But within seconds, when he slid a hand beneath my dress, gripped my hip, and then began toying with the side of my lacy underwear, seeming as if he were about to pull them down and go exploring, I suddenly realized how close we were getting to the point of no return. Which wasn't a place I wanted to let myself go.
And so, using every last shred of my willpower, I broke the kiss and looked at Damien's candlelit face, panting. "We can't do this. I wasn't even supposed to let myself kiss you. I promised myself that I wouldn't."
His eyes were glassy, and when he spoke, his voice was low and husky.
"Then tell me to stop. Just say no, or tell me to stop, and I will, immediately. Just say you don't want me to kiss you anymore. Just say you've had enough."
I opened my mouth to say just that, but to my dismay, I found that I just couldn't get the words out. Because I realized that I didn't want him to stop kissing me. And there was just no way I could say otherwise. But this realization didn't make me happy. I hated that he was so irresistible.
"You're...you're the devil, Damien."
"Hm, that's funny, because Miss Quackers always says I'm something like a god-like king."
I huffed, unable to stop myself from running a hand over the hard ridges of his back even while I did so. "Maybe a cruel, tempting king."
He moved his mouth to my ear and spoke in a gravelly near-whisper. "I think you like it. I think you really like it, even, and I think you might enjoy being tempted and teased a little further."
"No, I wouldn't."
"Is that a fact? Then, let's start kissing again, and I'll tease you a little further, and then we'll take a little pause, and I'll ask you if you like or dislike my teasing. If you say dislike, I'll give you my solemn word that I'll never make any attempts to tease you ever again. I'll even agree to wear handcuffs around you at all times in the future so that I can't ever tease you again."
I somehow doubted he'd actually do that. But I also doubted that I'd ever be able to tell him that I disliked his teasing in the first place. His touch felt too good. Being on his lap, in his arms, felt too good. And I suspected his continued teasing would feel too good, too.
I suddenly sprang up from his lap and onto my feet. "I have to go now. I have to go. I'm walking home. Don't follow me."
I began heading out of the dining room, but in a flash, he caught me by the arm and turned me to face him.
"Not so fast. I don't like it, but I respect your choice to leave. However, I can't let you walk home alone. Even with the guards encircling the town, it's too dangerous. Wolves can slip right past guards, as you know. And so, because of this, I'm going to accompany you home. And you don't have a choice about this."
I sniffed, rankled at being told I didn't have a choice. "Well, I say I do, because that's ridiculous. I'm a grown woman; my cabin is only a short distance away, and-"
"Daisy, I'm telling you that you don't have a choice. I can't let myself just sit back while you put yourself in a situation where you might be harmed. And in fact, I'm a little appalled that Nick doesn't have a round-the-clock security detail on your cabin, and maybe even on you yourself, at least until Ezra is dealt with."
"Maybe that's just indicative that Nick trusts me to take care of myself."
"Or maybe that's just indicative that your safety is a higher priority to me than it is to him. But regardless, I'm escorting you home. By the hand, if need be."
"Well, I refuse to be escorted. I refuse! I refuse to let myself continue to be near your eyes, and your face, and your hands, and your...." A little breathless, I didn't finish the thought. "I refuse!"
"Well, that's your choice, but I've made my choice as well, and my choice is to keep you safe. So, I'm going to escort you home. And just so you know, if you try to flee from me, I'm going to literally scoop you up and throw you over my shoulder."
I gasped. "You wouldn't dare!"
"It's not a dare, Daisy; it's a promise of what will happen."
I gasped again, wrenching my arm free from his grasp. "Well, here's a promise for you! I promise that I'm getting away from you and your eyes right now!"
I ran through the dining room and kitchen, flung open the front door of the cabin, and dashed out into the starry night. I knew I wasn't being fair, kind, or rational. I knew I was probably acting like an immature brat. But I knew I had to at least make an attempt to get away from Damien, and fast. Or else I'd soon be making love to him, I was certain. And I didn't want to do that. Though my reasoning for that was becoming harder and harder to recall.
To my surprise and relief, Damien didn't chase me. But knowing that he still might, and knowing that he'd expect me to take the lane home, I ran around to the back of the cabin and cut into the woods. Once I got a short distance away, running parallel to the cabin, I glanced behind me and didn't see him.
With a satisfied chuckle, I continued on through the moonlit woods, which were filled with the crisp autumn scent of fallen leaves. But the high heels I was running in weren't making my task very easy, and soon, I tripped on what felt like a fallen tree branch. I stumbled, somehow turning in the air, and fell on my rear. And that's when I saw a dark figure heading toward me.
CHAPTER 11
I could see that the dark figure was a man, and it didn't take him long at all to reach me. I peered up at him, frightened for just a moment before I realized it was definitely Damien.
With me on the ground, and him so far above me, he seemed even taller and more muscular than usual. His powerful legs seemed longer. His chest and shoulders seemed even broader. I suddenly became aware that the frustrating ache low in my belly that had developed back at his cabin hadn't really gone away. And I could also feel that my lacy underwear was very damp with evidence of my excitement.
Damien put his hands on his slim hips. "You're a very naughty girl, Daisy. And do you know what happens to naughty girls?"
I suddenly couldn't wait to find out.
"What?"
"Naughty girls get treated like naughty girls."
"And what exactly does that entail?"
"Well, first, I'm going to throw you over my shoulder, as I promised to do. Then, I'm going to take you back to my cabin, where I'm going to give your rear a few good swats before setting you down, just to teach you not to run from me when your safety is at stake. And then...then, I'm going to touch you, and tease you, and pleasure you until you tell me to stop. Or until you cry out with release. Whichever comes first."
I exhaled a fluttery breath, my underwear becoming even damper. I couldn't even talk. Not that I even had time to. Displaying his shifter strength for the second time that evening, Damien immediately scooped me up, threw me over his shoulder and stood. My dress fluttered down to my waist, revealing my bare legs and underwear.
Shocked that he'd really followed through on his promise, and a little embarrassed and angry to actually be over his shoulder with my rear in the air, I curled a fist and gave his back a not-feather-light little pound. "You're a jerk!"
In response, he immediately hooked an arm securely around my legs, and then with his free hand, he delivered three swift, not-feather-light swats to my rear. "Sorry about that. I know I said I wasn't going to give you your swats until we got back to the cabin, but I didn't promise that, and I guess I changed my mind."
Suddenly enraged, I gave his back another pound. "Jerk!"
In response, Damien gave me three more swats, his large hand a little harder this time. "Any more insults for me, Daisy?"
"Yes. Jerk!"
I simply hadn't been able to resist. My anger hadn't let me. But now, I paid for it by receiving at least a half-dozen swats, one right after the other, with Damien's hand the hardest it had been yet.
I squirmed and twisted, squeezing my eyes shut. "Ow!"
When he was finished, he slid a hand beneath my underwear, began caressing my stinging rear, and spoke in a low, husky voice. "Are you done acting like a bratty, naughty little girl, Daisy? Are you ready to go back to the ca
bin?"
I was ready for a lot of things. I could feel that my feminine mound and lips were now drenched with slickness, and the sensitive bud between my feminine lips was now aching and throbbing. But I didn't want Damien to know that this had been the effect of his rude manhandling. I was still too mad.
And so, I just huffed, folding my arms across my chest even though I was upside down. "I guess I'm ready to go back to the cabin. I don't really even care."
"Good to hear."
He began striding off through the woods, actually whistling. Though after a few moments, he paused in his whistling to speak. "What a beautiful night in the forest."
For some reason, the comment irritated me, and I began twisting and pushing against his muscular back. "All right. You're being ridiculous. Now, put me down this second."
While continuing to walk, he slid his hand beneath my underwear and caressed my bare rear again, his touch firm and slow, before responding. "No, I don't think so, because I can't have you running off through the forest again. And as far as people being ridiculous this evening, I think you've got me beat by a long shot. I think you've got me beat by miles. In fact, I think you've absolutely mastered being ridiculous."
With an angry rush of heat rising to my face, I gave his back yet another pound and immediately received another swat.
"Don't fight, Daisy. A girl pounding on the back of the man who has her over his shoulder? You're just making yourself look like a cliché."
Now furious, I gave his back several more pounds. And this time, before giving me my swats in return, Damien pulled my underwear down so that he could deliver them on my bare rear.
By the time we arrived back at the cabin a short while later, his back had suffered even more pounding, and my rear was thoroughly warm and stinging. My underwear was drenched, and I was beginning to feel slightly dizzy with desire. I was actually beginning to feel half-insane with desire.
Damien didn't set me down when we entered the cabin, nor did he set me down in the living room. He strode down the hallway and into his darkened bedroom, where he quickly lit a few candles on the oak dresser with me still slung over his back. It was only then that he put me down on his bed and climbed in beside me.
I looked over at him, kicking off my heels. "You have some confidence that this was where I wanted to go."
"Well, isn't it?"
My only response was a huff, because of course, he was correct.
With his full mouth curving in a grin, he rolled on his side, took me in his strong arms, and spoke near my ear. "Tonight I've discovered that you can be an incredibly bratty, naughty girl. I'll have to continue to help you keep this under control in the future. But now, it's time to tease you, like I said I would. Because I think you're the kind of girl who enjoys being teased. And I don't intend to let you down."
As if to underscore his words, he slid a hand up my dress and began caressing my upper thighs.
I made a noise between a sigh and a whimper. "Please just touch me. Please. I'm getting desperate. Please just touch me."
"I am touching you."
"You know goddamn well where I mean."
He chuckled, giving one of my thighs a squeeze. "Do I?"
"Well, considering how many women you've dated, if you really don't know where a woman likes to be touched, then you seriously have a problem."
He chuckled again, the sound a low rumble in his chest. "Fair enough. But first, I want you naked. I want to see every gorgeous inch of you in the candlelight while I touch you and tease you."
We got out of bed and hastily undressed each other. And to my ever-increasing frustration, I saw that Damien was just as turned on and excited as I was. His manhood was thick, long, and so erect it pointed straight in the air, nearly flush with his washboard abs. However, despite his obvious arousal, he seemed to have much more patience and self-control than I did, which frustrated me even more.
After looking me over from head to toe, telling me how gorgeous I was, but still not touching me, he gently guided me back into bed with his eyes glassy. We took our former positioning, with me on my back with his arm beneath my neck, cradling me, and him on his side next to me, caressing my thighs.
He spoke in a husky whisper with his delectable mouth near my ear. "Is this where you like to be touched? On your beautiful thighs?"
I stifled a whimper. "Yes, but...I like to be touched on a different spot even more. And you know I'm getting very desperate, Damien. So, stop teasing me."
"All right. I'll move on. Because I think I know exactly where you really want to be touched."
Sighing with relief, I closed my eyes, anticipating pleasure. And I got it, but it was the kind of pleasure that just frustrated me even more. Instead of moving a hand to my femininity, he'd moved a hand to one of my breasts.
He gently squeezed it a few times with a low growl rumbling in the back of his throat. "So, so, so unbelievably gorgeous, Daisy."
The ache low in my belly was becoming unbearable, and I whimpered.
“Still not the right spot."
"No? Well, let's try this." He licked a finger and began circling my stiffened nipple with it. "How about now? Is this the spot you're so desperate to have me touch?"
I ground my head back into the pillow, the feel of his slippery finger circling my nipple something between rapture and torture.
He licked his finger again and then began circling my other nipple. "I'll take that as a 'maybe.'"
A few more seconds, and I could hardly take it anymore.
I squeezed my legs together, trying to quell the throbbing of my feminine bud. "Please. You're...you're cruel."
He actually had the nerve to chuckle. But then, he did finally move a hand down to my feminine mound. Though he didn't immediately head for my aching spot, like I wanted him to. Like I absolutely needed him to.
Instead, he began caressing my slick outer lips and spoke in a voice not much above a husky whisper. "How about here? Is this where my beautiful girl likes to be touched?"
I squirmed, whimpering. "I am begging you, Damien...begging you."
Chuckling again, he shifted his arm behind my head, pulling me even closer to him. "Well, I guess I can't have my gorgeous, radiant girl begging. Especially not when I have a pretty good idea of where she likes to be touched the most."
He ran a fingertip between my slick lips a few times in a final act of teasing before gently probing them apart. He then quickly located my throbbing bud and finally, finally began to stroke it.
I cried out, arching my back. "Yes. Yes. Now, please don't stop."
He didn't, mercifully, and within a minute or two, my hips began bucking while I cried out with release, seeing stars. Almost immediately after, while I rested in the comfort of his embrace, I realized I wanted another release, this time with him inside of me, and right away.
With my arm wrapped around his bicep and muscular back, I whispered near his ear. "I want to feel you inside me now. That is, unless that comes with more torturous teasing."
With his mouth curving in a grin, he rolled on top of me and nudged my legs apart with a knee. "No. No, all teasing is officially over."
I was glad to hear it, and that was an understatement for the ages.
After positioning the head of his rock-hard shaft at my slick entrance, he plunged into my depths with exquisite slowness, seeming as if he wanted me to feel every single vein and ridge along the considerable length of his shaft, which I did, moaning my pleasure. Once he'd buried every inch of his rod inside of me with a growl, I moaned again, reveling in the sensation of being so completely and perfectly filled. And soon, I began gently rocking my hips, eager to feel him move, though he hardly needed any encouragement.
At first, his thrusting was slow and controlled. Groaning, he nearly pulled out completely before sliding back into me once again while I watched, feeling my pleasure building for the second time. At one point, he stopped, gripped his shaft, and stroked my sensitive bud with the thick head of it f
or several moments, making me moan, before sliding his length inside me once again.
But presently, his thrusting became faster and more intense, just about the time that I wanted it to. He paused to hike my legs up on his shoulders before resuming our lovemaking, and the resulting feeling of him now thrusting his manhood into me even deeper was almost more than I could take. And within a few minutes, we were both on the brink of release, panting, moaning, and groaning while we moved our hips in rhythm.
Damien seemed to wait until I was crying out with climax, my whole body shuddering, before letting himself go as well. He worked himself in and out of my slickness several more times, grunting, before throwing his head back with a loud, prolonged groan.
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