiped the tip of his tongue up the seam of her sex.“That’s my girl. As long as you continue talking, you’ll receive better treatment.”
Her thighs fell open, trying to expose as much of her body to him as possible. She’d expose her beating heart if it would bring her more of the same pleasure. He circled her nub and flicked it with his tongue. Her legs quaked. “And, uh … I followed …” Coherent thought was dissolving. Her mouth didn’t want to form the words. He was a wizard, and his tongue an enchantment.
“Why did you follow?” Julius asked, his voice sharp.
She blinked. Why had she followed? The delicious pressure disappeared, replaced by a weak stream of air. “No, please!” She jerked hard against her ropes, and the headboard smacked back against the wall. “I need—”
“Then explain to me why you would do something so foolish as to follow a suspect in criminal wrongdoing.” He rested his head against her thigh. “I’ll keep blowing until I hear an answer I like. And that might take a while.”
She twisted her wrist, hoping to slide her hand out of the loop. “I started to go upstairs to tell you, but he was leaving. There wasn’t time.” She shifted her hips, but Julius was a heavy weight. “You wanted to find him, and I wanted to help you.”
He grunted, but Amanda ignored his discontent. He put his mouth back on her and that was all that mattered. She sagged into the mattress. Tracing a figure eight, Julius circled her opening and looped up around her clitoris in one continuous slide. It was exquisite torture, one she wanted repeated every night. Her hips pitched against his mouth, beyond her command. Her body became weightless. The only things that connected her to this earth was the hemp around her wrists and Julius’s tongue at her center.
Julius flattened that tongue and increased the pressure. He slid two fingers into her channel.
“Oh, God, yes,” she moaned. She swore she could feel his lips curve against her flesh. Clenching her fists, she waited. Waited for the dam to fill, gallon by gallon, until the wall couldn’t take the pressure anymore and burst. She was so close to bursting …
Julius pushed to his knees and slid his cravat off his neck. He licked his lips, his eyes never leaving hers, and wiped the rest of the moisture off his chin with the silk.
The headboard bounced against the wall. “No!” She glared at him as he drew his shirt over his head and tossed it to the floor. “Why did you stop? I was almost there.”
“I know.” He unbuttoned the falls of his trousers and pushed them down his hips along with his smallclothes. His length sprang free, ruddy and thick. A bead of liquid hovered at the tip, and Amanda’s mouth watered. “I want you to come impaled on my cock. Nothing feels better than your sweet cunny clamping down on me.” Leaning over, he grabbed a cloth pouch and pulled out a folded piece of linen. His eyes fixed on her core, he slowly stroked his fist from the base of his column to the crown. He rubbed his palm over the head, gathering the moisture beaded there, and eased his hand back down to the root.
She ached to be the one stroking his length. To use her mouth on him as he had on her. His manhood was a thing of beauty, thick and long, and pulsing with restrained power.
“Would it speed this process along if I told you that I didn’t follow your man in vain?” She ran her foot along the calf of his trousers, needing to touch him in any way she could. “I saw the carriage he entered. It had a coat of arms on it. One I’d recognize again.”
Julius froze. His gaze landed on her face. “Are you certain?”
She nodded and arched her back. “Do I get my reward now?”
“I’d say we both do.” With quick motions, Julius slid the linen over his length and tied a knot at the base. He scooped his arms under her legs, and the back of her knees rested on his elbows. Julius crawled forward, his crown nudging her folds.
Amanda nodded to his groin. “Must you wear that? I’d like to feel you, not some paper.”
“It keeps us healthy and it prevents against the consequence of offspring.” Julius eased in an inch, slipped out. “For me, there is no other alternative.”
Amanda tried to widen her legs, but Julius’s grip blocked her. The knots he’d tied in the rope pressed into the crease of her legsand hips, and she bit her lip.
