“My second rule is . . .” Her gaze darted to the side, and she looked as though she steeled herself. “I will not remove all my clothes. I know pleasure can be achieved without a full loss of modesty.”
“Ah.” He did his best to keep his expression neutral. He had offered her a kiss; she was offering far more. Much as he wanted to see her bared for him, he could not push her. “What about mine?”
“Your clothes?”
“Yes. What are your preferences?”
“I—” She hesitated, glancing at his crotch, and his cock responded, swelling in anticipation of something he couldn’t even be sure would happen. “What are you comfortable with?”
“Everything,” he said immediately. “I would prefer to be unclothed unless you dislike the thought of seeing me.” He wagged his brows at her, and she laughed again, shaking her head.
“I have no objection.”
“Well, then. Anything else?”
“We never tell Isabella of what occurred between us,” she said immediately.
“That goes without saying. What happens between us in this room stays in this room.”
“Yes. And after—after we are done, I would prefer it if you didn’t . . . That is to say, I would like for you to immediately take your bed.”
For a long moment, Oliver said nothing. He’d had a few dalliances where speed was of the essence—all lifted skirts and muffled gasps and few kisses. On the surface of things, he didn’t know why he reacted against doing the same with Emily.
Perhaps because he had an intellectual and emotional connection with her—he was accustomed to being used forsexual gratification by near-strangers. But for someone he knew to treat him like that stung in an odd, indefinable way.
Yet what else had he been expecting? She’d said it herself: this was all pleasure, no intimacy.
He could do that.
At least, he thought he could.
“I want to be in control,” she said, and it felt as though the words had left her like an exhale, as though she had needed to say them for so long, they had burst free without her permission. “And for you to submit. To me.”
Nowthiswas intriguing.
“Very well,” he said. “Then you will be in control. You will lead the way, and I will follow. Teach me, Emily. I will be your most avid student.” Finally, he rose, coming to kneel before her in a demonstration of submission. Her breath hitched as he took her wrist in his hand and kissed her inner arm. “Tell me what you want from me,” he murmured, pressing the words into her skin. “Tell me, and I’ll obey.” A sharp intake of breath told him how much she liked that, and he continued. “Does that please you, darling? Having me on my knees for you? Willing to do anything you command?” Finally, he looked up at her in time to see her blush. She had such delectable colour, and he wanted to kiss it from her.
There were so many things he wanted to do to her. That he wanted her toaskfor, to command him to do.
Things he wanted her to do to him.
He kissed her wrist one last time, then released her hand, standing before he got carried away. “Would you like to change before we begin? If so, now is your chance. I will wait over here; call me when you’re done.” Without giving her time to object, he strode across the room and faced the wall. They had done this a few times over the past few days, and the rustling clothes had always been akin to torture, but it felt different this time.His skin heated, and he felt the urgency of his arousal pulsing through his body.
Lust took on a new edge when it was like this—when he was getting so much, yet being denied so much at the same time. His urgency came from needing to make the most of this moment before it inevitably passed.
Once he took her back to Dalston, he expected he would have to leave and never see her again. These were the last few days in her company; if he didn’t embrace everything she offered him now, he would never get another chance.
Some part of him, buried so deep it was more instinct than rational thought, knew that he could not bear that eventuality.
“I’m ready,” she called, and when he turned back around, it was to see her in a nightgown that devoured the shape of her body, rendering nothing visible but the pearled nub of her nipples. No matter what she pretended for the sake of indifference and control, she wanted this, too.
Her gaze moved down him, lingering on the unavoidably visible bulge at his crotch. “Are you not undressing after all?”
“I thought you might wish to do that yourself. If you recall, you started once before.” He remained where he was, though he wanted nothing more than to stride over to her, to take her in his arms and bury his face in the loose, static curls around her head.
He wanted, he wanted, and he would never stop.
But she needed to feel as though she was in control here, and so he would take a step back and let it happen. “Whatever you choose, Emily,” he said when she didn’t immediately speak. “This isn’t about my tastes. I’ll have you any way you let me, whether it’s naked or clothed, on my knees worshipping you or if it’s against the wall. Against the bed. With my eyes closed.” He grinned at her. “In fact, that might be rather nice. So, what is it to be?” He spread his hands, gesturing wide. “Tell me what you want, Em.”
