The Rogue Not Taken (Scandal & Scoundrel #1)(109)

She smiled, adoring the power that rioted through her at the words. “Surely you can, my lord. Need I remind you of your reputation?”

He gave a little huff of laughter that turned into a groan as she sought out the falls of his trousers. “I thought we discussed the fact that my reputation is more tale than truth?” Her fingers fumbled at his buttons, betraying her own inexperience, and he cursed, stopping her movement. “Sophie. I don’t think it’s a good idea for us to—”

“I do,” she said, surprising herself with her bravery. “I think it’s my turn.”

He raised a brow, watching her. “More mine than yours, it seems.”

She smiled. “We’ll see.”

He leaned down and took her lips in a wild kiss, releasing her after a long moment to whisper, “You are unbearably perfect.”

She blushed, then found her courage. “Trousers, please,” she whispered. “I’ve wanted them off since I saw you that first night—in leather breeches, standing tall on your curricle.”

“You liked those?” He laughed, and lifted himself from the bed to remove them.

She remembered the way the leather of his breeches had revealed the thick muscles of his thighs. “Very much.” The grey wool slid to the floor, revealing long, muscled legs, and she realized that the leather had not done him justice.

And then she saw the scar.

Long and thick and brutal, white with years of healing, it ran nearly the full length of his left thigh. She couldn’t help but gasp at it, at the pain it must have caused him. She reached for it, and he stepped back. “I forget that it is there,” he said.

It was a lie, of course. No one could forget such a thing. “What happened?”

“The carriage accident.”

The one that killed his love.

No. Not his love. The one that killed the woman who betrayed him.

The woman who made him swear off love. The woman who made it impossible for Sophie to have the only thing she desired.

She reached for him, eager to will away the pain from the accident. But she knew without asking that he would take any more attention to the scar as pity. And he would deny her the rest. Instead, she moved toward him, coming to the edge of the bed, where he stood, one hand covering the most critical part of him, and she let her gaze fall to that mysterious place. “I wish to see you.”

He watched her for a long moment, and then moved his hand, revealing the hard length of himself, throbbing high against his stomach. Her gaze did not waver, not even when she said the only thing that came to mind. “In this, you do not look like David.”

He laughed and reached for her. “I shall take that as a compliment,” he growled, pulling her closer, brushing the edges of her dressing gown over her shoulders and down her arms until she, too, was naked.

“I don’t suppose you would lie down for me? It would make everything much easier,” she said, and he did, remarkably, stretching out on his back and lifting her to straddle him, her knees on either side of his hips.

She stared down at him, taking in his sheer masculine beauty. “You are . . .” She trailed off.

He reached up to cup her breasts, playing at the hard tips until she sighed and rocked against him, making him groan.

She would never get her exploration this way. She clasped his hands. “Stop. It’s my turn.”

He raised a brow. “You don’t want me to touch you?”

“Of course I do. But I wish to touch you more.”

He exhaled, long and graveled before he stretched his arms up, stacking them beneath his head. “I am yours to explore, my lady.”

And he allowed it, allowed her to stroke and discover, over his arms and chest, leaning over to kiss the corded muscles of his shoulders, to suck at the skin of his neck, to kiss down the slope of his chest until his breath came in quick pants and he groaned her name. “You’re the worst kind of tease,” he whispered. “I can feel you there, hot and wet above me.”

She pressed against him, reveling in him, hard and hot. “Does it hurt?”

“Yes,” he said. “In the best kind of way.”

“How?”

He reached for her, pulling her down for a kiss. “You’re so curious.”

“If this is the only time—” She stopped. She wouldn’t think about this being the only time. She collected herself. “How does it hurt?”

“It aches. For you.”

She scooted back, revealing the hard length of him. “May I touch it?”

He gritted his teeth. “I shouldn’t let you,” he said. “I should pack you into that pretty green gown and send you back to bed. Before it’s too late.”

She shook her head. “I wish you wouldn’t.” And she touched him anyway, stroking him in a long, lingering touch, reveling in the way he sucked in a breath of air and closed his eyes. “Does that help?”

“Do it again.” The command sent wicked pleasure through her.

She obeyed. “Like this?”

King’s green eyes opened, and he leveled her with the most glorious look she’d ever seen, his hands coming to hers, showing her how to touch him, how to stroke. He grew under her ministrations, somehow harder, longer. More handsome.

She could not stop staring at him, even when she said, “What you did to me . . . with your mouth.”