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‘But it’s where we met.’ Samuel came to stand close behind her, placing his hands on either side of her waist. ‘That seems fitting for our first night together.’
‘About that...’ She pushed the door open, removing one of his hands and using it to lead him inside. ‘I’m not sure whether...’
‘It’s all right.’ He lifted her fingers to his mouth, kissing the backs of her knuckles reassuringly. ‘I don’t have any expectations tonight. I’ll be happy just to hold you in my arms if you don’t feel ready for more.’
‘I’m ready.’ She smiled at the obvious relief in his face. ‘But you’ve had a hit on the head and you must be exhausted after such a long day. Maybe you should—’
‘I’m ready, too.’ He cut her off, closing the shop door and drawing the bolt firmly behind them. ‘It’ll take more than a bump on the head to keep my hands off you.’
‘As long as you’re certain.’ She hesitated. ‘Only the truth is that I’m not entirely sure what I’m ready for. I would have asked my mother, but she’s not here, and as much as I like your grandmother...’
‘She’s not the kind of person you can talk to about that. Thank goodness you didn’t try.’ He advanced towards her, smiling in a way that set butterflies fluttering in her stomach. ‘Remember what we did in the plunge pool?’
‘Yes.’ She felt her cheeks turn pink at the memory.
‘Well, it’s like that, only warmer, drier and usually more horizontal.’
‘Oh... I see. Would you like some tea first?’
‘No.’ His lips quirked. ‘No tea.’
‘Wine?’
‘Nothing.’ He reached for the tasselled ends of her shawl, slowly peeling it from around her shoulders and dropping it onto the shop counter. ‘I want you, Anna. Nothing else.’
‘Oh...’ She swallowed at the touch of cold air on her skin. It was a relief since the room seemed to have become ten times hotter all of a sudden. His hands surrounded her waist again, his gaze dark and hungry-looking, holding her own so intently that the fluttering sensation in her stomach felt more like flapping now, as if the butterflies had somehow transformed into birds. She took a faltering breath, her thoughts spinning as he lowered his lips against hers, softly and searchingly at first, then kissing her so deeply that she felt as if all the blood in her body had rushed straight to her head. She curled her arms around his neck, though she didn’t realise they were moving until her back touched the counter.
‘Samuel?’ She tipped her head back, breaking the kiss to catch her breath. ‘Should we go upstairs?’
‘Probably,’ he murmured against her neck, covering her skin with hot, open-mouthed kisses. ‘While I still can walk.’
‘Why wouldn’t you—?’ She opened her eyes wide as the lower half of his body pressed against her. ‘Oh.’
‘Oh,’ he repeated, a smile in his voice as he slid his hands over her hips and bunched his fingers in the folds of her skirts. ‘I’ve wanted to do this from the first moment I saw you.’
‘Not the first,’ she protested.
‘The very first. I was standing just outside that window and you were scowling from behind the counter.’
‘I was trying to scare you away.’
‘I know. You have a very attractive scowl.’
He pressed a kiss into the hollow at the base of her throat. It felt so tender that she heard a moan escape her lips even before she’d opened them. Mercifully, the flapping in her abdomen had stopped, only it seemed to have been replaced by a throbbing sensation instead, making her legs so unsteady that she doubted she could make it up the stairs now, either. And he certainly couldn’t carry her in his...condition. Which left only one alternative...
She braced her hands on the edge of the counter behind, pulling herself up to perch on the edge.
‘Anna?’ Samuel’s gaze looked arrested.
‘You said like the plunge pool.’ She frowned. ‘Or does it have to be horizontal?’
‘No...’ There was a raw edge to his voice as if he were struggling with the question himself. ‘But this is your first time. It might be better if we...’ He didn’t finish the sentence as she leaned forward, pressing her breasts against his chest and skimming her lips along the curve of his ear with a small shushing sound. For a moment his whole body seemed to tense at the contact, but then he reached up, cupping her face in his hands and kissing her even more deeply than before. ‘I want you.’
Moving by instinct, she wriggled forward until there was no space left between them, wrapping her legs around his waist while his fingers unfastened the hooks at the back of her gown, tugging it down over her shoulders. His mouth fell to her breasts, and she pushed her hands beneath his shirt, feeling the muscles of his shoulders flex as she smoothed her fingers greedily over the hard contours of his body.
‘Anna.’ His voice sounded guttural, making her heart clench with anticipation as he unfastened the front of his breeches and then slid a hand between her legs, touching her so intimately that she sucked in a breath of surprise. ‘I don’t want to hurt you.’
‘You’re not,’ she gasped as hard flesh pressed against the entrance to her body. ‘I want you, too.’
