His fingers crawl to the soft skin of my inner thigh, inching up my chemise as he runs the tip of his nose along my throat. “What have you learned about Duke Áine since we’ve been here?” is what he says out loud. What he groans into my mind is,You always smell incredible. Drives me fucking mad.
I arch closer, spreading my legs in a blatant invitation for him to touch, to taste, to take, but he’s so infuriatingly restrained.
“I—”
The tips of his fingers trace the crease where my thigh meets my hip and, curse him, Idowhimper again.
He laughs, a hot puff against my neck followed by the graze of a fang. Shivers wrack my body.
This is excruciating.
I never want him to stop.
Somewhere beneath my lust-addled daze, I remember he’s asked me a question.
“He’s vain,” I choke out as Lachlan pulls back. I know I’m not imagining the hunger in his gaze. He may be keeping me on edge, but I don’t think this is any easier for him. He’s just better at controlling himself.
“And?” He runs his fingernails up and down my thigh, coming dangerously close to my bare sex on each upstroke and pausing every time. Teasing. The brute.
“He wants to be the center of attention, always,” I continue through stuttering breaths.
“Good observation,” Lachlan murmurs onto my jaw, nipping gently. “Then why have you not won him over yet? You’ve given him plenty of attention.”
“I don’t?—”
Lachlan sweeps his thumb down the side of my breast, and my nipple instantly hardens. This time, the sound I make is not a whimper. It’s a deep, needy moan followed by his soft growl of approval.
Lachlan, please, I beg through thediamrhán, dignity be damned.
But all he offers in return is another light stroke down my breast, a squeeze on my upper thigh, and a teasing grin. “Out loud, little queen.”
I want to smack the smug look right off his face.
As soon as I’ve had a chance to ride it.
My cunt is throbbing, and I think I might be wetter than I’ve ever been in my life. He would know if he’d just move his fingers a little higher. I am quite certain I would fall apart instantly.
“Think about it,” Lachlan says. “You’ve given him nothing but attention since the moment he returned. And where has that gotten you?”
“Writhing beneath a talented knight whose seduction lessons are an effective method of torture?”
The corners of his eyes crinkle, and his laughter shakes his body against me. “Charmingandfunny,” he says out loud before a whisper rises in my mind,And so gloriously aroused that it’s taking all my restraint to not give you what you so desperately want. Or at least, what youthinkyou want.
“What does that mean?” I choke out. “What IthinkI want?”
He whispers against my collarbone, “You’ve been giving Torvil what you think he wants—your undivided attention, your eager availability—but that’s not what he needs. Make him come to you. Make him worry he’s not the man you want. Make himwork for it. That’s what a man like him needs. To believe he’s bested everyone by earning the most glorious prize in the Otherworld.”
“This is the lesson? The reason you’re tormenting me?”
“Partly,” Lachlan says with a grin, his hand cupping my nape again. “And partly because this is whatIwant. To keep you in an extended state of arousal. Have you begging me to end it.” His lips brush the shell of my ear as he whispers, “You’d do anything I asked right now if I promised to lick your cunt, wouldn’t you?”
My eyes slide closed and I moan, fluttering around complete emptiness. I have never felt so hollow, a desperate awareness of all the places I need to be filled. I want him on top of me, inside me. He’s absolutely right; Iwoulddo anything he asked if he would just put me out of my misery and?—
Plush lips touch mine in a featherlight press.
Despite the tenderness of the kiss, what happens to my body can only be described as a violent explosion. I shudder, I whimper, and I’m fairly certain those are tears streaming from the corners of my eyes.
It’s never been like this with anyone. Not even with George.
