CHAPTER FOURTEEN #3
Then he reached down for the hem of her riding skirt and pushed the yards of material up her legs until it lay gathered in thick folds around her waist. The rush of cool air against her bare thighs and the growing heat between rippled a shudder through her, and her hands clasped his shoulders, desperate to keep him from leaving her.
Her breath came in quick and shallow pants of eager anticipation, and when his hands brushed up her legs and teased at the bare flesh of her inner thighs, she nearly burst out of her skin.
His fingers traced invisible patterns against her skin, moving closer to her throbbing core but teasingly never touching her where she ached most. When his fingertip sank into the seam between her thigh and pelvis, a frustrated cry tore from her, and she fisted his shirt in her hands as she leaned back to gaze up at him, only to lose her breath at the wolfish expression darkening his face.
He said nothing, but she knew what he wanted to do, what he needed to hear—
“Yes,” she rasped out between gasping breaths, the desire inside her rising so swiftly that she couldn’t help but tremble.
With a groan signaling the end of his self-restraint, he dropped to his knees in front of her.
He shoved his large hands beneath her bottom and pulled her forward until she rested precariously on the very edge of the table and grabbed at its edge to keep her balance, although truly, that had vanished the moment he had lifted her from her horse.
His hands parted her thighs wide, and he lowered his mouth, claiming her with his hot lips.
Helena gasped at the hungry need of his insistent mouth.
His licked over both sides of her inner lips, tracing over each with soft flutters, until the tip of his tongue dared to flick against the swelling bud buried at the top of her folds.
The soft sound on her lips turned into a low moan of shivering pleasure, only for her to lose her breath completely when he began to thrust his tongue inside her the same way he’d ravished her mouth only moments before.
She closed her eyes and surrendered to the pleasure he gave her and to his relentless need to give it.
This wasn’t an act of overwhelming passion, although she couldn’t deny the immediate desire that had flared instantly between them and now demanded to be satiated—it was an act of unspoken love, each seeking comfort and solace in their raw need for the other.
She would gladly give him the absolution he sought in her, just as she would find her own in him.
Her fingers went to his head between her thighs and tangled themselves in his silky hair as he continued to plunder her feminine folds, thrusting and licking and sucking in turns until she wanted to explode.
The silent cottage around them was filled with the erotic sounds of his wet mouth pleasuring her, enjoying her, claiming her—soon mixed with a low whine of choking pleasure from her own throat.
He pushed at her legs until she was spread open wide to his mouth and hungry gaze. He closed his lips around the throbbing nub at her core and sucked.
“Gabe!” Her hips jumped off the table with a spasm of pleasure.
Yet it wasn’t enough; her greedy body craved more, and she held fiercely to him, folding her body over his head and shoulders in a desperate need to somehow bring him even deeper inside her, to bring him completely beneath her skin and keep him there forever. Where he belonged.
“Again,” she ordered between hard pants, her thighs shaking around his shoulders. “Oh, please—again.”
The deep sound of his chuckle vibrated against her, and he did as she bade, this time flicking the tip of his tongue against her even as he pulled her into his mouth with a hard, long suck.
A whimpering cry tore from her as the wave of pleasure broke through her.
She threw back her head and shivered with joy, her fingers clenching hard into his scalp, and every muscle in her body clenched and released like a loaded spring.
Dark spots flashed before her eyes, and electricity shot out through the ends of her hair, making her feel impossibly both numb and overwhelmingly alive at the same time.
Her wet folds quivered against his mouth as her body shamelessly revealed the bliss he had brought to her, and her heart felt so full she feared it might simply explode.
But even as the wave of pleasure swept over her and then receded, leaving her awash in tingling heat, her body craved even more from him. So much more of him that she desperately needed and knew he could provide. So much more of herself she wanted to give to him.
“Take me,” she pleaded in breathless permission. “Please.” She wanted to give herself completely to him, right here, right now. Her hand reached down to pull her skirts impossibly higher—
“No,” he answered as he rose to his feet between her thighs, his voice a pained rasp. “No more than this, for now.”
He took her hand, guided it down to his crotch, and placed it on the hard bulge straining against his work trousers.
A shaking breath poured from her as she caressed him lovingly through the rough material, thrilling in the physical evidence of his desire for her, hoping the encounter would still end with joined bodies, despite his answer.
He fumbled between them to unbutton his fall and shoved away the long tail of his shirt to bring her trembling fingers against his erection.
His skin was hot and soft over the hardness beneath, and she boldly explored him, drawing low groans of pleasure from his throat while unsuccessfully attempting to stifle her own.
Her trembling fingers fumbled with his fall’s buttons until a sigh of surrender escaped him, and he reached down to help her free himself from the confines of his trousers.
A thrill raced through her, and she couldn’t stop herself from caressing along his length, daring to cup his bollocks against her palm, and reveling in the heavy heat of him in her hand. When she gently squeezed, a harsh shudder gripped him.
“Helena.” Her name was little more than a strained rasp, and she desperately wanted his hard-fought restraint to snap.
Instead, with a fierce and possessive kiss to her mouth, he tore off his neckcloth and wadded it into her hand.
He closed her fingers around his length, clasping him tightly, and his hands went to her hips.
He began to pulse his pelvis to thrust himself into her grip.
Her hand tightened around him even as his pace increased.
Then his body tensed, freezing for a moment before he arched his back and strained into her.
A guttural groan of pleasure ripped from the back of his throat, and with a jerk against her palm, he spilled himself into the neckcloth.
He collapsed forward between her spread thighs, utterly spent, his palms flat on the table on either side of her hips and his head hanging between his shoulders.
For a long moment, he didn’t move except to pant hard to regain his breath, his chest rising and falling rapidly as his body trembled from experiencing the same waves of tension and release that he’d sent roiling through her only moments before.
She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and buried her face against his neck to hide a stab of disappointment.
Instantly, guilt filled her chest that she was being so ungrateful.
After all, what they’d just shared was wonderful and the most vulnerable moment of her life.
He’d brought her such joy…but her heart knew he’d denied her even more.
I love you, she wanted to shout across the fields. I’ve always loved you. I never stopped loving you…
Yet she didn’t dare to even whisper the words aloud. Her heart was simply too afraid it would shatter if he didn’t say them back.