His hands trailed down her back, pausing here and there, but she was barely aware as she was utterly distracted by the pleasure of his kiss as his tongue swept across her lips, while his teeth nipped and played.
She returned the gesture, nibbling on his bottom lip, her hands trailing down his shoulders, arching into the frame of his back. Wanting to feel more, she trailed her hands over his chest, sliding under his coat and encouraging him to shrug it off.
She felt his grin against her lips as she kissed him. “One moment.” He pulled away slightly, then releasing her fully, he stepped back far enough to remove his coat.
But in stepping back, his hands were no longer at her back, and Grace was startled to realize that the buttons to the back of her dress were all loose, and her bodice fell forward. She caught it, covering herself only slightly and noted the wolfish grin on her husband’s face.
She twisted her lips, then couldn’t fight her own grin. “I must say I’m impressed.”
“You need to set your standards higher, love,” he returned, tossing his coat to the side and then untucking his shirt and discarding it as well.
Appreciating the view, Grace stepped back as he started toward her, but he paused. Deciding that appreciating the view wasn’t nearly as delightful as caressing the man before her, she reached her hands up the ripples of his stomach, noting the warm texture of his skin as she traveled up toward the planes of his chest into his broad shoulders. Her body hummed with appreciation, and she leaned forward to kiss along his collarbone, gratified when he sucked in a quick breath of pleasure. She continued teasing the skin along his shoulder when a warm hand grasped her shoulder, then flirted with the edge of her dress. She was still holding it in place with one hand. He tugged on the edge of her dress, encouraging her to release it.
After a moment’s hesitation, she closed her eyes and let it go.
Breathing against his chest, she felt the gown slip down between them and pool on the floor. Now only her underthings remained, and they were of the softest and thinnest silk, and as such, didn’t hide any secrets.
“Grace.” He whispered her name, but she kept her eyes closed as she leaned against the warmth of his chest. He bent and kissed her head, lingering there, and then started to pull the pins out. Her hair slowly unwound, draping along her shoulders, covering her enough that she felt enough courage to step back.
When she dragged her gaze up to meet her husband’s, she nearly gasped at the power of his regard. “So lovely,” he whispered, emotion thick in his voice as he leaned down to rub a lock of hair between his fingers. “I swear you set me on fire, love,” he murmured, then bent down to kiss her, but this kiss was different than all the others. She realized that he had been restraining himself before, but all that restraint was lost, and raw need pulsed through his kiss, filling her with the same urgency.
His warm hands slid down her hips, removing the underthings, pooling them at her feet. Arching his hands upward, he broke their kiss just long enough to remove her chemise, then captured her lips once more, the urgency creating a fog in all her senses, yet making them clearer all at once.
The world was in the fog, but Ramsey, he was perfectly clear. It was as if she could see him better than ever before, hear his heartbeat, feel it in her own chest, her body echoing every resounding impulse of his. “Grace,” he whispered against her lips, encouraging her backward, and after a few steps, her knees hit something soft: the bed.
He guided her onto the soft mattress, but rather than join her, she felt the excruciating sensation of his absence. Her eyes fluttering open, she watched as he disrobed from all his remaining clothing, and before she could fully appreciate the view he presented, he was kneeling beside her, his hands at her shoulders, encouraging her to lie down. His kiss was all the incentive needed, and as he teased her lips, she pressed back against the urgency of his kiss, her hips moving, arching, reaching. Her hands traced up the spine of his back, then spread across the expanse of his broad shoulders. He groaned against her lips as she arched her fingers into his muscles, pulling him closer.
“You want me,” he whispered, not asking, but stating the words as if he already knew them.
“Yes,” Grace replied, her body arching as his hand cupped her breast. Good Lord, it was even better than she had remembered. Her body tightened, arched, and her lungs gasped for air. She could feel his smile of pleasure against her lips as he pinched her rosy tip playfully.
She bucked off the bed in response.
“I love your breasts,” he told her, then moved his lips elsewhere, to the very spot he mentioned, adoring her breast lovingly with his lips. Grace gasped with pleasure, her body growing tight, her hips arching as her hands dug into his shoulders, his back, his hair, anywhere she could reach.
“Tell me—”
“More,” she gasped, finishing his words.
He chuckled, obeying her command.
Moving slightly, he covered her with his body, the hard length of him pressing into her hip, then lower, testing, teasing, tempting her.
“Ramsey,” she gasped, arching against him as he moved his attention to her other breast.
“Do you want me to do more?” he asked, his tongue swirling against her nipple.
“Yes.” She arched into his arousal, needing him. Her body was a flurry of need, a bundle of desperation for him. It was as painful as it was pleasant as she waited for the release that she knew he would give her.
“How much more?” he asked, only his voice was losing its caressing quality, replaced with raw need as he leaned back to watch her.
“All,” she whispered hoarsely.
He looked down between them, his fingers trailing along her hip bone till they touched her most sensitive spot, teasing her opening. “Here.”
“Yes.” And Grace reached down to stroke the hard length of him, hoping her touch was as pleasurable to him as it was to her.
He gasped, shuddered, and leaned his head against her chest while he pressed into her hand.
