The light touch on her breast became a deliberate caress that made itself felt through her garments. Luscious pleasure poured through her body and pooled low in her stomach. She thought she would swoon.
“Your eyes are as bright as I imagined they would be when I caressed you, Padua.”
His caress continued absorbing all her attention. She barely managed to speak. “You said you did not believe in seduction.”
“Did I say that? How careless of me.” He nuzzled and kissed her neck. Sensual chills enlivened her skinwith a thousand streams of delight. “Although I think you have seduced me, you see. Not I you.”
“You talk so smoothly. However, it is you who lure me.”
“How little you know about your power, Padua.” He brushed his lips against hers again. Her mouth quivered. His fingers found her nipple through her garments. The way he teased at her sent her up on her toes.
“Should I stop? I will, if you demand it.”
Stop? End this bliss? Reject this transformation of her entire being? She did not want it to end, ever.
He waited for her answer. Even his caress stopped, which maddened her. She opened her eyes. His gaze contained everything she knew about him. His wicked side and his kind one. His hardness and his charm. Mostly it reflected that he knew her answer without her saying anything at all.
“Well, then,” he murmured. “Let us do this properly.”
Do what? The notion that she should ask slipped away as soon as it formed.
He moved her, his embrace lifting her off her feet. The chamber spun. She found herself on his lap, her shoulders cradled by his arm, her body slung across his thighs. Astonished, she watched his head lower until warm kisses pressed her neck and the skin exposed above her garments. Each one shot tantalizing streams down her body.
He turned his ravishment to her mouth. He no longer lured, but claimed. Her body responded erotically. He took advantage of her gasps to invade her mouth.Shocked momentarily, she quickly submitted to the bold intimacy. When his caress smoothed over her body, from her neck to her knees, her consciousness submerged under a stupor of sensation striped with feral anticipation.
She felt his fingers on her chest. He lifted the money out of her bodice and dropped it to the floor. She looked down to see him unbuttoning her pelisse.
He sat her up and slid the pelisse off. She turned her head and watched it fall into a green pool beside the money.
Hot kisses on her neck reclaimed her attention. Purposeful caresses on her breasts beckoned her into delirium. Her dress was half-unfastened before she realized the hand on her back had intentions more wicked than that on her front. Even after her bodice lowered, revealing her stays and petticoat, that hand moved back there.
A thread of rationality returned. “Shouldn’t we be negotiating first? You said you always did.”
“To hell with that.” His mouth moved to the soft skin exposed above her stays.
She felt her stays loosen. They began sliding down her shoulders, along with her petticoat. A masculine hand helped them. Through the fog of sensation, she realized she would soon be half-naked.
“I thought—” She turned her face so his kiss could not silence her. “I thought you always ensured women and you were of like mind. I thought you chatted first.”
Warmth on her skin. On her breast. A new caress, a direct one, made her dizzy with pleasure.
“We already did.”
“That was hypothetical, and not very detailed. We may not suit at all in this.”
“You suit me fine. Chat all you want, however. I promise to listen.” He even looked in her eyes, so she could see his attention.
Unfortunately, his caresses did not stop. That made forming coherent thoughts difficult, let alone speaking them. His hot gaze undid her further. She looked down at her now bare breasts and her garments bunched below them. While she did, his fingertips slid to her nipple. He began to gently rub.
The sensation overwhelmed her. Her vision blurred. She could barely sit still. The pleasure became excruciating. If he continued she would die, but if he stopped she would scream.
His breath warmed her shoulder. “You are lovely, Padua.” Lower kisses, on her chest. “Perfect.” Lower yet. Her breast turned heavy and full. Her breathing quickened while she waited for him to... She wanted, she needed... She arched in offering and frustrated anticipation.
When his kiss grazed her nipple, she spun into abandon. He teased at her, his hand on one breast and his mouth on the other, his teeth and tongue and lips driving her insane. A tempest of sensation built and built. Her consciousness dwelled in the center of the storm.
Of course she noticed when the sensual torment stopped. His arms slid under her body and lifted.Through hooded eyes she saw the chamber swim by. When it settled she was looking up at the ceiling.
The table. She was on the table. On her back. She looked down her body, at her exposed breasts and bunched garments, at her long skirt. At the hips, torso, and head of the man standing between her dangling legs.
