Much, much more.
She wetted her lips as the warm, heady lure of desire unfurled within her. “There you are, my lord. All dried off from your bath.”
He still cupped her cheek, the pad of his thumb rubbing her jawline in a slow, steady caress. “Thank you.”
But he did not move.
And neither did she.
“Gabe?”
A muscle ticked in his jaw. “Helena?”
“I want to please you.”
A handful of words. Not enough to explain everything she wanted. But enough, she hoped. There was something about the man she loved hovering over her, his expression inscrutable, his hand on her face, his body nude and ready for the taking, that had her at sixes and sevens.
“You do not know what you are saying,” he argued. “This is not…we cannot…should not…”
Helena had endured enough of Gabe’s denials. On the last of his attempts to enumerate the reasons why she ought not to give him pleasure this evening, she simply leaned forward and pressed a kiss to the tip of his cock.
“Damn,” he swore.
It sounded like a good curse to Helena, the sort which he permitted himself to utter in the throes of passion. Smiling, she extended her boldness by running her tongue along the length of him.
“Helena,” he said on a groan. “This is…wrong. I cannot ask you to do this for me.”
“You did not ask,” she pointed out. “I want to do it.”
Actually, she had simply begun doing what pleased her. And in this moment, what pleased her was touching and teasing him as he had done to her. He was so good at giving. Tonight, she wanted to return the favor. Whether or not the evening had begun with such an intention was irrelevant. They were here now. Together now.
Nothing had ever felt better or more right.
She did not await his response. Instead, she drew him into her mouth in the same way he had done to her pearl. Echoing his actions, she sucked.
His hips bucked, driving him to the back of her throat.
Helena gagged.
Her husband withdrew instantly. “Forgive me, my dear. That is not…I should have never allowed you to do that. The act is not for a wife, but rather for a mistress.”
The wordmistressmade her cold. She stared up at him, the thought of him bedding another woman akin to a knife in her heart.
“Do you have a mistress?” she asked, not for the first time.
“Of course not, Helena.” He frowned down at her, their disparate positions making it seem as if they were farther away from each other than they truthfully were. “Surely you know me better than to suppose I would have a mistress after marriage.”
Thank. The. Lord. In. Heaven.
Helena exhaled slowly. “I do know you well, I think.”
Just not well enough. She would like to know him better. To understand him.
Yes, that was what she wanted.
And to make him lose control.
His nostrils flared. “Do not remain on your knees, Helena. Rise, if you please.”
