Page 23 of A Raven Realized (The Raven’s Den #5)

Pulling back, she looked up into his eyes and a sudden mischievous urge popped into her mind.

She stuck her finger in his nose. She owed him that, after all.

He flinched back. With a laugh, she gathered her skirts in her fists and raced up the stairs.

He was right behind her and she squealed as he playfully pinched her bottom.

When they entered his room, she turned to face him. His laughter faded and hunger filled his eyes.

“Do you remember that you owe me a request?”

She nodded. She’d give him anything he wanted.

His eyes were filled with passion. “I want you to ask for what you desire this time. You know enough now to tell me what to do. That is my request. I want you to tell me exactly what you want.”

She thought through all the different ways they’d made love, but it wasn’t a hard decision.

* * *

“I want to be face to face, like we did in the kitchen, but with you inside me this time.”

He was instantly aroused. At the same time, he knew her request to be face to face was born out of a desire for a deeper connection. He wanted that too, even though he shouldn’t.

She stepped into his arms and looked up at him expectantly.

“Tonight, I am yours to command, Madelene.”

A smile slowly grew on her lips. “Then kiss me. Kiss me like you did the first time, in the carriage, when you wanted it so much you had to tear yourself away from me and look out the window.”

He groaned remembering that kiss, his manhood throbbing. He wasn’t sure if he was capable of going slowly again. Gently, he pressed his lips to hers, but they weren’t like that first kiss when they’d been still and uncertain. This time, they were plump and needy and didn’t hesitate to part for him.

He forced down his desperate desire, placing soft, nipping kisses along her lips. But then her tongue slid languidly along his bottom lip.

“That’s not fair,” he said breathlessly. “How am I supposed to kiss you like I did the first time while you’re playing the temptress?”

Her laugh feathered over his skin. “I never said I was going to play fair.”

She’d come so far. She was confident and courageous and bold. She spoke her mind, at least with him. She teased and taunted him as she was doing now. Even as he kept himself from ravishing her mouth, she reached down and rubbed her hand over his trousers, slowly passing over his entire length.

With a tortured groan he wrenched his lips away from hers. His breathing was labored as he stared desperately down at her. While her body unleashed his lust, her smile, and the sparkle in her eyes, captured his heart.

“That’s exactly what I was looking for,” she said. She was also breathless and her face flushed. “No more slow.” She was already opening her bodice. “I need you. Now.”

Not wasting a second, he stripped off his clothes, then helped her to finish with hers, leaving everything strewn across the floor. He too had changed.

He sat on the edge of the bed and helped her to straddle him, just as she’d requested.

Pleasure washed through him as her body welcomed him, and he groaned. Her dark eyes, mere inches from his, stared into his soul as she rode him. He couldn’t look away. He gripped her hips, encouraging her movements.

Her needy panting urged on his own pleasure. Nothing existed outside of her and him in that moment. She was spectacular, her dark hair rippling over her shoulders, her perfect, golden breasts bouncing, her swollen lips parted just slightly.

She moaned and ground herself against him, drawing out her own pleasure.

Her sweat-dampened skin shimmered as lamplight danced over it from the window.

Her bottom was smooth and soft, and he squeezed it, encouraging her movements, and it drew a long groan from his throat.

Sex had never been like it was with her.

Pleasure sizzled through every inch of his body.

Even his wretched heart, which was never supposed to be involved.

Her eyes grew wide as she neared her peak.

“Simon!” Her fingers dug into the back of his shoulders as she slammed herself down on him harder and faster.

Her mouth opened as she called out, but still her eyes stayed locked on his.

It took every last thread of control he possessed not to spill as she contracted around him.

When it became impossible to hold on any longer, he flipped her onto her back on the bed and pulled out of her, but he continued to look into her eyes as he brought himself to completion.

His orgasm was violent as it ripped through him.

More powerful than any he’d ever experienced.

His arms shook as he held himself over her. She didn’t speak, but her eyes said so much.

After cleaning her up, he collapsed into bed and pulled her pliant body back against his. She snuggled into him with a satisfied sigh. When she’d reached her climax, he’d seen more than lust and pleasure in her eyes. In that moment, she’d been giving him her heart.

He was a vile bastard.

Taking her body was bad enough, but he wasn’t supposed to take her heart.

They lay together in silence, but they didn’t sleep. Not for a long while. He was too much of a coward to ask her about her thoughts or to share his own.

Everything he’d found about Mrs. Appleridge pointed to her being a good person.

Her late husband had left her a home and enough money to live without having to rely on another man.

She’d never had any children of her own, and she’d responded to Simon’s telegram with enthusiasm at the prospect of meeting Madelene, and had shown her such kindness in the short time they’d spent together.

She would give Madelene a good life. A better one than he could.

Madelene’s body was warm against his, her soft, even breaths whispered over his arm. At some point, she’d drifted off to sleep.

This was never supposed to be his life.

He’d left a trail of bodies in his wake. That inevitably came with consequences. Consequences that could very easily become hers to bear.

He pressed a soft kiss to the top of her head. Sending her away, where she could live a safe, happy life, was the right thing to do.