They’d rolled to a stop in front of the building with its dramatic doors and buzz of excited activity and Alaina had finally asked him what they were there to see. The anticipatory glimmer in her eyes nearly made him swallow his tongue.
“Hamlet,” he replied. “I realize it’s notThe Taming of the Shrew, but I figured another Shakespearean work might suffice.” Her grin had been blinding, her bubble of laughter had been infectious, and the long, unabashed kiss she placed upon his lips had nearly ended the evening far earlier than anticipated.
Sterling spent the evening watching his wife instead of the performance. From what little he did see, the production was of excellent quality. He was far more entertained by the rapt expression on Alaina’s face, the thoughtful tilt of her expressive and utterly kissable mouth, and the warmth of her thigh beneath her skirts when he rested his palm there during the play’s climax. She held him utterly bewitched.
Nothing, however, compared to the carriage ride home following the performance.
Alaina had lifted the velvet curtain and was staring out the glass of the window at the passing buildings and the occasional golden orb of a streetlamp cutting through the misty night. Without turning her attention from the scene outside, she spoke in a very soft, casual tone, “Last night, when you kissed me…down there. Is that something that would bring you pleasure as well?”
Sterling’s entire body flushed with heat, and he had to clear his throat before he could speak. “Yes. I enjoyed that a great deal.” That had been putting it mildly. He was ravenous for her—couldn’t wait to taste her sweet ambrosia again and feel her lean thighs grip his head as she came apart and ground against his mouth.
“No,” Alaina said, finally turning to face him where he sat beside her. “I mean, would you like it if I did that to you?”
Sterling nearly choked from the instantaneous lust that overcame him. He was overwhelmed by the image of Alaina’s blond head looking up at him, her graceful hands working between his legs. To have her mouth on him…that was not something he’d ever thought to ask for—no matter how badly it made him ache with want. He’d witnessed the act more than a handful of times during the debauched parties on the Continent (and far worse, if he were honest), and had certainly imagined receiving such treatment, but to request such a thing of his wife felt like overstepping. If she started the conversation, however…
“You do not need to,” he replied somewhat unsteadily.
“That isn’t what I asked.” Her sapphire eyes met his unflinchingly. “I asked if you would like it; if it would please you.” It was nearly impossible for Sterling to breathe. “I want to taste you—”
“Yes,” he croaked. “Yes, it would please me. Greatly.”
Alaina nodded once very thoughtfully, and then shocked him to his core when she hiked up her skirts and spun to kneel on the floor of the carriage as best as she could in the cramped space.
“Oh, God, Alaina…” Sterling gasped. “Now?” Her fingers were already working on the fastenings of his breeches, her knuckles and the back of her hand brushing the thick ridge of his immediate, raging arousal. He didn’t know if he’d ever become so hard so fast before—it left him lightheaded. She batted his hands away when he would have stopped her. Very little would have pleased him more than his wife so overcome with passion for him that she cared not when or where the act took place, but the last thing he wanted was for her to feel obligated.
“Whyever not? By my estimation, we’ve plenty of time before we reach Morton House.” The wicked gleam in her eyes was—would forever be—his undoing. “Would you deny me?”
“Never.” And it was the truth. Sterling was at her mercy, body, heart, and soul.
The ruddy head of his sex sprang free from the confines of his clothing, proud and erect as it begged for her attention. Alaina’s nails raked along his thighs, making his cock twitch in anticipation. Her eyes widened at the sight, but she was far from backing down.
Ever the brazen intellectual, she carefully wrapped her fingers around his length, testing his girth and the slide of the silken skin over the hardness beneath.
“Like this?” she asked after several seconds of tentative strokes.
Sterling grunted in choked delight.
“You can grip me tighter,” he ground out as he braced his heels on the rocking floor. He covered her hand with his to demonstrate.
“So hard? I do not wish to hurt you.”
“Darling, your cunny is twice as tight as that little fist of yours and I’ve survived that several times over.” His low growl finally served to sway her composure. Her cheeks flared a brilliant pink evident in even the carriage’s poor lighting. Sterling sat back and allowed her to find a rhythm; he couldn’t watch her too closely or the sight of his wife touching and stroking him would quickly send him over the edge.
He almost lost himself entirely when he felt her hot breath on the sensitive head of his member and then a sweet, tentative kiss on the slit.
“Bloody—” He made a strangled curse and slammed a fist on the squab beside him.
“Did that hurt?” Alaina almost backed away, so he responded hastily.
“No! No. It didn’t. Keep going. Please.”
Satisfied, Alaina leaned forward once more and peppered his sex with slow, tender kisses, beginning to stroke him once more while she did so. He trembled when he heard her inhale the scent of his skin; he nearly died when her lips parted and her tongue darted out to taste the little pearl of moisture beading there.
When her mouth closed around the head, he saw stars. She was warm and wet and sweet, so deliciously delicate as she began to lick and suck. Head falling back in helpless abandon, Sterling gave himself over to Alaina’s ministrations. She was bloody amazing, his wife.
She’d already learned to listen to his moans and growls, continuing what made him squirm and his hips buck. It was everything he could do not to thrust himself deeper into her throat until she took all of him.
His hand flew to her head when she performed a particularly creative swirl but stopped just shy of wrapping his fingers in her locks and holding her there. He made the mistake of looking down to see her wide luminous eyes and golden blond head as she looked up at him from where she knelt between his spread legs. Her cheeks hollowed as she sucked him, her dainty fist working in tandem with her mouth from root to tip. Then, she did the unthinkable and reached up to bring his hand to her hair, letting him know it was alright to touch her. And Sterling was lost.
