A Lady and Her Magic (Faerie 1)

“Take those off?” she asked.

He lifted himself briefly to slide them down and over his feet. Then he came back to her and she could feel the length of him pressed against her. “Please tell me that you’ll be mine,” he whispered fiercely, looking into her eyes as he rolled her nipple between his thumb and forefinger. She could do nothing more than nod as sensation swamped her. The pulse between her thighs grew more and more strong, and she had to remind herself to breathe.

Between them, his hand drifted lower as his lips met hers, and he slid his tongue very tenderly and softly into her mouth as his fingers found that little nub at the top of her sex that was pounding so strongly. She cried out at his tender ministrations, his mouth taking in her mewling little sounds as he breathed her in with every stroke of his fingers against her. Her hips began to arch to meet him. But then he replaced his fingers with his thumb and slid one finger inside her. Sophia nearly exploded. He stilled above her. “Tell me to stop and I will.”

She jerked his hair. “If you stop now, I will use all of my fae magic to do something terrible to you.”

He pretended to think it over. “Could it be that bad?”

“Oh, it most certainly can,” she ground out.

He shifted his hips so that the tip of him pressed against her center. “You’re an innocent, are you not?”

She nodded quickly against his shoulder, squeezing her eyes tightly shut as he pressed a little harder, sliding through her wetness and lodging just barely inside her. She felt the pain of his entrance for no more than a moment. He stilled when she cried out. “Are you all right?” he asked, his breath hot and heavy against her ear.

Her answer was a tug to his backside, and he slid farther inside her. The burning pain of it was over almost as quickly as it arrived. And with one thrust, Ashley seated himself fully inside her.

His breath-filled grunt as he stopped startled her. “I need but a moment,” he said quickly. “Or this will be over before it has begun.”

He stayed still inside her as he let his fingers creep back down her belly and slide into the molten heat between them, and he began to rub that aching nub again. Sophia pressed her lips against his, drinking him in as he began to move his hips in time with his fingers. He pressed her legs a little wider apart and slid ever so much deeper inside her with every thrust. She began to arch to meet him, and he tilted her hips so he could take even more of her, so he could go even deeper. He touched a magical place inside her she hadn’t even known existed. And something she didn’t understand at all began to build within her.

“Ashley!” she cried against his lips.

“Sophie,” he grunted in response. He said her name in small whispers again and again as she felt a wave beginning within her. It threatened to crest and smash her to pieces, and finally it did. Sophia broke, crying out as her climax ripped through her. He grew even harder inside her, thrusting slowly in and out of her as she fluttered around him. And when she was done and returning to earth, he stilled inside her, his arms shaking on each side of her, then thrust once more and groaned her name. He spilled himself within her, soaking her walls, making her even wetter than she was. His last thrusts were so pleasurable they neared pain. But then he stopped. He stopped and brushed her sweaty hair from her face. He looked down at her, her blue eyes almost black in the darkness of the room.

A tear fell from the corner of her eye. “Oh, God, Sophie,” he said, still hard within her. “Did I harm you?”

She squeezed her eyes shut tightly, and a hot tear slid a warm trail down toward the linens, nearly scalding as it traced its path down toward her ear. “You didn’t harm me,” she admitted.

“You’re certain?” he asked. He looked so worried. She brought his face down to hers and kissed him softly.

“I just didn’t know it would be like that.”

“Neither did I,” he said as he slid himself from her still-aching sheath and lay down beside her. He rolled to the edge of the bed and crossed to the nightstand, where he wet a cloth with water and cleaned her. She would have flushed scarlet, if he the room weren’t so dark. He took a moment to clean himself, and then he joined her in the bed. He pulled the counterpane over them both and tugged her into the crook of his arm.

“Promise you’ll never leave me,” he said as he yawned widely and placed a kiss into the hair at her temple.

She couldn’t promise that, so she said nothing. She nuzzled her face in closer to his heart and closed her eyes. She would enjoy these final moments, for they would be her last.

Twenty-Six

Sophia woke to a soft scratch at the door. She rolled over and halted for a moment because a heavy weight was wrapped around her. She forced her eyes open and smiled as she realized the weight that had her so effectively pinned to the bed was Ashley. His arm draped over her even in sleep. He tugged her to him, and she went willingly, laying her head upon his chest. “You all right?” he asked, his voice groggy from sleep.

“Shh…” she whispered to him. “Go back to sleep.”

He nodded sleepily and pressed a kiss into her hair. A soft snore erupted from him, making her smile. But the scratch sounded at the door again. Sophia slid gingerly from beneath his arm and retrieved her chemise. She tugged it over her head quickly and went to the door. She opened it only a crack and looked into Wilkins’s very disapproving face. “Miss,” he said, his voice as cold as a midmorning wind in winter.

“What is it, Wilkins?” she whispered. She didn’t particularly care if he disapproved of her. But it did sting just a bit to know he didn’t regard her very well.

“His Grace is needed,” the butler said haughtily.

“Needed for what?” she hissed back.

“That would be a discussion for His Grace, miss,” he clipped out.

“His Grace is sleeping.” She could sound just as haughty as the butler, couldn’t she, if she were of a mind to? “If I feel like it’s worth his waking, I’ll tell him.” She made a come-hither motion with her hands. “Out with it, now.”

“It’s Lady Anne. She’s having a night terror,” he finally admitted.