Chapter Six
Felicity sat with her feet in the fountain, hoping the cloudy skies would erupt and send rain rushing over her. She glanced at the full moon that peeked out of the clouds from time to time, providing some light. It was late, and she should be in bed, but she couldn’t sleep.
All day, Harrison’s words from the previous evening had echoed in her mind.
It was his duty to look after her, he’d explained.
The statement annoyed her. They were both fooling themselves with this game of only being friends.
She cared for Harrison, not in some brotherly or platonic-friendship way.
Why couldn’t she have more with him than friendship?
She wasn’t thinking about marriage or anything like that, even though she suspected her heart was headed in that direction.
Still, Felicity wanted the man’s touch on her body.
She wondered how his attentiveness would feel when he kissed her and whispered endearments to her.
Was that wrong? Should she care if it were?
They were both unattached. She had mourned Collin for a full year—the man who’d been her first love but not thought it necessary to stay true to their vows.
Felicity closed her eyes, remembering the sensation of Harrison’s arm circling her waist. Her eyes flew open when a water drop smacked her on her nose.
More fell, and she laughed. Finally, they would receive another reprieve from the blasted heat.
She probably should go inside, as she was only wearing a thin wrap and nightgown, but instead she held her arms out, enjoying the water drops smacking her body.
If it weren’t so late, she’d wake the children.
The staff already viewed her as eccentric.
She was glad that everyone else in the house was tucked in bed.
The screech of a gate opening jerked her attention toward the stone wall between her and Harrison’s townhouse. He stood there, dressed only in a white shirt and trousers. She flicked her gaze down to discover his feet bare. The rain pressed his shirt against his firm chest. She swallowed.
Huskily, he said, “You will catch a cold.”
She snorted. “It is still so hot. How did you know I was out here?”
Harrison glanced at the window to his study, and she followed his gaze. It was the first place she’d seen him. He’d looked imposing, so severe.
Felicity turned back to him. Right now, he looked like temptation. She held out her hand. “Join me.”
He reached the fountain, but instead of stepping in, he grasped her around the waist and pulled her out.
She squeaked, surprised by his actions. The rain increased, breaking the weather slightly but not the heat between them.
His arousal pushed against her stomach, and need flared between her thighs.
His hands, holding her at her waist, drew her closer to him.
Felicity smiled at the raindrops dripping off his nose.
She leaned in and brushed her lips across his, clenched his wet shirt, pulling him even closer as she deepened the kiss, running her tongue along the seam of his lips. He groaned and rocked against her.
“Felicity—”
She placed a finger to his mouth. “Don’t. Just one night, Harrison. Is it so wrong to see how this feels between us?”
He stared back at her, his eyes sparkling with desire.
Harrison cupped the back of her head, kissing her deeply.
Felicity wrapped her arms around him, threading her fingers through his hair.
His tongue slid along hers, tormenting and making her crave him more.
He untied her wrap and pushed it down. They stumbled toward the terrace and the drawing room doors.
Felicity unbuttoned his shirt, sprinkling kisses along his chest as they moved.
Once they reached the drawing room, the light from the fireplace revealed their disheveled, wanton state.
Harrison took her breath away. He was all hard muscles.
She shivered, wondering how her petite form would feel wrapped around his body. He removed his shirt.
His eyes connected with hers. “Are you sure?”
Felicity had never been more certain in her life.
She nodded, and he thickly said, “Take off your nightgown.”
She suddenly felt shy. It had been many years since anyone had seen her body. He stepped closer to her and ran his thumb along one of her pebble-hard nipples, pressing against her wet nightgown. “You are the most exquisite thing I’ve ever seen.”
Emboldened, she pulled up the thin gown and heard his groan as she pulled it over her head. Felicity dropped it on the floor. Her gaze flitted down to his trousers. His shaft tented the fabric. “Please take them off.”
He removed them, kicking them away. Harrison grabbed a fluffy blanket and laid it out on the rug in front of the fireplace.
He held his hand out to her, and they moved to the floor.
Nerves filled Felicity. So much time had passed since she’d been intimate with someone.
His hand slid along her outer thigh, and he gently nudged her onto her back.
Harrison stared down at her, running his thumb along her lower lip. “Why the frown, my love?”
The endearment caused warmth to flare in her lower half, and her heart. Felicity desperately wanted to be this man’s love. “It has been a bit since I’ve done this.”
He hovered over her. “That is a shame. This body was meant to be worshiped.”
He pressed his lips along her collarbone and littered little bites along her plump breasts. His tongue teased and tormented her nipples. Harrison feasted on her as if she were the most decadent meal he’d ever encountered. She ran her fingers through his hair, moaning.
His mouth found her ribcage and then her stomach. Desire thrummed at the apex of her thighs. She bucked against him, wanting more. His smile pressed against the spot where her hip met the most feminine part of her. He slid farther down, nudging her legs open with his head.
She was too overcome with her own wanton needs to worry about how scandalous she might appear. In truth, Felicity didn’t care. She wanted more of Harrison. Her back arched when his tongue lapped at her core. Her quim throbbed for more as whimpers flew from her mouth.
He stopped momentarily. “You must be quiet, love, or you will wake the house. We can’t have that.”
She bucked as he went back to tasting her, the back of her hand pressed against her mouth to minimize the moans escaping.
The ache in her quim reached a precipice that had her bucking faster against his hungry lapping.
Felicity arched one more time, and her world shattered.
She looked up at Harrison, knowing she would never be able to stop herself from wanting this man again.
*
Harrison’s eyes wandered over Felicity’s flushed face and heaving bosom. He’d never seen a lovelier sight than this woman lost in her climax. A mad part of him wanted to be the man who brought her to such a dizzying height of ecstasy every day.
Yet he pushed the thought away. He didn’t want to think about the future right now, knowing this moment couldn’t happen again.
Felicity pulled him toward her; her legs opened wider, allowing him to move his lower body between her thighs. It felt like heaven when his cock slid against her quim. A groan escaped him. She smiled and brushed her lips against his hungrily. He slid his tongue into her mouth, exploring.
His shaft was positioned at the entryway of her most feminine area. Harrison wanted to lose himself in her heat. The overwhelming desire to possess this woman even for a brief time coursed through him.
His eyes connected with Felicity’s, and she stroked his face. “Please, Harrison.”
He drove into her, only halting when he couldn’t go any farther.
The silky feel of her around his shaft made him whimper.
Her hands glided down his back as she rocked gently, urging him on.
Harrison slid back out and thrusted again.
Breathy groans escaped them both. He did it again and then again.
His tempo increased with every thrust. He couldn’t get enough of her.
Sliding his hand up, he intertwined their fingers and kissed her deeply. He needed to feel her mouth on his as he slid in and out of her.
Their thrusting grew frantic. Felicity met him stroke for stroke.
Her eyes became glassy with desire as she chased another release.
Harrison smiled as he continued to kiss her.
This time, he ran his lips down her throat as she bucked upward, meeting every one of his thrusts.
He pulled out and slid back into her most feminine area.
A strangled, intense whimper flew from her mouth.
She climaxed, her body pulsating around his cock.
He was so close to his own release, Harrison’s thrusts became quicker and deeper.
He kissed her hard without slowing down the tempo of their bodies pressing into one another.
Suddenly, a husky groan escaped him as he slid in for the last time.
He withdrew knowing he was about to spend.
As he found his release, Harrison stared down at her overcome with so many emotions—tenderness, desire, and awe being some of them.
His chest heaved up and down as he gazed at her.
She was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen, and he still wanted more of her. Harrison couldn’t imagine not desiring her.
He cleaned them both up. As he placed the cloths on the table, a painting of Collin caught his eye.
His friend stared back at him from the portrait on the wall, forever nineteen, and so ready to explore.
Suddenly, guilt surged through Harrison that he’d lain with his best friend’s wife in the drawing room where they had spent their childhood.
Felicity wasn’t supposed to be for him. Yet he’d taken her and craved to do it again.
She smiled curiously at him, likely confused why he was in the middle of the room staring at a painting mostly obscured by the darkness. Still, Harrison knew the painting even without the light. He’d grown up visiting Collin and this townhouse often.
“Harrison, will you join me?”
He grabbed another blanket. “You should go upstairs and rest.”
She frowned at him, rising to her feet. “What is wrong?”
He was silent a moment but eventually said, “You are my best friend’s wife. This shouldn’t have happened.”
Sadness flickered across her face. “Do you think Collin would hate you for this? He wouldn’t. I know my husband, and he would be happy we found comfort in each other.”
Guilt and anger flared in him. “No man wants their best friend to fall into bed with their wife.”
She flinched. “Harrison, you are upset.”
He stroked her face, and she swayed toward him. Harrison itched to take her in his arms again. Yet the guilt that this was Collin’s wife threatened to smother him. “I’m upset with my actions. You are by far the most exquisite woman I’ve ever met, but I should have stayed away. I’m sorry.”
Annoyance flashed in her eyes. “Don’t do this.”
Unable to resist, he pressed his lips to hers one more time, but then put more distance between them. “I need to leave.”
He pulled on his pants and shirt. Felicity stared at him, confused and hurt. Harrison glanced back at her. “Collin was my best friend. It is wrong that I’ve seduced you.”
“You didn’t,” she said, exasperated.
Harrison couldn’t stay. He departed, back out into the rain through the terrace doors. The temperature had cooled. Yet his body still thrummed with the heat from their coupling. God, Harrison still craved her, even though he felt like he’d somehow betrayed Collin.
Their fight before his friend left England flashed in his mind as he made it to his townhouse through the garden gate.
Grief and guilt swirled within him that they’d never been able to mend things, and now he’d taken Collin’s wife to bed.
Still, anger also thundered in him because he wanted Felicity badly.
Hell, he wanted her forever. Was that wrong?