Her Favorite Duke (The 1797 Club #2)(29)

He glided his hands through her hair, cupping the back of her head and tilting her face toward his. “I want to make you mine,” he said. “Will you let me make you mine?”

She didn’t answer, but lifted up and pressed her lips to his. There was a shudder of relief that passed between them, an echo of what she’d felt when he kissed her last night. Only this time there was no guilt to go along with it. There was nothing but the passion that had been long denied, but always there, waiting to be unleashed. His mouth opened and he traced her lips with his tongue. She welcomed him in as she lifted her arms around his neck and pressed herself against him.

They stood that way, kissing, for what felt like an eternity. She memorized every hollow and curve of his mouth, she swam in his taste and the feel of him worshipping her lips. It was heaven.

Finally he pulled back, resting his forehead against hers as his ragged breath moved in and out. “I have wanted to do that for so damn long, Meg.”

She smiled as she smoothed her fingers against his shoulders, feeling the muscles there bunch, feeling his own hands tighten at her waist. “I’ve been waiting too.”

He reached down and slid his finger into the knot in her robe’s sash. Gently he unwrapped the scrap of silk and then met her stare as he glided his hands up her arms, catching the edge and drawing it down. The room was warm from the fire, but she shivered as he tossed her robe aside.

He stepped back and looked at her from head to toe, his pupils dilating and his fingers clenching. Then he reached up and unbuttoned his own shirt, stripping it open in a few swift actions and throwing it to the floor.

She caught her breath. Last night she’d seen him like this, of course, but she’d stolen those glances. Tonight she had no reason to do so, and she stared long and hard as she moved forward and reached out to place a palm flat against his chest. The solid muscle that greeted her was warm and she felt his heart beat beneath his skin.

Simon caught his breath, but he didn’t back away as she spread her fingers across his flesh, exploring every bump and hollow. She forced her gaze up to his face, blushing as their eyes met. He smiled, the first time she’d seen him smile since they’d been caught in the rain together. Then he slid his fingers beneath her nightrail strap and glided one side down.

She gasped as the warm air in the room touched her bare breast, and turned her face so she wouldn’t see him looking at her. She heard his sharp intake of breath. When his fingers brushed against her hard nipple, she jerked her attention back to him.

He was staring intently as he stroked his hand back and forth across her. It was like nothing she’d ever felt before, like she was alive in a way she hadn’t realized was possible. Tingles of pleasure and awareness shot out from her breast, down into her stomach, lower between her legs, and she could no longer draw a full breath.

He stroked a thumb over her and she grabbed for his forearms, digging her fingers into him as she gasped out surprise at the intensity of the sensations.

His smile widened a little and he reached out to draw down the other strap of her nightrail. He bared her from the waist up and then tugged, bringing the flimsy fabric down over her hips to pool around her feet.

She was naked. Naked with Simon. But not like last night, when there had been blankets and emotions and lies between them. Tonight she was truly naked with this man. And he was touching her. Her entire body quaked and she knew her eyes were wide and her gaze uncertain. What she wanted she could not name, what he was doing she didn’t fully understand and what would happen next she feared.

Despite it all she wanted more. More touching. More of him. More of what they’d started the night before. More of what was now theirs to take. She wanted everything and she trusted that what he was about to give would be magical.

He covered her other breast, cupping both now in his warm hands. She tilted her head back, reveling in the intensity of his touch, in the way her body arched into him, demanding what she was too shy to ask for with words.

Then she felt the steamy warmth of his breath near her nipple. She opened her eyes and watched as he leaned in and gently circled the nub with the tip of his tongue.

“Simon,” she gasped, her hands coming up into his hair. She tugged him closer, she pushed him away, she nearly toppled over as she tried to process everything she was feeling.

He straightened and looked down into her eyes. “Do you want this?”

“I’m not sure I even know what this is,” she admitted. “Engaged or not, my mother wasn’t exactly explaining anything to me. And I hadn’t asked Emma yet.”

He pursed his lips. “I’ll take you, Meg. I’ll put my body into yours.”

She nodded. “That part I know. Understanding is different, but I know.”

He reached out and caught her hand, pressing it to the front of his trousers where she felt the hard line of his cock. She’d seen just a momentary glimpse of it last night. Big was what she remembered.

Intimidating.

“Will it hurt?” she asked, stroking her fingers up and down that fascinating length through the fabric.

He grunted out a sound that she wasn’t sure was pleasure or pain. “At first. Yes.”

She cupped him and he jolted. “But not always?”

“No,” he said, his voice strangled.

“Am I hurting you?” she asked softly.

“No,” he said, his tone stronger. He pushed her hands away and unfastened his trousers. He dropped them and kicked them away and now he stood before her, as naked as she was.