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He moved with her, shifting away so she didn’t draw him into her.

Yet.

“Do you want this?” The words seemed ground out of him, soft flour and abrasive stone. “We can stop if you don’t want anything more.”

In answer she grabbed at his shoulders and pulled his face down to hers and he took her offering voraciously. The shock of his kiss devouring her was almost as strong as that of the taste of her own arousal on his lips.

Not just his lips though. All over his mouth. He’d smothered himself in her. Gorged with no decorum or heed to propriety. Almost to his cheekbones he was wet with her juices.

Sweet and salty and with a tang, and she wondered hazily whathetasted like.

“Words, sweetheart.” Att settled his elbows either side of her head and looked down at her, eyes full of longing. He was vibrating with the effort of not moving, and remained almost entirely dressed. They both were, except the necessary parts rucked up.

After all these years of circling each other like predators and now they’d decided to try this, they were both desperate. Rational minds would have discussed the issue tomorrow, in daylight, rather than make an impulsive wager and try out being together with no time to undress. But Tam wasn’t feeling logical.

“Yes.”

He pressed forward, gently, with no more questions, just an outtake of air that could have been a moan or a sigh. His body covering hers even as he opened her up, was suddenly the most natural thing in the world, even as there was a pinch. It was followed by a sensation of fullness and he paused.

“I can’t believe we’re doing this, Tam,” he murmured and eased in another inch. Att, the Duke who had always been teasing her, was now joined with her.

“We are. And more.” She wriggled under him. The place where she touched herself and it felt good was just out of the way of where he entered her and she tried to shift to get a touch on that nub. The clitoris.

“Oh god, Tam.” He sounded destroyed, but he didn’t feel it as he matched his movements to hers, pulling out and easing back in.

“Deeper,” she pleaded. There was an itch so far inside and oh—yes. He obeyed and with another slow slide, he pushed deeper again, then again. And by the time he’d gone further into her with each thrust, she was whimpering with need when she felt their skin on either side touch.

She’d heard that first times hurt and were awkward and most probably that was the case, but he’d prepared her so thoroughly, there was only the fullness and drowning in his eyes as he held himself still, firm within her. All the way in now, pressed together as close as they could be.

Att paused.

“How does it feel?” he asked, tension in the question.

“Like we should have been doing this for years already and maybe we have, in another life?” she whispered, half reluctant to confess. “Because it’s too easy.”

Tilting her chin up for his kiss, he rumbled a laugh as he withdrew and sank again. He eased out and thrust with more vigor, gaining in momentum, harder each time.

“Is this…?” She couldn’t quite bring herself to really ask the question, though she had to know.

“Ask, sweetheart,” he ordered in a rough voice.

“Do we suit? Am I doing this right?” She screwed her eyes shut as she waited for his verdict, trying to block everything out except the feel of him filling her and rubbing against the insides she hadn’t realized would feel so magic.

Was it as good for him as it was for her? This was just a trial. A wager to see if they suited, and if marriage was possible for them. If it wasn’t, she would be penniless, virginity-less, and unable to practice medicine or continue her studies. Her muscles contracted, as though a cold draft had permeated the warm room.

“You’re perfect,” he growled and kissed her hard, all passion and tongue and bites as he thrust and her body accepted him. He filled her in places she hadn’t known were empty.

The fear she hadn’t recognized she’d been holding melted away and she succumbed to his rhythm and the rising pleasure that built with every stroke of his body into hers.

“You feel tight and hot. So good. I knew you would, Tam. Perfect.”

CHAPTER6

Usually when helonged for something, when it finally happened it was an anticlimax. An act so built up in his head, the reality couldn’t live up to the anticipation. Or he immediately moved the aspirational target. When he’d set a target of five thousand a year income, he’d thought he’d be satisfied and happy when he met it. As it turned out, all he’d done was nod and up the target to ten thousand.

And perhaps part of him had feared being with Tam would be like that and all the joy would have been in the buildup. Maybe that was why he’d held back for so many years, goading instead of wooing her. It wasn’t so much he’d feared loss of pride or rejection, though of course both were true. It was that being with Tam couldn’t possibly be as good as he imagined.

And it wasn’t.