“You said I could have whatever I wanted,” she reminded him. “This is my first request.”
He shrugged in surrender, but didn’t follow the gesture with any confession. Why didn’t he say something?
“Well?” Jane prompted.
“I’m trying to pick one that isn’t too filthy.”
Trying to pick one. That implied there were many. That he’d thought of this frequently.
Jane felt a rush of pleasure at the notion.
“All right,” Eli finally said. Sure enough, his voice had gone rough again, just like on the balcony. “I want to look at you.Allof you.”
It sounded deceptively easy. Looking wasn’t even touching. She didn’t have to worry if she was doing something wrong.
But “all of you” sounded like it meant…all, all.
Eli must have read her face. “That was too much. You don’t have to do it if you don’t want to.”
“I didn’t say no.” She could do this, surely. Shewantedto do this. But now that it was before her, it seemed too great. Like stepping off the edge of a cliff.
Don’t think too much about it.
Jane let the cover drop from her chin, and the change that came over Eli’s face as he took in the sight of her gave her courage. His eyes were riveted to her hands as she pulled at the laces on her collar. When the shift gaped open, she hesitated again.
“What about you?”
“What?” Eli tore his eyes from her chest with some difficulty.
“Fair is fair.”
“Right. Of course.” He pulled the buttons open and had his crisp white dress shirt off in an impressive time, his eyes still locked on her.
Oh my.
He was perfect. Infuriatingly, impossibly perfect. The muscles of his chest and arms had been shaped by his time at sea, as surely as a sculptor shaped Apollo or Hercules from the clay. She wasn’t going to live up to that.
But she’d agreed to it, and she’d feel foolish going back now. Janeslid the gaping neck of her shift first from one shoulder, then the other, until the linen fluttered down her skin to land about her waist with the lightness of a moth’s wing. Her nipples hardened to peaks in the cool air. The way Eli looked at her then made her feel perfect, too.
They explored each other silently, the only sound in the room their shaking breaths, coming more rapidly now. It made her wonder, to see how differently they were made. He was firm when she was soft. But the heat of their skin, and the pleasure touch brought, that was the same. Eli leaned closer, claiming her mouth again as his hands cupped her breasts. She arched her spine, curving into his grasp. The skin there was so sensitive, he seemed to set her alight.
“Press yourself against me,” she pleaded. “The way you did at the priory. It felt so good.”
“The wayIdid at the priory?” He laughed. “That was all you, love. But I’m happy to oblige.”
Jane scarcely had time to register his words before Eli eased her back onto the bed and lowered himself on top of her, groaning as their most intimate parts came together. With only the thin linen of her shift and his trousers between them, it felt different. Better.
Much better.
Eli began to rock against her slowly, the head of his cock sliding over her mound.
“Good God,” he gasped.
“Yes.”
Jane wrapped her arms around Eli’s neck and down his back, scratching lightly with her nails. He’d liked that in the carriage. Every muscle was tense, shaking with strain.
He bent his face down to kiss her, though it was rougher than before. More desperate. He grazed his teeth over her bottom lip, and when she returned the gesture, he groaned so loudly she feared a servant would hear.
