Knight of Pentacles (Knights of the Tarot Book 3) by Nina Mason Page B

led him down a short hallway. The cottage was dark and smelled of cinders and mildew.
    She pulled him through a doorway and flipped a switch on the wall. Light flooded the room, blinding him momentarily. There was a bed in the center with a headboard of brass. The coverlet atop the mattress resembled a field of flowers.
    Putting her arms around his neck, she pulled his mouth against hers. Desire detonated in his groin, setting fire to his blood. He moaned, drew back, and blinked at her.
    “Are you sure you want to do this?”
    She nodded and licked her lips before pulling her sweater over her head. Static made her hair stick to her face, which was tear-stained and flushed. She pushed back a clinging strand and met his gaze. “Yes. I’m sure. I want you, Axel. More than I’ve ever wanted anyone.”
    He shivered as she pressed her open palm to the spot on his chest where the arrow had struck him. Her touch was no less devastating to his welfare.
    Clasping her hand, he brought it to his mouth and kissed her fingers, one by one. They tasted of the woods at night. Of damp earth, sweet grass, and silver moonbeams.
    Her other hand burnished his erection through his trews. As sweet tongues of fire licked his cods, he liberated her breasts from her bra. They were the bonniest pair he had ever beheld. Round, full, and as white as fresh cream. The pale pink nipples were already aroused. When he brushed his thumbs across the firm tips, she gasped in a way that made his cock throb with approval.
    Gliding his hands down the smooth curves of her body to the waistband of her jeans, he hooked a finger through one of the belt loops and tugged. “These need to come off.”
    “So do these.” She brazenly yanked down his trews, freeing the blood-gorged beast within before lifting the front of his tunic. She took his measure. “Well, hello there. It’s so nice to finally meet one of your kind.”
    Her boldness gave him pleasure, as did the sensations provoked by her fingers gliding over his length. From what little he could observe from his wee acre of the world, much had changed since he was mortal. Luckily, one thing remained the same as it ever was. He lowered the zipper on her jeans, revealing the skimpy pink undergarment she wore beneath. Pushing his hand inside the delicate fabric, he homed in on the locus of her pleasure and teased her until her breathing grew heavy and labored.
    “Have you ever brought yourself to climax?” He withdrew his hand.
    “No.”
    “Why not?”
    “Because I’ve always been told touching myself in that way was sinful.”
    “That is ludicrous.” He frowned at her, incredulous. “How can something natural, which gives such pleasure and hurts no one, be wrong?”
    “Lots of things that feel good are wrong, Axel. Most things, actually.”
    His mouth cocked into a half-smirk. “According to whom?”
    “My father.”
    Pulling out of his reach, she kicked off her shoes and stripped off her jeans. Now in only those sweet pink panties and her pulled-down bra, she lay across the bed sideways with her long, slender legs dangling over the side.
    As lust sawed him in half, it was all he could do not to come off right then. There was an armchair in the corner. Moving toward it, he removed his runes from his belt and set the pouch on the cushion.
    While he disrobed, she said, “I saw you last night. In the pool of the falls.”
    A smile played on his lips as he conjured an image of her watching him in secret. She might be innocent, but she was also a vixen—a combination that quickened his pulse. “Did you like what you saw?”
    “I only saw your admirable backside, which, I must say, looks even better close up.” Her tone was tinged with mirth.
    Turning around, he walked to the bed and stood over her, giving her a full view of his attributes as he considered where to begin. It would be her fist time with a man, her first time penetrated, her first time brought to orgasm. The experience would be inscribed