“That’s it,” he praised her, as he continued to tease her nipples. “Let go. I’ve got ye.”
River didn’t need to be told twice. She was already too far gone, too lost in her pleasure to care about her embarrassment. All she cared about was that touch of Archer’s hands, the way he was so focused on her pleasure even as if she could feel his hardness growing against her back, pressing into her.
It sent a shiver down her spine. Soon, she was fully nude before him, and Archer’s hands moved to her rear, grabbing a handful of flesh.
Before she knew it, he was on his knees behind her, pushing her down until she was bracing herself against the edge of the mattress. River glanced over her shoulder at him, though she could hardly get a look at him. It only dawned on her what he was trying to do when she felt his breath ghost over her folds, followed by the slick heat of his tongue over her.
“Archer!” River cried, her entire body shaking with need. Pressure built deep in her belly, her need growing and growing as Archer growled behind her in response and pushed even deeper, licking into her with abandon. “Please, please, please.”
River didn’t even know what it was she was asking for. All she knew was that her body was moving on its own accord, pushing back, her hips undulating as she tried to reach her zenith.
Archer wasted no time. River had only moments to recover before he grabbed her and all but hauled her onto the bed. Suddenly, she found herself on her hands and knees on the mattress, once again looking over her shoulder at Archer to see him tearing his clothes off his body.
She loved seeing him like this, almost feral, not caring about the expensive garments he wore. She loved seeing those grooves and valleys of his chest, the bulge of muscles, his manhood, long and thick, straining against his stomach.
“Ye drive me insane,” he said as he gripped her hips with a steady hand. His fingers dug into her flesh, and River couldn’t help but wish that he would leave a mark behind, something for her to remember him the following morning—something that would make her ask for yet another night. “I cannae take ye out of me mind, River. All I can think of is ye, yer body . . . me plunging deep inside ye and hearin’ ye moan me name.”
She did, as if on command, his words filling her with need. How could she respond to any of this with anything but moans,anything but pleas for him to finally take her, to part her body for him, to claim her fully?
When she felt the blunt tip of his manhood against her seam, River’s breath caught in her throat. She knew what to expect—the stretch, the smooth slide of him deep inside her, until she was filled to the brim—and yet it still stunned her, that sudden pleasure. Archer’s thrust was slow, measured, too controlled for her liking, and so River began to push back, only for him to stop her, to keep her steady with both hands on her hips.
“Stay still,” he growled. “It’s me job to pleasure ye.”
River did as she was told, though she hardly had a choice with the way Archer was holding her. She clutched onto the bedding, holding on as Archer began to thrust slowly, torturously so, making her feel every single thrust.
“Tell me how much ye like this,” he said, leaning closer to press a kiss to her back. “Tell me how much ye want it.”
River’s cheeks heated with embarrassment and she shook her head as if to say she couldn’t; she couldn’t admit it, not out loud, no matter how true it was. But then, Archer stopped, his hips stilling.
“I want to hear it,” he said. “Tell me.”
“I...I want it,” River managed, just to get him to move again. “Please, Archer, I want it so much, daenae stop, please, daenae stop.”
“Ye have nae idea what ye feel like. Ye have nae idea what it’s like to be inside ye. It’s like heaven. Ye’re like heaven, River. Go on...come for me. I want to feel ye come around me.”
River didn’t need to be told twice. She was already so close, her body reaching for her climax, and Archer’s words pushed her over the edge. She reached her orgasm with a cry of his name, clenching rhythmically around him as warmth exploded all through her, reaching all the way to the very ends of her limbs. She almost collapsed on the bed, held upright only by Archer’s hands as he kept thrusting into her, her pleasure so overwhelming and all-encompassing, as if she was plunged into a dark lake.
Afterwards, Archer helped her settle in bed, but he didn’t join her, much to her surprise and disappointment. All she wanted was to feel his warmth, his arms around her, to sleep next to him and wake with him by her side.
But soon, Archer was dressed once more and he was hovering over her to press a kiss to her forehead, and River couldn’t find the words to ask him to stay.
He was gone without another word, and River lay there, in the darkening room, wondering what it was that had gotten into him. He truly was different now; he was acting strangely, in away she was once used to but had come to not expect since the first attack.
Och . . . that’s why he kissed me.
Understanding dawned on her all at once and a strange, deep grief caught her in its grasp. She didn’t want to wallow in it. She didn’t want to think that Archer was using her once more, like he had when he married her, when she was just a pawn to his plans. And yet, one thought circled her mind again and again.
He only kissed me to distract me. He just didnae want to answer me. To tell me what’s wrong.
“Out with it.”
Keir’s voice startled River. She hadn’t even known he was standing there, right by the entrance to the manicured gardens in the back of the castle—the one place that she had as her sanctuary outside of the eastern wing, and where she had now come to escape it all.
She had been thinking about Archer all day. She had been thinking about his choice to distract her, to use an intimate moment between them just so he could slip away from her and her questions.
It didn’t feel right. It wasn’t simply the fact that he didn’t want to tell her the truth that bothered her, but also his decision to distract her by bedding her instead of simply avoiding her.
And now she had to deal with Keir too, on top of everything else.
