Page 54 of Married to the Forbidden Duke
“This is your first time, is it not? In bed with a man?” He looked so pained, she almost felt sorry for him. “I confess I am not an expert, but there are certain things a lady should receive on her first time to make things… easier for her. Less painful. And if she’s unfamiliar with the act, then—” He bent his head and bit her collarbone again, making her gasp in surprise once more. “I had intended to behave like a gentleman during this first encounter.”
“You are presuming there will be a second encounter,” she quirked a brow, although the severity of her words was marred by the way she arched into him and rocked against him, seeking friction against her core.
“Oh, there will be a second time…” he said darkly.
“Onlyif I command it.”
“Yes. And I have utter confidence that you will.”
He slid her skirts to her waist and pressed his hard ridge against her naked core. She cried out at the contact, sparks flying across her vision. And yet his bottom half was still clothed.
“You are arrogant…” she informed him when she caught her breath.
“Confident.” He rocked his hips against her again, and she moaned.
“Obnoxious…”
“I can hardly deny that one.” His eyes turned unfocused and he cursed under his breath. “How can this feel so good likethis?”
“This is not one of the acts you mentioned?”
“This? No, it’s—” He bent and caught her mouth in his, nipping her bottom lip. “It’s an act to prepare you for what’s to follow.”
To prepare her?
Everything felt so good already.
She felt as though her nails would bite straight through his skin as she gripped his arms, trying to pull him closer if at all possible. If she could, she would sink inside his skin, so close that the two of them merged and became one. Here and now, with heat and pleasure blooming inside her, and his mouth extorting kisses from her, she wanted to live inside this moment forever. Just this, and just him, and none of the outside complications that lingered beyond reach.
She would have given everything to extend this moment forever...
But there was more to come, and past the slow, luxurious thrusts he gave her, she realized her urgent, emotional contentment was giving way to something keener.
Impatience.
This was good—better thangood—but her body yearned for more. More friction, more pleasure, more, more, more... She didn’t even understand to what end, but she couldn’t give any thought over to that.
“Dress off,” he muttered, more to himself than to her, and he rose off her. Before she could complain, he had flipped her and was addressing himself to the lacing at the back of her dress. He had it off in record time, along with her stays. He tugged them over her head, exchanging grace for speed, and she was all too eager to help him.
Once all her layers had been removed, she lay before him, naked, and fought the urge to cross her arms across her chest. Jenny had, by necessity, seen her unclothed, and so had other maids. During the first few weeks of her accident, she had been forced to relinquish pride in favor of medical necessity.
But this felt entirely different. Not just bare—she feltexposed. The slick warmth between her legs felt cool in the air. His heated gaze traveled over every inch of her. Her small breasts, the tiny, dark nipples, and the thatch of hair between her legs, now damp with her arousal.
His gaze also noted her every visible rib, the prominence of her hipbones, and the long length of her legs. He didn’t shy away from her ruined one, didn’t skip over that part of her as though it was lesser or less arousing.
She reminded herself that she had persuaded him to abandon his massage partway through by rubbing that part of herself against him. Unlike everyone else she had ever met, he did not find her leg ugly.
The thought bolstered her confidence, and she met his eyes boldly when he returned them to her face.
“Well?” she demanded. “Do you find me pleasing?”
“Extremely so,” he whispered in that rasping voice she found unbearably attractive. “I would like to touch you. May I?”
“Yes.” She said the word almost as a plea, and he grinned as he bent his head, but this time to her breasts.
The first pass of his tongue across her nipple made her moan, and she arched into his touch, gripping his hair in an attempt to hold herself steady. One hand cupped her side, his thumb pressing into the soft swell of her breast, and his other slid down her stomach to her navel, then lower to her soft curls, before finally, his fingers reached her folds.
He groaned. “You’re so wet, Alice.”
