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I mean, don’t get me wrong—I wanted to sink myself into Briar and lose myself once more in the pleasure she could give me. That I could give her. The intimacy of two people who now didn’t just want to be bedded, but wanted more.

More .

It seemed strange, the idea of having more. I still wasn’t entirely sure if I deserved it. But Briar thought I did. Why else would she be here, offering herself—offering more than just her body?

“You do know that’s not fair, don’t you?”

I blinked. Briar’s words had been spoken quietly, but there was no shyness in them. In fact, there was a directness I had seen in her before.

When she was most comfortable. Most sure of herself.

I raised an eyebrow. “Not fair? You don’t like being eaten out?”

“I love it,” Briar whispered, her cheeks flushing a slightly darker shade of pink. “But you know what I’d like even more?”

I shook my head slowly, my mouth going dry.

My mind could certainly supply a few possibilities. Briar, lying out on the floor as I slowly sank my manhood into her. Briar, kneeling on this bed and whimpering as I enter her from behind, her wet secret place welcoming me in. Briar, her hands?—

A soft finger on my chin, tilting it up. Briar increased the pressure and I rose as I was clearly being bidden.

Briar taking charge. Now that was not something I had expected.

“You do what you’re told,” Briar said quietly, looking deep into my eyes as her fingers fumbled with my breeches. “And you’ll be rewarded. Can you do that, Peregrine? Can you do what you’re told?”

A guttural moan escaped my parched throat.

How did she do it? Briar was not the sort of person to take charge in any scenario. She’d spent the last few weeks trying to get me to bolster her bravery with her own advisors.

But here, now, the two of us alone? Something had come over her and I reveled in it. A side of Briar I hadn’t seen before—had only snatched glimpses of, had never fully been able to appreciate.

I was about to appreciate it now.

My breeches slipped to the floor and I stepped out of them, glorifying in the way Briar’s gaze immediately slipped appreciatively to my manhood. It was hard, aching for her touch.

“Excellent,” Briar said softly.

And then before I could stop her—not that I’d want to—she’d grabbed my shoulders, pulled me to the bed, twisted me round, and pushed me back.

I fell onto my back on the bed, my hands scrabbling to pull of my shirt as Briar clambered onto the end of the bed by my feet.

Somehow, she seemed to have lost her gown…

“Oh God, Briar,” I moaned.

The sight of her was almost enough to undo me. Teasing smile, slightly nervous eyes, and heavy breasts swaying down as she clambered toward me.

I dropped my shirt off the side of the bed and quickly moved to reach for her?—

“No,” Briar said, placing her hands on my wrists and preventing me from closing the final inches between me and her.

I was breathing heavily now—I’d hardly noticed how my heart had started beating faster.

God, I craved her. It was the ultimate pain, lying there with a naked Briar above me, my damned hands unable to touch.

“Lie back and don’t move,” Briar said with what she evidently thought was a teasing smile.

A moan threatened to escape my lips. It was teasing. Everything about her was teasing. Every part of her not touching me, every inch of her I hadn’t kissed, all of her was a temptation aching to be taken.

As I wanted to take her.

But I watched, pulling a pillow under my head so I could get a good view, as Briar slowly lowered her lips to my manhood and lightly kissed it.

I squirmed. Oh God, it was awful and wonderful. The promise of more, and yet the restriction teased me like nothing ever had before. This was edging of a new variety, and I wasn’t sure I liked it.

I loved it.

“Briar,” I said breathlessly. “Please can I?—”

“Every time you ask me for permission, it’ll take longer,” said Briar quietly, slowly licking right at the base of my shaft.

I couldn’t help it—I whimpered. The white fabric of the sheet beneath me was gripped by my desperate hands, and it just heightened the agony tensing in my balls.

I wanted her, I needed her, and if I didn’t have her soon?—

“Patience,” murmured Briar, her tongue licking slowly up my shaft to my weeping tip.

One of her nipples scraped against my thigh and I couldn’t help but thrust upward.

I was punished for it.

“No,” said Briar darkly, gazing up at me and holding down my hips with her hands. “You don’t want to wait, do you, Peregrine?”

I swallowed. “N-No, Briar.”

Damn, I hated the weakness in my voice—but somehow that only made Briar smile.

“You’re making me wet,” she said quietly. “Feel.”

Slowly, she lowered her straddled legs onto mine. A damp, warm, wetness pressed against my thighs and I groaned.

If she wasn’t careful?—

“You’ll make me come,” I warned her in a dark voice.

Briar grinned, keeping eye contact as she leisurely lowered her mouth back to my manhood. “Promise?”

I groaned again, a dark growl rolling in my chest. “You make me want to?—”

“I know,” Briar murmured against the base of my shaft. The thrum of her voice almost tipped me over the edge. “And you’ve been very, very good.”

I strained against her hands on my hips. I was stronger than her, much stronger. I could pin her under me and take what I wanted and she would beg for more—but it wasn’t about that. It wasn’t about me.

It was about Briar.

Thank God, she seemed to be as wound up as I was. “Peregrine, I'm sorry—I can’t wait any more.”

Before I could tell what was happening, Briar had somehow moved over me. My manhood lurched and I only just a moment to breathe before?—

“Briar!” I cried out, my head tilting back, unable to take it.

She’d lowered herself onto me, spearing herself with my hot throbbing manhood, and both of us moaned at the sudden intimate connection.

God, I’d wanted this the moment I’d stopping making love to her the last time—but this time was different.

I blinked up, bleary eyed, at Briar. She was gorgeous, and she was shy, and she was giving herself to me in a way I was certain she never had with another.

It was intimate, and personal, and she was giving her heart to me as we had never shared before. And as she rose, building a rhythm as she dropped onto me, thrusting her hips against mine, causing a friction that sparked pleasure through every inch of me, I knew.

I knew.

There would never be anyone else. There never could be. What this was, whatever it was, it was more than a good bedding, more than liking, more than desire, more than affection.

It was?—

“Briar!” I couldn’t help but cry her name as I thrust up into her, coming so hard my vision blurred.

It was, apparently, what she’d needed to reach her own peak. That, or she’d been heroic and held off her own orgasm for me.

Briar bucked, her secret place tightening around me and elongating my own coming, her voice whimpering my name. “Peregrine—Peregrine, oh Peregrine, yes, yes…”

By the time she collapsed into my arms, I was ready for her. Waiting to catch her. To hold her.

To never hold anyone else again.

Our breathing eventually slowed.

Briar pushed herself up off my chest and looked deep into my eyes. “Peregrine?”

I nodded. “Briar, I lo?—”

She crushed her lips onto mine. Maybe it didn’t need to be said.