As she headed for the bed, he went to the washroom, disrobed, and freshened up. By the time he returned, Ellie was stepping into the room with a glass of wine in hand. She set the glass down and shrugged off her robe, revealing a sensual slip of creamy silk and lace.
“Evelina…” he paused. “What are you doing?”
She lowered the strap of her left shoulder, his mouth watering as the bodice fell, revealing one perfect round breast crowned with a dusky coral nipple. She repeated the move on the other shoulder, and the nightgown fell completely to join her robe on the floor.
Naked, she reached for the wine, and his eyes traced liberally over her body. Slender with a nipped-in waist, high plump breasts, and curved hips his palms itched to hold.
“Evelina…?”
She lazily strolled over to him. “I want you to make love to me. Tonight.”
His blood lit a fire, but his common sense harnessed it. “No, Evelina. You are not thinking this through. You are very clearly overwrought with the trauma you suffered tonight. You’re dazed.”
She cupped his face, “No, I am not. Look into my eyes, Dorian.Read me. I am not confused.”
“But—”
Evelina kissed him, and the touch was like kindling to a fire. He strained to not return the kiss, but it was damned near impossible. For nearly every night since they’d married, he’d yearned to satiate his burgeoning desires in her—but theagreement was that he would control himself so that if and when she married again, she’d be a virgin.
Her lips coasted sweetly over his, and the temptation to indulge seared up his skin. Still, he resisted.
Drawing away, a breath apart, she whispered against his lips, “I want you to take me tonight, Dorian.”
“No,” his voice came rough. “When we annul, you’ll have another—”
She shook her head immediately. “I don’t want another,” she breathed. “I want you.”
He groaned, “Evelina—”
“Look me in my eyes and tell me you do not want me,” she challenged him. “If you do not, I will—”
His tongue pushed inside her mouth with a stabbing force, and she jolted at the motion. Dorian peeled his hands away from her face to hold her instead, then dropped one hand to cup her backside.
He caged her jaw and held her steady as he continued the heated plundering. The hot, slick plunges caused a melting at her core, and her hands plucked at the clean shirt he’d thrown on.
“Evelina—” he held her face, eyes searching hers, “—are you sure?”
“Yes!” she nodded, gasping.
He ripped the shirt away and hoisted her into his arms. With three large steps, he deposited her on the sheets, then kicked his loose trousers aside.
Dipping his head, he took her mouth again, feasting on her lips, as if he were a parched man and she were a last drop of water. With one hand beside her head, he pinned her down into the feathered pillows. A need for her rose from the bottom of his abdomen, like a beast craving air.
The tips of her breasts had risen into stiff and tingling points, brushing his chest. He coaxed her into kissing him back, and when her tongue brushed against his, that shy swipe travelled all the way to his groin. He was harder than a fire iron— from just akiss!
A hand cupped her breast, and his fingers rubbed and circled the stiff bud. He felt her tremble as he caressed her, his lips hot and hungry. Her fingers speared into his hair, as her body trembled beneath his.
“Dorian—” she gasped, “—Oh God.”
“High praise, sweetheart,” Dorian’s breath scattered over her hot, goose-pimpled skin.
“Get up,” she panted. “On your back.”
Taken aback, Dorian wondered what she meant but obliged her anyway; spinning them, he rested on his back and held her above him. She sat on his lower abdomen, and he could feel the heat of her core on his skin. He knew she felt his arousal thick on his inner thigh.
Leaning in, she nuzzled his temple and kissed his earlobe, flicking and sucking it like he’d done to her before, making the heat in his blood spike. Her lips trailed over his jaw and down his throat.
His neck canted to the side as she kissed over his skin, mouth at his Adam's apple, working her way down to his chest. Like a frisky little feline, she kissed his muscled planes, licking over the flat disks of his nipples.
