Authors: Nichole Matthews
Persephone
couldn’t help the grin that tugged at her chin.
“Demons have haunted my dreams for years, Parker.” She reached up and smoothed her hand ov
er his jaw loving the feel of the growth of stubble
against her palm. “You have banished them.”
“I pray that I never cause shadows to cloud your sparkling emerald eyes again.”
She turned her face up to the dark sky, the stars obscured by clouds.
“It appears as if it might snow.” She snuggled closer to his side.
“Persephone,” Parker drawled out. He knew she was only teasing him, but still he needed to hear the words. “You are deliberately making me worry.”
Persephone pulled back and looked up into his eyes. Hers full of happiness. “Never, my lord,” she murmured.
He tugged her across the bridge into the sma
ll room. A wicked smile appeared
when he spotted the small stove in the corner of the folly.
Hawksley
thought of everything
. He knelt down and
lit a fire in the stove, the
small room immediately growing warm. “Perhaps you will allow me to persuade you, my lady?”
Persephon
e felt a warm trickle of
heat flow down her body to pool in her womanly place at his words. She turned her eyes to him, her bottom lip captured by her teeth.
Parker watched as she slowly undid the top hooks of her pelisse and let the garment fall unheeded to the floor. “Perhaps.”
He
took a moment to
shrug out of his tightly-fitted
coat and draped it over the chair sitting by the window. Then he removed his cravat
, looping it around her neck
pulling her to him.
“I love your freckles.” He kissed her nose,
cupping her face in his hands
Persephone
scrubbed her hand over her nose as if to remove the offending spots as she
leaned into his warmth. “Will
Hawksley
be disturbed that we are taking advantage of his secluded folly?”
“He is too engrossed with his
wife and his child to even think twice on us.”
Parker turned her around and began unlacing her dress. Watching as it fell down her arms. He leaned in and kissed th
e back of her neck, trailing his lips
over her shoulders
before pushing the dress over her hips to pool at her feet. Next he tugged at the lacing of her corset
an
d heat flooded her inner thighs of all place
s as he pulled it from her body.
He looked down at
her;
his eyes burned a deep blue in the glow of the small f
ire. He lowered his mouth, moving
over hers, his tongue pressing past her lips to lick at her tongue as his long fingers curled around the aching softness of her breast. The rasp of her cotton chemis
e against her swollen peaks sent
shoots of pleasure straight to her toes.
Parker’s mouth brushed over hers an
d she lifted up on her toes
wrapp
ing
her arms around his neck
and kissed
him back.
His hands lowered
to the hem of
her chemise
and her arms flew down to hold it in place
.
“Must you remove all my clothes?”
Parker leaned down and placed a tender kiss on her nose.
“It is not necessary, love.”
He stared deeply into her eyes, searchingly. “But I
’ve been dying to see you
unclothed
once again
.”
Persephone lowered her eyes. “My scars.”
He placed his forefinger under her chin and lifted.
“You are
nothing but beauty
to me.”
His voice
rough.
He kissed her forehead, brushing a few wisps of hair out of her eyes.
Persephone stared at him
quietly, trying to read his expressions, his thoughts
. Wanting to believe he meant every word. “Thank you.”
A smile slowly stole
across Persephone’s face.
Parker could see her nervousness by the way her lip was clenched tightly between her teeth.
She
raised her arm
s over her head and he lifted
the chemise
and tossed it carelessly aside.
He reached out to stroke her cheek
the heat of her fierce blush against the pad of his fingertip
.
“See, I told you. Beautiful.”
She sighed at the feel of his soft touch.
He removed
the remainder of his clothes,
his vest, his shirt, his boots, and his trousers with no regard to their end, then he
leaned over and gave her a hard, long kiss. “Tomorrow.”
Persephone giggled against his lips. “Parker,” she drawled out
, stroking his cheek
.
Parker kissed her slowly, then lifted her into his arms and laid her on the small daybed in the corner.
He knelt in the cradle of her legs running his hands down her sides, over her hips
until his fingers played in the damp red curls at the juncture of her thighs.
“God, Persephone.”
He closed
his eyes, drawing a deep breath.
He bent his head to kiss her. He traced over the carving over her hip. “I am sorry for what you were forced to endure.”
She pulled back and smiled
, kissing his cheek softly
.
“Your heart is full of compassion
.”
He nuzzled her neck,
pushing aside the loose red curls that teased her nape,
nibbling on her neck,
kissing her ear, her cheek.
“
Tomorrow,
”
he repeated taking his time. He tasted her skin with hot, wet, open-mouthed kisses that aroused her.
“You
are
a persistent man, my lord.”
She arched her back as his hot breath and wet mouth discovered a very sensitive area of her throat.
He groaned. “No
t
,
my lord
ing
me
,
again.”
A slow grin started and spread until she almost laughed out loud. “I believe you should
work at your powers of persuasion a bit more
,
my lord
.”
Parker rolled his eyes.
“Five more minutes at least,” she said quite innocently.
“Five minutes?”
“I believe that should be sufficient time to conclude your persuasion.”
“You have no idea,”
he muttered.
“Pardon?”
Parker hid his smile. “Five minutes it is.” He grabbed her around the waist and rolled over with her straddling his hips.
Persephone gasped as she felt his hard
ened
manhood
rising thick and long between them
pressed against her aching mound.
She rocked back and forth as heat spread through her.
Parker gripped her waist, his fingers flexing against her back.
“Feel what you do to me, Persephone.”
He smiled at her, but if he could look in a mirror he knew it probably looked more like a grimace.
Persephone reached out and smoothed the lines bracketing his mouth. She wriggled and he could feel her damp
heat
rotating against his groin.
Parker reached down between their bodies and stroked her slick flesh with his finger. “
I believe I
have your answer, my love.”
“Do you?” She closed her eyes, relishing
the feel of his hands on her body
.
He lifted her and she reached down and grasp
ed
his rigid length, positioning him at the opening of her body and slowly lowered herself until she was fully impaled on his straining flesh.
“Persephone.” His head fell back, his features taut with pleasure as he gripped her bo
ttom more firmly with his hands
,
to
o
overwhelmed with desire to do much of anything else
.
Persephone paused; letting him stretch
her, fill her, a shiver raced
down her spine.
She opened her eyes to find him watching her with a wicked smile on his face.
His hands roamed over her body. Her arms, over her shoulders, down her back until they gripped the soft globes of her bottom again.
“Yo
u are wasting your five minutes,
”
she teased.
He raised her until the knob of his cock rested just inside her entrance. “I better work fast.”
She didn’t think his eyes could darken any more than they were, but they turned a rich midnight blue.
Then he slammed her down, his cock nudging her womb and sending thick waves of pleasures to her core
and he nearly climaxed when she began to move setting a
delicious rhythm. She leaned over and placed her lips over his, plunging her tongue in his
mouth desperate for his taste
. A
t the same time his rough, hot palm rasped up her side until he molded it to her breast.
She arched her
back as his call
uses
rubbed erotically over her distended nipple. His fingers close
d over her rigid peak
and pinched, rolling it between his finger and his thumb. She groaned into his mouth and he captured her breath
as
she lifted and lowered herself up and down his cock
.
“You ar
e killing me,” he growled at the same time he thrust up into her. She gasped
. He lifted his head and closed his mouth around her nipple and sucked hard
while simultaneously stroking the nub between her legs triggering a loud cry
as her climax overtook her
.
Parker smiled thrusting up into her one, two,
and three
more times before he gave into
his release. She fell against his
chest
snuggling
deeper into his
arms
, listening as
his erratic heartbeat beg
a
n to slow and steady. She
watched the flicker of firelight play across the walls of the folly.
She smiled as his arms came tighter around her
stroking his hand up and down her back
.
“Five minutes was more than enough.”
“Tomorrow,” he whispered.
“Hmm...,” she replied.
Parker brush
ed his lips across her forehead and he finally heard her murmur,
tomorrow.
He gathered her closer and smiled.
***
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Parker asked quietly when Peyton continued to be silent. “You had to know I would keep your secret. Instead you allowed me to think the worst.”
He leaned forward in his chair with his hands gripping the arms.
Peyton blew out his breath. He knew how much he had hurt his brother. The raw edge in Parker’s voice cut deep. Deeper than any of the horrors he had witnessed over the past two years.
“Know that it was not by choice.”
Parker studied him in silence for a long moment.
“Never again will you cause me this much worry.”
Peyton
eyed his older brother nodding
s
olemnly
.
“Come home after the wedding.”
Parker stared back, his blue eyes steely with determination.
Peyton leveled a stare at his brother.
“I can’t.”
Parker
’
s gaze narrowed and a frown marred the line of his mouth.
“Why the hell not?”
he demanded.
Peyton leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. His hands shook and it frustrated him. He gripped the arms of the chair to still them. How did he explain all that was running through his mind? He needed quiet. He didn’t want to think.
And he definitely didn’t believe that he could be civil for much longer.
“Peyton?” Parker prompted when the silence grew longer.
“Talk to me.” Helplessness and frustration swamped him at his brother’s silence.
What could he do?
He felt utterly powerless
.