The Most Powerful Of Kings - Jackie Ashenden Page 0,29

he couldn’t remember the last time a woman had called him that, with no deference. Only a plea, a cry for more.

So he gave it to her, stroking her breast, toying gently with her nipple as he kissed her, exploring her mouth. And then, when she was panting, he eased her back across his arm and then it was his turn to put his lips to her throat, to taste the salty-sweet flavour of her skin.

She trembled, her pulse frantic against his tongue. But he held her still, going slowly as he trailed kisses over the delicate architecture of her collarbones, then further down, to the swell of those beautiful breasts, tracing the curves with his lips, before moving on to one hard nipple. He teased it, circling it with his tongue, which made her gasp his name yet again. Then he took it into his mouth, holding her as he sucked gently on it.

A moan escaped her, throaty and soft, and her hands lifted to his shoulders, gripping on to him. ‘Adonis...oh...please...’

She smelled like sex and she tasted like heaven, and she was so warm, so soft and sweet. And he hadn’t realised those were things he’d been craving, not until now.

His life was so very cold, nothing but hard edges and sharp decisions, and she felt like the antithesis of that. He wanted more, to spend longer tasting every inch of her delectable body, to take his time, because these moments they had together wouldn’t last.

He could only give her now. But that was probably a good thing. Already he was so hard he ached, and the way she was giving herself to him, nothing held back and so trusting... It could become addictive if he let it.

So, you’d better not let it, had you?

Oh, he wouldn’t, no fear of that. She might push his physical control, but that was all. She didn’t affect any other part of him, least of all the distance he kept between himself and the world.

This was sex. Nothing more.

He switched his attention to her other breast, sliding one hand from her hip down to her thigh and stroking gently, before moving inward and up, then between.

She went very still as his fingers brushed over the damp fabric of her knickers, stroking the heat and softness behind the cotton, and he heard her breath escape in a wild rush.

‘Oh, yes,’ she gasped, her whole body suddenly shaking. ‘Oh, yes, please...’

There was such delight in her voice and so much desperation that he tightened his arm around her, drawing her in close so her bare breasts were against his chest, her silky skin and hard little nipples rubbing against him. Then he stretched out his fingers between her thighs, stroking her over the material of her knickers, making her gasp and squirm and wriggle against him.

‘Do you want more?’ he demanded, his own voice so rough it didn’t sound like his. ‘Is that what you want? More of me touching you?’

‘Yes,’ she gasped. ‘Please...yes...’

So he hooked one finger into the fabric and pulled it aside, baring her. Then he stroked his fingertips through the soft little nest of curls between her thighs, the folds of her sex hot and wet just for him.

She moaned, her hands gripping tight to his shoulders, as if she would fall if she let go, her breathing coming in short pants. Her hips twisted, following his hand as he caressed her, teasing and stroking the most sensitive parts of her.

He’d thought she might be modest or perhaps a little shy, but she wasn’t. Like a person dying of heat exhaustion in the desert finally finding an oasis, she threw herself into it, clothes and all.

It was incredibly gratifying.

He found himself kissing her lovely mouth harder and with more demand despite the fact that he’d told himself he was going to take this slow. And then he was testing the entrance to her body gently, pushing one finger into her slickness, feeling the incredible heat of her sex close around him.

She shuddered like a tree in a hurricane, her mouth turning as hungry and as demanding as he was, her hips shifting on his lap as if she was trying to find some relief. But there would be no relief for her. None but what he gave her.

‘Adonis,’ she said hoarsely, her fingers digging hard into his shoulders. ‘Please... I need... I can’t...’

He wanted to push her down onto the couch cushions, take her hard and immediately. But she wasn’t