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I could only see her profile. Her eyes were open as I touched her through the pants, stroking two fingers along the seam of the crotch. Her sweet scent rose all around me. I imagined I could taste her on my lips as I followed that perfectly placed stitching, featherlight at first and then a little harder with each pass. Her breath snagged as I pressed down. Her hips twitched, and I briefly closed my eyes at the rush of hot, hard desire.

But my eyes snapped open a heartbeat later, not wanting to miss a second of this as I drew my hand up, causing her undershirt to bunch above my wrist. Her bare skin was warm against my arm.

Finding that spot that had made her hips move, my jaw clenched as I teased her clit through the pants. “I bet you’re soft and wet and ready,” I whispered into her ear. “Should I find out?”

Poppy shuddered, and fuck, I wanted nothing more than to get my hand beneath her pants. Feel her hot, warm flesh against my skin, and discover the damp heat I knew I would find.

“Would you like that?” I asked.

Poppy answered with a roll of her hips, pressing herself into my hand as she had a white-knuckled grip on the blanket.

A low sound of approval rumbled from me before I could stop it. My gaze lifted to where Kieran stood guard. There was a very good chance he’d heard that. And could sense what I was doing. What we were doing. If I had an ounce of decency in me, I would stop. Hell, I wouldn’t have even started this to begin with. Surely, there were other ways to help her sleep.

But I wasn’t decent.

“I would do more than this,” I promised, my head filling with all sorts of things I wanted to do, starting with discovering just how sweet she tasted.

Her lips had parted, and her eyes closed halfway as she continued responding to how my fingers stroked. The movements of her hips were these little subconscious jerks, each one ratcheting up the pleasure until the roll of her hips was purposeful.

And, good gods, the way she rocked against my hand turned my blood to liquid fire. “You feel what I’m doing, Poppy?”

She nodded.

“Imagine what my fingers would feel like with nothing between them and your skin.” I shuddered. Or she did. Perhaps we both did at the same time. “I would do this.” I pressed harder, and her legs curled. “I would get inside of you, Poppy. I would taste you.” My mouth watered with want of doing so. “I bet you’re as sweet as honeydew.”

She bit down on her lip as she let go of the blanket. I about held my fucking breath as her hand moved beneath the blanket, and I felt her fingers on my forearm. I waited to see if she would pull my hand away or not.

Poppy’s fingers pressed into the upper part of my hand as she lifted her hips.

That’s my girl, I thought as I returned to stroking her. “You would like that, wouldn’t you?”

“Yes,” she whispered.

Fuck.

Sharp lust pounded through me. I almost lost it right there. “I would work in another finger. You’d be tight, but you’re also ready for more.”

Her breathing was a series of quick pants as she held my hand down, feeling what I was doing with my fingers. Her hips followed my lead.

“I would thrust my fingers in and out,” I said against the curve of her ear. “You’d ride them just like you’re riding my hand right now.”

Poppy shuddered, clutching my arm as she did just that: rode my hand.

“But we won’t do that tonight. We can’t,” I reminded myself more than her. “Because if I get any part of me in you, every part of me would be in you, and I want to hear every sound you make when that happens.”

I rolled my thumb over her clit. A moan escaped her, and that sound…good gods, I could live on it, drink and feed on that moan. But when her thighs clamped down on my hand? Fuck.

Working my other arm under her, I folded it over her upper chest, holding her tightly to me as her hips began moving against my hand in a frenetic way. I knew she was close. Her entire body trembled. Her breaths were shallow and quick. The grip on my arm increased. Those low moans danced in the dark air, driving me to near insanity. I could feel her release roaring up on her as I pressed my mouth to the space behind her ear. My lips peeled back from the brutal need pounding through me. I kissed her there. Licked her skin. My jaw throbbed. My head tilted. I felt my fangs graze her flesh. Poppy’s body went taut. So did mine.