He lavished attention on her nipples until she was panting and writhing beneath him, desperate for release, unknowing just how to attain it.
Only then did he step back, his eyes dark and hazy with need.
"Undress for me," he commanded gently. "I want to see my wife."
Heat rose in Evelyn’s cheeks. She usually didn’t like being told what to do, and yet… here, it had the opposite effect, made her want to continue all the more.
She turned, offering him her back, and he made quicker work of the buttons that ran down her spine than her maid ever had.
She shrugged out of her gown, allowing it to fall down her body with a wiggle of her hips until it landed with a pool of silk on the floor. When she looked over her shoulder, he was watching with hungry eyes. She slowly turned around until she stood before him in only her chemise and stockings, relief filling her when he ran his gaze up and down her as though he approved of what he saw.
Evelyn didn’t mind standing naked before him, but she would also feel much better if she were not the only one exposed.
She stepped toward him, working at his waistcoat and shirt. Her movements were hurried, rather frantic, but he didn’t seem to mind as he watched her, making no move to help.
Finally, the garments fell away to the floor, revealing a well-defined torso, his chest and shoulders making her mouth go dry.
She tried to swallow, but he didn’t give her much time to become used to him as he leaned down and lifted her, before depositing her on the bed with a bounce.
“This still all right with you, Evelyn?” he murmured, his voice husky as it ran over her body. She nodded, unable to form words, especially when he made no move to climb over her as she had assumed.
Instead, he remained at the foot of the bed near her feet, reaching for the hem of her chemise, slowly drawing it up her legs.
“What are you doing?” she asked uncertainly, but he just shook his head, that knowing smile remaining on his face.
“Just wait,” he said before having the audacity to wink at her. Secretly, she was thrilled. This was the Asher she was longing for, the one she wanted to pull out and keep with her instead of the cold, responsible duke he all too often turned into.
Inch by inch, he revealed her body, and whenever Evelyn wondered if she should lean down and stop him, if this was too much for him to see, he would lean in and press his lips against another place, his fingers trailing over skin which responded to his every touch.
When he leaned in and pressed a kiss to her mound, she nearly jumped out of her skin, but he held her there, not letting her move.
“Open for me, luv,” he said, nudging her thighs apart. She hesitated just a moment before deciding to trust him.
Then he dipped his head.
Before she could fully register what he was doing, he swiped his tongue along her slit.
Evelyn jolted as if she had been struck by lightning, a choked cry escaping her lips.
“Asher!” she cried out. “Is that… is this…”
“This is right,” he said, anticipating her question as he looked up at her. “I want to taste my wife, and taste you I shall. All you have to do is lie back and enjoy this.”
She eyed him with some trepidation, still uncertain that they could do such a thing, but he held her gaze so unwaveringly that she knew she had no choice but to trust him. He had proven himself throughout this marriage so far to be a steady pillar.
Why mistrust him now?
Asher must have sensed her acceptance, for he returned his head beneath her chemise, no longer just licking but laving, sucking, stoking her pleasure higher.
She reached down and twisted her fingers into his hair, in part to tell him what she was feeling, and in part to be connected to him in any way she could.
It must have encouraged him, for he slid a finger inside of her, making her cry out. When he added a second, she nearly came off the bed as he matched the rhythm of his tongue against his thrusts.
Evelyn writhed beneath him, unable to form any words but rather just incoherently gasp and whimper. It seemed he had the power to take away her very ability to form a cohesive thought, let alone a sentence.
Then what she could only describe as a bright light within her began to ripple through her body, and soon she was shaking around him, until the light exploded into brilliant radiance.
She cried as he worked her through the release, his touch gentling while she slowly drifted back down to the present, to the mattress, to the man who now lay on his side next to her, a smile of complete satisfaction on his face.
