She squeezed her eyes shut, her hands stilling on his lapels, even as he continued to massage and stroke and awaken her with desire. He began to unfasten her dress, one button at a time. It hooked in the front, made it easier for her to maneuver and take care of herself. He bent to press his lips to hercollarbones, her chest, the very tops of her breasts as he slid the fabric open wider with each button.
“Esme,” she whispered.
He lifted his gaze, held hers a long moment, and then he smiled. “Esme. Beautiful, delicious Esme. You’ve always had me at a disadvantage when it comes to our names, but Finn. You must call me Finn when we do what we’re about to do.”
Her heart throbbed. She’d always thought of him as Delacourt. Sometimes she’d heard her father call him Phineas. But this nickname, it felt intimate. Something only his closest friends or family would use. And he gifted it to her.
“Finn,” she repeated softly, and he gripped her hip harder, like it pleased him.
“Again,” he said, and drew the fabric of her gown away, baring her from the waist up.
“Finn,” she gasped when he brought his mouth back to her flesh and slid it over her nipple.
She dug her hands into his hair, holding him there as he began to suck her, gently at first, then ever harder as she arched against him, gasping for breath and purchase. He backed her toward the bed and laid her back, continuing to lick and suck from one nipple to the other.
His hands crept lower, thumbs catching in the folded fabric at her hips. She lifted them, grinding against him even as he shoved the fabric down and she kicked it away so that she was naked with him save her stockings and slippers.
He pulled back, got to his feet and stared at her. She knew what he saw. Her days training made her body more muscled than the typical lady and she had bruises here and there from her fights. Sometimes when men saw her they acted like they didn’t like those things. They wanted everything to be soft and gentle. She had been forced to leave soft and gentle behind years ago.
“You are gorgeous,” he whispered as he unwound his cravat, shed his waistcoat, then tugged his shirt over his head.
She sat up as he did so and smiled at the toned body she’d known was lurking beneath all that propriety. “And so are you.”
She got up and now it was her turn to touch. He stood still as she flattened a palm to his chest and dragged it lower, feeling the warmth of him, the firmness, the wiry hair that peppered the muscle. He was a fine specimen and oh, she relished the idea that she would claim him, even just for a little while.
Her hand glided over his stomach and his breath hitched as she played her fingers at the waist of his trousers. She met his gaze, held there and then cupped his cock. He was hard, pressing against the straining fabric and her palm as she rubbed him.
“Very nice, Finn,” she whispered.
He laughed. “I aim to please.”
“As do I.” It was true. In this moment, all she wanted to do was please him, make him lose control. Make his legs shake while she tasted him. She flicked open the buttons of his fall front. The placket of his trousers dropped away she lowered to her knees, looking at his cock as she stroked him. He was as beautiful here as anywhere. He was thick, the flesh a shade darker than the rest of him. She smiled at him, darted out her tongue and licked.
“Esme,” he gasped.
“Yes,” she whispered between continued teasing licks. “Keep saying it.”
He dug his fingers into her hair, his fingers briefly touching the cord that held her mask in place. She froze, but he didn’t try to reveal her. He simply adjusted his hands with a moan when she took him into her mouth fully. She squirmed as his fingers gripped the back of her head, urging her to take more as she sucked him. She did, reveling in the feel of his hardness every time it touched her throat. Reveling in his increasinglyincoherent sounds of pleasure as she eased him to the edge. She rocked with her strokes, aroused by pleasing him, by the command of his touch, by the edgy need of his moans and cries.
She would have finished him that way. She would have finished him and licked her lips like a cat and then demanded he play with her until he was hard again and they could start over. But he seemed to have other ideas.
He caught her armpits and lifted her, tugging her off of him and pressing her back so she fell into the bed. His dark eyes were glittering as he caught her thighs, massaging them before he tugged her to the edge of the mattress. He lowered his mouth and she widened her legs, aching for what she could see he would do.
“Yes,” she cried out as his mouth covered her sex. He peeled her open, massaging her as she began to grind up to meet him. His tongue traced her, teased her, tasted every inch of her. When she twisted against the pleasure, he pressed a hand to her hip and held her steady.
And then he began to swirl his tongue against her clitoris. She gasped, gripping the coverlet with both hands, rocking against his tongue as he expertly brought her up to the edge with just a few swipes. She had never felt so close to coming so soon with a lover. Normally she had to work for it, but this was like floating, flying, as if it was something she had been built to do with him.
He started to suck her and her back bowed off the bed as waves of electric pleasure roared through her. “Finn!” she cried out, loving how he moaned against her, the vibration only making the pleasure better, higher, deeper.
He gave her no quarter, continuing to suck and lick until at last her body collapsed, her legs still shaking and her body weak with pleasure.
Only then did he rise up over her, wrap her legs around his hips. He pressed his mouth to her, letting her taste her pleasure as he speared her in one long thrust.
She jolted as she stretched to accommodate his thick length. He drew back and took her again, his fingers digging into her thighs as he moaned, “Esme…”
She lifted to him, holding his stare as he claimed her over and over, grinding his hips against her already sensitive clitoris, bringing her pleasure back to a peak that she couldn’t resist. He smiled as she gasped and groaned beneath him, feeling the edge of that pleasure so sharp between her legs.
“Again,” he murmured, just like before, but he meant for her to come.
