Page 41 of Their Diamond Ring Ruse

‘Look at me,’ he said.

She obeyed without thought.

‘I’m glad you told me.’

His lips on her forehead sent a shiver down her body.

‘And I’ll offer you a first too.’

Lily looked at him, confused.

‘I have never brought a woman here.’

‘To your bedroom?’

‘My home. Just you, Sunshine.’

Lily was so happy that she had waited. So happy that her first time could be with Julian. She realised how deeply she trusted him. And he trusted her too. If he didn’t, he would never have told her everything he had tonight.

‘Take me, Julian.’

She was jittery with anticipation. Excited and just a little scared of the unknown. He had already shown her pleasure once, and they had both been fully clothed. How would tonight change her?

He sucked her lip between his, sending tingles throughout her body, making her open to him, begging for him to deepen the kiss. But he didn’t. She watched him step away and kick off his shoes and socks before standing before her.

‘Undress me.’

The whispered command had her gasping. Excited to touch all the hardness that she had felt under his shirt. Every bit of him was accessible to her now. It was exhilarating.

She swallowed thickly, her gaze meeting his heated stare. A gentle smile of encouragement on his face. God! Those dimples were going to be the end of her.

Slipping her hand under his jacket, she saw Julian’s eyes close, and he let out a slow exhale. She pushed his jacket off his shoulders, letting it fall, then trailed her fingers over the buttons of his perfect white shirt. Then a sudden impatience seized her and she couldn’t wait. Grabbing the placket in her delicate fists, she looked at him, gave him a wicked smirk that he returned, and ripped it open, sending buttons popping and scattering all over his hardwood floor.

His eyes darkened even further. Lily hadn’t known she could feel this wild...this uninhibited. This demanding of what she wanted. She tugged down his pants and his underwear with them. There was no waiting now. And when he kicked them aside she got to see him. Really see him.

Nothing could have prepared her for the wave of arousal she felt at the sight of his body. Lean. Muscular. Every muscle was carved into him as if he was made of marble. Power kept at bay by the silken veil that was his skin. Every inch honed perfection. And then there was the tattoos that had been hidden by his suits.

Bold and black and so striking against his fair skin, it wasn’t a pretty piece, but she could tell it wasn’t meant to be. It was a massive dying tree, with a knotted, twisted trunk and gnarled roots inked over his ribs and ending at his hip. Bare branches curled towards his nipple.

Lily traced the pattern with her fingers. Followed the branches as they curled and grew around his side towards his shoulder blade. The dead, barren branches slowly grew. Burls giving way to tiny leaves that became lush and full. From death to life. And on his left pec was a series of roman numerals separated with two little dots.

She noticed his breathing had become ragged. His lips were pressed together, studying her. She didn’t want to think about what the tattoo meant. He had given her enough this night.

‘Kiss me,’ she ordered.

One arm wrapped around her waist and the other held the back of her head as he fused their mouths together, gliding his tongue over hers. Each swipe speared to her sex, making her gasp loudly. Then she felt his hands on the back of her dress, tugging the zip down until the fabric parted. She shivered when his fingers trailed lightly over her bare spine.

A groan coming from deep in his throat.

‘So soft...’ he said against her lips, peeling the dress away.

Her stomach fluttered as he scooped her up without warning and placed her in the centre of his massive bed, crawling over her exactly like the jungle cat she’d thought him to be the first time she saw him.

His lips trailed over her jaw, down her neck, over her chest...kissing, tasting, biting in a lightning trail that had her breathing hard. Lily hadn’t ever felt anything like this. As if she was floating and drowning all at once. And then his mouth closed over her nipple and she arched off the bed but then Julian was running a hand down her side soothing and igniting at once. An earnest supplication of pleasure so intense it had to be sinful.

His lips returned to hers as his fingers trailed up the inside of her thigh, but he didn’t stop there, easing her lace panties aside and stroking her sex. She knew how wet he would find her.

Lily had always assumed being this intimate with someone would be difficult, maybe even mortifying the first few times, but it wasn’t. A voice at the back of her mind told her that Julian made the difference. She believed that she was safe with him. That he would take her pleasure and treasure it.

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