Chapter Thirteen #2
He tried to remember who Lady Worcester was, then wished he hadn’t. She’d been the woman he’d tupped the night before kissing Sophie the first time. How could he have ever thought Sophie was Lydia?
Unable to resist any longer, he cupped her cheek. “No, it’s very different.”
“Does that mean my future husband wouldn’t make me feel like I do now?”
He took a deep breath as his heart started to pound. “How do you feel?”
She pressed her hand to her chest. “I feel like liquid fire is in my veins, my heart is racing, and there is a tightening in my belly when I think of your kissing me.”
Despite his best intentions, or maybe because of them, he lowered his head. “Let us see how you feel, then, when I do.”
“Yes.” She wrapped her arms around his neck and closed the space between their bodies.
If he’d ever had a chance to walk away from her this night, it vanished the moment he touched her lips with his own.
She immediately opened for him and he accepted her invitation, stroking her tongue with his own as he deepened the kiss.
His arms tightened about her as if of their own accord, pressing her soft body against his hard one.
A small moan of pleasure rippled out from her throat, even as she stroked the hair at the back of his neck.
His need for her was overpowering yet coupled with a protectiveness he’d not experienced before. Listening to his instincts, he cupped her arse and pulled her tight against his erection.
Instead of jerking away, she pushed closer.
He bent her back and left her lips to taste her jawline, the pulse at the base of her neck, and the skin at the top of her shift. When her dressing gown opened, he halted.
She moved her hand from his neck to his bare chest revealed by his open shirt. “You’re so hard.”
Though she spoke of his chest, it was his erection that jerked at her words. “And you’re very soft. I want to taste all of you.”
“Yes, please.”
Her words were far more than an invitation, and he wasn’t about to reject such a plea, even if he could.
Pulling her up, he moved his hand between their bodies and untied the sash at her waist. Gently, as if she were the most delicate flower, he pushed the dressing gown wide, over her shoulders, and let it drop to the floor.
The lantern lights he’d lit left little to his imagination.
Though she wasn’t tall, she had the curves of a full-grown woman, and the tips of her nipples made their presence known beneath her white shift.
A shiver raced through her.
He laid his hand upon her arm. “Are you cold?”
“No. I don’t know why I shivered. I’m excited.”
And in that simple response, she’d combined the innocent Sophie with the bold Rosalind. “I’m excited, too.”
Her gaze dropped to his pantaloons, making him regret his words. “Will you take off your shirt now?”
He counted himself fortunate she only mentioned his shirt, and gladly complied. Unbuttoning just the top two buttons of his fall, he pulled his shirt out and then over his head to drop it on the floor with her dressing gown. “Is that better?” He held his arms out to his sides.
Her gaze swept over him, turning almost hungry. “You are bigger than I thought.”
His damn erection jerked again at her words. “You thought about what I would look like without a shirt?”
Her cheeks colored once again, but she continued to stare at him. “I did.”
When she’d said she didn’t lie, he didn’t realize how truthful she could be. He sincerely hoped she didn’t ask him the same question, and he knew one way to avoid that. He stepped closer to her again and lifted her hands, placing them upon his chest. “Is this how you thought I’d feel?”
Her hands moved beneath his, and he let go as her fingers glided over his pectorals, around his nipples, and down to his stomach muscles. “You’re hard but smooth.” Her fingers moved back up, and this time they brushed over his nipples, causing his muscles to contract.
She dropped her hands.
“You needn’t stop.”
“But you flinched.”
“No, I didn’t flinch. I tensed because what you did was pleasurable. Would you like me to show you?”
Her pupils appeared to grow large as she nodded.
He pulled her close again and kissed her, easily untying the back of her shift at the neckline.
With his goal accomplished, he ran kisses down her face, her neck, and over her shoulder.
He returned to her lips while he pulled the shift down over her shoulder to bare one breast. He cupped her neck with his hand, allowing her to get used to his touch before he moved it lower, reveling in the softness of her skin.
As he reached her breast, he gently cupped it, not releasing her from his kiss. Then, softly, he moved his thumb over her hard nipple.
Sophie gasped around his tongue, just before pressing herself into his hand.
He knew the need she felt and obliged her by brushing her hard peak back and forth until soft moans filled his mouth.
She broke the kiss, her breaths passing by his ear as she whispered, “I need it all.”
He froze, his own craving crawling up his back, telling him to take her, but his heart refused. Time seemed to stop as conflicting needs fought in his gut. He couldn’t deny her.
So he must deny himself.