“Tell me how we can be careful,” she whispered, before she flicked her tongue against his earlobe as he’d done to her. Then she pressed another kiss along the pulse in his neck.
“I can touch you,” he said in a soft grunt. “Bring you pleasure. A release of the tension building inside you.”
Somehow, the tension he mentioned built exponentially in reaction to his reply.
“How?”
With a low growl, he pulled her head back by the hand buried in her hair and hungrily claimed her mouth in a deep, ravening kiss. Plunging his tongue into the depths. Swallowing her moan.
“Like this,” he finally muttered against her lips before he physically lifted her from his lap and turned her around until her back was fully cradled against his chest. Her head rested against his shoulder and his legs were bent and braced around her. One of his hands now splayed heavy and warm over her belly and the other was still on her thigh,with her skirt lifted nearly to her hips and her legs bared.
She felt unbelievably vulnerable. Exposed. Utterly wicked.
A deep breath lifted her chest as she rolled her spine and shifted her legs.
“Easy, sweetheart,” he whispered at her ear, the sound both soothing and arousing. “I’m just going to touch you. Understand you can stop me at any time. I hold you, butyouare in control of this experience.”
The velvet of his voice at her ear, his warm breath bathing her neck, the pressure of his palm over her trembling belly, and his fingers lightly caressing her outer thigh…nearly unraveled her. She felt both languid and taut. Her body melted against him while her muscles tensed with anticipation.
With a low sound, he smoothed his hand up to curve around her ribcage as he braced his forearm beneath her breasts. His mouth pressed hotly to the side of her throat. “Tell me you understand,” he murmured. “That you want this. If you do not, I swear I’ll leave you untouched.”
Reacting instinctively to the suggestion that he might leave her like this, Eleanor arched and lifted one hand to curl around the back of his neck, trying to secure herself more firmly to him.
“Don’t leave me.” Her voice was fierce and breathless. “I understand. I want this. So badly.”
“Thank God,” he groaned.
For some reason, the gravelly depth of his relief tickled her humor and she gave a soft laugh as her fingers threaded into the hair at his nape.
“You find my desperation amusing?” he growled in mock affront before scraping the edge of his teeth along the side of her neck, up to her ear where he nipped at the sensitive shell.
Shivers coursed through Eleanor, making her gasp at the intensity of such a delicate sensation. Seeming to enjoy her reaction he nippedat the curved edge of her ear again before tugging at her earlobe with his teeth.
Her entire body erupted in shivers of pleasure. Some skating over her skin, lifting goosebumps, others going deep through the core of her to the warm, heavily aching flesh between her thighs. Her nipples peaked against the material of her gown and she rolled her hips. Tightening her grip at his nape, she dropped her other hand to grasp his bracing thigh.
“So delicate, yet fierce,” he whispered. “What else can I do to cause such a lovely response?”
The arm banded beneath her breasts shifted as he moved his warm, weighted hand to cover her breast. The delicious pressure was surprising. She was modestly endowed and his hand fully encompassed the soft mound. With a gentle squeeze he made her ache and she arched into his hand.
Giving a low sound of appreciation, he adjusted his touch to brush his thumb over the sensitive peak. Eleanor gasped and turned her head toward him to find his mouth there waiting. Her lips sought his eagerly, her tongue slipping past his teeth with a silent, desperate hunger.
He opened to her and lowered his head to kiss her more fully as her own head dropped back. It was a hot kiss. A wet, deep, and passionate kiss. As he teased her nipple with his dancing fingers and the subtle edge of his blunt nails, the sensations he aroused spiraled through her body. Twisting silken tendrils through her core with a cascade of molten heat that settled in her sex.
Restless, she shifted her legs and her movements caused his hand to slide along her inner thigh. She instantly gasped and stilled, her body going taut with a rush of anticipation.
“Are you ready to feel me here?” he asked against her lips, his fingers pressing briefly into her soft flesh.
Eleanor held her breath.
His thumb circled over her nipple and his tongue teased at her lips. But he didn’t slide his hand any higher.
She wanted to beg him to touch her there—where so much heat and wetness had gathered. But words were impossible. Even if she could figure out the right thing to say—the right words to use—to get what she wanted, it would get stuck in her panting throat.
But she needed it. Craved it.
Chapter Twenty
Unable to tellhim what she wanted, she had to show him. Releasing the tense, bracing grip she had on his thigh, she covered his hand with hers. It required only the slightest bit of urging to bring his hand higher.
