Page 23 of Victorian Bride

Kayden looked entirely too pleased with himself at the answer, and she rather wished she hadn't given it, but there was nothing to be done about it when the word had already left her lips.

“You are quite a pleasure to regard, yourself,” he said, leaning down to brush his lips over the shell of her ear and making her breath hitch as his blew warm over her skin. There was a tension in his voice that said he was trying not to laugh. “I think we make a handsome couple.”

Mya hooked a leg around his hip to drag him closer. “Stop admiring yourself and do something useful, would you?”

“As you wish.”

In the next moment, he was pressing inside her, groaning against her neck as he filled her with a long, slow thrust. Mya echoed the sound, spine curving and toes curling, arching up into the weight of his body against her own.

He felt familiar. Like her body knew his. Like safety, and warmth, and pleasure burning its way through the core of her. They moved together in an easy rhythm, and Mya let herself go. She met him each time he rocked down, moaned his name without care for who might hear. It didn't matter. All that mattered was Kayden—on top of her, inside her, all around her.

Her nails raked lines down his back, and Kayden hissed pleasure and pain, answering the sting with a bite at the curve of her throat, where it would be hidden by the high collar of her everyday dress.

“Mya,” he growled, picking up the pace. “Mya... Damn.”

“Yes.” Pleasure dragged her eyelids down, but she didn't let them close, kept her gaze fixed on his face. He was looking down at her too, with a hungry intensity in his dark eyes that made the pleasure shared between them somehow stronger. Sharper. “Yes,” she said again. “Kayden.”

He moved faster still, and harder. Mya could hear the headboard of the bed rocking against the wall, and was once more grateful for the deserted wing they shared. Kayden traced her jawline with his lips, and found her mouth with his.

They rocked like that, wrapped around each other and pressed together at every possible point. It was perfect. Damn perfect. It was amazing. He was amazing, and Mya couldn't think past him and the way he felt. The way they felt together.

He was getting close. She could feel it in the way that his rhythm faltered, knew the way that his breath came in quick pants. His fingers stroked over her waist, her hip. Mya felt the pleasure building at her core, and kissed him hard. Hungry.

They went over the edge together. She cried out, and Kayden muffled a gasp of her name against her shoulder. His hands curled bruisingly tight over the curves of her hips.

Slowly, the hands holding her went lax and fell away. Kayden rolled to the side to avoid putting all his weight down on her, and they lay side by side in the rumpled sheets, both of them panting, and grinning at nothing.

“Useful enough for you?” Kayden asked at last, turning his head so he could watch her profile.

“I would say that I am satisfied with your performance.”

“'Satisfied?' Is that all?”

“Mmm.” Mya stared up at the ceiling, pretending to consider her answer. “I am not sure. I think it might require a repeat performance, to test the results.”

Kayden laughed, and an arm slid beneath her and pulled her to him, her head against his shoulder and her body wrapped around his. “You are a cruel mistress.”

“Cruel? Not in the least. I am only demanding. I wish to make sure that you are giving me your best.” She tipped her head back to look up at him. “A gentleman must always offer his utmost, after all. “

“This gentleman is going to show you a thing or two in a moment.”

Mya sniffed. “I should like to see you try.”

“Is that a challenge, my lady?” Kayden asked.

He didn’t wait for her answer. As it turned out, he had a thing or two to show her after all.

Chapter 10

The entire household woke late.

At least the three ladies who had partied for the night. Mya couldn’t say the same about the maids and staff. Hopefully no one noticed Kayden leaving. He had not left until nearly dawn, sneaking away before anyone entered Mya’s room to find him there.

Mya wandered down to breakfast well after noon, to find Eleanora seated at the table and Lottie nowhere to be found. She took a seat across from the other woman, hiding a yawn behind her hand. It had been an amazing night.

“Good morning… or nearly afternoon,” Eleanora said, looking up from the book she had been reading and smiling at Mya. “Did you sleep well?”

“Quite well, actually.” Mya pulled two pieces of toast from the rack and set them on her plate with an egg and a small pile of orange slices. “I think I tired myself out last night.” She glanced around. “Where is Lottie?”