“Explain.” He wanted her distracted just a little bit longer. Two steps to be exact.
“I’ve been thinking.”
“Nothing new on that.”
“About you.”
“Should I be hurt, or I should be flattered?”
“Neither.” Her pale amber brows pleated in a slight frown. “You should be looking smug, because I’m feeling a little bit embarrassed that I didn’t see this earlier.”
One step down. One more to go. “Oh?”
“Your whole life everyone thought you were good, and then all of a sudden you just become dissolute...?”
The backs of her legs hit the foot of the bed. “Oh!”
“Pet, I was and am a coldhearted son of a bitch.”
“I don’t agree.”
“Figures.” As he slid his hand across her cheek, the silk of her hair tangled around his fingers. He made a fist, anchoring them both. Him to her. Her to him. “And what did you deduce?”
He pulled her head back just a little, giving her that subtle tension that made her breath catch. Her lips parted. A soft little sigh escaped her control. He liked that and all the other telltale signs that said while her brain was working on one level, the rest of her was vividly aware of him. Woman to his man. Heart to his heart. Her nipples peaked beneath the thin muslin of her gown, tenting the fabric in greeting. If he turned her, he’d see their shadow through the light material. But he didn’t need to turn her. His imagination was enough. He could see the pale pink of her rising for his mouth. Hardening at his breath. Inside, those rays of sunlight changed to fissions of lightning, recklessly flashing, arcing from him to her and then back again. Her breath caught. So did his. Lust blended with power. Desire with want. Strength with strength. Her gaze locked with his.
“Well?” he prompted.
She blinked. Her eyes dropped to his mouth. “It’s an act. A way to get information.”
“I’m a damn good gambler.” He touched the inside of her leg with his outer thigh. They instinctively separated, making a place for him. He smiled. He did like her instincts.
“That just makes things easier,” she finished on an airy squeak.
He hummed a noncommittal agreement.
Her breath was coming harder, pushing her breasts against the fabric. Small round mounds topped with hard peaks silky to the touch, warm. He wanted to see them. “Untie your nightdress.”
She swallowed delicately. Her fingers came up to the ribbons. He liked that she began unlacing them immediately without quibbling, doing what he wanted with sensual obedience.
“Thank you.”
She smiled. “I’m right, aren’t I?”
She was still on the other. “You’re many things. Smart, sexy, intelligent—” He lost his voice the second she pushed the gown off her shoulder letting the material slide down her soft white skin until it caught on her pert little nipples. He waited her for her to push it the rest of the way, but apparently, she’d learned a thing or two because instead of pushing, she let her fingers linger as she glanced at him from under her lashes. A siren all too willing to lure him to his downfall. And he was all too willing to go, but not to his death. They both knew this wasn’t death. This was life, a gift he never thought to receive. With a jerk of his chin he indicated the precariously clinging fabric. “You stopped a little soon there.”
“Did I?”
It was a challenge. An invitation. His cock went rock hard. He did like her like this. “You angling for a spanking?”
He didn’t miss the widening of her eyes. “Nope, though I think I probably wouldn’t object to one if you gave it to me.”
“So what are you angling for?”
Her smile turned sultry. “For you to do it yourself.”
He’d be more than happy to, but first, “Ask me nicely.”
“Please.”
“Good girl.”
His finger teased the edge of the material, tracing over her arm. Goose bumps sprang up immediately and so did his lust. The muslin quivered with the next breath. And his breath caught in the next as she shivered, but that fabric stubbornly refused to fall. Damn it. “You, my Pet, are too smart for your own good. And yes, you’re right.” That fabric had to give soon. “What tipped you off that I might not be all gambler?”
“The assayer job. It makes no sense for a gambler to take a job as an assayer. But it makes complete sense for an officer of the law to keep an eye on the claims around here.”
He retraced his path up over her collarbone, coming to rest on the pulse. “I’m Hell’s Eight.”
“What does that mean?”
He thought back to those days. “I fought with Hell’s Eight. I buried my family with Hell’s Eight. I learned with Hell’s Eight. I prospered with Hell’s Eight. I owe them everything.”
“They’re your priority.”
He shook his head. “They’re my family.” She had a lot to learn. “You’re my priority.”
He leaned in just a little farther, just enough to send her off balance. She tumbled back, catching her weight on her hands. The mattress dipped. Her breasts pushed up, and he couldn’t have asked for a more perfect invitation. “Now, that I like.”
She frowned at his murmur. He knew she wanted to pursue the discussion, but he didn’t. Everything he wanted was right before him. Sweet, willing woman, ripe with passion, the delicate lines of her body displayed to perfection, her legs spread for his pleasure. Running his nail over one taut peak, he chuckled as she jerked. If he hadn’t caught her with a hand in the small of her back, she would have collapsed.
But again, no complaints. Draped over his arm she was elegant temptation. “Stay just like that.”
“I don’t know if I can.”
“But you will.”
Her “What makes you so sure” came out as a breathy challenge. So different from before. This was play, not resistance.
“Because it makes me happy.”
She didn’t have anything to say to that but a huff, which he ignored. They both knew she wanted him happy. It was her nature and pleasure. His blessing. The fine muslin between her legs caught on her mound. He could make out the lips of her vulva. He wanted to kneel between and taste her. Hell, he wanted to start at the top and just work his way down, tasting the cream of her orgasms and the salt of her pleasure and then when he’d had his fill, work his way back up again. He couldn’t get enough of her, probably never would. She challenged his mind and his senses. She was ecstasy in female form. She was a...gift. A moment of divine intervention. She was...his Pet.
Grabbing the front of her gown, he tore it open. Her cry filled his ears as the pure lissome beauty of her form sent a growl to his throat. “Don’t move.” Grabbing the material lower down, he tore it again, revealing her dainty pussy and the trembling in her thighs.
Cupping the plump inside curve of the right one, he asked, “You’re trembling. Scared?”
He had to be sure.
“I’m excited.”
Her voice trembled as much as her legs. “Good.”
“Easy for you to say.”
That prompted a chuckle. “Yeah, it is. Spread your legs farther.” She did but it wasn’t wide enough. He wanted her fully open, completely accessible. Vulnerable. He knelt. “More.”
Down the length of her body, she glared at him. “That’s as far as they go.”
Testing the tension along the inside he guessed it was. “We’ll work on that.”
“We will?”
Giving her thigh a light smack and a push, he nodded. “We will.”
She didn’t have much to say to that but it could have been because his lips were where his hand had been, and she went still. Very still. Her scent teased him. Womanly. Spicy. He needed to know how she tasted. It was his right.
<
br /> She shifted her feet.
This time he tapped the outside of her thigh. “Did I tell you to move?”
“No.”
He waited.
Her “For heaven’s sake” made him smile. The play of muscles in her thighs as she returned her feet back to their original position made him moan. She was exquisitely made. Delightfully tuned to his senses. As he set his teeth against the soft flex, another “For heaven’s sake” burst out. What the exclamation lacked in heat it made up for in anticipation. The woman might be nervous but she was more fire than trepidation. And it was that fire that drew him. In and out of bed.
Turning his head, he kissed the inside of the thigh, taking the soft flesh and sucking it gently. Her nails scratched against the quilt.
“I can’t stay like this if you’re going to do that.”
He was going to do a hell of a lot more than that. He could see the first beads of moisture in the fine pale hair between her legs. She was aroused. So was he. Parting the puffy outer lips with his finger he found more of that thick cream. With slow circles that mimicked the rhythm of his tongue he spread it outward, covering the pink flesh until she glistened from the inside out. Her thighs trembled. The stress of her position was taking its toll, but more so than that was the anticipation of his touch and the knowing that he was looking at her. Nothing made a woman more emotionally vulnerable, more physically sensitive than knowing all her secrets were exposed. “You’ll stay, what’s more, you will enjoy it.”
The quilt pulled up as she gathered it in her fists. “It? What’s it?”
Slipping another finger in with the first, he parted her, revealing the flange of flesh concealing the prize he sought. He leaned in and with the utmost delicacy licked that spot once. Twice. The third time, he let his tongue linger. He took her moan as his cue to apply more pressure, circling and lapping, bringing forth more of what he craved.
“Ace!”
“Right here.”
He would always be there for her.
Her body tensed. Her thighs quivered. She tasted of the sweetest nectar. She tasted of future promise, of growth, of dreams coming true. He couldn’t get enough. He licked faster, driving her higher. Her body shook. He couldn’t get close enough, deep enough. With a growl he lifted her legs over his shoulder, holding her up for his pleasure with a hand under her hips. The other he used to spread her wider before pulling the protective skin back from her clit. This time when he wiggled his tongue, her scream echoed in his ears. Her fingers grabbed at his hair.
“My God, stop, I mean...”
He didn’t care what she meant. He wasn’t stopping now, not until she screamed his name and the world exploded, and the only thing that existed was him and her and the surrender she couldn’t help. He was hers, and she was his. After this they would both know it. After this, there would be no going back. Her taste filled his mouth. Her scent his nostrils. She was fucking his. He drove her higher; she fought harder. He could feel her starting to fight.
“No!” With a nip at her clit, he centered her.
“Ace!”
“Take it,” he growled against her pussy. “Take what I’m giving you.”
“I don’t know—”
He cut her off. “I do.” Another nip on her clit followed by a fast circle. “Trust me.”
Her reaction was immediate. Her hands fisted his hair, opening and closing with the silent battle she fought. Taking full advantage of the little movement he allowed her, she drilled her shoulders into the bed, shaking her head in denial even as her body raced for what he offered. Too fast. She was going too fast.
“Not yet.”
Her heels tattooed his back in a frustrated protest. “Yes.”
“No.” He wanted a little bit more. To savor this first little bit longer. She’d never surrender to him again the way she did tonight, with nothing but trust to guide her. He didn’t want it rushed.
“I can’t.”
His cock throbbed painfully in his pants, adding its protest to hers. “You will.”
“I can’t, Ace. Not when you do that.” She bucked against him. “I can’t. I can’t. I can’t. I can’t. I can’t.”
But she was. Clinging to him as if her sanity depended on it, but holding back, because he asked for it. And then he was the one that couldn’t wait. He wanted to see her orgasm, taste it. Revel in it. “Come for me.”
Slipping his finger inside her snug little vagina, he tested her slick heat. She was tight, but not too tight. He added another, sliding them in and out as he sucked on that turgid nub of flesh where all that sensation blossomed.
“Please!”
The please put him over the edge.
“Now,” he ground out, pushing his fingers deep, searching for that certain spot. Covering his teeth with his lips before biting down, giving her a bit of pain to push her over that edge.
And she went. On a scream of his name, she went. Body jerking, pussy pulsing, her nails ripping across his neck. Adding her own brand to his skin.
Yes!
He wanted the pain, the mark. The passion. He wanted everything she had to give. By morning she’d bear marks of her own. Savoring the burn, he gave her a moment to settle, suckling gently, easing her back to a simmering calm. Letting her legs slide down his arms, he stood and lowered her to the bed. He didn’t follow her immediately. Instead, he just looked at her, from the tousled blond silk of her hair to the slender elegance of her feet. She was beautiful. So very beautiful. She took a shuddering breath. He placed his palm over her mound, centering her focus. Her gaze snapped to his.
“Good girl.”
He saw the flash of resentment in her gaze, followed just as quickly by pride. She took another breath. And another. With a dip of his finger, he destroyed her grab for composure. He wanted her off balance. Her vagina clutched at him. She gasped again when he pumped it in tiny pulses, stroking the ultrasensitive inner tissue. Her breasts quivered with every breath, the normally creamy white skin flushed with residual passion. Atop each a berry-red nipple begged for attention. Coming down over her, on his way up to her kiss, he nibbled each. With a gasp, she grabbed his face and pulled his mouth to hers.
“I love you,” she whispered into his mouth between frantic kisses.
The declaration sank all the way to his soul. This was his Pet. She didn’t do anything by half measures. Sliding his arms around her, he rolled to his back, cuddling her above him. And she went easily, ending in a complacent, slack-thighed heap atop his chest. She wiggled and scooted until they were hip to hip, chest to chest. Heartbeat to heartbeat. Stroking his hand down her hair, he said the only thing that mattered, “Mine.”
Her teeth brushed his shoulders. She bit delicately. When he looked down she was looking up at him, a smile on her lips. “You do like to drive me crazy.”
He pushed her hair off her face. Some things needed complete understanding. “No, I love to drive you crazy.”
“My mistake.”
She shifted her position, straddling him as she had this afternoon. He allowed it, holding her steady. There would be time later to teach her the finer points of what it meant to be his woman, but right now he wanted to feel her love pouring over him, filling all the empty spaces, bringing the light out of the dark, bringing him home. And she did, unbuckling his belt, then his pants, pushing them down when he lifted his hips. In an endearingly awkward move that had him gritting his teeth, she took that first inch.
Home. The word echoed in his mind as his cock entered her heat. He was home. The thought wouldn’t leave his head. When he should be thinking of thrusting, he was consumed with thoughts of Pet. Pet waiting for him at the door; Pet cooking dinner. Pet on her knees welcoming him with a warm mouth and a happy smile, in his bed, spread across his thighs. Pet big with his child.
Placing his ha
nds on her slender hips, he stilled her descent. He wanted, no, needed, to see her. Really see her. His woman.
“What?”
“I want to look at you.”
It was a bald statement that produced the predictable hesitation. She was beautiful with the light from the lamps reflected off the golden strands of her hair. Her skin glowed with a sheen of passion. Her hard-tipped breasts begged for his mouth. She was beautiful. So fucking beautiful. His gaze dropped to where they joined. His hands were dark against the pale skin of her hips. His cock appeared impossibly huge between her thighs. So close to paradise.
His.
Inside. Outside. Now and into the future. This wasn’t for this week. Next month. Or next year. This was...forever. Pet was his ace in the hole. The wild card tossed in his forever mix. The game he’d never played. Because he’d been afraid, he realized. Afraid he’d never find a woman with his commitment, with his strength.
“You’re marrying me, Pet.”
She fell forward, bracing her weight on his chest. Her hair tumbled about his face, partially blocking the light so he saw her expression in bits of color as she flipped her hair back. The white of her teeth, the blue of her eye, the red of her lip. Part, when he wanted it all. The sting of her nails blended with the burn of lust.
Gathering her hair at her nape he tipped her head back, and then he had what he wanted. All her love. Her passion. Her humor. It shone down on him right along with her happiness.
“We don’t even know if I’m pregnant.”
“I don’t care.”
She wiggled her hips. A creamy drop of fluid dripped down his cock. He licked his lips, remembering her sweet taste. Damn, he wanted her. His cock jerked impatiently.
Ace's Wild (Hqn) Page 34
