He drew the emerald silk down to her waist, exposing her to his gaze. Moonlight painted across bare skin, and he made a sound of pure male appreciation that sent heat flooding through her.
“You’reexquisite.” His hands spanned her ribcage, his thumbs brushing the underside of her breasts through the thin chemise. “Every curve, every line.Perfect.”
He traced her collarbone with his lips, learning the geography of her skin. Each kiss felt deliberate, purposeful, as though he were memorizing her through touch. When his mouth found the hollow at the base of her throat where her pulse hammered visibly, he lingered there, his tongue flicking against the rapid beat.
Cressida’s fingers tangled in his hair, holding him to her as sensation spiraled outward from every point of contact. She felt his teeth graze her skin, felt the rasp of his evening beard, felt the heat of his breath as he moved lower.
His hands pulled the chemise down, baring her completely from the waist up. The cool air made her gasp, made her nipples pebble, and his gaze dropped to the evidence of her arousal with hungry appreciation.
“Beautiful,” he murmured, then lowered his head. His mouth closed around one taut peak, drawing hard.
Cressida’s back arched off the chaise, her mouth falling open in a silent scream. The sensation was electric, overwhelming, pleasure so acute it bordered on pain. His tongue circled and flicked while his hand cupped her other breast, his thumb and forefinger rolling and teasing until she couldn’t distinguish between the ministrations.
Everything blurred into pure sensation.
“Quiet,” he murmured against her skin when a moan escaped her lips. “We don’t want to alert the household.”
“Then stop making me—ah!” The words dissolved into a gasp as his teeth grazed sensitive flesh, sending sparks shooting through her.
Theodore chuckled, the vibration shooting straight to her core. His free hand slid beneath her skirts, bunching the emerald fabric as he traced a deliberate path along her stockinged calf. He paused at her garter, fingers playing with the ribbon there, before continuing past her knee and along the sensitive skin of her inner thigh.
Cressida trembled, anticipation coiling tight in her belly. His touch was confident, assured, the touch of a man who knew exactly what he intended to do and how to do it well.
When his fingers finally grazed her center through thin linen, she bit down on her lip to keep from crying out. The fabric was already damp with evidence of her desire, and Theodore made a pleased sound as he discovered it.
“So responsive,” he purred against her breast. “I’ve barely touched you, and you’re already?—”
“Yes.” She couldn’t bear to hear him describe what she felt, what her body was doing. The mortification would undo her entirely.
His hand stilled. “Yes, what?”
“Just… don’t stop.”
“Ah.” His thumb circled her through the fabric, making her hips jerk. “That I can manage.”
He shifted his attention to her other breast while his fingers worked beneath the linen, finding slick heat and desperate need. The first stroke made her cry out, the sensation so intense it bordered on unbearable.
“Easy.” He pressed a kiss to her sternum. “I’ve got you.”
His fingers moved with maddening skill, circling and stroking, learning what made her gasp, what made her tremble, what made her nails dig into his shoulders hard enough to leave marks on his coat. When he slipped one finger inside her, she bit down on her lip hard enough to taste copper.
“That’s it.” Theodore’s voice had gone dark and possessive, satisfaction threading through the hunger. “Take what you need.”
He worked her slowly, adding a second finger, stretching her, filling her while his thumb found the small bundle of nerves that made coherent thought impossible.
The combination was devastating, pleasure spiraling higher and higher, building toward something Cressida had never experienced but recognized instinctively.
“Theodore, I can’t—” She could barely breathe.
“Yes, you can.” His mouth found hers, swallowing her moans as his fingers quickened their rhythm, curling inside her in a way that made stars burst behind her eyelids. “Let go, Cressida. Give it to me.”
The world shattered as pleasure crashed through her in waves, her body arching into his hand as she rode out the intensity. Theodore held her through it, his fingers gentling but not stopping, prolonging the sensation until she collapsed against him, boneless and trembling.
He withdrew his hand, the very one he’d used to bring her to completion, and closed his mouth around his fingers, sucking.
Cressida shuddered as she watched him suck her taste off his fingers, his trousers bulging with his desire.
“Theodore…” she moaned, and he groaned in response.
