She caught her breath. Last night she’d seen him like this, of course, but she’d stolen those glances. Tonight she had no reason to do so, and she stared long and hard as she moved forward and reached out to place a palm flat against his chest. The solid muscle that greeted her was warm and she felt his heart beat beneath his skin.
Simon caught his breath, but he didn’t back away as she spread her fingers across his flesh, exploring every bump and hollow. She forced her gaze up to his face, blushing as their eyes met. He smiled, the first time she’d seen him smile since they’d been caught in the rain together. Then he slid his fingers beneath her nightrail strap and glided one side down.
She gasped as the warm air in the room touched her bare breast, and turned her face so she wouldn’t see him looking at her. She heard his sharp intake of breath. When his fingers brushed against her hard nipple, she jerked her attention back to him.
He was staring intently as he stroked his hand back and forth across her. It was like nothing she’d ever felt before, like she was alive in a way she hadn’t realized was possible. Tingles of pleasure and awareness shot out from her breast, down into her stomach, lower between her legs, and she could no longer draw a full breath.
He stroked a thumb over her and she grabbed for his forearms, digging her fingers into him as she gasped out surprise at the intensity of the sensations.
His smile widened a little and he reached out to draw down the other strap of her nightrail. He bared her from the waist up and then tugged, bringing the flimsy fabric down over her hips to pool around her feet.
She was naked. Naked with Simon. But not like last night, when there had been blankets and emotions and lies between them. Tonight she wastrulynaked with this man. And he was touching her. Her entire body quaked and she knew her eyes were wide and her gaze uncertain. What she wanted she could not name, what he was doing she didn’t fully understand and what would happen next she feared.
Despite it all she wanted more. More touching. More of him. More of what they’d started the night before. More of what was now theirs to take. She wanted everything and she trusted that what he was about to give would be magical.
He covered her other breast, cupping both now in his warm hands. She tilted her head back, reveling in the intensity of his touch, in the way her body arched into him, demanding what she was too shy to ask for with words.
Then she felt the steamy warmth of his breath near her nipple. She opened her eyes and watched as he leaned in and gently circled the nub with the tip of his tongue.
“Simon,” she gasped, her hands coming up into his hair. She tugged him closer, she pushed him away, she nearly toppled over as she tried to process everything she was feeling.
He straightened and looked down into her eyes. “Do you want this?”
“I’m not sure I even know whatthisis,” she admitted. “Engaged or not, my mother wasn’t exactly explaining anything to me. And I hadn’t asked Emma yet.”
He pursed his lips. “I’ll take you, Meg. I’ll put my body into yours.”
She nodded. “That part I know. Understanding is different, but I know.”
He reached out and caught her hand, pressing it to the front of his trousers where she felt the hard line of his cock. She’d seen just a momentary glimpse of it last night. Big was what she remembered.
Intimidating.
“Will it hurt?” she asked, stroking her fingers up and down that fascinating length through the fabric.
He grunted out a sound that she wasn’t sure was pleasure or pain. “At first. Yes.”
She cupped him and he jolted. “But not always?”
“No,” he said, his voice strangled.
“Am I hurting you?” she asked softly.
“No,” he said, his tone stronger. He pushed her hands away and unfastened his trousers. He dropped them and kicked them away and now he stood before her, as naked as she was.
She caught her breath. Stolen glimpses in the dark didn’t do him justice. His body was…amazing. Hard where she was soft, broad where she was narrow, and the cock…that cock that he claimed he would fit into her. It was as tempting as it was terrifying.
She reached for him once more and took him in hand. This time there were no barriers between them and she sucked in a gasp of surprise at how hard he was. But the skin was so soft. She smoothed her fingers over the bulging head and down the long, thick shaft.
He pushed into her as she did so and let out a quiet curse. She looked up, fascinated by how enraptured he was. His breath was short, his eyes glazed, his body all tension and coiled strength. He could take over any time he wanted, she sensed that, but he didn’t. He just let her stroke him, over and over.
“Keep that up and I’m going to spend,” he managed to choke out.
She stopped moving her hand. “What does that mean?”
“That you’ll give me so much pleasure I’ll lose control and spend my seed before I even have a chance to touch you,” he explained, catching her wrist and setting her hand away from him. “And I’ve waited so long for this, Meg, I have no intention of ending it that way.”
He pushed her back toward her bed, guiding her until her legs hit the side of the mattress. Then he swept her up and deposited her on her pillows and climbed up beside her, caging her in with his arms. Although she wasn’t certain what to do, her body seemed to move of its own accord, lifting into him as she wound her arms around his neck and drew him in for another of those deep, earth-shattering kisses.
