His cock haddefinitelynot forgotten about her.
Ambrose sat up and proceeded to take off his boots, tossing them across the floor where they fell with two loud thuds. He wasn’t sure how he was going to get his breeches off without injuring himself.
Her hand fell back from the paper, the charcoal dangling from between her fingers. “There is quite a bit of detail work involved when sketching or painting a person,” she whispered. “All the lovely lines of one’s form. Muscle and bone. I should probably come closer lest I miss something.”
Bold. Brazen. Completely unaware of her appeal. How the very sight of her struck him dumb with the most unbearable longing and probably always would.
“Finally,” Ambrose hooked his thumb in the top of his breeches, “we agree on something.”
* * *
Haven cametoward her on bare feet, completely naked. His desire for her would have been blatant even without her spectacles on. He didn’t make any move to touch her, but the air in the studio grew thick, heavy with anticipation.
“Will you kiss me, Theodosia?” The soft words came close to her ear as Haven circled her with agonizing slowness, his breath buffeting against her neck.
The charcoal dropped from her fingers, rolling away beneath her skirts. Her knees wobbled, desire making her unsteady as she took in the large, naked male who so obviously wanted her. Theo’s nipples pulsed against her bodice, hard and sensitive, begging for only a brush of his finger.
A hand skimmed down her hip, the barest pressure against her skirts as he moved behind her.
“Such a lovely neck.” He inhaled at the base. “Lemons.”
A sharp tingle shot down her spine, wrapping tightly around her waist, the tendrils sinking between her thighs to produce a dull, insistent ache.
Haven’s hand lowered, his palm barely grazing the stomach of her dress before brushing with a featherlight caress further below.
Theo didn’t dare move as sensation cascaded over the lower part of her body.
“No answer?” he murmured, his fingers tugging gently on the fabric of her skirts. “Will you kiss me?” He stood before her again, the warm spicy scent of Haven moving in the air around her.
Carefully, because Theo was shaking with want, she stood on tiptoe as Haven tilted his head down. At the brush of her lips with his, a low purr came from the depths of his chest.
“I know I mentioned that I would not be enthusiastic in my regard of your,” Theo hesitated as the feel of Haven’s tongue touched her ear, “person again, but I fear that is not the case. A lapse in my judgement, perhaps.”
“You were angry.” His mouth slanted, the line of hair covering his jaw spiking with copper as the light caught it. “Forgive me?”
Theo’s palm slid up the warm skin of his chest, around the whorl of darker hair surrounding his nipples. She circled one peak with the edge of her nail.
Another purr came from him.
It was an odd sensation to be standing so close to Haven, fully dressed while he was not. He begged her attention like a great cat wanting to be stroked, and she willed her hands to move over him in exploration. Each touch of her fingers over the lines of his ribs to the curve of his buttocks elicited the most amazing noises from him. “I want to paint you like this,” she whispered. “All shadow and light. Copper and amber.”
He leaned in and slowly moved his tongue along her bottom lip before nipping gently. “You may do whatever you wish with me, Theo.” He nuzzled into the slope of her neck, imperfect nose trailing up to her ear, tongue licking gently at the lobe. “Where do you want me?”
Theo tried to take a lungful of air and struggled. Her entire body was flaring gently, desperate to be closer to his.
“Tell me.” He pressed a chaste kiss to her cheek. “On my knees before you, your skirts raised?”
Her body arched toward his at the mere suggestion.
A graze of his teeth against her neck made Theo jump. “Bent over the sofa?”
“I—” Every word he spoke conjured up the most violently erotic images in her mind. The ache between her thighs was so fierce, Theo pushed her knees together to try to ease it. She looked toward the wall, noting with quiet horror that the door was wide open. Worse, she found she didn’t care.
“I suppose you want me to decide.” Haven pressed an open-mouthed kiss to her neck. Then his mouth fell on hers, hungry and hot with an urgency that met her own. She wrapped herself around him, his skin like molten silk beneath her fingertips. His hand tangled in her hair, pulling the pins away until the dark tresses swirled around them both.
The heat of him seared Theo through her skirts, stoking the ache burning between her thighs. Every thought except pleasure seeped away. All Theo could think of was Haven, the warmth of his skin, the way he kissed her. He half-carried, half-dragged her toward the poor sofa, which would be a great deal more battered when they were done.
He laid her down on the cushions, eyes so dark and fathomless, they looked black. One hand wrapped lightly around her throat, his thumb gently stroking her pulse, while the other pulled up her skirts.
