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He was both soft and gentle and rough and forceful. Caring while also animalistic. He took her legs and spread them. He mounted her and buried his head in her neck. He bit down as his hands stroked her thighs and touched the outside of her lips, gently inserting inside of her, feeling her wetness, testing her readiness.

“Yes...” she whispered into his ear.

“Are you sure?” he whispered back, already moving to take action.

She didn’t answer with words. Her hands wrapped themselves around his buttocks, gripped them tight, her pelvis rising into him as she pulled him forward, and the Duke entered her for the first time.

The sensation was impossible to describe, and in a way, Amelia didn’t want to. It was more than just sex. More than just love making as she had heard it described. This was... it was two people, finally admitting how they felt without words but with action. As the Duke penetrated her, thrusting back and forth slowly, surely, not too hard, not too fast, she felt whole in a way she didn’t know was possible. A piece that was missing, finally found. Eyes closed. Legs spread apart. Head leaning back. She gave herself to the Duke and his every impulse. As he bit her neck, she moaned. As he licked her ears, she purred. As he moved inside of her while nibbling her breasts, squeezing her thighs, kissing her lips, she shuddered and gasped and just about wept, for she was so overcome.

“Don’t stop,” she moaned as the Duke thrust slowly inside of her; his movements were slow yet firm and hard.

“I never will,” he whispered into her ear.

“Urgh...” Soft moans escaped her lips each time she felt his length penetrate her. “Urgh...” every time his hands squeezed her thighs, or his lips nibbled and sucked on her breasts. “Your Grace...”

“What did I say?” he growled, suddenly grabbing her by the hips and lifting her into him.

Her eyes shot open, and a wicked smile spread up her lips. “Evan...”

The Duke growled again, and then, with her wrapped in his arms, he lifted her forward, rolling onto his back at the same time, keeping himself inside of her as she straddled him on top.

Her nails dug into his chest as she steadied herself. He was completely inside of her so that her pelvis ground against him. She started moving her hips back and forth, each time feeling his member throb inside of her, hitting her in a way that had her knees shaking and body shuddering. Back and forth she moved, one hand on his chest, the other grabbing him by the top of his head. Back and forth she moved, his hand squeezing her butt as he helped guide her. Back and forth... back and forth... back and forth.

There was no awkwardness. The Duke didn’t push too far or ask too much of her. It was, in every way, perfect. Not because of how good it felt. Not because of how turned on she was — how much she had wanted it. But because of who it was with.

And what was more, she could tell without having to ask that the Duke was of the same mind.

“Oh my... oh my... oh my God...” She could feel it coming long before it arrived. On top of the Duke still, her movements becoming hard and faster, the fire in her thighs spread up her body.

“Amelia...” the Duke moaned, eyes closed as he leaned back. “Yes...”

“I’m... I’m... I’m going to...” She could say the words, but there was also no need. As if her entire body was set to explode but not outward, rather inwards. As if the explosion was being directed toward her loins, making her body condense and constrict before suddenly blooming like a flower in spring.

She screamed and collapsed in a heap on the Duke. He grabbed her by the head and held her there as he continued to thrust. And then he, too, erupted inside of her, his body stiffening, his legs shaking, his breathing stopping entirely as if he’d forgotten how.

And once it was all said and done... they simply lay there, holding one another close, no words said, nothing spoken of, no need to acknowledge anything because this here was the most comfortable they had ever been.

Once, she might have worried about what would happen after this. Once, she might have felt guilty because this was unbecoming in every sense of the word, and there would be no coming back. But tonight, now, that simply wasn’t the case. The Duke loved her, she knew. She loved him. And whatever happened, she knew now that she could count on him to save her.

And never before had someone needed saving as badly as Amelia did.

* * *

For the first time in a long time, Evan’s mind was clear. No longer worrying about that which he could not control. No longer determined to ignore how he felt, as if his feelings were some sort of burden that would be best to ignore and be forgotten. For once, Evan allowed himself to simply forget and enjoy the moment, because this was without a doubt the happiest moment of his life.

“I should be going,” Miss Baker said in a whisper, in no way sounding like she wanted to.

“What’s stopping you?” Evan said as if he wished the same.

“Well, for one thing, your arm.” She was lying snuggled in beside him, and his arm rested under her head and curled around her chest. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you didn’t want me to leave.”

“This?” Evan half raised the arm, as if only just noticing it. “I’ve tried to move it, but the way you’re lying on it... I’m afraid I’m trapped.”

“But I can’t move with it strung across my chest like this.” She feigned struggling to shift it.

“It seems we’re at an impasse then,” Evan said simply. “Which means that nobody is going anywhere.”

“What a terrible shame.”