tickling her palm. He watched her, his eyelids growing heavy as she eased her hands down his chest to his abdomen.
She trailed a finger over the skin just above the waistband of his breeches, but he caught her hand, stilling her. “Do you know what you’re doing, love?”
“Well, no.” She laughed softly, her hand still caressing his skin. “I was rather hoping you did.”
He dragged his knuckles down her cheek. He gazed at her for a long time without speaking, his blue eyes filled with heat and shadows. “I know this. If you stay here with me in my bed tonight, I won’t let you go until I’ve made you mine.”
His.
She’d never wanted anything more, and she told him so, in the best way she knew how—by gently pulling his hand from her face and placing a sweet, gentle kiss in the center of his palm.
Gideon went still for an instant, his body tensing, and then with a low growl he took her face in his hands, sank his fingers into her hair, and brought his mouth down on hers.
He kissed her like a drowning man gulps air into his lungs. Roughly, desperately at first, and then softer, tender, his mouth clinging to hers as he prodded delicately at the seam of her lips with the tip of his tongue, seeking entrance.
Cecilia didn’t hesitate. She twined her arms around his neck, pulled him closer, and opened her mouth under his.
He groaned in response and gathered her closer, nibbling and teasing at her lips until she went limp against him, boneless and breathless and stunned, that anything could feel as good as his mouth on hers, the angles of his warm, hard body pressing so perfectly into her soft curves there was no space left between them.
He kissed her again and again, until everything—the bedchamber around them, the crackle of the fire, his past, and their doomed future—faded from existence, and all she knew was the warmth of him, the hot, slick slide of his tongue, his sharp intake of breath when she let her fingernails graze the bare skin of his back.
“Ah God, sweetheart, you’re so…”
Cecilia never found out what she was, but it didn’t matter, because he was easing her back against the bed, his legs tangling with hers, one thick, hard thigh settling between hers as he moved over her, so close, but careful not to crush her with his weight.
“You need to be kissed everywhere. Every inch of you. Here.” He dropped a tiny kiss at one corner of her mouth, then the other. “Here,” he went on, raining sweet, open-mouthed kisses on her eyelids and cheeks, the pulse point at her throat. “And here,” he whispered, scraping his teeth lightly over her neck.
“Gideon.” Cecilia squirmed when his teeth closed over her earlobe, but her surprised gasp turned to a moan as he tugged gently, his warm breath in her ear as he toyed and played with her sensitive flesh. She sank her hands into his hair, wringing a hungry groan from his lips with each tug on the thick, dark strands.
When she couldn’t stand his teasing any longer, Cecilia guided his head gently down, down, down until his cheek was resting over her heart. “Kiss me here, Gideon,” she whispered, bringing his hand to the curve of her breast.
He let out a soft groan before cupping her breast in his palm. “You’re so pretty here, love, so perfect,” he murmured as he teased her nipple with his thumb, dragging it back and forth across the tender nub until it hardened and darkened to a deep pink, the blushing tip easily visible under the thin covering of her night rail. He pulled back to gaze down at her, his breath ragged, seemingly mesmerized by her breasts, by her nipple straining for his caresses. “Oh, yes, you need to be kissed here.” He licked his lips, hovering for a long, teasing moment over her before he leaned down and drew her nipple into his mouth.
Cecilia gasped and sank her trembling fingers into his hair to hold him against her. Dear God, his mouth was so hot, so insistent as he sucked and licked at her. He dallied there for long, breathless moments, wetting the fabric of her night rail before drawing back to gaze at her with hot blue eyes. He hung over her, a red flush across his cheekbones. “God, look at you, love, so hard, straining for me. Do you like my mouth on you?”
“Yes. Please.”