“Oh!” she squeaked out, meeting his gaze. His blue eyes had darkened, the pupils dilated.
His other hand cupped her neck, fisting his hand in her hair, and brought her within an inch of his parted lips. Before she could open her mouth, he kissed her. And just like that, Cordelia’s head emptied. All of the worries and qualms and options she’d been turning over and over and over again evaporated suddenly. She was, once again, just a woman in the arms of a man. It felt good to only be one thing.
Justin groaned, pulling her closer to him, so she was sprawled out on top of him. “Take this off,” he said, tugging at the sleeve of her gown.
“I-I,” she tried to say between kisses, “I’m supposed to be receiving guests in an hour.”
Justin bit the side of her neck, his tongue burning a trail to the valley of her breasts, which were now straining against the stiff fabric of her corset. “Oh God,” she whispered.
He reached behind her back, searching for the buttons to her dress.If you let this happen, you won’t be able to stop yourself, a rational voice intoned in her head. When the duke flicked the first button open, running his rough fingers down the knobs of her spine, Cordelia knew she was lost.
“Quickly,” she said, reaching for the buttons herself to help him. “It needs to be quick.”
Justin chuckled, “One of these days I will have you and I will make sure it is the longest, most torturous night of your life.”
“Sounds rather terrible,” she remarked, pulling down the sleeves of her gown.
“Oh, trust me,” he said, his voice deep and wicked. “You’ll be begging me to make it last longer.”
Standing, she shimmied out of her dress and draped the frock over the chair so it wouldn’t wrinkle. “So no one suspects,” she said, returning to Justin’s arms in her corset and shift.
“By all means,” he said, wrapping his hand behind her neck to possess her mouth. She breathed into the kiss, letting out a shocked cry when he bit her lower lip. She felt the jolt down her belly and between her legs. Pulling back the covers, she settled over him, so she could feel him more fully beneath her.
Cordelia felt terribly wicked, their bodies flush against one another in the duke’s own chambers. There might be maids right outside the door, or someone, his mother included, could come knocking at any moment. That train of thought should have deeply disturbed her, but it had the opposite effect instead. She ground her pelvis against his, quivering at the familiar feeling of electricity.
Cordelia used to scoff at young women who gave themselves over so quickly to men. Even after Rhys, she’d not been particularly keen on seduction, having knowledge of what went after. It had taken Rhys so many years to get her to that point anyway.
As the duke reached under the lip of her corset, pulling her breast from its confinement, she felt like she understood very well how a woman could ruin herself without a second thought.
Quickly, a voice whispered in her head.
Reaching between their bodies, Cordelia palmed the hard length of his cock. He hissed in her ear. “We must hurry,” she said, trying to roll her body over to get beneath him. His hands held her hips firmly in place.
“I rather like you there,” he murmured.
“What?” she whispered, frantic.
Pulling up the length of her shift, he slid his hands along her legs and up her thighs, toying with the ribbons on her stockings. “You heard me,” he replied.
Cordelia spluttered, “But… I am not sure…”
“Like the time we first met.Astride, Lia,” he replied, a wicked grin on his lips. He sucked in a breath as he rolled his hips up, creating a delicious friction. Cordelia gasped, rocking her hips forward experimentally.
Sitting up, she found his hard length with her hand, pressing him inside of her. There was a little pain, but much less than the first time. The sensation was different from when Justin had been on top of her. Testing the feeling, she moved her hips up and down, shivering.
“God, yes,” Justin said between clenched teeth, his eyes screwed shut.
Cordelia watched him with interest as she continued to move over him, experimenting.
“Try this,” he said, tilting her forward so her chest was once more against his. Her pubic bone rubbed against his flesh, sending shockwaves through her body. Between that sensation and the fullness of him inside of her she had to bite her lip to keep herself from crying out. It was almost too much.
“I…I…” Cordelia tried, but the feelings were building and she recognized the pulse of an orgasm almost at its peak.
Justin was meeting her thrusts from below, but his hands were still clamped on her hips, making sure her increasingly uneven movements would not disrupt them. He was gettingclose too, she could tell. His head was thrown back, and his eyes were screwed shut. But soon her own vision blurred, her toes curling as she got closer and closer.
Suddenly, her orgasm peaked. Shuddering, Justin clamped his mouth over hers to swallow her scream of pleasure. He continued to pump into her as she felt the spasms wrack her body. But it was hardly long enough. As soon as it began to ebb, Justin lifted her body off of his. With one stroke of his hand, he spilled into the sheets.
Cordelia’s heart was racing. She thought she must have looked a fright, with her hair partially unbound and corset askew. But she didn’t care; in fact, she couldn’t really think of anything except a perfect calm that settled over her.
