Not claim her. Not fuck her. Not punish her with pleasure.
He wanted to make love to her.
Wordlessly, he let his fingers splay against her back, finding the buttons along her spine. She deepened the kiss as he loosened her gown, spread the fabric open and finally stepped away from her to silently draw the bodice away from her body. She, too, was silent as she stared into his eyes. It was as if they both feared that words would shatter this spell between them. Break this bubble where no damage had ever torn them apart.
He lowered the dress around her hips and she shimmied, shuffling it past the gentle swell until it fell in a circle around her feet. Of course she wore nothing beneath. Just as she’d worn nothing beneath every single time he’d come to her here.
He was glad of it. That meant there was more time to look at her in all her beauty. To worship rather than unwrap the gift that was her touch and her taste and her feel.
He pressed his fingers into her hair, combing away the pins that held it in place, letting long, thick locks of reddish gold fall all around them like a curtain. Her hair smelled like lemons and jasmine and he sucked in that scent to hold it inside of him.
He guided her backward until her thighs hit the high bed. He lifted her onto the edge and they were face to face again. He cupped her cheeks, smoothing his thumbs along the contours, and kissed her once more. She tasted like sweet honey and sharp liquor, she tasted like the thing he craved most.
And he wanted to taste her everywhere tonight.
He drew away from her mouth and gently placed his hands on her shoulders to push her onto her back. She went without argument, resting back on the bed with a sigh like she hadn’t been able to find peace like this for a long time.
Neither had he. He climbed up beside her, turning her until her head rested on the pillows. She stared up at him, waiting, silent, surrendering.
He pressed a kiss to her lips and she lifted her hands to his hair, sliding the edges of her fingernails against his scalp, angling his head for a deeper kiss that seemed to go on forever.
He finally managed to slide away, dragging his mouth along her chin, her throat, her shoulder. She shivered in response, whispering out an incoherent sound of pleasure. That little sound rocked through him, setting him on fire as much as her touch or her taste did. It awoke something in him he hadn’t allowed to live for a long time.
The desire to give to her, entirely and completely. And though he knew he was a fool, though he knew nothing could change in the long term due to their history, tonight he would surrender to that desire.
Surrender to her.
He moved his lips over the swell of her breast and she gasped as he stroked his tongue over one nipple. It hardened beneath the touch, rising to meet him like she would when he entered her body. He sucked there, feeling her shift beneath him, reaching for and trying to escape intense pleasure as she tugged at his hair with ragged, helpless cries.
He smiled against her skin and moved his attention to the other nipple, repeating the pull and tug, the slide of wet against hard until she was gasping for breath.
He moved lower then, rubbing his cheek against her smooth, flat stomach, holding her hips steady while he sucked a path lower and lower. She lifted toward him, offering herself out of instinct, but he ignored the ultimate goal of her slick sex and instead glided lower, pulling at her stocking with his teeth, rolling it away with his hands.
He repeated the action on the other leg and now she was truly naked, truly his. She sat up on her elbows to watch him, her gaze fully focused and fully aware of the power of this moment, just as he was.
He never looked away as he slid his hands back up her legs. He never looked away as he pressed against her thighs and she opened to him with a shudder. He never looked away even as he slid his fingers up the inside of her leg and finally touched the sweet hidden jewel of her pussy.
Only when he felt the slick wetness there did he allow himself to look down at the apex of her legs. She opened them a little wider, unashamed of his attention, welcoming it as she would welcome him.
And he was ready to take her. Eager. Only not yet. First, he wanted something else. He leaned down, settling between her legs, spreading her open with both hands. She shivered, whispering his name, her hands gripping the coverlet near her hips.
He ignored her begging. He ignored everything except for the sweet treat before him. Finally, he leaned in and darted his tongue out to taste her, and she let out a cry that certainly echoed in the room, likely echoed in the hall. A cry that made his cock jolt beneath his trousers.
A cry that signaled it was only the beginning of this night. And he couldn’t wait to do more to make that sound escape her lips again.
Chapter Ten
Elise gasped, searching for air and finding none as Lucien settled his hot mouth against her trembling sex. She couldn’t believe he was doing this, touching her like this, loving her like this. No one had ever done it before.
And yet now it felt like this was what she’d been waiting for her entire life. This feeling of sharp pleasure, this intense sensation of being loved rather than being merely claimed.
It was amazing, and she cried out helplessly as he stroked his rough tongue along the entire length of her weeping slit. The sensation was incredible, focused and powerful, sharp and so pleasurable that she began to tremble almost immediately.
He took his time, holding her open with one hand while he licked and licked, leaving no part of her safe from his attentions. She found her hips moving to greet him, grinding against him to strengthen the already intensely powerful pleasure building in her.
He smiled against her skin, looking up at her as he claimed her and the power of their gazes meeting made the experience even more intense.
He began to focus his wicked tongue more and more on her clitoris. His licks there becoming harder, his attentions lasting longer, and finally he began to suck her gently, then harder. As he did so, he slid one finger into her sheath, curling it slowly.
