She removed her hand. “I enjoyed the kiss and was more than willing to be kissed. If you took liberties, it was because I let you. In fact, I wouldn’t mind being kissed again. Would you kiss me again?”
“Yes.” No hesitation. Curious how he didn’t stammer now.
She patted the space next to her on the sofa. “Come here.”
Anticipation caused his pulse to spike as he sat beside her, his shoulder brushing hers.
“Kiss me, Perry. Hard.”
The headache vanished when he cupped her face and kissed her. Her lips against his felt too good. He did as told and devoured her mouth while holding her head. The kiss was a battle for dominance among clashes of lips and teeth.
They kissed open-mouthed when she invited him in. The tension bothering him was silenced by a shot of pure pleasure rushing down his body. Sod his proposal for now. He wanted to kiss her and get lost in her softness.
He stroked her thigh through the layers of her skirt. When he reached her hip, he pulled her closer, and she sat on his lap. The jumble of sensations the contact with her ignited in him was almost laughable.
Putting a firm hand on her nape, he deepened the kiss, caressing her tongue with his, exploring, making her his. A little moan came out of her, and he captured it with his kiss.
She straddled him in a bold move that had him shivering with need. When she rolled her hips and rubbed against him, his trousers became uncomfortable. She held his face in a savage grip, and he was more than happy to return her passion.
He wanted more than a kiss. He wanted to worship her lovely body and make her feel all the pleasure he could give her. But when she slid a hand between them, he stopped her. If she touched him, he’d take her on that very sofa.
Breaking the kiss required every ounce of his strength. “Edith.” He sounded breathless.
“Yes?” She shifted her hips back and forth, tormenting him.
With her lips swollen from the kiss and her eyes glowing from within, she looked exactly like the Star Maiden.
I want more.
Three easy words that scared him. Not because he was afraid of what he felt, but because she wasn’t ready to hear them, and he wasn’t ready to hear herno, thank you.
He held her face, memorising every single line, curve, and feature of it. “Hold me. Just that.”
Each word required a ridiculous amount of energy and concentration as the headache pounded with renewed strength, but this time his condition had nothing to do with it.
She caressed his cheek with too much tenderness. The caress tasted like a goodbye. “Of course.”
Then she hugged him with desperation as if fearing he would vanish into thin air in a moment. He held her back, inhaling her flowery scent and getting drunk on her sweetness.
Stealing kisses was pointless when she was stealing his heart.
Perry’s wordskept echoing in Edith’s mind, and each time they rumbled louder, making their way through her thoughts.
Hold me. It sounded like a prayer.
She replayed their last conversation as she arranged the bottles of the recently delivered medicinal drugs in the dispensary. Apparently, new antipyretics to reduce fever were becoming popular replacements for laudanum.
Focusing on the labels was difficult though. Kissing Perry was…special for lack of a better word. He was an excellent kisser, passionate and determined, but that wasn’t the reason a quiver started in her chest at the thought of kissing him again.
He cared for her, and she cared for him. Was that all? Once, she’d enjoyed a tumble with a man who had really cared for her. There was nothing new about the act.
But Perry was different. He’d tensed when she’d told him the kiss had been nothing. She’d made a mistake, thinking he’d wanted to be reassured she didn’t expect him to marry her.
To her defence, she’d had many similar conversations with men the day after a tumble. The awkward silence, the stumbling words, the fleeting glances—just to tell her, ‘It was enjoyable, but I don’t want to court you, least of all marry you,’ which was fine with her.
She’d wanted to put Perry out of his misery by anticipating his ‘I don’t want to marry you’ speech, but the joke was on herbecause she’d disappointed him, which made her wonder what he’d wanted to tell her or hear.
“Edith.” Her father’s rumbling voice jolted her.
