Wicked Surrender (Regency Sinners)(37)

Dante’s hands came down gently on her shoulders. “I have every intention of being gentle. Tonight, I wish to show you… Want you to know I am not always so…forceful. It is my dearest wish to worship every inch of your body with my hands and lips,” he assured her huskily.

Bella gave a shiver of pleasure as she felt his lips caress the bite mark on her shoulder. “Are you going to kiss me better again?”

“You could not be any more perfect than you are, Bella.” His wine-scented breath was warm against her skin as he continued to kiss her shoulder and the nape of her neck, his fingers deftly unfastened the buttons down the back of her gown.

“One more thing.” Bella turned in his arms once her gown was loosened, her hands resting on his shoulders. “You must also be naked this evening.” She was still very aware of the fact he had remained fully dressed during their last encounter. That he had done so made it seem so much more…debauched.

Exciting too, of course.

But Bella wished for something different this evening. A more loving memory she might take away with her when the time came. Not that she thought Dante loved her, or ever would, but she wanted to look at him when they made love this time, to touch him, in the same ways he enjoyed touching her. She wanted to see as well as feel his pleasure.

Dante answered her request by stepping back, his gaze fixed steadily on Bella as he began to remove his clothing. First his jacket, then his waistcoat, followed by his neckcloth. He unfastened his shirt next before pulling it up and over his head.

Bella’s breath caught in her throat as she stared at Dante’s naked chest. His muscles were all tautly defined, evidence of the hours he spent at a boxing salon or some other form of physical exercise. There was a dusting of dark hair across his chest which then tapered down over his flat stomach to disappear beneath the waistband of his evening trousers.

“More,” she encouraged throatily.

Dante’s fingers shook slightly as he unbuttoned the fold of his evening trousers. He had been naked in the presence of numerous ladies—too many—and not given a damn whether or not they found his body pleasing. He was with them only so that he might fuck them. He did not wish to do anything so crude with Bella, wanted to make love to her, all of her. For the first time in his life, it mattered to him whether or not a woman, Bella, found pleasure in looking at his naked body.

He slipped his feet from his evening shoes and then allowed his trousers to drop to the floor before also stepping out of them. He was not wearing any undergarments. Released from all confinement, his fully engorged cock curved up toward his navel.

Dante’s hands clenched at his sides as Bella’s gaze moved over every inch of his body, from his disheveled hair to his bare feet, before returning to the jut of his cock. He groaned out loud as she licked her tongue across her lips.

Her dark gaze moved slowly up to meet his, surprisingly shy. “Your body is beautiful.”

Dante’s breath released in a relieved sigh. “I believe it is the man who is usually expected to say that to the lady.”

Her smile was mischievous. “Our relationship is already so unorthodox, what is one more contradiction? Besides, I wish only to hear the truth from you, not what is expected.”

“You believe our relationship to be unorthodox?”

Bella chuckled softly. “We are related by my mother’s marriage to your cousin.”

“I could be your uncle twice removed, and I would still want you,” Dante growled.

The color deepened in her cheeks as she slowly slid her unfastened gown down her arms and allowed it to slide to her slippered feet. Her chemise met a similar fate, leaving Bella wearing only her white stockings and garters.

Dante had known Bella was beautiful, had touched her in all the places now bared to him. But to gaze upon her naked body, thrown into shadow as well as light from the lit candles, caused his cock to throb and ache.

Her breasts were full, sloping slightly upward and tipped by dark rose nipples that stood proudly erect. Her waist was slender before curving out into luscious and full hips. He winced a little as he saw the bruises on her hips from where he had gripped her so tightly two nights ago.

There was a dark, trimmed thatch of hair between her thighs, covering her mound, although he could already see the red tip of her clitoris poking through those curls.

Revealing Bella was as aroused as he was.

“Would you turn around?” he requested gruffly.

Her eyes widened briefly before she slowly did as he asked. Dante gave a wince as he gazed upon the redness of the globes of her bottom and the slender backs of her thighs.

She glanced at him over her shoulder. “It no longer pains me.”

“It should not be there at all.” Dante stepped forward before falling to his knees behind her. His lips were a gentle caress against that inflamed flesh. “I promise I shall never spank you again,” he groaned.

“Never…?”

Was that disappointment he heard in her voice? Surely not?

“It was most…arousing.” Bella confirmed that it had been disappointment.

“Then perhaps I will not strike you quite so hard,” Dante compromised, thrilled beyond words that Bella enjoyed the same edge of danger to lovemaking that he did. She was, as she had claimed, a woman grown, with wants and desires of her own. Ones she was not afraid to voice. “Is there anything else you would like me to do to you?”