Her fingers sought his head, gripping his skull to hold him close as she shattered against his mouth. A cry burst from her lips as her body bowed and quivered.
“Yes,” he hissed, his fingers thrusting inside her. “More, Velia. Give me more.”
She wrung every bit of pleasure from him that she could, then fell back, gasping. He gently withdrew his fingers from her and rose to his feet. His arousal bumped her, and she reached for it, fumbling his tunic over his head to bare his body, though she couldn’t see much in the dark.
He made a low noise of need when her fingers slipped in the wetness dewing the head of his cock. “You still want this?”
“Yes. Now.” He had satisfied her physically, but she wanted more. She wanted all of him, everything he could give her. His ardor, his touch, his devotion—they would burn away the shadows of earlier.
She wasn’t entirely sure how the logistics would work, given the differences in their heights—but Ferox quickly solved that by lifting her off the floor. Her legs wrapped around his waist, and the pressure of his body held her against the wall.
“It feels wrong to want you like this,” he whispered, “but I can’t help myself.”
His words made dark pleasure bloom inside her. She tightened the clasp of her legs around him. “Take me.”
With a few adjustments of position, he rooted himself inside her. His hands grasped her bottom, effortlessly holding her up.
He let out a sharp sigh as she settled onto him. “Are you comfortable?”
She nodded. She was more than comfortable—she was swathed in blissful pleasure, enveloped in sensual delight. “But will you be able to hold me like this?”
He gave a raspy chuckle. “You weigh about as much as a feather pillow, and this won’t take long at all. Trust me.”
Velia giggled—and the noise quickly turned to a moan as he began to thrust. She could feel his need in the sharpness of each movement, but even so, she could tell he was holding back, setting a restrained rhythm.
She didn’t want his restraint, his control. She wanted him to lose himself inside her, as he’d just made her lose herself. “Harder,” she urged. “Faster.”
“You’re going to kill me,” he grunted, but obliged, setting a relentless pace that had her body jumping up the wall with every thrust.
She grasped his muscled shoulders and held on. “Well, you did offer me your soul, didn’t you?”
His movements became rougher. His fingers sank even harder into the flesh of her bottom, holding her tight to him.
She sensed he was getting close, and renewed the clasp of her legs around his hips. “I want you to spill inside me,” she murmured in his ear.
“No,” he groaned. “Don’t say that.”
“I have my herbs.”
“Still—too—risky,” he panted.
“But I want it,” she wheedled. “Think of how good it will—mmph!”
His hand found her mouth, fingers gently but firmly muffling her words. “You can’t talk if you’re going to say things like that.” His voice was unsteady, breathless as he drove into her, again and again, somehow still supporting her body with one arm.
She nipped him with her teeth. He grunted, but didn’t release his hand. She bit him harder, sinking her teeth into his finger.
“Fuck,” he hissed. A shudder wracked him, and he abruptly tore his hand from her mouth, pulling out of her as he exploded over the inside of her thigh. His hand grasped his cock, stroking hard and fast. He leaned his forehead against the wall with a deep groan.
Well. He’d foiled her plan to make him spill inside her, but she was fairly sure he’d just climaxed from her biting him. She tucked that piece of information away for further exploration.
Breathing hard, he helped her find her feet. Her legs wavered as soon as her feet touched the ground, and he slid an arm around her back to steady her.
Despite her body’s instability, her mind felt, for the first time in hours, calm. She’d been right to ask this of him. It had shaken her loose from the twisting anxieties that gripped her, had brought her back to herself.
She fetched a cloth from her chest of drawers, which she used to clean both of them. Then, they stumbled together to the bed, collapsed onto it, and finally, Velia fell asleep.
20
