Page 68 of To Steal a Kiss

“Enough!” he said, the word shaky as he leaned down and grasped her arms, hauling her up to him. She was lifted, carried to the bed and set down upon the edge where he made short work of stripping her of her shift. For a moment he just stared, breathing hard.

“Lay back,” he said, barely whispering the words though they surged through her.

She did as he asked, aware of his heated stare upon her, devouring her, seeking out all the secret places even she did not know as well as his eloquent gaze seemed to understand them. He lay down beside her, leaning on one elbow.

“How I have longed to touch you this way,” he said, resting a reverent hand upon her hip and sliding it over her skin, over her waist. “That first night on the balcony you changed me. You owned me from the moment my lips touched yours, before even. From the moment you asked me to kiss you and promised you wouldn’t tell if I kissed you first, I wanted to run away with you. I wanted to take you away from the stupid ball and bring you back here and keep you all to myself.”

“You have me now,” she whispered, quivering with longing as his warm hand cupped her breast.

“I do,” he agreed, smiling as he stared down at her. “I do,” he said again, and then lowered his mouth and captured her nipple. Alice made a startled sound and clutched at his head, hands tangling in his thick blond hair as she sighed. He caressed her with his tongue, circling the nipple and tormenting a little with gentle scrapes of his teeth, then licking and sucking first one breast and then the other as she squirmed with pleasure.

He made a low sound of amusement and she felt it move through her, tugging at her womb. Her body was clamouring, parts of her she’d barely acknowledged before now awakening and demanding his attention. At last, they seemed to cry, oh, yes, at last.

Nate lifted his head. “I want to taste you everywhere,” he said, the low tenor of his words turning into liquid heat inside of her.

“E-Everywhere?” she queried, a little doubtful.

“Mm-hmm,” he murmured. “Especially where you most need me. Where do you ache for me? Tell me.”

Alice stared at him, blinking. “I-I,” she stammered. Surely that was a rhetorical question? “I… don’t know.”

He tsked at her and shook his head.

“No?” she said, feeling her cheeks flame.

“No, you little fibber,” he said, laughter in his eyes, though not the mocking kind. This, with him, was warm and safe and rather intoxicating, drawing her into intimacy, asking that she trust him. “Does your body ache for me, Alice? Does it throb and cry out for my touch?”

“Yes,” she admitted, wondering if the scald of her cheeks could burn the bedding.

“Tell me where,” he coaxed, bending to kiss her mouth. “Tell me and I’ll make it better. So much better.”

Alice whimpered and shook her head, mortified to find his request so impossible, but he just smiled and kissed her again.

“Then show me,” he said, his voice gentle.

He moved back, watching as Alice swallowed and lifted one hand. She had to do this much; she would not allow her own stupid shyness to stop her from enjoying her marriage bed. It had kept her from so much pleasure throughout her life; it had to stop now.

Slowly, and hardly daring to breathe, she trailed a hand down her body, between her breasts, down her stomach. The look in Nate’s eyes gave her confidence that this was what he wanted from her.

“Oh, God, yes,” he murmured, the words spoken on a harsh breath as he stared at her hand moving lower. “Alice,” he whispered, soft and so full of desire her confidence grew. “Show me.”

Torn between shame and searing desire, Alice let her hand rest between her legs, covering the little triangle of fiery curls.

“More,” he rasped, moving down the bed. “Show me.”

With her breath caught in her throat, Alice widened her thighs, captivated by the look in her husband’s eyes, by the blatant need.

“Is this where you want me?” he asked, touching a gentle fingertip to her curls. “Please say it is,” he begged her.

“It is,” she managed and then gasped as he lowered his mouth to her skin, kissing her inner thigh, moving closer as she continued to hold her breath, feeling giddy and wanton and out of her mind with desire. He parted her curls with careful hands and then his mouth was on her again and she was beyond coherent thought.

There was nothing beyond this room, beyond this bed, beyond the wet heat of her husband’s mouth upon her private skin. Her world shrank, coalesced, and reshaped itself to that shimmering pleasure beneath her flesh, the point where he caressed, teased, and licked until she was nothing more than a quivering expanse of nerves and sensation.

Alice sought for something to hold on to as reality seemed to slip from her grasp, tumbling her into some strange, dreamlike state. The bedclothes rumpled beneath her grasping hands as she arched into Nate’s mouth with abandon. Seeking her own pleasure with shameless moans and cries, Alice called his name as he’d wanted her to do as light glittered and shone behind her eyelids and the pleasure broke and sparked through her blood like fireworks.

“Alice, Alice, oh love.”

She was only dimly aware of his voice, of the caresses and kisses that covered her as he moved up the bed, until his body pressed against hers and she awoke from the dreamlike place he’d sent her to. His skin seared hers, so hot, the weight of his body so exhilarating as he encompassed her, surrounded her.