Chapter Thirty-Three
Moving astride Charlotte’s damp body, Rafe trapped her between his knees, pinning her chemise on either side of her hips. For a brief moment she considered struggling, but not one part of her resented his mastery—she yearned for it.
“If you only knew how often I’ve dreamed of having you between my thighs again.” His voice caught.
“And what do you plan to do, now that I’m here?” she whispered seductively.
In answer, he lowered his head and brushed his lips tantalizingly over hers. “I plan to prove to you—as I once promised—that I make love with finesse, not puffing and panting like a ploughboy.”
“That doesn’t sound like much of a punishment,” she murmured.
He smiled a devilish grin, filling her with excitement from top to toe. Heavens, how she wanted this man! Knowing how close she’d come to losing him made her hunger all the keener.
He bent his head and touched his lips to hers. They were searingly hot and moist, and she ached for his kiss. When he swept her mouth with the delicious friction of his tongue, she quivered beneath him, and her lips parted.
But he was just teasing her. She felt the soft brush of his hair as he moved his attention to her neck and subjected her to a salvo of tiny nips and kisses down her throat. His mouth lingered in the sensitive curve between her neck and shoulder as he tugged her chemise lower. The onslaught continued, his kisses punctuated by a gentle, insistent sucking against her skin that left her tingling with pleasure.
While his mouth worked wonders on her left shoulder, his free hand roved lazily over the right, drawing little circles on her skin, rubbing gently at the exposed flesh of her breast above the top of the corset, and making her breath hitch.
She feared he’d make short work of her stays once he set his mind to it, but when she brought a hand up to protect herself, her fingers brushed the taut muscles of his shoulder and stayed there, eager to explore.
“Damn,” she muttered as her betraying body responded with a delightful shudder to his ministrations. He’d discovered the lacing of the corset and was loosening it, nudging it down as his lips moved along the exposed flesh below her collarbone.
And suddenly the garment was gone, leaving her in nothing but her thin chemise.
She should be horrified, but instead, she loved how the heat of Rafe’s body warmed her, and she yearned to see—and feel—more of him. Her breasts rose and fell rapidly as she lay waiting to see what he’d do next, watching the rosy warmth of the firelight bathe the mounded muscles of his chest.
Dropping her corset on the floor, he leaned down to launch a battery of kisses over her naked flesh. She caught his head and tilted it up so she could kiss him.
He needed no second invitation. Her fingers snagged in his hair as his tongue met and massaged hers. She loved how tousled his hair was—it made him seem more human, more fragile, more…real.
Flames of desire licked at her belly as he moaned softly and drove their kiss deeper. After a long, stirring assault, he withdrew and smiled down at her, catching his breath.
Then the onslaught began all over again. His knowing hands traced her curves, his skilled tongue wove the sensuous spell of a master seducer. She barely noticed when she was relieved of her chemise, leaving her totally naked, completely open to the heat of his body and his expert touch.
His hand brushed over an exposed nipple, and the resonance sang through her, building the flames of desire to a fierce heat. She groaned and ran her hands over the cascading muscles of his torso, down to the waistband of his breeches. He sucked in a hissing breath, and she quickly withdrew, wondering what she’d done wrong.
“No, sweetheart, don’t be alarmed. The only sounds you hear are those of pleasure,” he assured her.
Encouraged, she explored his chest again, exulting in the rippled furrows of his honed stomach. One of his hands toyed lazily with her breast, while the other kept the full weight of his body from crushing her.
The feel of him was intoxicating, the smooth skin like velvet over the hard muscle of his rib cage. He was powerfully, overwhelmingly, enticingly male.
She gasped in shock as his head went down to lave warm, wet heat over one aching nipple. His teeth clamped gently over its erect peak and tugged. Her fingers clawed at his back as arousal surged through her. He began to suck, and she was washed away by a storm surge of delight that left her breathless.
Moments later, he raised his head and looked into her eyes, wicked triumph written on his face, but there was also vulnerability in their heated depths. He was clearly pleased with the effect he was having on her, yet beneath his proud mastery lay an uncertainty she’d never expected to find in such a man. How could such a skilled practitioner be subject to doubts?
The vulnerability vanished in a flashing smile as he reached across to fondle her other breast. Less gently now, he squeezed the pebbled nipple between thumb and forefinger, then tugged at it, sending lightning bolts of sensation flashing down to her very core while darts of pleasure tingled between her thighs.
Unable to speak, she squeezed her legs together and found the pressure pleasing. She looked up at him and knew that he knew, and she blushed.
He grinned—a primitive, feral grin. “No need to blush, my darling. There’s no place for modesty in bed. Here, we’re on another level, where the rules between men and women are very different. In fact, there are no rules at all, no borders, no boundaries other than between what feels exquisite and what does not.”
A dark cloud briefly covered the sun of her pleasure. Rafe’s knowledge was a stark reminder this was definitely not the first time he’d been with a woman. How many had there been before her? Doubtless, a fair few. After all, he was the Earl of Beckport, a wealthy peer. That, coupled with his rugged good looks, would make him a magnet for women. No doubt, he’d had plenty of opportunity to practice the art of seduction.
She really should be trying harder to resist him, before she lost her virtue entirely.
But his impassioned kiss, the delightful abrasion of his cheek, and the soft sweep of his hair against her face dispelled her thoughts of rebellion and withdrawal. She might not be able to resist him now, but she’d learn fast, she silently vowed, and one day she would have him begging…
He broke the kiss and eased back onto an elbow while his free hand stroked her cheek and brushed her hair back from her brow. “Did that arrogant boy ever tell you how beautiful you are?” he murmured. Before she could reply, he shook his head. “No, I don’t want to think about him. I hate him for finding you before I did. I’m jealous of the kisses he stole from you.”
Jealous? That sounded promising. Maybe she was a cut above her predecessors, after all.
She suddenly noticed he was unbuttoning the front flap of his breeches. Was he going to undress completely? Heavens! This, she needed to see.
Taking her hand, he brought it to rest between their stomachs. “Don’t be shy,” he urged. “You need to know what you’ve done to me.”
He guided her hand lower, until it brushed against his engorged member, sending shivers of amazement flooding through her. As he withdrew his hand to stroke her breasts again, she touched his erection, stunned at the sheer hardness of the shaft, thrilled by the softness of the taut skin and the heat that pulsed through him.
She stroked him, and a bone-deep shudder shook his sturdy frame. “Yes,” he hissed. “Yes!”
So, she had found her power. Sooner than she might have imagined.
Fascinated, she stroked the unbelievably silky flesh of him, the creases and throbbing veins. She grasped him and gave an experimental squeeze.
He made a choking noise and pulled her hand away. “No more, my love, I beg you. You’re too good at touching me. You push me almost beyond bearing. Give me a moment to recover, and I’ll gift you payment in kind.”
Enthralled, she waited, her whole body thrumming with excitement and desire.
He reached down and thrust two fingers deep inside her, and she almost fainted with shock.
“No, wait,” he murmured in her ear as she tried to wriggle free of him. “Don’t be embarrassed. Trust me.”
His fingers had slid so easily into the mysterious core of her femininity, she knew she must be wet down there. But how?
His thumb connected with a secret nub beneath the folds of her flesh, and he rubbed it gently. Her heart ceased to beat.
All her senses focused on the exquisite sensation he was creating, his thumb gently massaging and teasing that special spot while his fingers moved in and out of the slick well of her femininity. Such an intense feeling, she could hardly cope with it. The fires began to spread from her core all over her body, consuming her, drenching her with desire, making her lift her hips and push at his hand, hungry for more pressure, hungry for more delight.
She bucked and writhed uncontrollably as a climax of sensation swamped over her. She cried out, jabbing her hands into Rafe’s hair. He’d taken her to a place so close to paradise she could barely comprehend what was happening. In a blast of pure, unadulterated ecstasy, her body exploded and she flew, suspended in a torrent of bliss.
At last, she fell back, panting, onto the rumpled sheets.
Rafe pulled her into his arms and held her until the shuddering stopped, whispering words of comfort and love into her ear. As her senses gradually returned, he said, “You should probably go, before you are missed.”
“No.” She mewed her disappointment. She felt too deliciously lazy and satisfied to worry about such mundane things. Her body felt as if it had been through a rite of purification—free, cleansed, more aware of itself than it had ever been before. Now her body knew how to wield its power, and how to accept its pleasure.
She would never feel the same again. This rite of passage had taken her to a level beyond womanhood.
And…it had also brought her to total ruin.