The Duke Identity (Game of Dukes #1)(91)

“Oh.” Her head bent, she fiddled with the edge of the sheet.

Her scent and nearness spiked his desire. Beneath the bedclothes, he could feel himself getting hard. Yet he’d vowed to himself that he would act like a gentleman during their stay. He didn’t want to take advantage of her when she was at her most vulnerable. There was only so much temptation a man could take, however: being naked, in bed, and inches away from the woman he loved was definitely testing his willpower.

“Was there, er, something you wanted?” he said.

“Actually, yes.”

“If you could wait outside, I’ll get dressed and—”

“That isn’t necessary. What I want is you.” Despite her brazen words, her gaze was shy. “May I stay in here tonight?”

Christ. Need clawed at him. He fought it back.

“That’s not a good idea,” he forced himself to say. “You’re tired, and it’s late. Tell you what, I’ll get dressed, and we’ll go back to your bedchamber. I’ll stay until you fall asleep—”

“I don’t need a guard. I need you.” Before he could react, she clambered onto the bed. Onto him. Straddling his lap, she whispered, “Don’t you want me?”

“It’s not a question of wanting—bloody hell, Tessa.” His fingers dug into her hips as she delicately licked the edge of his ear. “Stop that.”

“Shall I do this instead?”

She kissed his jaw, his neck, her hair sliding seductively against his chest. The scent of her, the feel of her…the everything of her. Everything he wanted.

Which gave him the strength to thread his fingers through her hair. To pull her gently away.

“I won’t take advantage of you, sprite.” He looked into her eyes, luminous pools of moonlight. “You’ve had a stress—”

“You’re right. I have. People I love are in danger, and I can’t change that.” Her expression was at once innocent, wise, and fierce. “But right now, you’re here with me. I love you, Sam Bennett, and, while I don’t know what tomorrow will bring, I know what I have in this moment. I know there’s nowhere safer for me to be right now than here in your arms.”

God, God, how could he resist her?

He tipped up her chin. “I want you so damned much, Tessa. Do you know that?”

“Now I do,” she said with a tremulous smile.

He could take no more. He tumbled her to the mattress, rolling on top of her, kissing and kissing and kissing her. She answered his fervor with her own, and soon he was dragging off her night rail, impatient to be rid of anything between them.

Skin met skin, and they both sighed. At the bliss, the closeness, the perfection of now with no thought beyond the moment. He wanted to give her everything. To worship his lover, to bring his wanton minx to new heights of pleasure.

He rolled her over onto her belly, hiding a smile at her start of surprise. Her natural affinity for lovemaking could make him forget that she was still a novice. There was much she hadn’t yet explored, and he felt a fierce pride to know that he, and only he, would be her guide.

Kneeling to the side of her, he swept her hair off her back and, for an instant, just took in her pristine beauty. Her supple lines and delicate firmness, her skin as unblemished as a field after a fresh snowfall. He bent to kiss the back of her neck, taking his time, savoring the feel and scent of her as he made his way down the lissome ladder of her spine.

“You’re shivering,” he murmured.

“You’re kissing my backside,” was her breathy reply.

He chuckled against the dip of her back. “You don’t like it?”

“I do, but it seems rather wicked.”

“Only rather wicked? I’ll have to work on that.”

He nipped her gently on one pertly rounded buttock. Her squeak of surprise melted into a moan as he licked away the small hurt, his fingers drifting toward the shadowed crevice just beyond. She twitched as his touch skated over her secret rosebud, down to her swollen folds. Hunger flared as he found her plump with juice, ready for him.

He rolled her over and put his mouth on her ripe flesh.

Her fingers curled in his hair, her hips arching as he teased her erect little love-knot. He licked and suckled, and it didn’t take long before he tasted her bliss. Like a man starved, he wanted more, would never get enough. He parted her with his thumbs, stabbing his tongue into her pink heat, yearning to get to the heart of his woman. To possess her utterly and forever.



* * *



“Bennett?”

Tessa scarcely recognized her own voice. It was sultry, hoarse from her cries of pleasure. Bennett had brought her to climax so many times she’d lost count. She felt utterly spent, as wrung out as a rag.

He lifted his head. Golden embers smoldered in his dark eyes. “Had enough, love?”

“Come here and kiss me,” she whispered.

He crawled over her, muscles flexing, big and lean and powerfully aroused. For while he’d seen to her satisfaction with virile persistence, he hadn’t yet found his own. When he lowered his head to kiss her, his erection prodded her belly. She reached between them, wrapping her fingers around the enormous shaft, and he groaned against her lips.

“It’s my turn.” She pumped him firmly, from root to tip. “Will you let me do whatever I want?”