Chapter 25

ChapterTwenty-Five

He had a very hard time believing she wanted this. Selene had argued from the moment she’d stepped through his doors that she had no intent on sleeping with him. Or even looking at him, really. Or anything else that even remotely seemed close to this.

But she kissed like she wanted him. He could taste it, feel it swirling all around them and sinking into his skin until he could think of nothing else. She kissed like she’d been denying herself for too long and all those walls had crumbled.

He groaned into her mouth. How long had it been since someone set him on fire just from a kiss? Sex had become rather clinical in the last few centuries. He knew every spot of a woman to touch, every nerve ending to stroke, every soft place to grab that made them all squirm in his arms. But with her, it didn’t matter how much he knew.

Lust wanted to know what made her make those little sighs. Maybe it was the same spot or touch as countless women, but he’d never heard her make those noises.

And then her hand touched his chest. Her delicate fingers stroked his skin, and he nearly came apart. She’d never touched him like this before. Never even suggested she wanted to.

He should have known this the evening she’d helped him out of his clothing and she’d followed the red welt down his back. That moment had been... sublime. For both of them.

She dug her nails into his chest and drew them down. Hard. Hard enough that he leaned back with a hiss, at the same time, a flare of desire shot up from the base of his spine.

He hardened, painfully, staring down at those half-lidded eyes that lazily looked back. “You said you liked a little pain,” she whispered. “I’d rather give these to you than that stupid corset.”

“It’s not stupid,” he growled, cupping the back of her neck and bending her spine until she was trapped between his body and the mirror. “Some people think it’s fashionable.”

“Then I think they’re stupid, too.”

He put his hand over hers, keeping their gazes locked together as he dragged her nails down his chest. “Do it again.”

The low hum in the depths of her throat made his cock jerk in his pants and he realized he was dangerously close to coming already. How did she do that? It took him hours to find his release these days, and she’d turned him into a newly changed spirit who had never had a woman touch him. She was nothing special, he told himself, even as he licked his way up her throat. Nothing special, but she turned him inside out.

Perhaps it was the waves of lust that rolled between them. Lust that she swore she didn’t feel for him, and yet now he couldn’t think through the haze of her desire. It flavored his tongue, but he didn’t want to taste her lust. He wanted to taste her.

Lust leaned down to kiss her, clinging to her lips with his, before he wrenched them away with a snarl. “If we do this, there is no going back.”

“I know.”

“I will not let you go, Selene. You will be bound to me. I don’t care what your mother or the sorceresses claimed you could do. I will never let you go.”

The soft smile on her face almost made him pause. He thought about pausing and asking what that expression was, but then she traced a finger over his lips and he was lost again.

“I know you think that,” she whispered. “You believe that you will want me all the more after this is done.”

“That won’t change, Selene. I want you. Since the first moment we brushed against each other and you denied having any reaction to me. You were the question I needed an answer to, and I’ve found that answer with you here.”

Her hands smoothed down his chest and her fingers dipped below the waistband of his pants. Those delicate fingers were dangerously close to where he wanted her to touch, where he knew she would find him hard and wanting. “Stop talking, Lust. You can put your mouth to better use.”

And oh, he certainly could.

In an instant, he had her pressed back against the mirror. He hovered his lips close to hers, not quite touching, a promise but never fulfilling it. Her skin felt like velvet underneath his fingertips as he trailed them down her shoulders, biceps, to her hands, where he curled her fingers around the edge of the mirror.

With everything in him, he promised her an evening she would never forget. An evening that he’d prepared for with centuries of practice so he could bring this woman to an earth shattering orgasm that made his ears ring for days afterward.

He sank onto his knees before her. Slowly moving his hands down her body. The silk fabric of her lovely nightgown was like a second skin. It was cold against his palms, against her pebbled nipples, down the flat plane of her belly.

Her chest rose and fell with the ragged sound of her breath. She watched him with those dark eyes, daring him to continue and yet never once hesitating. Perhaps she wanted this. Perhaps she was giving in to what they both had desired for so long.

The hem of her dress pooled at her feet, and it took so little to drag it up her lovely calves, the thickness of her strong thighs, to her waist.

Completely hairless. The woman always surprised him.

With a wry grin, he looked up at her with a lifted brow. Her cheeks were already flushed, the lazy tendrils of lust curling off her in little wisps. Lust leaned forward and breathed her in first, slow and divine, as the earthy scent of her filled his lungs. The first flick of his tongue wrenched a groan out of her lips. That sound... Oh, he couldn’t wait to hear it again.

He learned her as if she were someone entirely new, skating around the little nub where she needed him to touch. Working her until she was dripping and ready.

Her hands sank into his hair, grabbing onto his horns with a force that surprised him. Only then did he drag his hands up her inner thighs, spreading her wider, lifting a long leg over his shoulder so he could sink a finger deep inside her.

He looked up, watching as she tilted her head back. And, by all the seven kingdoms, she was glorious in this moment. Her hands held onto his horns. Her neck arched back and her muscles cast shadows in the hollows of her neck and collarbone as her jaw clenched.

“You are lovely,” he said, giving her another long, slow lick. “Absolutely divine.”

“Stop talking.” Her voice was ragged.

“Or what, little moon? You’ll punish me?” He added a second finger, a chuckle echoing deep in his throat as her knees shook. “I’m the one doing the punishing here.”

And finally, because he knew she needed it, he paid attention to her clit. He licked long and slow, then sucked hard as she let out a little mewl of pleasure. Circling his tongue round it, he twisted his fingers, working them in and out of her as his cock longed to do. He was relentless. He gave her no chance to even catch her breath until he felt the hard clench of her pussy around him and the cry that echoed out of her throat that was everything he’d hoped for.

Music. A symphony of pleasure.

“Good girl,” he growled as he pulled back from her, catching her in his arms as she fell.

She fit perfectly against his chest. And how naturally she wrapped her legs around his waist, knowing without question that he would carry her, as if she trusted him. As if she didn’t think for a moment that she was in the arms of a man she’d called a demon more times than he could count.

Selene twined her arms around his neck, her hands delving into his hair as she drew him close for a kiss that seared him to the very bone. He’d expected her to be hesitant, not this.

He didn’t even look as he stumbled toward the bed, nearly falling on top of her as he laid her out across the covers.

The dress was still up by her hips. Her dark hair splayed around her, the curls so lovely he wanted to wrap them up in his fist and hold her there. For hours. Days. Until he finally got his fill of this woman who tempted him in unnatural ways.

He leaned back, running the back of his hand over his mouth as he stared down at her.

“Why are you stopping?” she asked, breathless.

“I’m not.” He let his eyes dance over every part of her, then reached for her dress. “I’ve been dreaming of this moment for so long. I just want to make sure I remember every detail.”

Her lips parted in a soft gasp, some emotion flickering that he didn’t like. So he kissed her again. Devoured her. Bringing her attention to him and only him because there was no room for second guessing or anything else. This moment was for them alone. He would invite no one else in, even if only in her mind.

She met him with passion, her back arching so more of her could touch him. Chuckling, he palmed her ribs, smoothing his hands up her sides until he cupped her breast in one hand. And, ah, but she was perfect. His thumb flicked over her nipple and her gasp made his cock twitch.

“Lovely,” he murmured against her mouth. “So lovely.”

And he couldn’t stop himself from bending. He sucked the hardened tip of her breast into his mouth and worried it with his teeth, because how could he not? When she made those little sounds in the back of her throat, wriggling underneath him as though a temptress rather than a sorceress.

Oh, he could make her body do all sorts of surprising things. She’d scream for him all night long. He’d wake her up every hour to plunge inside her, even though he had no idea what her warm, wet heat would feel like gripping him. Not yet, anyway.

Groaning, he let her wet nipple pop out of his mouth before hissing against her, “I need you.”

“Then take me.”

Ah, if only it were that easy. He was no small man and she...

His thoughts scattered as she reached for him, dragging him up her body and holding his hand in hers. “I want you,” she whispered, her eyes locked with his as she pulled his hand between her legs. “You can feel it, Lust.”

He could. Even through her own fingers, her wetness seeped between them, coating both of their fingers with what he knew tasted so perfect on his tongue. He couldn’t take his eyes off her. Not when she stroked herself using her fingers and his, their hands twined together. She dipped their fingers inside herself, together, their fingers twined together as they stretched her.

She felt the pleasure deeply. He could feel it rolling off her, feeding into his power like no other had done before. But even through the haze of his own desire, he could feel it was slightly tainted. Not quite what it should be.

“Selene...” he asked, the word a question more than the moan he wished it was.

“I want to see you,” she whispered. The shadows in her eyes briefly disappeared.

Enough for him to wonder if she was nervous. There was a question he should ask her, but he scrambled off the bed and his thoughts obliterated as she moaned again.

Lust didn’t think he’d ever undressed so quickly. His pants hit the floor and then he was crawling over her. Her gaze locked onto his cock, and he knew what she was thinking.

He was larger than most men, the perks of a spirit taking mortal form. Still, he knew how intimidating it must be for a woman who’d been locked up in a tower her entire life.

A sudden fear spiked through him.

He cupped the back of her head, drawing her attention back to him as he licked her lips and tangled his tongue with hers. And when she was well and truly breathless once more, he whispered, “Have you done this before?”

She snorted. “Do you think I’d be so forward if I hadn’t?”

“And when would you have had time?” He leaned back a little, then wanted to see even more of her. Lust straightened until he was on his knees, legs spread around her hips. “Little moon, you are ever surprising.”

“Do you want to hear about another man while we’re doing this?”

He grinned and fisted his cock, roughly giving it a quick pump before watching her gaze focus on where he gripped himself. “I don’t care. You’ll forget all about him when I’m done with you.”

Her cheeks flamed bright red, and there it was again. Those damned shadows that made him wonder if she wanted this. If she was only doing this for some strange reason that he hadn’t figured out yet, because he couldn’t quite understand what went on in her head.

If she wanted to wait, he would. Tasting her fucking perfect pussy had been more than enough. He’d feast on her for the rest of the night, because he’d certainly come enough in his lifetime to last a few nights without.

He dragged his hands up her legs, fingers already dipping into that honey with his mind made up. “Selene, we don’t have to...”

She sat up so quickly that he almost didn’t track the movement. Blinking in surprise, he hissed out a breath as she wrapped one arm around his shoulder and grabbed his cock with her free hand.

“I want you to put this inside me,” she whispered against his neck, pressing kisses between the words. “I want to feel you come, to know what it is like to be taken by a man who has destroyed women before. I want you to destroy me, Lust. Make it so I cannot think for one night.”

Oh, if only he could.

Those were not the words he wanted to hear because it meant she was battling her thoughts back. She didn’t want to think tonight because of those shadows, and he refused to fuck her unless there were no shadows between them.

Instead, he reached between them and held her hand fisted around him. Slowly, he settled them both onto the bed. He squeezed her fingers harder, showing her how to grip him and how slowly to move. She gasped at the feel of him, her eyes heating with the moment like she thought she’d won.

In a way, he supposed she had.

Lust braced himself above her, his free hand sliding down to slip between her legs again. “You feel so good,” he groaned against her throat. “You are everything I dream of, do you know that? No one... has ever...”

Ah, the words wouldn’t come. Not when she was whimpering in his ear as he pressed his thumb against her clit and her little hand moved so delicately against him. It was everything, not enough. Fuck he needed her to come, or he’d beat her to it.

Snarling in her ear, he ground his teeth and used all his vast knowledge to bring her right to the edge. She was panting, writhing underneath him as he sank his middle and ring finger into her while the palm of his hand ground against her clit. He’d never fucked anyone without using his powers to manipulate them. And hearing her noises, knowing that every reaction from her was because of him and only him?

Fuck, she’d ruined him.

“Come for me,” he growled. “I want to hear you.”

“I can’t,” she whimpered.

“You can, and you will. Fucking come for me, Selene.”

She arched into him, her hands stilling as her thighs squeezed his hand between them. And, oh, that sound. That keening cry of her release seemed to startle her with its force.

Lust couldn’t wait any longer. He pulled his fingers from her and used her wetness to coat his cock as he squeezed her fist with his own. Normally he’d be ashamed at how quickly he came, but how could he feel anything but pleasure when she tilted her head away from the danger of his horns, her long neck exposed to his lips as he spurted onto her stomach?

No, there was no shame in this moment. It was perfect.

She was perfect. Warm and soft and so comfortable beneath him.

Fuck, he had to keep her, Lust thought as he collapsed beside her. No matter what, now she was his.