“Delicious,” she muttered against him.
Her hand came to brand his chest with its heat.The other was smoothing down his spine to where his shirt disappeared in his trousers.He felt a tug, then her palm slid over the long muscles of his back, skin-to-skin.She arched into him with a groan that echoed in his chest.
“Perhaps I need to sample whiskey off other parts of you, to see which I like best,” she muttered as both hands tugged his shirt upwards.
His cock surged, and for a moment, he allowed himself to envision her sucking whiskey off it.But his plans took priority.“Evie, I don’t want to take advantage of you.”
She drew back with a slight frown.“I was offering.How is that taking advantage?”
“Of our positions then.”
“This,” she said, gesturing between them then fitting her fingers around the iron rod poking her lower belly, “has never been about our positions.”
He groaned before summoning words to try again.“I want to show you the proper respect.”
“And you are,” she murmured, her hands once again roaming under his shirt.“You’re giving me fair access.”
He grabbed her wrists to hold her still.
Frowning more, she looked up at him.“What is this about?What changed from last night?And the last time we were in this room at night?”
He gulped.He wasn’t ready to reveal his plan until the Wayward Dukes gave their advice.“Nothing.I—I’m only trying to do the right thing.That marriage contract says I am not at liberty to woo anyone else.”
It was a lie, but the pretty maid wouldn’t know that.
An undecipherable look crossed her face before she smoothed her expression.Stepping back, she tugged her hands out of his hold.“Who’s talking about wooing?This was all straightforward until tonight.I helped you because you needed it, not because I worked for you.Likewise, you taught me a few aspects of pleasure because you were attracted to me and I wanted it, not because you had power over me.”
He nodded, chagrined.“You are correct.Because of all that, I have come to care for you.I became concerned that I was taking advantage of the situation.All this is still so new to me.I don’t understand its limits.”
Evie stepped toward him.“I shall tell you my limits.And I know you will respect them.You needn’t worry.”
Her hair shone in the candlelight, her lush lips begged for his, and her breath smelled of his favorite spirits.His conscience could no longer fight her and his desire.He’d find a way to toe the line between pleasure and honor.After all, they’d both experienced orgasms without her innocence being compromised.And if his plan worked, she’d be his wife in short order, so they could continue to explore alternative paths now, and soon, soon, they could ignite the full conflagration of pleasure between them.If his idea didn’t… Well, if it didn’t, he could not see himself marrying anyone else, so he’d make it right with her.He wanted her by his side, no matter what.
He stepped in.“Let’s take the decanter to my bedroom and be comfortable.”
Her eyes flared.“Yes, please.”
He grinned.
Chapter Twenty
Eight nights later, Evie was frustrated.Sexually and mentally.She’d spent every one of those nights in Xander’s bed.She’d had plenty of orgasms, a plethora of pleasure, but he hadn’t been willing to consummate their intimacy with intercourse.More than once, they’d argued about it, and each time, he’d wooed her into silence with caresses, finding all her most sensitive spots.
This evening, he’d begun with his fingers again.With her spreadeagled on the bed and him lying propped on an elbow alongside, he’d found a spot just inside her that was almost painful at first.He’d started with slow, gentle glides, adding his thumb to press her nub just above where his finger entered her.
When he withdrew and slid down the bed, she’d pouted, thinking he was leaving.But then he wedged his massive shoulders between her knees and licked up her center.A short scream escaped as she nearly shot off the bed.Despite having performed a similar act for him, she’d never considered he’d want to do the same.His mouth created a different yet equally delicious pleasure as his hand.
He grinned up at her wide-eyed stare before suckling her flesh into his mouth.Thrusting his fingers back in to find that magical spot, he tongued her and pistoned, somehow knowing when she was ready for a faster, harder stroke.
When he sped up, pleasure spiked so fast it bordered on pain.She’d stiffened and gripped his hair with a whispered shriek, “Xander!”
“Shh, let it happen.You know I will keep you safe.”
“Oh!Oh!”Her stomach muscles kept tightening, her hands now clenching and unclenching on the bedclothes.Her hips thrust up without conscious thought, then dropped for a second between his strokes, only to spear the air on his next finger curl.Sweat broke out in her armpits and along her hairline.She stared at Xander with her mouth open, unable to voice her request that he slow down, unsure she wanted him to.
His face went fuzzy as ecstasy struck like lightning, twisting her on the sheets with sharp, hot talons.
He slowed, allowing the storm to recede.
