Dante could see the tips of her breasts, hard and engorged and pressing against the material of her nightgown, as evidence she spoke the truth. “You want me?”
Color flared in her cheeks. “You want me too.” It was a challenging statement, not a question.
“I do.” He nodded abruptly.
“Then why are you hesitating?”
Dante heard the challenge in her tone. “If you wish me to stop at any time, then we must have a safe word.”
“A safe word?” She looked at him blankly.
He nodded. “I do not like inflicting physical pain, nor do I wish you for a pet. I am, however, a demanding lover in that I require you give me complete access to every part of your body during lovemaking.”
She blinked. “What does that mean?”
“Exactly as it sounds. You will not deny a single part of your body to me.”
She considered his words for several seconds before continuing. “Did your other women have a safe word?”
His mouth thinned. “We are not talking about other women.”
Bella appeared flustered. “I only asked because I have never heard of such an arrangement before now.”
Then she had clearly never frequented the clubs and private parties Dante had. Which did not surprise him: young Aston had been a likeable chap, but Dante had never heard so much as a whiff of gossip attached to his name.
“Do you have a safe word?”
His brows rose to his hairline. “Do I need one?”
She nodded. “It seems only fair.”
Bella was either very naïve or very eager for sexual experimentation. Dante sincerely hoped it was the latter. “I will say ‘sword’ if anything you do is not to my taste.” Although he could think of very little Bella might to do him that he would object to. “What is your favorite flower?” he prompted when she offered no safe word of her own.
“The daffodil.”
“If you wish me to stop, say ‘daffodil,’ and I will immediately desist whatever I am doing that has displeased you. Do you understand?”
He knew this was a part of his nature Bella would never have guessed lay hidden beneath his veneer of civility. His arrogance, yes, but not the need he felt to totally dominate and control. It was a part of himself Dante had known Bella could never have understood at the age of seventeen. But she was no longer that innocent virgin, had been a married woman for six years since that time, and if she was to become his lover now, then she needed to know from the onset what his requirements of her were. The most important being that when it came to intimacy, he would tolerate no limitations.
She swallowed. “I understand.”
Dante doubted she did, not completely, but she would. Oh yes, she very soon would.
He removed the pillows between them before casting them impatiently to the floor. He took his time to kiss each and every one of the bruises on Bella’s arms before drawing her close to him and claiming her mouth with his own.
She tasted of the wine she had drunk earlier, but the intoxication Dante felt came purely from kissing Bella’s soft and yielding lips. Unfettered by formal clothing or restrictive undergarments, her body felt lush and soft as his hands explored each curve and hollow.
Bella lay stiff and unmoving and a little shocked at the realization Dante was completely naked beneath the bedcovers, allowing the long length of his bared cock to pulse against her hip. Jeremy had always—
She must not think of Jeremy when she was in bed with another man. In bed with Dante.
It was all of her seventeen-year-old self’s fantasies come true to feel his hard and muscular body pressing against her own, his lips devouring hers, to have his hands roaming restlessly over the curves of her body.
She could feel currents of desire flashing between the two of them, melding their lips together, the depth and pleasure of that kiss making it impossible to break the spell as it wove itself about both of them.
There was no hiding the fact Dante did want her.
His breathing was ragged, his body hot, the heavy weight of his erection becoming a demanding throb.
Bella gave a soft whimper as she parted her lips to the invasion of Dante’s tongue. She turned fully toward him, her arms moving up about his shoulders to draw him closer still as the kiss deepened.
Dante was breathing hard by the time he broke the kiss to rest his forehead against hers. “This nightgown has to come off,” he said gruffly.
Her cheeks suffused with color. “The candle—”
“Remains lit.”
“But—”
“I want to see you. All of you,” he stated firmly as she would have continued to protest. “The plump ripeness of your nipples. Your soft and silky skin. I wish to part the dark curls between your thighs and see the red plumpness of your nether lips. Your swollen clit. The rosette between your cheeks— Bella?” he prompted sharply as she buried the heat of her face against his chest.
Bella was a trembling mess of uncertainty. “Jeremy and I were… He had little experience, and he was the first, the only lover I have ever known.” Whereas Dante had, according to Society gossip, had many lovers over the years. He was used to having greedy female eyes and hands upon his body.
Bella doubted Dante knew what it was like to feel self-conscious. To inwardly question whether those lovers found pleasure in the hard and predatory lines of his body. As Bella now questioned whether Dante would like her own full, soft curves.
She and Jeremy had both been shy on their wedding night, nervous of what was about to happen between them. They had been somewhat clumsy and less than adept that first night, Jeremy too anxious to perform, Bella having no real idea what was expected of her. But that shyness between them had slowly disappeared over the next few months until they grew comfortable exploring each other’s bodies, learning what gave the other pleasure. The intimacy between them had become comfortable and satisfying.
But Jeremy had been a boy in comparison with the hard and experienced Dante St. Just. Jeremy’s body had been lithe and angular, nothing at all like the toned muscles and contours of Dante’s.
“I am sorry I cannot claim the same.” Dante’s voice sounded harsh in the otherwise silent inn.
Bella flicked him a nervous glance, wondering if her mention of Jeremy had dampened his desire for her. But no, she could still feel the length of his erection pressing into her abdomen. “I am only concerned you might find my body…less than pleasing.”
The frown cleared from Dante’s brow as Bella admitted the source of her present anxiety. “You are every man’s fantasy come to life,” he assured her. “Full breasts adorned with large and sensitive nipples that beg to be sucked.” His hand moved to cup one of those deliciously plump orbs, the soft pad of his thumb stroking across the pouting nipple and causing Bella to tremble from head to toe. “A slender waist that then curves out to the generosity of your welcoming hips and thighs.” His hand continued to trace lightly downward. Bella gasped and groaned as he learned each and every responsive contour of her body. And he had not reached her most sensitive part yet.
Dante pushed her gently onto her back before throwing off the bedclothes. His explorations had caused Bella’s nightgown to ruck up about her thighs, and his gaze was heated, greedy, as he pushed the garment up even farther. “Place your hands above your head.”
“Why?”
“Because I wish it.”
She tentatively lifted her arms and place her hands on the pillows behind her.
Dante nodded his approval. “Do not move them unless I give you permission to do so.”
Bella squirmed with self-consciousness but did as he asked as he exposed the full curve of her hips and the dark curls between her thighs. “Dante—”
He had placed his fingertips against her lips to prevent her from protesting further. “Part your legs for me,” he instructed gruffly. “Now, Bella.” The firmness of his tone brooked no argument from her.
A look of uncertainty flitted across her f
ace even as she slowly parted her legs.
“Wider,” he rasped. “Bend your legs at the knees and then part them fully. Not a single inch of you is to be hidden from my gaze or the attentions of my hands and mouth. Do you understand?”
Bella knew she should be shocked, furious, at Dante’s totally domineering tone and attitude. Instead, she felt a delicious thrill of excitement run down the length of her spine and a hot gush of juices between the nether lips he was demanding she expose to his gaze. Besides, he had assured her she could stop him at any time simply by saying “daffodil.”
“There will be punishment if you do not do as I ask when I ask it,” he warned evenly.
She swallowed. “What sort of punishment?”
He gazed at her, obviously considering. “I shall expose your breasts”—he pushed her nightgown higher, baring those breasts—“and pinch your nipples, hard, until you do as I ask.”
Bella’s breasts instantly began to ache, the nipples throbbing, as she slowly bent her legs at the knees before allowing them to fall apart. Color heated her cheeks as she totally exposed herself to Dante’s gaze.
“Good,” he murmured as he moved to kneel between her parted thighs.
Bella raised her gaze to the beamed ceiling, hands curling into fists to stop from moving them as she felt Dante’s hands upon her down there, long fingers parting her curls before stroking over the wetness she could feel slicking her nether lips.
All the time, she was aware that the heat of his darkened gaze was upon her there too. Watching as his own long and elegant fingers swirled and stroked that private place. Knowing he would be able to see her response to his touch and caresses, as Bella felt her channel lips become plumper and an abundance of juices flowing between them and down between the cheeks of her bottom, dampening that “rosette” Dante had referred to earlier.
She gasped as she felt his fingers push up the protective hood hiding the sensitive nubbin he had called a clit, before he lowered his head. Bella gasped and squirmed anew as she felt the intimacy of the hot rasp of his tongue licking her exposed and sensitive flesh. “Dante!”
He raised his head. “Daffodil?”
She heard the disappointment in his voice and instantly wished to please him again. “No.”
“Then I shall continue.” His head lowered, hands holding her hips still as his mouth took full possession and he began to suck that pulsing nubbin at the same time as his tongue now lashed rapidly against it.
There was no slow build into the pleasure that suddenly ripped through her body, causing an explosion of bright colors behind her closed lids. Pleasure coursed through her whole body but centered on the nubbin Dante continued to suck and rasp with his tongue.
Two fingers were now thrust inside the moistness of her channel, curling forward and prolonging that release as they stroked against some hidden pleasure spot Bella had not known existed but which seemed to be directly connected to the nubbin that still pulsed and throbbed against Dante’s marauding tongue and teeth.
She could feel that pressure building inside her again, taking her higher and then higher still, every part of her oversensitized and overstimulated as she began to quiver and shake in reaction to that impending explosion of pleasure.
“Dante,” she gasped, hands moving, fingers digging into the hard muscles in his shoulders. “Dante?” she questioned uncertainly as he instantly ceased what he was doing to look up at her.
“Hands,” he reminded her harshly.
She uncurled her fingers from his flesh before lifting her arms and replacing them back on the pillows behind her.
His eyes glittered darkly. “Because this is our first time together, I will allow you that one transgression, but do not test me again. Not unless you wish to have these pinched.” He tweaked one of her nipples with less than gentle fingers before he returned to sucking her clit. His teeth lightly grazed that pulsing flesh, the thrusting of his fingers inside her channel increasing in speed, the stroke of a third finger against her forbidden rosette sending her over the edge of release for a second time, the pleasure even more intense than the last time.
Bella lay boneless as Dante began to caress and pleasure her again. “No more,” she finally managed to groan as her body began to soar for a third time. “Dante, it is too much.”
She did not use her safe word, and her body betrayed her as Dante moved to lay beside her, his mouth latching on to one of her bared nipples, both sucking and biting. His fingers continued to stroke the slickness between her thighs over and around her clit before moving lower, those fingers now caressing the sensitive circle of flesh between the globes of her bottom. It was both shocking and wildly exciting. Forbidden, and yet Bella craved more of Dante’s touch. There. Everywhere.
Her body bowed off the bed, her eyes wide as one of his fingers breached her there, his teeth biting painfully into her nipple and his thumb pressing her pulsing clit.
Her body was racked with shuddering sobs as the pleasure grew more and more intense, Dante’s fingers thrusting inside her slick and open channel, stroking that knot of nerves as he demanded she give him her third release.
She screamed her climax when it came. Tears streamed down her cheeks as those fingers stroking inside her once again hooked forward to press on that knot of nerves, prolonging and continuing her release as Dante sucked greedily on her other nipple
Bella sobbed, her body continuing to shake even after the pleasure had subsided slightly. She could not stand any more, was too tightly wound, too sensitive, too— “Daffodil,” she gasped. “Oh God, daffodil!” She no longer cared what her punishment might be as she moved her arms downward, fingers entangling in Dante’s hair as she pulled him away, forcing his mouth to relinquish her nipple.
His eyes were dark and unfocused, his lips swollen, the beard on his chin slick with her juices.
Dante continued to stare at Bella blankly for several long seconds before his gaze slowly came back into focus. His eyes widened as he saw the wet tracks of the tears that had fallen down Bella’s pale cheeks. “I believed you were enjoying our lovemaking. Why did you not use your safe word sooner?” he demanded harshly.
“I—I was too lost in pleasure, but then… It became too intense.” She trembled anew, her eyes glistening with fresh tears.
Dante moved abruptly to lie back on the pillows on his own side of the bed, one of his arms thrown across his eyes.
He was well aware of his demanding nature and the dark desires that drove him to excess. He had thought Bella as enthralled and lost to pleasure as he was. She had not used her safe word, so he had assumed when she cried out, it was in the throes of ecstasy. It had been initially, he was sure, but he could now see the slight shock in her eyes, telling him he had demanded too much too soon.
He swung his legs to the side of the bed before standing, his back toward her. “I shall return to the adjoining bedchamber and come back when you have fallen asleep.” He strode across the room and through the open doorway, leaving that door open as he entered the darkness of his room.
Bella felt the tears falling down her cheeks as she watched Dante leave without giving her so much as another glance, and knew she had disappointed him with the use of her safe word.
She had been unprepared, far too comfortable in the pleasant but unexciting lovemaking she had known with Jeremy for so many years, to have ever guessed at the intensity of pleasure involved in making love with Dante.
His lovemaking was dark and all-consuming.
Addictive.
And unlikely, from the manner in which he had left her, to ever happen again.
Chapter 6
Dante knew, before he had even opened his eyes the following morning, that Bella was no longer in the bed beside him.
He growled low in his throat as he glanced at the empty pillow where he could see the indent of where her head had lain during the night.
It had been a very long night for Dante. He had paced his bedchamber for over an hour as he waited
for Bella to fall asleep in her bed. His thoughts had been as restless as he was. He had been so fucking hungry for her, merely being in her company having become tortuous, that all restraint had disappeared the moment he touched her.
He had tried to maintain that control, to distance himself, by warning her of his need for total submission and insisting she have a safe word.
Before promptly losing himself to the touch and taste of her.
From the stiffness of Bella’s posture and the back she had firmly turned toward him by the time he returned to her bedchamber, he seriously doubted she was asleep. But she made no effort to acknowledge his presence as he quietly slid into the bed beside her. Dante had lain awake for hours after that, tormented by the knowledge that Bella, if not actually afraid of him, now had every reason to fear the darkness within him.
And now she was gone, fled after he had fallen asleep as dawn began to lighten the sky outside the window. No doubt she had sought the aid of the accommodating and slightly besotted Mr. Rogers and was even now traveling to God knows where as if the black hounds of hell themselves were chasing after her.
She could be on her way back to London, although somehow Dante doubted it.
Dante had apprehended her last night before she could leave, but she must have had some destination in mind when she readied her carriage. Perhaps she was going there?
He realized he no longer cared that he had not even begun to question her as to whether or not she was a spy for Napoleon. Nor, if he was completely honest, did he care whether or not she was guilty. What concerned him the most was that Bella had left him, run from him, as if he were the devil himself.
What a fucking mess he and his long suppressed desire for Bella had made of things.
Despite a rather disturbed night’s sleep, Bella felt surprising refreshed as she sipped her first cup of tea of the morning. Invigorated, even. She was, after all, a widow aged four and twenty. Even so, she would be lying if she did not admit that the intensity of Dante’s lovemaking had initially shocked her sensibilities. But her body had never felt as satiated as it had last night. It still did this morning, parts of her aching that she had not known could ache.
Wicked Surrender (Regency Sinners 2) Page 5