She wasn't prepared for anything. Not this intimacy between them, not this passion that ran rampant through her, and certainly not this love she was feeling. She draped her arm around his neck. "I'm prepared to trust you."
He lifted her chin and warned sternly, "Never trust the devil."
Catherine smiled and shook her head. "Don't you know, Captain Lucifer, that an angel can tame the wickedest soul?"
Lucian ran his finger over her lips. "Don't you know, angel, that the devil doesn't possess a soul?" With that he scooped her up, stepped over coiled ropes, marched past cheering men, and carried her beneath to his cabin.
After kicking the door shut he lowered her to the floor, pressing his body to hers until she was forced up against the closed door.
His mouth sought hers, hungry and thirsting, while his hands roamed beneath his shirt meeting the warm flesh of her full breast.
"I'm going to take you right here, angel. Against this door with your legs wrapped tightly around me."
Catherine looked at him strangely. "Is that —"
"No questions," he ordered, and swiftly rid her of her shirt.
Warm and wet, his tongue circled her nipple. "I love when your nipple hardens in my mouth."
Catherine blushed, shutting her eyes against his descriptive words and actions.
"Your taste excites me," he said, and licked the hard bud, sending gooseflesh straight down to the tips of Catherine's toes and rushing back up again.
He freed himself of his shirt and unfastened his breeches. His tongue returned to delight her while his hand worked at freeing her of her breeches.
"Are you ready for me, angel?" he asked, tucking his fingers in her breeches and sliding them slowly down her hips. "Are you?" he repeated, his teeth tugging at her nipple.
Rational thought escaped Catherine. Her nipple tingled with every lick and tug he treated it to and his remarks — Lord, but his bold remarks could spark the most dwindling flame, fanning it to full blaze.
"Shall I discover for myself, angel?" he asked, and didn't bother to wait for an answer. His finger dipped into her and she closed around him. He explored deeper and deeper, feeling her warm wetness, feeling her muscles convulse, feeling her desire grow.
Catherine groaned and grabbed hold of his shoulders for support.
"I think," he said, easing her garment down her legs, "that you need some wicked tempting." He bent down, hastily removing the breeches past her feet and casting them off to the side. His mouth then found her and took her with a gentle intimacy.
Her head dropped back against the door, her eyes fluttered closed, and her moans filled the cabin.
Good Lord, she had never imagined, never thought —
Thought escaped her as his tongue skillfully toyed with her and his fingers worked magic. She tingled, she ached, and she never wanted him to stop loving her.
But he stopped and a protesting sigh ran from her lips.
He stood, took her hand, and whispered against her mouth before kissing her. "Free me." He guided her hand down inside his breeches to his swollen shaft.
Nervous, her fingers faltered as she wrapped around him. Hot and hard, he pulsated in her hand.
"Do you want him inside you?" he asked, his breathing labored.
Large but accommodating, she thought, and nodded, words failing her.
"Then free him, angel. Free him so he can bring you pleasure." His speech was strained and broken by heavy breaths.
Catherine realized his need was as close to bursting as hers. She gently eased him out of his breeches, stroking the long length of him as she did. He felt so good, so wickedly right to her touch that guilt swept over her. And her hand slipped off him.
He captured her retreating hand and replaced it around him. "Don't, angel, don't ever think that it's wrong to touch me so intimately."
Surprised and encouraged by his understanding of her feelings she stroked him again and again and again. Until he moaned and removed her hand.
"Enough or I'll burst in your palm."
Her own passion near to bursting, she thrust her hips forward.
He smiled and kissed her. "Do as I tell you. I don't want this to hurt you."
"You could never —"
“I could easily hurt you, angel, and I have no desire to cause you pain — only pleasure."
He grasped her beneath her buttocks and hoisted her up. "Wrap your arms around my neck and your legs around my waist."
She did as he instructed, resting her forehead against his. "I once feared your size."
He eyed her strangely.
Realizing his misunderstanding, she corrected, "The height, the breath, the width of you. You took my breath away."
He adjusted her against him, bracing her back against the door. "Then my size no longer frightens you?"