“No,” she confessed, “only you, but I cannot imagine what you could be lacking or how your shape could be any better.”
That time he did laugh. “No, don’t blush further. I am not laughing at you. I’m just ... happy. Thrilled actually, that you’re here and that you find me appealing. For I find you to be the absolute loveliest creature I’ve ever had the honor to see bare.”
“And unlike me, you’ve seen quite a few,” she said.
“I suppose I’ve seen my share.”
At her raised eyebrow, he added, “And a few other men’s shares, too.”
“I should be annoyed by that, but your amorous adventures have caused you to be most skilled. You are, aren’t you?”
Jasper couldn’t help frowning. “I’ve satisfied you, haven’t I, in our previous encounters?”
“Yes, of course. Exceedingly so, and we haven’t even quite done the deed yet. But since you are the only one I know, I must ask you, are all men so ... that is ... when men and women make love, is it always ... do the women always...? Oh, for pity’s sake.”
She closed her mouth and her eyes, and her cheeks flamed.
“In my experience, sometimes even great skill doesn’t mean the greatest of pleasure. Yet with us, we give and receive enjoyment very easily with one another. Don’t you agree?”
Julia opened her eyes, and her blue gaze reminded him of a late-September sky.
“We do,” she agreed.
An unusual rush of exhilaration shot through him, heightened by her watching him earnestly when he climbed onto the bed and settled between her thighs. Her expression was rapt even before he did anything. It made him want to please her more.
He eagerly kissed a trail across each breast, pausing briefly to lave one nipple then the next — until he heard her moan — before continuing on his way down to her sweet core. He licked a path down the flat of her stomach, breathing in the scent of her skin — not her usual perfume but fresh Pears’ soap — until he reached her apex.
Pausing, he blew gently onto her curls, and she dug her fingers into his shoulders. He’d accused her of teasing him the night before. But he could take teasing to a level that would have her practically sobbing with need.
Parting her soft petals, he blew on her again, rewarded with her sharp intake of breath. She lifted her hips toward him, as though offering him a rare jewel.
In a flash he recalled what he’d planned when he’d first found out she was stealing from theton— a little sweet coercion at exactly the right time.
“Promise me,” he said, his mouth very close to her nubbin, which he knew was aching for his touch, just as his own cock was straining under him against the sheet.
“Anything,” she said foolishly, and he smiled to himself.
With the lightest possible touch, he put his tongue to the very tip of her sex.
She bucked, her fingers grasping him harder, but he drew back an inch, only to blow upon her once more.
“Yes,” she hissed.
“Promise me you won’t steal another thing.”
Her entire body went rigid beneath him, and then she released her hold. She lay with one arm across her face and one hand fisting the sheet, breathing heavily from pent-up desire.
“You don’t understand what you’re asking,” she said, her voice having lost its breathy, relaxed tone.
“I do,” he said. “I’m asking you to show an ounce of self-preservation, for my sake. I don’t want to think of you losing your pretty head.” The way he was losing his erection while they were having this somber chat.
Suddenly, she sat up and scooted away from him and from his touch, grasping the discarded counterpane and pulling it over her body.
He reached for her.
“Don’t,” she said sullenly. “Hand me my dressing gown.”
When he simply stared at her, she added, “Please.”
