Page 103 of Nightshade

Please stop!

Surely, what awaited her on the other side would be painful, with as tense as her muscles had grown.

And then something warm exploded inside of her. A flash of jagged light struck the back of her eyes. And with clenched teeth, she let out a long, tortuous sound that pitched to a scream. Oh, God, it was the most glorious sensation she’d ever felt, this rush of heat and the cool tingles that followed.

As if she’d ascended to the heavens, her body fell, down, down, down, into a warm and cozy state. Every muscle turned flaccid, her limbs boneless. She let out a satisfied giggle, and when he pulled his face from between her thighs, she brought them together and turned on her side, feeling the tiny pulses still beating inside of her.

Breaths heaving, Jericho stared down at her, licking his lips and fingers. The glisten across his face carried the remnants of his devouring. “I wanted you to know pleasure,” he said in a ragged voice. “Because what I’m about to do next will not be as pleasurable for you.”

“It will for you, though?”

“Yes. Very much.”

“What do I do?”

“You need only to lie still.”

“That is all, My Lord? I do not touch you as you touched me?”

The sound of his chuckle brought a sheepish smile to her face. “Not this time. But perhaps the next.” Falling forward, he caught himself on outstretched hands, and she glanced down as he unlatched his trousers and pushed them down to his knees, springing his flesh free.

Even over the warmth from earlier that’d left her flush, Lustina could feel the heat rush to her cheeks again. He ran his palm up and down the length of it, which seemed to feel good, by the way he let out a grunt.

Curiosity got the best of her, and she reached down before she could stop herself. The moment her fingertips made contact, she pulled away, but not before Jericho snatched up her arm. Eyes on hers, he pushed her hand back toward it. A cold tickle stirred in her chest, as he urged her hand around the shaft and his chest heaved. Her fingers could barely hold its girth, as it seemed to grow in her grip. Small ridges moved beneath her palm, and when she palpated one with her thumb, he shivered over her. That bubbly sensation shot up into her arm and through her chest. It tingled across her nipples and down between her thighs like a creature running rampant through her body. What was this delicious sensation which turned her gluttonous?

Squeezing against her hand, he guided her palm up and down, up and down, and the moan that escaped him sent a thrill to her stomach. It was her touch that had him driving his hips toward her and incited the growly sounds she could hear rumbling inside his chest.

“Yes, Lustina. Just like this.” His deep, gravelly voice sent a fluttery feeling through her body, and she studied his face as she kept on with her strokes. The way the veins in his neck surfaced, and the usual angry lines of his brow had softened. His eyes rolled back, as if in ecstasy.

She wanted to please him. To make him feel what she’d felt just moments ago. “Show me more. Show me what you want, My Lord.”

Wearing a humorless expression, he stared back at her as he removed her hand from his flesh. With a grip of her thigh, he spread her open, and at the prod of her entrance, she looked down to find the tip of his member nudging her there.

“I want to be inside you. Here.” Fingers gripping tighter, he held her open and pushed into the place where his fingers had been earlier. “Relax, Lustina.”

She gasped and tensed, a jolt of distress rising to her throat. Shaking her head, she attempted to push him away. “No, it is too big. It will not fit.”

“It will, I promise you. Just relax. I will go slow.”

Alarm beat through her, as he inched further. The pressure swelled to an unimaginable level, as her body seemed to stretch and accommodate his size. Until, at last, he was fully seated inside of her, and he let out a masculine sound of satisfaction.

He remained still, giving her a moment to exhale a held breath. “It will sting and bleed, and you may find it difficult to walk tomorrow, but I promise, it gets better.”

Tears welled in her eyes, not from the pain, but the closeness of him. Could a human being be any more connected than that? Could she possibly know the depths of his soul any more than when his skin touched her skin, while his hands curled tightly into hers.

In slow and steady movements, he rocked against her, and she could feel his thickness move in and out in languid thrusts. The sting of every stretch turned to a cold tingle. She wrapped her legs around his back, arms clinging to him around his shoulders, only daring to breathe when he pulled back.

His thrusts hastened. Muscles tensed beneath her palms. His moans heightened, telling her that, in spite of the pain, he found pleasure in her body. Lustina tipped her head back, catching sight of the crescent moon overhead. She closed her eyes and turned her focus toward the sensation of his massive body caught in her grasp. How beautifully and perfectly he moved, like the ocean waves beating against the shore. Over and over. The visual sent a calm through her, and she relented, allowing him to use her body.

She arched into him, delighting in the sensation of his chest rubbing against her breasts through the thin fabric of her nightgown, her thighs tucked in the dip of his waist. His back flexed with every drive as he fed his desires.

Faster, he moved.

Deeper.

So deeply, she cried out.

His breathing turned to panting grunts, fingers clawing at her bottom. He bit down in the crook of her neck, and she let out a scream.