the sitting room sofa.
He was here. He was real.
She placed her hands flat on his chest, feeling the contours of his body, marveling at it, as well as the heat beneath his shirt.
Part of her wanted to rush through this act of giving herself to him, but another wiser part dictated that she slow her movements, make note of everything that happened, to make this night as momentous as possible.
As a girl she had watched him mature from a boy to a man. Yet the past five years had brought even more changes. His shoulders were broader. The way he carried himself was different.
One by one, she began to unfasten the buttons of his shirt. He didn’t say anything, trapped in silence. As if they were in a church, and even one word would be sacrilegious to this moment.
Her smile began deep inside. Or in her heart, where she’d always loved him.
She parted the shirt, her hands burrowing beneath the material to touch his bare skin. She kissed his chest, softly, sweetly, still smiling. Her tongue darted out and touched his nipple, and that was all it took for him to pull her tight against him. She thought her feet were dangling in the air, but she didn’t care.
Excitement raced through her, sparked by desire. She’d only felt that with Gordon. When she’d been a girl, a kiss had been enough. Now she needed more.
Chapter Forty-Two
She kissed his cheek, then the corner of his mouth. “Come to my bed, my darling Gordon. Please.”
Suddenly, she was in midair, grabbing onto his shoulders for balance as he lifted her.
“Gordon!” Her laughter rang through the sitting room as he headed for her bed.
A moment later, she was bouncing in the middle of the mattress with Gordon looming over her, his grin matching her smile.
“Well, it’s where you wanted to be.”
She grabbed his shirt and pulled him to her. “You’re talking too much.”
Not a thought passed through her mind when he kissed her, only sensation. Excitement pooled in the bottom of her stomach, raced through her body as the kiss ended and he began to nuzzle her throat. One by one, he unfastened the buttons of her dress, exposing her bare skin before anointing each spot with a kiss.
She’d waited for this moment for years and years. She was thirteen when she realized that what she felt for Gordon was special, fifteen when she kissed him for the first time, eighteen when her thoughts turned to seduction.
They were both wearing too many clothes, and for the next several moments they were engaged in unfastening, opening, and hurriedly removing the garments that were in their way.
Finally, finally, they were skin to skin.
This was Gordon. She felt no shame or even embarrassment to be naked in front of him. She’d seen his chest before, but she spent a great deal of time now kissing her way from one side to the other, making certain that he hadn’t changed in any way.
He did the same, spending delightful moments on her nipples and smiling when she moaned.
She felt strangely buoyant, almost as if there was air inside her, lifting her. Her fingertips and toes tingled, even as a sensation deepened in her core. She knew what it was; she’d felt desire whenever they’d begun kissing or his hand brushed against her breasts.
His hands explored her everywhere, but not in silence. He amused her with his comments, and more than once nearly brought her to tears.
“I’ve always thought your legs were beautiful. I’m glad to see I was right.”
“I might’ve been knock-kneed. Would you have loved me then?”
He raised up over her and pretended to consider the matter. “Very knock-kneed?”
“Very.”
He bent and kissed her mouth lightly. “I think it would probably be better than being pigeon-toed.”
“While you’re absolutely perfect.” Her hands slid down his back to grip his buttocks. “Even there.”
He grinned back at her.
“I have to admit that I think your breasts are magnificent.” He bent and kissed one, then the other. “You have very demanding nipples, however. See how they’re standing erect?”
“Demanding?”
He nodded. “Insisting on the touch of my lips and tongue.”
He matched the action to his words, causing her to moan.
“Even your feet are beautiful.”
“You’ve seen my feet before.”
“Then I wasn’t paying attention.”
She put her hands on his shoulders and drew him down to her. “You’re talking too much and not kissing enough.”
“You always were bossy,” he said.
Being with Gordon was the culmination of every dream she ever had, every thought, every occasion of wondering what