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He wasn’t asking her to beg him, but her body was doing it anyway, her hips lifting to try and draw him inside her, willing him to plunge into her depths without delay.

“What about the preamble?” he asked with a soft laugh.

She shook her head, parroting him. “The next time, you can touch me there as much as you please.”

“Minx.”

“I had an excellent teacher,” she replied, gasping as he slid his manhood between her slick folds, stimulating her bundle of nerves.

As the sound of a splash drifted towards them, he gave her what she desired, easing into her with the same slow consideration as before. Only, this time, she knew what to expect, the tortuous glide of his flesh adding fuel to the fire of her bliss.

“Yes, my love,” she moaned. “Oh, yes!”

As he withdrew and pushed slowly inside her once more, her back arched off the blanket. To her surprise, he grabbed a nearby cushion and put it beneath the small of her back, tilting her hips up. At first, she didn’t understand, but as he filled her to the hilt again, she more than understood, as pulses of delicious lightning fizzed up from her core, sparking upward until every part of her felt like it was aglow.

They moved as one in the shelter of the boathouse, a tangle of limbs and love, lost in each other. Their sighs and gasps and moans of bliss joined the hum of the bees and the coos of roosting doves and the vibrations of the dragonflies, becoming another instrument in the divine orchestra of the nature around them.

Just then, he grabbed her around the waist and pulled her up onto his lap, her arms locking around his neck as they kissed with unbridled fervor. And as he sank back on his haunches, instinct took over.

She rocked her hips against him, delirious with the friction of his skin against her swollen bud, riding him the only way she knew how—fast.

It was almost more than she could bear, feeling him so deep inside her, being in control of each thrust, taking him into her again and again. His hands gripped the firm flesh of her buttocks, urging her onward, while his mouth never paused, kissing her lips, her neck, her shoulders, her throat, her brow. And when his tongue danced with hers, it was utter perfection—a waltz she would not mess up.

“Are you close?” he growled.

She nodded, understanding his meaning. “Yes… oh, my love… yes.”

Kissing her fiercely, he slid his hand between her thighs, careful not to interrupt the eager rock and roll of her hips. The moment his fingertips touched her bundle of nerves, she exploded as if she had merely been waiting for the detonation.

“My love! Oh God… Oh, my love!” she cried out and arched her neck, soaring into the powerful current of her climax.

At the same time, she heard him growl against her throat, the ferocity of her conclusion hurtling to another realm of pleasure entirely as she felt him pulse inside her. He seemed to grow larger, thicker, while she continued to grind against him, slower than before. She couldn’t concentrate as intently on the movement of her hips, with paradise singing in her veins.

His arms wrapped around her, holding her tightly as her pleasure began to ebb. She sagged with utter contentment, burying her face in his neck and letting him take her weight, knowing she was safe, knowing he would not let go.

“I love you,” she murmured, kissing his shoulder.

He echoed the kiss. “As I love you.”

“And to think… we once hated each other,” she said, laughing as she clung to him, finding the entire notion completely impossible.

He smiled against her shoulder. “No, I don’t think we did.” He pulled back, gazing into her eyes as he brushed her hair from her face. “I think it was just passion hiding in plain sight.”

“I am not going to disagree withthat.” She sighed, grateful beyond belief that her decision to venture to his townhouse in the dead of night had led to this. Had led to the kind of love and happiness that came once in a lifetime.

If she had done just one thing differently, she might have remained a spinster, never knowing how wonderful life could be with a Pratt and as a Pratt.

Sometimes, I guess it pays to be bold…

“I love you,” she told him.

He grinned. “You just said that.”

“And I shall never stop.”

He kissed her brow. “Then neither shall I.”

EPILOGUE