Page 152 of Dukes for Dessert

His jaw hardened as he dipped it in verification of her assessment. “I knew the life he was thinking of building with Lorelai, Blackwell, and Cutter had no room for me or the rest of the crew of the Devil’s Dirge in it. The future we’d been working toward was quickly disappearing and…and I did something drastic to—I don’t know—to snap him out of it all, I suppose. But Lorelai was never truly in danger, I simply figured If I took her with me to find the Claudius Cache, he’d see her next to it and realize what treasure truly was.”

“Which he did,” she said gently. “Just not in the way you intended.”

“I never understood the decision he made…” He lifted his hands until they both cupped her jaw with infinite tenderness, his eyes bright and fervid as he gazed up at her.

“Until now.”

11

The kiss was one of equal fervency and mutual need.

Veronica couldn’t say which of them had made the first move or the response to it. Their mouths simply met.

Melded.

And the rest of them seemed to follow. Their torsos, hips, legs…

Hearts.

The man beneath her was no longer a creature of charm and mirth or of mischief and wickedness. He was real. A man with arcane depths and the capability for profound compassion.

He’d bared that part of himself to her, which had somehow made her want to see more.

To see everything.

As they devoured each other, her fingers found the buttons of his shirt, and began to tug restlessly, freeing them one by one.

His hands buried themselves in her hair as a guttural groan urged her on.

Finally, she laid the shirt open, displaying an impeccably sculpted torso dusted with hair only slightly darker than his mane. Her fingers slid over taut skin, jolted by an almost electric sensation that coursed through her entire body, landing heavy and hard in her core.

Pulling back, she broke the kiss, momentarily entranced by the glisten on his swollen lips as he watched her with rapt eyes. Motionless. Vigilant. As if she were a bunny that might bolt into the underbrush at the first sign of danger.

Emboldened, Veronica smoothed both hands over his wide shoulders and meandered down the mounds of muscle on his chest and lower, discovering the spectacular corrugations of his torso.

The tendons of his neck tensed and flexed, his jaw clenching and grinding against a powerful need.

Pausing, Veronica glanced down to the bulge straining against his trousers.

Never again. She’d once vowed. Never would she lie beneath a man and let him rut and sweat and dump his seed inside her. Never would she be made to feel like some rubbish receptacle after, lying used and discarded on the bed in a puddle of her own tears and shame.

And yet, today seemed like a day for breaking those vows. She’d also promised never to be on her knees before a man, and she’d enjoyed every moment she’d had him in her mouth. His scent, his taste, his heat and girth and shape. The circumference of him matched his own impressive dimensions, and still she was not afraid.

She was not afraid…

A myriad of emotion swirled within her. Arousal, excitement, curiosity, hope…

But not a single hint of fear.

She’d tasted the ocean on his lips when he’d kissed her after. And he’d tasted his own release as well, lingering on her tongue. Their release had created a heady mélange of flavors and erotic delicacy that undoubtedly belonged together.

Her body fit so perfectly next to his, soft and round where his planes were hard and unyielding.

So far, he’d surpassed every previous interaction she’d had with her husband, the only other man with whom she’d been intimate.

Could he pleasure her from the inside as well?

“I want you,” she whispered, her body suddenly thrumming with the truth of those words.