“No.” At close quarters, she met his eyes, then she licked her lips and declared, “I want you. Now, tonight. In my bed.” Her lips lightly curved. “And I rather think you want me.”
Oh, he did. He most definitely did. But… “Are you sure?”
She nodded decisively. “Very sure.” And with that, she pushed upright, out of his arms, got shakily to her feet, and catching his hands, tugged him up. “Come on.”
The instant he stood, as if she couldn’t help herself, she pushed close and kissed him again.
Then she tugged and pulled and, still anchoring him with her kiss, waltzed him inside and on.
With their lips locked for most of the distance, he had no idea how they managed to climb the stairs and make it to her room without falling and causing a ruckus, but they did. Blindly searching with one hand, he got the door open, and they all but fell through.
He pushed the door and managed to close it without a slam.
Then he caught her to him, angled his head, and kissed her unrestrainedly.
Thatfixed her attention.
For several long moments, he reveled in the sensation of being in control, then she pressed a palm to his chest, leant in, and answered his challenge with one of her own and filched the reins from his grasp.
Not that she kept them—oh no. She flung every last rein aside and fell on him with heated, hungry, greedy kisses, with a nurse’s hands—well-educated in the art of disrobing a man—and with a curvaceous form she used to advantage, pressing demandingly against him and shattering the last of the resolve he’d managed to assemble.
Now. Now. Show me.
The wordless demand rang in her touch, in her blatantly sultry kisses. It sang in her sighs as he set his hands cruising over her curves, fingers spread, palms sculpting.
His entire mind, every last iota of his awareness, had focused on her. His every thought was devoted to her pleasure.
In the cool dark, with the only illumination a silvery radiance cast by the moon, with practiced ease, he continued the communion of their lips while simultaneously divesting her of her clothes—jacket, blouse, skirt, corset, petticoats—until she stood within his arms, locked against him, her pearlescent skin screened only by chemise and drawers of the finest cotton.
Intent on his goal, he would have removed those as well, but she had other ideas and made them known, pressing his hands aside and insisting on pushing his coat off his shoulders.
He obliged, shrugging out of the coat and letting it slide down his arms to the floor. Rather than risk her trapping his hands in his shirt, he swiftly undid the cuffs, then once she’d undone the buttons all the way down the front placket, he allowed her to sweep the fine linen apart and over his shoulders and down to join his coat on the floorboards.
Through the dimness, she stared at his chest, then fell on the already heated expanse with hot, open-mouthed kisses and greedy, grasping hands. He hadn’t expected that, and for a moment, he closed his eyes and all but swayed under the barrage of sensations she rained on him.
But he was too experienced to allow her—a virgin—to dictate the play for long. Instead, he used her distraction to undo the knot at her waist and send the soft material of her drawers sliding down her long legs.
Long, shapely legs that were truly distracting. The glimpses he caught of their length and form and of the brown thatch at their apex sent fire shooting through him and had him waltzing her to the bed.
She caught him off guard by falling onto the mattress and taking him with her.
That was when he realized that, at some point, she’d undone the flap of his trousers, and nurse that she was, she had a far better understanding than the average virgin of what she was about.
Her hand closed around his erection, and sensation streaked through him. She tightened her grip, and he saw stars.
And that was merely the beginning. In the tussle that ensued, through gasps and moans—his as well as hers—she impressed on him that she was determined to fully participate in the venture.
In their first foray into intimacy.
Consumed by a succession of searing kisses, they wrestled and rolled across the sheets. Hands grasped. Fingers caressed, probed, and possessed.
She made it clear that she wanted to know, so he taught her the ways, and she was quick to absorb, learn, and extrapolate.
Between them, understanding and awareness of the physicality of the moment—of the full meaning of intimacy—burgeoned and bloomed.
Despite the escalating pounding in their blood, they both fought to hold back the tide, battling instinct to draw out the minutes of shivering, shuddering pleasure.
Until they were full to bursting with a geysering maelstrom of passion and desire that neither could hope to deny.
