both take delight in discovery. His body hardened to the point of pain. God, he wanted her.
Giving into temptation, he stroked down her side to her waist and spread his fingers wide, gauging the distance across her navel. He could probably encircle her waist with both hands if he tried.
“You’re so small,” he murmured, almost to himself. “God, I’ll hurt you. Crush you.”
Her chuckle brought his gaze back to her face, and she stroked his arm from shoulder to wrist with a light touch that made him want to arch like a cat.
“And you’re so big,” she teased, wrinkling her nose. “The terrifying Alexander Harland of Bow Street, known to show no mercy.”
He mock scowled at her, but she met his eyes, and he felt himself being sucked down into their depths.
“You won’t hurt me,” she whispered confidently. “You didn’t last night, did you? I’m stronger than I look, Harland. I can take whatever you give.”
She slid her hand to his nape and pulled him down for a kiss, and Alex groaned into her mouth. With a giggle of delight at how much she obviously affected him, she kissed her way down his chin, his neck, then across his collarbone. When she reached his shoulder, she bit him lightly, a string of teasing nips, then flicked him again with her tongue. It was heavenly torment.
Alex leaned back and threaded his fingers through hers, noting with a kind of detached despair how much larger his own hands were. Her fingers were so delicate, her nails neat ovals. His hands looked like bear paws in comparison. How could such a tiny thing have caused him so much trouble? She was mischief and lawlessness in a tiny, irresistible package.
He brought her finger to his mouth and enjoyed the way her eyes widened as he sucked it between his lips. He released her hand and cupped her breast, savoring the sweet, slight weight of it, and watched as she bit her lower lip in an unconsciously provocative gesture. He’d never felt this desperate for a woman before in his life. Hell, he was no better than a randy schoolboy. The scent of her skin coiled in his head and the only thought he could manage was: I have to taste her.
It didn’t matter that they were on opposite sides of the law. What mattered was that they were on the same side of this bed.
He planted a trail of kisses down the center of her body.
Roses and peonies. Madness and sin.
She arched as he took her nipple into his mouth and sucked hard, but he didn’t allow himself to dwell too long. He kissed lower, shifting down her body, and she tensed as he swirled his tongue into her belly button then kissed lower still. He wedged his shoulders between her thighs, spreading her open to his gaze, and she instinctively covered herself with her hands.
“Wait—!” she gasped. “What—?”
“We didn’t get to this last time,” he said, gazing up her body. Her cheeks were pink with embarrassment, and he sent her a teasing, confident smile. “Trust me, Emmy. You’ll like it. I promise.”
* * *
Emmy lay back against the sheets as Harland placed a soft kiss on the inside of her thigh. She trusted him completely. If he said she would enjoy it, who was she to argue? He clearly had the greater experience. Even so, she squirmed as his hot breath laved her feminine core.
He chuckled and lifted one brow in amused inquiry. “May I?”
She managed a dazed nod and gave an incoherent groan of pleasure when his tongue swept over her sensitive flesh. His eyes were closed, his lashes lowered as if he were tasting something infinitely sweet, to be savored.
He licked her again, a lazy swirl, and she shuddered. It was different to the touch of his fingers, but equally maddening. Sensation flickered hot and cold over her skin, little tongues of ice and flame. She arced off the bed, grabbing hold of his hair as pleasure swelled, a throbbing ache that built like a wall of water pressing against a dam.
She reveled in his strength, his skill. He had such mastery over her body, and yet it didn’t feel like restraint. It felt like freedom. Like soaring, infinite power. Emmy dug her heels into the bed as he worshipped her with his mouth. No mercy—only surrender. She’d never expected anything else from him.
She climbed higher and higher, teetering on the edge of the abyss, desperate to take the leap into