Moments later, Nicholas and Sadie were alone in the kitchen, the dim glow-glyphs, late hour, and sound of the storm gentling outside giving the entire situation an intimate aura. Nicholas wrapped his hands around his teacup, staring into the dark liquid. “Thank you for coming to my rescue. Things would have gotten a lot worse if you hadn’t shown up.”
“I’m not sure if I really helped,” Sadie said. “Not in the long term.”
“Until she goes home at the end of the month, I don’t think there is any chance of things improving with her. Still, I appreciate not having to deal with her causing a scene and bringing everyone down on us.” He looked up and waited for Sadie to meet his eyes. “And just so you know, if her maid ever insists I go talk to her in the middle of the night again, I’m stopping at your door first to bring you along.”
“If you are hoping I’ll open the door dressed in the same sort of nightgown as Abigail was wearing, you’ll be disappointed.”
He stood up, moved around the counter and pressed his hands flat on each side of her, caging her in, his chest to her back. He leaned close, his lips only a hair away from the shell of her ear. “Sadie, I will never be disappointed by anything you are—or are not—wearing.”
She shivered, and his lips brushed over her ear.
“I suspect—” She swallowed. “I suspect you are more interested in me not wearing things.”
He slid his hand from the counter over the back of her own hands, then up her arms. She shivered again, but didn’t move, didn’t glance at him. “Sadie,” he said in a low voice, cajoling.
She looked up at him, licking her lips.
“My interest begins and ends with you.” He couldn’t resist and leaned in to taste her. Sank his teeth into that plump lower lip, then suckled it. He straightened, his breathing heavy as though he’d been running. “Whenever you are ready to share, I’ll be here.”
She looked up at him with glassy eyes. Her hand rose, and she pressed her fingers to her lips, then snatched it away and straightened the instant she realized what she had done. “Why must I share all my secrets? We don’t need to talk to have sex.”
They certainly didn’t. But this wasn’t about just sex.
Not that Sadie was willing to accept that.
She spun on her stool so she faced Nicholas fully, hooking her fingers in the waistband of his trousers.
She was turning the tables on him, and he didn’t know if he had the willpower to resist. He had to try, though. “That’s not—”
She tugged lightly and cut him off. “You want this as much as I do.” Her attention flicked past him for an instant. “You’ve already warded the door.”
He craned his head around, surprised to see the familiar blue shimmer of his most basic, instinctual ward. While he studied that proof of how little control he had at present, Sadie unbuttoned his trousers.
He whipped back around, and all he could do was stare as she carefully freed his cock. It took the little brain power he had remaining not to thrust into her hands; actually objecting to the exquisite feel of her fingers wrapped around him was fullybeyond him. Then she slipped off the stool and onto her knees, her hot breath ghosting over him.
Sadie looked up at him, temptation, challenge, and desire all rolled together. “It looks like my mouth is going to be too full for talking, Nick.”
She didn’t hesitate, didn’t ease into anything. She took him in her mouth and demanded his surrender. For a bare instant he resisted. He tried to convince himself to stop her. But, spirits, he couldn’t really think of a good reason to stop her. She wanted this. He wanted this. And they could still talk after.
Honestly, he couldn’t think. Only react.
He threaded his fingers through her hair, and only barely stopped himself before trying to take control. She looked up at him, her eyes dark beneath her lashes, and he knew exactly what she was thinking.Do it. Give in.
He gave in, using his grip in her hair to direct her, though she didn’t need guidance. Sadie was a spirits-cursed siren who already seemed to know his body better than he did. She let him move her, though, and took him deeper. Her hands curled into his thighs, pulling him as he pushed her.
All too soon, he knew he had reached his limit. Unsurprising how quickly pleasure overwhelmed him when it was wielded by her. “Sadie, I’m going to—”
Her nails dug into his thighs, not letting him pull back.
He came in a torrent, the entire world disappearing except for his pleasure and Sadie. Always Sadie.
He couldn’t speak. He couldn’t even string together a few gibbering words in his mind, let alone anything coherent, as he watched her swallow. Lick her lips.
He opened his mouth as she rose, her hands trailing up his sides, but he still couldn’t form words.
She laughed, patted his chest, and sauntered to the door. She stopped in front of the shimmering blue barrier, looking over her shoulder at him with a raised brow.
She was the most alluring thing he’d ever seen, with her loose braid disheveled from his grip, her lips swollen.
