Page 63 of No Duke of Mine

He stroked down her torso, lingering to circle her breasts and then her nipples, until they grew almost too sensitive. “I can never get enough of touching you.”

She glanced down at her bosom. Her nipples had hardened to stiff peaks and, to her surprise, Algernon kissed one, and then captured it in his mouth and suckled.

Maggie moaned, a guttural sound that shocked her to have made. She writhed beneath him, but he soon stopped and took her other breast into his mouth. She moved restlessly beneath again and held his head there, unable to believe how good it felt.

When Algernon stopped, he wriggled lower, pressing kisses to her stomach. Unfortunately, it tickled so much she giggled out loud and squirmed away from him.

Algernon captured her again and drew her back into his arms. “Your laughter is a sound I want to hear more of but later,” he moved lower still and pushed her legs apart as he went. He kissed her thighs, lavishing them with his attention as he caressed them both.

She didn’t comprehend his plan until the first touch between her legs caught her by surprise.

A kiss, a touch, and the flick of a tongue low down made her moan again. Maggie leaned up to see what he was doing.

She was shocked to see his face buried between her thighs. His eyes were closed, and he looked to be feasting on her. An action that felt strange, and wonderful, too.

She fell back, though, as he teased a finger along her sex and back again. Maggie was stunned as he excited her until the point she began to writhe, begging for more. Much more. “Algernon…?”

“Now is not the time for discussion. Just feel and let me show you what I learned about lovemaking while we were apart,” he whispered.

The next moment, he kissed her sex harder.

Her hips rose to meet him of their own accord, and he wrestled her back down to the mattress, laughing softly. His fingers pressed against her body, and when the pressure increased too far, it almost immediately eased again.

Maggie thumped her head against the pillow, overwhelmed as Algernon turned her world upside down with his skillful lovemaking. She could barely keep still. She had never imagined making love would start like this, but how could it be wrong if it felt so good?

Each stroke of his finger inside her and flick of his tongue against her sex stole her wits. She could feel everything he did to her with a sensitivity she’d never experienced before.

She was about to burst out of her skin from what he was doing to her. When the sensations increased and grew too much to contain, Maggie squeezed her eyes shut and moaned as her body shuddered compulsively.

Suddenly, Algernon was above her, pushing her hair from her face, whispering, “My Maggie. So beautiful. So perfect.”

She looked up at him, dazed, and smiled weakly, only to receive a hard kiss in return.

Algernon positioned himself to enter her, and she didn’t feel pain at first, only a greater pressure than before. A hard thrust made her gasp, though, and he froze for a moment, withdrew, and pushed into her once again. He continued like that until he stopped to look down upon her, wearing a ridiculous grin.

He sank against her, brushing his fingertips across her lips. They remained connected, and Maggie liked that. “Are you all right, Maggie mine?”

She wriggled around him, testing the sensation of him inside her body. “I think so.”

Algernon cupped her face. “Maggie, I love you.”

She blinked.

“I do. I am in love with you. Probably since I was twelve.”

Maggie did not quite know how to respond to that admission. Children hardly understood love.

But she did now. She felt loved by Algernon.

He began to move again, and it felt wonderful still. And as he made love to her, she realized this was all she needed to be content. To have a man, to have Algernon, be part of her. Intimately part of her life.

Maggie wrapped her arms about his neck, sensing his excitement rising, and held tight to him as they made love.

He moaned, buried his face against her throat, and after a few kisses there, began to move with even more urgency.

Those feelings he created with his fingers and kisses between her legs stirred again. Maggie rocked with him, wrapped her legs about his hips, seeking to experience a similar release again.

Algernon suddenly shoved her legs wider apart and withdrew from her completely. She saw the glistening length of his cock in his hand and before his other covered the top. He moaned and pumped his length as he shuddered above her.

After a moment, he twisted to fall onto the bed at her side, panting hard and laughing softly. “My God, I love you.”

“I love you, too,” she whispered. “So much.”

He kissed her hard but jumped out of bed the next moment, disappearing into his room again, his hands cupped at his groin.

Belatedly, it occurred to Maggie what Algernon had done. He had prevented his seed from filling her body and done all he could to avoid conception.

An odd ache settled around her heart at how loyal he was to their friendship, their love, and what she wanted for her life. Even in the heat of the moment, he’d put her needs first.

That was love, that was devotion…that was Algernon, her best friend and lover. Making love was enough for him tonight, but it might not always be so simple.

When he returned, he was wiping his hands on a cloth, which he tossed away before throwing himself back into her bed. He caught up her hand and kissed the back of it. “Now you really are mine, Maggie Black.”

“Yes,” she said, fighting a blush at how easy he was to love. She would never take him for granted. Maggie rolled toward him, threw an arm across his chest, and held tight to his love.