Page 23 of The Duke of Fire (The Dukes of Desire #1)

“ I s that the lie, Amelia?” Sebastian repeated with a low growl, his lips hot over hers. So close, but not quite. His hands gripped her waist. He pushed at the dishes, causing them to clatter. One plate crashed to the floor, but both were too far gone to care. The air between them crackled.

Amelia’s mind was floating somewhere, but she was all too aware of his body pressed against hers. He stood between her spread legs, his heat pressing through her gown’s thin fabric. Did he know this was going to happen when he gave her the blue dress?

“Sebastian… we should not do this,” she whimpered. Her body was trembling, and so was her voice. She was not like this. She had always been in control. Her body had a mind of its own now, arching toward him.

“Lie to me, then, if you can,” he challenged as his lips nipped lightly at her neck. “Tell me you do not want me. Tell me you do not want this .”

Amelia could not say no, even though her brain told her to stop—that the right thing to do was to push him away.

Her body wanted something else. It opened up to him.

It made her moan as his hands slid up her thighs.

She did not even notice that her dress was bunched up near her waist until she could feel more of his heat there.

Sebastian was exactly how she imagined him to be, and more. His touch was commanding and firm, but he also knew how to be gentle. Something was building in her lower belly. Worse, something was building in her chest.

When his lips returned to hers, they were not gentle. It was a claim. His tongue touched hers, and then he sucked it deeply. A whimper escaped her throat as his hand tilted her head back by the hair. His other hand possessively held the curve of her hip, his palm hot on her skin.

“You are so beautiful, Amelia,” he groaned against her mouth. “You should see yourself like this. So perfect.”

Her only vocal response was a rumbling in her throat. It sounded like a sob. She fisted his shirt, trying to get him as close to her as she possibly could. It was dangerous. It was wrong. She was not brought up this way. She was not thinking clearly.

His fingers reached for the edge of her undergarments. She flinched. She tried to stop herself from shivering, but she could not.

“Do you want more of this?” Sebastian asked, his voice feeling like a caress on her skin. Velvety. Dangerously low.

She bit her lip and nodded, no longer able to speak. She had written about such things, about women whose bodies felt on fire, but she had never felt it herself. Her body thrummed with anticipation.

Amelia saw Sebastian smirk as he slowly slid her undergarments down, letting them fall to the floor.

“Yes. Just like that. Do not hide yourself from me, Amelia,” he said, his eyes studying her exposed body. He looked like a starving man, and somehow, that made her feel powerful.

“Spread your legs for me, darling,” he commanded.

Amelia could not help but obey, even as her body flushed with that potent mix of excitement and embarrassment. How did women survive trysts? There was so much vulnerability. So much exposed. So much to give.

Then, he went down on his knees, his hands gripping her thighs to hold her in place.

When he leaned in to kiss her thigh, she startled.

He did not stop there, his breath melting her legs as his lips moved higher.

His tongue darted out, finding her little bundle of nerves.

She did not know how much it could ache.

How it could feel like a separate entity.

“That is it. Feel that, Amelia,” he whispered, right before he licked and sucked the nub.

A cry of pleasure escaped her lips. Her eyes squeezed shut as she tried to focus all her senses on what was going on between her legs.

Sebastian was slow and deliberate as he worshipped her with his tongue and lips, each time sending wave upon wave of pleasure through her body.

Amelia’s hips lifted as her core wanted more of him. More of the sensations he could give.

“Do you know what you taste like?” he asked. “You taste divine. You are the feast, and I came to dinner hungry.”

Heat coursed through her even more with those words. She moaned as the last bit of her control left her. He lapped at her sensitive nub over and over, as she pulled at his hair. She was teetering on the edge of ecstasy. He just had to give her a little more push.

Just a little more.

“Don’t stop,” she begged, sounding hoarse even to her own ears. “Please don’t stop.”

Sebastian increased the pressure but also swirled his tongue in circles. Her head fell back.

“Moan for me,” he ordered.

For some reason, she dared hold back. She bit her lower lip as the tip of his tongue teased her.

“What if I do not?” she asked, feeling a little rebellious.

He stopped licking her, making her whimper in frustration. Her legs were trembling. She was so close. She pressed her thighs together to retain some of the sensations, but could only feel remnants of the pleasure he gave her.

“Learn to obey me, Amelia. This way, you will get what you want. What you need,” he promised darkly.

“Will I get what I want?” she asked cheekily.

“Of course, because look at you. I always knew you were beautiful, but I did not know just how ripe. How pink. How full,” he praised, his eyes focused on her breast.

He cupped the bare breast, letting his thumb graze the nipple. To her horror and amazement, her nipple quickly hardened against his ministrations. When he leaned down to suck a nipple deep into his mouth, she gasped.

He sucked her nipple hard, only to lave it gently with his tongue. His other hand fondled her other breast, squeezing gently. She arched into him, holding his head against her chest, desperate for more.

“So responsive,” he praised while nuzzling her breast. “So delicious.”

Amelia felt her pleasure climbing again, her breath coming faster with every teasing flick of his tongue.

Her body trembled, tension coiling in her belly, tighter and tighter.

She thought of the earlier moment when he had stopped just before she tipped over the edge—how her body had ached from the denial.

She was not sure she could bear that again.

“Please,” she whimpered this time.

Sebastian’s eyes gleamed as he looked up at her, his lips brushing her thigh again.

“I am going to take care of you this time,” he said, his voice thick with promise.

One large hand slid between her thighs with confident precision.

“You were so close, and already so wet. Do you know what that does to me?”

She could not answer. She could barely think.

His mouth went back to sucking her nipple, his tongue sometimes testing the weight of her breast. He sucked hard, and every time he did, the sensation seemed to pool between her legs.

“Yes,” she gasped. “Like that. Please.”

The finger that slid into her was all too real, and so was the way her body clenched around it instinctively.

He moved slowly at first, watching her reactions with a kind of reverence.

Then deeper. And then again. When he added a second finger, her body arched off the seat, needing more, helpless against the sensations building inside her.

“Don’t stop this time,” she begged. “Please…”

“I will not,” he said, his voice a growl against her skin. “I am right here.”

He curled his fingers just right, just enough to make her cry out. All the while, his mouth worshipped her breast—sucking, licking, dragging her further toward the edge. The pleasure was dizzying, impossible to contain.

Amelia’s hands fisted his shoulders. Her legs shook. Her whole body was taut with anticipation, so close, so unbearably close.

Then she shattered.

It tore through her like a wave. Her cry broke free before she could bite it back, and his name left her lips like a prayer.

“Sebastian—”

He did not stop until her body went limp, trembling in the aftermath. Only then did he slow his touch, easing her down gently from the heights he had taken her to. His mouth softened against her breast, his hand finally stilling between her thighs.

When she opened her eyes again, he was watching her. Not smug, not cocky—just quiet. As if the storm he had drawn from her had humbled him.