“But what comes next?” she asked.
“We kiss,” he breathed, moving to her mouth.
Ryan’s eyes were open, but she saw only shapes and shadows. The whole of her consciousness was focused on the wedge of his body inside her. It was tight, and slippery, and full. In her periphery, she saw him draw closer to her lips; she felt him nibble at the corner of her mouth.
“Breathe, Ryan,” he whispered as he kissed her. “Breathe.”
Ryan drew in a shaky breath. Gabriel added his tongue to the kiss, licking her, teasing the seam of her lips. She laughed a little, licking him back, and her eyes fell shut. The kiss grew deeper, more sensual; and slowly, magically, the tightness between her legs gave way to a restless need tonotkeep still. She wanted to move. She felt the familiar burn that wanted satiation, that wanted to press, that wantedhim.
“Oh,” she gasped, kissing harder, giving her hips an upward, testing lift.
Gabriel groaned. The sound only heightened the burn and she lifted again.
“That’s it,” he hissed against her mouth. “Are you alright?”
“Yes.” A breath. “Yes.”
And then they were off. Ryan moved freely, rocking her hips against him. She had the sense that Gabriel held back, that he wanted her to set the rhythm. When she raised her knees on either side of his hips and dug her heels into the mattress, he finally, let go.
Devouring her mouth, crushing her against him, he matched the movement of her hips, thrusting, rocking, leading them in a dance that was both new to Ryan but also somehow known.
She clung to him, met him thrust for thrust, kissed him with all of the love in her heart. When the hot, wet, burning sensation began to build, when she felt the demanding sizzle to her very core—when her only thought was satiating it—she knew what was coming. She’d experienced this on their first night.Thiswas the glorious bit, the undoing, the moment where he took her to the edge of the world and swung her round and round over open air.
She cried out when it hit her, repeating his name, again and again.
He held himself still, allowing her to explode around him, kissing her all the while. Eventually, her breathing slowed to a shallow pant; and she opened her eyes, blinking at the ceiling. Slowly but deeply, he began to move.
“Alright?” he grunted.
She nodded, grasping his shoulders, holding on.
“Alright?” he asked again, his body rocking faster, harder.
“Yes, Gabriel. I am alright.”
And then he let out a guttural sort ofroarand pulled from inside her. Ryan flinched, unprepared for the loss of contact. He fell on top of her, spilling his seed on the sheets.
“Gabriel,” she said. Not a request, not a call, not a question. She simply said his name.
He lay across her, panting.
She settled one hand on his back. His skin was wet with perspiration. She dipped another into his hair. She hooked an ankle over his leg. He slid an arm beneath her back and scooped her tightly to him. He buried his face in her hair.
Ryan’s mind floated in a shimmery pleasure haze; but questions, a million questions, crowded in.Why had they waited so long? Why would he not want this for always? When could they do it again?
She would ask this—she would ask all of this—but at the moment she was so very sleepy—exhausted, even. And he felt so good; damp and heavy and languid on top of her. She allowed her eyes to fall closed; sleep had just begun to drip down the corners of her brain, when they were startled by a knock on the door.
“Gabriel?” came an insistent voice, from outside. “Gabriel, it’s Killian, are you there?”
Gabriel tightened his hold with one hand and took up the sheet with the other, draping it over her.
“We’re in search of Lady Ryan,” Killian continued, “and we cannot find her.”
And now Elise’s voice came through the door. “We’ve an urgent letter by messenger from her aunt in London. Her sisters at Winscombe have written that Maurice has returned to Guernsey. He did not wait until October; he is already there.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Killian Crewes had known both of them would be inside Gabriel’s room; likely in some manner of half dress. Elise had been less prepared. When Ryan stumbled from the bedroom, clutching her unfastened dress to her body, Elise reacted like a bird flew at their faces.
