The de Valery Code (33 page)

Her lips parted, and he fought to keep from kissing her. He was treading a very fine line.

She reached down to the table, on which the basin sat, and picked up a second towel. She dipped it into the water and then dabbed it over his chest. A thick stream ran down his flesh. With her spare hand, she caught the moisture on her fingertip and brought it to her lips. Her gaze never left his as she sucked her finger dry.

He stifled a groan. They were playing a dangerous game, one neither of them seemed prepared to halt.

He dragged the table a few feet to position it by the bed. Then he arched a brow at her in invitation. He held his breath, waiting to see if she would put a stop to their flirtation.

Meeting his inquiry with a beguiling stare, she shrugged out of her bodice, peeling her gown to her waist. Her fingers plucked at the fastenings of her stays until it gapped away from her breasts. She pulled the garment free of her gown and dropped it on the floor.

With slow, deliberate steps, she went to the basin and soaked her towel. After barely squeezing the water from it, she swept it over her chemise, thoroughly dampening the linen until it clung to her nipples.

Rhys’s mouth was dry enough with the heat of the day, but now it felt like a desert. He licked his lips as his cock turned to granite. He dropped his cloth into the basin and prowled around the table. She turned with him until her backside met the bed.

He curled his arm around her lower back and guided her backward, but kept her from hitting the mattress. He took the wet towel from her fingers and squeezed the water from it, watching it trickle down to her breasts and slide over her chemise and her flesh beneath it.

He tossed the cloth into the basin and cupped her now-cool breast. Her nipple was already stiff, but he watched as the pink flesh pebbled around the tip. Pressing his thumb and forefinger around the peak, he squeezed just hard enough until she gasped.

Sliding his hand up over breast and collarbone, he slipped it inside the capped sleeve and pushed it down over her shoulder. She tried to pull her arm through the hole, but emitted a groan of frustration when she couldn’t.
 

He tugged at the sleeve and rent the seam. The front of the garment fell forward, exposing her breast. She threw the remains of her sleeve to the floor as his gaze devoured her pale flesh.

Her hand came around his neck and pulled his head down. He needed no further urging and set his teeth around her nipple, to graze the soft skin. She arched into him, her fingers twining in his hair and holding him tight against her.

He drew her into his mouth, tasting her sweet, wet flesh. He cupped her as he moved to the other breast, giving it the same exacting attention he’d given the first. He licked and suckled her, his fevered body reacting to the soft moans and whimpers coming from her throat.

Her once-cool flesh had heated again. He reached back for the cloth in the basin, but she pushed him upright. Then she spun him and shoved him onto the bed. He had no idea what she was about, but didn’t protest.

Taking one of the towels, she wrung it out over his chest, dribbling the last of the water down his belly and onto the front of his breeches. As the cool water soaked through the fabric, he closed his eyes and cast his head back against the mattress.

He felt her tongue on his nipple, lapping the water up. He thrust his fingers into her hair and kneaded her scalp. She moved across his chest, trailing her lips over him and repeated the process of licking his other nipple clean. Then she traveled downward, her wicked tongue teasing his flesh and driving him to the brink of his control.

Down, down, she went until he felt the front of his breeches fall away. He’d been so focused on her mouth that he’d failed to notice her undoing his fall. She peeled his garments away, dragging his breeches and small clothes down his legs.

He kept his eyes closed, afraid to break the quiet spell that had fallen over the room. The afternoon was impossibly hot and hushed, like the world had ceased to spin. His awareness was full of her and the things she was doing to his body.

Water trickled over his cock and her hand worked it into his torrid flesh. Like last night, she handled him expertly, her grip precise and intense.

When her tongue flicked the head, his eyes shot open and he tugged at her hair. “Margery,” he growled.

“Shhhh.” Her breath gusted over him, heating him to an even higher degree. She took him into her mouth, her tongue stroking him inside.

He clutched her head and squeezed his eyes closed again, unable to stand the erotic image of her sucking his cock. No, he wanted to watch her, otherwise he might not believe it was actually happening.

He opened his eyes as she moved up and down in earnest, her mouth and tongue working over him. Sweet heavens, how had she learned to do that? Again, he didn’t want to know. He only wanted to enjoy, to surrender to her completely.

She cupped his stones, driving him to lift his hips into her mouth. Lightly squeezing, she sucked him deep until he nudged the back of her throat. He moaned, his orgasm threatening.

He pulled at her head, trying to stop her before it was too late, but she refused to be deterred. He lurched back from her, scooting across the bed as he simultaneously tugged her hair. “Margery. Stop.”

She straightened, her lips full and red, her eyes glazed with passion. “Why?”

He sat up. “Because.” His brain wouldn’t work. “I was too close.”

She looked at him as if he were a lunatic. “And that’s bad?”

“I suppose not if you don’t mind me coming in your mouth.”

Her already pink cheeks deepened with color. “I see. I don’t think I’d mind.”

He moved to the edge of the bed and grabbed her waist, pulling her between his legs. “You’re going to kill me.” He kissed her hard. “But it will be the sweetest death a man could hope for.” He took her lips and devoured her mouth.

She moaned, her hands cupping his head as she returned his kiss with fiery need. “I’m . . . so . . . hot.” She let him go to fumble with her dress. There was a drawstring at the waist. He pulled it loose and she shoved the dress to the floor. The chemise soon followed, leaving her clad in nothing but her stockings and shoes, which she kicked off.

She reached down to undo her garters, but he brushed her hands aside, impatient for his turn with her body. “Leave them.”

He turned her, reversing their positions. “Get on the bed.” Copying what she’d done, he picked up a sodden cloth and sluiced water over her bare flesh. She gasped, her body arching as the coolness met her heat. He twisted the excess over her mound and watched the water slide between her folds. He dropped the towel and licked her, tasting both the water and her.

She twitched and cried out. “Rhys.”

He smiled against her and dipped his fingers into the basin. Then he slid them over her, loving the sound of her rasping breath as he massaged the cool water into her ripe flesh. Her legs parted, inviting him inside. He slipped a finger into her heat and closed his eyes at the way she gripped him.

Opening his eyes to watch the sensations play across her face, he stroked his finger out and then in again, slowly at first. Her thighs widened even more as her body drew him deeper inside. Her hips began to move and he increased his pace, his finger working her with delicate precision.

Her fingers tangled into his hair and she urged him to go faster, but he wasn’t close to being finished with her. He withdrew his finger and replaced it with his tongue, sliding into her. Her cry pierced the silence and it was his turn to say, “Shhhh.”

Her thighs tensed around him as he licked and ate at her, his lips and tongue working her flesh until her hips moved in a mad frenzy. He added his finger back into the storm and sought the spot inside of her that would drive her over the edge.
 

Again, she made an animalistic sound, low and desperate, and he knew he had her. He sucked hard on her clit as he pressed against that spot with his finger over and over again. He splayed his hand against her thigh, massaging her, then slipped it beneath her to lift her into his mouth.

Her fingers tightened in his hair and her muscles clenched around his finger as she came hard into his mouth. She let out a series of moans and cries—he could tell she was at least trying to be quiet, but she was too far gone to control herself.
 

He clutched her backside and held her firmly, letting his tongue coax her down from the peak of ecstasy. When her orgasm had subsided, he stepped back and used the remaining cloth in the basin to cool himself, wiping his face and chest.
 

She sat up, her eyes clear and wide. “Thank you. That was . . . even better than last time.”

Her tone was exceptionally calm, and her demeanor equally so. Were they . . . finished? “Are you leaving?”

She glanced down at his erection. “Would you like me to finish what I started?”

God, yes, but not as badly as he wanted to make love to her. “No, I want to bury myself so deep inside of you that I don’t know where I end and where you begin.”

Her lips parted and her gaze softened. She clasped his hand and drew him back onto the bed with her. “Then by all means, please do.”

Chapter Nineteen

Reason told her to end this now, but the desire still curling inside of her demanded she forge ahead. Nothing about this made any sense, but—and maybe it was the heat—she didn’t care.

Rhys came over her, his body hot and heavy, but in the most delicious way. He stroked between her thighs, making her shiver despite the sweltering temperature. Then the head of his cock was there, nudging her open. She lifted her hips and opened to him, bringing her hands low on his back to guide him.

With a gentle glide, he slid into her. “Put your legs around me.”

She did as he bade, curling her legs around his hips, which brought him further inside of her.
 

Braced on his hands positioned on either side of her head, he gazed down at her, his eyes nearly black with desire. His face was set in tense lines as he began to move inside of her. Slowly at first with a soft friction. Sensitive from her earlier orgasm, every thrust tingled through her. She teetered at the edge of another tumble into the abyss.

He rotated his hips, plunging deeper than ever before. She dug her fingers into his backside and cried out. His mouth covered hers and swallowed her cries.
 

His tongue mimicked the wicked thrust of his cock and he was right—she didn’t know where he ended and she began.
 

He drove faster, hitting a spot that made lights dance behind her shuttered eyes. He broke the kiss, his breathing coming fast and hard. She rose to meet him, welcoming him into her heat. His mouth came down on her collarbone, nipping her flesh and she came apart. Wave after wave of ecstasy broke over her as she came again. The tease of orgasm she’d felt last time he’d been inside her hadn’t remotely prepared her for this maelstrom of sensation. She fought to keep her cries to a minimum, but she was a slave to the release sweeping through her.

Vaguely, she was aware that he was still thrusting, his hips moving in a circular motion. Bliss continued to arc over her as he kissed a hot, wet trail up her neck to her ear.

“You’re an adventurous woman, are you not?”

“Yes,” she breathed, unable to give the word proper volume.

“I’m going to turn you over now.”

She opened her eyes, took in the harsh set of his mouth and the ebony luster of his eyes. She nodded.

He pulled out of her and flipped her over. “Get on your knees.”

She obeyed him again, her body quivering from the multiple releases, yet still eager for more.

He guided her forward. “Clasp the bed.” He pushed her legs apart and caressed the curve of her backside. She moaned as his fingers glided along her sensitive folds. He pressed one inside and pumped her a few times. Then his tongue swept over her and she clenched the headboard as white-hot pleasure burst over her. She didn’t know how much more she could stand.

“Rhys. Please.”

He came into her then, but this time it wasn’t slow and it wasn’t gentle. He drove inside of her, plunging deep and then withdrawing. When he swept forward again, she pushed back, meeting his thrust. Her nerve endings were ultrasensitive—it was as if her previous orgasm hadn’t really finished, or he’d coaxed it back. Whatever the reason, her body quivered with rapture.