“I’ve hardly touched ye, lass,” he drawled gruffly. “I assure ye, there is much more to come.”
Hardly touched her? She felt ready to explode.
“I want to see you. Touch you.”
His eyes flared. He liked the idea too. He stood and the next thing she knew, Piper was scooped up from the divan and cradled against his chest as if she weighed nothing at all. He kissed the hollow of her throat, sending a sensual quiver of yearning down to her toes. She silently thanked providence that she hadn’t been standing for surely she would have puddled at his feet.
“Point me to yer bed, lass,” he murmured into her hair, “and I’ll give each part of ye proper attention.”
Weakly, she gestured in the right direction, and he crossed the short distance in long strides. He set her on her feet and rotated her to face the bed, holding her steady when she swayed, eyes closed. Gentle hands peeled her blouse away while he skimmed light, teasing caresses along the way. Skirts and petticoats slipped to the floor with a sigh she was tempted to emulate. Hot lips nuzzled the back of her neck, his whiskers rasping with sinful delight as her corset loosened, then fell.
Throaty words of praise and adoration were muffled by the brush of his lips along her shoulder. When his tongue ran down her spine, the world tilted beneath her feet.
“Connor,” she breathed.
“Shush, lass,” he murmured, his lips returning to the nape of her neck.
He plucked a pin from her already disheveled knot of hair, another, then another until her curls were loose and flowing down her back and over her shoulders.
“That’s better.”
He slipped the strap of her silk combination off her shoulder and raked his teeth there, rotating her to face him. Soft kisses traced her collarbone, lingered between her breasts. He tugged at the ribbons holding the front of the undergarment together, his mouth following the opening down. A hot wet trail that left her on fire, yet shivering. His tongue dipped into her navel and her knees wobbled.
“Nay, no’ yet.”
Holding her up, he eased the confection of silk and lace down her arms, past her waist, and over her hips in a whisper of a caress echoed by his calloused hands. Finally, when she thought her legs would no longer hold her upright, he let her sit on the edge of the bed.
Cool air licked at her bare breasts, bare everything. It hadn’t occurred to her that there would be daylight left when it came to this. She knew she should suffer some flood of modesty, some inhibition at being naked in front of a man for the first time in her life. However, all he’d shown her thus far was tenderness and pleasure. All she knew was desire, hot and combustible. She watched as he rid her of her shoes, untied her garters, and rolled down one stocking. His lips marked each inch of flesh as it was revealed, lingering behind her knee. The other received the same slow treatment until Piper trembled all the way to her bare toes.
A buzzing filled her ears, her mind. Every part of her being down to her fingertips reverberated with it. Her breathing grew shallow, each inhale an effort. An intoxicating weakness she’d never experienced suffused her body.
“Ye’ve marvelous legs, lass.” He glanced up at her, eyes glittering in the lamplight. Rough palms swept up the outside of her legs from ankle to thigh, then angled inward and back down, urging them apart as he went. “Lean. Long. Supple. I cannae wait to have them wrapped around me.”
The imagery was mildly daunting and deliciously exciting at the same time. Piper reached for him. “Come then.”
He shook his head and caught her hands with a wicked grin. “Och, and leave the treasure before me? I cannae. I did promise the proper attention to each part of ye, aye?”
“Each part?”
Connor bent his head to kiss her knee, watching her from the corner of his eye as he drifted upward. There was mischief there, and fire smoldering within. His tongue teased her inner thigh and her limbs shook of their own will as he urged them further apart.
“You can’t mean to…?”
But he did. Leaving a trail of kisses behind until he reached the junction of her thighs. She was strung tight as a bow. Torn between trepidation and anticipation. Not knowing what to expect while that part of her already throbbed with instinctual understanding.
His tongue touched her, sending a shaft of rapture such as she’d never fathomed to her core. As if it might cleave her in two. With a cry of surprise, she drew back, yet contrarily threaded her fingers through his hair to hold him close. He licked harder, his tongue circling the source of it all. Another cry rose in her throat, she was helpless to stop it.
“Connor!”
“Aye, lass.”
Her pulse, weak and thready moments ago, sprinted. Her heart pounded with such ferocity, she feared it might burst through her ribcage. Every part of her body vibrated as if it would explode with the fire racing through her.
He lifted his head and a bereft sob racked her. Turning his head, he nipped at her wrist, reminding her of her death grip on his hair. She freed him, hoping he’d resume his task. Instead, he stroked her thighs with his hands, upward until his finger traced that spot his tongue had. Her breath caught and her head fell back. His caress went lower, circling another area that quivered at his touch.
“Ye’re so wet, hot.” His brogue was hoarse, thick. “By God, how I want ye.”
Before she could respond, her body arched of its own will against the thrust of his finger. His mouth descended once more, drawing on that sensitive nub. It was too much. The dam broke, rapture surged to bliss. Throbbing, pulsating. All-consuming, drowning her with its power. A scream tore from her throat, a release of the ecstasy overwhelming her. Darkness crowded the corners of her mind, and Piper fell back on the counterpane. Replete. Wringing the covers between her fingers.
