Her eyebrows rose delicately and she stilled. “You wanted to talk about sex?”
“No,” he assured her quickly. That was a topic he was supposed to stay away from, Santo recalled, but then realized he was also nodding his head even as he said no. Forcing himself to stop nodding, he squawked the next word that jumped out at him from his earlier thoughts. “Orgies.”
Pet’s eyes widened. “Orgies?”
“Phallus,” Santo added, and then slapped his hand over his mouth, trying to stop the words that kept leaping out of his treacherous lips. He followed that up by closing his eyes on a groan of dismay and letting his head drop back to rest on the chair back. Good Lord, when had he lost his mind? And how was he supposed to talk to her about himself and his past with her sitting there looking so damned—
“Are you all right?”
It wasn’t the words so much as how close they sounded that caught his attention. Opening his eyes, Santo lifted his head and then froze again when he saw that she had crossed the room to stand between his splayed knees. She was now bending forward as if to touch him.
Pet froze when Santo raised his head and looked at her. She’d been about to touch his arm and perhaps feign a loss of balance and then tumble decorously into his lap as part of her seduction routine. The nightgown had been the first part of her plotting. Actually, it had been all the plotting she’d managed when she’d gone to her room to change. Put on a sexy nightgown and hope he was so overcome with lust he forgot all about talking and they could get on to the good stuff.
Pet had always been impetuous by nature, but even she had got a little nervous once she’d changed into the nightie. She’d pushed those nerves aside, though, and headed out, stopping only to look in and be sure Parker was sleeping soundly, and not letting herself think much about what she was doing for fear she’d lose her nerve. Santo’s reaction had been gratifying. At least at first. She wasn’t sure what to make of the words he’d started barking at her, though. Sex? Orgies? Phallus?
Still, when he’d looked so pained, covered his mouth, and dropped his head back, she’d seen an opportunity to get closer to him under the guise of concern. The idea about tumbling into his lap had only struck her as she’d crossed the room to reach him. But the sight of his silvered eyes made her pause and catch her breath. They were so beautiful . . . and so hungry.
Pet was still staring at those eyes with fascination, when Santo suddenly lunged forward. Snatching her up, he pulled her off her feet and dragged her with him as he fell back in the chair again. Pet found herself on his lap in a cocoon made up of his chest and arms, but her smile of relief died on a gasp as his mouth covered hers.
There was no feathering of lips first, no soft seeking kiss. It was like she’d unleashed a beast intent on devouring her as his mouth claimed hers and his tongue swept in to conquer. Pet stilled briefly under the onslaught, but only very briefly, and then her own passion rose to meet his and she gave as good as she got. Battling him with her lips and tongue, she managed to free her hands from between them. One immediately slid to clutch at his shoulder, while the other went around his neck and then up so that she could scrape her nails over his bare head.
Santo murmured into her mouth at that, and then broke their kiss and growled, “We should talk,” as he shifted her to sit upright in his lap and began to push her robe off her shoulders.
“We will,” Pet panted, lowering her arms so that he could remove the silk cloth.
Santo grunted at that, and then caught her at the waist and shifted her to straddle him so that he could close his mouth around one nipple through the lacy covering of her nightie. Pet gasped and then bit her lip and groaned with pleasure as he tongued the sensitive tip through the thin material.
She was so distracted by what he was doing that Pet was barely aware of his urging her arms down to her sides until he stopped what he was doing and raised his mouth briefly from her breast. She glanced down then to see that he’d slid the straps of her nightie off of her shoulders and was urging them down her arms. She immediately shifted her arms so the straps slid down and off. It left her nightie to gather around her waist, leaving her bare from there up. Santo immediately took advantage of this and lowered his head to reclaim the nipple he’d been teasing through the lace.
Pet gasped and shuddered as he began to draw on the sensitive nub, her arms closing around his head. But when his teeth grazed the aching bud, she caught his ears and tried to urge him back to kissing her in a bid to stop the almost painful pleasure. Much to her relief, Santo released the excited nipple at once, but only to shift to the side and claim the other one.
Moaning, “Oh, God,” Pet shifted her hands to his shoulders and dug her nails in, her lower body grinding against the hardness she could feel beneath her.
Santo groaned in response, the sound vibrating against her breast and then he suckled harder, almost painfully as his hands slid under her bottom and squeezed and kneaded eagerly.
Pet murmured something nonsensical even to herself and let her head tip back as her body responded to the caresses, and then gasped when his hands shifted lower and together so that his fingers were brushing against where the cheeks met and farther forward where she was most sensitive.
“Santo, please,” she gasped, her bottom squirming into his touch.
He responded at once by letting one hand slide under to drift over the more sensitive area. Straddling his legs as Pet was, that part of her was completely open to him, and she shuddered and groaned as his fingers grazed her damp core.
“Yes,” Pet gasped when the groan ended, her hips shifting into the caress, only to groan again as his fingers left her. But he was just moving his hand around to the front to caress her more easily, she realized when his hand slid between her legs again.
She raised herself to a kneeling position when he urged her upward. It lifted her breast out of his reach, but Pet didn’t care when his hand began to caress her, his talented fingers gliding over her slick flesh in quick firm motions, and then slower teasing ones. He was very skilled, and Pet had the mad thought that she wished she could thank those three thousand women for their aid in making him so skilled.
She gasped in surprise when he nipped at her stomach and then pressed his mouth over the spot and sucked gently, and then his hand withdrew, and he caught her by the upper thighs and raised her in front of him, his tongue and lips trailing down her stomach. Pet’s eyes widened and she grabbed for his head and then didn’t even have that to hold on to as she found herself suddenly standing with her feet on either side of his hips as he buried his mouth between her thighs and lashed her with his tongue.
Pet cried out softly, her shaky legs collapsing, but he merely pushed the backs of her knees forward to press against the back of the chair as he continued to devour her. But when she curled forward, over his head, he suddenly shifted forward.
Eyes opening, Pet gasped as she found herself falling backward, but his hands shifted, holding her bottom and her back as he laid her down on the footstool in front of the chair. It was as wide as the chair, perhaps three feet by two feet, and he set her down so that her head rested just at the edge. She opened her eyes as she felt the cool cloth against her back, and then he raised up to kiss her.
He was kneeling at the end of the footstool now, her knees spread on either side of his hips, his body bent over hers and one hand keeping his weight off of her as his other slid between her legs to fondle her where his mouth had so recently been pleasuring her.
Pet moaned and slid her arms around his neck to kiss him urgently back. Her feet pushed at the floor, lifting her hips into his caress, and then he broke the kiss and his mouth moved to a spot below her ear, before sliding down her throat. He licked and nipped his way down to one breast and then over to the other, his fingers never stopping, but slowing and gentling just when she was sure she was about to tumble headfirst into the release that was waiting for her, only to start moving more quickly and firmly again once she’d calmed. He just kept pushing her to the edge and then pulling her back until she thought she might hurt him if he’d didn’t stop, and then his mouth was traveling down her stomach.
The muscles in Pet’s belly began to ripple under the assault, and she drew her knees up. Planting her feet on either side of his shoulders, she dug in, pushing her body up the footstool until her head was hanging off the end and her center was at a more convenient spot for his mouth to reach.
Apparently, recognizing what she wanted, Santo chuckled against the skin of her stomach, but he wouldn’t be rushed. He simply shifted to continue nipping and licking her stomach, the hand between her legs driving her absolutely mad as his mouth made its desultory journey down to caress the crease where her leg met her body.
Pet was gasping and crying out, her body trembling and shuddering as his wonderful mouth followed that sensitive crease downward. But then he finally removed his fingers from between her legs, used both hands to spread her legs as wide as they would go, and then ducked his head between her thighs.
The first brush of his tongue across her sensitive skin had her covering her own mouth with her hand to keep from crying out in both pleasure and protest, and then he settled in and feasted on her. That was the only description for what Santo did, he nibbled and then suckled on the folds that sheltered her core, and then pressed them open and laved every inch of the flesh he exposed, before settling on the growing bud of her excitement and suckling at that.
Pet’s heart was hammering like a drum, her head twisting frantically, she was clutching desperately at the sides of the footstool and murmuring nonsensical nothings as her body threatened to come apart, and then he slid one large finger into her as he sucked hard on her clit and the world exploded around her. Pet was vaguely aware of screaming and reached up quickly to cover her mouth, but instead she ended up biting it as wave after wave of pleasure crashed over her, until it finally dragged her into unconsciousness.
Pet woke up in Santo’s arms. Blinking her eyes open, she peered up at him with confusion and then glanced around as she realized they were moving. He was carrying her down the short hall to her bedroom.