Seduce(16)

She licked the end of one ragged scar and leaned her cheek against his chest.

“You don’t have to tell me anything, Antoine... but don’t pretend you don’t want me... or this.” Her hand skated down over his stomach and his desire flared right back up when her soft palm cupped his hard cock through his black trousers. His breathing hitched and his jaw tensed, a hot flood of arousal sweeping through his veins and ratcheting his desire up to a whole new level. “This says you do.”

Those four words were whispered against his chest and he couldn’t deny the truth in them. He did want her. He didn’t want this to end, whatever this was, even though he knew it would, whether he ended it before he got hurt or she ended it and hurt him.

“Let me taste you, Antoine. Stop fighting me.” She pressed more soft kisses to his chest, her fingers toying with his nipples and then raking down his stomach towards his belt.

Where had this vixen come from? She had been bold before, but this was different. He fixed his senses on her and could still feel her fear. She was scared, but not of him. She feared this wouldn’t work and he wouldn’t succumb to her advances. It wasn’t because she wanted a job on his stage. It was because she wanted him. Her desire wasn’t an act.

It was real.

Just like his.

He closed his eyes when she undid his trousers, slipped her hand inside and drew his erect cock out. His breath hissed through his teeth and he tensed, her touch fire and bliss. He couldn’t hold out against her much longer. His defences were dropping with each passing second and now he teetered on the edge of surrendering to her seduction.

It wasn’t an act.

Just as he had lost awareness of their location, so had she. Her focus was so fixed on him and he thrilled at the feel of it, could sense her so clearly, and her pleasure. That alone intoxicated him as she shimmied off his lap to kneel before him and lowered her mouth, taking him into it. He groaned, jaw clamped tightly and body taut, rigid with need. Sera’s warmth encompassed him, slick and wet, tongue expertly teasing him, tearing groan after moan from his throat.

Antoine gripped the arms of the seat and tipped his head right back, shallowly thrusting his hips as she sucked him. Devil, it was game over. His goddess had gone to war on his defences and was now assured of her victory. She was barely on him for ten seconds before he exploded in her mouth, unable to stop himself from climaxing. She moaned and he struggled to catch his breath, the riot of ecstasy rushing through him scattering his senses and making his mind swim. It had been too long since he had found such a numbing release that he wasn’t sure how to ease himself down from his high. He wasn’t certain that he could even if he did know.

Before he could savour the bliss she had given him, cold awareness crept in at the corners of his mind, gaining ground with each rapid pound of his heart, until reality settled hard on him.

His sense of control snapped back into place.

Sera lifted her head and looked up into his eyes.

Antoine scowled down at her.





CHAPTER 6




Sera looked up at Antoine the moment she felt the change in him, sensed that the connection that had flared into life between them had been shut down in an instant. She could see it in his eyes too. The past hour with him had revealed something to her that she had never anticipated.

Antoine was a man with deep secrets, a man who didn’t allow anyone to get close to him and who believed he had a good reason for remaining distant and alone. She was a fool for not seeing it before. Elizabeth had warned her about Antoine, but it seemed even her sire didn’t know the man well or she would have mentioned that something terrible had happened to him, something he would never overcome.

Could never overcome.

The scars on his chest were shocking. It took a lot to kill an aristocrat, especially one as old as Antoine, but it looked as though someone had tried to put the limit of his healing ability to the test. Who had done such a terrible thing to him?

It wasn’t only the scars on the outside that made him retain a sense of distance from everyone though. There were others on the inside, emotional scars that were as ragged and horrendous as the ones on his body as far as she could tell.

He was definitely a man with secrets, and he wasn’t willing to share them with anyone.

Sera raised her hand, wanting to touch his face and tell him that whatever pain he had gone through, he could tell her about it. She would listen to him, never judging, only seeking to alleviate the burden on his heart so he no longer felt as though he had to walk through this world alone.

Antoine leaned back and warily eyed her hand, as though she sought to hurt rather than comfort him.

Game over.