He curled his fingers inside her, pressing his thumb against her clit as she shuddered in his arms, gasping and whimpering softly. And then she pushed her hand down next to his, circled his cock with her slim fingers and gripped him hard, and he nearly lost his mind.
He rolled onto his back, bringing her with him, helping her to straddle him, and she paused for a moment, her dark hair falling damply around her shoulders as she looked down at him—glancing appreciatively at the scales covering his face—and then, still watching him, she sank down, guiding him inside her.
It was almost too much. She saw him. She saw his beast. And she still wanted him. Still chose him.
She was so tight, surrounding him, her skin like a furnace against his as she leaned back, her legs splayed wide, and he ran his hands down her body, one to find her clit, adding pressure in tight circles, so close to where they were joined, the other to rest on her hip, supporting her.
She groaned, and her walls tightened around his cock like a searing glove as they both trembled.
Then he began to move, thrusting up as she pushed down, again and again in a frenzy of slick skin and grunted breaths as his beast began to growl relentlessly. She gave a long, shuddering moan and collapsed forward to lie her weight on top of his body, her mouth open against his throat.
The glide of flesh at the new, sharper angle, ratcheted him higher, into a feverish blur of mind-blowing pleasure and his balls drew up tight against his body as she ground down. Gods. He had never imagined something so perfect.
Mine. Ours.
He gave in and curled up, holding her tight against him and clamped his teeth down over her shoulder, just hard enough to appease the beast’s need to claim her.
His beast roared triumphantly, vibrating deep inside him, deep inside her, and she flew apart. Her body clenching as she writhed and whimpered, and he lost his rhythm, pumping up into her in rough thrusts, holding until the last possible moment, and then lifting her off and rolling them to the side so that he could come all over her belly in heavy, shuddering spurts.
He pulled her into him, wrapping his arms around her, his seed slick between them, and then found her mouth to kiss her, needing to taste her as they came back down together.
He could feel his beast still rumbling in his belly, deeply satisfied, urging him to hold her for eternity.
He had never felt anything like it. Never had his beast been so close to the surface when he’d been with a woman. Never had both parts of him been so totally focused, so intent on everything about a woman. How she looked, how she felt, how she tasted. Never had he been driven to this incandescent high, completely lost in one person.
Lucilla.
Chapter Fifteen
Lucilla lay quietlyon her side, savoring the warm heaviness that filled her body. Mathos had gotten up and come back with his damp shirt to wipe her clean, and then he’d lain back down behind her, curling around her, his heavy arm draped over her waist, his hand resting over her breasts.
He was half asleep. But she knew he was still aware—birds had begun to sing in the dawn, and she felt his body twitch with their rising cacophony—and she knew, deep in her soul, that he would never fully relax while he was her guard.
She could hear a deep rumbling sound, almost a purr, behind her, and it made her smile softly to herself. He didn’t seem to realize that he was doing it, but she liked it, a lot.
Gods. She’d kissed him. Kissed him and then… she could feel an unfamiliar heat rising through her body as she thought about everything that came after the kiss. She had wanted him. If want was the right word for that depth of hunger.
She’d lusted after him for days, even when she thought he was an arrogant asshole. And then he’d kept his promise not to leave. He’d fought for her, again and again. Proved himself to be honorable and good. And then he’d wrapped her in his arms, looked her in the eye, and told her that she was beautiful, brave, and smart.
If she could go back in time and hear his rumbling voice, full of sincerity, genuinely telling her that he saw her, that he admired her, she would do the exact same thing and kiss him again.
Not that it was anything like any kind of kiss she’d ever experienced before. None of what they’d done was like anything she’d experienced before. That rolling wave of ecstasy. The way she’d lost all sense of anything in the world other than him. And how he had held her so tightly, and yet so carefully, as if she was precious to him. How he was still holding her now, hours later.
Never in her life had her pleasure been of any consequence. And no one, ever, had been content to simply hold her. More than content; the rumbling purr was one of quiet pleasure.
A heavy flood of emotion rose through her, and it took everything she had to keep her body relaxed. To hold in the tears that wanted to slide down her face, despite her decision never to cry again.
If she cried, he would know. He would worry and want an explanation. And what could she say? That she had waited her whole life for someone to make her feel like he had? Someone who would look her in the eye and tell her the truth, even when things were bad. Who would expect her to make her own decisions, but would support her once she’d made them.
Someone who saw all of her—not her position, nor her wealth, not what she could give them or how she might threaten them—her. And want her anyway. Someone brave and strong and honorable who sincerely thought that she was brave and smart too. Someone who would wrap his arms around her and make her feel alive.
It wouldn’t change anything if she told him how much his words had meant to her. He would still leave, maybe even sooner. He had told her that he didn’t want a relationship, and she wasn’t going to chase him off by telling him how badly she wanted him to stay.
She would allow herself this time to simply be. And to memorize it all for later.
The sun rose, and Mathos stirred behind her. His voice was deep, rough almost, as he lifted himself on one elbow to look down at her. “Lucy?”
She felt her grin stretch her face as she twisted round to look up at him. “Lucy?”
