Chapter Thirteen
Ladies had rarely found him surprising. He played his role so well, and they appreciated that he was precisely as billed.
A talented lover. A relentless treasure seeker. A man who’d ask nothing of them, take nothing from them, and yet leave them
thoroughly satisfied.
Tess declaring that he surprised her, continually, shot a twist of worry to his gut.
He’d told her the unvarnished truth. Since Peter’s death, he’d begun yearning to be something beyond his father’s protégé
and successor. How had he ever thought it was enough to become a facsimile of a man who, in the end, he’d resented for his
falsehoods to Dom’s mother, to his patrons, to everyone?
Meeting Tess had only intensified the yearning for more. For her, he didn’t want to play a role, or tell her wild tales of
his adventures, or seduce her with the intention of having her and then leaving as soon as he was able.
For the first time in as long as he could remember, he felt no urgency to move on to the next exploit or treasure hunt. And
it had nothing to do with what they would or would not find in Fenbridge’s field. It had everything to do with the lush, lovely
woman who’d led him to a sweet-scented orchard and kissed him with an ardent need that made him confess things to her.
“You should not worry,” she told him after studying his face in the silver moon’s glow. “It’s a very good thing.”
She seemed to notice how his gaze kept slipping down to her lips. He needed to kiss her again.
“I want to kiss you too, Dominic,” she whispered.
Without a moment’s hesitation, he bent closer.
She braced a slim hand against the center of his chest and held herself back. “But we must talk first.”
“More talking?” He’d already revealed the tangled mess his thoughts had devolved into these past days. What must she think
of his confession that he wasn’t the man he’d long thought he was?
“Yes.” Tess created an inch of space between them, then another, though she didn’t step out of his embrace entirely. “I got
carried away.”
He chuckled at the lovely admission.
“Please feel free to do that often,” he urged.
“First, we need rules.”
He frowned. “Rules?”
Tess took a deep breath as if trying to untangle her own thoughts. “Perhaps clarity is a better word. Or parameters.”
“Parameters.”
“Mmm.” She nodded as she drew a step closer, her hand still a soothing point of connection against his chest. “If we’re to
be . . . lovers, I need to know what it will entail, how long it will last, and what will happen when it’s done.”
He started to smile but then smoothed his features. “You want to know what you’re getting into.”
“Yes. The limits of it. The shape of it.” As she said the last word, her body shifted against his, and she blushed in the
darkness at the unintended innuendo.
“Should there be limits to what we do?” He didn’t like the sound of that. “Do you mean how often we . . .”
Tess shook her head. “No, that’s not what I mean. First, let’s begin by you telling me what you want out of this.”
He couldn’t hold back his grin. If he told her everything he wanted, he’d shock her. But the lovely siren had asked for him
to be honest. “I want to kiss every inch of your body, learn all the ways you like to be touched, and pleasure you until you
scream my name.” His voice dropped lower as desire rocked through him. “And then I want to do it again and again until you’re
bonelessly sated.”
Tess swallowed hard. “I s-see.”
“Tell me what you want,” he whispered, stroking his knuckles against the edge of her cheek. So warm. So soft. What would she
say if he admitted he wanted to kiss her each time she looked his way during the course of a day? “Whatever you desire, Tess,
that’s what I want to give to you.”
“Don’t overpromise,” she told him with mock sternness. Or perhaps there was nothing mock about it. He did note a bit of wariness
in her gaze.
Tread carefully, he reminded himself. She’d been hurt. He would never hurt her. He vowed that to himself then and there.
She’d likely been promised the world once before.
“Very well.” He bent and kissed her cheek softly. “I promise only to let your wishes be my guide. How’s that?”
“What of your wishes? And please speak the truth.”
They were far simpler than she seemed to comprehend. “This, right now, having you in my arms,” he told her, “is what I’ve
been wishing for since the moment we met.”
“I shouted at you the moment we met.”
“And yet I still wanted to kiss you.”
Tess’s chuckle made him feel lighter, and he pulled her closer.
“I want to be your lover, and I will abide by whatever rules you set. That’s how much I want you.”
“And we’ll always be honest with one another?”
“Yes.” He hoped the immediacy of his response reassured her.
“We should keep it secret.”
He nodded. “We can do that.”
“And we should state now that it is temporary.”
“I . . .” Dom understood that she did not want to allow herself to hope as she’d likely done in the past. And he’d never shied
from declaring the temporary nature of a liaison . . . until this moment.
“You’ll leave and it will end,” she went on, “and I’d rather state it clearly now.”
His jaw tightened, but he nodded his agreement. If she wanted it, he’d accede to her wishes.
“After all, this won’t be some grand love affair.” Tess seemed to try for lightness, but Dom heard the thread of bitterness
in her tone.
What had that bastard done to her? He wouldn’t ask tonight, wouldn’t demand she dredge up that pain in this fragile moment.
But he’d be damned if he let it keep her from any kind of pleasure or happiness now.
Dominic loosened his hold on her, unease suddenly overtaking him.
“Have I offended you?” she asked in a way that tugged at something deep inside him.
Reaching out, he barely resisted the urge to pull her close again. Instead, he gently set her at a distance and then stepped
away from the tree.
“Dominic, tell me what’s wrong.”
How could he tell her that what he wanted was to find the rotter who’d hurt her and beat him to a pulp?
That he wanted to shower her with affection and soak her in pleasure so thoroughly that whatever still ached inside her would heal?
That he didn’t want to talk of the ways they’d end when they hadn’t even yet begun?
Pacing a small path a few strides away from her and then back again, his boots crushed apple blossoms on the path and the
sharp, sweet scent of spring filled the air.
Tess waited patiently.
Not a grand love affair? She deserved a bloody spectacular love affair. And more.
He wanted to give it to her, but it terrified him too. Terrified him that he may not be the man who could give her all she
deserved.
But God’s teeth, nothing in him could even fathom rejecting this gift she was on the cusp of offering him. Yet even now, he
knew he wanted more than just her body.
What she was doing, offering to take him as a lover, took courage when she’d been burned so badly once before. He would prove
to her that she could trust again, unleash her passion, declare her desires with someone who would never deceive her. Never
hurt her.
Turning, he strode back toward her with renewed purpose. A fiery resolve took hold of him. He strode close enough to feel
the warmth of her body, yet he didn’t touch her. She was the most potent of distractions, and he wanted to make himself clear.
“I’ll abide by your limits and whatever boundaries you wish to set.
We can sneak about in secret. We can declare here and now that all of what will happen between us will only last for a time, but .
. .” He cupped her cheek in his hand, tipped her head so that he could look into her eyes.
“What’s between us will be bloody grand.
I mean to leave you breathless, Tess, and so damned well-pleasured that you’ll be without a single thought in your head except of when I will touch you again. ”
Tess inched up on her toes as if desperate to kiss him.
He was as eager as she, but he worked to steady his breathing and arched back an inch, his gaze boring into hers. “Your desires
will guide me. Your wishes will be respected.” He needed her to understand at that moment, at the outset, she would be heard.
“I do not take what you’re offering lightly. I mean for you to feel cherished, Tess.”
He stroked his thumb along the satiny curve of her cheek. “Understood, my siren?”
Tess nodded.
“I want to hear you say it.” He swept his hand back to grip her nape, and the anticipation of what they were embarking on
made his pulse race.
“I understand—”
Before her words were fully out, he leaned forward and took her mouth. He wasn’t gentle. He told himself to be, but he was
too hungry for her now. He had been for days. There was no coaxing or kissing her gently. He plundered and feasted and stepped
her back all the while, his arm around her waist to keep her from falling.
Tess felt almost relieved when she finally felt the trunk of the tree at her back because Dominic’s drugging kisses made her
knees feel like jelly.
His body sheltered hers, but he still wasn’t close enough. Tess reached for the placket of his shirt, sliding her fingers
inside to get a grip and pull him closer.
But the feel of his warm skin was so tantalizing she began working his buttons free. She wanted to see him, feel him, without barriers between them.
He took her lead and began working the buttons on her blouse. As soon as the edge of her corset was bared, he broke their
kiss to pull back and take it in.
Tess felt a moment of embarrassment that it wasn’t a terribly frilly thing, lacy and made to entice. But Dominic ran his fingers
along the satin edge almost reverently, as if he’d discovered a treasure and wanted to take his time to savor it.
“Since we’re telling each other the truth in all of this,” he told her, lifting his attention to her eyes, though he flicked
a few glances at her lips, “you should know that I’ve thought of undressing you a thousand times since we met.”
Tess laughed and pushed gently against the tantalizing stretch of skin she’d exposed by freeing a few buttons. “Hyperbole
is not allowed.”
“All right, perhaps more like three hundred.”
“I’ve thought of it too,” she breathed when he inched her corset down to free her aching nipples, though they were still constrained
by her chemise.
“Of me undressing you?” he asked and then bent to graze his teeth against her nipple. “Or you undressing me?”
“Both.” Tess gasped when he edged the neck of her chemise down and took her aching peak into his mouth.
He was wickedly skilled with his tongue, and every time he swirled it against her, a tremor shot straight to her core. She
arched her hips toward him, and he made a sound that seemed to convey both understanding and a deep male satisfaction at her
eagerness.
While he used one hand to free the tip of her other breast, he bent to reach for the fabric of her skirt, inching it up until
she felt the cool night air on her legs.
Then he skimmed his fingers along her thigh, finding her bare skin at the top of her stocking.
“Dominic.” His name came out like a plea as she gripped his shoulder, slid her fingers into his hair as he continued to suckle
her as he stroked his fingers along her leg, exploring until they dipped along her inner thigh.
When he stroked his finger through her curls, she began to tremble. Not from fear but overwhelming need. She trusted him to
touch her just how she wanted him to.
The need to loosen all she’d held inside so long nearly overwhelmed her, and she sensed he understood that too.
He lifted his head and kissed her again, more gently, languidly, as if they had all the time in the world, even as her body
impatiently quivered against him.
“You’re so deliciously wet,” he whispered against her lips.
Then he pulled back until she looked up at him questioningly.
“Please don’t stop,” she begged.
“I’m not stopping, Tess, but I need to know you won’t regret this.” His voice was breathy, as if stopping was as maddening
for him as it was for her.
But the fact that he was asking, making certain of her wishes, almost brought tears to her eyes. She wasn’t naive anymore.
He was a man of passion and experience and knew how easily one could get lost in carnal hunger without a single thought of
the consequences.
“I won’t regret it,” she promised him. “I want this. I want you.”
He smiled in the moonlight. Not the seductive rogue’s smile. This one was wide, joyful, and artless.
“And you’ll have me.” He slid his hand down to tease his fingers against her. “But first I want to see you let go, siren.”
He slipped inside, finding that most sensitive point where all her long pent-up need seemed to have been waiting for his touch. Only his. Mercy, she’d been waiting so long for him. And he was deliciously talented. There was no fumbling, no rushing.
The moment her body began to climb to the peak, he kissed her. Tasting her, stroking his tongue against hers the way he stroked
his fingers masterfully.
She forgot everything but him. All her fears and regrets were nothing to how he made her feel—desirable, bold, safe in his
arms.
Then, at the pinnacle, she quivered against him, coming back down to the here and now as he held her upright, placing soft,
warm kisses along her neck, her cheek.
“Thank you, Tess,” he murmured against her skin, then helped her to right her skirt, even assisted her to reaffix a couple
of pins in her hair.
She looked up at him questioningly. He’d focused on her pleasure entirely and taken none for himself, and yet he looked at
her as if awestruck. As if something about the moments they’d shared had shaken him.
Indeed, he was breathing hard.
Tess leaned in and kissed him, and he reacted instantly, pulling her close.
This moment with Dominic had been just what she’d been waiting for, though before he’d walked into her life, she’d have denied
she was waiting for anything.
Somehow, despite his reputation and all the charm she’d seen him wield so adeptly, she’d seen more in him. Glimpses of his
true nature that made her feel as if he was a man she could trust, if not with her heart, then with her passion.
Now, she only had to hope her judgement, this time, did not fail her.