Rose Gardner's Florist (The Providence Street Shops #2) - Bonnie Dee Page 0,44

within reason.

Will knelt over her, his face coming nearer until her eyes closed in anticipation of a kiss. Doubts evaporated and Rose felt nothing but the sensation of his lips moving against hers. She opened to soft exploring warmth, the tip of her tongue meeting his. Electricity crackled through her and her body demanded more! as she wrapped her arms around him.

Through the cloth, sticks and stones poked her back, reminding her of the physical world. Only so far and no further, she recalled, but a stretching and opening inside her made her thighs tremble. She gasped for air, then plunged into deeper kissing, running her hands down Will’s back to feel the warm muscle beneath his shirt.

Above them, birds chirped. Across heated flesh, a breeze blew. Nearby, water splashed along its rocky course. But at this center of this, two bodies twined together discovering continents within each other.

Will cupped her breast through her dress and his clothed erection rubbed the throbbing point between her legs. She threaded her fingers through his hair and cradled his head, guiding his mouth to her breast, which had somehow shifted above her bodice’s neckline. More lightning crackled where his lips, tongue, then teeth teased at her nipple. Rose’s helpless moan prompted Will’s answering groan.

He switched his attention from one breast to the other.

“Lovely! It feels so…” Her eyelids flickered open and she gazed the branches swaying overhead, sunlight peeking between them to dazzle her. Just like when he had touched her in the conservatory, the spot he rubbed against erupted and bliss washed through her. Rose closed her eyes against the sunlight and soared. “Oh!”

Will growled his approval of her response and after several more thrusts, he too froze. She understood the ecstasy which had overtaken her had also caught him up in its wild talons. An odd sense of pride filled her that she could bring him to that state. How wonderful for two people to move all barriers and become that naked—so to speak—with one another. Rose had never trusted a man enough to let him touch her so deeply, and not just in a physical way.

Was this what Hattie felt with Guy? Was this love?

The moment of bliss ebbed as Will moved to lie beside her. “I apologize,” he murmured. “To invite you to this place and then take advantage. Please, forgive me. I did not intend to go so far.”

Rose stopped him with a finger over his lips. “Don’t ruin it with an apology. We both chose this, and I enjoyed it. Didn’t you?”

“Of course! But a gentleman is supposed keep his baser urges in check and respect a lady.” His hazel eyes appeared nearly as green as the leaves today as he gazed at her. “I want you to understand in what high esteem I hold you. What we did was marvelous, but I would not wish you to think it was my sole intent in bringing you here.”

“I don’t,” she assured him. “Now stop fretting and let us enjoy the rest of our time together.” She patted the blanket and Will reclined beside her once more. “Thank you for bringing me here today. This spot is lovely.”

“Not as lovely as you,” he replied.

“Now that is precisely the right thing to say.”

He pulled her into his arms, and for several minutes they listened to the sounds of nature around them.

“I meant to tell you that Mr. Jennings is on the case, and I have also spoken with Hardy’s Detective Rumsfield. Between them, they should be able to find a way to protect Miss Sweet from her guardian.”

“It is criminal she can’t simply to go to the authorities to help her,” Rose replied. “She might try, of course, but he’d declare her mentally weak and they’d buy it. At least Merker never hit her. That’s the way men keep their women in line where I come from.”

Will’s body stiffened. “Have you ever been hit by a man, Rose?”

“Smacks are a given where I come from. I’ve taken a few blows and handed some out as well.” She snorted. “Anyhow, it’s more honest than declaring someone loony to get your way. You must think us an uncivilized lot.”

“Such treatment may hide under a veneer of gentility. Good breeding certainly does not eradicate violence.” He paused. “I should like to meet your family. Maybe I could attend your sister’s wedding with you if it is not too presumptuous of me to ask.”

And there it was—the sledgehammer blow to her heart that