The first time Theo kissed her it had been gentle. Oh, it had awakened things in her, certainly, but he hadn’t driven her too hard or fast. But this…this kiss was something else. He was animal and he devoured her, moaning against her lips as he invaded every part of her mouth. And she welcomed him, meeting his kiss with hunger that had been loosened when she watched those wicked things in the room outside that door. Hunger set completely free the moment this man touched her.
Perhaps he was trying to frighten her, as he had been trying to do when he hauled her into this room, when he used such harsh language with her, when he tried to scoot her away from what she wanted. But none of it worked. The more blunt he was, the more she wanted him. And the harder he pushed her now, the more it woke a part of her she wanted to explore.
A part that didn’t follow rules or watch from the sidelines or live in fear.
So when he crowded her against the bed and she tumbled onto her back, she didn’t feel panic. She felt a thrill of excitement and a pulse of sensation that seemed to make every nerve ending in her body tingle. Especially the ones between her legs, a place where onlyshehad been able to stimulate a response in her life.
“Tell me to stop,” he whispered as he continued to rise up over her at the edge of the bed, the firelight behind him putting him in darkness.
But she wasn’t afraid of the dark. “I don’t want you to stop,” she managed to croak out.
He bent his head, almost as if he were defeated, and then he leaned over, caught her behind the knees and tugged her to the edge of the mattress so her legs dangled off the side and her bottom was almost sliding off entirely.
“If that changes, you need to tell me,” he said, his voice shaking.
And then he shocked her by beginning to hitch her skirt up her legs.
CHAPTER5
If Bernadette was honest with herself, and in this moment she could be nothing but honest, she had pictured being touched by Theo more than once. She dreamed of him kissing her every so often, even when she was just a girl.
More recently, in those moments when she gave herself pleasure with her hand, sometimes it washisface that invaded her vague erotic fantasies.
But the reality of him was not the same. She sat up on her elbows, watching him, taking in every moment as he leaned over her. His hands were warm as they glided beneath the edge of her skirt. He pushed it up and up her body. His thumbs circled her kneecaps, he gripped tighter as he reached her thighs, where her stockings where tied and met the edge of her drawers.
“Tsk, tsk,” he murmured without looking up at her face. “If you come to the Donville Masquerade, you can’t wear these.” Now he did look at her as he caught the edge of the fabric right where the drawers split and then rent them in half with what seemed like no effort. He tugged the frayed pieces of soft cotton away and then turned aside to toss them in the fire where they all but disintegrated in a flame that lifted the light in the room for a fraction of a moment.
Bernadette’s face blazed just as hot when he turned back and looked at her again, this time without anything covering her, protecting her from his gaze between her legs.
“There is so much consternation created about this,” Theo said softly, and pressed hand to each of her bare thighs, spreading her open wider, stepping into the space between her legs. “About you protecting yourself from…” He let his thumb trace the crease there and she arched up with a gasp. “…plunderers. Of virginity somehow being king, even once it’s physically no longer an issue. But what you say you want from some man…from me…defies all that.” He looked at her. “Still want to say yes?”
She nodded. “Y-Yes.”
If he was trying to goad her into backing away, he certainly looked pleased when she voiced her consent to continue. Almost relieved. He began to massage her outer lips with his thumbs and she jolted at the electric pleasure it created. When he peeled her open, she turned her head and he stopped moving.
“Watch,” he ordered. “If this is what you want, then be here, Etta. Be here in this moment.”
She drew in a ragged breath and did as he said. She looked at him again and watched as he slowly lowered his head toward her now fully exposed sex. She gripped the coverlet, uncertain as to what he was doing. But then his mouth found her and she gasped at the pure sensation of his tongue tracing her entrance.
“Theo,” she gasped, gliding one hand into his hair.
He chuckled against her body and the vibrations made her twist and moan even more. She was on fire, she was alive and it felt even better than she’d built it up to be in her mind. She ground up into him as his tongue found her clitoris, circling her lightly. Too lightly. He was teasing her, tormenting her. She wasn’t sure if she wanted it to end or last forever.
She didn’t seem to have much choice in the matter. He licked her length again and then returned to her clitoris, but this time with more firm intention. He increased the pressure of his mouth, dragging his tongue over the sensitive nub over and over again. What she’d felt as she drove herself to orgasm paled in comparison to this, and she jerked against him, losing herself.
She felt his fingers still moving even as his tongue drove against her. He spread her open farther, allowing his tongue more access. And then he breached her, gently and slowly, with one finger. She hadn’t been taken since before her husband’s death, and the feel of Theo’s body entering her, even in this small way, increased her pleasure even more. She gripped him, arching her hips, seeking her pleasure. When he added a second finger, she lost control. He pumped into her, gently even as he sucked and licked her with abandon.
The pleasure built, growing immense and undeniable and wild. She surrendered to it and to him, riding the waves of sensation as they got bigger and bigger. The end was coming, release was near, but she trusted him to take her there. When he did, the explosion was something unlike anything she’d ever felt before.
Pleasure overtook her and she rose into it, crying out like she’d heard others in the rooms around her cry out. She gasped and moaned and her body jerked out of control, but Theo kept up, never breaking contact, never slowing the pump of his fingers as she gripped around him in wave after wave of release. Only when she collapsed back, her aching body letting go, did he stop, sucking her once more before he kissed her hip, her thigh.
He moved up her body, joining her on the bed. He kissed her mouth and she tasted her pleasure on his lips. Salty and sweet, earthy and powerful. She pulled him in closer, weak and warm and ready for whatever would come next.
Only it didn’t. He gentled his kisses instead of increasing them and finally pulled away to look down at her. His expression was unreadable in the dim quiet. Aroused, yes. But not driven. Her heart sank.
“Bernadette,” he whispered.
She flinched. He wouldn’t even use the name that had become his term of endearment. “Please,” she whispered, whimpered and she hated herself for it.
