She felt him move nearer, though he touched her nowhere once the scarf was in place.
“Can you see?” he asked.
She tried to open her eyes, but the blindfold had been put on too well. “No.”
“What do you hear, other than my voice?”
She listened. “Breathing.”
“What do you smell?”
“Shaving soap.”
She felt him place his face against her temple, and he whispered just above her ear, “I smell soap, too.”
He reached down and picked up her hand and laid it on his face. “What do you feel?”
“Beard stubble,” she said, and then heard him chuckle low in his throat.
“What do you taste?”
Instinctively, she licked her lips and replied, “Nothing.”
“Ah, the most tempting and the most delicious of the five senses. To taste.”
He pressed his body against hers once again. She felt his weight and the firmness of his powerful frame. His hand slid around her neck and cupped her nape. “Do you want to taste my kisses, Louisa?”
“Yes,” she said expectantly, knowing she was throwing caution to the wind and her sensible self out the window.
She felt his breath on her cheek. Her abdomen quivered in anticipation of her very first kiss, but his warm lips touched high on her cheek just below her eye. His lips stayed on her skin, slowly peppering tender, short kisses down her cheek to the corner of her mouth.
“Was that a kiss?” she asked.
“It was many kisses,” he answered.
“I felt them, but I didn’t taste them.”
“You will,” he murmured.
She heard and felt him rest his hands on each side of the bookcase, boxing her inside his arms. He kissed each corner of her mouth again and each cheek before letting his lips travel down her jawline and across her neck to nuzzle the skin behind her ear before moving farther down to kiss the crook of her neck. And then, without letting his lips leave her skin, he moved back up and placed his lips to hers.
At last!
Her first kiss.
He moved his lips seductively over hers. A soft moan wafted from her. She heard another low, tantalizing chuckle deep in his throat as his mouth continued to move agonizingly slow over hers.
“Open your mouth and taste me, Louisa,” he whispered.
Unsure what he meant, she stiffened.
“No, don’t shy from me now.”
His powerful arms slid around her back and pulled her up tightly against his chest. Louisa melted against him. She had never been held in such powerful arms, and the feeling did strange things to her insides.
“Open your mouth, Louisa. I will taste you first and show you how it is done. Then you can taste me.”
Louisa opened her mouth, and the duke’s tongue slid inside. Suddenly she knew what he meant when he’d said, “Taste me.” His tongue explored the depths of her mouth as his lips moved seductively over hers.
