I was speechless. He gripped my ankle and unfastened my heels and tossed them aside. I let him strip my undergarments from me, leaving me in only the black diamond necklace and ring. Then he pressed a kiss to the arch of my foot and gently bit my ankle.
I’d missed this so much—the building pleasure and the sweet anticipation of pain. He would leave marks on me and tomorrow I would count them and remember every glorious thing he’d done.
He picked me up and flipped onto his back, pulling me to straddle his hips. I’d never been on top of him before and the sight of him beneath me took my breath away. I shifted and he moaned, closing his eyes. His cock was rock hard and pulsing, pinned under my thigh.
“Have you carved anything since that night?” I whispered.
He swallowed and shook his head.
“Why not?”
He was struggling with being honest, I saw it in his eyes.
“You can tell me anything,” I said, bending over to kiss his mouth.
“I’m not good at vulnerability, but for you I can get better,” he said. “I haven’t carved because all my life I searched for healing in marble. And then you came along, angel, and you gave me that.”
“What did I give you, Peregrine?” I whispered.
“You gave me grace.”
I swallowed, at a loss for words.
“You are my agony, my ecstasy,” he murmured. “The most beautiful thing I’ll ever hold in my hands. You have never condemned me. You’ve only ever accepted me as I am.”
I bent and kissed his mouth and he groaned, working his hips to grind between my legs. When we broke apart, he was panting and his throat was flushed.
“You are perfect to me,” I said. “I could never condemn you.”
We lay there, trembling with desire, our throats thick with emotion. His grip dug into my body and I let my head fall back as sweet pain blossomed under his touch.
“I need to be inside you,” he breathed.
I spat into my hand as I’d seen him do and gripped his hot length and guided the tip into my body. My eyes widened as he breached my entrance. My God, I’d forgotten how thick he was and how difficult it was to take him sometimes. He watched me struggle, his jaw clenched and his fingers digging into my hips. As if straining against his desire.
“It’s a lot,” I breathed.
“Take all of it for me,” he urged, stroking my hip in slow circles.
I winced and sank down onto his heavy length.
His mouth parted and his eyes fell. “My God, look at the way you take me, angel.”
I shivered, weak and soaked by the words he spun around me in the dark. This was the part of me I needed him to be careful with—the part that bent for him just to get a word of praise. We locked eyes and understanding passed between us.
“Ride me, sweet girl,” he breathed.
I wasn’t sure what to do, but his big, lean fingers stroked up my thighs and took my hips and began moving me gently. A dull ache echoed through my body as I adjusted to him and then it gave way to warm pleasure. He gasped and I increased my speed, bracing myself with a hand against his chest. His pupils dilated, big and dark against his amber eyes.
“Fuck, Lia,” he groaned.
“You feel so good inside me,” I whimpered.
His jaw clenched as I ground on him. I’d never really had him like this, not slow and so deep I felt every inch of his desire. He seemed to sense the slow build of my arousal and he took my wrists in his lean hands, holding me steady while I moved atop him.
“Lean forward,” he whispered. “Push your clit against me. I’ll hold you up.”
I obeyed, letting my weight sink into his hands. His jaw clenched, the muscle rippling down the side of his neck. Sweat glittered on his chest and his stomach muscles rippled as he began moving his hips beneath my body. Fucking gently in time with my movements. Our breaths filled the dark room and there was a tender ache in my chest and a hot, building desire between my legs.