Chapter Nineteen

Safe. Secure. Warm.

Three things that pulsed through Rosamunde’s mind as she stirred to wakefulness. What followed wasn’t quite as calming.

In bed. Not at home. With a man.

No, not simply a man. Bryn.

Naked.

Panic surged through her. How did I end up naked? She remembered him between her legs, using his mouth and fingers on her, taking her to a place not even her dreams had been able to elevate her to. Skin flushing at the intimate reminder, she fought down her panic.

His arm lay banded around her waist, ensuring she remained tucked tight to him. Giving her an up-close acquaintance with the hardness between his legs that currently pressed against her backside.

He didn’t move, didn’t speak, merely continued to sleep. This was it, her one chance to explore this man as she longed to do. Slowly, doing her best not to disturb him, she rotated her body so they were chest to chest, face to face, groin to groin.

Biting the inside of her cheek to keep the needy groan from escaping, she peeked out from beneath her eyelids, not wanting him to be made aware she was looking at him. Ogling really.

With caution, she lifted her eyelids, understanding he was still fully asleep. The room remained warm even though the lantern had been extinguished. The fire roared hot and allowed her enough light to peer over the man who’d become her obsession since the moment she met him.

His face, too harsh and masculine to be pretty. Handsome for sure, with a brutal allure she saw in her mind whether awake or asleep. A bend in his patrician nose, evidence of it having been broken at least once in the past.

His bottom lip, fuller than the top, called to her to lean close and take a bite. She’d never known that men could actually look as he did. Moving hesitantly, she lifted the blanket that covered them both and caught her lip in her teeth as she gazed at bronze perfection. Scars dotted his impressive chest, over his pectorals and down along abdominals that she wasn’t even sure were real.

With a heavy breath, she continued her downward perusal of his naked form and gasped. To feel the erection against her backside was one thing, but to actually see it, his cock, rising up from a thatch of black hair, thick and long.

The whimper slipped out before she could stop it and she snapped her gaze back up, nervous he was awake and aware of her exploration. Those lashes, black and curved, continued to rest upon defined cheeks.

She huffed in relief. Need stretched languorously within her, waking and nudging her to once again resume her quiet investigation. And she couldn’t ignore it. She longed to touch him as he had done her.

Eyes down once more, she stared at his cock, core clenching and softening in preparation for him. She didn’t understand why she craved this so much, but while his fingers and tongue had been incredible, part of her had still felt empty.

His shaft bobbed and she clenched again. Sliding her eyes back up his hard torso, pausing over the flat, dark nipples. Would he react how she had when his mouth touched hers? She licked her lips and paused, catching herself leaning closer to swipe the flat of her tongue over those very nipples.

Hand shaking, she moved it between them and placed it on his chest, and the slow lub-dub of his heart pulsed through her. He moaned and shifted closer, his hand slipping up and fingers curving around her wrist, anchoring her touch to him. Like he approved of her palm residing over his heart.

Emboldened, she settled her free hand against his skin and traveled down, over the ridges and planes, the dips and swells. Such power. Such grace.

Around his hip, she frowned as her fingers skimmed along dotted skin, like something had happened to him. It was something she’d not either seen or noticed on him prior. She wanted to toss the blanket and see what had caused it but she didn’t have the courage to risk that. The head of his cock bumped her wrist and she sucked a sharp breath.

He didn’t move, continued slumbering, one hand secure along one wrist and his other settled against her hip. With a slow drag of her tongue along her lower lip, she inched back to give herself a better view. Even with her rounded stomach, she could see the part of him so intrinsically male it made her ache. A small bead had gathered on the large domed head and she swiped her index finger over it.

His shaft jumped and so did she, but she didn’t go anywhere. Almost soft, the head had some give beneath her touch yet it remained firm. Tracing along the crown, she curled her fingers around the thickness leading to the base. It twitched and Bryn groaned.

She wasn’t in control any longer. She couldn’t, wouldn’t, stop. Exhaling softly, she stared at her hand as she stroked him.

“Harder, baby.”

His words shocked her and she snapped her gaze back up to find those amazing blue eyes burning with the flame that had been there last night as he’d watched her while he’d touched her.

Heat scorched her skin and he thrust his hips, driving his cock deeper through her fist.

“Grip me harder.”

Flicking her gaze down, she watched as she did as he’d commanded. He gasped and arched closer to her.

“Fuck, lioness. Your touch… Fucking incredible.”

He lifted the hand he’d held captive against his heart to his lips. Bryn didn’t brush a kiss along her hand, no, he nipped the tip of her index finger before sucking it into his mouth. A low tug grabbed her in her core and she shifted on the mattress.

Empty.

So damn empty.

“Look at me.”

Again, she obeyed. His lips twitched around the tip of her finger. They locked stares as he cupped the back of her thigh and lifted her leg so it settled upon his hip. Ever so slowly, he rolled his hips so he pushed against her palm of the hand holding him. The head of his cock burst through the opening of her hand and rubbed against her most intimate of places.

More. She craved more of that, the slide of his long, hard length against that bundle of nerves that he’d stroked so masterfully. Dampness grew as she became more restless. Too needy to be embarrassed, she still didn’t have the gumption to demand what she fully desired.

“Don’t stop.” Two guttural words that went directly from his mouth to her core.

“Okay.” Her response was little more than a whisper.

Their foreheads touching, he breathed deep and moved a hand to reposition her thigh. She gulped when he settled it over her mound. The heel of his palm brushed along hypersensitive skin and she bucked involuntarily as he pushed one thick finger deep inside her heat.

“Tight,” he moaned. “So goddamn tight.”

He pistoned his finger in and out at the same slow speed as she pumped his shaft. Pure pleasure streamed through her and she allowed her eyes to close as she simply felt and experienced.

The push of his warm breath around her face, still smelling a bit of whiskey, smoke and something she knew to be Bryn. The scent of his skin with a tang of sweat, not as much as it had been when he boxed around her but enough. Her own scent of arousal, spicy and different than his, mingled with the smell of her soap. Her scent was feminine to his masculine and she found she loved the scent of him on her skin.

Wanted more of it embedded in her so she could experience his heat and warmth even after tonight.

She twisted her wrist as she pumped and he growled low in his throat, a possessive yet encouraging sound. Her reward, another finger sliding inside her core. Then he shifted a bit and his thumb found her spot that had her jerking with a low whimper of her own.

“I’m going to come all over you if you keep this up.”

As far as warnings went, she didn’t feel it was threatening. She wanted to see him lose control like he made her do.

“And I want to,” he continued. “I want to see my seed all over your skin, mark you. Possess you.”

His statement probably should have disgusted her but all it did was arouse her further with his brutal and blunt talk. She loved that about him, how he didn’t hide who he was from her.

“More than that, lioness, I want to shove my cock so far inside you we become one. I want to shape this pussy to my cock. Make it so no other man could begin to come close to filling you like I have.”

At the combination of his fingers and words, she could no longer hold off and fell into the relief awaiting her, gripping his cock tight as she rode out the waves of pleasure. Gulping for air, all she could do was manage to provide was one word.

“Yes.”

There was a place in hell for him. Prime location. He should stay away from this innocent and never darken her door again. Bryn knew exactly where he was headed and was going there with his eyes wide open. No way in hell he couldn’t, wouldn’t, have her now.

He’d touched her. Given her the first orgasm of her life not brought on by her own touch. Bryn was possessive and territorial of this woman, had been since the day he’d laid eyes on her.

Hearing that breathy “yes” from her as she came all over his scissoring fingers had humbled him. As well as kicked his proprietary thoughts about her to another level. Rolling them over so she lay beneath him, he levered up on his forearms, caging her in with his weight. His cock was swollen and heavy, balls already drawn up tight against him.

Pulling his fingers from that snug cavern, he dragged them up her belly. He continued along her chest then over her lips where he met her for a kiss, licking her essence off even as he shared it with her.

“Honeyed spice, lioness. That’s what you taste like.”

Her eyes had darkened and he put his nose to hers. He rocked his hips, pushing his cock between her lips, but not actually entering her, coating his length in her wetness. She released him and slid her hands up over his shoulders, nails raking his skin and pushing more need though his veins, replacing the blood there.

“You were made for pleasure. Curves. Softness.”

She swallowed. “Too much softness.”

He snapped his teeth at her and growled. “Lioness, if a man thinks that, he’s not man enough for you. A body like yours, hell, you beg to be taken and taken hard.” He gripped his shaft and lined it up at her entrance. This wasn’t about love, it was purely need. On both of their ends.

She watched him, her expressive eyes alerting him to her uncertainty, but she never shied away from him. Notching the head of his cock in her, he stared in her eyes, searching for any sign of her wanting to stop.

Resting his forehead on hers, he kissed her once. Even this miniscule grip of her pussy on his cock was tilting him off the road of control he was lying to himself about being on.

“Bryn.” A breathless plea.

He couldn’t stop. Inch by inch he pushed inside her, grinding his back teeth as he sank into the most perfect place in the world. Pausing, a teensy voice in the back of his head said he should stop, but he ignored it.

“Watch me, lioness.” He kissed her and pulled back so they could lock eyes once more.

Jaw clenched so he wouldn’t slam into her like his body was demanding, he plumped up a breast and flicked the flat of his tongue over her nipple before sucking it deep. Her moan was heaven. Back and forth he went between the two, licking, nipping, laving and sucking.

Her body softened beneath him, legs widening, and he reached up to reclaim her mouth as he surged forward. She stiffened, fingers digging into his shoulders as he gentled the kiss, coaxing her to dance with him. Allowing her to get used to his size.

She met his tongue thrust for thrust until she drew back and never looked away from him. Eyes wide, lips wet and swollen from his kisses, she shifted against him, heat flaring in her gaze. She nibbled on her lower lip and tried her best to move once more. “Bryn, do something!”

He quirked his lips as he rose up a bit more, reaching down to hitch her leg up on his hip, opening her to him even farther.

“I am.”

“Move.” Frustration and hunger laced her tone. She slid her hands down his back and sank her nails into his ass. “I need… I want… Something else.”

He gave in to his own hunger for her and with a grunt finished pushing all the way inside her. Absolute heaven . Closing his eyes for one moment, he took a deep breath as a feeling of completion washed over him. Quick on its heels was the primitive desire to make her scream his name.

Trembling as he tried to make sure he didn’t hurt her, he gave a few shallow pumps, loving how her eyes widened, her nostrils flared and her nails dug deeper into his skin, like she longed to mark him as he did her. She ran her hands over his back, sighing as she skimmed along his muscles. Not much later she sank those same fingers back into his butt.

Mine! His heart and brain were on the same wavelength and he didn’t have it in him to argue.

The grip of her internal muscles as he pulled back had him grinding his teeth. Fire licked his skin and he swore as he thrust back deep. Her back arched as she gasped.

“Not good enough, lioness. I want your screams.” He snapped his hips, driving himself in and out of her wet sheath.

She moaned and rocked with him, not lying still but rising up to meet his thrusts. Gathering her hands, he pinned them over her head and held her there by her wrists, captured in his grip.

Rosamunde watched him, mouth open, panting breaths fanning between them. He loved this, seeing her skin flush with desire, hearing her moans, feeling her clench around him like she was loath to allow him out of her. Her full breasts bounced as he drove harder into her.

His free hand dug into her hip, lifting her.

“Good girl,” he praised. “Take me. All of me. Holy fuck, baby, you’re killing me.”

She screamed, back bowing as her pussy milked him. Barely holding on to his control, he didn’t stop until she came down from her high. As her shaking slowed, he released her wrists and used both hands to lift her hips.

“More,” he demanded.

He punctuated the word with three swift, deep thrusts.

“Never enough.” Sweat dripped from his forehead and fell onto her as she clamped her small hands around his forearms. He loved the way her skin shone against his.

“I want one more, lioness.”

“I can’t,” she panted, hips still moving with him as she tried to bring him in deeper.

“Yes, you can.” He reached between them and found her clit. “You will .”

He held her gaze and pinched her clit. She erupted again and this time took him with. Barely pulling out before he released, he spilled all over her belly. Panting as hard as she was, he stared down at her, watching his seed drip over her skin.

Bryn dipped and kissed her. “Stay here. I’ll clean you up.”

Naked, he moved to the basin of water sitting on the side table. He soaked a cloth, wrung it out and made his way back to where she lay, struggling to get the blankets back over her nakedness.

Clucking his tongue, he halted her and shook his head when she stole a look in his direction. “Let me take care of you.”

Tenderly, knowing she would be sore, he spread her legs once more and began cleaning. Hell, it had been her first time and he’d not exactly been gentle. When she squirmed away, he gripped her hip and leveled a glare at her.

“Hold still.”

“This isn’t necessary.”

It very much is. He grunted and got back to it, leaving her belly and his release for last. Rinsing the rag, he returned and wiped off her upper body, pleased to see his marks still on her skin.

However, all that pride and arrogance faded when he got to her neck. Bryn touched the lingering mark he hadn’t made and growled.

“Who the fuck put their goddamn hands on you?”