21. David

21

David

D avid had never imagined having dinner with company whilst he was en déshabillé , but it didn’t take him long to decide he hated it. A small table had been brought upstairs to accommodate them, bedecked in a crown roast of lamb accompanied by a plentiful dash of pommes de terre duchesse , and later with cherries jubilee over clotted Cornish ice cream.

It was apparently one of Harry’s favourites, but, unsurprisingly, his son had elected to have dinner alone. David almost wished he had done the same—not because of Caroline’s presence, but because of her godfather’s.

“I do hope the accommodation is to your liking, Lakenheath,” David said pleasantly. He surreptitiously checked that his meat and two veg hadn’t put itself on the menu whilst he wasn’t looking, but was mollified to see his dressing gown was still in place.

The day he could wear normal clothes again couldn’t come soon enough.

Lakenheath shared an affectionate smile with Caroline, but his voice was stiff. “The rooms we’ve been put in are quite satisfactory. I must thank you for extending the invitation.”

David gave him a nod. “Of course.” From what Caroline had said, Lakenheath had no intention of leaving her here with Harry—and David couldn’t blame him, after everything that had happened between them .

“I do need to leave for a meeting tomorrow morning, but I don’t expect it to take long.”

“Is it something to do with Silverburn, Alex?” Caroline enquired, scooping up the last of her ice cream.

Lakenheath paused for a moment before answering. “Not quite. There’s a hospital near the estate that I have an interest in. The man I’m meeting tomorrow is the managing director of the hospital group.”

Caroline tilted her head. “Is that the one that Ben went to during the war?”

Lakenheath’s eyes flicked over to David. “Indeed.”

“Are you looking to purchase it?”

“I would if I thought I could get away with it, but I don’t think the director would sell it. They’re doing away with a service I think is…” Lakenheath chucked his jaw to the side, mulling over his words. “Necessary. I hope to persuade them to keep providing it.”

“I shall cross my fingers for you,” Caroline responded, before helpfully adding, “Ben is Alex’s brother, David.”

Grateful for the context, he sent her an appreciative smile. “Is he your only sibling, Lakenheath?”

“No, I have a younger sister as well—Lily. Both of them drove me quite mad as children, I can tell you.” There was a strange sadness to Lakenheath’s tone, a sense of tragedy underlining his voice. “And you have a sister, I think I remember you saying. Was that who you were v—?”

A shrill explosion of noise made them all jump. David was really starting to despise that sound. He reached across to the coffee table next to him, every inch of his body telling him to pitch the alarm clock out of the fucking window. Instead, he delicately pressed the button on top of the bell.

“Apologies,” he murmured suavely, his ears still ringing. “It’s to remind me to change my bandages. Hateful thing goes off six times a day. ”

Lakenheath pushed his empty plate away from him. “In which case, we should bid you a good night.”

Caroline followed suit, getting up to tug on the bell pull. “The servants should be up in a moment to clear the table.”

There was no chance Lakenheath was going to leave him and Caroline alone together, even if she was a married woman. Instead, David acted as though he’d never had her screaming out her pleasure beneath him, and simply wished the two of them a formal good night.

It didn’t take long for the servants to clear the room, and by this point David had changing his bandages down to a fine art. His evening ablutions were slightly more difficult, but he managed them.

In the darkness, he groaned as he slowly eased down onto the bed. His muscles were stiff from lack of use. A good, long soak would probably do them a world of good, but getting in and out of the tub was too great a risk. Instead, he had to settle for sitting on a less-than-comfortable Bakelite chair in the shower.

He was clean, but he longed to stand and stretch.

Movement to the side of him had David snapping his head over to see the bedroom door slowly sweeping across the carpet. In the low light, a figure slipped through the gap before the sound of the lock clicked across the room.

David had a sneaking suspicion he knew who it was, but he turned the lamp on anyway.

Dressed in a fine summer wrap, Caroline stood in the corner. She threw up a hand to shield herself from the worst of the sudden illumination. Reams of golden hair unravelled down her spine, the light turning it into burnished gold.

“Are you trying to get me killed?” he half-whispered, half-laughed.

Her smirk was that of a siren. “Harry won’t do anything. ”

“Lakenheath might.”

Letting her wrap playfully fall off her shoulders, Caroline peeled the bedcovers back just enough to slide between them. “The door’s locked. And I missed you.”

David basked in the feeling of having her next to him in bed once more. The heat of her body against his. The ticklish brush of her hair on his shoulder. The way she let out a little purr of happiness into his chest. The last time they’d laid together was the day they’d departed the Berengaria . It felt like eons ago, and he was desperate for a taste of her lips.

He descended, letting go of his need. David devoured her lips with the precise, measured energy of a man pushed to his limits. “You have no idea how difficult it was not to steal into your bedroom at Scarlett Castle, Starling.”

“I wish you had,” she admitted, opening her mouth to speak—before her expression softened with a curious diffidence.

“What?” The word was a whisper on the night’s air.

“I…I needed you on one night in particular. So badly I couldn’t sleep. You were all I could think of.”

Smug intensity curled the edge of his lips. David thought he had an inkling where this was going. “ Tch , you poor thing,” he murmured, dragging out his syllables. “Whatever did you do to relieve that urge?”

For one small, admirable moment, Caroline looked as though she might have answered. A moment later, she dipped her gaze beneath his chin. “I can’t say it.” She giggled.

With a mischievous smile playing about his features, David reached between the covers to gather up her dress, until the ruffles of fabric lay around her hips. He could hear Caroline’s gasp of anticipation as his hand moved once more. Instead of giving her what she wanted, however, he guided her fingers between her legs. “Then show me. ”

“I—I can’t,” she stammered.

“You can,” he encouraged her, his fingers laid out over hers. “Circle your clit, Starling, just like that.”

As her hand began to move of its own accord, her eyes closed on a breathy sigh. “ David .”

“It feels good, doesn’t it?”

She nodded. Her rhythmic little movements became stronger, more confident.

“Did you make yourself come before? When you needed me?” On the canopy above, the tassels began to move.

“I couldn’t,” she whimpered, widening her legs. “I tried and tried and tried.”

A pool of arousal began to gather at the base of his cock, dripping down from the weeping tip. “I touched myself thinking of you as well. You in that cocktail dress. You in that underwear. Your exquisite cunt twitching around my cock as you scream my name.”

More of Caroline’s whimpers came and went, but the longer they went on for, the more frustrated they sounded.

Eventually, David put her out of her misery. He put his hand over hers once more, stilling it. With his infernal fucking wound, his movements were limited. He yearned to sheathe himself inside her, but he still had options.

At that very moment, there was one in particular that appealed to him.

“Sit on my face, Starling.”

She blanched, as he’d known she would. He’d mentioned it in passing before, but this was the first time he’d moved further than that. “How…” She swallowed. “Just…how?”

His brave girl. “Straddle my head, and then lower yourself down on me. ”

Little depressions in the mattress shadowed her as she crawled up the bed, puddles of uncertainty gathering in each. She stopped when both of her knees lay next to his head, one hand braced on the headboard. “Are you sure about this?”

“Crystal.” David pushed her nightgown upwards once more, catching a glimpse of the wet residue between her thighs. “Take this off. I want to see you.”

An incredulous blonde eyebrow raised. “Given where I’m about to be seated, I think that’s rather a wasted exercise, don’t you?”

David grinned despite himself. “Fair point. On you get.”

Sparing him a brief smirk, Caroline hitched her nightgown up just enough to give her room to move before lifting her leg over his head.

While it was true the bedroom’s low light hid most of the details from him, he could still find his way around with his tongue.

He swore, the scent of her arousal enveloping him. Wispy blonde curls touched his cheeks, but the rare nectar of her arousal was everywhere. Fuck, he’d been starved of her over the past few days, but now was his chance to feast.

The flat of his tongue glided through her lush pink heat, collecting the evidence of her need and hungrily searching for more. “Fuck yes,” he growled, locking his arms around her hips. “I’ve needed this so fucking badly, Starling.”

Hushed moans floated down towards him, but he jolted as he felt a caress over his cock. “I can tell.”

David chuckled into her silken folds, feeling her tug the thin summer duvet off him to reveal the straining length beneath. Her body moved forward as she leant onto all fours, but he went with her, groaning as she wrapped her hands around him .

Just as he was shoving a third pillow behind his head, a jolt went through him as the heavenly warmth of her tongue licked the length of his cock. David released a hiss of pleasure, quickly followed by a deep, low moan as she sucked on the crown, eagerly taking him deeper on the second stroke—and deeper still on the third.

Ecstasy shot up his spine, but he had no intention of being outdone. He laved his tongue over her clit, the taste of her turning him positively feral. He worshipped every part of her cunt, sucking her delicate folds, flicking the stiff pearl hidden within, plunging his tongue into her entrance, and humming his satisfaction all the while.

David would never get enough of this. He never wanted to get enough of this. One drop of her ambrosia was enough to turn him into a rabid beast. His eyes rolled back in his head as his cock hit the back of her throat, treading the carnal line between giving and receiving.

But he could only tread it for so long. Already, he could feel warmth building at the base of his spine. “I can’t hold on much longer, Starling. Move aside.”

Her response was a hummed refusal around his cock.

Minx.

Determined to pull her over the edge with him, David focused his adorations on her clit, alternating between long, savouring sucks and quick flicks of his tongue. Judging by the moans ripping through his erection, they were having their desired impact.

All too soon, his sac tightened to an almost painful degree. Caroline, too, lingered on the edge, ready to explode.

With one precise draw on her clit, David set her free.

The muffled scream announcing Caroline’s climax was all it took for his seed to erupt from his cock. His orgasm spread like wildfire across his body, mercilessly tensing every muscle in his body. Ignoring the twinge in his leg, David buried his rasped groan in her lush heat, holding onto her thighs like they were the only thing keeping him upright.

His climax ceased before hers did. Even so, he stayed with her, keeping up his rhythm to prolong her pleasure, until at last she choked out an exhausted, “Stop.”

David would have been more than happy to relax and bask in the view their positions afforded him, but all too soon she climbed off him. With her hair delightfully askew, she climbed back up the bed before collapsing beneath the arm he’d held out for her.

She released an exhausted sigh, using the last of her strength to mumble, “Love you.”

“I love you,” David murmured, lifting her right hand to his lips and pressing a kiss to her ring finger. “And soon we’ll be able to tell the world, Starling. I promise.”