Page 23

Charlotte laughed as he helped her rise. The sound eased the last of the awkwardness gathering beneath her ribs. She liked that he could still amuse her when she felt so much. She wanted to laugh with him, contradict him, and touch him without weighing what each gesture might reveal. She slipped her hands beneath his open waistcoat. Alexander drew a breath, and she felt the movement beneath her palms. “That is better,” she murmured.

His gaze returned to hers. “Is it?”

“You were becoming far too composed.”

“Was I?” he asked.

“Yes,” she told him. “Unbearably so. I need you undone.”

He kissed her before she could elaborate, one hand settling at her waist as the other rose to cradle the back of her head. Charlotte answered him readily, sliding her hands over his shoulders and drawing him closer. For years, she had remembered their youthful kisses with an affection she rarely allowed herself to examine. Yet she had no wish to summon the garden now, or the girl she had been when she first wanted him. Alexander was here, warm beneath her hands. His mouth was tender against hers. She liked his humor, his patience, the way he listened. She wanted the man she had begun to know again.

When he drew back, she rested her forehead against his chest and allowed herself a moment to breathe. “Charlotte?”

She lifted her head. “What is it?”

His hand moved gently over her hair. “You may tell me what you want.”

She searched his face and found no teasing there. It should have been an easy invitation to accept. She had never lacked opinions, and she had spent much of the evening making certain he understood them. Yet speaking plainly of pleasure required a confidence she hadn’t quite recovered.

Alexander waited, his thumb moving once against her waist. Charlotte lifted her hand to his cheek. The faint roughness beneath her palm steadied her.

“I want you to kiss me again,” she said.

His expression warmed. “That I can manage.”

He did, and afterward she found it easier to ask. The candle burned lower while they learned one another with a care their youthful kisses had never required. Passion ignited between them and burnt through her so fast she forgot how to breathe. He turned her around, unfastened the buttons on her gown, and helped her step out of it. Her shift came next, leaving her in nothing. Then she helped him undress. The cravat had only been the beginning. He had a beautiful body that she wanted to kiss everywhere.

He lifted her in his arms and carried her over to the bed, then leaned down to draw one of her pert nipples into his mouth. She moaned as he licked and sucked. He lifted his other hand to cup her breast. “More,” she demanded.

“Anything you want,” he told her.

“So thoughtful,” she said breathlessly.

He pressed soft kisses over her stomach until he settled between her thighs and spread her wide. He pressed his mouth to her sensitive flesh and licked and sucked there too. She began to moan even louder as he slid a finger inside her. He stroked her with his finger as his wicked mouth devastated her. She screamed his name as she climaxed. “You taste so damn good,” he told her.

“I need you inside me,” she demanded.

“As you wish, love,” he told her.

He settled over her, and she thought he was going to push inside of her immediately. Instead, he flipped them until she sat on top of him. “Take me,” he told her. “Show me how much you want me.”

She grinned and did as he ordered. She liked having control. Charlotte straddled him and slid his cock inside of her. She rocked back and forth, finding her rhythm. He was so huge inside her; it took her a minute to adjust. He slid his hands over her waist as she rode him and then cupped her breasts. He tweaked her nipples between his fingers, and she began to move even faster. “That’s it, darling,” he said. “Take your pleasure.”

He slid his fingers between them and stroked her clit. She shattered after a couple of strokes. It had never been like this with anyone else. How could she limit them to one night? He pushed into her a few more times and found his own release. He groaned as he spilled inside of her.

He rolled them onto their sides and held her close. His face remained near hers. She touched his cheek, whispered his name. His gaze met hers, but he said nothing. She had discovered how much pleasure he could give her, and it had undone her.

Later, Charlotte lay beneath the counterpane, her cheek on Alexander’s shoulder. His arm rested around her, his fingers moving idly through the ends of her hair. For several minutes, she listened to his breathing and the fire burning in the hearth. She had expected satisfaction. She had even prepared herself for a little awkwardness afterward.

Instead, she felt pleasantly warm, thoroughly at ease. Alexander’s fingers paused in her hair. “What are you thinking?” he asked.

Charlotte considered the question and chose honesty. “How nice this is.”

“It is,” he agreed. His smile deepened. He turned her hand and kissed her fingers. “I like being here,” he said.

Her chest tightened with a tenderness she had no ready way to disguise. She looked down at their joined hands, at how easily his fingers rested around hers. “So do I,” she admitted. “That is, I liked having you here.” She still had little to offer him, but she did enjoy the evening. Perhaps a bit too much.

Alexander asked for nothing further. Charlotte closed her eyes, intending only to enjoy the quiet for a little longer. At some point, she slept.