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“I want this,” she said softly, answering the question in his eyes. She reached up to smooth back a lock of hair from his brow. “I want you. Not because it’s owed, or expected, or written in any contract. But because I choose you.”

“Tell me if that changes,” he murmured against her temple, his voice low and rough. “At any moment. I mean it, Laura.”

“I will.” She drew him down to her, closing the gap between them. “But it won’t. Not tonight.”

He kissed her gently on the mouth, then trailed his lips down the curve of her jaw to the hollow at the base of her throat. With each reverent kiss, she felt hungry anticipation build beneath her skin, humming wherever his lips lingered.

“Nathaniel,” she breathed, her fingers curling into his hair as he continued his slow descent to her breasts. “Nathaniel!”

“Let me,” he rasped against her soft flesh. “Let me have this.” He gently nipped at her nipples through her chemise. “I am done waiting, wife.”

“But I am not ready to…”

“You misunderstand me,” he murmured. “This has nothing to do with me and everything to do with you and your pleasure.”

He trailed his lips over her belly, his hands cupping her breasts and gently teasing her nipples. She gasped at the sensation, her body growing hot.

He gripped her hips, as though he meant to memorize every inch of her by touch alone before the night was through. She arched into him, her breath coming faster, her fingers tightening in the sheets as he pulled her skirts up.

His mouth found the soft skin of her inner thigh and pressed there, drawing a soft, helpless sound from her that she barely recognized as her own voice.

“Nathaniel—”

“Tell me if you want me to stop.” He looked up at her, and his eyes held nothing but tenderness and pure want. “I only want to give you what you’ll let me give. I will take nothing from you but your pleasure.”

“Don’t stop,” she begged, the words coming out as barely more than a whisper, but he heard them and nodded.

His mouth found her wet folds, and her hips bucked, seeking more. He parted her nether lips with his fingers and licked into her, savoring her as if she were a dessert, before wrapping his lips around her swollen nub and sucking.

“Oh!” she gasped, writhing beneath him.

He slid his hands beneath her backside and pulled her closer as he moaned into her.

“That’s it,” he purred, sliding a finger in and out of her. “That’s what I want, wife.” He sucked harder and quickened his pace. “You are exquisite.”

Her eyes grew heavy, and the pressure in her belly swelled as she drew closer to her peak.

“I want you,” he groaned against her.

“Nathaniel!” she cried out, squeezing her thighs around his head as climax crashed over her.

A blinding flash of heat tore through her, stealing the breath straight from her lungs. The room dissolved into a roaring wave of sensation, every nerve ending pulled taut and vibrating until she shattered into pieces against him, breathless and utterly undone.

As the fierce tremors slowly subsided, leaving her limbs heavy and trembling in the quiet aftermath, she felt Nathaniel shift.

“I don’t think I will ever tire of hearing you say my name like that,” he said, lifting himself off her.

“You are entirely too pleased with yourself,” Laura managed, breathless still but giggling. “I dare say I am too.”

He took her in his arms. “I have earned the right to be pleased with myself, wife,” he said, pressing a kiss to her neck. “You’ll grant me this one indulgence.”

She nodded.

They lay tangled in the dark, her head resting over the steady beat of his heart, his arm curled protectively around her. For a long while, neither of them said anything, both savoring the moment.

“Stay,” she said eventually, when his breathing had begun to slow toward sleep. “Don’t go back to your rooms tonight.”

“I wasn’t planning to,” he murmured drowsily, pressing a kiss to her hair. “I don’t intend to leave this bed tonight, and if I have any say in it, not for a great many nights after.”