And yes, yes,hungry. His throat visibly bobbing, his huge chest hollowing, his black tongue flicking brief and sinuous against his full lips…
But then his eyes snapped shut, and that was surely a grimace on his mouth, grinding in his jaw. And his hand was gripping tighter at Maria’s contract, crumpling it slightly in his claws, and he was going to refuse, he was going to say no, he was going tosend her away—
The panic was rising, thehysteria, Maria’s fingers pressing hard against his hammering heart. And her other hand had found his chest too, feeling it, drinking up its steady strength — and then sliding, somehow, upwards. Wet fingers slipping up over smooth skin, hard muscle, the broad ridge of his collarbone. Until she’d found his neck, thick and corded and scratchy with stubble, his pulse throbbing tight beneath it…
And in a jolt, a breath, Maria tilted her face up, drew his head down — andkissedhim.
It was only a brief brush, wet lips meeting warm skin — but in its wake, something seemed to shatter between them, streaking white and wild beneath Maria’s skin. Swarming her with heat, with that rough, rugged scent of him, sparking upon her tongue…
Simon still hadn’t moved — hadn’t reciprocated, hadn’tbreathed— but Maria could stillfeelhim, taste him, drink up the increasingly erratic flare of his heartbeat beneath her fingers. He liked this, he wanted this, wantedher, and gods he tasted like earth, like hunger, likeheaven…
So she drew him down closer, stood on tiptoes in the basin — and kissed him again. Harder this time, deeper, her traitorous tongue slipping against the line of his warm full mouth. Silently pleading with him, begging him to open, to let her in…
He relented with a groan, thick and guttural from his throat, vibrating against Maria’s still-clinging fingers — and suddenly, there waschaos. His huge hard body melting fluid and fierce against hers, his powerful hands gripping at her waist, yanking her fully out of the basin — and his mouth was here, his strong lips and tongue caressing, taking,invading, filling her with his scent his breath histruth—
And Maria was dragging it up, drinking deep, because she’d never been kissed like this before, never known hunger or power like this — and her only thought, bright and blaring, was to drink more. Clutch him closer. Grind her starving, pulsing groin against the rapidly swelling beast digging into her belly, already streaking slick against her wet skin…
Her arms had both circled around his neck, somehow, her leg hitching up behind his thigh — and in another fluid flash of movement, he lifted her off the floor entirely. Freeing both her legs to circle around his powerful waist, spreading her wide apart against him — andfuck, she was naked, he was naked, and that meant he was —there. That huge monster pressed tight and raging andalive, shuddering and swelling against the full exposed length of Maria’s parted crease.
And rather than complaining, protesting, Maria could feel her body gripping at him, slipping against him, greedy and depraved. While his slick powerful tongue delved deep against her actualthroat, perhaps hinting at what he would like to do below, ohgods—
But then the trampling pleasure yanked back, away. Simon’s mouth yanked away, even as he’d been smoothly striding toward the bed — and suddenly Maria was standing on a cold floor, naked and hot and trembling all over.
“Maria,” Simon’s voice breathed, a low hissing heat, and when she blinked at him, he was leaning backwards, slightly away from her. Even as his tongue kept stroking his lips, as his hands stayed gripped on her waist, that slick swollen beast still grinding close against her belly…
“You are —sureof this,” he whispered, his eyes glittering so bright, sohungry, on hers. “You wish for this.”
The sound barking from Maria’s throat was half-laugh, half-growl — and she felt her sparking, shivering body hurl itself back toward him, her starving fingers spreading wide against his chest, revelling in the smooth heated skin, the pebbled grey nipples, the ever-constant thunder of his heart…
“Yes,” she gasped at him, as one of her audacious hands slipped around his back, stroking against the hard curve of it, the warm rippling muscle beneath his skin. “Gods, I keep telling you, yes. I groped you in ahallway. I begged you tosprayyourself on me.”
And in this moment, in the screaming haze of this hunger, the memory of him doing that was suddenly a deep, raw, primally powerful thrill. Claiming her, he’d said, marking her, covering her with his scent…
Gods, she needed it, needed more — but when she lunged for his mouth again, he yanked back with astonishing speed, his claws pressing brief and dangerous against her skin.
“And after this, you cowered, and shouted, andwept,” he countered. “I yet taste yourfear, woman.”
“Yes, because youragedat me!” Maria replied, though the words came out heated, breathless. “You smashed arockagainst your wall, when I innocently insinuated that maybe your room could use a littletidying!”
Simon’s brows instantly furrowed, the low growl rumbling in his throat — but it somehow seemed far less terrifying than before, even when those claws flexed sharper, threatening, against her skin.
“Maria,” he said again, harder this time. “It was no only this. And should you stay, it no be only” — he hesitated, his fingers spreading on her waist, claws digging deeper — “this.”
Maria gasped and shivered before him, her lips parted and panting, her hungry hand again creeping toward his chest. “Then what will it be.”
That chest heaved against her touch, his breath harsh enough to flutter her damp hair. “You obey me, and yield to me,” he replied, his voice so low, so smooth. “You no fear this, or bear shame. Youwelcomethis. Youhonourme in this.”
And it was hysteria, surely, finally consuming her whole — but Maria’s arms only grasped for him, yanked him, felt the hazy thrill of that huge body moving so easy toward her —
“And this isn’t honouring you?” she breathed, as she shoved him —shoved him!— down toward the fur-covered bed behind his knees. “This isn’t what you want?”
And itwas, he’d settled there with his legs sprawled wide apart, his hands still gripping at her waist, his length jutting up hard and veined and dripping. And like this, his face was almost on a level with hers, his black eyes glinting — and it was easy, so damned easy, to step closer between those legs, to reach for that huge shuddering heat —
“Maria,” he hissed again, as one of his hands snapped up, catching both her wrists in its powerful grip. “It is more than this. I shall bare you.Flauntyou.”
He spoke it like a threat, hoarse and hot in his throat — but he’d also shifted his grip on Maria’s wrists, turning her palms inward. And then — her breath twisted into a groan — he placed one of her own hands firmly upon her breast, and pressed the other to her groin.
“I shall bring you to the light,” he whispered, grinding her hands close against her skin, making his silent command all too clear. “Show you to all who wish to see.”
