Chapter 24

Lorelei’s gaze jumped to Fast’s face at his shocking request.

His lips were slack, and his pale eyes glittered beneath lowered lids while his hand languidly stroked, the erotic gesture causing muscles from his forearms to his chest to ripple and flex.

“Have you done it before, Lorelei? Sucked a man’s cock?”

Her sex—already throbbing with arousal—tightened at his crude question, and the erotic contraction sent ripples of pleasure through her body.

“Yes, I’ve done it.” Her eyes lowered to his cock , an oddly appropriate name for the organ thrusting almost proudly into Lord Severn’s fist. “I—I wasn’t any good.” That was an understatement. She could still hear Dorian’s rough curses when she’d accidently grazed him with her teeth.

He stilled his erotic stroking and cupped her face with his other hand, his thumb lightly rubbing her lower lip, his nostrils flaring. “I find that difficult to believe. Do you want me to teach you how to pleasure me?” His lips pulled up slightly on one side. “How to make me beg?”

Her mouth, which had been watering from the moment she’d begun to undress him, experienced a flood of almost Biblical proportions. “Yes,” she murmured, recalling all too clearly the way he had made her beg the last time they had been together.

“Taste me, Lorelei,” he murmured, resuming his stroking, the action causing more moisture to bead at the tip.

Lori leaned forward lightly touched her tongue to the tip.

His big body tensed, and he groaned in a way that shot straight to her womb. He was salty, slick, and musky, but it was not unpleasant.

And the reaction from him was enough to mask her uncertainty. Looking up at him, she found his eyes riveted to her.

Emboldened by the naked hunger in his gaze, she leaned forward and ran the flat of her tongue up the thick shaft to the fat mushroom shaped head.

His nostrils flared and his breathing suddenly became ragged.

“Tell me what to do,” she said.

“You’re doing just fine on your own,” he assured her tightly.

“But I want to make you climax.”

He smiled and she couldn’t help noticing how strained the expression was. “You will.” When she hesitated, he asked, “Did anything I do to you feel bad?”

“No,” she quickly said.

“It will be the same for me. Trust me, darling—I wouldn’t lie.”

Lori felt as if a world of expectations slid away as she turned her attention back to his fascinating appendage.

Which is when she noticed what was beneath them.

Testicles . She knew the word, but had no idea they would look so… fragile. The tight pouch was lightly furred, like his chest. His free hand rested beneath them, and his thumb lightly stroked, the gesture so natural she suspected he didn’t even realize he was doing it.

Testicles were too much for her brain to sort out just then, so she shifted her attention back to the slick head.

He shivered as she licked and kissed and explored. Emboldened by her success, she stretched her jaws to see how much she could take inside her mouth. When her teeth grazed him, his body stiffened.

“I’m sorry!” she gasped.

“It didn’t hurt,” he assured her. “I was just startled. Don’t stop. Please.””

Using more care, she tried again but was still unable to take any more than the fat crown inside. But it appeared to be enough based on the almost agonized groan that tore out of him.

“Yes, Lorelei, that’s so good.” His hand came to rest on the back of her head and he carded his fingers through her hair. He smiled down at her, his eyes heavy and his expression one of sheer masculine pleasure. “Use your upper lip on top and your tongue to shield me from your bottom teeth,” he urged, lifting his hips slightly and sliding deeper and deeper, until she felt like she would choke. Just as she began to gag, he pulled out and she could breathe. “Yes, just like that,” he murmured, his fingers lightly caressing her scalp, his eyes fixed on her mouth. “You should see how beautiful you look with those plush lips wrapped around me.”

She blushed at his words and preened at the hunger in his voice.

“Wrap your hand around me to control how much you take, Lorelei.” He nodded approvingly when she gripped the base of his root. “Stroke a little. Ungh . Christ! Perfect.” One of his hands drifted to his belly and then up to his chest.

Lori thought her eyes would roll right out of her head when he pinched one of his tiny nipples and groaned, his hips lifting and pushing his shaft deeper. “You’re making me feel so good.” His hips rolled, resuming their subtle thrusting. “Show me you can take a little more.”

His praise sent a warm wave flowing through her body and she opened wider, suddenly wanting to demonstrate just how much pleasure she could give.

Rather than be disgusted by her own compliance, there was something about responding to his commands that was causing the sensual tightening in her sex that she knew led to a climax. How was that possible? Why should she take pleasure in performing such a debasing task?

And then it struck her: because it wasn’t debasing when she could see how much pleasure it brought her lover. If anything, it made her feel powerful to cause this big, strong man to shiver and groan.

“God, Lorelei! I’m so close to exploding, but I don’t want to end this yet.” His fingers tightened in her hair, until he held her immobile. “That’s enough for now, sweetheart.”

For a moment, Lori resisted.

He smiled, controlling her body with an ease that should have frustrated her, but only made her more aroused. “We’ll do more of this later. Trust me,” he said, gently withdrawing all the way. He stood, lifting her to her feet as if she were a feather.

“Let’s get this off you,” he said, his deft fingers reminding her of how many hundreds of times he’d probably removed a woman’s clothing. Just how many lovers he’d had and the ones he’d likely have after she was gone and—

“Don’t,” he ordered, forcing her to meet his gaze.

“Don’t what?”

“Start thinking about things that don’t matter right now.”

“How do you know what I’m thinking?”

He raised his eyebrows. “Was I wrong?” he asked, returning to the buttons and then sliding the gown off her shoulders.

“Smugness is not an attractive attribute,” she said, stepping out of the circle of her gown.

He laughed and reached behind her to loosen the laces of her half-stays. “Lift your arms.”

When she did, he raised not just her corset, but her chemise along with it, leaving her naked one step sooner than she’d expected.

He stepped back and studied her. Not covering her breasts with her hands was one of the most difficult things she’d done.

“So beautiful,” he murmured, and then dropped to his haunches and speedily removed her boots. But when she reached for the garters, he stayed her hand. “No. Those you leave on.” His gaze darkened even more. “Those wicked garters are lovely on you.” Before she could think of a retort, he stood and held out his hand. “Come, let’s go to bed.”

***

“Up you go,” Fast said, lifting her by the waist and smiling at her startled gasp. “On your back, darling,” he said, amused when she was too surprised to argue and immediately complied.

“You’re staring,” she said, a hand across her breast and another resting over her mound.

“Yes.” Fast allowed her to cover herself—for the moment—and reveled in the sight of her.

No matter what happened between him and Lorelei in the future, he would never, as long as he lived, forget the sight of his innocent lover sprawled over the decadent red velvet that covered the bed, garbed only in white stockings and those naughty garters.

“Bloody hell,” he muttered.

“What is it?” she asked, her eyebrows drawn down.

“You’re just so damned desirable.”

She blushed and this time he could enjoy the way it spread all over her body.

“You like to embarrass me, don’t you?”

“Yes,” he said. “Legs apart,” he ordered, even more smug when she obeyed without hesitation.

“I can’t believe I just did that,” she muttered.

Before she could snap them shut, Fast dropped to his elbows, braced his forearms against her thighs, and dragged his tongue up her slit, probing the seam of her lips just enough to taste her. An animalistic growl tore from his chest. “God, I love seeing you squirm and blush.”

“Yes, we have already established—oh!” she gasped when he parted her pouty lips and sucked her engorged pearl into his mouth.

All her modesty flew out the window and she sank both hands in his hair as she had done the time before, her eyes riveted to his. She was already so close to her climax that he’d scarcely begun to enjoy himself when she bucked like an unbroken horse beneath him, her back arching off the bed, breasts thrust high and legs shaking as she came.

Fast could feel the relaxation in her body as she slowly drifted in the aftershocks of her orgasm. She was so deep in her bliss that she didn’t even notice when he made his way up her body, his arms caging her as his knees pushed her thighs wider.

He stroked his nose alongside hers. “Are you sure you want this?” Fast lightly pulsed against her tight opening, gritting his teeth against the pleasure that shot up his cock at the slick friction. And then he stilled his gentle thrusting and tried to be a better man. “We can wait for another—”

“I want you.” Her legs spread wider, as if to bolster her claim.

He shallowly probed her and hissed. “You’re very tight.”

“Is—am I too tight to do it?” she asked, her brow furrowed with concern.

He chuckled softly. “It’s not possible to be too tight, love. At least not for a man.” Fast breached her and made them both gasp. “How does it feel?” he asked, remaining still inside her and allowing her to accustom herself to the invasion. He was in no hurry. Indeed, he would have liked to make this night last all week, but his self-control was already stretched to its limits.

“It feels like you can’t possibly fit.”

He laughed. “Trust me, darling, I’ll fit.”

Lorelei’s breathing quickening as he slowly filled her. “There,” he murmured once he was hilted. “That is all.”

“It don’t recall it being so, er, snug before,” she said in a strained voice.

He couldn’t help chuckling. “Thank you.”

“I wasn’t trying to flatter you.”

“I know,” he said, leaning low to nuzzle her jaw. “That makes it even better. Relax,” he urged. “Your body is so tense.” He showered her with light, gentle kisses. After a moment, he felt her body relax.

“Lorelei?” he asked, when she just stared blankly over his shoulder. “Is something wrong?”

“No. I was just thinking.”

“That sounds dangerous,” he teased. “About what?”

“I was just thinking about the first time.”

Fast struggled for something to say and came up with, “Oh?”

“Sexual intercourse—especially the first time—is something that defines a woman’s life, and yet it is over so quickly.” Her brilliant green eyes came back into focus. “I’m sorry. You probably don’t usually talk this much during, er, coitus.”

“No,” he agreed, “but it does not matter what I usually do.” He leaned down and kissed her soundly. When he came up for air, he withdrew from her slowly, his body shaking with the effort of behaving like a gentleman rather than a dog in rut.

“You are shaking. Is something wrong?” she asked.

“Nothing is wrong. In fact, everything is right. The reason I’m trembling like a leaf is because I’m having to exert more effort than I’ve done in years—two decades, as a matter of fact.”

“What do you mean?” she asked as he sank back in, hissing his pleasure and briefly closing his eyes.

He worked her deeply with each slow thrust. “I mean that I’ve not been with a woman this way since I was nineteen years old.”

Her eyes bulged. “What do you mean?”

“Just what I said,” he said, his hips refusing to obey his brain, his cock developing a mind of its own. A mind that ordered his body to plunge and take and dominate.

“I—I don’t understand.”

Fast gave a strained chuckle. “Might we wait until after to talk about this, darling?”

“After,” she agreed, her body rising to meet his on the next thrust.

He slid his hands around her thighs, lifted her legs until her feet were flat on the mattress, and bottomed out in her tight heat.

“Too much?” he asked when she groaned.

She shook her head. “S’good,” she muttered, wrapping her legs around him right before he drove her into the mattress, her body taking him even deeper.

Fast’s thin control snapped. He was vaguely aware the woman beneath him had only made love a few times, years before, and deserved more finesse, but after two decades, he could not restrain himself.

The voice of reason intervened at the very last moment, shrilly shrieking: No baby ! Fast withdrew just as he came apart, pumping ribbon after ribbon onto her soft belly.

His arms, so sturdy only seconds earlier, could no longer bear his weight and the room seemed to rock from side to side. “Just going to close my eyes a moment,” he muttered as he lowered onto her, using the last of his strength not to drop down like a lead weight.

***

“Just going to close my eyes a mome…” The last word was swallowed by a soft snore, the weight of his big body pressing Lorelei into the mattress.

He’d pulled out so abruptly that Lori had been startled. It was a good thing that at least one of them had remembered that she didn’t wish to get pregnant. Dorian had certainly never let that concern him. Of course, neither had Lori. She’d been so desperate for acceptance and affection that she’d given no thought at all to the repercussions of her actions.

She scowled at the canopy over her head. Why on earth was she thinking about Dorian now?

Lori firmly pushed thoughts of her first lover from her mind and turned her attention to the man currently crushing her in the most pleasurable of ways.

She frowned; what had he meant about two decades of abstinence? Or perhaps she had misunderstood?

Lori knew that he’d had lovers since returning to England. Why would he lie about such a thing?

Yet again, she shoved away the unpleasant thought. She’d have plenty of time to mull over the matter obsessively when she was alone.

Fast’s weight should have been uncomfortable, but there was something oddly comforting about it. His breathing was heavy and deep, that of a man who’d had far too little sleep of late.

Emboldened by his near-comatose condition, Lori laid her hands on his back and lightly caressed him. He fidgeted a little at her touch but didn’t wake, so Lori massaged the muscles of his back more firmly, marveling at the sheer size and bulk of him.

Her hands moved down and down until they reached a part of him that she’d not yet seen: his bottom.

She cupped a tight round globe of flesh in each palm and lightly squeezed.

Her hands froze when he gave a low murmur and shifted. When he didn’t wake, she resumed her exploration, entranced that such a large man would possess such narrow hips and small buttocks. Her own bottom was fleshy and broad, and her hips seemed to spread alarmingly with each year that passed.

There was a delicate fuzz—like a peach—on the otherwise smooth skin and it tickled her palms as she caressed him.

He grunted when one of her fingers skimmed the crease that divided the two cheeks and Lori dropped her hands to her sides.

“ Hmm , what’s that?” he asked, pushing up onto his elbows.

“I didn’t say anything.”

He blinked blearily down at her. “Lord! I must be crushing you,” he mumbled, and then rolled off her before she could say anything.

He had been crushing her, but the experience had been exceedingly pleasurable.

“Was I too rough, sweetheart?” he asked, pushing up onto his elbow and staring down at her.

Before she could answer, he slid a hand over her hip bone and dipped a finger between her lower lips.

“Lord Severn!” Lori grabbed his arm and tried to tug it away. It was like trying to move a boulder.

“What?” he asked, trying to look innocent and failing spectacularly. His lips curved wickedly, and he made no effort to remove his hand. He also showed no trace of the sleepiness of only a few seconds before. “Let me,” he said, his voice a low purr.

“Let you what?”

“Let me make you come. I know that you did not achieve release when I selfishly rutted you for my own pleasure.”

“I’ll l-let you do that if you tell me what you meant.”

He lifted an eyebrow, the erstwhile irksome gesture squeezing at her heart for some reason. “You mean about not having had another woman for twenty years?”

She nodded.

He glanced significantly down to where her hand still gripped his arm.

When she released him, he said, “I meant exactly that.” He slid a thick finger between her netherlips and circled the sensitive bundle of nerves with a skill and ease that said that hadn’t been something he’d given up for the past twenty years.

Frankly, it felt so good that she shamelessly didn’t care.

“Spread your legs a little for me, love.”

She narrowed her gaze at him.

“I promise I’ll keep talking. Just let me play.”

Lori spread her thighs wider. “Tell me why you’d do such a thing?” she asked in a voice that did not sound strained. No, not at all.

His lips flexed into a frown and his gaze went vague, but his finger never faltered in its mesmerizing rhythm. “I wasn’t any better behaved than Percy—I was just more fortunate.” He gave her a wry smile. “I made the vow after Percy got the first girl pregnant that I would not add another bastard to the family line.”

“And that means—”

“That means I have not had sexual intercourse for more than twenty years.”

Lori stared.

“Why do you look so flabbergasted?” His finger lightly nudged her in such a way that she tensed and pushed her hips at his hand.

“It seems not to fit with your rake status,” she admitted in a not entirely steady voice.

“Is this not rakish enough for you?” he asked, caressing a part of her so sensitive that she gasped and threw back her head.

He chuckled, his finger moving away from the too-sensitive spot and drifting lower, toward her opening.

Lori bit her lip when he lightly probed her.

“You are sore,” he said.

She nodded.

His finger continued its journey down. And down.

Lori tried to snap her thighs shut, but he rolled over, moving with startling speed, until he was once again between her legs. This time he pushed his knees wider, to keep her thigh spread.

“What are you doing?” she demanded as he resumed his stroking. “Fast!” she yelped as he prodded a part of her that she’d most certainly never seen and had only ever touched by accident.

He ignored her question and slowly, deliberately, lowered himself onto the bed until his elbows kept her legs apart. And then he lowered his mouth to her clitoris, although his finger still practiced its startling caresses.

Lori soon stopped caring about his distracting digit, her body racing toward bliss almost before she knew what was happening.

After she had climaxed not once, but twice, he rolled back to the side, his big hand lightly cupping her sex, the possessive gesture so arousing that she didn’t want to contemplate what that meant.

He wiped his mouth with the back of one hand and smiled. “I’m sorry, you were asking—or trying to ask—something when I distracted you.”

For some reason, Lori was suddenly too mortified to put her question into words. Some newspaperwoman she was turning out to be!

He lightly stroked her sensitive folds before sliding toward that taboo place. “You want to know if I ever put myself in here .” He pressed the damp pad of his finger against the sensitive pucker.

“You haven’t,” Lori said. And then, “Have you?”

“Oh yes.”

“But… why ?”

“Because it feels wonderful. For both parties.”

A shocked, scoffing snort slipped from her mouth. “I find that hard to believe.”

“I look forward to convincing you.”

Her jaw dropped. “I would never let you do that!”

He released her sex and slid an arm around her, pulling her close and planting a firm kiss on her mouth. “I think you will change your mind about that, love. But for now, it is time to sleep.” Fast stretched to snuff the candle on the nightstand, throwing the bed into a comfortable half-darkness. “We’ll leave the others burning because I’m too lazy to get up,” he said, and then fitted her back to his front, pulled the covers up over them, and kissed her ear. “Go to sleep, my enchanting lover.”

“I’m not tired,” Lori protested, her eyelids suddenly so, so heavy.

“I know. But I am.”

“Because you’re old and need more rest.”

He gave a startled huff of laughter. “Vixen,” he muttered, his chest a hard wall of heat against her back. “Sleep tight, Lorelei.”