loosened her stays and slid them over her hips, he peppered slow kisses from beneath her ear, down the curve of her neck, to her shoulder. She slipped the coin from him without him noticing, and almost lost control of it herself when his open mouth brushed the side of her breast, so close to her peaked nipples.
She kicked the whalebone stays aside with her stockinged toes and held up the guinea, her words almost too breathy to be understood. “Waistcoat.”
With a suggestive, knowing smile, he unbuttoned the fastenings and shrugged off the embroidered blue silk, then held out his hand for the coin.
She placed the guinea in his palm.
He arranged the coin as best he could, tensing his fingers this way and that to try to form a better hold and never quite succeeding. She gave a loud hiccup and burst out laughing. He sent her a quelling look, which only made her hiccup again. He turned over his hand.
The coin didn’t fall.
He glanced up at her, wide-eyed.
She held up the guinea between two fingers. “Shirt, please.”
“What—? How—?” He flipped over his empty hand and glowered at his traitorous palm. “You hiccuped it from me?”
With an unrepentant grin, she tugged his linen shirt free from his waistband. Ever so slowly, she pushed the hem up over the flat planes of his stomach, pressing a soft kiss to each muscle in turn until at last he pulled the rest over his head and flung it out of sight.
He took the coin from her and placed it back in his palm, turning sideways to ensure it remained out of her reach for the length of his trick. It lasted several seconds this time before tumbling free.
“Shift,” he demanded with obvious pleasure. “Allow me.”
He knelt before her again, this time lowering his head all the way to her hem. Torturously, he kissed each inch of bare skin he exposed as he tugged the thin fabric higher and higher.
When he reached the juncture between her legs, his mouth lingered there.
She grasped the bedpost to keep from falling over and parted her trembling legs to give his mouth full access. He licked and swirled, nibbled and teased. Her knees could barely keep her upright as the pressure built higher and higher.
Without pausing his erotic kiss, his hands continued higher to reach her breasts. She all but pressed them into his palms, greedy for every wicked sensation he wrested from her. His fingers teased her taut nipples while his tongue danced at her core until she was gasping for breath.
“Trousers,” she panted.
He lifted his mouth only slightly from between her legs. “Do you have the coin?”
“Who cares about the deuced coin?”
“Capital point.” He swung her into his arms and tossed her atop the bed, then removed his trousers and climbed in beside her.
She wrapped her fingers about his shaft, reveling in its thickness and heat. He shuddered as she stroked him, as though struck helpless by her touch. But he did not allow her to wield power over him for long.
He gripped her hips, turning so that he was on his back and she was seated astride him.
Her pulse quickened with anticipation. “What are you doing?”
“Teaching you a trick I think you’ll like.” He positioned her atop his shaft longways, allowing the hard ridge to glide slickly between her legs until her mind had no coherent thought besides More, more, more.
“Please…”
In answer, he allowed the tip of his shaft to penetrate her, just a bit, then a little bit more. As her body stretched to accommodate him, he lowered his thumb to her sensitive nub and began to stroke lightly.
A jolt of pleasure flashed through her, and she sank a little lower onto his shaft. She could not stand the teasing, longing to have all of him within her.
Without ceasing his thumb’s expert ministrations, he leaned up and took one of her nipples into his talented mouth, suckling possessively.
“Ohhh.” Suddenly she was fully seated on his shaft, tilting her hips into his touch, arching her back to press her breasts to his mouth.
There was no holding back now, no patience, no teasing, just an uninhibited coupling toward mutual pleasure. She gave, she took, she demanded, she surrendered. He gripped her hips as she rode him, finding a rhythm that drove them higher and higher. The pressure building was too big, too much, too—
She cried out his name and he caught it with a kiss, his own hips pumping even faster.
As soon as her tremors subsided,