Page 76 of Ghostly

“I’d pop that button, and the next one, and slide my hand underneath… can you imagine that?”

She remembered how the touch of her own skin felt. Nothing special, nothing exciting—unless you needed to scratch a bad itch—but when she added Gabriel’s voice to that memory, when she imaginedhisfingers sliding along her collarbone…

Her kneesnearly buckled then and there. “Uh-huh.” In her mind, he fired up her every nerve, fingertips leaving behind a scorching trail, one that only his lips would be able to extinguish.

“Now, I couldn’t get further without popping a few more buttons. Would you let me do that?”

She nodded, her thoughts already skipping ahead. That would be enough to reveal her chemise and her corset. Inhibitions flew away; she needed to feel more of that scorching, more sparks, more him—now. “Unhook it.”

“What?”

“You need to unhook my corset.” Her voice came out raspy. “In front. Here.” She laid a hand on her belly, and waited for Gabriel’s hand to hover above it. In her mind, he did it deftly, like he’d been unhooking corsets all of his life, and the garment fell to the ground—the jacket, oh, that one was long since gone.

“What are you wearing under your corset?”

“A chemise. It’s, uh, like a nightshirt.”

“Translucent?”

Hers was a very proper, woolen one—couldn’t be peeked through if you put it in front of a light. “Yes. Silk.”

“Then I’ll slide over it… up, and up…” His hand continued upwards. She closed her eyes, focusing on the occasional sensation from his hand passing through her to guide her in her daydream. She shivered at the smooth sliding of the silk, as, on one side, Gabriel’s fingers glided higher still, and on the other, his voice whispered in her ear, “Until I’ve cupped your breast and squeezed it…”

Oh God oh God oh God.

“And then I’d find that hard peak of your nipple…”

Why could she feel this in her belly? No, lower. Maybe it wasn’t real, but the combination of the perfume, still clinging to her, and the dreams, imprinted over her reality, made her feel so… warm.

No, she remembered warmth. This was better. This made her feel alive.

“But that’s not all of it, yet,” he teased with a husky voice.

What? She was seconds away from imaginary exploding.

“You forgot about my other hand.”

She looked down—his other hand was by her hips.

“Can we say the skirt is gone?”

She nodded weakly.

“Then with my other hand, I’d grab a fistful of that silk…”

Her knees buckled.

“And drag it up, up, up your thigh… pass beneath it…”

“To my drawers?”

He stopped.

“Drawers are gone,” she corrected herself. They blinked out of existence, leaving only the silk chemise, which only half-concealed the shape of her leg.

Gabriel’s hand was halfway up her thigh. She couldn’t see his face, since he was still standing behind her, but she felt his smile.

“I’ll caress your skin, travel up, ever so slowly…”