“Don’t.”
“But—”
Before he could formulate a response, she arched her hips up, slotting him against her, and he couldn’t help but slide in just a little further.
She let out a gasp that mingled with a moan, one that reverberated deep within him.
“Evelyn,” he groaned. “Nothing has ever felt better.”
She had winced briefly, but now her face fell open, accepting him, and he began to move, sinking into her slowly at first, so as not to hurt her.
He took her knees in his hands, placing them over his shoulders to open her up to him, before thrusting in and out, keeping a slow, measured pace, his eyes on her the entire time, making sure she was still feeling only pleasure. From her gasps, it must have been all right, as she took him, again and again, her eyes closing while he bit his lip and tried to hold on, to make her feel good again.
He reached down, his touch finding her where she was most sensitive, moving in slow circles just as she liked.
“Evelyn,” he cried out, telling her without words that he needed to come, but she had to first.
She must have understood, for then she arched back against the bed, stilling against him, letting out a cry that told him everything he needed to know and gave him the sign to go. Two more pumps into her, and he was shuddering, coming inside his wife, her warmth surrounding him, taking him.
Nothing had ever been so good before. Nothing had felt so right.
And it scared him straight to his core.
But he needed to let that go. For now, at least, for she needed him. He knew by the way she was staring up at him, vulnerable, her lip caught between her teeth as she waited for him to say something. Anything.
She was always so sure of herself that to know he was the one who could be there for her now…
“Evelyn,” he said hoarsely, still inside her. “You are amazing. Beautiful. Warm. So incredibly smart. And now…”
Now he was in so much trouble because of how he felt for her.
He couldn’t finish his sentence as he pulled out of her, easing away before finding a piece of linen and returning to wash her. He threw the linen into the clothes basket before sliding back onto the bed, pulling her beneath the blankets with him.
He wrapped himself around her, unsure of where they were heading but taking full advantage of what they had tonight, together. How had he avoided this for so long?
Because he had been scared of falling for her, that’s why. And he had been right to have expected this could happen.
Yet he couldn’t help but kiss the top of her head, her body fitting perfectly within the curve of his, his arm draped over her protectively.
“Do you want me to stay?” she asked, and he knew that there was so much more to that question than just what was to happen between them tonight, but all he could answer for was right now.
“Yes,” he said, pulling her against him. “Stay right here.”
Maybe they could do this.
Maybe all would be fine.
He could only hope so, for now, he wasn’t sure how he could ever let her go.
When Evelyn openedher eyes the next morning, it took her a moment to recognize her surroundings. Then she felt the heavy arm draped around her, the soreness between her legs, and it all came flooding back. The salon. The rumors against her father. Asher.
She stared at him, sleeping so peacefully, before she tiptoed out of his room, into their shared dressing room, where she put on a wrapper and then called for her maid to help her prepare for the day.
Her life had now become her greatest puzzle. And it was one she was going to solve, along with this blasted theft that she had to get to the bottom of.
Then she would decide what she should do about Asher.
For now, all she wanted was to enjoy him.
