“I have come to the point,” Foxford finished, “when your happiness is more important than my own, and I wish to have you naked in my bed every night and wake up beside you each dawn.”
Despite being more than a little shocked by his words, she definitely wanted to be bare-skinned with Matthew Foxford. Yet hearing him say it aloud made her fight the urge to hush him.
He swooped in for another searing kiss.
In the span of a heartbeat, her body ignited into flames. Foxford pressed her against the door, caging her with his broad hands on either side. His long physique leaned into her softness, sparking every wicked fantasy she’d had of him.
“Hot,” she murmured against his mouth as her body grew heavy with wanting.
“Mm,”he agreed. “That’s why being in the buff like an Abram cove is so appealing. I cannot wait to strip you on our wedding night.”
That freedom sounded blissful. When he lowered a hand to her skirts, she again closed her eyes.
“I want to draw up your gown like this,” he said.
The whispering glide of her soft shift along with her stiff petticoat and brushed cotton day gown slid up her stocking-clad legs.
“And then I want to stroke your thighs.”
Somehow, he was managing to do exactly that. His fingers slid into the opening of her drawers at her apex and skimmed across the skin of her upper thigh, making her knees wobble.
Deep inside, desire flooded her, and she tilted her hips toward him.
“I want to touch you,” he whispered against her collar bone. “Everywhere.”
She wanted that more than she wanted air. In fact, she couldn’t catch her breath, alternately panting and holding a lungful.
Time stopped. She waited, her core throbbing.
Purity bit her lower lip. When the pad of Foxford’s thumb stroked softly across her core, she gasped. When he did it again, a moan escaped her. As her heartbeat sped up from fluttering to galloping, the pulsing between her legs matched its pace.
Keenly aware of the hard door behind her buttocks and shoulders, she was grateful for its support as Foxford continued to caress her with a firmer sweep of his fingers.
Relishing each touch, she craved the next and the next, realizing there was a steady rhythm to his ministrations, like musical notes. Her body grew molten, her breasts heavy, and even her skin became prickly all over.
When tension built low between her hips, she moaned, desperate for release.
Mindless of anything except his hands and his mouth upon her, when he tugged at her décolletage with his teeth and his lips clasped her nipple, she hissed her pleasure and began to unravel.
Thrusting her hands into his hair, she kept his mouth in place. As he sucked harder, her core tightened, and shuddering pleasure rolled through her. She could do nothing but cling to his thick head of hair and bask in the cresting sensations as they peaked and finally ebbed.
As soon as her body began to relax, he removed his hand from under her skirts, and she felt them fall back into place. Still gulping air, eyes closed, Purity relished the moments of being so wildly wanton that she could not even stand straight. For surely, having been turned to jelly, she would collapse at his feet if she pushed away from the drawing-room door.
“Kitten,” Foxford said softly, and she opened her eyes.
“Should I apologize?” he asked before offering her a wry, tilted smile. “At least I am fairly certain you are not going to slap me.”
Having his golden amber gaze on her, realizing where she was and what he had done, her cheeks heated as much as her entire body had only seconds before.
“Now, now,” he said. “Don’t go hiding behind that blushing countenance. You are mine, remember? And I am yours. We are allowed to pleasure one another.”
“Beforethe wedding?” she asked, knowing the correct answer. This was most definitely not in any etiquette book for engaged couples.
“I have reformed in all regards except where you are concerned,” he said. “I restrained myself quite honorably.”
She knew he was teasing. “I think perhaps you should allow me a few feet of air,” she said.
He nodded, and to her mortification, he drew the neckline of her dress up to cover her nipple.How had she not realized they were having a discussion while she was exposed?
