Sitting, he hauled her onto his lap, holding her as close as he could. “You’ve had an unbelievably taxing day.”
Wanting to feel her, he removed his leather gloves without jostling her and tossed them aside. Then he stroked his hand over her silken hair down her back. She snuggled close, slipping one hand beneath his cloak to rest it on his shirt over his heart.
“Yes. I suppose you’re right. But I can’t shake the feeling that something might happen to you. Or to us.”
“Shh. All is well.” He continued rubbing her softly, her body becoming pliant in his arms. “Why are you so worried? Is it Izzy?”
“Yes. And no. I’m also worried for you.” Her tiny hand fisted in his shirt. “If anything should happen to you, I don’t know how I could bear it.”
“Shhh. Nothing will part us.”
A wave of fierce need for possession swept over him. He tilted her head up, a finger beneath her chin, and pressed his lips to hers. Firm at first, she softened beneath him, opening her mouth and letting him in. He tasted her leisurely, as if a savage storm didn’t blow outside the door and an impending battle didn’t await them. A battle that could indeed take his life. He was a great warrior, but there was a good chance he marched to his own personal doom. He wouldn’t be content until he’d severed King Dominik’s head himself. He was smart enough to know one-on-one combat with the butcher king might end his life.
She moaned into his mouth. He cupped the nape of her neck, then sucked her full bottom lip, letting it slide out slowly. He licked along the seam to one side then back. Wanting to taste more of her skin, he swept up her jaw to the sensitive spot beneath her ear.
“Is that better?” he asked.
She clutched a hand in his hair. “That depends what you mean by better.”
Smiling against the creamy silk of her neck, he trailed his tongue down to the hollow between her collarbones. Her nails dug into his scalp.
“Are you warmer?
“Oh, yes,” she breathed huskily. “But now I’m also aroused.”
He returned to her lips, his hand sliding to her unbound breast, loving the softness of it beneath the wool fabric. He mounded gently, sweeping his thumb over the tip, knowing she could feel the slight abrasion beneath the layer.
“Mikhail.” She slid her nose up the side of his. “Please tell me you’re going to do something about that.”
“What do you want me to do, my queen?”
“I want you to spread me out onto this bed, climb on top, and bury yourself inside me.”
He stilled, watching her closely. Her sea-glass eyes were engulfed by her dilated pupils. Her boldness choked off his voice with lust. He thought his cock was hard before. Now it was a steel rod. No way was he leaving this room without doing just what she wanted. What he wanted.
“Very well then.”
He slipped her sleeve down over her shoulder till the breast he’d been teasing was exposed, the dusky-pink nipple puckered for him.
“As my queen commands.”
He cupped her chin with one hand, pressing his index finger to her lips. “Open your mouth.”
She did, so he slid his finger inside, stroking slowly in and out. Once. Twice. Then he pulled away and used the same finger to circle and wet her nipple. The pink of her areola tightened further. She watched him circling, then pinching softly with forefinger and thumb. The sight of her watching made him painfully hard.
Lifting his hand to her mouth, he stroked two fingers back inside, her gaze fixed on his. He slid his hand up under her skirt, where she opened her legs for him. Rubbing his fingers along her hot, slippery cleft.
“God, woman. So wet for me already.”
“Always,” she replied breathily, eyes falling to half mast as he stroked those two fingers inside her tight heat, his thumb circling on her swollen bud.
He leaned down and took her nipple in his mouth, teasing with his tongue. And teeth. She gasped. Her arousal scented the air. In a swift movement, he had her on her back and was pulling the dress over her head. She helped him, shimmying to release her body from the garment.
He unclipped his cloak and tossed it aside. She was already at the laces of his trousers. And hell, it was all he could do to pull the lacing free without ripping them. His cock sprang straight up against his abdomen, thick and ready.
She gasped again and lay back, clutching his shoulders to bring him with her. He wasted no time spreading her wider with his body, slicking the head of his cock along her cleft as he held his weight on one forearm. Her eyes slipped closed.
“Tell me what you want, Mina mine.”
She smiled. “Your beautiful, big cock inside me.”
He gave it to her with one hard thrust. Her tight heat squeezed around him. “So good,” he whispered. “You feel so good.”
“Ah!” She arched her neck and rocked her pelvis up.
“Do you want it hard or gentle?”
Her eyes opened, her vampire staring back at him. “Hard.”
“That’s what I thought.” He shifted, both forearms on either side of her head. “Wrap your ankles around my back.”
She did, tilting her pelvis up at the perfect angle. He pulled out to the tip, then thrust back in, burying himself so deep in this position. Her mouth fell open in ecstasy. He lowered and whispered against her lips. “Did I hit your sweet spot?”
“Yes.”
He did it again, and again, building a steady rhythm, making sure to hit home hard. Her whimpers of pleasure and the tightening of her thighs around him as she tilted up farther drove him near mad. His need for her had become a desperate, frightening thing, demanding relief.
But there was no end. Even when he came inside her body, it wouldn’t be enough. It was never enough. The fear of wanting her beyond reason made him drive harder, thrust faster, his cock swelling as she lifted her head to his ear and said, “Yes, Mikhail. Make me your woman. I am yours and yours alone.”
Without even thinking, he pulled out and flipped her body onto her stomach, her sun-yellow hair spilling across the bearskin. So beautiful. His beast wanted that beauty. Wanted her for his own, to cling her tight like a dragon with his treasure.
He gripped her hips, spreading her thighs with his and gazed down at her swollen, glistening pinkness. With a guttural groan, he pushed inside her. She curled her fingers into the dark fur, her pearl-white body spread and opened. For him.
He stared down, watching his thick cock tunnel into her soft, wet sex. “Mine,” he groaned. Clenching his fingers into the fleshy part of her hips, he pistoned faster, slapping his flesh to hers with a satisfying sound. His primitive beast liked it. Loved it. Wanted it. Wanted her.
“Mina.” He pounded. “Mine.” Again. “Forever.” He ground inside her in a circle at the end.