She ravished her throat and neck with her mouth and slid her hand up long legs, massaging as she went. She wanted to take her time, to caress every inch of skin, at least in theory, but she also wanted to push into Sophia hard and fast. She wanted to be enveloped by her body and lose herself in the raw physicality of it all. She’d spent years trying to cultivate restraint, but tonight Sophia had freed her. More than the freedom, she’d pledged them to their baser impulses.

Wasting no time in living up to that promise, she pushed inside Sophia with one strong, steady stoke. She refused to let her knees buckle at the pure eroticism of that tantalising body tightening around her. Never in her life had she felt so good about doing something that felt so good.

Sophia wrapped her legs around Vic’s waist, pulling her closer, deeper. Urging her on, she worked her hands up Vic’s shirt and around her back, clutching her so close the friction of their clothes created heat second only to the fire inside her, because Vic burned for this woman. No matter what she offered, Sophia accepted it and more. The fact that Sophia had never been intimidated by her title and its accompanying trappings put her in a rare class, but tonight it became increasingly clear Sophia didn’t fear Vic’s animal instincts either. She’d seen both sides and met them with the same mix of irreverence and attraction.

As if to prove that point, she tightened her grip on every part of Vic and hissed a single “yes” against her ear before throwing back her head in one beautiful moment of abandon as her body contracted.

Vic marvelled at the sight of her suspended on a wave of decadent gratification, unashamed and unencumbered. Vic had promised to surrender to herself, and in return Sophia had surrendered as well, offering herself as the perfect inspiration, role model, and recipient all wrapped up in the most brutally beautiful package.

Vic could barely breathe as the full impact of perfection slammed into her.

She’d always had to choose between her wants and her needs. Tonight, Sophia had given her the ultimate gift in merging the two.

••••

“You’re fucking amazing.” Sophia bit the back of Vic’s shoulder, hard, as she used her body weight to pin Vic to the tall headboard of her four-poster bed. Spread knees sank into the lush mattress as they both kneeled, torsos upright and exposed in flickering candlelight.

The dining room table had only been the beginning of their adventures. The preservationists on Vic’s staff would’ve fainted if they had any idea how many ways the two of them found to defile priceless antiques once they returned to Vic’s suite of rooms.