Page 77 of Ruthless, But for Her

He looked up then. “Come for me, sweet Cassia.”

And then he licked her from top to bottom. Her hips pressed into his mouth, and she cried out. He took every bit of her pleasure, and only stopped when she sagged into the bed, panting.

Wiping his mouth, Ashton knelt between her legs, worshiping her as she deserved.

He didn't sleep on the floor that night.

CHAPTER 44

Cassia

She woke to find him running his fingers up and down her arm, and her, cocooned into him, her head on the pillow and back tucked against his chest.

A thoroughly enjoyable way to awaken.

He'd done it again. After that first incredible experience, Cassia had no words and found she didn't need them. She simply asked for him to stay in the bed, somehow sensing he’d planned not to, and Ashton silently agreed. But at some point in the night, unused to sleeping beside someone, she woke and tucked herself deeper into him. It began with a simple kiss and ended with his hand between her legs, and that glorious feeling he called release being gifted to her again.

“What you did to me,” she said. Cassia was glad her back was to him, as it made it somehow easier to say the words. “I had no notion such a thing was possible. It felt glorious.”

“It is how it is supposed to feel when you couple with someone interested in giving you pleasure.”

“But I didn’t give you pleasure.” She knew at least that much.

“Untrue.” That was all he said. Cassia turned toward him, until she and Ashton were almost nose to nose. This felt somehow even more intimate. “I am aware we've not yet coupled.”

“No, we have not, but I told you, last night was for you. It was important for you to learn that it's possible to receive pleasure when with a man.”

She thought about that. She hadn't known such a thing was possible. She would ask for him to let her return the pleasure, but the thought of Roland made her hold her tongue.

“I wish it were not so,” he said. “But it's best we leave before first light.”

She wished it weren't so, too. Cassia could remain this way throughout the day. Instead, they rose and quietly dressed by candlelight. Oddly, she would miss this simple bedchamber at the Wild Boar. Though her future was uncertain, Cassia knew that Ashton had given her something precious while they were here.

He'd also revealed himself fully. As they fetched the horses and began their trek back to Mere's End, Cassia could not help but imagine Roland in the North Sea, reaching up desperately, and Ashton ignoring his plea. She should have condemned him for it, but a part of her understood why he had done it. Even then, Ashton had protected her.

The ride back took two days. They stopped the first night at the Robsons' again. The old couple asked no more questions this time than they had the first, and the boy was already asleep by the time they'd climbed the ladder. Cassia noticed the ladder troubled her less on the way up than it had before.

The second day was quieter still. For some time, they met no one on the road, but when a caravan approached, Ashton bid her fall into her Alys disguise if forced to speak. It wasn't needed. The merchants were moving too slow to trouble themselves with two riders who kept their heads down and their pace steady.

By the time Mere's End came into view on the evening of the second day, Cassia could almost believe their last night at the inn had actually been a dream. She and Ashton never spoke of it, and he'd not touched her once on the road, though they had ridden hard. His relief at coming back to a place of safety told Cassia more than he had about how much danger they had truly been in.

This time, the red door loomed larger. The first time she’d seen it, she had been the wife of a deputy warden, kidnapped and riding toward temporary shelter before being handed back to her husband. The second time, she'd been a widow of that same man. But this time... This time, Cassia could not reconcile who she was precisely.

Everything seemed different to her. Had the colors been so bright before? The women, whom Cassia had hardly interacted with, appeared warmer somehow, though she doubted a single one of them had changed since she'd left.

And then there was Margot.

“You've returned.”

Two words, to Ashton. Margot said nothing to her, but just gave her a cursory glance before she spun on her heel and bid them both to follow.

Without preamble, she led them to the Map room, stopping to whisper to one of the serving girls. There, Ryker and Sorren sat with mugs of ale.

Ryker looked up, grinned, and raised his mug.

“Heard you'd passed the ford at Redesdale without losing your head. Sorren pulled me out of a tavern brawl I was two knuckles from finishing, so your tale better be a good one.”

“He started it,” Sorren said, not looking up from his own mug. “I only ended it.”