He brushed his lips over hers, softly at first and then more firmly, repeating the movement again and again as she melted against him.
Finally, when she was pliable, he darted his tongue out. Her lips parted, and he deepened the kiss, sliding his hands down her neck and around her body to hold her securely in place.
She kissed him back, tentatively at first. Her tongue brushed his hesitantly, but she grew more confident with each stroke.
It was obvious she’d never been kissed before, and a thrill shot through him at the realization that he would get to introduce her to pleasure.
If he married her, then he would be theonlyman to ever share in her pleasure, and wasn’t that a heady thought?
He groaned into her mouth. So sweet.
She drew back, breathing heavily, her lips parted. She looked like sin incarnate.
“If you are to be mine, then you’re not to kiss anyone else,” he rasped, a sense of satisfaction sinking into his bones at the rightness of it. He’d never been a possessive man, but then, he’d never desired anyone the way he did Sophie either.
She laughed breathlessly. “That’s fine with me as long as you don’t kiss any of the ladies who proposition you. I know there’s been at least one since we arrived.”
He snorted, caught off guard by the comment. “I’m surprised you noticed.”
“I notice everything when it comes to you.”
His heart leapt, and he smiled, more satisfaction curling through him. “I promise that my lips are yours.”
“As they should be.”
He tilted her back and skimmed his lips down the creamy length of her neck. “Shall I show you what they can do?”
“Yes, please.”
He continued trailing kisses down her neck, lowering her onto the bed as he moved down to her exposed collarbone and traced its elegant angles with his mouth.
Journeying farther south, he nuzzled at her breasts and kissed the top of each. They weren’t the largest he’d ever seen, but compared to her slim waist, they were in perfect, mouthwatering proportion.
He grabbed the hem of her skirt and inched it up, brushing his fingertips along her stocking-clad calves. “May I?”
Her breath hitched. “Yes.”
Closing his eyes, he took a moment to revel in the utter trust she was showing him. She didn’t know what he intended, but she believed that he would take care of her, and so he would.
He edged her skirts and petticoats up tantalizingly slowly, caressing her legs and toying with the tops of her stockings.The first time his thumb brushed the bare skin of her inner thigh, she gave a small jolt of surprise and a shiver rippled through her.
He worked his way up just as slowly as he’d been going, trailing chaste kisses behind each place he touched. By the time he finally revealed her sex, his cock was hard enough to pound nails, and his hands were trembling from the effort required not to just grab her and bury himself in her wet heat.
But this moment was special.
He was introducing the woman he would spend the rest of his life with to pleasure.
And hell, wasn’t that a thought?
Until today, he’d never fathomed taking a wife. Not in any seriousness, no matter how Theo had urged him. Now, though, he couldn’t imagine leaving this room and allowing any other entitled bastard to lay his hands on Sophie Carlisle.
Pink flesh peeked out from within a soft thatch of curls that was a paler shade of copper than her hair. He pressed a kiss to her and then nuzzled, his tongue darting out to taste her. As he’d suspected, she was sweet as honey and throbbing with the need for attention.
He tasted her again, sliding his tongue into her depths, smiling against her when she whimpered. “Is my beard too rough?”
Her thighs tightened around his face. “I like it.”
Fuck. His cock strained against his trousers.
