Page 22 of Only Earl in the World (Taming of the Dukes)

Sometime much later, nearing the evening hours, Briar found herself in front of the Earl of Lushing’s residence at St. James Square.

She had no idea if he was home, only that she’d slipped away for a walk to clear her head following her fraught conversation with a murderous Levi, who’d been a hairsbreadth from getting the rest of their brothers and going after Sackley.

After nearly an hour of walking aimlessly, her feet had led her here.

To him .

Briar swallowed and lifted her hand to knock, only to let it fall back to her side .

God, what was she doing ? She might have changed her mind about Preston, but Lushing still had a chance with Penelope, and now that the girl was free, he could.

Besides, the earl probably wasn’t even at home.

He was a busy man, and he spent most of his hours at Lethe.

In fact, she should have gone there first if she truly wanted to see him.

“Briar?”

She turned, and there he was, sliding from his horse and looking so deliciously windblown and perfect and real that her chest ached. Her lip wobbled. When his brows dipped in concern and he came toward her, she burst into tears and threw herself at him.

Without hesitation, he caught her, arms banding her tightly to him. “What has happened? Are you well?”

“I am now,” she sniffled and then groaned with her head in his chest, mortified at her horridly public display. “Can we go inside, please?”

“Are you alone?” he asked, and she knew he was only asking for her sake. He was an unmarried gentleman, after all, and she was at his private residence. Girls had been ruined for less, not that Briar gave a whit about propriety right then.

Shaking her head, she inhaled the intoxicating cedar-and-spice scent of him, deciding that she could stay quite happily right where she was as long as he’d let her. “I think that ship has sailed, Lord Lushing. And considering we are engaged, the tongues will wag regardless.”

“ Still engaged?” he asked. “I heard that Sackley broke it off with Lady Penelope. I assumed he would come directly to you.”

“He did. I turned him down.” Her voice shook, and she pressed her cheek harder into his chest, eyes stinging anew at lingering echoes of the viscount’s touch.

“You did?”

“He’s a monster.” A small sob tore through her. “Please, Jasper, can we go inside? I only need a moment, and then I promise I will leave.”

He released her slowly, waiting until she was steady before rapping on the door. After a handful of seconds, his butler let them inside, and she kept her head low until the earl dismissed his man and they stood alone in the foyer. Gaslights flickered over them.

“Briar,” he said gently. “Look at me.”

She didn’t want to. She knew exactly what he would see.

Levi’s reaction had been awful; she suspected that Lushing’s would be worse.

But she also couldn’t hide forever. Slowly, she lifted her head and knew the exact moment he took in the bruises on her chin when an inhuman growl ripped from his chest.

“Who. The fuck. Did this. To you?” His entire body locked up with rage, tremors rocking through him, the sheer savagery on his face the expression of nightmares. “Was it him ? Did he fucking put his hands on you?”

Briar nodded. “Yes, but?—”

“I’ll fucking kill him!” He whirled to leave, but she grabbed his wrist. He stalled at her touch, his big body shaking with whatever monster he was trying to keep at bay. “I need to go. He has to?—”

“No, stay. Please .”

Hunching over, he quaked from the force of the fury barreling through him, fists balling at his sides. “I know…but I can’t…I want to… fuck . Briar, he touched you. He hurt you. ”

“And I’m here now,” she said, closing her much smaller hands over his white-knuckled fists. “Safe, always safe. With you. Levi is taking care of him, I promise. Just be here with me, please.”

The earl stared down at her, those endlessly deep blue eyes swirling with so many emotions that she could barely pick them apart. Fear, wrath, concern, infinite tenderness. His gaze darkened as it flicked to her chin. “Does it hurt?” he whispered.

“No.” She slid her hands up his arms and looped them around his neck. “But I keep thinking about it. I need to erase his touch. I need to forget how his eyes looked at me. How his voice sounded. I don’t want to think about him anymore.” She paused with a shudder. “Make me forget, please.”

“What are you asking, Briar?” he rasped.

Her eyelashes fluttered as she dug for courage…for the strength to ask for what she wanted. What she needed . “Put me on my knees,” she whispered. “I want to kneel for you.”

Her words detonated into the silence between them. And then he groaned, a sound of pure unadulterated need. “ Fuck , Sweetbriar.” He stared wildly down at her. “Are you certain? If we do this, I might not be able to let you go. I don’t know if I could .”

“Then keep me,” she said simply.

Their gazes collided and ignited. Heart crashing into her ribcage, Briar waited. She’d made her desire clear. It was up to him to accept the overture because, as much as she wanted him, consent went both ways.

If he said no, out of any sense of misguided propriety or skewed sense of duty, she would fucking die . Right now, she needed him more than she needed air.

But then she gasped as he swooped her up into his arms and raced them up the stairs to his bedchamber before kicking the door shut. “Last chance. Are you certain this is what you want?” he asked, chest heaving. “Yes or no.”

“ Yes . Make me yours, Jasper.”

For a handful of seconds, it was pure chaos as they tore at each other, their mouths colliding, fusing, softening, biting, and sucking while their hands furiously worked at buttons and fastenings.

Outer trappings went first, and then her dress pooled next, followed by her corset, chemise, and stockings.

Impatient fingers ripped his own fine linen shirt down the middle, and his boots careened across the room, until at last, they were both panting and nude.

Briar stared, mouth drying, her entire body quivering with need.

He was the most gorgeous thing she had ever seen.

She always knew he was fit from boxing, but he was hewn like a warrior.

Everywhere she looked, her awe grew. That broad chest, dusted in bronze-red hair, was a mesmerizing landscape of masculine strength and beauty.

His limbs were all long, honed muscles and sculpted sinew—rounded shoulders tapering into corded forearms and thick thighs flowing into strong calves.

Those stacked ridges of his abdomen flexed, making her eyes drop to the sleek muscles pointing right to his very erect cock. She gulped.

Well, that was going to take work to fit.

His laughter filled the room, and she realized she’d murmured that out loud. “Don’t worry, Sweetbriar. By the time I’m finished with you, I’ll have you so drenched you’ll be more than ready for me.”

Her cheeks flamed at his lewd words.

“Take the pins out of your hair,” he said. The soft command made her tremble, but she did as he asked, feeling the curly mass tumble down.

“I knew you would be this beautiful,” he whispered reverently, a hand rising to sift through the loose curls and then drifting down to cup her breast. He traced the curve with his thumb. “Fucking perfect.”

She wanted to say she wasn’t, but a stroke just below her nipple made her whimper instead.

Briar didn’t love her breasts—one was slightly larger than the other—and she always wished they were smaller, so the difference wasn’t so noticeable.

As much as she wrote to empower women to love their bodies, she was insecure about her own.

When he cupped them, she wanted to push his hands away, but his touch was too distracting.

Her taut nipples tightened more as he flicked gently over them with each thumb and then ducked his head to take one peak into his mouth.

She forgot all about her imperfections. Heat sluiced through her as he sucked, the light swirl of his tongue sending a desperate ache to her core.

He licked and sucked and nibbled until she was writhing before moving his attention to the other breast. By then, her core was throbbing indecently, every pull of his absurdly talented mouth echoing between her legs.

“I’m ready now,” she whined.

He chuckled against her skin and then bit her nipple hard enough to make her squeak. “You’ll know when you’re ready.”

“When?” Her voice was so needy and breathy, it was unrecognizable to her own ears .

“When my tongue is buried between your legs and you’re soaking me and begging me to let you come.” God, his words . The thought of his mouth there made heat explode in her veins.

Jasper found her lips again, kissing her hard until she was seeing stars.

Then he released her and walked backwards until his calves touched an armchair.

He lowered himself into it. Dazed, Briar watched him, her limbs shivering.

His eyes were hot on her, staring ardently at the breasts he’d left damp and aching, and then descending to the dark curls at the apex of her thighs.

She wanted desperately to cover herself, but kept her hands at her sides. She was so wet, she could feel the moisture clinging to her inner thighs. Could he see? Alarm filled her, but when he licked his lips with a groan, staring at her with so much hunger, she felt powerful.

Embody Lady Ivy . Let him look.

Briar wasn’t submissive by nature, but she craved this. She wanted her brain to shut down for once, and she trusted that Jasper could give her what she needed. It was cathartic to hand herself over to someone so completely…to relinquish control. To yield .

“Eyes on me, Briar.”

A shudder shook her limbs. Obediently, she did as he asked. The earl stroked his length, drawing a whimper from her when his thumb slid over the top, smearing the drop of fluid there. Her mouth watered with the urge to taste it herself. A moan flew from her lips, her eyelids fluttering.

“Do you want this?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“If there’s something I say or do that you don’t like, just say stop, and I will.” He met her gaze, making her bite her lip at the pure lust she saw burning there. “Nothing will happen that you do not desire. Do you understand? I need your words, Briar.”

“I understand. I’m to say stop if I’m not comfortable.”

“Good girl,” he murmured, and her eyes practically rolled back into her head at the praise. “Oh, you like that, do you?” he crooned, watching her when she nodded, every inch of her on fire. His mouth curled into that wicked smirk she loved.

“On your knees,” he commanded. Briar dropped like a stone, breath turning jerky, and her vision darkening at the edges. “Hands on the ground.”

She complied, the second graveled, “good girl” nearly making her lungs give out.

Her blood thundered between her ears, all her senses fraying by the second.

She felt indecently exposed without a stitch of clothing, but it wasn’t enough for her to want to stop.

Her fingernails dug into the thick pile of the rug to ground herself into the moment.

“Now I want that arse in the air, and I want you to crawl slowly to me when I tell you to.”

Bloody hell . It was indecent the way her core clenched at the darkly sensuous growl in his tone.

Her nipples were so tight she could feel her heartbeat pulsing in them, but she curved her spine, pushing her hips high.

A pained sound ripped from him, and she could see the darkness in him roiling to the surface, barely leashed.

It exhilarated her seeing him so affected.

“Good so far?” he rumbled.

She nodded.

“Words, Briar. ”

“Yes. Good.” Her voice was a hoarse rasp. Gracious, if she could barely form words now, what would happen by the time she reached him?

“Then crawl.”

It took every ounce of her concentration to even breathe with all the sensations rocketing through her at that hushed gravelly order. But she put one hand forward and then the other, following with each knee.

God, the action was so degrading, and yet when she looked at him, all she saw was need. Lips parted, eyes burning , his hand worked his weeping cock. He looked at her like she was the only thing he ever wanted.

Like he wanted to devour her alive.

Like she was everything .