Page 12 of The One With the Scoundrel of a Duke (Wicked Widows’ League #31)

I F THIS WAS WHAT it meant to have carnal fun and find pleasure at your leisure, Audra wanted to stay here for a while.

Feeling the girth of his cock inside of her, watching it slide in and out of her body, sent tingle soaring over her skin.

It was patently clear why the man was a rake, a god among men.

He knew exactly what he was doing and how to bring about the most pleasure.

She could hardly feel her limbs, she was so focused on the surging pleasure washing over her. Her core was throbbing with need. But that need threw her backward in her memories.

Sex with Hugo had been amazing, and sex with Lucas was amazing, but it felt like something completely different.

They weren’t even comparable. Yet of course her thoughts had strayed to Hugo for a second.

And in that blip of a second she recalled some of the hardest conversations they had ever had.

Since they had talked about everything together, they had braved the death conversation a time or two.

When the topic had come up (on its rare occasion) she had been in tears when he told her to find happiness after him, if the need should ever arise.

She had always shaken her head saying she couldn’t live without him, all the while he held her close.

His whispering reassurance was now playing loudly in her head.

Be happy should I ever leave you.

And…for the first time in a very long time…Audra felt a refreshing kind of happiness. It was almost like she had been watching Lucas, a still lake, and now she was jumping into it. Into him. The water was chilling in the best way, waking up her body, heart, and spirit.

She could feel a tear prickle in the corner of her eye. Guilt. Happiness. Elation. Fear. Determination. All colliding together, vying for space in her mind.

“Audra,” Lucas’s tender voice trickled up into her ear. “Darling, we can stop.” His hands were on her waist.

When she met his eyes, her tears fell, at her mortification.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered while he gently wiped her tears away with the pads of his thumbs.

“Don’t apologize. There’s nothing to be sorry for.” His thumb continued to brush her cheek while the other hand palmed her jaw. “You should only do what you want to do.”

He was still hard inside of her, but their bodies had stilled their movements.

She placed her elbows on his shoulders and her hands on his head. “I want to do this…” —it took a deep inhale and release before she could manage to continue— “I just haven’t done this…since…”

He pressed his forehead to hers. “You can say his name, Audra.”

His eyes were so intense as they drew something out of her. Something desperate. Something painful.

Grief.

“His name was Hugo.”

“Your first husband?”

She nodded. “The only man I’ve ever been with. Other than you right now.”

“If you’re not ready, we can stop.” His voice was so calm, so tender, so willing to cater to her needs, whatever they might be, and however they might cost him.

“I don’t want to stop, but I don’t want to feel guilty either.”

“Do you feel guilty?”

“A little bit. But I feel so many emotions right now. He was a good man. He would want me to be happy.”

“Does being here with me now make you happy?”

At that question, she allowed a small smile to curl up her lips to the ceiling. “Yes,” she answered on a ragged breath. “It does.”

Slowly he returned the smile and her heart heated up. Right along with her center.

“I’d like to make you happy, if you want it.

Anytime you want to stop, just tell me.” The smoldering look in his eyes told her that he had plans for this offer.

Since the heat taking over her body was essentially molten lava, the most she could bring herself to do was nod her head again in agreement with whatever plans he had.

His hand gripped her waist and lifted her bottom onto the keys. Gently, he placed her on them with nary a sound, and then he pushed her skirts up to look at her quim.

“Just lean back. Relax. Let yourself receive the happiness I’m about to give you. There’s no shame in this place. No guilt. Only pleasure. And if you don’t want it, for any reason, I’ll stop.” He brushed her cheek and pushed a tendril of hair behind her ear. “Trust me.”

“I do,” she exhaled roughly.

Then his gentle but firm hand pushed her back so that she was leaning on her elbows and her legs were spread before him. He pulled her thighs apart and pressed a gentle kiss to her pearl. Her aching, sensitive, yearning pearl.

Pleasure flooded her, mixing with the molten lava, and she was pretty sure that steam was coming off every inch of her body.

“Yes,” she hissed.

He hummed his agreement then slowly, with a wide tongue, he licked up her slit. Her body shuddered.

“Uh…”

“You taste so good, Audra. I want more of your juice, darling.”

“Uh…Lucas, yes.”

His tongue flicked over her nub until she was panting.

“Yes, yes, yes,” she whimpered.

His licks picked up their rhythm and fluttered over her. She could feel the mounting pleasure building, coiling, tightening within her.

“Come on my tongue, Audra. I want to lap you up.”

Her moans filled the air with a new song as she came, suddenly, urgently, desperately, on his tongue and he licked at her arousal.

Her body felt limp and she would have fallen back if Lucas hadn’t caught her in his arms and sat her down, straddling his lap again. She could feel his hard cock against her sensitive folds.

Like a glutton, she moaned out, “More,” as she rubbed her clit against his cock. “I want you inside of me.”

“Are you sure, Audra?”

“Yes,” she moaned again, pulling herself tight against his chest. She dropped one of her hands to his shaft, gripping the base. With heavy lidded eyes, she watched his eyes this time as she fit his head into her entrance. She slid down on him and groaned at the contact.

“I’ll follow your moves,” he whispered to her.

With all the power in her hands she pushed up on her knees and slowly slid down his cock, feeling every tingle rush through her body. Her pulse hammered through her veins as she took him in and out of her.

Each movement hardened his cock more until she could feel him so thick inside of her she knew she was going to release again.

“Are you close?” she asked.

“Desperately hanging on for you to come again,” he ground out.

“Me? Again?”

“Mmm…” his hands found her breasts massaging them and his mouth latched onto her throat. “Again and again,” he murmured between a soft bite and a long lick.

“Let’s come together,” she said as she bounced up and down his cock.

“You first,” he sucked on her neck. “Then I’ll follow.”

If his words hadn’t been enough to send her over the edge, the soft pinch on her clit surely was.

She cried his name as he mumbled hers into her hair. Having him inside of her filled her more than physically. Pleasure tore through her ripping her apart and then stitching her back together. It was but a moment in time, yet a startling makeover of her soul.

Death.

A rebirth.

The renewal was overwhelming.

She pressed her lips to his ear, panting, “Thank you, Lucas. I can’t believe how long I’ve waited to feel that.”

With a soft kiss, he answered back, “I’m happy to make you feel that anytime.”

And she knew she was going to take him up on that. It had been such fun, such pleasure. Such enjoyment. Pure happiness.

The thing was…it had been so much more than that as well. And that was the most terrifying part. Nothing less than a rake offering a marriage proposal could be more terrifying.