Chapter 18
Emmaline wasn’t sure what had come over her, but she liked it, even more so than she would ever care to admit. Sitting upon Alex’s knee in the club, she felt adventurous, scandalous, desired.
The eyes of nearly every person in the room were on them, some looking discreetly while others stared openly.
The debauchery that had paused upon her entering the room, remained so until Alex’s hand slipped beneath her skirts once more. This time, it remained here, travelling higher and higher.
Emmaline’s heart hitched into her throat. His touch was warm and his hand surprisingly soft. His gentleness was intoxicating, and she angled her pelvis towards him instinctively.
“You are a little minx, aren’t you?” he whispered in her ear, and she breathed a deep and desire-filled sigh.
“I did not intend to be,” she admitted. “I merely came to support you.”
She gripped her arms more tightly around his neck as those around them all started to return to their business. The air once more became thick with debauchery, women moaning, men groaning, the gamblers laughing, joking and yelling above the music.
The smokey incense was heady all around her, but it was not what made her head spin.
“Do you wish me to stop?” Alex asked and Emmaline shook her head.
“No, please, don’t,” she blurted out, and his fingers slipped between her thighs. He touched her in the most sensitive area imaginable, his fingers stroking so delicately that she could barely feel it at first. He added pressure until she moaned, biting her lip against the urge to scream.
“That…that feels…” she gasped near his ear. She felt more than saw his smile and heard it in his tone when he finished her sentence for her.
“Good?”
“Yes,” she breathed out.
“Emmaline, you have quite unmanned me,” he whispered, and Emmaline could not help but giggle, for beneath her, pressed against her buttocks, she felt his manhood. He most definitely was not unmanned. In fact, he felt so large and throbbing beneath her that she was almost frightened—almost.
In truth, she was far too hot for him to be frightened at all. In fact, she was excited and fascinated and quite intoxicated.
The half-naked women, the writhing bodies all around her, the smell of sweat and pleasure all around her was almost too much to bear. She wasn’t at all sure she could contain herself.
She just barely tried to, allowing one hand to slip down from around his shoulders and beneath her hip, stroking his rock-hard manhood in his britches until it was his turn to groan.
“When you arrived, I had a feeling you wished to put on a show, but I did not expect this,” he growled into her ear and there was a warning in his tone that told her to ease off a little.
“Do you wish me to stop?” she asked, feeling ever naughtier. A part of her thought that even if he said yes, she would not be able to.
“No but you must, or I shall take you right here and now,” he groaned in her ear and Emmaline’s insides fluttered. A pool of heat trickled beneath her thighs, and she was sure he could feel it beneath his hand for his finger dipped deliciously inside her where only her own fingers had been before.
“Alex…” she breathed his name, barely more than a whisper. The smell of him wrapped all around her now, hot and sweet as cinnamon, and her mouth watered for him.
“You have no idea how much I need you,” he whispered into her ear, his breath caressing her earlobe in a way that caused her to shiver with delight.
“Then take me,” she responded, willing to give herself to him in that instant. It did not matter that they were surrounded by a room full of people. It did not matter that they were masked and not at all themselves. It only mattered that she needed him. She was so hot and bothered that she wished to rip off her own gown and run naked through the room, screaming about how much she needed him.
Never in her wildest dreams had she desired somebody so badly. Though a virgin, she had the same womanly urges as every other woman, or so she thought. But this, this was something else entirely. This need was so powerful she felt she might quit breathing if she did not have him soon.
“Not here,” Alex protested, and she was disappointed when he slipped his hand out from beneath her skirts, “Not like this.”
Would he truly keep her waiting so impatiently? The desire was painful inside of her now, her entire body ached with her need for him.
He raised his hand then and whispered, “Open your mouth.”
Emmaline’s whole body shivered when she smelled the sweet scent of herself on his fingers just beneath her nose.
“Why?” she asked.
