Something she had only ever poured into her writing in her journal.
Something she always denied herself.
Pleasure.
Wanting.
She wanted Sebastian Halshore, the Duke of Talwyn, with all her heart and soul. She needed to feel his touch more than she yearned for freedom or security. She had dreamed of the Prince Samuel, a man who would cross the ocean for the woman he loved and sacrifice all he had to make Penelope his wife.
As Phoebe sucked in a heady breath, inhaling Sebastian’s sweet, baked apple smell, she knew that no other gentleman would ever be enough for her. She had given herself to this man the moment she heard him read those lovely, wicked words.
And she would be incomplete until he took her in his arms and gave her everything she needed.
Chapter Seventeen
Sebastian kissed her.
Who could refrain?
He had only tasted Phoebe’s lips once before, but he knew that this second go round would be just as wholesome and thrilling.
So, Sebastian plunged with reckless abandon and kissed the lovely lady.
Phoebe met his caress with great fervency. Her mouth was soft and pliable, and when his lips touched hers, he tasted all the things that she was: honest, true, and full of curiosity.
Sebastian allowed himself to explore Phoebe’s full lips, to touch and taste her. When she moaned his name, he gloried in the sound. When she lifted her hands and ran them through his hair, he leaned into her touch, urging her to take what she wanted from him…anything she wanted.
He was so aroused by every giggle, every sound that popped from the innocent Phoebe’s lips that Sebastian’s cock sprang to life and strained against his breeches.
As the wind whipped around them through the garden, rustling the nearby field of daisies and filling his senses with overwhelmingly sweet fragrances, he felt the pleasure that could be had by innocently discovering a woman, touching her in new ways that she had never before experienced, and being the man who could give her such immense pleasures.
While his tongue traced the cusp of her lower lips, he allowed his hands to caress her body in a way he had not dared before.
He slicked his palms down the curves of her hips, feeling the silk fabric floating underneath his fingertips as she wriggled. When his hands reached her round backside, Sebastian gave her a gentle squeeze and delighted in the giggling sound that burst from her lips.
“Phoebe,” he whispered. “Tell me how this makes you feel.”
“What?” she squawked. “You want me to speak to you now?”
He kissed her gently, drinking in the scent of her perfume and reveling in the glazed look that made her eyes sparkle.
“When we were in the small library together, you told me how my reading made you feel. I want to know what my kisses do to you.”
“I feel dry,” she croaked hoarsely, which made him laugh.
“Your mouth is dry? Your throat too?” He lowered his lips and nibbled on her neck.
She hummed in approval. “Yes.”
“And when I do this?” His lips worked upward so that he could stuck out his tongue slightly and trace a slow, hot trail along the curve of her jawline.
“Now I feel… I feel…” He flicked his tongue out and tickled her earlobe.
“Wet,” she murmured. He performed the movement again, causing her to giggle. “And silly.”
“Wet,” he purred. “Tell me more about that.”
“I… I…” She removed her hands from his hair, and he could feel how she groped for the pillar at her back.
