She could only nod.
“Now, you’ve admitted to owning a naughty print, so perhaps you can guess where I’m going to kiss you next.”
His hands stroked her waist as he slid lower, his shoulders pushing between her knees, and she fought a hot wave of embarrassment. In the carriage it had been dark, but here the light played over her body, illuminating the curves of her belly, breasts, and thighs. There was no hiding in the shadows.
“Your skin is so soft,” he murmured. “Like peaches and cream. I want to eat you all up.”
He pressed a kiss to her stomach, and her muscles quivered in reaction. His hand moved to the inside of her thigh, and then his clever fingers slid between her folds, and she pressed the back of her head into the covers in desperation.
Oh, that felt so good!
Ever since he’d pleasured her in the carriage, she’d been dreaming of the bliss he’d given her, and when his tongue joined his fingers, she was unable to stop her sharp exhale of delight.
“In case you were wondering,” he said softly, his breath tickling the inside of her thigh, “this wetness is your body getting ready for mine.” His finger circled, rubbing and sliding in the most frustrating manner possible.
Tess ground her teeth. “Stop teasing!”
He chuckled. “What a demanding thing you are. But since you’ve never done this before, I have to explain it to you.”
His tone was one of patient, superior martyrdom, and she bit back a laugh. How could he make her smile, even as he held her body on a knife-edge?
“My cock—the one you haven’t seen yet—is going to fit perfectly in here.”
He slid the very tip of his finger inside her, and Tess gasped at the extraordinary sensation. A heavy ache, like a heartbeat, throbbed where he touched.
“I know it seems unlikely,” he continued in a conversational tone, “but you’re just going to have to trust me. I’m the one with all the experience here.”
He pressed again, and Tess dug her heels into the sheets as pleasure tightened her skin.
And then a flash of panic jolted her. Surely he’d encounter the physical proof of her virginity at any moment?
She held her breath, waiting to be denounced, but his finger just slid smoothly in and out, building the same maddening pressure he’d conjured in the carriage. There was no pain, no tearing sensation.
Would that only happen when he put himself inside her? God, she hated being so ignorant. She should have asked Daisy far more questions.
When she’d imagined her first time with Thornton, she’d expected a blur, a frantic coupling in the dark. She should have known better. He wasn’t a man to rush things. This slow seduction was less hot desperation and more deliberate slide into pleasure.
Just as the tension between her legs was becoming almost unbearable, he pulled back, and Tess almost hit him in frustration.
He chuckled. “Oh no. Not without me. This time we’re doing it together.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
In one smooth move he rolled off her and made quick work of the buttons of his falls. Her eyes widened as he lifted his hips and stripped his breeches down his thighs, releasing an impressively erect manhood.
She must have made a sound, because he turned his head and looked at her with a cheeky smile. “I warned you. At least now you’re lying down if you faint.”
Tess couldn’t seem to look away. His body was long and lean and gloriously muscled, every line running seamlessly into the other. His cock jutted up toward his belly, and his thighs and lower legs were covered in a smattering of dark hair.
“How’s your heart?” he chuckled. “Able to bear the strain?”
Tess pressed her palm to her breastbone, and discovered it pounding. Her skin was hot, glowing, as if she had a furnace inside her.
“Now I’m going to put myself inside you,” he said. “And I’m going to make you say my name.”
Her stomach somersaulted at his confidence, but she rallied gamely. “What is it again?”
He rolled on top of her, covering her with heat and glorious muscle.
