Page 130 of Bound By the Duke

CHAPTER 40

The doors to Percival’s chamber flew open with a crash that echoed like thunder.

Aurelia did not know whether it was she who pushed it open or Percival. All she knew at that moment was the heat of his lips devouring hers. Her brain was just focused on the desperate, maddening kiss that stole the very air from her lungs.

She was walking backward, blindly, and his tall frame pursued her like a predator determined to consume its prey. His heat wanted to smother her, his kiss wanted to ruin her.

Wrapping her arms around his neck, she trembled, clinging to him.

To the best of her knowledge, he was her only anchor.

Her eyes had fluttered shut as they left her chamber, locked in a kiss that made them forget their surroundings. Thinking was simply impossible.

She had waited too long for this.

Every step backward felt like surrendering a part of herself, like she belonged to no one but him.

He groaned into her mouth with the hunger of a beast. The sound was so raw, so impatient, that it reverberated through her.

But it sounded like a complaint to him. That the bed was still far, too far. As though waiting a second more was unbearable. Hence, he lifted her without warning and pressed her against the nearest wall.

There was no time to think. Her gasp was instantly swallowed by his mouth, and she locked her legs instinctively around his waist. She wanted to draw him closer, as tightly as she could.

A whimper escaped her lips when his arousal pressed against her core. He was engorged, threatening to burst through the fly of his trousers. It made her pulse quicken and her back arch.

“You have no idea,” he groaned into her mouth, “how painful the waiting has been.”

His teeth grazed her throat, then bit down in a way that made her fist his hair. His breath shuddered out of him, as though hewere a man starved and she was the only sustenance he would ever accept.

He slid a hand beneath her nightgown with ruthless impatience, and the sound of tearing fabric rent the air. Cool air kissed her exposed skin, her bare shoulders, the swell of her breasts, the plane of her stomach.

Each part was bared to his hungry gaze.

“Percival…”

He had barely touched her, but she was already moaning and shivering. His eyes caught the water droplets rolling down her skin temptingly.

“I missed you, Aurelia,” he rasped, before lowering his head to lick them away.

His tongue was as hot and sinful as it traced her collarbone, her neck, and down the curve of her shoulder. He licked the droplets, drank her salt, worshipped her sweat as though it were sacred wine.

Her body shook with every lick. Every nerve in her body was screaming for release. Tears pricked her eyes. Not of sorrow, but from the unbearable intensity of it.

I cannot withstand this. I cannot…

Her head fell back, exposing her throat to his merciless mouth. “Percival…” Her cry sounded more like a plea. “Stop wasting time and take me?—”

She couldn’t even finish, for he sucked harder on her collarbone.

He did not rush to obey. His lips continued to map her skin, eventually moving lower to her tender breasts. His tongue flicked over her nipple before sucking it deep into his mouth.

Aurelia almost collapsed in his arms.

She writhed helplessly and tried to reach for his cock, but her wrists were caught in his iron grip. She shuddered as he took her hands and pinned them above her head.

She was completely undone, completely his.

Every pull of his mouth, every stroke of his tongue, left her trembling violently. Her whimpers turned into strangled cries.