Page 28 of Loving Mister Stratford
“I crave it.” His voice was a deep rumble she felt in her every nerve. Her entire body fairly vibrated with heightened awareness.
Her breath caught raggedly when he palmed and then cupped her breast through the gaping fabric of her nightshift, gently capturing her erect nipple at the vee of two fingers. He emitted an approving purr and, for the first time, Odette was thankful for her body.
If this man enjoyed it, then surely there must be something of which to be proud.
If she could cause the tremor in his voice, the subtle hitch in his breath, then she was far more powerful than she’d ever imagined.
One of Simon’s long fingers hooked beneath the edge of her gown and he tugged aside in an agonizingly slow motion. A shaky sigh escaped his parted lips when the pink, tightly puckered bud of her nipple was finally revealed. By all accounts, she should have been embarrassed, but she was overwhelmed with the pleasure of his palm on her, then his lips as he kissed and laved the tight bud with his tongue. Her fingers flew to his hair, unsure if she was holding him there or trying to push him away to find relief from the delicious torture. He massaged her other breast as he lavished attention upon the first, worshiping it with his tongue and teeth; his hard thigh worked higher between her legs until it was pressed firmly against the moist juncture of her thighs. She could no more stop the undulating of her pelvis than she could her shaky gasps for air.
As he pressed kiss after open-mouthed kiss to the sensitive undersides of her now bare breasts, his hand trailed down between them to drag the hem of her nightshift up and over her head. He reared back to sit on his heels and the garment fell unnoticed from his fingers as his starving eyes roved over her. Drank her in. Memorized her. The swirling blue-green irises were nearly swallowed by his dilated pupils. A muscle in his angular jaw worked repeatedly, hollowing out his cheeks beneath his perfect cheekbones; his nostrils flared.
“Odette,” he croaked.
Though agonizing, she held perfectly still, allowing him to take his time to devour the sight of her ivory skin. His eyes danced over the arch of her collarbone, the heavy swells of her breasts with their aching, raspberry-red nipples begging for his attention, the curves of her hips and the gentle slope of her abdomen, the thatch of pale, dewy curls between her legs, the shapes of her thighs, calves and ankles. Every inch of her was on fire from his gaze. She tingled. She burned in the most delightful way. His eyes flew to her face. She couldn’t name the emotion she saw there, perhaps because it was a maelstrom of many of them warring for dominance. It was strange and powerful. It was thrilling.
As if afraid she might dissolve into mist if he moved too quickly or touched her too firmly, one finger made a whisper of a trail up from her hip bone, across her ribs, scaling the slope of her breasts, the pulse in her throat, and the curve of her cheek. He cupped her there and met her eyes.
“What you do to me…” his voice trailed off as if in pain.
Before she could overthink it, however, he covered her body with his. The sensation of his hard chest with its dusting of coarse hair against her sensitive, naked breasts was shocking. He kissed her deeply, sipping and savoring every drop of desire he was creating within her. A groan of satisfaction reverberated from his chest through hers when his fingers discovered the moisture coating the petals of her sex. Once again, she should have felt mortified or shamed, but how could she when he was so pleased with her? He spread the liquid heat with his fingertips, gently toying with and caressing her in a place she’d never been touched before. And it was glorious. He traced the seam of her sex, plucking and swirling, as her legs fell wide for his ministrations. He settled both legs between her thighs, spreading her open and vulnerable with his knees, as another finger joined the fray. Together, his brilliant, nimble fingers, caressed and teased, dipping lower to press at her entrance and ever so slightly press inside. She gasped at the intrusion, but more out of surprise than pain.
“So tight,” he murmured against her lips.“So sweet.” He nipped her lower lip.“And all mine.”
She shivered at the possessiveness in his tone, but it quickly dissolved into a cry of unexpected pleasure when he discovered a particularly sensitive spot at the crux of her sex. He dedicated himself to finding a pressure and rhythm that drove her wild, listening and learning from her sighs and gasps, her mewling whimpers of pleasure as electric darts of it flew through her limbs from that point of contact. She trembled and shook, unable to stop herself from climbing higher to a dangerous peak no matter how she clung to him. The only thing tethering her to the world was Simon’s body atop hers, his hands and mouth on her. He must have sensed a change in her frantic breathing, the way she clutched at his shoulders with her nails, because he didn’t stop. He didn’t slow. He maintained his steady teasing and growled,“Come for me,” a moment before sucking the tip of her breast deep in his mouth.
Odette’s mother had once been gifted a gorgeous porcelain figurine from one of her sweeter admirers. The sculpture had been of a woman posing with a fan, coyly peering over its lacy edge. Odette had believed her one of the most beautiful things she’d ever seen. She’d spent months admiring the figurine on her mother’s makeup desk until one day her seven-year-old self had been able to refrain from touching it no longer. She’d scurried up the tufted stool and stretched her plump little arms to reach the figurine. She’d held it reverently, only intending to examine the pretty pleats of her pale pink gown and the rose-red tint of her lips. She’d startled when her mother had unexpectedly reentered the room and she’d teetered dangerously atop the stool. Odette had been safe, but the figurine had tumbled from her tiny hands to shatter into a hundred minuscule pieces. An arm skittered across the floor, the pretty dress crumbled to dust and pieces so fine there was no hope of repair.
This was precisely how Odette felt the moment her climax claimed her.
Her body seized up, her lips parting in a silent scream, her back arching her breasts into Simon, as she drowned in pleasure. She broke apart into more pieces than that figurine, and she knew she’d be likewise changed beyond recognition. There was no going back to the woman she had been, not when Simon had taught her such joy existed. Not when he’d given her the gift of such knowledge.
Her whole body trembled right down to her soul as he continued his onslaught of her senses. So far gone was she in her rapture that she didn’t realize he’d yanked his breeches down to free his member. It pulsed hotly against her inner thigh when his hand once more slid lower to her clenching entrance. This time, his fingers probed more deeply, stretching and filling her as she ground herself against him. He curled his fingers inside of her, hooking them to find just the right spot and rubbing her and teasing her from the inside-out. She writhed beneath him, silently begging for more things she could not name, until the pressure mounted once more. She didn’t know what he was doing, but she never, ever wanted him to stop. When his thumb joined in the dance, rolling the pearl he’d discovered earlier, Odette lost all sense of self. She was nothing more than a bundle of nerves and gelatinous pleasure as what little was remaining of her blew away on the wind of another climax without ever having been allowed to recover from the first.
Simon held her while she sobbed and trembled. He pressed kisses to her face and chest as he slowly coaxed her down from where she floated in the clouds, his fingers gradually stilled. The only sound in the room was their mingled panting breaths.
“Oh—oh my…” Odette would later kick herself for the inane comment, but it was truly the only thought her brain could form.
“Indeed,” Simon breathed in an approximation of a chuckle.
She gradually noticed that his body was still taut with carefully checked need, the thick column of his sex was resting heavily against her. She risked a glance down to see its broad flushed head and his hand still situated between her legs. Really, it was absurd to blush at that moment, but she did, nonetheless.
All nerves melted away once more when Simon kissed her sweetly, longingly. His fingers slid from her slick, swollen sex and she felt oddly bereft. When he placed one of his fingers between his lips to taste the dew, she lost all further capacity for thought.
“So sweet.” His husky tone set off a chill of anticipation through every one of her vertebrae.
She knew there was more. She didn’t know how she’d survive it, but she did know there was more to come.
Simon reached between them once more and rubbed his member through the slick petals of her sex, eliciting a gasp of surprise and then trembling pleasure. He positioned himself once more at her entrance and met her hazy gaze. The muscles in his neck stood taut and a fine sheen of sweat covered his brow, plastering his blond hair to his skull. Whatever it cost him, he’d been determined to see to her needs first, to give her blinding joy before he sought his own.
“Tell me if I hurt you,” he breathed. She nodded, not quite sure what he was asking. Until he began to press forward.
His pace was slow and steady, relentless and patient. She squirmed and clutched the firm, arching plane of his back. He continued well past the point where she believed there surely could be no more of him.
“Simon!” she gasped his name. She’d doubtless be split in two if this continued.
He froze immediately, those uncanny eyes of his focusing on hers. The lines bracketing his mouth were painfully taut; the familiar line creased the skin between his brows. He appeared to be in agony as he held himself in check, but she knew deep inside her soul that he would still stop entirely if she asked him to. She had no reason not to trust him. And this seemed to be one of the worst, most awkward moments to stop.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled his face down to hers, initiating a kiss for the first time. She relaxed as he kissed her back and they took turns tasting and nipping. Her thighs dropped to the sides to create a wider cradle for Simon’s pelvis. One deep thrust of his hips and he was home; he breached her last weak defense and was seated to the hilt.
