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Eleanor blushed at his words. “Should we move?”

A devilish grin darkened the Duke’s face. “Absolutely not. I’m thinking I’ll frame these papers when we’re done.

Nerves and excitement crashed through her system while scorching white hot heat blazed through her veins.

Derek’s hands reached down and pulled her dress fully down, leaving her in her corset and stockings. Eleanor couldn’t contain her full body blush as his eyes drank in her exposed body.

She moved to cover herself, but Derek’s hand enveloped her wrist and placed it above her head. “Never cover yourself in front of me. You are too beautiful to hide.”

The reverence in his voice stilled her motions more than his actions. He was looking at her like she was more than just a woman but as if she were the stars, the moon, the sun. He was looking at her as if she were his everything.

As she watched his eyes dance around her body, taking in every dip and curve, she raised her free hand and laid it over top of the wrist he was still holding above her head.

The pupils of his eyes blew, darkening his face to a wicked expression. “Eleanor,” his velvet voice cooed, “what are you doing?”

She looked up at him under her lashes. “Taking control.”

For the first time in her life, Eleanor truly felt like she was in control. Even though to a bystander it would look like she was submitting to him, it was she that had the control in this scene.

It was her choice to proposition him. It was her choice to climb into his lap. And it was her choice to give her body freely to him. And she had never felt more alive and in control than right in this moment.

“You humble me, Eleanor.” Derek’s voice was hushed and full of wonder.

“Then show me your gratitude.” Her words set off a flurry of movement from Derek. He lifted off of her and grabbed her legs. With one quick yank he had pulled her to the edge of his deskwhere he then kneeled down. She propped herself up on her elbows to see what he was going to do when she felt the softest of kisses in between her legs.

She arched her back and gasped. “Derek!” she cried as her hands grabbed his head in between her thighs.

“What are you doing?” The words came out in between gasps.

“I will show you my gratitude by honoring each and every part of you.”

Eleanor’s body responded to his words and his tongue. She writhed underneath him as the heat she felt turned into a raging fire that made her skin sweat with need.

Her nails raked over his scalp and pulled him closer to her. His entire mouth sucked her in as his tongue flicked her center, eliciting whimpers and cries from her.

Derek clamped his arms around her thighs, keeping her in place as he drove her higher and higher. Without warning, Eleanor’s vision went white as her body erupted in wave after wave of pleasure. She felt the pressure of Derek’s body release. Eleanor felt as if her body had completely shattered in the most delicious of ways. She rolled to her side and pulled her knees up to her chest to gather her senses.

Derek clucked his tongue. “What did I say about hiding yourself from me.”

He rolled her back onto her back and once again held her wrists above her head with one of his hands. “Don’t make me tie you up like this.”

Eleanor’s eyes widened at that thought.

“You wouldn’t.”

“I absolutely would.”

Instead of scaring her, the threat forged another fire within her belly. “In that case…” Eleanor began to tug her hands against his.

Derek’s free hand darted out to strengthen his hold on her. “My, my, my, Eleanor… You are definitely more than I bargained for.”

Eleanor looked into his eyes. “I’m more than more anyone has bargained for.”

Derek leaned down and captured her mouth in a passionate kiss. “Of that, my love, I have no doubt.”

His words startled her.My love.

Surely, he did not mean that he actually loved her, right? Little bubbles of hope and intrigue mixed with the heat that began to build again. She tried to shake the errant thought from her head, but she couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like to be loved by a man such as the Duke.