Page 68 of What a Lord Wants

He took her hand and helped her to her feet, then turned her back to him and carefully unfastened the half dozen tiny pearl buttons. As each one released, her bodice loosened, and his chest tightened. He’d seen her naked before, but he’d never undressed her. Now he savored each moment, placing a tender kiss to every inch of bare flesh he revealed.

When the last button slipped free, he brushed his hands over her shoulders and along her arms, pushing the soft material down her body and off, to pile on the floor around her feet. She didn’t move, except to close her eyes when he untied her petticoat and let it fall away. Then he took his time leisurely pulling through the lacing of her corset, until the stays came loose in his hands and dropped unwanted to the floor.

His breath hitched as she stood there, now in only her chemise. Her curves were silhouetted by the lamplight…her breasts with their dusky nipples showing through the thin cotton, her round hips begging to be captured in his hands, and the dark triangle of curls tempting him even now to caress her there, selfishly not wanting to wait for her to be completely undressed.

Unable to resist, he slipped his hand down between her legs to cup her through the chemise. She caught her breath and tensed. But only for a moment before breathing out a soft sigh and melting back against him.

When she stepped her legs apart in permission to continue, he hesitated.

Hesitated? For Christ’s sake, when had he ever hesitated to claim what he wanted when he was with a woman? He was never unsure of himself when it came to intimacy, knowing exactly how to please a woman and how to find his own pleasures in return.

But this wasn’t just any woman. This was his wife. Hisvirginalwife. That thought alone was enough to send a tremor through him.

When he didn’t caress her as she expected, she whispered over her shoulder, “Dom?” Slowly, she took the chemise and lifted it, peeling it up her body and off, to let it fall away and leave her naked.

Then she turned to face him.

He sucked in a mouthful of air as he raked his gaze over her. Sweet Lucifer, she was arresting, in every way. He drank her in with his eyes, to imprint on his mind every last detail of her at this moment. Not just her physical beauty, but also the life that pulsed inside her, the vivacity and brilliance that made her shine like a diamond, even in the shadows.

“Do you still want to paint me?” she asked breathlessly.

“Yes.” God yes.

She bit her bottom lip in a look of shy seduction that left him groaning. “Is that all you want to do tonight?”

God no.

With a single step, he had her in his arms. His mouth captured hers in a kiss filled with such raw yearning that she shuddered beneath the intensity of it.

He scooped her up into his arms as she sank against him, his mouth never leaving hers, and placed her onto the chaise. She lay back in a pose of such trusting vulnerability that his heart skittered.

His hands swept over her, from her neck to her breasts, down the length of each leg to her toes—he couldn’t caress her enough to satisfy the increasing urge to experience all of her. When she timidly touched the tip of her tongue to his lips, shyly encouraging him to take more, his restraint snapped. He did exactly that, thrusting his tongue between her lips to fully ravish her succulent mouth.

She moaned, and he greedily drank in the sound.Ambrosia.He caressed her breasts, hoping to elicit more sweet sounds of desire from her, proof that he was making her happy. What mattered was that she find her pleasure, that he make tonight perfect for her.

He lowered his head to her breast and placed a worshipful kiss to her nipple, which puckered beneath his lips. Like magic. He teased at it with his tongue until she whimpered, then shifted to give the same sweet torture to her other breast.

Beneath him, Eve arched in wanton invitation. Unable to resist, he placed his hand at her throat, splaying his fingers wide. He slowly brushed down her body, between her breasts and across her belly, as if he were painting her with his hand, until his fingers teased at her feminine curls.

When she opened her eyes and gazed up at him, the desire in their depths sparked a hot yearning deep inside him. He fixed his gaze on hers as he slipped his hand between her legs, this time with no barrier between her delicate folds and his bare fingers. Her breath caught at the intimate caress, then changed into soft pants as he gently explored her.

“You’ll do what you did before…when you kissed me…there?” Her eyes never left his, even as his continued teasing between her legs now had her shaking. “Please.”

For hours and hours if she’d let him. “And this time,” he promised with a lingering kiss to her lips, “so much more.”

“I’ve wanted that with you, for so very long.”

Masculine pride warmed his chest, and something else he couldn’t quite place. But it made him want this night with her more than he’d ever wanted to be with a woman, if only so he could watch the joy on her face when bliss overtook her.

Yet her composure surprised him. Even now she breathed out a soft sigh of complete trust. He asked, “Aren’t you nervous at all?”

She placed her palm against his cheek. “How can I be, with you?”

His heart tugged at how much she trusted him. He rewarded her with an even deeper and harder caress, one that delved down to find the sensitive nib buried within her folds.

Closing her eyes, she whimpered softly, half in pleasure, half begging for more. Tonight, he’d gladly give her everything she wanted. When he gently strummed against the little bead with his thumb, a tremor sped through her that made her squirm her bottom against the chaise.

“That’s why I came here,” she admitted between panting breaths, her fingertips digging into the hard muscles of his shoulders. “Because tonight…had to happen …here.”