Over her—on her.In her.
Her fingertips brushed the corner of his lips and he smiled.
Oh, but his smile was so very precious.
He is precious.
“I’m sorry about your mother,” she whispered.
Was it possible his mother had hurt her own son more than she’d hurt the woman she’d intended to frighten off? Because a person could hurt you so much more when you loved them. And of course, Addison loved his mother. She was the woman who’d given birth to and raised him.
But it was also obvious that she was very, very bitter. In that instant, Collette knew that his mother hated that his father had loved another woman first. Had the previous duke loved his wife at all?
Addison shook his head. “I don’t want to talk about my mother right now.”
“We’ll talk about whatever you want.”
Addison hovered over her, protecting her from his weight with his arms.
He cocked one brow wickedly. “You wish to talk?”
Not really. She wanted him. She wanted all of him. But…
“I love you.”
She hadn’t meant to confess her feelings so abruptly, but her heart overflowed. She was powerless to keep them inside.
“I do. I just do,” she admitted again.
He stilled and when he didn’t answer right away, she wished she could see his face better.
“You,my love.” His voice caught. “You are the sunshine on my soul. All my life, there has been this shadow… but since the day we met, I’ve felt your light.”
“I was an annoying teacher.” She remembered the moment he’d stepped into her classroom, all top lofty and irritated.
“Exactly what I needed—what I still need—so infuriatingly optimistic; eager to make a difference. You never once pretend to be anyone but who you are. And you… yousaw me.”
He lowered his forehead to hers, his head heavy even though he braced most of his weight above her, his elbows bracketing the sides of her face. “I’m not expressing myself very well.”
She was his sunshine? How was it possible for words to squeeze her heart?
“Oh, but you are.” Collette widened her knees and was rewarded with the feel of his weight and his manhood, turgid, teasing the ache blossoming between her thighs.
When had she known she loved him? Had she begun to fall when they’d been trapped together in that ridiculous stairwell?
Was it fate that had brought them together? Because the two of them would otherwise never have known one another.
They belonged to different worlds.
Impossiblydifferent worlds.
“Touch me?” she all but choked on an assault of emotions—emotions ranging from incredulous need to raw desperation.
She loved him.
I love him!
“My sunshine. My light.” He deftly lowered her bodice.
