Before she was even aware she was doing it, she reached up with her fingertip and smoothed away the tiny three-pleat crease.
His eyes opened and met hers. ‘Hasn’t anyone told you before that you should let sleeping dogs lie?’
She moved her fingertip to his stubbly jaw, tracing a line from the side of his nose to the base of his chin. ‘I’m not the least bit scared of dogs, even big scary ones who look like they might bite if cornered.’
He took her finger into his mouth and gently nipped it with his teeth, his eyes holding hers in a sexy little lock down that made the base of Poppy’s spine tingle. ‘You’d better stop looking at me like that.’
‘How am I looking at you?’
‘Like you want me to pin you to the bed and make mad, passionate love to you.’
Poppy felt a frisson of delight pass over her skin. ‘Why shouldn’t I look at you like that?’
He rolled her onto her back and entangled his legs with hers. ‘Because I don’t want to make you sore.’
She looked into his espresso-black gaze and felt another shackle around her heart slip away. How could she not love this man? He was so thoughtful and gentle, yet so passionate and attentive. How was she supposed to resist the feelings that were burgeoning inside her?
He was everything she had ever wanted in a partner.
From the first moment his mouth had met hers, she had felt a seismic shift in her body. How would she ever be satisfied with anyone else? Wouldn’t she always compare them with him? His touch was like magic. His kisses were hypnotic, his gaze mesmerising and his possession captivating and cataclysmic. She would never be the same now she had shared this incredible intimacy with him. It wasn’t just that he was her first lover; he had touched on something deep inside her that spoke to her on a primal level.
Poppy touched his face again, smoothing away the frown that had appeared again between his brows. ‘When I met you for the first time when you came into the shop that day, I thought you were the most arrogant, unfeeling person I had ever met.’
‘And now?’
She gave him a little smile that had a hint of reproof about it. ‘You’re still arrogant.’
He shrugged self-deprecatingly. ‘It’s my middle name.’
‘I kind of figured that.’ She trailed her fingertip over his lower lip. ‘Are your brothers the same?’
‘Raoul less so, Remy more so,’ he said, looking at her mouth. ‘I guess I fall somewhere in between.’
Poppy felt the rise of his body against her belly. The roar of his blood incited her own to race frenetically through her veins. Her heart began to thump when she saw the glittering intention in his dark-as-night gaze. Her body gave an involuntary shiver as his mouth came down and covered hers in a kiss that awoke every feminine instinct in her. Her tongue met his in an urgent tangle of lust that made her pelvis throb for his possession. She shifted against him, urging him to complete the erotic dance he had started.
He eased his mouth off hers and went in search of her breasts, trailing his hot, moist tongue over their sensitive peaks in turn. Each roll and glide of his tongue against her flesh escalated her desire. She felt the pull of it between her legs, the pulse of longing that was like a fever building in her blood.
He moved down her body, his mouth a hot, searing trail that made her back arch in delight. He lingered over her belly button, dipping the tip of his tongue into its tiny cave before going lower to where she ached and pulsed with feverish want.
Poppy sucked in a sharp breath as she felt him stroke her apart. His breath was a warm caress, his touch on her most sensitive point triggering a maelstrom of feeling. He read her body so well, timing the strokes and the pressure until her body responded in a turbulent wave of release that rocketed through her. She clung to the bed with clawing fingers to anchor herself against the avalanche of sensations that shuddered through her body, leaving her spent once it was over.
He stroked his hand down the length of her thigh as he looked into her eyes. ‘You’re so beautifully responsive.’
Poppy gazed back at him, dazed. She felt stunned by the way he made her feel. Her body was tingling from head to foot, her nerves dancing in delight at what they had experienced under his touch. ‘I want to pleasure you,’ she said, shyly reaching for him.
He drew in a breath when she curled her hand around his length. She saw the flash of pleasure in his eyes, felt too the rising tension in him as she moved her hand in a rhythmic motion up and down his shaft. She ran her thumb over his moist tip and watched as he fought to control his response. It spurred her on to be even more adventurous. She gave him a sultry look and slithered down his body, breathing over him first, tantalising him with what was to come.
He gripped the sides of her head with his hands. ‘If you’re not comfortable with doing that...’ He let out a short sharp expletive as her tongue found him. ‘At least let me put on a condom.’
Poppy pulled back as he fished out a condom. She took the little packet off him and set about putting it on him. He drew in another harsh-sounding breath, his abdomen contracting as she smoothed it over his length. His raw male beauty took her breath away. He was so thick with desire. She could feel the thunder of his blood against her fingers.
She lowered her head to him again, licking him at first, letting him feel the warmth of her tongue through the thin barrier of the condom. She became bolder as her confidence grew, taking him into her mouth, sucking on him with varying degrees of pressure to see what he preferred. He gave her all the encouragement she needed with deep, growly groans of pleasure as the tension built inside him.
It was much more pleasurable than Poppy had been expecting. She had always imagined the act to be a very one-sided affair, and to some degree subservient, perhaps even slightly demeaning.
But it was nothing like that.
The feminine power she had over him thrilled her and excited her. Her lips and mouth registered every subtle change as he hurtled towards the final moment of release. The tension in him rose to a crescendo, his breathing becoming more rapid and uneven, his hands clutching at her head with a desperation that made the blood fizz and sing with delight in her veins. She felt that final cataclysmic explosion; it made the fine hairs on the back of her neck lift up to sense the monumental power of his response to