“You should walk out that door,” he said. “No good can come from seeking me out.”
Sally knew that to be true, but her legs refused to cooperate. The moment she had laid eyes on Felix in the white drawing room, she had apparently lost all sense. She opened her eyes and discovered he had closed the gap between them. He stood just out of reach, magnificent even scarred from his battles. There were old and new marks upon his skin that had not been there when they had lain together. She longed to touch the wound on his thigh that still appeared red, a recent injury she assumed, to assure herself that he suffered no lasting pain.
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His chest heaved and her eyes were drawn downward, following the smattering of chest hair that trailed low to his groin. He was fully aroused, and they had not even touched. She had dreamed for so long of what it would have been like to be in his arms that she knew, standing alone with him again, that she could not leave without being intimate with him once more. “I cannot leave. Not yet.”
“Did you tell him we were engaged and what we did all those years ago?”
“He does not know about you nor need to.”
Felix inched closer until his body could warm hers. He dipped his lips to her ear and his hot breath sent chills racing along her body. “You are breathing so hard, Sally. I can hazard a guess at what you are thinking about tonight. How long has it been since a man pleasured you with his mouth?”
Oh, hell. “Some time ago.”
“Is that what you have come for then? A reminder of the pleasure we shared? An affair before your marriage takes place? Before Ellicott returns and takes you away from all that you know?” He braced his hands on the wall beside her head. “Tell me what you want, Sally, and I will do it gladly. My lips kissing your skin? Our bodies entwined on my bed?”
His words made her burn with hunger, and she quickly nodded before she lost her courage and her mind. The memory of such a pleasure had tortured her long after he had left; during the long hours she had lain awake in her bed wondering why her love had not been enough. He had used her, and she wanted to use him tonight. “Yes, all of it,” she managed to gasp out. “I want an affair.”
His lips hovered beside her ear and then he kissed her neck, exactly on the small mole at her hairline. She shivered as he licked the spot.
“Very well,” he said as he straightened, grasping her arms to pull her away from the door. She trembled in his grip, excited and yearning for his kiss. “An affair that ends when you marry. Now get on the bed and do not slap my face afterward when you have regrets. I will not share them.”
She had not truly regretted anything Felix had done to her or made her body feel. Her regrets stemmed from disappointment that he had not returned to set things right in six years.
Sally moved toward his bed, shuddering when his palm caressed her lower back and then slid lower to cup her backside. He squeezed and then the pressure eased to gentleness, urging her toward him. Her reaction was so very different to when Ellicott had touched her that she closed her eyes briefly.
Was she so lost in sin that she could not feel any guilt?
Her legs trembled as she lifted her skirts and set her knee on the thick pile of mattresses on the high bed. Felix slid his hands to her hips and steadied her as she tumbled down on his sheets, breathless with anticipation.
She expected him to stretch out above her as he had that last night together and claim her immediately. It had been so long. However, he remained at the edge of his bed, inching her gown up until her thighs were bare. He stroked her calves and then moved higher, his hands rough and hot.
“So lovely,” he whispered as his thumbs traced the inside of her thighs. He met her gaze. “So soft. Such hunger in your eyes too. I can see and hear your desire. It feeds my own for you no matter how wrong that might be.”
“The only thing wrong is your delay,” she whispered.
“Everything in good time, sweetheart.” His grip firmed, then he slowly parted her legs. Her gown, still covering her most intimate place, remained a barrier between them.
He slid down to kneel beside the bed and pulled so her bottom rested at the edge and her legs dangled over the side. Her gown had risen to expose her lower body, and she squirmed in anticipation. Felix hooked one of her legs over his shoulder, and the blistering heat of his skin against the back of her limb made her gasp out loud as disremembered sensations swamped her.
She had forgotten precisely how hot his skin could be and how the texture of it had affected her excitement. What they had done together was scandalous, and she reveled in memories too wicked to repeat aloud.
He pushed her gown up to her waist roughly, exposing as much of her torso as he could. His hand brushed over her corset, then dug beneath, a rumbling sigh filling the room as he caressed her soft stomach.
Sally squirmed, wishing he were not so far away and that she could see him. As the seconds ticked by until he touched her, kissed her, and made her feel again, she held her breath.
But when he slid a finger over the lips of her sex, she jerked so wildly she was surprised by her own reaction. She wanted him to touch her, but her nerves were so overwrought she could not stay still.
He chuckled softly against her thigh and bit her skin lightly. “You were always so sensitive. Are you ready, Sally?”
“Yes.” The desperate quality of her voice when she answered him took even her by surprise. “Please.”
Heat from his lips on her sex brought a moan bursting from her lips. He kissed her hungrily, and Sally widened her legs, demanding more of that feeling as she lifted her hips into his claiming.
He parted her folds with his tongue, teasing the place he had touched before. She ground her hips into his wicked mouth and lost herself in the sweet torture of a forbidden and missed pleasure.
Her arousal built swiftly, sharp and raw, and she jerked back from him before she climaxed. “No.”