“Good,” she gasped. “There is so much I want the man I love to teach me.”
He stopped moving his hand, leaning back to look at her as he swallowed down the lump of emotion that had clogged his throat. “You love me?”
“I do,” she said, her gaze never wavering from his. “More than anything.”
He held her face in both his hands. “I love you too,” he answered. “I love you so much it frightened me. But I’m not scared anymore.”
“I’m not scared either,” she whispered right before his lips collided with hers again.
Chapter Fifteen
In her wildest dreams, Juliet had never imagined a more perfect moment than the one she was in.
Wrapped in Dane’s arms, all the worry had melted away. What was left was a certainty that she’d made the right choice, that she was loved and valuable. And it had all happened here, right in Seabridge Gate.
His lips found hers again as he kissed her like never before. The other kisses had been like small flames licking at her core but this one set her body to blaze. Desire thrummed through her as she ached for his touch.
And he delivered. His hands traced her back, her bottom, her legs, then her abdomen. They ran down her arms, laced through her fingers, then over her chest. When he cupped her breasts, she gasped and arched into the touch. She wanted all of it and she wanted it now.
She realized she was squirming in his lap, trying to move closer, trying to fit their bodies together.
“Juliet,” he ground out, his hands sliding down to her waist to still her movements. “Your first lesson is in patience.”
“Drat,” she murmured against his lips. “Patience has never been my strong suit.”
He chuckled against her lips. “What has been?”
She leaned back a little, puckering her lips. His gaze dropped to the flesh and she clearly noted the darkening of his irises. She darted out her tongue to lick at the swollen flesh and he made a growling sound deep in his throat. “Well.” She nibbled at her lip and he made another guttural noise starting to kiss along her jaw. Apparently, he liked when she worried her own lips. Noted. “I like to come up with a strategy for getting what I want.”
His hands tightened and for a moment she stilled, worried after Tiffany that Dane didn’t like this side of her. “Tell me, what is your…strategy right now?”
She smiled as his lips slid lower. “You like it when I lick my lips and…”
He rumbled again, his arms like bands of steel around her middle. “Damn right I do.”
She pressed her chest into his and moaned, dropping his face into the valley between her breasts. “And you like—”
“Juliet,” he cut her off. “I can’t wait to hear you detail our lovemaking. But today…right now…I need control.” He drew in a shaky breath. “And if you keep talking, I will lose all of it.”
That made her smile as surge of desire and, honestly, power surged through her. “And you like it when I talk.”
He let out a choking laugh. “I do. But stop. Or you’ll find yourself without your maidenhead in the middle of the afternoon.”
That should have frightened her but it didn’t. Not with him. She scrambled off his lap.
He grimaced, his eyes closing. “I’m sorry, love. I didn’t mean to worry you. I’ll be able to maintain—”
With a single whoosh, she grabbed the hem of her nightshift and pulled it over her head, allowing it to sail through the air and float to the ground, landing in a puddle of sunshine. “I’m not scared,” she said as she turned back to look at him, completely nude.
His mouth dropped open for a split second before it snapped shut. In an instant, he stood too and pulled off his shirt, before he grabbed her waist and pulled her body against his. “By God, Juliet. You’re so beautiful. It steals my breath.”
His hand wound into her undone hair and his lips began to trail down her chest. He lifted her and laid her back on the bed, his weight settling on top of her, even as his mouth drew in one of her nipples.
She gasped, partially because his tongue began to swirl along the puckering peak and partially because his weight had settled between her legs. The pressure of his manhood against her swollen nub both relieved and intensified the pressure building there.
His hands were everywhere once again, this time on her naked flesh and the roughness of his skin created a friction that only added to her pleasure.
She rubbed against him to find that desire ricocheted through her. He still wore his breeches but the soft fabric created a cushion, spreading out the tendrils of pleasure.