He was incredibly still beneath her. Cautiously, she raised her head and adjusted her position so she was once again sitting. Ridge was asleep, his head lolled to the side.
She smiled at his unkempt hair. His spectacles had slid lazily down his nose, and his shirt was rumpled. But he posed the most enticing picture. She wanted to lean into his chest and wrap her arms just as tightly around him as she could. Settle under his arm and use him as a barrier against the outside world.
That thought sobered her immediately. She was already using him far too much. Reluctantly, she moved away from him, stretching her stiff muscles.
She glanced back at him as the carriage rocked over a bump. His spectacles fell farther down until they straddled his mouth. She smiled again and reached out to remove them.
As she eased them from his nose, his eyes fluttered open. He reached up and captured her hand, retrieving his spectacles from her. He transferred them to his other hand, never letting go of her fingers.
“They were falling,” she said.
He smiled crookedly. “As they always do.”
He rubbed his thumb over her palm, sending flutters of pleasure up her arm.
“Come here,” he murmured, pulling her toward him.
She came to a rest against his chest. Precisely the spot she had fantasized about on more than one occasion. He bent his head and pressed his lips to hers, softly at first until she parted her lips, then more demanding, more insistent. More possessive.
She shivered as his palm slid around her neck until his fingers were splayed at the base of her head, and his thumb rubbed softly at the pulse in her neck.
His tongue licked at the fullness of her mouth, followed by nibbles of his teeth. She returned his kiss with the full measure of her wanting. All the pent up desire, the longing flowed from her in one heated moment.
“Oh God, India.”
He gasped as he pulled away. His heavy breathing filled the interior of the carriage. He ran a hand raggedly through his hair, and then as if he lost a supreme battle for control, he reached for her, yanking her to him.
She went willingly, loving the roughness of his embrace. He hauled her up until she straddled his lap, cupped over the bulge between his legs.
Her entire body caught fire as every nerve ending tingled, vibrated, shivered. She could feel him throbbing at the apex of her legs, and it was wicked temptation.
He kissed her again, rougher, harder, with more excitement. She rocked forward, downward into his groin, giving him the promise of what was to come. She wanted him with every fiber of her being, as she had never wanted another man in her life.
His fingers tore clumsily at her shirt, pushing it upward until her breasts were exposed to his gaze. And to his mouth.
When his lips made contact with her nipple, she threw back her head and moaned. A current of fire arced from her breast to her abdomen and lower to the part of her that pulsed and tightened with his every touch.
“Ridge. Oh my God, Ridge.”
It was all she could muster as he plumped her breasts with his hands then feasted greedily on first one then the other. He thumbed the peaks then sucked them between his lips, nipping the sensitive flesh with his teeth.
“Do you have any idea what you do to me?” he rasped.
She grinned wickedly down at him then slipped her hand between their bodies, down to his pelvis to cup his hardness.
“Yes, I think I do.”
He closed his eyes and groaned. “I have no idea if such a thing is possible in a moving carriage, but I’m willing to do my best to find out.”
Her chest tightened and she smiled. A wide smile that encompassed her entire soul. There was nothing she didn’t like about this man. He didn’t bandy about sweet words in an attempt to seduce her. He was honest and forthright.
She sandwiched his face between her hands and lowered her head to kiss him. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her closer.
“Take off your shirt,” he said hoarsely.
She pulled away and hiked her shirt the rest of the way up then pulled it over her head. She closed her eyes as his hands reclaimed the soft mounds of her breasts.
His eyes glittered with desire. Need. And it excited her all the more. She was no classic beauty. She knew this. But this man wanted her. Wanted her very badly.
