Taking advantage of the moment, she stood on the tips of her toes and pressed her lips to his. From the briefest touch, the world erupted around her, the spark of recognition, of familiarity flowing from his lips.
He was her match in every way.
She felt it to be true; she knew it to be true.
He opened his eyes, the blue rays penetrating her soul and she thought her legs would buckle beneath her.
“You don’t know what you’re doing to me,” he gasped when she pulled away. “You don’t know what I would give to kiss you as I want to.”
“Do it,” she replied failing to hide her desperation. With him, all inhibitions were lost to her.
“I don’t want to hurt you.”
“I trust you. We will never know what exists between us unless you try.
We will never understand it.”
She thought he would protest but in an instant his arm slid around her back, and he pulled her to his hard body as his mouth claimed hers.
The fire in her belly ignited in a blaze of desperate longing as his mouth moved slowly over hers. Even with her lack of experience, she couldn’t control the urge to taste him, to deepen the kiss and yet she sensed he was holding back.
“I need more,” she said breaking contact.
His mouth curved into the beginnings of a smile, and she wanted to cry. The glorious sight affected her like nothing else before.
“You want what I cannot give you,” he said, his smile fading.
She refused to accept his answer. Stripping off her gloves and throwing them to the floor, she brushed her hands up over his chest and threaded them around his neck. “Kiss me again, Alexander. Like you want to. Like you mean it.”
A growl emanated from the back of his throat and he claimed her mouth fiercely. There was no slow coaxing. His tongue penetrated the line of her lips and thrust deeply, wildly into her mouth.
She clutched at his shoulders, needing to feel close to him as she found the courage to meet him with the same level of intensity. Desire roared in her ears when her tongue danced with his, and his hands drifted down her back to draw her closer so she could feel the hard evidence of his arousal.
Nothing had ever felt so wonderful.
Nothing had ever felt so perfect.
“Oh, God, Eve,” he whispered, raining urgent kisses along the line of her jaw. “I wish we were naked, swimming in the river at night.”
Feeling a throbbing sensation between her legs, she grabbed the lapels of his coat. “I don’t understand this. I don’t understand what is happening to me, but I don’t care.”
He claimed her mouth again, delving inside, pressing his body into her again and again, the rhythmical motion making her dizzy with desire. His ragged breathing and deep groans made her feel so drunk she hardly noticed his hand creeping up under her gown, not until his fingers brushed her most intimate place.
“Alexander,” she panted, the need to feel him again overriding any shame or fear.
“I can’t stop,” he whispered hoarsely. “I can’t stop touching you.”
“I want you to touch me,” she said softly. The ropes of restraint no longer existed between them.
As she floated away on a cloud of ecstasy, he stroked her back and forth, his tongue thrusting into her mouth simultaneously. Her whole body edged closer to some unknown destination, a place far beyond this world. Pleasure rippled through her as she rubbed against his hand, consumed by this madness for him.
He quickened the pace, and the room burst forth in a blaze of glittering lights. She felt her body convulse at his touch, and she pushed her tongue into his mouth, searching for something more, desperate to prolong the feeling.
In a distant recess of her mind, she heard the rustle of material as he removed his hand, and she felt the loss like a deep ache in her heart.
“I have never felt anything as powerful as this,” he panted against her hair, drawing her into his chest as the tremors subsided. “It has taken all the strength I have not to spread you wide and push inside you.”
She sucked in a breath at his honesty. “I have never known a feeling like this, either. All I know is that I could never marry Mr. Sutherby,” she said. How could she when her soul sang only for this man. Whatever happened, she could never give herself to another.