Page 31 of A Duke for Stealing (The Devil’s Masquerade #4)

CHAPTER NINETEEN

T ake her slowly. Hold yourself back. Do not scare her.

Everett whispered the words to himself over and over again as he removed his clothing and grabbed the crop and flogger. His body was positively vibrating with arousal as he got onto the bed behind Rose and positioned himself on his knees.

His cock was heavy, hard, and aching, but he knew no matter how much he wanted to, he could not sink himself into her. Not yet. Not until she got the experience she wanted from the Masquerade.

Dropping the flogger, Everett raised the crop’s tip to the back of Rose’s neck and gently ran it down her spine.

“Oh my God,” Rose breathed as she tossed her head back. “Oh my God,”

Everett smirked as he swirled the tip of the crop over her left buttock.

“What is it, Rose?” He asked. “Describe it to me.”

“I…I don’t understand,” she panted, her raised hands trembling against the wall, “How I can feel so much from so little a touch.”

Satisfaction surged through him at her words.

“I will make a mess of you, Rose,” he stated, gliding the tip of the crop from the bottom of her perfect spine to the top. It was what he loved. Teasing to the point of insanity with his authoritative air- then taking everything his partner released with possessive and explosive strokes.

She shivered again, the lithe muscles of her back tensing and releasing at the touch of the crop. He brought it back and expertly flicked his wrist. Not too much, just enough to snap across the supple flesh of Rose’s backside.

The sound of the rigid tool cracking against the softness of Rose’s flesh, followed by her sharp gasp, was enough to have him throw the crop to the ground and take her right there- but he didn’t.

Instead, he drew it back again, and with another flick of his wrist, he delivered another snap.

Not too much, just enough to deliver a small, stinging bite.

He repeated the motion again and again, giving her a few seconds in between each snap so that the bite of pain would cool before he would strike again. He didn’t go harder, didn’t go faster. This was an introduction to his world, and for Rose, he wanted it to be perfect.

“Talk to me, Rose,” Everett commanded when each of her cheeks was peppered with little red splashes. “Tell me how you are feeling.”

Rose shook her head at first, as if words were hard for her.

“I do not understand how this feels so good,” she breathily replied after a moment. “How such a sting could be so…so wonderful.”

Everett tossed the crop off the bed and moved directly behind, pressing his hard body against her back as he covered her neck with kisses and massaged her reddened backside.

“It is all about knowing yourself. Knowing what you can handle.”

Rose shivered then sagged into his body, unwittingly teasing his cock mercilessly as the movement pressed him between her cheeks.

“I want to handle you.”

Her bold, whispered words sent a fire scorching through Everett’s veins, and he had to force himself away from her to stop himself from repositioning his hips and taking her.

His aching only amplified as Rose whimpered woefully at the loss of body.

He’d done this to show her what he liked.

To show her how it felt to be teased into mindless need- but he’d also done so to himself.

“I need a minute,” Everett panted, leaving the bed.

Rose turned to him at once, her brows drawn down with worry. She moved her hands to the wall and came to him, putting a hand over his pounding heart.

“Did I do something wrong?” She asked.

Wrong?!

“Oh, Rose,” he groaned, trying to breathe through his need. He pressed his hands to her cheeks and laid his forehead against hers. “You did nothing wrong. You are perfect.”

Her brow tensed as her eye searched his.

“Then I do not understand,” she replied, “What is the matter?”

She was so blasted innocent he could not take it. How could she not know? How could she not see that it was she who had him feeling this way?

“I want you,” he rasped, starting to tremble from the growing, aching need consuming him. “I want you so badly I can barely breathe, but I cannot take you. Not here. Not for your first time. Not with others just a wall away.”

Realization finally dawned in her beautiful blue eyes, and then she rose on her tiptoes and kissed his lips so tenderly it made him groan.

“We are not far from the London house,” she whispered, tracing her fingers over his hands, “Take me there, Everett. I want you too.”

Rose cried out loudly as Everett’s tongue brought her to release.

They’d dressed in a shaking hurry, barely made time to make sure their masks were on properly, before they all but fled from the Masquerade.

The carriage ride had been short, but even in the brief time, Rose and Everett had flung to one another like magnets, kissing one another desperately as she straddled his lap.

There were no servants to send away when they made it to their London house, as they now spent most of their time in Stapleton, so as soon as Everett had the door opened, he pressed her up against the nearest wall.

He ripped her dress down the middle as he kissed her deeply, moving his hands in rough, needy strokes over her breasts.

Feverish with her own need, Rose clawed at his jacket and shirt until she could reach his warm muscles beneath, and just as he had to her, her hands possessively roamed over his body.

Everett then picked her up, their kisses never ceasing as he carried her to the parlor.

They never made it to the chaise in the center of the room.

Instead, Everett took only a few more steps before he took Rose with him to the floor and dove between her legs. His mouth was hot and possessive as he lavished upon her mons, and her release came quickly and intensely.

“Rose,” Everett hoarsely whispered as he dragged his sweat-slicked body up hers, teasing her further, “Are you sure? Are you-”

“Take me,” She commanded, then grabbed his cheeks and pulled him into another kiss.

She lavished the taste of herself on his lips.

She then hooked her legs around his hips, showing him that she meant it, and urged him forward.

Rose had always imagined her first time to be gentle and sweet, but this —this needy taking — was much better.

Shooting white stars of pain exploded behind Rose’s eyes as Everett obeyed her commands and thrust his hardened manhood between drenched petals. His moan was deep and guttural as he hit her womb. Her nails bit into his shoulders as she trembled from the shock and tried to find her breath. So. Full.

“Slowly,” Everett whispered, reaching down to stop her hips from moving. She hadn’t even realized she was still moving.

“Gently at first,” Everett coaxed, tilting his hips a scant inch, then slowly surged forward again. “Let your body become used to me. Let the pain fade away.”

Rose mentally clung to Everett’s voice as he reverently whispered his commands in deep, hypnotizing tones.

“That’s it,” he groaned, as if he could feel her body begin to relax, “That’s my good girl. Nice and slow. Nice and slow.”

Little by little, Everett’s slow, small strokes eased the pain in Rose’s core, and it was only when her legs dropped from his hips and her whimpers turned into moans that he began to pull further out, then glide slightly harder back in.

“God, you are so wet for me, Rose,” Everett rasped, “So very tight and drenched for me.”

“For you,” Rose moaned back as he thrust deeper, “ Just you.”

Everett let an aching groan at her words, and he pulled back further until the tip of his sword was at the edge of her sheath. Then thrust back in with a quickness, making Rose pull in a hissing breath and her back arch.

“You are mine.” He growled it, his thrusts becoming deeper, faster. “All mine.”

“Yours,” Rose moaned, then reached for his face and kissed him again. “Now show me I am yours.”

Her words were like a spell releasing a beast from its magical bonds, and what restraint Everett seemed to be holding onto vanished.

He hiked her leg over his shoulder and thrust back inside of her, going deeper than he had before.

The heady, jarring sensation sent spirals of pleasure throughout Rose’s body, and she screamed his name.

“You’re mine,” he growled again, his hips moving faster, stronger. Harder. Pounding into her as if he were desperate to be a part of her.

“Yours,” she breathed, feeling a different sort of climax gathering tightly in her womb. This was different than the one she felt when he used his fingertips or his tongue. It was stronger, more intense, but like the others, she felt no control over it. It was Everett’s to give.

As if he could feel her release gathering, Everett demanded her for it, and the mixture of his voice and thrusts had her tumbling over the edge of pleasure and into a state of bliss she’d never thought possible.

Her body released waves of pleasure over and over again, as if it were never going to stop- and within those waves, Everett’s moans grew more frequent, his cock swelled impossibly larger, and with a final growl, Everett’s hips froze, and she felt him explode with his own need.

“This is not how I planned for this evening to go,” Everett confessed.

On his chest, Rose hummed, then giggled.

It had taken what seemed like forever to pull himself away from Roses’ body.

She was so warm, so perfectly tight around him that he truly never wanted to extricate himself.

However, he knew she would soon be sore, and to stay planted within her would be selfish.

They had both whimpered as the connection broke, and Everett felt his body calling to hers as he eased away.

He stayed away long enough to build a fire in the hearth and pull a blanket from the nearby armoire.

Then, he gathered her in his arms, brought her to the chaise, and nestled her atop his chest as he covered her back with the blanket.

It wasn’t just lovemaking he wanted from her. He wanted her touch. As frequently and as close as possible.

“Are you disappointed?” Rose murmured from his chest.

Everett let out a laugh, then stroked her hair.

“Heaven’s no,” he replied. “But I…” he searched for the words for these new feelings he was struggling with.

“I am not like this,” he said at last. “I have never been so tempted, so teased by a woman as I have by you. My plan for this evening was to take you to the Devil’s Masquerade and allow you to explore some things. I never meant to take things this far.”

Rose lifted her head from his chest, her blue eyes sparkling with clarity.

“ We took things this far,” she replied. “We got here together.”

And that is what worries me. I am accustomed to creating the mess. Not being the mess.

But a mess is what he’d become. A needy, lustful mess that was barely able to fight for control of himself.

“So we did,” he agreed, saying it as much to himself as to her.

As if content with his answer, Rose lowered her head back to his chest and snuggled deeper.

This was also new. He was not used to lingering after he’d had his way. He’d get dressed and go home. But he was home, and it was Rose’s home, too.

“I should take you upstairs,” Everett murmured, “Put you into a real bed.” Yet even as he said so, he wrapped his arms around her back. His mind screamed at him to stop, to distance himself- yet his body refused.

“Not yet,” Rose said with an exhausted sigh, snuggling into him. “I want to stay here a little longer.”

Take her upstairs. Put her in her own bed. This is not who we are.

No! We like this. We want this. With her. She’s ours.

The conflicting thoughts railed at him, making him grimace. He thought he was starting to want to change- but then why was there such panic gathering in his mind?

Confusion poured through him as he turned his head and stared into the flames. He didn’t know what to do. So, he did what Rose wanted to do.

“Alright,” he whispered, holding her close. “We’ll stay here. Just a little longer.”