Cade took his time unbuttoning her shirt. There was no frantic pushing or tugging like last time. No sweaty grabbing or stale ale breath, only the spicy scent of Cade’s cologne near her ear and the slight shake of his hand going from button to button of her shirt. Knowing that his hand was shaking made her heady with power. Did she do that to him? Well, she was shaking, too. Would he find her naked body beautiful? He’d said she was beautiful, but would he truly think so when she was fully bared to his discerning eye? The man had been with ladies as gorgeous as the tall, ethereal Amanda Jones. There was no way Danielle’s short, hardly buxom body could compare.
“You’re gorgeous,” he whispered into her hair as if he’d read her mind.
The last button gave way and he pushed off her shirt first from one shoulder and then the other. The tunic she wore beneath to conceal her small breasts was next to go. He pulled it over her head and tossed it onto the floor with the rest of the clothing. He stared at her breasts with pure reverence in his eyes.
“Are they…?” She bit her lip. “Acceptable?”
“Acceptable?” He looked horrified by the question, then gave her a wolfish grin. “Sweetheart, they’re magnificent.”
She couldn’t help but smile at that.
His hand went to her waist to begin unbuttoning her breeches but she stopped him. “You first.”
“With pleasure.” He winked at her. She shook her head. She should have known he’d be fine with showing off his—ahem—assets first. The man was pure confidence. From what she’d seen so far, he had a lot to be confident about. Apparently, when you were built like Michelangelo’sDavid,embarrassment wasn’t a word in your vocabulary. Even his feet were perfect. She’d dared a glance at them. They were arched and long with beautifully shaped toes. It was entirely unfair. Her own toes could be described as positively plain.
He rolled over onto his back, unbuttoned his breeches, and pushed them down his hips and legs. The garment became a ball in the corner with the rest of the clothing. Danielle was in awe of how quickly he’d done it. She swallowed.
Ooh la la. The sight of an entirely nude Cade was something for which she wassimplementnot prepared. Narrow hips; lean, muscled legs; and a cock that would make other sailors jealous. The size of their members was exceedingly important to men. Cade’s was thick and strong and long, jutting out from a patch of dark golden hair between his muscular thighs. She stared at it, mesmerized. She wanted to touch it. She reached out, but snatched her hand away.
“Go ahead,” he prompted. He lay on his back and crossed his hands beneath his head, proud and calm at the notion that his naked body was on full display.
Still wearing her breeches and nothing else, she crawled toward him and lay at his side. She reached out and stroked his member. Cade groaned. She turned to watch his face. His eyes were closed. His face was pinched in pleasure. His mouth slightly open, panting. She reveled in the power she had over him. With every flick of her wrist, his hips arched and the look of ecstasy mixed with pain on his face intensified.
“I could give you pleasure,” she said. “With my hand. I’ve heard of that.” She’d heard of a lot of things on ships in the middle of the night.
“You could,” Cade said, his breathing heavy. He opened his eyes and rolled on his side to face her. “But I want to take you and when I take you it’s going to be unbelievable, and I’m not about to do that until you’ve experienced pleasure that will make you half mad.”
“Half mad?” she whispered, a thrill shooting down between her legs.
He was already looming above her, on his knees. He pushed her onto her back and his gaze held hers in its sultry embrace while he unbuttoned her breeches with excruciating slowness. “I believe a man shouldn’t take his pleasure until his woman is fully satisfied.”
“Hurry,” she pleaded, desperately wanting to feel him.
“No,” he teased. His face was tender. His eyes were soft. “I refuse to hurry.”
The third button came undone and his fingers brushed against the private skin beneath. She shuddered. His hand moved lower, unbuttoning the fourth button. At the fifth button she tried to do it herself, but he pushed her hands away and waved a finger at her. “Don’t try to rush me. I’ve been waiting a long time for this.”
She squirmed beneath him.Mon dieu. The man was maddening.
He finally unbuttoned all of them and slid down to the end of the bed where he neatly tugged at the ankles of her breeches. They magically flew off after only a few gentle tugs. “You seem quite good at that,” she said.
He winked at her again. “I’m better with gowns, but I happen to know my way around breeches because of my own use.”
At the moment, she didn’t care what he knew about her breeches. She was much more interested in what he knew about her naked body. He took his time looking at her. His gaze started at her head and traveled down to her shoulders, her chest, her belly, pausing at the juncture between her thighs. His fingers traveled the path his eyes took and she bucked at the new sensation when he gently stroked her hip and the side of her leg. He stopped at her knee. “So beautiful,” he whispered. “Danielle.”
“Touch me,” she begged, trying to guide his hand to where she wanted it.
But he eluded her grasp. His hand moved slowly, too slowly, back up her leg until it found the juncture between her thighs. Her legs spread open of their own accord. Maddeningly, he only touched her there for barely a moment before his mouth descended to capture one of her nipples. She gasped and her fingers tangled in his hair, holding his head to her chest. “Cade!”
“Oh, darling, you can’t be calling my nameyet. We’ve barely started. Let me do something to truly earn it.”
Her panting breath was her only response to that exasperating statement. He traveled down, raining kisses on her belly, and lower, lower until his mouth was positioned just above her sex. He pulled her knees apart with his strong hands and wrapped his arms beneath them, leaving her open to him.
***
Cade breathed in Danielle’s womanly scent. His cock was so hard it was painful. He clenched his jaw. Never in his life had he wanted a woman as badly as he wanted Danielle. Never in his life had he taken such care and time preparing a woman for his lovemaking. He wanted his partners to enjoy themselves, of course, but it had never mattered more to him. He wanted her to come so hard, she wouldn’t be the same. Why? He didn’t want to examine that question at the moment. All he knew was that tonight her pleasure was his pleasure and he was about to make her explode with it.
His tongue dipped into her cleft. She clamped her thighs against his head. He smiled and pulled them away with his hands at her knees. “Shh,” he murmured, blowing softly into her sex. She gasped. His tongue dipped a second time and she moaned. It was the most erotic sound he’d ever heard. He was dizzy with the sight and sound and smell and taste of her. He swiped his tongue along the seam of her sex. Again, he burrowed his tongue between the cleft, finding the nub of pleasure. Her feet pushed against the bed and her hips arched off the mattress.
