With a groan, he tore down her breeches, her challenge clear in his head. Shewantedhim to do as he chose—yet only as far as she desired, reading her body to see if she was enjoying this as much as he.
A test, of sorts.
He would pass it.
He skimmed his fingers along the bare, goose-pimpled skin of her thighs. He wanted her naked, but for now, he was content enough with this: access to the forbidden. A sense that she was letting him where she would let no other man. It didn’t matter that he had been here before, and he hoped to be here again. What mattered was that now, she was lettinghimthere.
“You havebewitchedme,” he snarled, kissing first one inner thigh, then the other. He could smell her arousal, musky and full of need, and it made his cock twitch. “Body and soul. I am yours, Aurelia.”
Her hands curled into his hair, encouraging him forward, and he leaned in to take his first taste of her.
A matter of days, perhaps—it had not been long at all since he had last tasted her.
But after everything that had occurred, both between them and elsewhere, it felt as though it had been a lifetime.
Maybe two.
And he had finally come home.
She tasted delectable; he would never have his fill of her, not even if he feasted here for days.
“Sebastian…” Her nails scraped his scalp. He sucked her into his mouth, and she shuddered. Bit by bit, he compelled her to fall apart, until she was crying out around him, and he could taste her climax on his tongue.
Devil take it, he had needed that.
Slowly, he withdrew and emerged from under her like a savage beast entailed to pleasure. She lay back against the bed, her crystal eyes glossy in her face, her cheeks flushed.
“I love you,” he told her, because he hadn’t told her enough—hadn’t realized itsoon enoughto have told her, and that was a travesty.
Then she smiled, and although they had not resolved anything—not by a long shot, he knew it would take a lot more of his time reassuring her and convincing her that she was what he wanted—he knew he was well on his way to being forgiven.
“I know,” she whispered. “I love you too.”
Aurelia hadn’t meant to say the words just yet, even though she had thought she had for a while. She hadintendedto make him wait for it, work for it a little harder.
But what was the point?
She opened her arms to him, and he came to her immediately, kissing her cheek instead of her lips, presumably so she wouldn’t taste herself on his mouth. His clothed body settled against hers, shirt against shirt, and his arousal pressed right against the bare, sensitive flesh between her legs.
She shuddered at the feel of him. That was one thing she had always been able to say, before anything else: hedesiredher. Even from the very beginning, he had desired her.
That alone was never enough, of course, but it was not alone anymore.
She rolled her hips, and he grunted, his smile curving against her cheek. “Very well, my sweetnew wife. Do you care for more?”
“I want everything,” she gasped.
“Then you shall have it.” He looked back down at her until she met his gaze, and cupped her cheek in his hand. “Everything I have is yours.”
She shook her head desperately. “I don’t need everything you have. I just want you.”
“And you have me. Body and soul.” He reached down to free himself from the breeches she had so recently offered to him, and with no more preparation, he plunged inside her.
The initial rush of pleasure was almost too much for her to take. She arched her back as she gasped, barely able to breathe beyond the fullness. He filled her, made her feel complete. For the first time since the dinner—since they went to London, since perhaps even before then—she felt as though she belonged.
With him,to him.
This was more than just making love: he was staking his claim on her.
