You’re damaged goods. A dirty slut.
She shut out the past. She was no longer a stupid girl with stars in her eyes. She had realistic expectations: a night of ecstasy with a man she wanted and admired. A man who treated her with respect. Who valued her and didn’t make her feel ashamed of her desire.
Placing her palms on Hawker’s chest, she gave him a slight push that would not have budged him unless he allowed it. He fell backward onto the bed like a felled oak, his good eye glinting up at her. She climbed on top of him, quivering at the feel of skin against skin, at the possessive clamp of his hands on her bottom.
They kissed with open mouths and wet tongues, with passion that bordered on desperation. He pressed her against him, rubbing her pussy against the length of his cock, teasing her love-knot with his fat tip until she was panting.
“Bloody ’ell, you’re drenching my cock,” he groaned. “I need to feel your tight little quim around me.”
Heavens, she wanted that too. But she needed to consider the consequences.
“We should, um, discuss—”
“’Old that thought.” He lifted her off him as if she weighed less than a feather. “I’ll be right back.”
Bemused, she watched as he left the bed to rummage in his battered valise. He returned, and when she saw the French letter in his hand, her chest fluttered with relief...and something else. A recognition that this man was different from the others she’d known. He was considerate and caring. Honest about his desires.
A man I can count on.
Although her throat felt tight, she arched a brow. “Came prepared, did you?”
“Always been an optimist.” He flashed her a grin as he sheathed himself, then rolled back onto the bed. He hoisted her atop him once more. “Now where were we?”
In answer, she reached between them and took hold of his shaft, her fingers barely closing around it. She positioned him at her entrance and sank down slowly. Even though she was wet and ready, he was huge. His cock pushed the breath from her lungs, the thoughts from her head, until all that was left was their pulsing connection. The bliss of two bodies joined as they were meant to be.
“Christ, that’s fine,” he breathed. “You feel like a hot, tight glove. Like you were made for me.”
“You feel fine, too.”
She slid up on his cock, then sank down, a moan scraping from her throat.
“That’s right, love. Ride me. Take my cock as deep as you can.”
His growled encouragement vanquished her inhibitions. Planting her palms on his chest, she chased her pleasure with a freedom she’d never felt before. Being with Hawker felt different—hewas different, his larger-than-life passion inciting her own. She rode him, rolling her hips, finding an exquisite angle that shot tingles of delight through her limbs. He gripped her hips, bucking upward as she came down, hitting a deep, magical place that made her gasp his name.
“Found that sweet spot, did we?” His feral gaze urged her on. “Bounce that sweet quim on my cock, Pearl. Fuck me until you come.”
His rough command incinerated the layers of respectability she’d swaddled herself in. She was once again Pearl who’d come from the dockside streets, only this time she wasn’t running away from shame and fear. She was herself and free…free to lose herself in the need blooming at her core, to push against her lover’s cock and take every thick inch of pleasure he offered. She fucked and fucked him, and when she reached her zenith, her heart exploded at his growled approval.
“You’re bloody spectacular, love. You’re going to make me come so ’ard…”
Even in the throes of her own release, she felt him. The hot, forceful pulse of his seed against the sheath, the shudders that ran through his powerful body, the way he gripped her like he never wanted to let her go.
Lying boneless atop him, her cheek pressed against his thudding heart, she smiled. She drifted off, lulled by waves of contentment. Of peace she’d never felt anywhere but in Hawker’s arms.
Hawker stirred, reluctant to awaken from a delightfully sensual dream. In it, he was tangled up with Pearl, discovering all the things her lithe little body could do. Sensation sizzled up his prick, pleasure so hot and convincing that his eyes popped open. He was lying on his back, and when he angled his head to see what was happening, an animal sound raked up his throat.
Pearl was nestled between his thighs, her delicate fingers wrapped around his cockstand, her pink tongue moving along the veiny length. When she reached the top, she looked him in the eye and gave a faintly smug smile before closing her lips around his bulging tip. She took him deep, enveloping him in wet, lush bliss.
“Christ, that’s good,” he grunted.
She bobbed her head, impaling her mouth on his shaft, and his neck arched. He’d had women fellate him before but never with such wanton enthusiasm. From the sweet humming sounds she was making, Pearl was clearly enjoying giving him this morning treat. He sifted his fingers through her silken tresses, adoring the way she moaned around her mouthful of cock. Adoringher.
“Do you like driving me wild, woman?” he said huskily. “Like sucking my prick so well that I ’ave to fight not to come like an untried lad?”
She answered by taking him even deeper, her lips stretching toward his base. He groaned, his hands fisting in her hair. She rose until she had just his dome betwixt her lips. She applied suction, her tongue swirling fire over his senses. As he fought to will down his rising seed, to prolong this decadent pleasuring, she plunged down again. His eyes rolled back when he felt the tender clasp of her throat.
He tugged on her hair and bit out, “I can’t ’old back, love. Going to spend—”
