Page 47

His breath caught at her admission, and he swallowed again, as if the movement could keep him contained. He found himself hesitating. He was lying to her—by omission. He’d promised to keep her safe, but gods, his moral compass was fucked this close to her promised land. So he justified that he wasn’t going to fuck her—not with his cock anyway. His tongue was another matter.

He slid it through her velvet heat, encouraged by the moan that escaped her when his mouth found her clit. That sound added kindling to the fire already raging inside him.

When she pulled her hand from under his on her belly, then fisted both in his hair, arching her back and gasping, “Oh, gods,” rather loudly, he lost control, wanting to take her apart bit by bit and then put her back together.

“Tarley,” he groaned against her sex. “I love your taste.” He inserted a finger inside her again, then another, her walls snug around him. “You’re so godsdamned tight.”

The revelation she’d never been with anyone else and was choosing him ignited something inside of him he’d never experienced before, possession, perhaps, and something feral and primitive.Mine. Mine. Mine, chanted in his head again, though he knew she wasn’t.

An intensity consumed him. He parted her, licked and sucked, used his fingers and tongue to drive her as wild as he felt. Her hands in his hair held close as she moved against his face. When he pulled away, she cried out. “No! Please.”

“Not yet. Patience.” He growled the word, slowing things down, pushing her toward a sharper edge of want with him. Gods knew he wanted to drive his cock into her, but this was about learning her. Only the longer he played, the more his desire for his own release with her increased. To alleviate the pressure, he pressed his erection into the soft cushion of the bedding, groaning with his own impatience. “Fuck, Tarley. You’re making me crazy.”

He grasped her legs and draped them over his shoulders, then maneuvered, driving forward to hold her in place with his shoulders and mouth. Unable to keep his own pleasure in check, he feasted on Tarley with his tongue and took his cock in hand. The essence of her pleasure, her mewling and moaning, her hips trying so hard to move with him even as he pinned her, the primal way it all felt with a storm raging around them—Lachlan embraced the moment.

“Oh. Ollie,” she cried out. “I haven’t. With. Someone–” She gasped each word. “I can’t–”

He eased up, finding a rhythm she liked. “You can. You will,” he commanded. He let go of his own pleasure, for hers, looking for the right way to please her. A soft lick, a suck, a stroke of his tongue. He reached up and fondled her breasts.

And suddenly she struggled against him. “I can’t-”

He stopped and looked up at her. “Tarley?”

With her eyes squeezed shut, she said, “I don’t think I can–”

Lachlan stopped. “Tarley. Princess, look at me.”

She opened her eyes. He kissed her hip bone. “Look at me,” he said, and slid his tongue over the skin of her lower belly. “Do you want me to stop?”

She lifted her head and looked at him. “No.”

“Does it feel good?” he asked, kissing her pelvic bone.

She followed his tongue with her eyes. “Yes.”

He continued, climbing her body with his mouth. “Where did you go?” he asked, then kissed her ribs.

She sighed and moved her hips against his belly. “In my head…” She closed her eyes.

“Open your eyes,” he ordered, now at one of her breasts.

She focused on him at the same time he licked her nipple, savoring it with his tongue.

She drew in a deep breath.

“You like this?” he asked and closed his mouth around her, sucking and drawing the peak into his mouth, then scraping it softly with his teeth.

“Yes,” she moaned and closed her eyes.

“Keep your eyes open,” he said, continuing his attention. He gave the other breast equal attention while she watched, then reached down between her legs, caressing her folds with his fingers, sliding them gently back and forth, fondling, sliding a finger around her clit while his mouth explored her breasts. “Does that feel good?” he asked.

“Oh. Yes,” she said, her focus going hazy.

“What do you want me to do, Tarley?” he asked, inserting a finger, then withdrawing it to swirl the tip around her sex. “You feel so good.”

His words somehow broke her barrier.

“I want your tongue,” she said. “I want to come on your tongue.”