“Huh,” I say, like a prize idiot.
And I’ve handed this woman power over me, even more power than she already held, but as Maddy hops down and rounds the desk toward me, I can’t bring myself to regret it.
“I’d like to read these someday.” Maddy pauses at my side, peering down at the jumble of papers. “Once you’ve put them in some kind of order.”
“Ah, yes. Alright.” It’s so hard to think straight with her standing so close to me. Close enough to feel her body heat tickling my right side. “Do you—are you interested in mosses?”
“Nope.” Maddy pops the ‘p’, grinning down at me. My chest tightens. “But I’d be interested in stories ofyouhunting down mosses. And lichens. And ferns and flowers and trees and whatever other plants you’ve taken a fancy to.”
“All of them,” I tell her honestly, pushing my chair back and spinning to face my housemaid like a man in a trance. Maybe I am. Or maybe this is a dream after all, and Madeleine Price is sleeping sweetly in her attic bedroom while I toss and turn wherever I’ve crashed into unconsciousness this time. “I like them all.”
“Greedy,” she murmurs, settling onto my lap like it’s the most natural thing in the world. I let her. Of course I fucking do.
Her warmth, her weight, the way her arms loop around my neck—it’s all sensory overload after years and years of white static. When was the last time I was touched? Even by a friend; a platonic hug?
I can’t get enough. My arms snake around her waist, hitching her tight to my front, and Maddy’s breathy little laugh goes directly to my cock.
“I thought you hated me,” Maddy says.
My head shake is slow. Stupid. See,thisis why I lost my mind over the lingering atoms of her scent—because this woman takes a sledgehammer to my IQ. That fact has irritated me all month, but with Maddy perched on my lap, her fingertips carding through the short hair at the base of my skull, I can’t summon that ire.
All I can do is inhale deeply through my nose, and try to commit every detail of this maybe-dream to memory.
When Maddy leans in and kisses me softly, plump lips grazing against mine—my rib cage cracks open. I’m wrecked. It’s all I can do to hold her tight against my chest and kiss her back, tender and cautious, my shoulders bunched with tension, waiting all the while for the other shoe to drop.
For her to slap me and leap out of my arms, railing against lecherous employers.
For her to lean back, wrinkle her nose, and give a disappointed shrug.
For her to burst into giggles against my lips, making it clear that this was all some silly prank.
Instead, Maddy tilts her head and sighs, parting her lips and sweeping her tongue against mine. My fingertips dig into her back, burrowing into the loose knit of her sweater, and I’m breathing harder now, panting with barely restrained desire.I’m harder than granite beneath her ass, and Maddy knows, because she keeps squirming against the rigid line of my cock. Her fingers play with the buttons of my waistcoat, like she’s considering flicking them open.
“Perhaps,” I force out between kisses, each word an Olympic effort, “we should leave it there for tonight. I don’t entirely… trust myself.”
Maddy’s smile slants against my mouth, and she nips my bottom lip.
“With what, your lordship?”
“With you.” My hands roam up and down Maddy’s sides, thrilling at the nip of her waist and the flare of her hips. There’s a bombshell of a body hidden under these clothes. “If we keep on like this… I don’t trust myself to be a gentleman.”
My hips rock up unbidden, punctuating my words, and Maddy’s delighted laugh echoes through the study. Over her shoulder, the fire has banked lower, the logs crumbling to ash.
“Would that be so wrong?”
Yes. No.
But I’m not certain yet whether this is real or a dream, and if it’s all a fevered nighttime hallucination, I’d rather not come in my sheets like a teenager.
Besides, it’s late. Maddy came here primarily out of guilt. If we’re ever going to dothat, I’d like for her to at least sleep on it first. Come to her decision with a clear head. That’s what a gentleman would require, correct?
So it’s settled.
“Come to me again tomorrow.” It comes out clipped, like an order, but thankfully Maddy takes no offense. She leans back on my lap, arms looped around my neck once again, and when my thigh spasms in pain, thankfully she doesn’t seem to notice. “If you still want this after a proper night’s sleep, find me again.”
“But you’re so good at hiding from me.” Maddy flicks me gently on the nose, and I startle like a cat. She laughs, throaty and sweet.
“I won’t hide,” I promise. As if I could, after this. It will take every ounce of my self control not to go toher, prowling after her through these halls like a wild animal. “Now go to sleep.”
