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Lucian pulled back from her mouth and she found herself extending, chasing his touch. He chuckled arrogantly and she hated her need. His mouth worked over her jaw and down the slender column of her throat. He sucked on the flesh over her racing pulse. His tongue skittered to her ear and his breath tickled the hollow, sending chills up and down her spine.
“I cannot wait to get inside of you,” he whispered over her warming flesh.
His palm slid down to her butt and she froze. It wasn’t the fact that he was touching her rear that had her tensing. It was the possessive way in which he held her. His hand had moved directly to the crease of her ass and his fingers clamped down on her private parts where no man had ever touched her intimately before.
It was too much. He was overwhelming her and she was thinking outside of her head, constantly forgetting what she had been considering from one second to the next, as her body struggled to feel. Scout lifted her palms to his chest and pushed, but he only pulled her closer.
His tongue plundered her mouth again as he took from her with such entitlement. Her hands curled into fists. No matter how much she was aware of what she was permitting herself to become, actually giving herself over to what it meant hurt her pride.
The unsettling thought lanced through the warmth churning in her body and chilled her warming blood. Scout turned her face away and broke the kiss.
Lucian waited, his breath beating over the low curve of her shoulder peeking past the collar of her uniform. She hated herself in that moment. Hated what she was surrendering herself to.
A few days, she told herself, a couple of weeks at best. She’d do this thing, and then the position could be passed along to the next pathetic charity case that stumbled into Lucian Patras’s life.
He was a beautiful man. It wouldn’t be difficult to give herself to him if she could just get off this moral cross. She was simply trading one title for another, and then she’d set aside all labels and live a normal life.
This had to be better than homeless vagrant. At least one led to some sign of improvement in the end. All of this was the cost of her financial independence.
Scout turned in his hold and his grip on her loosened.
“I need a moment. I . . . I’m sorry.” Get a grip, Scout! She turned away from him.
Stepping away, needing some space, she caught her breath. He was silent, but she could feel him watching her. Her mind painted him as a giant, crouching behind her in a shrinking room. When his hands pressed into her shoulders, she flinched.
“You need to get used to my touch, Evelyn. I can’t have you flinching every time I touch you when we’re out in public.”
Scout’s arms wrapped around her waist protectively only to have his follow, the heat of his front scalding her spine. He held her wrists and slowly pulled her banded arms back. Entitlement. He was entitled to touch her. She was expected to surrender. His palm flattened on her torso and pressed until her back was flush against his front. Hands moved over her, caressing, feeling, mapping her every curve.
As his fingers tripped over the money belt fastened tightly under her gown and around her ribs he momentarily paused. She could sense him frowning curiously, but he moved on. His thumb grazed the underside of her breast and he continued on his exploration of her. Her breath hitched as he drew sensation after sensation from her untried body. His hands slid up her front until he was cupping her, holding her to him in a way no man had ever held her.
His thumbs traced over the protruding tips.
“Why, Evelyn . . .” he whispered, amusement laced in his voice. “You’re not wearing a bra. Is this something I can expect on a regular basis?”
Her belly quivered and there seemed to be some fine thread connecting where he touched her and her lower body. He was like a puppeteer pulling her strings and commanding her body to do as he wished. He pinched her there, but it didn’t hurt.
“Please . . .” Scout was confused and overwhelmed.
He squeezed. “Please, what?”
Her small hands covered his, still shaping her breast. “Please stop.”
He froze. A chill filled the air and a moment later he released her and stepped away.
She couldn’t face him. “I—I’m sorry,” she stammered. “Next time will be better. You just took me off guard.”
“It’s fine.” His words were terse and forced. They bit through her faltering courage and she shivered. “When you’re ready, we’ll go.”
Go? Did he still expect to go shopping? She sighed. “I need to get my bag.”
