The Princess and the Peer(59)

And she did trust him. Even more, she loved him and whatever he wanted, she would give. The knowledge helped her relax as he settled between her spread thighs and moved her knees apart to position her the way he wished.

Surrendering, she waited, her heart thundering so loudly she was surprised he couldn’t hear it too.

Leaning forward, he claimed her lips again, his kiss warm and ravenous, while below he began to claim her body.

He was large and she too small, or so she thought as he worked to fit himself inside. She gave no protest, letting him raise her legs higher so that her feet rested on top of his back.

Inch by inch, he pushed deeper, arms taut as he braced his weight above her, hips rolling as he worked. She squirmed a little, biting the corner of her lip so that she didn’t reveal the pain the stretching pressure of his flesh was causing her. She sensed he was being gentle—or as gentle as he could be. But still it hurt.

“Almost,” he whispered against her lips. “Nearly there.”

Then, with one quick, hard thrust, he was in, lodged farther than she would have dreamed he could go.

Panting again, she hoped it was over, hoped he was satisfied. After all, she did want him to be happy.

He didn’t move, apparently content to relax inside her as he brushed sultry kisses against her mouth. After a minute, she kissed him back, her body adjusting bit by bit to the intrusion below. She sighed and wound her fingers into his hair, melting into the kiss as she forgot the worst of her discomfort.

A few kisses later, he began to move again, withdrawing nearly all the way before plunging back inside, only to repeat the action in a steady, penetrating rhythm.

She gasped and tensed, waiting for a fresh stab of agony. But the hurt had dulled to little more than a minor ache now, one with an edge that was far more akin to pleasure than pain. Impossible as it might have seemed only a couple minutes before, his deep, sure strokes felt good.

More than good, she thought, with dawning elation. Each movement was better than the last, every thrust harder, deeper, and more fulfilling than the one that had come before.

A raw hunger rose suddenly inside her like a fiery phoenix emerging from the ashes. Her muscles seemed to melt, turning warm and waxen. Strain gave way to glory as their bodies arched and tangled in an ardent, sinuous connection she could describe in no other way than beautiful.

There was no shame or sin in their union  .

Only happiness.

Only love.

She would have given her life a thousand times over to know but a fraction of this joy. Yet here, in this moment, it was all hers for the taking.

She locked her legs tighter around his back and instinctively thrust her hips upward to meet his. Her hands roved over the sleek, fluid contours of his back, relishing the sensation of his muscles flexing and moving beneath her touch.

A rough groan rumbled from his throat, a shiver raking his frame.

Suddenly, he took her mouth in a frenzied mating as if he couldn’t get enough of her. Parting her lips, he found her tongue, darting in and out and around with his own in a way that seemed to imitate each gliding thrust of his shaft.

She quaked, rational thought fading beneath the onslaught of delirious rapture. His possession was complete, absolute, as if he’d reached in and stolen not just her heart and body but her very soul.

With no independent will of her own, she could only hold on, utterly consumed by the pleasure that lashed her body like an unbridled tempest.

He thrust faster, stealing her breath on one stroke, then sending her tumbling over the edge on the next. The world spiraled around her with a dizzy abandon, so that she didn’t know which way was up and which down.

But she didn’t care, her body engulfed in a crashing ecstasy that erased everything but the bliss from her mind. Nick ceased to be separate from her, as if they were bound together inextricably and for all time. Her thoughts went temporarily blank, her mind opaque with profound, rapturous joy.

When she returned to herself, she wondered if she had actually swooned for an instant. But only an instant, she realized, aware of Nick still lodged deeply inside her, his thrusts quick and powerful and nearly relentless.

Suddenly, he stiffened above her and gave a violent, rippling shiver, a harsh moan that sounded almost like a growl rolling from his lips.

She held him, dizzy and drowsy with pleasure, as he collapsed against her. He was heavy and still lodged deep, but she didn’t mind, content to caress his damp skin with wandering palms, savoring their closeness.

“I must be crushing you,” he said after a long minute, starting to shift away.

But she refused to let him go, coiling herself more tightly against him. “No,” she said, holding hard. “Not yet.”

Not ever, she whispered in her head.