Wicked Surrender (Regency Sinners)(14)

“I do.” He nodded abruptly.

“Then why are you hesitating?”

Dante heard the challenge in her tone. “If you wish me to stop at any time, then we must have a safe word.”

“A safe word?” She looked at him blankly.

He nodded. “I do not like inflicting physical pain, nor do I wish you for a pet. I am, however, a demanding lover in that I require you give me complete access to every part of your body during lovemaking.”

She blinked. “What does that mean?”

“Exactly as it sounds. You will not deny a single part of your body to me.”

She considered his words for several seconds before continuing. “Did your other women have a safe word?”

His mouth thinned. “We are not talking about other women.”

Bella appeared flustered. “I only asked because I have never heard of such an arrangement before now.”

Then she had clearly never frequented the clubs and private parties Dante had. Which did not surprise him: young Aston had been a likeable chap, but Dante had never heard so much as a whiff of gossip attached to his name.

“Do you have a safe word?”

His brows rose to his hairline. “Do I need one?”

She nodded. “It seems only fair.”

Bella was either very na?ve or very eager for sexual experimentation. Dante sincerely hoped it was the latter. “I will say ‘sword’ if anything you do is not to my taste.” Although he could think of very little Bella might to do him that he would object to. “What is your favorite flower?” he prompted when she offered no safe word of her own.

“The daffodil.”

“If you wish me to stop, say ‘daffodil,’ and I will immediately desist whatever I am doing that has displeased you. Do you understand?”

He knew this was a part of his nature Bella would never have guessed lay hidden beneath his veneer of civility. His arrogance, yes, but not the need he felt to totally dominate and control. It was a part of himself Dante had known Bella could never have understood at the age of seventeen. But she was no longer that innocent virgin, had been a married woman for six years since that time, and if she was to become his lover now, then she needed to know from the onset what his requirements of her were. The most important being that when it came to intimacy, he would tolerate no limitations.

She swallowed. “I understand.”

Dante doubted she did, not completely, but she would. Oh yes, she very soon would.

He removed the pillows between them before casting them impatiently to the floor. He took his time to kiss each and every one of the bruises on Bella’s arms before drawing her close to him and claiming her mouth with his own.

She tasted of the wine she had drunk earlier, but the intoxication Dante felt came purely from kissing Bella’s soft and yielding lips. Unfettered by formal clothing or restrictive undergarments, her body felt lush and soft as his hands explored each curve and hollow.

Bella lay stiff and unmoving and a little shocked at the realization Dante was completely naked beneath the bedcovers, allowing the long length of his bared cock to pulse against her hip. Jeremy had always—

She must not think of Jeremy when she was in bed with another man. In bed with Dante.

It was all of her seventeen-year-old self’s fantasies come true to feel his hard and muscular body pressing against her own, his lips devouring hers, to have his hands roaming restlessly over the curves of her body.

She could feel currents of desire flashing between the two of them, melding their lips together, the depth and pleasure of that kiss making it impossible to break the spell as it wove itself about both of them.

There was no hiding the fact Dante did want her.

His breathing was ragged, his body hot, the heavy weight of his erection becoming a demanding throb.

Bella gave a soft whimper as she parted her lips to the invasion of Dante’s tongue. She turned fully toward him, her arms moving up about his shoulders to draw him closer still as the kiss deepened.

Dante was breathing hard by the time he broke the kiss to rest his forehead against hers. “This nightgown has to come off,” he said gruffly.

Her cheeks suffused with color. “The candle—”

“Remains lit.”

“But—”

“I want to see you. All of you,” he stated firmly as she would have continued to protest. “The plump ripeness of your nipples. Your soft and silky skin. I wish to part the dark curls between your thighs and see the red plumpness of your nether lips. Your swollen clit. The rosette between your cheeks— Bella?” he prompted sharply as she buried the heat of her face against his chest.

Bella was a trembling mess of uncertainty. “Jeremy and I were… He had little experience, and he was the first, the only lover I have ever known.” Whereas Dante had, according to Society gossip, had many lovers over the years. He was used to having greedy female eyes and hands upon his body.

Bella doubted Dante knew what it was like to feel self-conscious. To inwardly question whether those lovers found pleasure in the hard and predatory lines of his body. As Bella now questioned whether Dante would like her own full, soft curves.

She and Jeremy had both been shy on their wedding night, nervous of what was about to happen between them. They had been somewhat clumsy and less than adept that first night, Jeremy too anxious to perform, Bella having no real idea what was expected of her. But that shyness between them had slowly disappeared over the next few months until they grew comfortable exploring each other’s bodies, learning what gave the other pleasure. The intimacy between them had become comfortable and satisfying.