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It was a simple request with a multitude of consequences. The cocktail of emotions that flooded his bloodstream meant that it was dangerous to even stand close to her, not to think of placing his lips on hers. She just might end up spreadeagled on the table while he ravished her, and there was no guarantee that he would stop until he made her his.

“I hardly think that is a good idea,” he said quietly, remaining near the door, maintaining the distance between them.

“But I want you to,” she replied.

“It is dangerous,” he said, swallowing thickly.

“For old times’ sake. Please,” she said, her voice breaking in a way that worsened the ache in his chest. “It would be goodbye for us. I promise to let you go after this.”

“Selina…” he started to protest halfheartedly.

“Please,” she begged, her tears falling in earnest now. “It would be my memory to hold onto when you leave me.”

The sight of those green eyes swimming in tears gutted him, and at that moment, he was ready to do anything to soothe her, even if she demanded the same thing that had been the genesis of this pain. So he took a step forward, then another, until he was finally standing in front of her—temptation made flesh.

He cupped her face, and with his thumb, he wiped her tears, making soothing sounds in the back of his throat. He waited till she had calmed down enough, and she pressed her face into his warm palms like a kitten.

He dropped his forehead to hers with a loud groan. “You tempt me, Selina Wilkins.”

Instead of replying, she pressed her cheek into his palm. Then, rising on her tiptoes, she placed a kiss on the corner of his mouth.

The furnace within him raged such that he trembled with need, and when she placed a chaste kiss on his lips, it raged even harder. He might have been able to hold on if she had stepped back then, but she lifted her lips to his ear and whispered to him in the most sultry voice, “Kiss me, please.”

He lost any semblance of self-control he had at that moment. In the next, he was hooking an arm around her waist and pressing her body to his. He dipped his head and took her lips, moaning at the mix of relief and desire he felt as he tasted her, enjoying the moans that escaped her lips. He urged her lips to open, entangling his tongue with hers.

He caressed her breasts through her dress, tugging at her laces until he had access. He cupped her breasts, kneading them and twisting her erect nipples until she moaned and gasped, melting in his arms.

Carrying her to the settee in the library, he laid her there and bent his head to take one nipple into his mouth, sucking and nibbling on it while he worked its twin with his free hand.

Releasing her breast, he stared down at her with sultry eyes, his hand sliding up her leg until he touched her core. He caressed her there, spreading her folds to find her hidden pearl. He strummed it, enjoying the screams of pleasure she tried to muffle against his chest.

Touching her pearl with one hand, he played with her erect nipple, sucking and nibbling on it until she was a mass of sensation in his arms, gasps of pleasure escaping her sweet lips and inflaming him in turn. When her peak came, she convulsed, her pleasure bathing her with liquid warmth. He kept touching her, prolonging the sensation until she came back down to earth.

He gathered her into his arms, bringing her to sit in his lap. She stretched to kiss him, inadvertently moving against his erection and eliciting a hiss from his lips.

“Take care, love,” he said between gritted teeth.

“You did not take your pleasure,” she said, staring into his face. “Show me how to give you pleasure,” she demanded in a husky voice, tempting him to take what she offered.

“You do not have to do anything, love.”

“I can pleasure you just like you do for me,” she said, boldly caressing the bulge in his trousers.

He groaned loudly, shutting his eyes against the tide of pleasure that flowed through his veins.

He felt her fingers unfastening his trousers, and he helped her until his hardness sprang out ruddy and eager into her hands. At first, she caressed it tenderly, then she fisted it lightly.

“Tighter,” he grunted. “Hold it tighter.”

He showed her how to touch him, guiding her hands over his length, alternating between a loose and a tight grip until he was groaning his pleasure and spilling his seed into her hands.

“This has to stop,” Richard said in a whisper when he had regained control of his sanity and realized they had once again fallen into the temptation he had always tried to avoid.

“Are you willing to let go of everything we shared for some unknown reason?” Selina asked, standing up to look out the window into the night.

“I will do anything to protect you, Selina. I will do what I must,” he replied, watching her back as she studiously avoided his eyes.

He knew she was crying, and it was confirmed by her next words.