Page 149 of Modern Romance Collection February 2025, 5-8

The words were confident, but they came from a place inside him that he hadn’t known existed.

CHAPTER EIGHT

‘IFYOUDON’Twant this, this is the point where you tell me.’

‘I do.’ She couldn’t take her eyes off his mouth as she strained to press her lips to the sensuous curve. ‘I do want this. I want you.’

He kissed her back and the heat was instantaneous. It was a firestorm—and they were in the middle of it.

Holding her eyes, he pulled at the cord on her gown and slid it off her shoulders.

She closed her eyes.

‘No, look at me,’ he commanded, cupping her chin.

Her eyes flickered open and she looked into the searing heat of his stare. She stood there quivering with a need that rose up in her like a tide.

‘You are beautiful,’ he rasped, stepping back fractionally to allow his gaze free range over her body, from her small, high breasts with their plump rosy nipples to her soft belly and slim hips. ‘Perfect.’

His hands on her waist, he picked her up, and Clemmie wound her legs around his hips, her hands in his hair, and returned his kisses with a hunger to match his.

Instinct was totally in control as she plastered herself against the muscular hardness of his chest. She was only vaguely conscious of him laying her down on one of the deep padded benches along the orangery wall.

His eyes never left hers as with one knee braced on the bench he fought his way out of his shirt before tossing it away.

She gasped, staring hungrily at the taut, defined musculature of his chest and belly.

He was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.

He leaned over her, adjusting his position, inserting his knee between her legs, pressing against the aching core of her as he unfastened his belt and unzipped his trousers.

Clemmie reached up and tugged them down his narrow hips, revealing his muscular thighs and the black boxer shorts he wore underneath.

He stood up and slid them all the way down; a moment later the boxers joined them and were kicked away too.

Clemmie’s awed gasp was both flattering and arousing, and it brought a fierce grin to his face as he pushed a bunch of cushions to the floor, to give him room to plant a hand on either side of her shoulders. Another cushion hit the floor, and the last one was about to receive the same treatment when he changed his mind and tucked it underneath her head.

As he lowered himself, their first skin-to-skin contact drew a low moan from her throat. He was like hot silk...and so hard.

He kissed her then, and she kissed him back, their kisses becoming a primal rhythm as his tongue plunged and retreated into the moist recesses of her mouth, exploring every crevice and secret corner. It became wild, teeth clashing, noses grazing, as she tangled her fingers in the dark silk of his hair and battled to increase the skin-to-skin contact as she arched her back under him.

‘I’m going to kiss every inch of you,’ he told her in a throaty whisper as he licked away the pool of salty moisture that had gathered in the hollow at the base of her throat.

She arched into the heat of him as he took one pouting nipple into his mouth, making her squirm and gasp beneath him. All the while his hands were moving over her body, touching, stroking, massaging in a restless exploration.

His gaze was searing as he watched her. She was trembling with the ache of a desire that was overwhelming. Her hands slid over his shoulders, loving the damp silk texture of his golden skin and the hardness of sinew and muscle, her fingers digging in when his exploration became more intimate.

She whispered his name over and over, panting as he parted her moist folds, his eyes never leaving her face for a moment. Rolling onto his side, he pulled her with him and, looping her leg over his hips, continued his exploration, sliding a finger into her as he led her hand to the silky iron hardness of his erection, murmuring words of encouragement as she tightened her fingers and cupped him.

‘You’re so tight...’

He groaned against her parted lips, pulled in a sharp breath as her fingers moved up and down his shaft. He was panting as hard as she was.

‘And you’re so...’

His nostrils flared. ‘It’ll be fine...don’t worry,’ he soothed. ‘It’ll be good. I promise.’

When he lowered her onto her back and moved himself over her, she grabbed his shoulders and pushed herself against his strategically placed knee to ease the ache between her legs. It didn’t ease.

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