He exhaled a breath he didn’t know he had been holding. “You’ve never...?”
Resuming her work on undoing the buttons, she shook her head. “I’ve not been with a man before, if that’s what you’re asking.” She palmed the hard ridge that had formed behind the placket of his breeches. “But I know what happens between a man and a woman. I’m not some young girl fresh from the schoolroom.”
Tom squeezed his eyes shut when he felt her hand press against his manhood. He had hoped to retain some control—this was their first time together like this—but if she continued what she was doing, he would be coming far sooner than he planned.
“Anne, I really need you to stop that,” he whispered. He placed a hand over hers to move it aside, and he felt how it trembled in his hold.
“Did I hurt you?” she asked in confusion.
He shook his head. “Anything but,” he replied. “However, I don’t want to hurtyou, so we’re going to take our time, and I’m going to be sure you’re as ready for me as I am for you.”
She nodded and watched as he pushed his breeches and smalls from his body, followed by his stockings. The entire time, his shirt hid his manhood from sight.
He knelt before her and removed her shoes, and as he stood, supporting himself by gripping the poster at the end of the bed, he brought up the hem of her gown with his otherhand. She didn’t put voice to a protest but raised her arms as he pulled the black gown over her head.
He was careful to shake it out and drape it over the same chair where she had left his clothes so neatly folded. When he faced her once again, he undid her stays and pulled them from her body.
Her white cotton shift hung down past the tops of her stockings, the thin fabric doing nothing to hide the tips of her nipples or the dark triangle at the top of her thighs.
Tom swallowed. “See? You are gorgeous,” he whispered.
Anne stepped close enough so the fronts of their bodies touched. “I’m not sure if you are aware, but you’re standing in front of the fire,” she said, arching a teasing brow.
He chuckled. “So you think you’ve seen everything,” he guessed.
She nodded.
He stripped the shift from her body, turned and lifted her into his arms, Anne letting out a squeak of surprise as she gripped his shoulder. “Mr. Walker!” she scolded.
He merely grinned as he took her to the bed and placed her in the middle, his gaze on her face the entire time. Hearing her soft gasp when her bare skin touched the cool bed linens, he quickly moved to pull up some of the blankets to cover her, then climbed in behind her, doffing his shirt at the last minute. Gathering her into his arms, he kissed her with an urgency matching how she had kissed him in the stairwell. Despite their combined warmth, he still felt her trembling.
“What do I do?” she asked, when he finally ended the kiss.
“Allow me,” he said, his lips working their way down her cheek and to the space between her neck and shoulder. “To do this,” he added in a whisper.
She inhaled sharply at the sensation of his suckling lips, of his warm hand as it smoothed over her skin and cupped a breast to gently mold it. By then, he had his mouth there, too,his lips taking purchase on her nipple to worry it with his tongue and teeth.
When he turned his attention to the other breast, Anne had moved a hand to his head, her fingers spearing his hair and her nails scraping his scalp. Frissons skittered down his spine, and he had to let go of the nipple to inhale sharply. “You minx,” he accused.
Anne tittered, gripping his head with both hands. He wasn’t about to be deterred from his mission, though. Sliding down her body, he kissed her belly and then blew on the moisture left behind. Hearing her soft gasps only encouraged him. His tongue darted into her naval as he used a hand to push one of her thighs to the side.
When he moved lower, she bent her other leg, her breaths becoming louder. “What...?”
“Ssh,” he replied, his lips skimming over the tender skin of her inner thigh.
He felt her buck beneath him, but he wasn’t about to stop, not when his tongue was so close to its target.
He had his arms beneath her knees and his hands spread on her thighs when he glanced up her body. Although he knew she had been trying to watch what he was doing, he saw how her back had arched and her chest was raised. She had the bed linens gripped in her hands, her head tilted back on the pillow.
“Breathe, my sweet,” he said, right before his tongue slid between the folds covering her womanhood. He wasn’t expecting her to already be wet with need, but he knew she was even before he slid his tongue over the swollen nubbin. Circling it with his tongue several times, he listened to her quiet mewls and felt her lower body quake beneath his chin.
Sliding his tongue deep into her warm channel, he thrilled when he felt her body respond, the waves of her orgasm attempting to pull him in deeper. Desperate for his ownrelease, he was up and over her in an instant, his manhood at her entrance. He pushed into her before she had a chance to realize what he was doing, before she had a chance to clench in an attempt to prevent his entry.
“Oh!”
“Breathe,” he said again, his mouth covering hers with a kiss. When he lifted his head from hers, he asked, “Are you all right?”
Her gaze darted about for a moment before she nodded in the pillow. “I... I think so.”
