Darius: Lord of Pleasures by Grace Burrowes Page A

bringing a lump to his throat even as his body went limp and sated against the bed. “For that, you have to kiss me.”
    She let go of his cock. He felt her balance on her hands and knees over him then give him her mouth. It was good this way, with her above him so he could sip and kiss and take from her while his heart slowed its pounding and his breathing calmed. And the blindfold comforted too, giving him a kind of privacy, keeping his eyes and the secrets they’d reveal safe from her scrutiny.
    “Darius, are you all right?”
    For that question, he gave her a little of his heart. There was concern in her voice, and her hand smoothed his hair back, the first spontaneous caress she’d offered him. God, she was dear…
    “I’m undone. Wonderfully undone, but my blindfold could be put to use elsewhere, if you’ll allow it.”
    “Of course.” She sat back, and he missed the proximity of her without even being able to see her. He sat up and felt her untying the knot at the back of his head.
    “Water?”
    She passed him a glass from the night table, and he dribbled some onto his stomach then used his handkerchief to wipe himself clean.
    “That’s your seed?”
    “It is,” he said, recalling that he was abed with a curious, wonderfully ignorant woman. “And I’ve lost my erection, thanks to you.”
    She looked worried, and he had to smile. “Don’t worry, Vivvie, it will come back any time you want it to.”
    “That’s normal, isn’t it?” She worried her lip, regarding the softening length of him with a frown.
    “Of course.” He kissed her cheek, just because he could. “And it’s normal to cuddle up for a bit afterward.” For some lucky people, in any case.
    She looked uncertain, and Darius had to wonder what was wrong with William Longstreet. Even if the man couldn’t get his wife pregnant, even if his elderly vanity required the candles snuffed on every occasion, surely he wasn’t denying the woman all the marital intimacies?
    “Normal for me,” he clarified, and her expression eased, then her brow puckered again. “No.” He drew a finger down the middle of her forehead and over her nose. “I am not going to get dressed just to climb into bed with you, silly woman. Let me bank the coals, and we’ll talk, if that’s what you want.”
    He hoped she wanted to talk, wanted to have discussions with him she’d not had with anybody else, including her brilliant statesman of a dim-witted husband.
    She shifted to let him off the bed. He knew she was watching him as he hunkered naked before the hearth, poked the logs to the back of the andirons, and secured the fireplace screen. She was watching as he ambled back across the room, and she watched him as he blew out the candles one by one.
    “I can hear you thinking,” he mused as he blew out the last candle. “I’m not a diviner of thoughts, Vivvie. What has your mill wheel turning at such a great rate?”
    “Do you intend to sleep here?”
    “Ah.” He scooted across the bed and drew the covers up over them both. “We can negotiate this if it bothers you, but yes, I think that makes the most sense.”
    “I’m not sure I’ll be able to go to sleep with you here.”
    “Naked, don’t you mean?”
    She yelped as he drew her into his arms and hauled her back against his chest.
    “You’ll sleep,” he assured her, kissing her nape. “You’ll sleep a lot better without this lawn tent between us.”
    “I get to keep my lawn tent for tonight,” she replied. “What are you doing ?”
    He’d spooned himself around her, settling one hand over her breast, snugging his groin up to her buttocks.
    “Cuddling.” He bit her neck this time. “And, my God, you are a delight to cuddle with.”
    “Don’t do that.”
    “What?” He gently squeezed her breast again. “This?”
    “That.” But she sighed after she said it, giving herself away.
    “All right.” He relaxed his grip. “You’ve had an adventure, after all, so I should let you get