Accessing her shapeshifter speed, as she so rarely did, she eluded the laughing Jak several more times, until he feinted convincingly in one direction, catching her by the waist when she fell into his trap. With a shout of victory, he tossed her on the bed and pounced, caging her there with her wrists pinned, his body straddling hers as she panted to catch her breath.
“I claim a forfeit, Your Highness,” he said, also breathing hard.
“What will you have of me, pirate?” she inquired haughtily, aware that her body strained toward his.
“I believe I shall divest you of your maidenhead.” Lowering his head, he kissed her, starting out gentle, the kiss turning greedy as she opened her mouth to him. “If my lady agrees that the prize is mine.”
“Take what you will, you rogue,” she breathed, her heart pounding, sex slick with need.
“First, I will slake my thirst.” Instead of getting up as she expected, he dipped his head, kissing her lingeringly, then trailed kisses down her body. Following the trail of the territory he’d previously explored, he soon moved to kiss her nipples, driving her mad with the sweet kisses and occasional nips.
She squirmed beneath him, fingers tangled in his hair, thoughts blissfully scattered to the winds by the desire he stoked in her. Holding her breath as he moved lower, she steadied herself for what he clearly intended to do. When he eased her thighs apart, sliding his tongue along the hollows of her hip bones, she allowed it willingly enough. Needed him there, his warm breath a tease, the ache in her sex desperate to be eased. But she also froze, morbidly embarrassed for him to see her there.
Of course, he sensed it, pausing in his caresses, laying a firm, warm hand on her belly just above her curls. “But Jak?” he asked softly.
“Do you have to?” she asked, feeling foolishly virginal.
“No, but it will help if we’re going to do the full deed. Make it hurt less.”
“But it will hurt regardless.”
“Probably,” he said with a rueful smile, placing a kiss on her thigh, making her quiver. “I understand it can, and I’m on the big side.”
“So I’ve been informed,” she replied a bit tartly.
“Ah, gossip.” He shook his head, then kissed her other thigh. “Remember that it’s all for you. You can have me any way you like, or not at all. We can stop here.”
The tense need in her body clamored with a resounding no. “I don’t want to stop.”
“Then shall I…” He dropped another kiss on her inner thigh, closer to her sex, and she shuddered at the intensity of it.
“Are you sure you want to?” she asked, still hesitant.
“Read my mind.”
She did, and nearly came apart at what she found there. Winding her fingers into the bedsheets, feeling the fresh crush of rose petals against her palms, their fragrance rising to intertwine with the scent of hot candlewax and Jak’s skin, she offered herself to him. “Slake your thirst, pirate.”
“Tastes like the sea,” he murmured, and she relaxed, oddly comforted to hear that, having liked the taste of him. Then his tongue swept through her folds, and her mind shattered in a thousand directions. Crying out at the intensity of the sensation, she bucked beneath his mouth, aware of his gently restraining hands. He held her there and drank from her indeed, his hunger rising sharply, feeding her own.
She rose like a wave, towering ever higher, until she crashed into his arms, crying out his name. And he answered wordlessly, driving her up again, slipping a finger inside her where she felt so very empty, stroking her there with impossible intimacy. Patiently, meticulously, he built her to even greater heights, his deft fingers and agile tongue finding the exact rhythm, driving her wild. And holding her there, teetering at the edge.
She was begging him—just he’d promised she would, back in the carriage when it all started—thrashing in her need, when he abandoned her. Though only long enough to shuck his boots and trousers. Finally, he slid up her body, nestling between her welcoming thighs. Bracing himself on his elbows, he lowered his forehead to hers, breathing hard as if he’d been running. She lifted her hips, wanting, needing him inside. “Please, Jak.”
“Let me take it slowly,” he gritted. The need boiled in him, to thrust, to take, to savage—all tightly leashed with his disciplined control. So tempting to unravel him, to cut those bonds he used to restrain himself, to unleash the mighty storm within him. But he would never forgive himself if he wasn’t gentle with her, so she nodded.
He reached between them, stroking her lightly, reverence in the caress as she thrummed beneath his touch, then he positioned his cock at her entrance, slowly pressing in. Feeling the stretch, she stilled, torn between the twin pulls of wanting to retreat and also draw him deeper in. Firmly nestled in her entrance, Jak moved his hand beneath her hips, tilting her to a better angle, then met her gaze.
His dark eyes, black as the ocean in a storm, bored into hers. “Ready?” he whispered, his nerves strumming at a pitch as high as hers.
She wound her hands behind his neck. “Yes. I love you, Jak.”
“I love you, my star,” he replied, kissing her with sweet yearning. Lifting his head again, he held her gaze as he pressed into her.
It did hurt, a quiet stretching tear, but her driving need for him overrode it. “More,” she murmured.
He breathed a laugh. “Oh, there will be.”
Setting his jaw, he flexed his hips, withdrawing slightly, then pressing harder, so she gasped. He brushed her cheek with the thumb of his hand positioned next to her head, and she turned to brush it with a kiss, the blooming emotions making her eyes fill with tears.
“Too much?” he asked.
“Not enough,” she replied with a weepy smile. “Give me everything, Jak.”
With a released breath, he kissed her again, feeding on her lips, then surged into her, both of them crying out together. So impossibly full, she squirmed beneath him, discovering the unexpected delight of his skin all along hers, their bodies slicked together, joined as one, her movements rattling them both. He flexed into her more, groaning as if unable to help himself, and she expanded, receiving him. His skin against her most intimate skin, and she wanted more.
Lifting her hips, she wrapped her legs around his narrow hips, embracing him in every way possible, and sighing out his name as he sank into her to the hilt. “Jak,” she sighed into his ear, kissing him and then dropping her mouth to bite his neck. “More.”
He laughed raggedly. “I’m doing my best here, my only love.” But he began to move, gently at first, then with more vigor as she met him stroke for stroke. Pushing himself up, he reared over her, working his hips to find the point of deepest pleasure, teeth bared in a fierce grin as he gazed down at her, dark eyes glittering, his heart open.
When she convulsed, arching as she screamed his name, he threw his head back too, loosing a hoarse cry, emptying himself into her, his mouth descending to drink in her cries in return. As she fell, spiraling, and loosed of her own tethers, he followed, holding her firmly in the circle of his arms and his abiding love.
For the first time in perhaps her entire life, she felt utterly safe and at ease.
~ 21 ~
Probably his brains had leaked out of his ears.