CHAPTER16
Valaria wanted to keep control of her senses, but when Callum kissed her, it was impossible.She immediately lifted into him, gripping his lapels with both hands, working to mold herself to him as if that would be enough.
It wasn’t enough.Nothing would ever be enough with this man, and it terrified her.But she pushed that away for now and surrendered herself to his touch.
His mouth was like fire on hers, a devouring pressure that lit a responding flame deep within her.She forgot everything else around her but him.His taste, the feel of his fingers gliding down her arm, catching her around her waist, the sound of him as he moaned a soft sound of pleasure against her lips.
She wanted him.All of him.And nothing else mattered.
He seemed to agree as he backed her toward the settee before the roaring fire.Together they sank down on the cushions, rocking against each other as the kiss grew more frenzied, as sensation took over entirely.
And oh, how she savored it.Savored his flavor as his tongue drove between her lips, savored the way his hands burned against her as he bunched her gown up and cupped her knee.Savored the tingle that spread through her entire body, taking over everything else in her mind and soul.
She pushed against him, straddling his lap as her gown gathered between them.This horrible black gown that said she was in mourning when she wasn’t.But when he cupped her backside through the fabric and rocked her against him, she forgot that too.
“Please,” she murmured, still chasing his tongue with hers.
He chuckled.“Who could deny that?”
His hand wedged between them and he unfastened his fall front.She lifted her skirts up more and pulled apart the slit in her drawers.It took a few seconds of aligning, but then he was coming home into her flexing sheath.He tilted his head back against the settee cushions with a rough groan as she fully seated him inside of her.
She couldn’t help it.She began to rock over him, grinding for her pleasure.He didn’t lean up to kiss her, but watched her through a hooded gaze.
“You think I forgot you?”he whispered, his tone nothing but rough seduction that made her arch harder and faster against him.“You are so wrong, Valaria.Every night I pulled myself off thinking of you.Thinking of burying myself deep inside of you just like this.Thinking of how tight you squeeze when you come and those soft sounds you make when you’re so close to orgasm that it’s written on every inch of your body.”
She whimpered and gripped his shoulders tighter, sensation rising higher and higher, the orgasm right there where she could almost pluck it.
“I dreamed of your taste on my tongue,” he continued.“I dreamed of your mouth wrapped around my cock and my fingers in your hair.There was never one moment when we were apart that I didn’t want you.”
She gasped.The pleasure was right there.So close.
He cupped the back of her neck, drawing her down, pressing her forehead to his.Their eyes locked and he whispered, “Come for me now.”
It was an order, not a request, and she should have hated that, but instead her body responded of its own accord.Wave after wave of powerful pleasure rolled through her.She felt it in every nerve ending from her head to her toes.
“So good,” he murmured, and drew her even closer.He kissed her as the tremors began to fade and lifted harder into her.She gripped him, still haunted by the remnants of pleasure, and pulled away to watch him as he had watched her.
There was nothing like his face as he moved toward release.His expression was taut, his mouth parted as he gasped for breath beneath her.
And when the moment came, he gently moved her aside, caught his cock and stroked.Her hand trembled as she reached out and let her fingers tangle with his.His eyes went wide and he gulped out pleasure.Together they moved their hands over him, using the wetness of her release to ease the way.He lifted into her hand and then he came with a strangled cry.
For a short while after it was over, they simply sat there together, staring at each other in the firelight.Then he reached into his breast pocket and withdrew a handkerchief.He took her hand and gently wiped the evidence of his release from her fingers.
“Have I proved I missed you?”he whispered.
She shook her head with a little laugh.“I suppose you did.Callum—”
She didn’t get to say anything else.Before she could, there was a rattle at the door.They both turned toward it, watching as the knob turned but could not open because it was locked.
Valaria leapt to her feet, heart pounding, as she pushed her skirt back down.“Get dressed,” she hissed.
Callum arched a brow, getting up slower and tucking himself back in, buttoning the fall front of his trousers without haste.“Calm yourself,” he said gently.“Whoever it was has gone now.It was probably a servant.”
“A servant who will now know that someone was in this room with the door locked,” she whispered.“What if they note that you and I are missing from the party?What if it is the Duke of Lightmorrow who came looking for us?What if—”
Callum reached out and took her hand, and she hated that a sense of peace came over her when he did.She couldn’t afford such sentimentality, not with this man.Clearly she was compromised when it came to him and that was how one ended up in Newgate or worse.
She yanked her hand away.He stared at her, brow wrinkled in confusion.
