Chosen: The Complete Edition (Allure), page 50
The powerful muscles of his throat rippled as he stared down at me. Emboldened, I licked my way up and down his shaft before lightly sucking his balls. Only to stop abruptly when he reached for me.
“Keep your hands on the wall,” I said. A wicked grin lifted the corners of my mouth. “You’re going to need the support.”
He arched a brow, as though daring me to do my worst.
Instead, I took my time. I was enjoying myself far too much to rush. The heady masculine taste of him, the feel of hot velvet over steel, the building heat, were a drug I had become addicted to. I could never have enough.
Finally, I took him just a few inches into my mouth, sucking vigorously, my whole body swaying as my head bobbed. Already big, he got bigger yet, until I could barely contain him.
He was close, on the edge as it were, when I broke off and returned to licking his shaft while not neglecting his balls. There was something about tracing the seam of his sac with my tongue, feeling the source of life itself inside him, so powerful yet so vulnerable. That turned me on enormously.
Not that I wasn’t already. My clit throbbed; my panties were soaked. To my amazement, I’d discovered that I loved giving him head. Adam so rarely ceded control but when he did the results were never less than spectacular.
Greedily, I took his full length into my mouth, not stopping even when his crest met the back of my throat. My cheeks hollowed, my tongue swirling around him. The scent of hot, clean man--slightly salty, a hint of musk--enthralled me. The air felt thick with a heady, intoxicating mix of pheromones.
A groan broke from him. He swelled even further--so big, so hard! I couldn’t breathe and didn’t care. Nothing mattered except that I could affect him so profoundly. He was on the brink, pre-come sliding over my tongue, when his usual iron discipline suddenly shattered. His hand, wrenched from the wall, cupped the back of my head, holding me in place even as he warned me.
“Grace, stop now if you don’t want--”
But I did want the tribute I had earned. When it came in hot, spurting jets I heard my name--a shout, a prayer torn from him. To my delight, his knees buckled, even though he did manage to stay upright.
Slowly, I sat back on my heels, waiting until his vision cleared just enough. Then with slow, deliberate relish, I licked my lips.
Ice blue eyes burning with inner fire tracked the motion of my tongue. The intensity of his gaze made me vividly aware of how aroused I was, my heart pounding in time with my throbbing clit.
Even so, I smiled, looking up at him with challenge that I had to admit was deliberate. “Is that compliant enough for you?”
Chapter Five
Grace
No,” Adam said.
A faint smile played across his mouth as he looked down at me. Incredibly, even after an orgasm that I knew had rocked him to his core, he was still semi-erect. The contrast between his elegant dress and the raw, sensual power of his body robbed me of breath.
His hands settled on my shoulders, a reminder of his power and strength, even as his thumbs glided gently along the sensitive skin of my throat.
“As delightful as that was,” he said, “we both know that you weren’t being in the least compliant. On the contrary, you were demonstrating just how easily you can distract and divert me.”
The man was too damn perceptive. Even so, I wasn’t about to apologize for what we had both so thoroughly enjoyed.
“You could have said ‘no’,” I reminded him.
His eyes darkened, making me think suddenly of a storm building across the vast, wild sweep of an untamed world.
Reaching down, he curled lean, powerful fingers lightly around the nape of my neck in a caress that was unmistakably possessive. Casually, as though he was making an offhand remark rather than one laden with dark promise, he said, “So can you.”
A shiver prickled over my skin. As though from a distance, I heard myself say, “Am I going to want to?”
He shrugged and released me but he didn’t step away. On the contrary, we were suddenly closer than ever.
“Possibly, at least at first.”
I was struggling to process that when he drew me upright, his touch at once commanding and oddly comforting.
“As much as I enjoy you on your knees, I have something else in mind.”
Lifting me easily, he started down a hall that led to the master suite. The bedroom swept passed as Adam strode directly into the large, luxuriously appointed bath that might be more properly called a private spa.
Distantly, in the back of my mind, I understood that he needed to reassert his dominance, to assure that when the moment came, I would obey him. Moreover, I realized that was his way of dealing with the fear that I had brought into his life. The life of a man born and bred to resist any such emotion yet now confronted by it on a level he couldn’t control or deny.
The English scientist and philosopher, Francis Bacon said that a man with a wife and children has given hostages to fortune. Hearing that for the first time in college, it had struck me as a distorted echo of my own reality. Even then, before I’d known the truth about my family, I’d sensed what it meant to be at the mercy not of detached, uncaring fate but of a very human, personal evil.
Without ever meaning to, I had drawn Adam into that same circle of vulnerability. As much as I regretted that, the evidence of how deeply he cared for me confirmed my own need to reassure and soothe him. However far I had to go to do so.
As he set me down on the natural stone flooring, my gaze drifted irresistibly to his groin. The contrast between his supremely civilized attire and his blatant masculinity sent a wave of heat through me.
His mouth quirking at my obvious fascination, he said, “Strip.”
He didn’t wait for me to obey, instead turning on the water in the cavernous shower before removing his jacket and tossing it negligently onto a low padded bench. The rest of his clothes followed in short order, as though they had become an encumbrance that he could no longer tolerate. That didn’t surprise me. For all the shadows that haunted his past, Adam had always struck me as a man distinctly comfortable in his own skin.
I didn’t move as fast, being far too distracted. My eyes swept over him greedily, taking in the broad shoulders, chiseled arms and washboard abs, the long, muscular legs, and what had to be the world’s most perfect ass… None of it with the pumped up artificiality of a man with too many hours to spend in a gym. Instead, he was honed by the demands of his life, the responsibilities he carried, the choices he had to make.
His skin glowed with health despite the lingering evidence of his battles with Sebastian. The dusting of dark body hair reminded me of how he felt when I lay under him, my body covered by his, rough silk blissfully tormenting my own smoother skin. He smelled divinely, an entirely natural scent. And his touch-- The thought alone sent ripples of wild desire through me.
I was so primed, so ready and he knew it. His gaze was locked on me with the intentness of a predator enjoying the anticipation of playing with its prey before devouring it. All the while, the evidence of his virility continued to stir, making me acutely aware of how hollow I felt without him inside me.
“Adam--?” My voice shook with the intensity of my own need.
“Let me help,” he said softly and turned me so that my back was to his front. Bereft of the view, I stared at the down rush of water making the gold threaded marble walls of the shower glisten. Tendrils of steam wafted from the open glass doors, drifting passed us before being sucked away by the air vents.
He slid down the zipper of the sleeveless linen dress I’d put on before leaving for London. A single, blunt-tipped finger traced the length of my spine to the cleft of my ass and below, pressing lightly between my cheeks. A deep, long shudder ran through me. My skin felt electrified.
The dress pooled at my feet. Hardly aware of what I was doing, I toed off my shoes. Without them, I was suddenly several inches shorter. Adam wrapped an arm around my hips, angling me closer to him. His erection pressed against my bottom.
“Your mouth is exquisite.” His voice was a low rumble that made me tremble. “I love how you feel when you take me there, so wet and hot.”
His hand slipped lower, briefly clasping my hip before moving on. My breath quickened as he slid two fingers under the rim of my panties. Staring down at his hand, so big, hard and sinewy, disappearing into the frivolous pink lace of my lingerie, my legs weakened.
“But do you know what I particularly like about it?” he asked. The rough velvet rasp of voice threatened to unravel me. “You enjoy what you do to me. Do you have any idea how gratifying that is? How arousing?”
A ragged moan escaped me, all the answer I could give as I battled for breath.
“As for your cunt,” he went on, the stark word a caress on his tongue. “Nothing has ever been as good as you coming on my cock. The deep, pulsing flow of your body feels like the tide going out, drawing me deeper, taking everything I have. Just the thought that you want me so fiercely makes me hard.”
His body moved against mine, reminding me of the power within him, power I longed to fill me.
“You own me,” he confessed. “Heart and soul. Not just when I’m inside you but always.”
Blunt, callused fingertips parted my folds. With unerring skill, he stroked my clit already swollen and slick with my own arousal. In the hot, steamy air, I could smell my need for him. The aroma warred with his taste still on my tongue.
His voice dropped a notch, becoming laden with warning. “Which is why I need for you to understand that I own you in turn. In every possible way.”
The quick, sharp bite of his teeth on the nape of my neck was followed almost as swiftly by the soothing stroke of his tongue. Raw, ravenous hunger consumed me. All the rest of it--my family, the world, everything--faded away. My existence narrowed down to Adam and my own desperate hunger for him.
Even so, I froze when his hand returned to the cleft of my bottom, probing lightly but unmistakably between my cheeks. “Every way,” he said implacably. “Including this.”
The thick, hot surge of sensation that radiated through my veins felt like a steel blade, hammered layers of shock, temptation, and dark desire all forged together into a single, overwhelming response that pierced me to the core.
Anal sex had never appealed to me even as a fantasy. But then I’d recently discovered an enthusiasm for fellatio that I never imagined I could have. It seemed that the man really did make all the difference.
But even so, wouldn’t it hurt…and be messy and…?
“Easy,” Adam murmured, his big hands soothing me. “We’ll take it slow.”
Not exactly asking for my permission. I understood that doing so didn’t come readily to him but--
Huskily, he said, “It will be good, I promise.”
Still not asking. But if I was honest, I had to admit that his demand for control freed me from inhibition, giving me permission to experience what I might otherwise not have admitted to wanting. I wasn’t especially proud of that but neither was I hypocritical enough to deny it.
All the same, I had to fight a sudden wave of self-consciousness. For heaven’s sake, I’d been on my knees in front of him minutes before, all but devouring his cock. And that, I realized, was the problem.
Pleasuring him had left me coiled so tight that my body, brain included, was on the verge of short-circuiting. The lacy demi bra I wore was too constricting against my swollen breasts. My nipples were so hard that they ached. I could scarcely muster a single coherent thought and even that was fading fast.
When his hands cupped my breasts, his thumbs stroking the aching crests, I arched helplessly. My head fell back against his shoulder. The heat coming off his body engulfed me, blocking out all awareness of the world beyond us.
“Trust me,” he said, somewhere between a command and a plea, or as close to the latter as he could ever come.
I don’t know how I replied, some incoherent murmur. But he didn’t need encouragement. He was, as always, a man who knew exactly what he wanted and how to get it. By making me want the same. Ache for it, yearn, hunger with such ferocity that any barrier between us became intolerable.
Standing front to back, I felt him all along the length of my body. His legs, hair roughened and muscular against the smooth softness of mine. I was fit, limber, no stranger to the gym. But compared to him…
There was no comparison. We were opposites, made to complement one another, to fit together with shattering perfection.
The hardness of his cock against my ass… I sucked in breath, struggling for control, knowing it was already lost.
When he undid the clasp of my bra and slipped it off me, I groaned. The sensation of air against my painfully aroused nipples was almost unbearable. The relief of his hands cupping me was undone by the teasing stroke of his thumbs toying with me…tormenting…
“Adam…please!”
“So eager?” His voice was laced with a dark current of amusement that could not conceal his own desires. “Are you sure that you know what you’re asking for?”
“Yes! No…I don’t know. I don’t care! Just please--”
He let go and stepped back. The sudden absence of his touch was intolerable. I opened my mouth to cry out in protest and saw us both in the mirror above the dual sinks. Myself, so pale, so seemingly vulnerable and him…a powerful presence rising behind me, at once clearly far stronger and implacable yet at the same time reassuringly protective.
Meeting my gaze in the mirror, he said, “Take your panties off.”
Complying, I bent over. My bottom brushed against his formidable erection. A soft gasp escaped me.
His answer was to step into the shower and hold out his hand, at once commanding and enticing. My legs shook as my fingers curled around his. Engulfed in the rush of steaming water from half-a-dozen shower heads, I closed my eyes. When I opened them again, Adam was staring at me. The full, unbridled rawness of his hunger sucked my breath away.
Suddenly, without a hint of warning, he said, “You know that I’ve fallen in love with you?”
The man could certainly pick his moment. A roller coaster of emotions assailed me. Surprise. Joy. Exaltation. Above them all, simple, profound gratitude that this man was in my life. We had come so far, learned so much about each other, and now--
Bittersweet pain battered against the web of corruption that still held me fast. Whatever it took, whatever I had to do, for my sake but also for Adam’s, I had to fight free.
His arm wrapped around my waist, drawing me hard against him. As though he knew my thoughts, he said, “If anything were to happen to you--” A harsh, pained laugh broke from him. “Or should I say anything more? I’m responsible--”
Quickly, I pressed a finger to his lips. As much as I understood his regrets, I couldn’t bear them. So far as I was concerned, the past was the past. Only the future mattered, the one we were trying to build together.
“Shhh,” I urged softly. “We’re here, we’re together, that’s all that counts.”
He made a sound deep in his throat, somewhere between a groan and a sob. Before I could begin to process that, his mouth closed on mine in a fierce, consuming kiss that left no room for resistance. Not that I was capable of any. Every particle of my being needed him as much as he needed me. Twining my arms around the solid column of his neck, I thrust my fingers through his hair and pulled him even closer.
The water rushed down over us, enclosing us in a world of our own. Adam backed me against the wall of the shower, then slid his hands down to cup my buttocks.
“Trust me,” he said.
I did, utterly and completely.
I trusted him when he took the bottle of lube from the shower shelf--even as I realized that it hadn’t been there before. The fact that he’d planned for this was oddly reassuring.
A tremor of dark pleasure ran through me, eclipsing any surprise or apprehension. Somewhere deep inside I needed to know if or how our relationship had changed now that I was to be his wife.
Change could be good, of course. Nothing ever truly remained the same nor should it. But the essence of what we were together, our private selves away from the world, that I did not want to lose for mere propriety or, even worse, convention.
With everything pressing in around us, I desperately wanted to be in the place that was ours alone, the private, shared space where our desires merged.
All well and good, but at the first touch of the lube between my cheeks, I stiffened.
“Relax,” Adam murmured.
The rough timbre of his voice was a caress against my skin. Instinctively, I obeyed. At first, the slow, gentle probing of his finger felt strange and unwelcome. But quickly I surrendered to the sensation of dark, forbidden pleasure.
So much so that when he added more lube and a second finger, I could only gasp softly. There was no pain, only a sense of pleasure made all the more intense for having the aura of the forbidden.
When the velvety crest of his cock pressed between my cheeks, I inhaled sharply. This was really happening. No barriers, no limits. That was the essence of our relationship, something neither of us could ever have with anyone else. More than anything, I wanted to affirm it.
But beyond that, the act of surrendering affirmed my own trust in what we were together. With my body, I told him how utterly and completely I accepted him.
With his arm around my waist, Adam bent me just a little more. His thigh, nudging between mine, urged my legs wider apart. I inhaled deeply as the hot, thick crown demanded entry, slowly but relentlessly pushing past the final barrier. When he was fully seated, he shuddered and kissed the nape of my neck.
“Sweet girl…so sweet.”
His hand cupped my breasts, lean fingers teasing the nipple. Tendrils of pleasure shot through me.
“Touch yourself,” he ordered. “Stroke your clit.”
A jolt of surprise went through me but I obeyed. I was so swollen, so ready…hovering on the edge of a massive orgasm that I still fought to delay. I wanted him with me; I demanded it.
