breath.
She put her other hand on the back of his neck and pulled him down to kiss her, hard, pressing against him, skin on skin, rubbing her nipples up and down on his chest. She stroked his cock, long, slow strokes, feeling a fierce, primitive satisfaction when he trembled against her.
“Serena,” he gasped into her mouth.
“Take the shirt off,” she said abruptly, letting go and stepping back. “I need you to touch me.”
His eyes fluttered open, crinkling with laughter, and he fumbled to free his arms. Dropping the shirt on the floor and coming at her, he pushed her back onto the bed and dove on after her. They landed in a tangle of limbs, his hands holding her wrists captive above her head, one hard thigh between her legs. “Oh, you need me, do you? Maybe I should make you beg.”
Serena stared at him. Would he really? And could she stop herself from doing it?
He snickered at her consternation and let go of her wrists, trailing his hands down over her arms and shoulders to cup her breasts. The sight of his stained hands on her naked breasts was the most erotic thing she had ever seen. One of his fingers was the exact same shade of blue as her third-best bedchamber. Why did that drive her wild? She arched up against him, unintentionally rubbing against his thigh.
She whimpered, and Solomon laughed softly and squeezed her breasts, catching her nipples between two of his fingers as he did so. She really might die, right here. All her experience, all her expertise, and she was as helpless and clumsy with desire as any green girl on her wedding night. “Do that again,” she demanded.
He raised his eyebrows slightly, looking adorably pleased with himself, and obliged her.
Sliding down her body, he flicked at one nipple with his tongue before taking it in his mouth and sucking, hard. His hands swept down her sides and over her hips and back up again, his calluses catching lightly on her skin, his hands so hot that everywhere they touched felt cold when they were gone. She shivered again, and again, straining against his hands. “Solomon, I’m ready. I’m ready.”
He pulled his mouth off her breast with a little nip that sent tingles of pleasure coursing all through her. His eyes suddenly solemn in the firelight, he raised himself back up to kiss her lightly on the lips. “Are you sure?” Guiding his cock with one hand, he rocked against her experimentally once, twice, three times.
Oh Christ yes now I’m not a virgin what are you waiting for? she thought, but she said, “I’m sure,” and pulled him down for another kiss. And then in one stroke he was in her, Solomon was inside her, moving slow at first and then faster. She tilted her hips up and closed her eyes and met him thrust for thrust, strung so tight that it was hardly any time at all before she felt her release building.
She arched up against him, cursing, and opened her eyes. She met his darkened hazel gaze. He had been watching her face, and she hated when men did that but somehow, right here, right now, the shock of awareness that passed between them pushed her over the edge, her whole body racked with pleasure. She was melting, no, she was boiling. She was consumed like a snowflake falling into a bonfire.
“Solomon,” she said softly. She continued to move against him, languorously, filled with a sense of well-being as the last tremors washed through her. He pressed his face into the curve of her neck then, moving faster. The edge of his shoulder was bright and haloed by the firelight, a sheen of sweat on him, and he too shuddered with release and collapsed on top of her.
“Oh God, Serena, I love you so much,” he groaned.
Suddenly she couldn’t breathe. No. His weight was crushing her. She couldn’t get air into her lungs. “I—let me—” she said desperately, pushing at him with her hands until he moved off her. She rolled away from him, sitting up on her elbow and gasping for air.
“Serena, what is it? What’s wrong?”
“Why do you have to make promises you can’t keep?” she asked him, hating the plaintive note in her voice. “I gave you everything without that!”
When Elijah was sure René was asleep, he cautiously got up and moved to the heavy chest of drawers against the wall. He opened the top drawer and rummaged through it.