“I want you now. Here.” She closed her palm around his cock, the gentle squeeze making him pant. “This is our home, Jack, and we can do whatever we please.”
His breath stuttered. “Ourhome?”
She studied him. “This property was not entailed, which means you purchased this home with your own funds, didn’t you?”
Back then, it had taken every penny he’d earned and invested, plus a loan from Primus to secure this house. It had been worth it to give Lottie a place that befitted her.
“I bought a house,” he said gruffly. “You made it a home.”
“Even though you left, you were taking care of me. Protecting me.” The tenderness in her eyes expanded his chest with wonder. “Now you are back, and we are going to share a future together. Make a home…together.”
This woman was his every fantasy come true. A goddess whose love made redemption seem possible. A wanton whose boldness made his cock throb to be inside her. A minx whose unpredictability would keep him on his toes for the rest of his life, and he would love every second of it.
His heart pounding, he asked, “Will you marry me, Lottie?”
“Perhaps. If you propose properly.” Her grey gaze held a teasing sparkle. “This time.”
With a surge of embarrassment, he recalled that his other proposal had been as impetuous as this one. It had happened over their third meal together in Marseille. He’d been so captivated by her that the words,Will you marry me?, had popped out of his mouth…and he hadn’t come prepared with a ring or flowers. By some miracle, despite his ham-handedness, she’d said yes.
This time, I will do better by her. In all respects.
“I am going to give you the most proper proposal in the history of proposals,” he vowed.
“In the meantime,” she said, as beguiling as a siren, “you could convince me of your affection in other ways.”
His blood went from hot to simmering. “What is your pleasure, my love?”
“I wish to have my dessert,” she said playfully. “Will you have a seat, please?”
He managed to pull out a chair and seat himself without stumbling like a love-drunk fool. Guessing his wife’s intentions, he left plenty of room between him and the table…and a good thing, too. When she knelt gracefully between his legs, her skirts formed a poofy cloud around her. With her face framed by honey strands he’d dislodged from her coronet and her mouth red and wet from his kisses, she looked like a naughty queen.
She undid his fall, and his cock jutted out in tribute.
“Oh, darling,” she murmured. “You are too splendid for words.”
Her adoration made himfeelsplendid. It made him feel like a partner who was worthy of her, made him feel like a…a king. The sensation was foreign and potent, and he went with it. He fisted his scepter of flesh, giving himself a slow pump that made her eyelids lower halfway. On the upward stroke, a milky drop beaded on his flared tip.
“You may have a taste,” he said.
“Thank you, sir,” she said demurely.
He didn’t know what aroused him more: her deference or the cheekiness that lay beneath. Her gaze glinted with mischief as she placed that first sweet kiss on his dome. He shuddered at the feather-soft brush against his sensitive crest. Instead of licking off his seed, however, she smeared it over her mouth. Looking in his eyes, she swiped her tongue over her lips, slowly and deliberately. Savoring him and letting him know it.
It struck him, then. In opening himself up to her, he’d paved the way for greater intimacy…in every regard. Their newfound honesty extended to the bedchamber—or dining room, as it were—and he was reaping the rewards. The realization filled him with a heady sense of power. By trusting Lottie, he’d earned her trust in return, and she was showing him by shedding her inhibitions.
Bloody hell, there was something to be said for hashing out their problems.
“Do you like the taste of my cock, sweeting?” he said huskily.
Her delightful blush heightened the vividness of her irises.
“It’s not a bad start.”
He remembered that he’d once teased her with those exact words.
“Not a bad start, eh?” He raised his brows, tracing her lips with his thumb.
“I have an idea to make it better.”
