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She was in an intense heaven. And she was climbing somewhere, somewhere she didn’t know and yet sinking even deeper into her own body.

And she wanted more. So much more.

She was also feeling something very, very long and hard pressing against her stomach.

And the more she squirmed on the duke’s knees, the more that thing twitched and grew and poked at her. Then she was also hearing him moan, and growl, and curse.

“Did you have enough, love?” he asked, almost breathlessly, and she shook her head very distinctively no. “Then perhaps this should be your punishment.”

He withdrew his hand, and she did give a sound of protest, but then his hand went between her legs, in the crease where her sex was, and his fingers cupped it.

She gasped, squirmed, and a different sort of pleasure shot through her, her sex clenching even harder with some sort of need, and something wet and slippery came out of her body.

“Oh God!” she whispered as she buried her face in her palms. “I’m sorry!”

He chuckled softly. “Don’t worry, dear sweet girl, this is perfectly normal. This means you want me. Don’t you?”

At that, his fingers went between her folds and played with her there, making her clench and ache with ever more intense need.

“So tight,” he purred as he inserted a finger in her body—and it did feel tight to her, like he didn’t have much space to move, and she loved the sensation of him entering her in that way. “So warm and so sleek,” he murmured as he kept playing around her folds.

She began begging, unable to restrict herself. “Please…” and “Keep going…” and “Do not stop!”

And he didn’t. His fingers found an interesting spot in her body, somewhere in the center of her folds, and she jerked with the unexpected intensity of pleasure.

He touched her there, played with that place, tugging, rubbing, pinching. It felt like the more she moaned and trembled, the more he did whatever felt best to her.

And it was when he leaned down and bit her bottom that something incredible happened to her body, and she reached a breathtaking peak.

She froze, uncertain what was happening, except for her bottom throbbing and pulsating and ecstasy consuming her. And she just hung there, experiencing this beautiful clenching, but in her entire pelvis.

After what felt like too soon, she fell apart, unable to stop her cries of bliss, her body shaking with uncontrollable tremors as he kept massaging that beautiful place inside her, milking every last drop of pleasure from her.

As she trembled in his arms, he gently stroked her back and her behind as though she was a cat. When she calmed down, feeling heavy and sated, the skin of her bottom still tingling, he pulled her on top of him as though she weighed nothing and stretched together with her along the bed.

He pulled the blanket over both of them, and she was wonderfully soft and warm in the embrace of his stone-hard muscular arms. The crease between his chest and his shoulder was a perfect place to lay her head.

She closed her eyes and released a long, satisfied sigh. Feeling his warm, solid presence gently holding her, her eyelids rolled down, and a sweet, heavy contentment filled her.

Oh, she was going to fall asleep. No noises, no scratches, no creaking of floorboards would touch her while he had his arms around her.

“Are you very hurt, sweet girl?” he whispered, his warm breath tickling her forehead.

“No,” she murmured. “You’re very welcome to punish me this way again.”

Something more than physical had been released in this experience. He had satisfied a need she didn’t know she had.

His chest moved sharply as he inhaled. “The only problem is, darling, I’d like to be much, much rougher with you.”

Much, much rougher? She couldn’t imagine him being rough with her at all, despite the lethal strength in the blows she’d seen during his boxing practice. And still, like some sort of masochist, her insides clenched with a sweet anticipation at the words.

She’d ask about her brother again tomorrow…or another day. And then he’d punish her again.

“We’ll see,” she murmured as she wriggled her head, finding even more comfort with him.

“You may plant your roses in the garden tomorrow,” he murmured. Then he kissed the top of her head. “Now, sleep.”

And sleep she did.