Page 42 of Daring with a Duke (The Jennings Family #2)

42

Ash

“A sh…” Felicity’s whispered plea pierced straight through to Ash’s heart.

She was entrancing, incandescent. His eyes couldn’t seem to take her in fast enough. His gaze locked on hers, black in the night, but their rich amber color burned bright in his mind. His stare trailed over cheeks he was sure were flushed a deep, enticing pink. A flush he hoped traveled down her chest to where her breasts rose and fell with each panting breath.

His fingers twitched inside her, as frustrated as his eyes at his inability to take all of her in at once. He slipped free of her, and he hated it. He never wanted to be free of her.

“Ash…” she said again. “I need to feel you on me.”

As his duchess wished. He crawled up her body, pressing barely there kisses over her sensitive, shivering skin along the way.

“Closer.” A command.

He lowered himself, careful to rest on his elbows and protect her from his full weight. Every inch of his skin met hers, and a tremor wracked his frame.

“Against me,” she demanded. “I need the heavy weight of you pressing down on me. I need to feel this is real. Because a part of me is afraid I’ll wake up to find this is yet another night dreaming of you.”

He buried his head in her neck on a groan and sank against her, burying them both into the plush bed of blankets. His heart ached something fierce. God, her words. Knowing she had always wanted him, desired him, dreamed of him? It was astonishing. It was agonizing. He bloody ached .

He adjusted his hips so that his cock slid between her legs, and he ground himself against her entrance. “Does this feel like a dream?” He barely recognized his own voice, as resonant and raw as it was. He slowly sank inside, and her mouth dropped open on nothing but the smallest catch of breath.

“T-to be honest—” Her words cut off as hips met hips. “Yessss,” she hissed. “It feels like a bloody dream, Duke.”

He chuckled, but it turned into a tortured groan with her next words.

“So-ooh full of you.” Her words were hitched, breathy. “So, God damned full. I could die from the bliss of it, Ash.”

He couldn’t agree more.

Her thighs skimmed over his legs and came up to squeeze either side of his hips. He sank impossibly deeper, and identical strangled sounds erupted from them both.

Ash rose onto his elbows and began to leisurely move inside her. Her hands traveled over his back, nails skimming, and tendrils of need skittered through his veins.

“Too slow, Duke. Too soft.”

He dropped a kiss to her lips and smiled. He thrust harder, but slowly still. He reveled in how the breath fled her; how her mouth dropped open with each snap of his hips, as though the pleasure that throbbed dangerously in his cock with each drive affected her just as it did him.

“Faster.” Another command.

But he ignored her, teased her, tormented her.

Her hips rocked into him, one of her legs wrapping around him, heel digging into his arse. Her body was doing its damnedest to get him to pick up speed.

“Demanding Duchess,” he gritted out.

Pressure curled tight, streak after intense streak settling at the head of his cock. God, the way she swiveled her hips, it was excruciatingly euphoric.

“Yes, well, I want you to fuck me , Duke,” she bit out, her words a velvety frustrated growl.

Her words shot pleasure down his spine, bringing him dangerously close to the edge. Making demands of him, claiming control even from beneath him. It did things to him. Sinful things. It gave him ideas. Sinful ideas.

He slowed to a stop, and she snarled like a disgruntled cat. A grin split his face. Then she sank her claws into his back, scoring them down his back. And his grin disappeared, and his eyes rolled back, a guttural noise slipping past his lips.

His heart beat in a rhythm that could only be considered dangerous. This woman was so much more than he could have ever dreamed for. In a sennight he would legally make her his, but he couldn’t fool himself; she owned him. And he reveled in how her nails scored his skin, marks that he knew would be there tomorrow. Proof of how irrevocably he was hers.

His hands sank tight into her hips, and with a quick jerk from him and an alarmed squeak from her, he rolled them. With hands planted on his chest, she stared down at him, lips parted, the whites of her wide-eyed gaze reflecting the flickering candlelight.

Loose tendrils fell about her face, and her features glowed pearly white in the soft moonlight. If he stared hard enough, he could almost make out the delicate pink of her lips—or maybe it was just because he had spent so much time memorizing every detail of her that even if he were blind, he would see her with perfect clarity.

Ash pushed up to sitting in a swift movement, and their chests crashed together at the same time his mouth met hers. He didn’t waste time being slow or gentle this time; he delved straight in, tongue demanding, determined.

“God, you’re so deliciously tempting. I want to devour you,” he said.

And he did. He dragged his lips down her jaw to her ear, sucked it into his mouth, then bit down. Her gasp drew a contented purr from deep in his chest. He moved down her neck, nipping and licking. She was a sweat-slicked siren; her taste an addiction, and he would only be satisfied with more. She gave him what he wanted. Her head dropped back, back arching, pebbled nipples offered up to him. And who was he to say no to such an offer?

His mouth latched onto one breast, a hand coming up to palm the other. The whimpers and half-moans pulling from her lips were agony, delicious agony. She wriggled in his lap, her body frantic and desperate, but limited in their position. And it only made all that agony that much sweeter.

He’d tortured them long enough.

Ash released her breast with a wet pop and fell back against the blankets. She paused, palms flattening against his chest, and subtly rocked against him, barely moving. One hand trailed down his abdomen, the muscles quivering beneath the soft pad of her fingertips. She traced back up his ribcage, mapping the strength etched across his chest.

“I have an obsession with your body,” she whispered. “I want to touch every inch, trace every muscle.” Her hand drifted over his biceps. “Feel the hardness, the strength.”

He flexed, and her fingers tightened around him. Her head dropped back, mouth falling open on a moan, as though just touching him gave her pleasure. His cock went impossibly hard, and he was sure he’d combust.

“It’s yours to do with as you please, Duchess. You are in control.”

He gave a small thrust, and her eyes widened and then narrowed. The look she shot him was unadulterated wickedness—those curling, lush lips, that glinting grin.

She put her weight on her palms and lifted herself, then slowly lowered herself back down. His eyes fell shut with an appreciative hum, his hips coming up to meet hers each time she sank down. Her movements increased in speed as she increased in confidence. She chased her orgasm, the hitches of her breath coming faster, choked moans escaping her when she swiveled just right, when he thrust into her at that perfect angle.

“Yes, Lissy,” he hissed out. “You ride me so well.”

God, the view of her. He was desperate for it to last forever, but pleasure was snaking its way through his groin and winding its way to his cock. He drove into her hard, nearly unseating her, and her hand flew back to latch onto his thigh to catch herself. She sucked in a sharp breath, her eyes widening. Her gaze flew to his. Oh, his duchess liked this angle. Her fingers tightened on his thigh, and he thrust into her as her hips circled over him.

“Fuuuck,” she hissed. “Ash… I need… Harder.”

Her free hand left him to settle between her thighs, her fingers rubbing over her cunt, frenzied. His breath burst from him, lungs and heart screaming as his body careened toward the edge, dangerously close. Damn the darkness. Damn not being able to see those delicate fingers working her pretty pink flesh. Pretty pink flesh he was sinking into over and over and over.

Flutters spasmed around his cock, her core doing a delicious dance of squeeze and release around him. Fuck, fuck, fuck.

“Oh, G-God. Ash, I—”

But it’s all she managed because her head fell back, and she screamed to the heavens as she clenched impossibly tight. And it was torture. Her hugging him so bloody tight. He gritted his teeth, his body steel-taut from the effort to hold back. Until she rode out every last drop of pleasure for herself. She slumped against him, and he wasted no time rolling them.

“Clench your legs together,” he managed hoarsely. “As tight as you can, love.”

He slipped from her, his cock sliding between her pleasure-slicked thighs. The blood in his veins raged through him, settling an exquisite pressure deep in groin that was moments from exploding. He thrust once, twice. And even if they hadn’t been lying beneath a starlit sky, he would have seen stars because pleasure crashed over him with unbearable force. Wave after wave of unparalleled bliss soaked him all the way down to his soul.

His strangled moan muffled in her neck as he trembled atop her, both their chests heaving, her panting puffs of air tickling over the oversensitive skin of his neck. He was wrung out. His entire body boneless. Spent.

He shifted and tugged her back on top of him, freeing her of his weight. He wrapped his arms securely around her as he nuzzled into her hair, breathing deep, stealing her scent in his lungs. She was inextricably interwoven in him. He would never be able to disentangle her from himself. And if that didn’t sound like bloody heaven, he didn’t know what did.

“Ash?” Her muffled voice came from where she was still buried in his neck.

“Mmm, love?”

“What’s in that basket? I’m starving.”

His rumbled chuckle shook their entwined bodies. He planted a hard kiss on her head before heaving them both up to sitting—not an easy feat, but as his duchess had said oh-so-admiringly before, his body was strong.

They settled side by side on the blankets with a spread of cheese, lemon pies, biscuits, and replenished glasses of wine. They ate in silence, sharing secret smiles behind bites of food. His heart warmed, a happy wine-filled warmth. Felicity made him feel young, feel light, feel happy .

“You know,” he said thoughtfully as he popped the last corner of his hand pie in his mouth. “I think there might be something going on between my valet and your brother.”

Felicity froze.

His eyes narrowed to slits. He pointed at her. “You know something…”

Her lips pressed tight, but she couldn’t hide the glee spreading over her face as she nodded vigorously. She leaned forward and whispered, “I caught them together last night when I left you in my chambers to speak with Felix.”

Ash was sure his eyes had doubled in size. “Dear God, after your brother’s rage? Sam had been fuming at Bentley attacking me.”

Felicity shrugged a shoulder. “I had the same thought. To be honest, when I walked into his chamber, I wasn’t so sure they weren’t still trying to kill each other. But it became obvious no one was killing anyone when Mr. Thorne got on his knees for my brother.”

Ash’s mouth dropped open.

“Hypocritical of my brother, I know.” Felicity lifted her brows and took a swig of her wine. “Apparently, I can’t suck your cock, but Thorne can suck his? Pshhh.”

Ash choked and broke out in a fit of coughing. He reached to her and cradled her face, pulling her in for a hard kiss, a kiss that tasted like sugar and wine. “God, I love you, Lissy.”

Her forehead came to rest against his, and she smiled against his lips. “I love you, too.”

He pulled back and studied her. She said she would marry him. She said she loved him. So now for his last question. “How do you feel about getting married in a sennight?”

Her lips formed a small moue, and she blinked at him. “Seven days?” Her look of surprise morphed into a grin. “Someone is eager,” she teased and waggled her brows.

“A smart woman once asked me a very important question: Would you not want to take advantage of every moment you have left and spend it with the one you love? ”

Her smile faded at hearing her words to him from yesterday, her features softening.

“I would, Lissy. I would take advantage of every last breath. If I could marry you tonight, I would. But unfortunately, it is customary to wait the seven days from securing the license. So, I would marry you then and not a moment later. If you’ll agree.”

She put down her wine and scooted close to him, gripping his face tight in her palms and crushing her lips to his for a brief kiss. She broke away. “I would love nothing more…”

“Why do I sense a but…”

She let out a slow breath. “I don’t want to wait, it is just… I really would have liked for my mother, Fitzy, and Gigi to be there.”

His lips twitched, and he couldn’t stop them from curling into a smile.

She squinted suspiciously at him. “What are you so happy about?”

“What if I told you they will be there?”

“How could that be possible?” She wrinkled her nose, and her lips pursed to the side. “If we write them first thing in the morning, by the time they receive the letters, and then factor in time for travel. I suppose it could be possible, but it would be awfully tight. Unlikely.”

“Lord Bentley sent out a letter first thing this morning requesting their presence at our wedding.”

“What!” Her eyes went comically wide.

His smile turned into a full-blown grin.

She backhanded his chest. “Oh, you were so presumptuous, Your Grace.” She made disapproving tsks at him. “Naughty, naughty, Duke.”

His cock perked up.

She noticed.

Her gaze flew back to his, a smile that was pure dissolution spreading across her face.

“Oh, I am going to have so much fun with you,” she said, and he swore he could even hear her sinful smile in her words.

“Promise?”

She gave him a quick kiss again. “Promise.”

He ran a finger down her nose. “I will always thank my bloody stars that you decided to be daring with a duke.”

She winked at him and tackled him to the blankets. He barked out a laugh and wrapped his arms tight around her. But even though he laughed, his body sighed, lightened, the weight of chains he so long lived with finally, blessedly, gone. He bloody loved this woman. So. Damned. Much.

And he showed her.

All the way until dawn.