Tess nodded.
“I want to hear you say it.” He swept his hand back to grip her nape, and the anticipation of what they were embarking on made his pulse race.
“I understand—”
Before her words were fully out, he leaned forward and took her mouth. He wasn’t gentle. He told himself to be, but he was too hungry for her now. He had been for days. There was no coaxing or kissing her gently. He plundered and feasted and stepped her back all the while, his arm around her waist to keep her from falling.
Tess felt almost relieved when she finally felt the trunk of the tree at her back because Dominic’s drugging kisses made her knees feel like jelly.
His body sheltered hers, but he still wasn’t close enough. Tess reached for the placket of his shirt, sliding her fingers inside to get a grip and pull him closer.
But the feel of his warm skin was so tantalizing she beganworking his buttons free. She wanted to see him, feel him, without barriers between them.
He took her lead and began working the buttons on her blouse. As soon as the edge of her corset was bared, he broke their kiss to pull back and take it in.
Tess felt a moment of embarrassment that it wasn’t a terribly frilly thing, lacy and made to entice. But Dominic ran his fingers along the satin edge almost reverently, as if he’d discovered a treasure and wanted to take his time to savor it.
“Since we’re telling each other the truth in all of this,” he told her, lifting his attention to her eyes, though he flicked a few glances at her lips, “you should know that I’ve thought of undressing you a thousand times since we met.”
Tess laughed and pushed gently against the tantalizing stretch of skin she’d exposed by freeing a few buttons. “Hyperbole is not allowed.”
“All right, perhaps more like three hundred.”
“I’ve thought of it too,” she breathed when he inched her corset down to free her aching nipples, though they were still constrained by her chemise.
“Of me undressing you?” he asked and then bent to graze his teeth against her nipple. “Or you undressing me?”
“Both.” Tess gasped when he edged the neck of her chemise down and took her aching peak into his mouth.
He was wickedly skilled with his tongue, and every time he swirled it against her, a tremor shot straight to her core. She arched her hips toward him, and he made a sound that seemed to convey both understanding and a deep male satisfaction at her eagerness.
While he used one hand to free the tip of her other breast, he bent to reach for the fabric of her skirt, inching it up until she felt the cool night air on her legs.
Then he skimmed his fingers along her thigh, finding her bare skin at the top of her stocking.
“Dominic.” His name came out like a plea as she gripped his shoulder, slid her fingers into his hair as he continued to suckle her as he stroked his fingers along her leg, exploring until they dipped along her inner thigh.
When he stroked his finger through her curls, she began to tremble. Not from fear but overwhelming need. She trusted him to touch her just how she wanted him to.
The need to loosen all she’d held inside so long nearly overwhelmed her, and she sensed he understood that too.
He lifted his head and kissed her again, more gently, languidly, as if they had all the time in the world, even as her body impatiently quivered against him.
“You’re so deliciously wet,” he whispered against her lips.
Then he pulled back until she looked up at him questioningly.
“Please don’t stop,” she begged.
“I’m not stopping, Tess, but I need to know you won’t regret this.” His voice was breathy, as if stopping was as maddening for him as it was for her.
But the fact that he was asking, making certain of her wishes, almost brought tears to her eyes. She wasn’t naive anymore. He was a man of passion and experience and knew how easily one could get lost in carnal hunger without a single thought of the consequences.
“I won’t regret it,” she promised him. “I want this. I want you.”
He smiled in the moonlight. Not the seductive rogue’s smile. This one was wide, joyful, and artless.
“And you’ll have me.” He slid his hand down to tease his fingers against her. “But first I want to see you let go, siren.”
