With a low groan, Nicolas pulled her close, capturing her lips in a kiss so searing it stole the very breath from her. Emily wrapped her arms around his neck, her body melding against his, feeling every ridge of muscle beneath his skin.
His powerful hands roamed over her back, igniting trails of fire even through the thin fabric of her nightgown. She arched into his touch, a breathy moan escaping her as his lips trailed scorching kisses along the column of her throat.
Tangling her fingers in his dark hair, she tilted her head to grant him better access, reveling in the rasp of his evening stubble against her sensitive skin. Each brush of his mouth stoked the flames of her desire higher.
“Nicolas,” she gasped as he nipped at her racing pulse. “Please...”
He gentled his attentions, breath hot against her ear as he asked, “Are you certain? Another taste of you and there will be no turning back. I am a rogue, after all.”
She drew back enough to frame his face between her palms, her gaze locking with his. “I have never been more certain of anything in my life. I want you. All of you.”
Something fierce and primitive flashed in his gaze, as if her declaration had unleashed the passion he’d been holding back. “Then you shall have me. In every way a man can worship a woman.”
Lowering his head, Nicolas claimed her lips in a kiss that seared her to her very soul. Emily matched him with equal hunger, bold now in her need. She nipped at his bottom lip, swallowing his answering groan.
Large hands smoothed down her sides to her hips, spanning her waist. He gathered the fabric of her nightgown, inching it higher as he walked her backwards toward the large four-poster bed dominating the room. The backs of her thighs hit the mattress, and she tumbled down onto the counterpane, Nicolas following her without breaking their kiss.
Her pulse thrummed as his solid weight settled over her, the hard ridge of his manhood an insistent press against her belly. Liquid heat pooled low in her abdomen, anticipation burning through her veins. She yearned for his touch on her bare skin, to feel him against her with no barriers between them...
She reached between their bodies, fingers fumbling with the tie of her nightgown. Nicolas drew back just enough to watch, his eyes blazing with passion as the delicate fabric parted. With a shaky exhale, she slipped first one creamy shoulder free, then the other.
His gaze tracked the slow descent of silk, his lips parting on a sharp inhale as she bared her breasts to him. “Beautiful,” he breathed, reverence and raw need mingling in that single word.
Unabashedly, she arched up to shimmy the nightgown over her hips and down her legs. The cool air kissed her flushed skin as she lay back against the pillows, clad only in the firelight and Nicolas’s heated approval.
“Touch me,” she whispered, emboldened by the stark desire etched across his handsome face. “Everywhere.”
He extended one hand, trailing a single finger along her collarbone and down between the valley of her breasts. Goosebumps followed his touch, her nipples hardening as he circled first one, then the other.
“Like this?” he teased, rolling the tight bud between his fingers. Sparks of pleasure streaked straight to her core.
“Yes,” she gasped, clutching at his shoulders. He palmed the soft weight of her breast, kneading the flesh as he lowered his head to lave attention on its neglected twin. She keened as his tongue flicked across the sensitized tip, pleasure bordering on pain. “Oh God, Nicolas...”
He pulled the aching point into his mouth and suckled gently, the wet heat shredding the last of her inhibitions. She threaded her fingers through his hair to hold him to her, reveling in each draw of his lips, each scrape of his teeth.
When he switched to her other breast, she was lost, reduced to wordless cries and breathy pleas. Her nails scored his scalp as he tormented first one nipple, then the other, until her hips were rocking frantically against him, seeking fulfillment only he could provide...
Nicolas released her breast with a soft pop, his eyes dark with desire as he lifted his head to capture her lips in a searing kiss. Emily moaned into his mouth, the taste of him mingling with the scent of their arousal. His tongue swept inside to dance with hers, stoking the flames that burned within her core.
Large hands skimmed down her sides to grip her hips, pulling her flush against the hard planes of his body. She could feel the evidence of his want pressing insistently against her, and a thrill raced through her at the knowledge that she affected him so profoundly.
“I want you,” Nicolas rasped against her lips, his voice rough with need. “I have wanted you for so long, Emily. From the first moment I saw you.”
“Then take me,” she breathed. “Take all of me.”
With a growl, he claimed her mouth once more, the kiss fierce and demanding. His hands roamed her body, mapping every curve and hollow, each touch branding her very soul. She surrendered to the sensations, lost in a haze of desire as he stoked and kissed her burning flesh.
Nicolas’s lips blazed a trail of fire down her neck, across her collarbone, lower still, to the peaked tips of her breasts. He paused there, licking and suckling until she was writhing beneath him.
“More,” Emily keened, arching her back in a silent plea. “I need more.”
He answered with a flick of his tongue against the sensitive bud, wringing a cry from her lips. Lower he trailed, painting a path down her quivering abdomen with openmouthed kisses. When he reached the thatch of curls at the apex of her thighs, Emily went still, hardly daring to breathe.
Slowly, reverently, Nicolas parted her folds, baring her most intimate flesh to his heated gaze. She threw her head back in anticipation of his touch. Her fingers twisted in the sheets as he brought his tongue to her most intimate place.
Her world narrowed to the exquisite sensations he was drawing from her body. His clever tongue danced over her sensitive flesh, teasing and tasting with expert precision. She clutched at the bedsheets, her back arching as waves of pleasure coursed through her.
“Nicolas,” she gasped, her voice barely recognizable to her own ears. “Oh, Nic…”
