Now it was time to test whether he could win through that temptation, or whether they would burn together, destroyed by it.
“I know what you still want,” he said, hearing the strain in his voice.
She pushed from his arms, panting as she smoothed her nightgown and turned away from him. She was fighting this, like a colt trying not to be broken.
“No I don’t,” she said. “I don’t want this.”
“Then why did you lift into me when I kissed you?” he asked, stepping up behind her and letting his breath whisper across the bare skin on her shoulder. “Why does your breath hitch? Why did you moan into my lips when they were on yours?”
She tensed and then leaned back a fraction. Enough that she brushed against him. Her shoulders against his chest. Her hair against his chin. He sucked in a breath of vanilla and citrus. He drowned in it.
“I can scent your desire on the air,” he continued. “I know it like I know my own. If I put my hand between your legs, put my mouth there as I did before, you would be wet for me. You would be ready for me. Deny it. Tell me it isn’t true. Tell me you aren’t pulsing for me right now, on the edge of release. Ready to beg for more.”
She made a soft sound in her throat, but she didn’t turn toward him. “I-Ican’twant this. Because Iknowyou’ll use it against me.”
He frowned. She wasn’t wrong. But he didn’t like that she saw him for who he was. He didn’t like that he was what she believed because she deserved more.
“True,” he said slowly. “But I’m not lying to you about that, Juliana. I do want something you have beyond your body. I want your information. I-I need your help even if I’ve fought against it until now.”
She turned then, her eyes wide. “You admit it?”
“Yes,” he said, ducking his head though he felt his cheeks heat. “I can access a great many things and places, but not like you can. I need your help. And I will repay you not just with protection because I know you’re going to get yourself in trouble, but with what you came to the Donville Masquerade for in the first place.”
Her lips parted. “I want to be clear.”
“In these cases, that’s probably best,” he drawled.
She didn’t smile at his teasing. Her face was entirely serious. “Are you saying that if I help you, if I work with you, then you will…you’ll…”
“I’llfuckyou, Juliana,” he said, emphasizing the curse that made her flinch. “I won’t make love to you sweetly like a knight in some fairytale that made you swoon as a girl. I won’t be cruel, but I won’t be gentle. I will lick you and touch you, I will have you begging. I will take that silly thing you’ve been told to protect your whole life, and I will destroy it. I will make you come. I will mark you with my body. And I will be certain you like every minute of it.That’swhat I’ll do.”
Her eyes were wide as saucers, her pupils dilated until there was almost no green left and her breath came short and fast. She stared at him, gape mouthed.
He smiled. “Is that a fair trade, Miss Shelley?”
He could see her considering it. See her wondering if she should just scream and bring the household running to save her. But then she nodded. “A very fair trade,” she gasped out. “But you’ve already proudly declared that you are a thief and a liar, so I must insist on one thing in this exchange.”
He nodded. “And what is that?”
“You give first.”
His eyes widened at the brash demand, delivered without hesitation even if her hands were clenched at her sides, shaking like a freshly fallen leaf. That was all there was to it in the end. She was offering herself. He was going to take her.
There was nothing left to say except, “That’s a bargain.”
The words left his lips and then he tugged her forward, letting her collide against his chest as he ducked his head to kiss her again. This time there was only surrender, no hesitation as she lifted on her tiptoes, wrapped her arms around his neck and clung to him as she drove her tongue into his mouth.
She was aggressive in her desperation and he loved it, even if she was a little clumsy. Her ardor made him mad, his cock responded by easing to attention and throbbing in a constant code for him to spread her wide and fuck her hard.
But he ignored that. Ignored how she pushed him to that very end. He knew this wouldn’t be the only time they did this. It was clear to him that once he touched her, he would want to do it until he’d squeezed every drop out of the pleasure. But it was the first time he’d take her. The first time she’d ever be taken.
He wanted it to be a happy memory for her, even when he was but a faint recollection of a dead man who had taken advantage of her desire. He wanted her to wake in the night with his name on her lips in pleasure, not as a nightmare.
So he stepped back, ignoring the part of him that screamed to press her against the wall and rut. He steadied her, then he unbuttoned his shirt and tugged it over his head to stand before her half naked. And just as he’d hoped they would, her eyes boggled.
Oh yes, this was going to be a great deal of fun. One last hurrah for Handsome Ellis Maitland.
Juliana wetted her lips as she stared at Ellis’s half-naked form. Great God, but he was perfect. And imperfect. Both at the same time. He had toned shoulders, though they were marked with scars, not the least of which was the red mark left by the gunshot weeks ago.
