his.
She was his now.
“No counterpane needed tonight, love,” he answered, stopping before her and running his knuckle down her jaw.
Her skin was softer than silk. Her scent twined itself around him. Her brown-gold eyes shimmered up at him with love. He could not stop touching her. He trailed his fingers down her throat next.
She swallowed. “Theo?”
He buried his face in her neck, inhaling deeply. “Yes?”
“I love you.”
He would never grow tired of hearing that. Or of touching her. Her warmth burned him through the banyan he had donned. He pressed nearer to her, seeking the connection of their bodies. Her curves melted into his hard frame. He kissed her pounding pulse.
“And I love you.” He kissed his way to her ear, nibbling on the shell.
She shivered. He had missed her responsiveness. Had missed everything about being alone with her. Her skin, her scent, her lips. Licking her until she came on his tongue.
“The last few months of playing the gentleman were fucking awful,” he grumbled, and then he could not prolong the torture any longer. He took her lips with his.
She made a sound of surrender, sighing and clutching his shoulders as her lips moved against his, opening. He slid his tongue inside her mouth, and she sucked on it, as if she were ravenous for him. He groaned, deepening the kiss, his fingers trailing over every expanse of her luscious body they could find. He wanted to touch her everywhere, to imprint the memory of her curves upon his fingertips. He wanted to lick her and taste her and kiss her. To fuck her and fill her.
He caressed her waist, took handfuls of her rump and ground her against his cock, allowing her to feel how much he wanted her. No more gentleman tonight. Heat flared up his spine. He was a starving man, and she was his feast.
He moved them, kissing her as he went, intending to guide them to the bed. In the newness of his surroundings and the daze of his passion, he missed the mark. He realized his error too late when Evie’s back collided with the wall.
Too damn bad. He would just have her here first. He broke the kiss, taking a moment to gaze down at her, to drink in the sight of her. He ran his hands through her tresses, lightly tugging at the ends so she allowed her head to fall against the wall, revealing more of her neck to him.
He kissed and sucked, rasping the prickle of his whiskers—freshly shaven that morning and already returning—over her delicate skin. He was ferocious now. His fingers left her hair to work on the row of buttons on the bodice of her night gown. But there were too many of the bloody things, and he lost his patience.
He took his mouth off her long enough to grasp handfuls of the fabric and pull it over her head. “You’ve gotten more beautiful in the months we’ve waited.”
He drank in the sight of her. The flare of her hips, her luscious thighs, full, high breasts tipped with jutting pink nipples. Devil sucked the peak of one into his mouth. She arched her back, thrusting her breasts forward, the breathy moan emerging from her telling him everything he needed to know. He cupped her other breast, thumb working over her nipple.
And then he could not resist dropping to his knees. He hooked her leg over his shoulder and licked her. She was soaked, the scent of her need perfuming the air in a way that made his cock twitch.
“So perfect,” he murmured against her folds. “You have the prettiest cunny.”
Her fingers tunneled through his hair. He liked the dance of them on his scalp, the way her nails gently raked over him. He sank his tongue inside her, filling her the way he would soon with another part of him. God, she tasted good. Like summer. Like her.
Like his.
He thrust into her again and again before turning his attention to the pouting bud of her pearl. He sucked hard, then nipped, slipping a finger inside her channel at the same time. Her panting breaths were music. He was attuned to her, becoming one with her, and despite the pulsing in his ballocks, he thought he could stay like this forever, pinning her to the wall, making love to her until she could no longer stand. She tightened on his finger, and he worked her harder. Merciless, relentless, alternating between sucks and licks until she cried out,